The Official Valentine’s Day Contest Support Thread 2026

[KindredFlame]

R+J is a romantic tragedy, not a romance. These days, especially in writing, Romance means a very limited range of tropes.

I totally agree with your terminology. But I would argue that R/J is the ultimate romance gone wrong at its heart some say the ultimate love story.

 

[DEFCOM5]

I Think Romeo and Julia is the ultimate love story.

I read it when i was 10 and it made me a romantic for life.

Fucked up my entire sex life.

 

[KindredFlame]

Google say.

Romeo and Juliet is considered a love story, specifically a tragic one, where two lovers from feuding families fall deeply in love. However, it is also a tragedy because their passionate romance is thwarted by their families' conflict, leading to a series of tragic events and their eventual suicides

 

[KindredFlame]

So it sits on the fence. And that hurts especially if your legs are not that long.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

I have 11k words of a V-Day rough draft from last year that I abandoned for my eventual (and much better, IMO) submission. I might rework that draft into something a little more over the top.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I have 11k words of a V-Day rough draft from last year that I abandoned for my eventual (and much better, IMO) submission. I might rework that draft into something a little more over the top.

Sounds good

 

[KindredFlame]

11 k what’s that a novel? Well done that man, I thought I was doing well with 1181. (man is used in the broadest possible way and is no way sexually biased)

 

[Voboy]

Valentine’s Day story, so I suppose you are looking for more romance rather than hard sex in this endeavour?

Romance definitely sells.

I usually enter this contest trying to avoid tropes, which means I seldom do all that well. I took third place last year, but that was a significant outlier and a MAJOR surprise to me.

Last year I did a romantical story, but it involved a cult and a young man's search for his mom's past. It wasn't all that VDay-ish, but it definitely explored different kinds of love. The year before I did a teacher/student thing, but with a twist. Before that I'd done a story about an encounter on a film set, a medieval tale about post-Conquest England (which I think is one of the best things I've ever written), and an "origin story" set in ancient Rome the day St Valentine was stoned to death.

This year I'm doing a Hollywood story about a pop star named Valentina.

But Romance is without a doubt among the lower-hanging fruits for this one. Readers definitely reward a lot of heart.

 

[DEFCOM5]

@Voboy,
When writing romance, how detailed can the sex be? Can it just mentioned or can you go deeper (pun intended)?
I know it is suppose to be a love story but what are we talking movie rating wise?

 

[iwatchus]

@Voboy,
When writing romance, how detailed can the sex be? Can it just mentioned or can you go deeper (pun intended)?
I know it is suppose to be a love story but what are we talking movie rating wise?

It can be as explicit as you want it to be. My most recent Romance was my best received, I think in part because it had a very hot sex scene.

 

[DEFCOM5]

It can be as explicit as you want it to be. My most recent Romance was my best received, I think in part because it had a very hot sex scene.

Interesting because the Romance description is "Drama, love, risk, and happily-ever-afters"
So it has to be a love story with a happy ending (not the massage style).

 

[iwatchus]

Interesting because the Romance description is "Drama, love, risk, and happily-ever-afters"
So it has to be a love story with a happy ending (not the massage style).

But you are certainly allowed to consummate the relationship. And if they know a kink of each other, all the more fun. Or they can discover a kink.

 

[DEFCOM5]

But you are certainly allowed to consummate the relationship. And if they know a kink of each other, all the more fun. Or they can discover a kink.

Good to know. I thought romance has to be PG. I am glad I was wrong.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

@Voboy,
When writing romance, how detailed can the sex be? Can it just mentioned or can you go deeper (pun intended)?
I know it is suppose to be a love story but what are we talking movie rating wise?

My best-reviewed piece is a romance piece and it had plenty of explicit sex. It didn't have them dirty talking like porn stars or performing any extreme sex acts, but it was still easily X-rated in terms of having lots of graphic descriptions. Romance is about the characters and the gravitational pull between them more than any specific window dressing or writing style.

 

[KindredFlame]

@Voboy,
When writing romance, how detailed can the sex be? Can it just mentioned or can you go deeper (pun intended)?
I know it is suppose to be a love story but what are we talking movie rating wise?

I must admit I struggle with that also. I wrote a draft story then realised there is no sexiness it. So I looked for somewhere that sex would fit and I could not find an opening.

 

[Statius]

Sounds like we're getting back to the eroticism/ porn discussion again. Fitting here though. But I agree that romantic stories can have explicit sex, and maybe it's that romance between the characters that makes it erotic- that and the lack of talking like porn stars, as @APilgrimSquare said above.

 

[Voboy]

@Voboy,
When writing romance, how detailed can the sex be? Can it just mentioned or can you go deeper (pun intended)?
I know it is suppose to be a love story but what are we talking movie rating wise?

I don't tone down the sex no matter which category I post in.

I do shorten fuckscenes in SF pieces sometimes, but I don't reduce detail. Just duration, usually.

Romantical stories needn't be posted in "Romance" alone. You can very easily do a Romance-type story in, say, "Mature" if the main idea is the age difference, and I've done so several times. All of them have done well. A good story is a good story, after all, in most cases. I do think the VDay contest benefits from a happier ending, no matter what category you post in.

 

[KindredFlame]

Is implied sex enough? A stolen kiss a warm embrace. Instead of he grabbed her arse and shoved his tongue into her mouth as there lips met forcefully.

 

[Husky_Embrace]

Can't you go for romantic dialogue and gestures during sex? Go to the rooftop to bang it out. During she gives him that position he dreamed of once. Or simply more attention to what the other wants or writing how the romance so far makes them feel during the act.

For me personally the description of sex is always interwoven with what they feel. It is the impact that matters, the moves and positions just dressing it up nicely. The question then becomes "how does this act impact them romantically," or "how does the romance steer them to do certain acts."

 

[iwatchus]

Is implied sex enough? A stolen kiss a warm embrace. Instead of he grabbed her arse and shoved his tongue into her mouth as there lips met forcefully.

I think put as much sex in as you want and makes sense in the story. Some stories have little more than fade to black. Others are very explicit.

I like writing Romances because I like happy endings -- life sucks enough to not want my fantasies to be unhappy too. But falling in love often ends up with consummating the relationship.

I like writing erotica because sex is an important part of the human experience and deserves to be part of our artistic perspectives of ourselves. Why not celebrate the beautiful in our existence, and sex can be that. Eating is another obviously important part of the human experience. Many of my stories talk about the meals they have. Not dwelling on cereal and toast for breakfast, but special meals. Let your art savor the sensual parts of our lives (or the lives we wished we had).

 

[Aoife_from_Ulster]

Frustrated … I have hit a wall and am just stuck on a transitional scene … nothing makes sense. Ugh!

 

[iwatchus]

Frustrated … I have hit a wall and am just stuck on a transitional scene … nothing makes sense. Ugh!

You don't need advice from me, but can you just mark it as <<transition here>> or something and tackle it in your rewrite?

 

[KindredFlame]

I think put as much sex in as you want and makes sense in the story. Some stories have little more than fade to black. Others are very explicit.

I like writing Romances because I like happy endings -- life sucks enough to not want my fantasies to be unhappy too. But falling in love often ends up with consummating the relationship.

I like writing erotica because sex is an important part of the human experience and deserves to be part of our artistic perspectives of ourselves. Why not celebrate the beautiful in our existence, and sex can be that. Eating is another obviously important part of the human experience. Many of my stories talk about the meals they have. Not dwelling on cereal and toast for breakfast, but special meals. Let your art savor the sensual parts of our lives (or the lives we wished we had).

Thanks for this it helps so much.

 

[KindredFlame]

Frustrated … I have hit a wall and am just stuck on a transitional scene … nothing makes sense. Ugh!

I feel for you. May I ask what are you transitioning from to?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Frustrated … I have hit a wall and am just stuck on a transitional scene … nothing makes sense. Ugh!

PM me if you want a second pair of eyes.