The Official Authors' Hangout Summer Lovin' 2023 Contest Support Thread

[EmilyMiller]

Good luck, Emily. Sometimes it's hard to finish stories, especially when you put a lot of time and effort into them. My 2023 Summer Lovin' story is my longest on this site, but it started off as my Summer Lovin' tale for 2021. Then it was my 2022 tale, and finally turned into my 2023 version. However, since the story was set in 1824 from the start, I was determined to avoid running it into 2024 to look like it was supposed to be a bicentennial-type tale!

(Update: It just received its first 2. With as few votes as it has, it's impossible not to keep track.)

Wow!

Em

 

[Duleigh]

Unless you win, at which point the bombing has just begun!

 

[Duleigh]

Good luck, Emily. Sometimes it's hard to finish stories, especially when you put a lot of time and effort into them. My 2023 Summer Lovin' story is my longest on this site, but it started off as my Summer Lovin' tale for 2021. Then it was my 2022 tale, and finally turned into my 2023 version. However, since the story was set in 1824 from the start, I was determined to avoid running it into 2024 to look like it was supposed to be a bicentennial-type tale!

(Update: It just received its first 2. With as few votes as it has, it's impossible not to keep track.)

44k - good effort!

I wrote a Discworld story for Geek Pride and the words just FLOWED and I finished up with 50K, then I wrote story #2 and it went 62 K, then I did a third discworld story and fought to keep it down to 44K. I'm trying to keep My Hogswatch story under 20K but that's not going to happen...
When the story flows there's no holding back

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

Thanks, Duleigh. I trimmed about 300 words and wanted to trim another 300 or so, but didn't have time. When it published, the last 20-30 words of the story and the ends notes carried over to the next Lit page. Insert Charlie Brown "Arrgh!" here.

When the story flows there's no holding back

That can be a very good thing unless there's a word limit! Good luck!

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

in march my score shot up high enough to take 2nd Place, then I was bombed back into submission

To me, the bombing would be irrelevant. Every Red H can be ephemeral. The Blue W is forever.

 

[Devinter]

I cannot imagine my score will change a lot, even with last-minute sweeps, since I've had over 1000 people rate it by now. But I'm sitting at 4.7 rating and I'm really pleased with that, and with how the story turned out. It's not the best thing I've written, but I think I got the pacing and the dialogue down well enough that I can feel proud of those aspects, at least. I look forward to participating in more competitions in the future!

As for you guys - my fellow competitors - I read quite a few of your stories and I was incredibly impressed! Some of the best stuff I've read on the site thus far, truthfully. I salute you!

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

"Both Sides Now" by Jalibar62 is newly published and scoring well. Here's a new search that includes it (matching by character name: 'Holly Pemberton' - the title string appears in other stories):

https://search.literotica.com/?quer...ly Pemberton"&period=2 month&sort=vote&page=1

 

[JaxRhapsody]

It seems mine didn't get the summer lovin 2023 tag, like others did. I know it's in the contest, though, so oh well. I think it deserves more than a 3.62, though.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Another improvement to the search URL, including more high-scorers:

https://search.literotica.com/?quer...R "Emily in college"&period=3 month&sort=vote

Em's idea is better - this would be far easier with a dedicated competition tag, like C&P has.

Disclaimers:
- Not all entries are included, this still misses ~35 stories. But I think I got everything above 4.6
- "The best way to figure this out is to wait until next friday" -- Duleigh
- Apparently, competition scores can change dramatically in the final sweep. So don't start spending your prize money based upon this search.
- This search is restricted to the last three months, so won't work past mid-November. (There may be a way to specify an absolute time window, rather than a relative period, but I can't find any documentation for the search tool.)

 

[EmilyMiller]

Another improvement to the search URL, including more high-scorers:

https://search.literotica.com/?query="summer lovin" OR "Swedish Bikini Singing" OR "Sea Knife" OR "Virgin Teacher" OR "Dartmoor Summer" OR "Playa Dust" OR "Screams For Ice Cream" OR "Revenge of the Bikini" OR "Holly Pemberton" OR "frying pan sitting" OR "Summer Figs" OR "exceeding seventy-two" OR "SWMOHermit" OR "Aunties toes" OR "Naturism with" OR "Camp Deer Lake" OR "Asian Nipples" OR "brunette deepthroated" OR "My Ex-Stepmother" OR "stop by Miller" OR "Going Walkabout" OR "Chantal Dyers" OR "Charter in the Med" OR "Camp Winslow" OR "predictably devastated" OR "errors in Korean" OR "Beach Gangbang Slut" OR "Blistering sunlight" OR "Paradise Garden" OR "Bloom of Darkness" OR "Summertime Sunshine" OR "Nate and Megan" OR "JTP" OR "Giving Grandpa" OR "Lake Manitou" OR "Pemaquid" OR "texted Mason" OR "Emily in college"&period=3 month&sort=vote

Em's idea is better - this would be far easier with a dedicated competition tag, like C&P has.

Disclaimers:
- Not all entries are included, this still misses ~35 stories. But I think I got everything above 4.6
- "The best way to figure this out is to wait until next friday" -- Duleigh
- Apparently, competition scores can change dramatically in the final sweep. So don't start spending your prize money based upon this search.
- This search is restricted to the last three months, so won't work past mid-November. (There may be a way to specify an absolute time window, rather than a relative period, but I can't find any documentation for the search tool.)

Thanks for your efforts - it should be a lot easier than this.

Em

 

[Rustyoznail]

Thanks for your efforts - it should be a lot easier than this.

Well, if everyone used the same tag and spelt them correctly, it would be...

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Well, if everyone used the same tag and spelt them correctly, it would be... [Simples]

Aleksandr might need some introduction, for those outside of UK and Australia. He might even be a different character over there (like the Bridgestone Gecko is the Geiko Gecko, on US television).
- - -
I added ten tags to my Summer Lovin' story, but didn't think to use a competition tag.

However, the Crime and Punishment event requested a tag in the Rules and Guidelines. So they're easier to find, even before the competition list is published.

 

[TxRad]

You do realize you are painting a target on all the high scoring stories right. A list for the bombers to hit.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

You do realize you are painting a target on all the high scoring stories right. A list for the bombers to hit.

I hope that AH readers have more respect for their fellow authors.

Failing that, the current leader has at least 768 votes. So it will take a concerted effort to bias that rating. Anyone with the skills to program bots, or spoof IP addresses, can gather this information with more ease than my clumsy search string.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Aleksandr might need some introduction, for those outside of UK and Australia. He might even be a different character over there (like the Bridgestone Gecko is the Geiko Gecko, on US television).

We inherited Aleksandr from the Poms, and I enjoy confusing the Yanks.
(Even the Southern ones)

I suppose that's a good point about tags. Create a standard tag for an event that should be included. I'll go and add that to the Halloween notice.

 

[Duleigh]

We inherited Aleksandr from the Poms, and I enjoy confusing the Yanks.
(Even the Southern ones)

I suppose that's a good point about tags. Create a standard tag for an event that should be included. I'll go and add that to the Halloween notice.

Is he any relation to this chap?

 

[Rustyoznail]

Ooo, I think there's been a feather duster applied to the scores. My story has lifted into H territory. Not going to win, but it's where I had hoped it would sit.

 

[TxRad]

It hit mine a couple of days ago.

 

[Duleigh]

Ooo, I think there's been a feather duster applied to the scores. My story has lifted into H territory. Not going to win, but it's where I had hoped it would sit.

I have a game of "Whack-a-Mole" going on with my story. Someone votes and it goes up a tick, then a member of my "fan club" appears and slaps it back down

 

[yowser]

Some contest stats before competition results are posted:

134 stories from 102 authors (maybe 101 since at least one alt), so many multiple entries. (Five entries from one over-achiever, several with four.) Prolific.

Some brand new authors, so welcome to contests.

Categories:

2 each in Anal, BDSM, Fetish, Humor, Sci-Fi
3 Illustrated, Mind Control
7 First Time, Non-consent
9 Mature
10 Gay Male, Romance
12 Lesbian
13 EC, EV
14 Group,
20 Incest
1 each in Erotic Horror, Interracial, Letters.

Quite a mix.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[KeithD]

Ooo, I think there's been a feather duster applied to the scores. My story has lifted into H territory. Not going to win, but it's where I had hoped it would sit.

Likewise.

 

[Voboy]

Well! THERE'S a sweep. On both the Summer Lovins and the Crime And Punishments.

 

[Duleigh]

There was a sweep?
I wasn't invited

 

[Voboy]

My four most recent stories all took jumps, one of them by .2

I don't remember just how many vote they had, but the scores certainly rose.

 

[Duleigh]

I guess there was a sweep, my first, which I had written off as dead in the water jumped up a full .1 my second slid up .01