The Official Author's Hangout 2015 April Fool's Day Contest Support Thread

[sr71plt]

It went in N/N not only because it was long (it was written for the marketplace not just for this contest) but because Lit. has no category that accepts broadbased menage.

 

[Serafina1210]

Scoring sure...but it seems on two of mine the vote and view totals are down and those can't be stolen by trolls. Seems there is less reader interest in this one

The weather in much of the eastern U.S. is finally tolerable. Maybe people are out having a life instead of reading smut.

 

[sr71plt]

The weather in much of the eastern U.S. is finally tolerable. Maybe people are out having a life instead of reading smut.

It wasn't tolerable for the first two weeks of the contest when most of the submitting and voting occurred. It might have given them a sour disposition though.

 

[lovecraft68]

The weather in much of the eastern U.S. is finally tolerable. Maybe people are out having a life instead of reading smut.

The success of the Summer contest refutes that theory though....

 

[Serafina1210]

Okay, well maybe the April Fools' theme isn't sexy enough. It was a point you made earlier, I think, LC, that laughter could interfere with sexual arousal.

Maybe the spring contest next year should be Easter (or Passover) themed, and everyone can write theology. Or equinoctial. Or the beginning of daylight savings time.

Or ... Or ... hell, I don't know.

 

[lovecraft68]

Okay, well maybe the April Fools' theme isn't sexy enough. It was a point you made earlier, I think, LC, that laughter could interfere with sexual arousal.

Maybe the spring contest next year should be Easter (or Passover) themed, and everyone can write theology. Or equinoctial. Or the beginning of daylight savings time.

Or ... Or ... hell, I don't know.

What I really think is people do not like twist endings, especially if it was an unhappy one or nasty prank.

If you look at the categories I think NOn consent would be the only one where a "nasty" ending twist might be welcome, in general it is not a nice, fluffy category.

But in others...if the prank is "mean" like in my incest story there is a price to be paid.

Readers here are in love with what they love and want no variety, this has been discussed before, many readers are the equivalent of people who could eat a ham sandwich every day for a year, then bitch when they got PB&J one day
'
Now you have a contest with a theme of things are not as they seem and the stories will go in different directions.

I don't think surprises are a good thing here to many.

 

[YDB95]

Finally finished my second one. It's much shorter than the first and the sex is better, I think. Hope you agree.

 

[Serafina1210]

We write our little hearts out and what do we get but neglect and abuse ...

 

[lovecraft68]

We write our little hearts out and what do we get but neglect and abuse ...

Some of us like abuse.

 

[Serafina1210]

Some of us like abuse.

Depends on the kind of abuse. Neglect, though, always bad.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

We write our little hearts out and what do we get but neglect and abuse ...

don't take it to heart.

 

[Serafina1210]

don't take it to heart.

Totally dyin'

 

[TxRad]

don't take it to heart.

Says the man with eyes tattooed on his arse.

 

[Kethandra]

My previous entries in contests in I/T definitely drew more votes and views then this one has so far.

The real shocker this morning, though, is my Doggerel story and Audio. I had assumed low views, and lower votes because of the category. I was happy to have 11 votes on 1100 views as of last night (with a score around 3.85 or so).

Then a sweep came through this morning. It now has 7 votes (probably won't get to 25), but the score jumped from the high 3s to a 4.71! By far the biggest change I've seen a sweep cause, aided by the 4 votes removed equalling over a third of the previous total.

My two entries, and Jeanne's one, aren't attracting as much attention as my contest stories usually do.

Is it me? Or doesn't April Fool's Day attract as many readers?

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, there was a helpful sweep of votes today. The tragedy remains that there are nasty folks here who make the sweeps necessary.

 

[lovecraft68]

My previous entries in contests in I/T definitely drew more votes and views then this one has so far.

The real shocker this morning, though, is my Doggerel story and Audio. I had assumed low views, and lower votes because of the category. I was happy to have 11 votes on 1100 views as of last night (with a score around 3.85 or so).

Then a sweep came through this morning. It now has 7 votes (probably won't get to 25), but the score jumped from the high 3s to a 4.71! By far the biggest change I've seen a sweep cause, aided by the 4 votes removed equalling over a third of the previous total.

The last contest my mother/son seemed down compared to what I usually get, but this contest the numbers are a little higher than average (and mom/son again)

Safe to say these things are predictably unpredictable.

 

[Kethandra]

The last contest my mother/son seemed down compared to what I usually get, but this contest the numbers are a little higher than average (and mom/son again)

Safe to say these things are predictably unpredictable.

I dunno. Sounds like LC with a mom/son entry is a pretty safe prediction.

 

[msgrant67]

April Fools

What I really think is people do not like twist endings, especially if it was an unhappy one or nasty prank.

If you look at the categories I think NOn consent would be the only one where a "nasty" ending twist might be welcome, in general it is not a nice, fluffy category.

But in others...if the prank is "mean" like in my incest story there is a price to be paid.

Readers here are in love with what they love and want no variety, this has been discussed before, many readers are the equivalent of people who could eat a ham sandwich every day for a year, then bitch when they got PB&J one day
'
Now you have a contest with a theme of things are not as they seem and the stories will go in different directions.

I don't think surprises are a good thing here to many.

There can be nice surprises too. I haven't read all the stories yet but each April Fool's trick shouldn't be mean or nasty, some could just be fun.

 

[sr71plt]

There can be nice surprises too. I haven't read all the stories yet but each April Fool's trick shouldn't be mean or nasty, some could just be fun.

Any stories like that in the contest this time?

 

[Kethandra]

Any stories like that in the contest this time?

I think my "Hay Per Ill Fool" is like that. It wouldn't be at all pleasant or moral if taken literally in a modern context, but in a fairy tale-ish rhyming verse (nine minutes to listen or read) it's more fun than mean.
Particularly since the mean trick is near the beginning, but the 'surprise' is everyone ending up better than they started and realizing it by the end.


www.literotica.com/s/hay-per-ill-fool

 

[Serafina1210]

Most April Fools' stories will feature practical jokes, and practical jokes usually have victims. But that doesn't mean the story has to leave the reader feeling bad. Take Chaucer's Miller's Tale (I know I'm a bore on the subject of Chaucer, but he would have totally cleaned up an April Fools' Day contest). The old husband is cuckolded and suffers a broken arm, and everyone thinks he's gone crazy; Absalon kisses Alison's ass (and considers it a humiliation rather than a turn-on); Nicholas gets branded right in the crack with a hot iron; only Alison gets away clean (the Loving Wives mob and the MRAs would go ballistic). And yet most readers laugh and end the story feeling pretty good. His Merchant's Tale is a similar type of story (old husband cuckolded), but it leaves you feeling unclean. The difference isn't in the action, but in the presentation--how the story builds (or doesn't build) sympathy for the characters, how people talk, the imagery, and so on.

My entry has victims, but I tried to go for that Miller's Tale feeling. I have no idea what the story's current lousy score says about whether I succeeded or not.

 

[lovecraft68]

There can be nice surprises too. I haven't read all the stories yet but each April Fool's trick shouldn't be mean or nasty, some could just be fun.

One of mine can be seen as sick/mean

One starts off looking like its going to be reluctance, but softens and a good time is had by all

one is a simple little twist at the end, but the story was fun all the way through and that is the highest scored of the three

The nasty one is lowest the one in between scored in between

so take that for what its worth but the softer the twist the better the score, in my case anyway

 

[brainfade]

Any stories like that in the contest this time?

My "The Squad" is not, IMHO, nasty. Planned consent - but uncertainty and caution on the way.

Brainfade

 

[Seanathon]

I'm still banging away on my entry, as it took me a while to come up with an idea for this contest. I knew it would be a tough theme (I think I voted for Historical Fiction?) but I still like to try to enter each contest, even though there is no longer an official Survivor contest, because I hear it bumps your readership.

My question is: Can anyone guess how much crossover there is between fans of each category?

For instance, if you write an Incest story for the contest, are those readers then likely to click on your list of stories and read your non-incest stories? I would guess that Erotic Horror and NonHuman attract a lot of the same readers, but what about BDSM/Non-Consent/Reluctance?

In the year and a half I've been here I've written stories for 11 of the 30+ categories Lit offers as I'm always fishing for new readers, but I assume if I throw my line into the Mind Control pond I'm going to find the same ones I already hooked earlier with my NCR story.

I'm curious to know, as I choose other categories to try to write in, if anyone has any idea which ones have the most (and, I guess, least) cross-category appeal when it comes to readers.

Thanks ~ Seanathon

 

[RejectReality]

You already have a nice mix of categories, and you're doing well in all of them.

Other than what you've already mentioned, as I said in another thread, Mom/Son crosses over with MILF/Cougar. The same likely applies to Dad/Daughter and older man with younger woman stories. Readers crossing from the non-incest stories to the incest stories, not so much.

Beyond that, looking at your current mix, I'd say that no matter what category you branch out into, you're going to bring subsets of your readership with you, pick up new eyes from the new category, and bring them back to at least parts of your existing work.

More or less, "Write it, and they will come."

( Pun not originally intended, but highly appropriate just the same )

I'm still banging away on my entry, as it took me a while to come up with an idea for this contest. I knew it would be a tough theme (I think I voted for Historical Fiction?) but I still like to try to enter each contest, even though there is no longer an official Survivor contest, because I hear it bumps your readership.

My question is: Can anyone guess how much crossover there is between fans of each category?

For instance, if you write an Incest story for the contest, are those readers then likely to click on your list of stories and read your non-incest stories? I would guess that Erotic Horror and NonHuman attract a lot of the same readers, but what about BDSM/Non-Consent/Reluctance?

In the year and a half I've been here I've written stories for 11 of the 30+ categories Lit offers as I'm always fishing for new readers, but I assume if I throw my line into the Mind Control pond I'm going to find the same ones I already hooked earlier with my NCR story.

I'm curious to know, as I choose other categories to try to write in, if anyone has any idea which ones have the most (and, I guess, least) cross-category appeal when it comes to readers.

Thanks ~ Seanathon