The Official Author's Hangout Halloween Contest Support Thread

[TxRad]

Welcome to the: The Official Author's Hangout Halloween Contest Support Thread.

Come on in, prop up your feet, and get to writing. October 1st is coming up fast.

Just remember to beware of fake contests.

 

[oggbashan]

672 words written this morning.

Then grandson woke up...

 

[RjThoughts]

It appears that my idea for this contest seems to have a life of its own. Not a short story, but a novella appears to be on the horizon. UGH!!

 

[sethp]

oh fuck. it's Sept 18th already and I haven't even started yet!

 

[TxRad]

It appears that my idea for this contest seems to have a life of its own. Not a short story, but a novella appears to be on the horizon. UGH!!

Welcome to my world

 

[Brandie69]

A question for the experienced contestants in the thread:

I know, with dire warnings, that I have to cut and paste the magic words about the contest into the comments section of the submission form when I submit my Halloween contest entry.

But what if I also want to plead my case that my story should go into, say "Romance" rather than "Erotic Horror." Or what if I want to tell Laurel to italicize the "Author's note," which is something I usually use the comment section to mention to her.

Can I also put those things into the comments field, in addition to the magic contest submission words? Will that cause Robot's little arms to rake up and down, and cause my submission to be delayed or missed entirely?

 

[damppanties]

A question for the experienced contestants in the thread:

I know, with dire warnings, that I have to cut and paste the magic words about the contest into the comments section of the submission form when I submit my Halloween contest entry.

But what if I also want to plead my case that my story should go into, say "Romance" rather than "Erotic Horror." Or what if I want to tell Laurel to italicize the "Author's note," which is something I usually use the comment section to mention to her.

Can I also put those things into the comments field, in addition to the magic contest submission words? Will that cause Robot's little arms to rake up and down, and cause my submission to be delayed or missed entirely?

Italics can be accomplished on your own (without any note to Laurel) by tagging them with these symbols: <i>This text will be italicized.</i>

I want to say that you can have other stuff in the notes field other than the HALLOWEEN CONTEST ENTRY, ETC. that needs to go in, but am not sure. I assume Laurel scans the notes for the exact phrase electronically, so will find it regardless of other stuff in there, but again, I'm not sure. Shoot her a PM and ask.

 

[Karenas]

I've got a good start on my story, but I want to make sure it'll count. I've got a gargoyle as one of the two main characters--is that enough to qualify for the Halloween contest by itself?

 

[sr71plt]

I've got a good start on my story, but I want to make sure it'll count. I've got a gargoyle as one of the two main characters--is that enough to qualify for the Halloween contest by itself?

Sure. There's really no one checking for theme, but a gargoyle should fit Halloween--especially if it's one of the characters.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

But what if I also want to plead my case that my story should go into, say "Romance" rather than "Erotic Horror." Or what if I want to tell Laurel to italicize the "Author's note," which is something I usually use the comment section to mention to her.

I'm not experienced in the competitions but I agree you can self-italicize by using the method described above.

And for pleading, I personally would put a note at the start of the story text, like:

LAUREL: Please blah blah ...

She can hardly miss that, after all she has to skim the story. Alternatively a separate message might work, but it might be a big ask for her to tie up your message with the story when she skims it at 11 pm or whenever she does it.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm not experienced in the competitions but I agree you can self-italicize by using the method described above.

And for pleading, I personally would put a note at the start of the story text, like:



She can hardly miss that, after all she has to skim the story. Alternatively a separate message might work, but it might be a big ask for her to tie up your message with the story when she skims it at 11 pm or whenever she does it.

I'm pretty sure Laurel doesn't want notes popping up for her attention in anything but the Notes box. That's what it's there for.

I'd try skipping a line after the contest slug and go ahead and put anything else for her attention in the Notes box.

 

[PennLady]

A question for the experienced contestants in the thread:

I know, with dire warnings, that I have to cut and paste the magic words about the contest into the comments section of the submission form when I submit my Halloween contest entry.

Yes, make sure you have the "HALLOWEEN STORY CONTEST 2012" note in the notes field, first thing.

But what if I also want to plead my case that my story should go into, say "Romance" rather than "Erotic Horror." Or what if I want to tell Laurel to italicize the "Author's note," which is something I usually use the comment section to mention to her.

Is there a big chance your story would go into Horror and not Romance? I'm not saying things can't overlap, but that's kind of a big gap there. Also a little tough to judge without knowing anything about the story. Just b/c it's Halloween doesn't mean it will go into Horror. Like every contest, entries span all the categories.

How are you submitting your story? Are you pasting the text into the box on the submissions page? Or are you attaching a file?

If you are pasting the text into the box, just put an author's note at the beginning or end of the story using html italics tags. For example: <i>This is the author's note.</i> It will appear italicized on the screen when posted.

If you are submitting a file, then I suppose you put a note at the top in italics. As sr71 suggests, skip a line after the contest slug and advise Laurel that there are italics in the text.

Can I also put those things into the comments field, in addition to the magic contest submission words? Will that cause Robot's little arms to rake up and down, and cause my submission to be delayed or missed entirely?

What comments field?

 

[electric1]

Italics can be accomplished on your own (without any note to Laurel) by tagging them with these symbols: <i>This text will be italicized.</i>

I want to say that you can have other stuff in the notes field other than the HALLOWEEN CONTEST ENTRY, ETC. that needs to go in, but am not sure.

*Waves hand around*

Oooo! I know! I know!

Yes, you can put other comments in that box as well. As long as the magic phrase is in there somewhere, you're fine.

For my last Earth Day entry, I asked Laurel about this. She said it was fine. I followed the advice, and I was fine.

 

[MatthewVett]

I think this entry is the most fun I've had writing a story in a long time. It's also probably my most intelligent story on the site. The introduction, especially, has a lot of references and jokes I doubt most readers will get, but at this point, I'm writing for me.

 

[wantsomefun1951]

Question.

In Laurel's post about the rules for this contest, she says we should write a "frighteningly hot" story. Assuming she wasn't talking about a scary furnace, I infer that she is referring to the sexual nature of our entries.

My question is, can a non-erotic story be included in this contest? I have a story in mind in which I simply can't envision a sex scene. It's not that I'm squeamish about necrophilia or a blowjob in a mausoleum. I wrote a story last year that included a LOT of sex between a mortal, a vampiress, a warlock, an ogre, a zombie, and a werewolf, so I know I could do it, if the story line lent itself to that. It's simply that the tale I have in mind wouldn't include any scenarios where two characters would be intimate, and I really can't see my tortured protagonist taking a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues anywhere for some solitary fun.

Will a non-erotic story be acceptable? And will it automatically be trolled to death by the readers?

 

[sr71plt]

In Laurel's post about the rules for this contest, she says we should write a "frighteningly hot" story. Assuming she wasn't talking about a scary furnace, I infer that she is referring to the sexual nature of our entries.

My question is, can a non-erotic story be included in this contest? I have a story in mind in which I simply can't envision a sex scene. It's not that I'm squeamish about necrophilia or a blowjob in a mausoleum. I wrote a story last year that included a LOT of sex between a mortal, a vampiress, a warlock, an ogre, a zombie, and a werewolf, so I know I could do it, if the story line lent itself to that. It's simply that the tale I have in mind wouldn't include any scenarios where two characters would be intimate, and I really can't see my tortured protagonist taking a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues anywhere for some solitary fun.

Will a non-erotic story be acceptable? And will it automatically be trolled to death by the readers?

Nonerotic stories can be included--and have won in the past. The parameters of the themed contests are really very loose and no one is selecting out stories that are either weak on theme or not hot.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

In Laurel's post about the rules for this contest, she says we should write a "frighteningly hot" story. Assuming she wasn't talking about a scary furnace, I infer that she is referring to the sexual nature of our entries.

My question is, can a non-erotic story be included in this contest? I have a story in mind in which I simply can't envision a sex scene. It's not that I'm squeamish about necrophilia or a blowjob in a mausoleum. I wrote a story last year that included a LOT of sex between a mortal, a vampiress, a warlock, an ogre, a zombie, and a werewolf, so I know I could do it, if the story line lent itself to that. It's simply that the tale I have in mind wouldn't include any scenarios where two characters would be intimate, and I really can't see my tortured protagonist taking a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues anywhere for some solitary fun.

Will a non-erotic story be acceptable? And will it automatically be trolled to death by the readers?

yep. i'm planning one too. as for trolls, i can't see why - Loving Wives, however ...

 

[TxRad]

My two novel seem to go on and on with no end in sight.

Maybe it's time to regroup. Something haunting but not haunted.

 

[oggbashan]

Will a non-erotic story be acceptable? And will it automatically be trolled to death by the readers?

I think the answers are 1. Yes and 2. Not necessarily. If the story is off-theme it could receive low votes. Most Halloween stories are in the Erotic Horror category. If the story is Horror with no Erotic component, then the readers might vote it down.

But if the story is correctly categorised as Non-Erotic, it should not be punished for that. However this is Literotica and readers expect sex in a story so could be disappointed with a Non-Erotic Contest entry.

 

[RjThoughts]

Welcome to my world

I left the notes out one evening, my wife read them and agreed that I have something more than a 5K word short story in the offing.

 

[RjThoughts]

I think the answers are 1. Yes and 2. Not necessarily. If the story is off-theme it could receive low votes. Most Halloween stories are in the Erotic Horror category. If the story is Horror with no Erotic component, then the readers might vote it down.

But if the story is correctly categorised as Non-Erotic, it should not be punished for that. However this is Literotica and readers expect sex in a story so could be disappointed with a Non-Erotic Contest entry.

I feel as if certain "readers" purposely vote low ALL Non-Erotic stories, feeling as if it's their duty to get no sex stories off Lit. Frustrating as sin.

 

[MatthewVett]

I feel as if certain "readers" purposely vote low ALL Non-Erotic stories, feeling as if it's their duty to get no sex stories off Lit. Frustrating as sin.

Hm, mildly worried about my entry, then, since it's pretty much only semi-erotic. But, then again, it's something wildly different from anything else I've done, and it'll be obvious right away, so hopefully that will scare off anyone who's not willing to give it a try.

 

[topace]

Oh man, I just had an idea pop into my head for a title. I'd better not share it here, or someone might grab it!

 

[sr71plt]

I feel as if certain "readers" purposely vote low ALL Non-Erotic stories, feeling as if it's their duty to get no sex stories off Lit. Frustrating as sin.

Certain "readers" low vote every story on some excuse or another. I think my highest ratings for contest entries (Christmas stories about four years ago) and the closest I came to placing in a contest came with nonerotic stories.

Just write what you want (dammit) and play the contest for the fun of it rather than painting yourself into a false "what will win?" corner. This is an "American Idol" type of contest--not a serious one that has much to do with the comparitive quality of your story or how well it uses the theme.

 

[LaRascasse]

9K words done. By my reckoning, that is a shade over half. Lots more guy-guy action left.

The story isn't going that badly, but the gay sex looks terrible as of now. That will need some serious fixing before it goes up.