Chapter By Chapter Submissions in Special Contests - Poll!!

[Laurel]

Hi Authors!

First off, the purpose of this poll is to gauge the opinions of the readers and authors who frequent the Author's Hangout. The results of this poll do not guarantee any course of action will be taken - it's just a way of starting discussion on a subject that a few have brought up to me in private.

A few users have expressed concern about the growing number of chaptered submissions being submitted to Special Contests - that is, serialized or chaptered stories submitted chapter by chapter or part by part. This does not concern long pieces sectioned into chapters but submitted to the site as a whole. We are talking about cases in which each chapter or part is submitted to the site separately, with its own comment board, voting, etc.

Also, we are talking only about stories submitted in such a fashion to Special Contests, not to the monthly contests (and yes, I am behind on the posting of monthly contests, sorry!).

The main concerns expressed seem to be:

1) Though the whole of a chaptered submission may fit a specific contest theme, some chapters submitted may not totally reflect the theme. This makes it difficult for readers to judge theme adherence and to vote accordingly.

2) Multiple chaptered submissions submitted by multiple writers may make it difficult for readers to navigate the contest page and vote on all stories in the shortened voting time required by Special Contests.

Since Literotica does not have a maximum length limit, authors are able to submit their chaptered works as one submission - so disallowing multiple chapters to the Special Contests would not exclude anyone's story. They would simply have to submit it as one piece, not chapter by chapter or part by part.

This would not limit the number of stories any author could submit. An author could submit as many stories as they like, but each one would have to be a self-contained story that fit the topic.

So the question is:

Should Literotica disallow chapter by chapter/part by part submissions from Special Contests?

* * * * *

 

[starrkers]

I've said before I think the Special Contests should be for stand alone stories, not chapters of a longer work.
So I vote yes.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

What Starrkers said, me, too.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[oggbashan]

I have voted Yes, even though as Jeanne D'Artois I could have been guilty of submitting chaptered stories for Halloween as part of "her" Laundry Tales.

Jeanne has always ensured that the "chapter" or Tale is relevant to the theme and recently I, as Og, have tried to keep to one entry per story. However in previous years I have submitted two chapters for a contest e.g. Danger! Naked Woman Parts 1 and 2, and Christmas Fairy Parts 1 and 2.

I think that excluding chaptered stories from the themed contests could be beneficial to the reading experience and also to the management of the contest.

Og

Edited for PS. I hope my 15 x 50-word stories won't be counted as 15 chapters!

 

[TxRad]

If it's a complete story and stands alone then it should be in the contest.

If it is a chapter of an ongoing story and it needs the previous chapter or chapters or later chapters to be complete then it shouldn't be allowed.

I think the chapter story thing has gotten way far out of hand on Lit as a whole.

 

[impressive]

I've said before I think the Special Contests should be for stand alone stories, not chapters of a longer work.
So I vote yes.

Agreed.

 

[Chantilyvamp]

If it's a complete story and stands alone then it should be in the contest.

If it is a chapter of an ongoing story and it needs the previous chapter or chapters or later chapters to be complete then it shouldn't be allowed.

I think the chapter story thing has gotten way far out of hand on Lit as a whole.

I partially agree with starrkers but if the chapter is stand alone like tx said and needs no other chapters for explanation or enjoyment of reading then I think they should be counted as a stand alone.

 

[DG Hear]

I do believe that the first chapter in a story should be allowed in the contest if all other critiria is met. All subsequent chapters (if submitted separately) should not. This would still be good for the author who writes multi-chapter stories. Their stories can still be written but only the first chapter eligable for the contest.

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[past_perfect]

I voted yes, despite my current trilogy entry. One thing though, longer stories have difficulties attracting readers/votes as it is (still watching the current sweeps with definite misgivings on my 6 page entries). If I look at the entries this year, and take the submissions of one particular writer, it'd been like an 20 or 25 page submission - seriously, how many people would have read through that?

So I would say the chapter format itself is perhaps not so bad to keep people reading, but maybe the author should be given the option to decide on which of the chapters (first or last, or perhaps the one he/she is most proud of) should and could be voted on.

 

[wishfulthinking]

I do believe that the first chapter in a story should be allowed in the contest if all other critiria is met. All subsequent chapters (if submitted separately) should not. This would still be good for the author who writes multi-chapter stories. Their stories can still be written but only the first chapter eligable for the contest.

I agree with DG Bear. Only one chapter be allowed in the contest, the rest shouldn't be treated as a special contest entry. Although admittedly, this would probably clear up a lot of multiple-chapter entry issues (as authors would have to ensure the chapter is in the spirit/theme of the contest and probably end up submitting the story as a whole), it won't restrict the freedom of authors to submit in chapters if that is their style.

I vote yes, Lit should disallow it.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I've said before I think the Special Contests should be for stand alone stories, not chapters of a longer work.
So I vote yes.

Agreed.

1. Only complete, stand alone stories relevant to the contest theme should be eligible.
- To be a 'story', there should be a start and a conclusion, important in judging quality.
- A story could be split into chapters within a single submission
- A contest entry that that is a continuation chapter of a story excludes readers who haven't read all chapters.

2. Only one entry per contest can count in the Survivor contest

 

[loganforester]

Agreed.

1. Only complete, stand alone stories relevant to the contest theme should be eligible.
- To be a 'story', there should be a start and a conclusion, important in judging quality.
- A story could be split into chapters within a single submission
- A contest entry that that is a continuation chapter of a story excludes readers who haven't read all chapters.

2. Only one entry per contest can count in the Survivor contest

I agree with this for the most part. The issue I have with it is the length of the work in question. My entry for example is already 15,000 words and is nowhere near a complete story, although it certainly has a definate end point. If submitted in one chunk it would be completely unreadable. Past perfect's trilogy is similar in that the chapters are 4-6 lit pages long.

Your second point is where you hit the nail on the head. The survivor contest is a large part of the problem here. It encourages a large number of very short submissions and when combined with a special contest you get a lot of short stories that could easily be combined into a few longer ones.

So yes, I think it needs to be controlled. I honestly tried to read most of the stories to support my fellow contestants, but the story page is ridiculously crowded. It makes those of us who are struggling to reach voting targets even less likely to do so.

 

[past_perfect]

Another option would perhaps be to drop one of the not quite so popular contests like Earth or Nude Day and put a Novella and Novel contest in its place, so then there would be a platform for those writers who enjoy writing longer pieces, perhaps with a different theme each year.

 

[tickledkitty]

I agree. No single chapters.

FWIW, I also think there should be a limit of 1 or maybe 2 submissions per special contest. (BTW, this is NOT a jab at anyone at all.)

 

[Darkniciad]

I'm with everybody else, contained stories only in special contests. While I can see a chapter that is centered on the theme of the contest with a beginning and an ending as possible to judge on its own, that's simply going to cause confusion in the rules. Best to just forbid any chaptered story in the special contests completely.

 

[Saucy_Sage]

In general, I think that chaptered submissions skew the voting. Readers who see multiple chapters of the same work are unlikely to read the later chapters if they didn't like the earlier ones. So the voting of the later chapters will tend to be higher than it "should" be.

That said, I don't think the answer is to eliminate chaptered submissions. Rather, I think that there should be a limit of one story per author per contest. If the author wants to submit chapter four of "Love in a Cemetery," fine. I will read it, but I will treat it as if it stands alone as a contest entry. If the author assumes I know all about Sarah's love for the disguised Dark Lord, she/he is likely to get a lower score. That's the chance he/she takes.

So my vote is no, allow chaptered submissions. But limit submissions to one per contest. Let the author take his/her best shot.

 

[neonlyte]

I've said before I think the Special Contests should be for stand alone stories, not chapters of a longer work.
So I vote yes.

What she said
Swelling entries by a host of short chapters clutters the contest.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I agree that special contests whould have only one-chapter, finished stories.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Ideally, you'd hope the contests would have special stories written specifically for the contest. It's hard to imagine someone sitting down and writing an entire novel just for a holiday contest, so you get the impression that what these multiple chapter entries are, are the random sweepings from someone's cutting room floor, jazzed up a little to fit the contest format.

Better fewer entries of higher quality if you ask me. Disallow the multiple chapter entries.

--Zoot

 

[WRJames]

In general, I think that chaptered submissions skew the voting. Readers who see multiple chapters of the same work are unlikely to read the later chapters if they didn't like the earlier ones. So the voting of the later chapters will tend to be higher than it "should" be.

This sounds like a reasonable theory, but in fact my first chapter has the most votes and the highest votes.

As for the Nude Day Contest not being popular -- for readers or for writers? My Nude Day entries have gotten a lot more views than anything else I've put up on Lit.

A really long piece is unlikely to get votes --other than troll votes. That seems to be true for the later chapters also. My Chapter 5 went out late and it starte out with 7 votes for an average of 2.23.

This is the first time I've attempted to share one of my longer pieces on Lit -- based on all this furor it will probab ly be the last. Don't expect to see the remaining chapters here.

 

[Guest]

I've said before I think the Special Contests should be for stand alone stories, not chapters of a longer work.
So I vote yes.

Also agree.

And I also think there should be a limit on number of contest entries.

 

[Saucy_Sage]

This sounds like a reasonable theory, but in fact my first chapter has the most votes and the highest votes.

As for the Nude Day Contest not being popular -- for readers or for writers? My Nude Day entries have gotten a lot more views than anything else I've put up on Lit.

A really long piece is unlikely to get votes --other than troll votes. That seems to be true for the later chapters also. My Chapter 5 went out late and it starte out with 7 votes for an average of 2.23.

This is the first time I've attempted to share one of my longer pieces on Lit -- based on all this furor it will probab ly be the last. Don't expect to see the remaining chapters here.

I would expect the first chapter to get more votes. People who lose interest will likely not read the later chapters. As for higher scores, the first chapter may actually be the best (even in the opinion of those who are willing to read the later chapters).

I'm not sure why this contest furor is enough to make you give up on posting longer stories here, though. There are plenty of longer stories on Lit with good audiences and high scores. The furor here just involves contests.

 

[fieryjen]

Also agree.

And I also think there should be a limit on number of contest entries.

Yep, I agree as well. I'd love to see higher quality entries, and I think disallowing chapters and limiting the number of contest entries, maybe not to one, but to a reasonable lower number, would go a long way towards that.

 

[loganforester]

Yep, I agree as well. I'd love to see higher quality entries, and I think disallowing chapters and limiting the number of contest entries, maybe not to one, but to a reasonable lower number, would go a long way towards that.

A cap on the number of entries isn't necessarily a good idea because Alt's are so easy to create. If someone wants to post 10stories they will find a way around that rule.