Valentine's Day Story Contest 2009 Reminder and Support Thread

[Darkniciad]

Forgive me, Webmaster, for I am new, it has been 10 days since my last comment...

I am so happy that I finally found this thread again. Is there a way of keeping track of where you posted on this site? I think that I commented on another thread, and I have commented on a story that was uber romantic, not in the contest tho...

At the top of each page of a thread, you should see a listing for "thread tools". When you click on that, you should see "subscribe to this thread"

Once you subscribe to a thread, you can go to the top of the forum to "User CP" and the very first thing that appears is your subscribed threads. If any have recent replies, they're listed. If not, you can click a link to see every thread you've subscribed to, letting you easily locate it, even if it falls off the first page or just escapes your eyes.

There are also option that will send you an email when there are new replies to a thread, at various intervals.

 

[TE999]

Oh frabjous day, callooh, callay...my score inches toward 3.0...it's now 2.88 with 60 votes and 5,948 reads.

I have several nice PC's and votes from my fellow writers and contest participants...I'm guessin' a lot of the negative onesie and twosie votes are trolls.

If you don't like the story, just move along instead of poking it with a stick, that solves nothing.

I don't mind constructive criticism...but malice or stupidity pisses me off.

 

[Lee Chambers]

11,000 words and I'm still not done. It just keeps growing!!

 

[Darkniciad]

4400 for me. I'm trying to transition out of the character building and establishing cause to get to the main tension and effect.

Slowly. Very slowly.

 

[Munachi]

still working on my story... if i decide not to put any sex into it, or very little, i might manage to get done in time. if i try to write a sex scene... well, those usually take ages to write for me...

 

[DG Hear]

Oh frabjous day, callooh, callay...my score inches toward 3.0...it's now 2.88 with 60 votes and 5,948 reads.

I have several nice PC's and votes from my fellow writers and contest participants...I'm guessin' a lot of the negative onesie and twosie votes are trolls.

If you don't like the story, just move along instead of poking it with a stick, that solves nothing.

I don't mind constructive criticism...but malice or stupidity pisses me off.

Hi Tom, I used to really get pissed at all the negative comments. Sometimes it still pisses me off but I guess I'm hardened enough now to just put up with it. Sometimes it even makes me laugh. As another author has said, "if you rile readers up that much, they must take your story seriously".

There are more than enough good comments to offset the bad. The best to you my friend.
DG

Here are my latest totals. No vaccumn cleaner yet. haha

The Amish Woman She seemed so different, but was she?
4.40 413 26598 Erotic Couplings (English) 01/20/09 approved
Public Comments: 38

 

[DG Hear]

still working on my story... if i decide not to put any sex into it, or very little, i might manage to get done in time. if i try to write a sex scene... well, those usually take ages to write for me...

I wrote a short story yesterday for the contest. After writing so many sex scenes it's hard to come up with anything new. Hope the plot is enough. LOL Sent in to the editor. Thank Go for editors!!! I'm sure not the worlds greatest writer. haha Good luck with finishing your story.
DG

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[Mz_minx]

How come the list of stories changes order everytime I click on it? i thought I was seeing things LOL!

I've got 4.50 with 135 votes so not very many votes at all really, but then I guess there aren't that many non-human readers? I dunno, I love vamps myself though

And pleaseeee do tell me what the hoover is, I am perplexed by it

 

[Mz_minx]

Good Morning,

My story has been at 4.17 since the beginning of the contest. Oh well, no last place for me.

I get upset when the comments aren't useful. For example the person commenting on how the stories don't have to do with Valentine's Day - that annoys me.

I read all the new stories this morning. I am really enjoying all of them.

Yeah that commenter really sucks as the stories I read were on topic as far as I was concerned.

I've been offline for a couple of days so I have lots to catch up on, there's loads of new entries! Exciting

 

[Safe_Bet]

How come the list of stories changes order everytime I click on it? i thought I was seeing things LOL!

I've got 4.50 with 135 votes so not very many votes at all really, but then I guess there aren't that many non-human readers? I dunno, I love vamps myself though

And pleaseeee do tell me what the hoover is, I am perplexed by it

It has to be some kind of random rotation so that stories like mine aren't always on the bottom! LOL

The "Hoover" is a program that they run to remove duplicate or "trollish" votes. Nobody but the site owners know what criteria it uses to eliminate votes but it is SUPPOSE to keep people from getting one-bombed by trolls, people who vote multiple times for their fav writer and possibly remove votes from people who have multiple alts. *cough, cough, scouries, cough, cough*

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[oggbashan]

People have multiple alts! No way!

...

Erin

We have multiple alts but only vote and comment as Og. We use Jeanne D'Artois as an alternative on candle threads to keep at least one candle alight.

Fag-Ash Lil won't vote, even if bribed with ciggies.

Og, er Jeanne and Fag-Ash Lil

 

[Darkniciad]

We have multiple alts but only vote and comment as Og. We use Jeanne D'Artois as an alternative on candle threads to keep at least one candle alight.

Fag-Ash Lil won't vote, even if bribed with ciggies.

Og, er Jeanne and Fag-Ash Lil

Same here, except I've accidently started reading in the wrong browser before ( I keep Les logged in under Firefox, and Dark logged in under IE -- handy, that ) and decided not to bother switching before voting/commenting on a story that I'd just finished reading, or changing the Login on my browser.

 

[Munachi]

I wrote a short story yesterday for the contest. After writing so many sex scenes it's hard to come up with anything new. Hope the plot is enough. LOL Sent in to the editor. Thank Go for editors!!! I'm sure not the worlds greatest writer. haha Good luck with finishing your story.
DG

thanks... always amazes me when people say they wrote a story "yesterday" or similar - does this mean you can write a story in one day? I always need weeks for that... sometimes i have all the story line in my head, and can write a big part of it just in one go, but there comes always a point where i get stuck and have to struggle for each sentence, or take long breaks for a fresh start...

 

[oggbashan]

thanks... always amazes me when people say they wrote a story "yesterday" or similar - does this mean you can write a story in one day? I always need weeks for that... sometimes i have all the story line in my head, and can write a big part of it just in one go, but there comes always a point where i get stuck and have to struggle for each sentence, or take long breaks for a fresh start...

I have written, edited and posted a story within one hour - as a challenge to myself - but I wouldn't recommend it as a normal practice.

Apart from the hundred odd incomplete stories on my hard drive (and backed-up of course) I have a dozen or so in my head at any one time.

Unfortunately that includes both potential Valentine's Day Contest entries.

Og

 

[DG Hear]

thanks... always amazes me when people say they wrote a story "yesterday" or similar - does this mean you can write a story in one day? I always need weeks for that... sometimes i have all the story line in my head, and can write a big part of it just in one go, but there comes always a point where i get stuck and have to struggle for each sentence, or take long breaks for a fresh start...

Short stories, (less than two full lit pages I can write in one day. Usually my longer stories where I want to build characters and emotion take me longer. Sometimes I start a story and just stop and it might be a month before I get back to it.

It has to be in my head before I can even start it. I may go weeks without any thooughts and then one day, 'Boom' a story begins. I write for fun, one day I will probably just stop, when it isn't fun anymore.
Good luck to you and your writing.
DG

 

[Darkniciad]

I'll occasionally whip out a story in a day. As I recall, Grandfather Yule was written in one sitting. So was King Thakkorias. Documentary: Cougar was two sittings in less than 24 hours. Some of the other short ones were less than 48 hours. Most of the ones 2 pages or less were probably written in a couple of hours, just with gaps between sittings.

I have major concentration issues lately. Even a story that I know from beginning to end is hard for me to sit and just write. I get through a few paragraphs, and my motivation just drains out. I have to go goof off for a while, and then come back -- rinse, repeat.

 

[Munachi]

yeah same in my case, sometimes my motivation just goes... i have problems focussing on anything anyway, really... same for my university stuff, i hardly ever study for a long time before i start doing something else.

 

[heartfelt]

At the top of each page of a thread, you should see a listing for "thread tools". When you click on that, you should see "subscribe to this thread"

Thanks. It will take me some time to get used to how to navigate this place. Appreciate the help.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Okay, I just submitted my contest entry. What little sex it has is right at the end, and gets cut off before it gets really serious. I hope I don't disappoint any of my readers, who are used to extensive graphic descriptions.

 

[Safe_Bet]

Okay, I just submitted my contest entry. What little sex it has is right at the end, and gets cut off before it gets really serious. I hope I don't disappoint any of my readers, who are used to extensive graphic descriptions.

Box wrote a non-smut story? Holy Shit!

Box, your fans are going to 1-BOMB the hell out of you!

 

[RelentlessPerversion]

Agreed

Agreed, and I would like to understand what, exactly, is a "proper" Valentine's story, in the eyes of those who would comment in that way. Valentine's Day means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, in my humble opinion.

Good Morning,

My story has been at 4.17 since the beginning of the contest. Oh well, no last place for me.

I get upset when the comments aren't useful. For example the person commenting on how the stories don't have to do with Valentine's Day - that annoys me.

I read all the new stories this morning. I am really enjoying all of them.

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[elfin_odalisque]

How come the list of stories changes order everytime I click on it? i thought I was seeing things LOL!

I've got 4.50 with 135 votes so not very many votes at all really, but then I guess there aren't that many non-human readers? I dunno, I love vamps myself though

And pleaseeee do tell me what the hoover is, I am perplexed by it

Some things I know and the rest has been picked up from greybeards who have departed this nirvana:-

- The list of entries gets rotated regularly so no author gets an advantage from their position in the list.

- Every so often, and always before the final result, the powers-that-be do a sweep of the votes to eliminate double voting from the same ISP.

- As I have been told, troll votes are also 'swept' by the Hoover.

From what scouries research has shown in past contests, 135 votes is very high, often stories win with less than 50 votes.