The Official Authors' Hangout Valentine's Day 2021 Contest Support Thread

[Beneaththesurface]

Wish me luck.

I just began writing and had a fear to enter the Valentine’s story contest. Nearing the deadline, I figured the only way to learn how to swim is to get in the water. I got my submission “The Gift” in with just minutes to spare. Wish me luck and here’s to good luck to all the other writers.

 

[sirhugs]

I just began writing and had a fear to enter the Valentine’s story contest. Nearing the deadline, I figured the only way to learn how to swim is to get in the water. I got my submission “The Gift” in with just minutes to spare. Wish me luck and here’s to good luck to all the other writers.

good luck.

 

[gordo12]

Hope things work out and you come back soon!

Thanks Simon. I guess I have a year now to finish.

 

[oggbashan]

I have just finished the first draft of an April Fool's story but it is too early to start the support thread.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks Simon. I guess I have a year now to finish.

You and me both. I've been puttering around with the same Valentine's Day story and missed the deadline for it at least two years running now. So, next year for me, too. I hope.

 

[oggbashan]

I have just finished editing my second April Fools' Day story. Both are shi=ort. I can't seem to write a longer story for that contest.

 

[Voboy]

I have just finished the first draft of an April Fool's story but it is too early to start the support thread.

Lol! I've just finished up my Nude Day piece.

April Fools is SO hard for me.

 

[KeithD]

I find both the April Fools and Nude Day contests hard to write for, and that's probably why I continue to address the challenge.

 

[YDB95]

I have just finished editing my second April Fools' Day story. Both are shi=ort. I can't seem to write a longer story for that contest.

I've got that covered. I'm up to about 65 Word pages on my first (and probably only) April Fools' story.

 

[oggbashan]

I've got that covered. I'm up to about 65 Word pages on my first (and probably only) April Fools' story.

Well done! Like others I find the April Fools contest difficult. I can only fit one trick into a story and that makes it short.

 

[sirhugs]

Well done! Like others I find the April Fools contest difficult. I can only fit one trick into a story and that makes it short.

duelling tricks?

The initial victim tries to get even?

or combine a flashback to las year with what happens this year?

I just don't find trickery amusing, so the whole April Fools thing doesn't work for me.

 

[oggbashan]

...

I just don't find trickery amusing, so the whole April Fools thing doesn't work for me.

I think too many April Fool tricks humiliate the victim and I don't agree with humiliation...

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Tricks and pranks aren't erotic IMO, but the April Fool stories go much wider than that. Misunderstandings and communication failures can lead to good plots.

Mine did well last year despite the 'trick' being flagged up front, in the Description: 'Gay virgin mistakes her for a man'. Seems to be a varied crowd wanting entertainment, so a story that is a few pages that doesn't centre round a heroine called April and her or another character being an idiot, will likely do OK.

Unless of course something sets off the haters. I just posted a 750-word challenge story and put '750 Words Project' in the title and warned upfront, thinking that would head off criticism.
I was wrong - to be fair there's no criticism, just a score lower than I thought possible for anything that sounds remotely plausible and has actual punctuation. And some readers have gone to my previous 750 word story and downvoted that for good measure. Still, a few liked it and some went and read my longer stories and liked.them, which is what I did it for. All fun.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I just don't find trickery amusing, so the whole April Fools thing doesn't work for me.

KQ has the right idea. I’m going with (from the contest schedule description) surprise, misunderstandings, chance encounters.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This is an example of an April Fool's plot that could be written to fit almost any category on Lit:

Throughout the day, different people call the victim - either at her office or her cellphone - and asks to speak with Franklin. Someone new calls her every 30 minutes, so it really starts to become tiresome for her to keep saying, "There's nobody named Franklin here, you have the wrong number."

At the end of the day, he comes home to find her with a strange man. She says, "Hi, this is Franklin. He just stopped by to pick up his messages."

 

[LAHomedog]

Popping My Cherry

Hi -- I have never posted on this Board or any on Literotica, and also, have never entered a contest before.

Well, now I have. My story in the contest is "On Valentine's Day," and I hope everyone likes it.

This was fun and I had a blast writing it. (And I mean mental <smile>)

Here it is:

https://www.literotica.com/s/on-valentines-day

I apologize in advance for the typos. I have never revealed this on here, but I have a slight learning disability, a version of dyslexia. Believe it or not, my wife, who is a wordsmith, usually proofs for me, but I wanted to surprise her with this one. It is not how we got engaged, in real life I popped the question, but is it how we met.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope everypne is safe and well.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Hi -- I have never posted on this Board or any on Literotica, and also, have never entered a contest before.

Well, now I have. My story in the contest is "On Valentine's Day," and I hope everyone likes it.

This was fun and I had a blast writing it. (And I mean mental <smile>)

Here it is:

https://www.literotica.com/s/on-valentines-day

I apologize in advance for the typos. I have never revealed this on here, but I have a slight learning disability, a version of dyslexia. Believe it or not, my wife, who is a wordsmith, usually proofs for me, but I wanted to surprise her with this one. It is not how we got engaged, in real life I popped the question, but is it how we met.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope everypne is safe and well.

Welcome to the funhouse. Your story read well to me. Congratulations.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I think too many April Fool tricks humiliate the victim and I don't agree with humiliation...

I'm with you- I mean there's pranks and then there's pranks!

I do enjoy the story of the soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic who kept making jokes in rehearsal, so at the performance, when he was billed as playing the Prokofiev Violin Concerto, the orchestra started the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto- the Mendelssohn has about 2 bars before the soloist starts. Of course he knew both concertos and started playing the Mendelssohn, however after a few minutes the conductor stopped and told the soloist he wasn't losing his mind and informed the crowd of the prank. Legend has it he ended up performing the Mendelssohn as an encore. No idea how to incorporate this into a story though!

 

[NotWise]

Congratulations to the winners, and to all who participated!

* 2021 Valentines Day Contest Winners *

($150 Cash Prize Winner):
Fiction v Reality
by SisterJezabel

($100 Cash Prize Winner):
Cupid and Psyche
by Bellie444

($75 Cash Prize Winner):
Wheelchair Bound?
by Kumquatqueen

 

[oggbashan]

Congratulations to the winners and the many entrants.

 

[Omenainen]

Congratulations! Wow, I was reloading for most of today and of course the winners were announced the moment I was away

 

[achingback]

I didn't compete but I am amazed at the number and quality of the entries.

 

[KeithD]

Congrats to the placers and to all who participated.

Sort of a split on my four. Two zoomed up in the scrub (one losing 30 votes) and two remained the same. The more literary and "there's a point" of the four did the least well (confirming my view of the Literotica readership) and one, inspired by a book I was reading at the time, just didn't have a jazzy enough title (It ended up with an H--but not with the minimum votes).

 

[TxRad]

Congrats to one and all.

I lost 24 votes over two stories. They went up by .1 and .07. Enough for the H but nowhere near winners.

With three stories up, I notices something interesting. If you add the number of votes on the IT story and the Reluctant story, they are less that the Romance story. They had about the same views, which I thought was even more interesting.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

Congratulations to SisterJezabel, the other winners, and all who participated.