I give up on voting

[simulacre]

... for any story in the 8th Annual Literotica Awards. Usually I'll take the time to read and vote on each of the stories submitted in a few (favorite) categories. Not that my vote has any effect on who wins or not but, I figure if I'm gonna vote for any of them I should at least be honest and read all the stories submitted in the category. Besides I've discovered some pretty good writers in past years doing that...

but...
what the "L" is going on with this "chapter trend"??? I mean, come on, this is ridiculous! Are there any authors left in Lit who know how to actually end a story???

I give up, I'm not going through 20 chapters of this one, then 5 chapters of this other one, etc., and I'm not voting on the xth chapter of a story as if it stood alone either. There used to be a few chapter stories in the contests before but this has gotten really ridiculous.

So much for my vote, it's a thing of the past.

I started reading on Lit because I loved Erotic Short stories, but it seems the word "short" is a thing of the past...

 

[FatDino]

... for any story in the 8th Annual Literotica Awards. Usually I'll take the time to read and vote on each of the stories submitted in a few (favorite) categories. Not that my vote has any effect on who wins or not but, I figure if I'm gonna vote for any of them I should at least be honest and read all the stories submitted in the category. Besides I've discovered some pretty good writers in past years doing that...

but...
what the "L" is going on with this "chapter trend"??? I mean, come on, this is ridiculous! Are there any authors left in Lit who know how to actually end a story???

I give up, I'm not going through 20 chapters of this one, then 5 chapters of this other one, etc., and I'm not voting on the xth chapter of a story as if it stood alone either. There used to be a few chapter stories in the contests before but this has gotten really ridiculous.

So much for my vote, it's a thing of the past.

I started reading on Lit because I loved Erotic Short stories, but it seems the word "short" is a thing of the past...

O....kay? Good for you. It's a free country. Do what you want and say what you please

I'm going back to reading Lit's multi-chapter stories.

Oh, and, the word "ridiculous" is a bit offensive, don't you think?

 

[Tom Collins]

I have to agree with you on both of those points. It's seems extremely unsportsman like to write numerous stories for one contest, and just plain rude to wrote a chapter in the middle of an already half written tale to fit the theme. It makes me think they expect me to go read the whole bloody thing so I can read that one story. I won't do it.

I really think Lit. ought to set some guidlines and limitations on the submissions, but who an I to say, eh? *shrugs*

 

[starrkers]

I wanna know why anything over three chapters isn't automatically transferred to "novels and novellas".
I understand a couple of chapters happening. I've got one story that is going to go to a sequel to complete the tale. And it's my current contest entry. But the sequel WON'T be in the competition. The first part stands alone, the second will as well, but will be enhanced by reading the first.
But there are some running 10 or 15 chapters and still going strong. I've read the odd chapter here and there, and they rarely stand alone.

 

[R. Richard]

I can understand the frustration. However, if you are in the yearly Survivor Contest, multiple chapters is the only way you have a chance. You have to fill in all of the categories and then fill in many 10 story categories to get the bonus points.

 

[cloudy]

I wanna know why anything over three chapters isn't automatically transferred to "novels and novellas".
I understand a couple of chapters happening. I've got one story that is going to go to a sequel to complete the tale. And it's my current contest entry. But the sequel WON'T be in the competition. The first part stands alone, the second will as well, but will be enhanced by reading the first.
But there are some running 10 or 15 chapters and still going strong. I've read the odd chapter here and there, and they rarely stand alone.

There are several that write in the Romance category (I won't name any names, as much as I'm tempted to) who write nothing over the required 750 words, and make the story go as long as possible - sometimes 20+ chapters.

It's a cheap way to get noticed for being "prolific," which they really aren't if you actually add up the actual words written and compare the total to the output of "less prolific" authors.

I won't read anything like that, simply because I've never found one that could hold my interest that long. Most of the plots are ripped straight out of Harlequin romances, anyway - she hates him, he hates her, oh wait, no she doesn't hate him anymore, etc.

*yawn*

 

[scriptordelecto]

Everyone has valid points, but a reminder. These awards are readers choice. They weren't written with a contest in mind, they were posted as all stories on Lit are.
They were nominated and then posted for the final votes to be cast. While I understand your frustration, blame the readers for this one.

 

[Tom Collins]

I wanna know why anything over three chapters isn't automatically transferred to "novels and novellas".
I understand a couple of chapters happening. I've got one story that is going to go to a sequel to complete the tale. And it's my current contest entry. But the sequel WON'T be in the competition. The first part stands alone, the second will as well, but will be enhanced by reading the first.
But there are some running 10 or 15 chapters and still going strong. I've read the odd chapter here and there, and they rarely stand alone.

I'd say that's a really good point, but in some cases I don't know that it would really work. I think if you had multi-chapter GM stories being placed in the N&N category it would really screw things up. The people who enjoy GM would never find it there, and the people who don't read GM would be pissed off that a story about fags got slipped into their section and they accidentally read some of it. Such a story would likely get bombed out of existance no matter how well it might be written. That's why I didn't put W.I.E.A.S. in N&N, even though I knew it would be at least 6 chapters when all was said and done.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I have to agree with you on both of those points. It's seems extremely unsportsman like to write numerous stories for one contest, and just plain rude to wrote a chapter in the middle of an already half written tale to fit the theme. It makes me think they expect me to go read the whole bloody thing so I can read that one story. I won't do it.

I really think Lit. ought to set some guidlines and limitations on the submissions, but who an I to say, eh? *shrugs*

Well, I write stories with chapters. But I disqualify my work by turning the voting off, and then back on, and I decline any nominations. I'm doing my part...

 

[Tom Collins]

Everyone has valid points, but a reminder. These awards are readers choice. They weren't written with a contest in mind, they were posted as all stories on Lit are.
They were nominated and then posted for the final votes to be cast. While I understand your frustration, blame the readers for this one.

Ahh...I thought she was talking about the Nude Day contest. LOL

 

[FatDino]

Ahh...I thought she was talking about the Nude Day contest. LOL

Did I hear "nude"? *perk up my ears and look around*

 

[Tom Collins]

Well, I write stories with chapters. But I disqualify my work by turning the voting off, and then back on, and I decline any nominations. I'm doing my part...

Hey, darkie. I was speaking about contests which an author has to enter since I thought she was referencing the Nude Day contest. If I'd've read it more carefully I would have realized that they authors haven't chosen to be in this contest, much less which tales were entered.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I wanna know why anything over three chapters isn't automatically transferred to "novels and novellas".
I understand a couple of chapters happening. I've got one story that is going to go to a sequel to complete the tale. And it's my current contest entry. But the sequel WON'T be in the competition. The first part stands alone, the second will as well, but will be enhanced by reading the first.
But there are some running 10 or 15 chapters and still going strong. I've read the odd chapter here and there, and they rarely stand alone.

I dunno, but I'm one of the guilty. Montana Summer has 14 chapters up, 1 in production and a final chapter. The average length of the chapters is probably around 15K....and no, mine don't really stand alone...the first couple might...

 

[Tom Collins]

Did I hear "nude"? *perk up my ears and look around*

PMSL...yeah. The Annual Nude Day contest.

 

[FatDino]

PMSL...yeah. The Annual Nude Day contest.

We should hold that contest in real life

I don't know. I like reading long stories. But writing one page for each chapter and then going on with tens of chapters are real turn-offs.

 

[Tom Collins]

We should hold that contest in real life

I don't know. I like reading long stories. But writing one page for each chapter and then going on with tens of chapters are real turn-offs.

That can be incredibly annoying. The only story that I'm involved in with chapters is a lot longer than that. Each one is 10,000 owrds or more post-editing.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Hey, darkie. I was speaking about contests which an author has to enter since I thought she was referencing the Nude Day contest. If I'd've read it more carefully I would have realized that they authors haven't chosen to be in this contest, much less which tales were entered.

I don't enter the contests either...

 

[FatDino]

That can be incredibly annoying. The only story that I'm involved in with chapters is a lot longer than that. Each one is 10,000 owrds or more post-editing.

It's annoying because it makes me press "backspace" too often

 

[Darkniciad]

:: Shrug :: I write chapter stories, stories that probably should have been put into chapters ( 20k words or better ), and the occasional short story that manages to come in under 3 Lit pages.

Shortest chapter I have is around 5k words, and I doubt I'll ever have one with chapters that short again.

 

[TxRad]

This chapter craze started when another Lit type site closed down about eight months ago and we got a big influx of their writers.... Chapters was the way they did it there to keep control of a top lists and they are dong it here.... A lot of our old and new authors are doing it to try and keep up....

Check the top list... out of 500 stories, less than 20-25 are not chapters of something..... all the category top lists are damn near the same way.... For contests, and the year end, if it's not a whole story, then sorry, it doesn't cut it for me...

I've got a ten part story in edit but all ten parts are complete stories unto themselves but a part of the whole also.... it's not easy to write that way...

Just some things I've noticed.....

 

[carsonshepherd]

I have to agree with you on both of those points. It's seems extremely unsportsman like to write numerous stories for one contest, and just plain rude to wrote a chapter in the middle of an already half written tale to fit the theme. It makes me think they expect me to go read the whole bloody thing so I can read that one story. I won't do it.

I really think Lit. ought to set some guidlines and limitations on the submissions, but who an I to say, eh? *shrugs*

You don't submit stories for the contest, they choose the highest scoring ones in the category to put in the contest. You don't really have a choice in the matter. One of the chapters of my novel is up for an award, because it was the Gay Male winner for that month. I hope people enjoy it, but I didn't submit it to be part of a contest, I submitted it so people could read it and feedback it.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Hey, darkie. I was speaking about contests which an author has to enter since I thought she was referencing the Nude Day contest. If I'd've read it more carefully I would have realized that they authors haven't chosen to be in this contest, much less which tales were entered.

Sorry Tom, ignore my post.
And vote for me!

 

[FallingToFly]

We should hold that contest in real life

I don't know. I like reading long stories. But writing one page for each chapter and then going on with tens of chapters are real turn-offs.

I have a couple that are like that, but I do my best to bundle them in larger sections. Impossible Gifts and What Passes Between both go up in 5 chapter segments, some of the others go up in two, and I have a few that only do one chapter at a time, but the chapters are fairly long.

 

[oggbashan]

I have a couple that are like that, but I do my best to bundle them in larger sections. Impossible Gifts and What Passes Between both go up in 5 chapter segments, some of the others go up in two, and I have a few that only do one chapter at a time, but the chapters are fairly long.

I wrote one story as five chapters, then amalgamated all five into one story.

I might still do that with the twelve chapters of Flawed Red Silk, with Gulliver when I finish it, and also my Shelacta series.

I keep thinking about putting all my Silverbridge Chronicles as a complete work but the totality as currently planned would be about 600,000 to 750,000 words. That might(!) deter some readers...

Og

 

[Tom Collins]

Sorry Tom, ignore my post.
And vote for me!

Yer cute.
It's cool, carson. I figured you read that post and responded to it before seeing what I said later. I do the same thing all the time. I ain't gotten around to reading chapter one of Between the Bars yet, though I keep meaning to. I've heard it's really good.





The reason When Irish Eyes Are Smiling is so long is because there was no way to fit the whole story into just a few Lit. pages. I knew that the tale was too big for it to be a short story right from the begining, so my goal became making the chapters a decent size. I knew they shouldn't be too short, or the reader would find it really annyoing, and they couldn't be too long either, or a lot of people simply wouldn't bother with reading them at all. I decided that around 3-4 Lit. pages would be a good length. It would be long enough to feel substantial, and short enough that it could easily be read in a single sitting.

I just really don't think it would be a good idea for a GM story to be put into the N&N category, as I've said. Otherwise that's where it would have been subbed to.