Write a controversial opinion

[Baztrachian]

Female empowerment is a suitable topic for an erotic story.

Mocking 'female empowerment' is also a suitable topic for an erotic story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Apparently even the official contest support threads have now turned into a look at me joke.

 

[lovecraft68]

Mocking 'female empowerment' is also a suitable topic for an erotic story.

Nah, that's the Loving wives category.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Ketchup was invented to mask the flavor of things that weren't fit for consumption. It still works in that role. Think hot dogs made with cheap, ultra processed weiners.

Sauce?

 

[Bramblethorn]

But you fall in love.

The trees aren't dying, they're going to sleep for the winter. Isn't falling a sleep a wonderful feeling?

In the south, spring is the prettiest season. Up here in the northern climes, fall is the colorful season (or at least most years).

It's winter I hate. Every single thing about it

I love autumn. Both because it means summer is over, and because there's a point in that transition where I can feel my senses shift and suddenly it's like somebody turned the contrast up. The street lights are achingly bright and the spaces between them are achingly dark, and I can go home and be cozy in a way I couldn't do in summer.

 

[SimonDoom]

Autumn is the most poignant time of year. A time of change, when cool temperatures and rain come back, but they're refreshing and a little novel after long, hot, dry summers. It's harvest time. It's raining right now where I am, and it's music after five months of near stillness.

Winters aren't too bad where I am, but I tire of them quickly and long for warmer, sunnier weather.

Late spring is probably my favorite time of year, when things are growing and blooming, and the birds are singing all over, and you can get outside and do things without a sweater, but without having to deal with the often oppressive heat of summer.

I like summer because it's the best time to swim or to get up into the mountains, and it has long days and evenings where you can sit out side and sip a drink and listen to the buzz of insects.

 

[FrancesScott]

The whole point of writing is to have an impact on readers. That impact can be for good or for ill. But a good writer will always have an impact and needs to consider what they want to use that power to achieve.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

The whole point of writing is to have an impact on readers. That impact can be for good or for ill. But a good writer will always have an impact and needs to consider what they want to use that power to achieve.

And I'd add, you can't have it both ways. You can't take credit for any positive influence your writing has, then lay all the blame for anything negative on the reader.

 

[The_Cunctator]

Past-perfect tense statements are the wrong way to provide information about stuff which happened previous to the story or scene in which it's being stated.

Second-person voice is not for storytelling, unless it's to inform someone of shit they did while they were unconscious or amnesiac.

Chekhov's Gun is one of the most useful concepts in storytelling.

In media res, handled skilfully, is a powerful

 

[The_Cunctator]

Err...technique.

He said, wondering what had brought him to the pass of writing this with unsteady hands on his phone as she sank onto his engorged phallus...

 

[The_Cunctator]

I love autumn. Both because it means summer is over, and because there's a point in that transition where I can feel my senses shift and suddenly it's like somebody turned the contrast up. The street lights are achingly bright and the spaces between them are achingly dark, and I can go home and be cozy in a way I couldn't do in summer.

Primo Levi wrote: There is something about September that makes a man think..."forever".

A characteristically simple, beautiful insight from him.

 

[Britva415]

In media res, handled skilfully, is a powerful

Agreed. What I'm describing is a clumsy abortion of IMR

 

[Actingup]

Apparently even the official contest support threads have now turned into a look at me joke.

I'm going to disagree on this:

1) You would expect that each support thread would reflect the personal style of the volunteer running it. The volunteers on Lit often have vivid personas. So what? Bland is boring.

2) Right now, Lit seems to be trying to recover from a crisis that was particularly visible to authors, although less so to the general users. An intense, fun-centred effort around a contest is a good way to get things back on track just when many authors would be unsure about whether to bother. Judging on the number of stories published so far, it's working. You could argue, of course, that a support thread makes no difference, but in that case, why have them?

We can probably wait until a year's passed and we see the results on ratemyliteroticasupportthread.com to see how it's gone, but right now I'm on the side of #notajoke.

 

[Statius]

I don't partake in the contests, I know what kind of writer I am and I can't write under pressure. However I find the support threads entertaining, Interesting, and sometimes I learn things about writing as well.

 

[PennyThompson]

I'm going to disagree on this:

1) You would expect that each support thread would reflect the personal style of the volunteer running it. The volunteers on Lit often have vivid personas. So what? Bland is boring.

2) Right now, Lit seems to be trying to recover from a crisis that was particularly visible to authors, although less so to the general users. An intense, fun-centred effort around a contest is a good way to get things back on track just when many authors would be unsure about whether to bother. Judging on the number of stories published so far, it's working. You could argue, of course, that a support thread makes no difference, but in that case, why have them?

We can probably wait until a year's passed and we see the results on ratemyliteroticasupportthread.com to see how it's gone, but right now I'm on the side of #notajoke.

But what if I think that my style of engagement is superior to other authors' style of engagement, and they make me inexplicably angry just by existing??

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I'm going to disagree on this:

1) You would expect that each support thread would reflect the personal style of the volunteer running it. The volunteers on Lit often have vivid personas. So what? Bland is boring.

2) Right now, Lit seems to be trying to recover from a crisis that was particularly visible to authors, although less so to the general users. An intense, fun-centred effort around a contest is a good way to get things back on track just when many authors would be unsure about whether to bother. Judging on the number of stories published so far, it's working. You could argue, of course, that a support thread makes no difference, but in that case, why have them?

We can probably wait until a year's passed and we see the results on ratemyliteroticasupportthread.com to see how it's gone, but right now I'm on the side of #notajoke.

"I wasn't going to write a contest story, but then there was this banging contest support thread, so I did," said no one, ever.

 

[PennyThompson]

"I wasn't going to write a contest story, but then there was this banging contest support thread, so I did," said no one, ever.

I mean, literally yes, the friendly and supportive thread for the Summer contest is what ultimately convinced me to submit something for it

 

[TheRedChamber]

Excuse me, which contest thread are we talking about in parricular. I'd hate to have to read all of them, get myself enraged and then discover the thread I was enraged about wasnt the same one everyone else was enraged about.

 

[PennyThompson]

Excuse me, which contest thread are we talking about in parricular. I'd hate to have to read all of them, get myself enraged and then discover the thread I was enraged about wasnt the same one everyone else was enraged about.

You mean you don't subscribe to Lovecraft's "What I'm Mad About Today" newsletter? It's only $5/mo, it's a good value!

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I mean, literally yes, the friendly and supportive thread for the Summer contest is what ultimately convinced me to submit something for it

 

[NuclearFairy]

"I wasn't going to write a contest story, but then there was this banging contest support thread, so I did," said no one, ever.

Well, kinda?

I wrote story. I thought, "Story is kinda Halloweenish." I saw support thread. I asked others if they thought it would go good in contest. I entered story in contest.

 

[Britva415]

Right now, Lit seems to be trying to recover from a crisis that was particularly visible to authors, although less so to the general users.

Eh? What crisis? And what does the recovery effort look like?

 

[Actingup]

View attachment 2570973

I'm going to pull out the Monty Python argument sketch if this keeps going!

Similar to @NuclearFairy's anecodote - my choices and entries have definitely been influenced by support threads, and the threads are appreciated, for all their twists and turns.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Eh? What crisis? And what does the recovery effort look like?

People who were used to getting stories published in three days suddenly didn't. Crisis is a VERY relative term.

 

[Britva415]

People who were used to getting stories published in three days suddenly didn't

There's a recovery effort?