Just thinking out loud...Laurel

[SusanJillParker]

After seeing more and more contest entries growing longer and fewer and fewer readers reading them, maybe we should have a different kind of contest.

Just a thought while thinking out loud, what if Literotica had a contest with no theme? Wow! A contest without a safety net.

What if we could write whatever we wanted to write without being confined to a theme? The only rule would be that the story submission cannot be more than one Literotica page, about 3,600 to 3,800 words.

What do you think?

In this world of instant gratification and with everyone wanting whatever they want now, sometimes the fewer words make for a better story. Write tight. Be concise. Make use of every word. Hell, if we can't write a story in one page, then maybe the story shouldn't be written and we as writers shouldn't be writing.

Sometimes with the meat of our stories only taking a few hundred words to tell and to show, too often the rest of the too long story is just unnecessary filler. We can still set the scene, develop characters, write dialogue, and create the plot with plenty of description, tension, and imagery but while keeping it simple and short.

I just wonder how much a truly short story would motivate more readers to read if reading all of the story submissions wouldn't take much longer than reading two giant 50,000 word contest story. What do you think?

We can call the contest...Quick Bang, Snap Short, or something really crazy like, gee, I don't know, maybe...Short Story!

 

[LadyVer]

As a reader, I love the idea of a one-page story, especially for contests.

 

[TxRad]

As a reader, I love the idea of a one-page story, especially for contests.

And you would get 300 of them from Freddie alone.

 

[sr71plt]

As I've noted elsewhere, I think it would be a good idea to separate the short story and novella/novel lengths in contests. Have a dual contest. Both are legitimate forms--they are just different forms and are voted differently on Lit.

 

[Handley_Page]

As a reader, I love the idea of a one-page story, especially for contests.

I love the idea.

 

[49greg]

I like the idea. I've only done a few one pagers but enjoyed writing them. It's hard because I tend to be too verbose.

 

[redzinger]

I love this idea, I'd be well up for it. A proper challenge. Like others, I have a tendency for verbosity.

 

[glynndah]

I love writing in the short story format. The vast majority of my stories are under three Lit pages.

Perhaps a new contest would give me an incentive to finish the two stories I have half-finished for the now defunct "Earth Day" one.

 

[Totzman]

As I've noted elsewhere, I think it would be a good idea to separate the short story and novella/novel lengths in contests. Have a dual contest. Both are legitimate forms--they are just different forms and are voted differently on Lit.

^--- this. I hate putting tons of effort into a long drawn out story only to have my entry get lost among a sea of one-pagers.

 

[oggbashan]

You could try one of my specialities - Fifty Word Stories.

You need a set of fifteen of them to meet the 750 word minimum for a story submission.

But - a warning - writing 15 x fifty word stories can take as much or more effort as a three or four Lit page story.

 

[sheablue]

You could try one of my specialities - Fifty Word Stories.

You need a set of fifteen of them to meet the 750 word minimum for a story submission.

But - a warning - writing 15 x fifty word stories can take as much or more effort as a three or four Lit page story.

Or my new challenge to myself, the 750-1,000 word story. Not as easy as it sounds!

 

[_Lynn_]

I love writing in the short story format. The vast majority of my stories are under three Lit pages.

Perhaps a new contest would give me an incentive to finish the two stories I have half-finished for the now defunct "Earth Day" one.

Anything I write now falls in the 1500 - 2500 word range, although some are even less.

 

[glynndah]

Or my new challenge to myself, the 750-1,000 word story. Not as easy as it sounds!

I'm quite a fan of the short ones. One of my favorites, although apparently no one else's, "Moonlight Wood" is 750 words.

You could try one of my specialities - Fifty Word Stories.

You need a set of fifteen of them to meet the 750 word minimum for a story submission.

But - a warning - writing 15 x fifty word stories can take as much or more effort as a three or four Lit page story.

Remember the 100 word story challenges? I wrote quite a few of those. They are really my favorite style. You have to make every word count.

Anything I write now falls in the 1500 - 2500 word range, although some are even less.

I have a couple of longer ones in the works, but most of mine are about this length or less.

 

[Laurel]

We're open to any sort of new themed contest.

There are 6 themed contests per year, which seems to be a fine number. Currently, we have

Valentine's Day
April Fools
Nude Day
Summer Lovin'
Halloween
Winter Holidays​

If this is something that authors are interested in pursuing, you'd have to think of a contest title and description, then decide which contest to move off in order to make room for such a contest.

Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Winter Holidays are very popular contests, and thus permanent.

If the majority of authors are interested in this, we can consider putting it on the schedule.

 

[HeyAll]

Here's the problem:

If each contest story is 1 page, then all of the scores will be low as a result.

So the 3 winners will be the people with the least-lowest scores.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Here's the problem:

If each contest story is 1 page, then all of the scores will be low as a result.

So the 3 winners will be the people with the least-lowest scores.

I respectfully disagree with you.

I've been writing here long enough to know that a one page story would attract more readers. Thereby, instead of the scores being lower, if anything, they'd be much higher because the volume of scores would offset the bashers who bash stories in every contest.

Moreover, in the way that people want something to read with their bagel and coffee in the morning, we supply them with a one page story.

 

[SusanJillParker]

We're open to any sort of new themed contest.

There are 6 themed contests per year, which seems to be a fine number. Currently, we have

Valentine's Day
April Fools
Nude Day
Summer Lovin'
Halloween
Winter Holidays​

If this is something that authors are interested in pursuing, you'd have to think of a contest title and description, then decide which contest to move off in order to make room for such a contest.

Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Winter Holidays are very popular contests, and thus permanent.

If the majority of authors are interested in this, we can consider putting it on the schedule.

Hi Laurel,

How are you? I like your hair. Have you lost weight? You look skinny. Anyway...

This is what I'm thinking.

I've noticed that the readership, since I wrote as BostonFictionWriter, for one reason or another has dwindled, just my take. Perhaps people are afraid to log into a site like this for fear that someone, somewhere will know they've been reading erotica. Who knows?

Instead of displacing any contest, why not add, not so much a contest, but a monthly writing exercise with no prize money. Repeat: No Prize Money.

Once a month, pick a day, the same day each month, you post all and only one page stories that writers have written by having them denote that it's a one page story in the notes box: ONE PAGE STORY.

I truly believe that readers will look forward to reading one page stories while on their way to work, on their way home, having their morning coffee and bagel, during lunch, or when sitting on the toilet doing their business.

You can put a heading above the stories: One Page Monthly Stories.

I truly believe I'm onto something. I truly believe that this one page story exercise will promote the site and deliver more readers. What do you think?

If judging this writing exercise by my stories, the stories that have the highest hits are complete stories and not chapter stories. Most of my shorter stories all have six figures with hundreds if not thousands of votes.

This could be a win/win for not only the site but also the writers who write here. It's a good way for us to be noticed more quickly. Once they read our one page story, there's more of a chance that they'll want to read our other stories. Further, for those casual writers who infrequently write, they'd be more apt to write a one page story.

You can have the same rule that the same writer can't win in consecutive contests or writing exercises.

After the stories have been on the site for two weeks, the one story that has the highest number of hits, not the highest score, receives a Purple P or a Literotica Orange L. Whatever, just something to denote that the story won the writing exercise.

Perhaps, even, at the end of the year, the one page story that has received the most hits, receives Literotica's most prized award, the Green E of excellence.

As an aside, Laurel, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. Come closer to the screen so than no one else can read this but you haven't awarded me a Green E since I wrote as BostonFictionWriter and I'm a much better writer now than I was then.

Perhaps, as my personal award, should you use my idea, you'd see fit to award me with several Green E's for my unselfish effort in putting the site above my own agenda.

Oh, and I also have a bridge and swamp land, I mean, ocean front property to sell too, if you're interested.

What do you think?

 

[SusanJillParker]

We're open to any sort of new themed contest.

There are 6 themed contests per year, which seems to be a fine number. Currently, we have

Valentine's Day
April Fools
Nude Day
Summer Lovin'
Halloween
Winter Holidays​

If this is something that authors are interested in pursuing, you'd have to think of a contest title and description, then decide which contest to move off in order to make room for such a contest.

Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Winter Holidays are very popular contests, and thus permanent.

If the majority of authors are interested in this, we can consider putting it on the schedule.

Oops. Sorry, Laurel, I failed to mention.

My idea is not for a themed contest but as a writing exercise with no theme.

Writers are free to write whatever they want and in any category they'd want to write.

It's more of a one page, free writing exercise.

I respectfully thank you for your response, Your Majesty.

(Curtseying low, I walk out of the thread backwards while not looking at the Queen.)

 

[Laurel]

Oops. Sorry, Laurel, I failed to mention.

My idea is not for a themed contest but as a writing exercise with no theme.

Writers are free to write whatever they want and in any category they'd want to write.

It's more of a one page, free writing exercise.

I respectfully thank you for your response, Your Majesty.

(Curtseying low, I walk out of the thread backwards while not looking at the Queen.)

Oh, okay. Those are usually organized by authors, not the site. Feel free to organize the challenge. If you need anything on our end (i.e. if you want all the challenge stories posted on the say day), let me know.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Oh, okay. Those are usually organized by authors, not the site. Feel free to organize the challenge. If you need anything on our end (i.e. if you want all the challenge stories posted on the say day), let me know.

A challenge? Um, well, first of all, I'm not an editor. Matter of fact, I hate editing. Just as it takes a special person who can write creatively, it takes a special person who can edit.

Moreover, unfamiliar territory for me, how does one organize a challenge with the site behind it?

If the words ONE PAGE STORY is written in the notes section will that be posted on the same day of the same month? How do we pick the winner without having to go through the hits that each story received without having your computer at our disposal? Is that something that Manu can do on the side and in his spare time?

"I need a volunteer to create a 'challenge.' Anyone? Hello?"

Will you still award some sort of special colored letter to the winner for getting the most hits on their story? Will you give a Green E to the story with the highest hits at the end of the year?

Being that I had a good idea to deliver more readers to the site, I would have thought you would have more embraced the idea and thrown more of your support behind the writing exercise. Forgive me for overstepping my area of responsibility, not that I have an area of responsibility, and authority, not that I have any authority.

By the way, if you're planning on mailing me Literotica promotional items for my efforts, I take a large in a Literotica tee shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket because of my big tits and an extra large in a hat because of my big, inflated head.

I'll have you know that I still proudly wear my Green E around my neck that you gave me when I wrote as BostonFictionWriter. Only, because it glows in the dark, sort of like Krptonite, I'm not able to wear it while driving. The green brilliance blinds oncoming drivers. I even wearing when swimming...topless. The bright green color keeps sharks at bay.

Laurel? Laurel? Hey, where'd you go? Wait! Don't go. We were just bonding. I was going to ask you to do my hair.

"Shane! Come back. Shane!"

 

[8letters]

"I need a volunteer to create a 'challenge.' Anyone? Hello?"

I'll organize it. I can't imagine writing a story that short, so I won't be entering.

2500 Words or Less Challenge
Starts: April 16th
Ends: May 5th
Winner determined: May 15th

Rules
* I will create a thread for the contest. The OP will have a list of all of the stories. I will update the OP daily (except weekends), randomizing the order of the stories each day. The list will have the title of the story (which will be a link to the story), category and author
* To get on that list, the author has to post to that thread a link to their entry
* Please - only one entry per category per author. Yes, I know that you can get around that with alts
* Winning: see below
* To win, the story must have a minimum number of votes. The number of votes will be specific to each category. I'll determine that number later
* The body of the story cannot be more that 2500 words. There should be a note before the body of the story announcing that the story is apart of the 2016 2500 Words or Less Challenge. There can be additional notes at the beginning (such as "All characters are over the age of 18") and at the end of the story
* I won't count the number of words in a story unless someone suspects a story is too long and PM's me that
* There will be winners declared for each of the following measures:
** Highest score
** Most viewed story
** Highest of the following formula: number of votes times cube of score
** Highest score plus bonus for uniqueness of category. The bonus will be: +0.2 if the story is the only story in that category, +0.15 if only two stories in that category, +0.1 if only three stories in that category and +0.05 if only four stories in that category

This is a rough draft. Please suggestion improvements.

 

[sr71plt]

Here's the problem:

If each contest story is 1 page, then all of the scores will be low as a result.

That's a pretty wild premise, isn't it?

 

[sr71plt]

The admin response on this doesn't really address much of what has been brought up about the contests. For starters, short stories and novellas/novels are not the same mode of writing. Can anyone point to a contest anywhere other than here in which they the two forms are permitted to compete against each other?

 

[_Lynn_]

Here's the problem:

If each contest story is 1 page, then all of the scores will be low as a result.

My FAWC2 entry (which won the challenge) was a single page and the score remains over 4.50. I don't consider that a low score.

 

[SusanJillParker]

I'll organize it. I can't imagine writing a story that short, so I won't be entering.

2500 Words or Less Challenge
Starts: April 16th
Ends: May 5th
Winner determined: May 15th

Rules
* I will create a thread for the contest. The OP will have a list of all of the stories. I will update the OP daily (except weekends), randomizing the order of the stories each day. The list will have the title of the story (which will be a link to the story), category and author
* To get on that list, the author has to post to that thread a link to their entry
* Please - only one entry per category per author. Yes, I know that you can get around that with alts
* Winning: see below
* To win, the story must have a minimum number of votes. The number of votes will be specific to each category. I'll determine that number later
* The body of the story cannot be more that 2500 words. There should be a note before the body of the story announcing that the story is apart of the 2016 2500 Words or Less Challenge. There can be additional notes at the beginning (such as "All characters are over the age of 18") and at the end of the story
* I won't count the number of words in a story unless someone suspects a story is too long and PM's me that
* There will be winners declared for each of the following measures:
** Highest score
** Most viewed story
** Highest of the following formula: number of votes times cube of score
** Highest score plus bonus for uniqueness of category. The bonus will be: +0.2 if the story is the only story in that category, +0.15 if only two stories in that category, +0.1 if only three stories in that category and +0.05 if only four stories in that category

This is a rough draft. Please suggestion improvements.

Thank you for volunteering to create a thread for the contest but instead of 2,500 words, I was thinking more of 3,600 to 3,800 words, one Literotica page.

Also for the intended purpose of this contest, the highest score won't work.

The most hits is how I'd like the winner to be determined.

The whole idea behind this exercise is to encourage more readers.

Even though someone can open and close a story over and again, I really don't want to have another contest where votes can be manipulated.