Nude Day theme - what is it?

[Rumple Foreskin]

The question now before the AH is, what constitutes being “on topic” in the Nude Day contest? Along with a lot of other folks, I'm a bit uncertain about that and how much weight it should have in the voting.

Many entries, in this and previous contests, were written based on “rules” that state the Nude Day theme is “nudism, exhibitionism, etc.” Then Scouries posted his own rankings based, in part, on the following guidelines:

CONTEST THEME – This contest has a theme, stories that don’t seem to have anything to do with the theme of ‘Nude Day’ will be harshly marked, no matter the quality of the story. (I’ve already read eight contest stories in the last two days that don’t seem to have anything to do with Nudism)

In the days that followed, comments on my entry included: “…though not a core Nude Day theme,” and, “A stretch to fit it into the contest theme”

I’ve no quarrel with those opinions or with the folks who expressed them. My problem is the Lit rules say nothing about theme except: “nudism, exhibitionism, etc.” So my question to those who took issue with the themes of some contest entries is:

WHAT CONSTITUTES A VALID THEME FOR A LIT NUDE DAY CONTEST?

For what it’s worth, I don’t care what the answer is, only that everyone understands what standards will be used to judge their entries. With luck, this thread will generate more light on the subject than heat. We'll see.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[TheEarl]

Nude Day's one that I took one look at and then decided against. It's just far too wishy-washy a subject matter. What on earth is Nude Day? Is the sole criteria nakedness, cause I think I've accidentally written a few Nude Day stories in the past!

Not my favourite competition, as it's difficult to get a cogent thread through it without narrowing right down and excluding half the entries.

The Earl

 

[kbate]

A story in which the nudity is the primary focus rather than a side effect of sexual contact.

Intentional public nudity - intentionally exhibiting one's body in an illicit manner - taking off your clothing in a bedroom for your lover is not a celebration of nudity, it is a normal occurance. Visiting a nude beach is nudism - although in the spirit of originality - I think writers should avoid such a canned clichéd setting.

Public Nudity - with both the shameful and the arousing aspects brought forward through the characters.

A story in which nudism is the norm - not a socially stigmatic situation.

Opinion.

 

[oggbashan]

I have had a problem with Nude Day from the start.

It is (US) National Nude Day. The same day in Europe is France's Bastille Day. Bastille Day, the start of the French Revolution, eventually had a significant impact on the history of Europe from Gibraltar to the North Cape, from the West of Ireland to Moscow.

Bastille Day is important. Nude Day has limited importance in the US, and beyond its borders, no impact at all.

Writing about Nude Day as a specific event is difficult for someone who has not experienced the festival in the US. I tried with my story 'Bastille Day'.

So if for me, the Nude Day Contest can't be about the event itself, what can I write about? My Nude Day contest entries this year and previous years show some of my attempts at making sense of the theme.

I'll probably return to this thread.

Og

 

[Guest]

I need to think on this... I will come back to it with a better answer but I found myself in a similar situation.... what do I write for this contest

 

[oggbashan]

Baseline

The official statement that has appeared unchanged since 2003 is:

National Nude Day (July 14)
themes: public nudity, exhibitionism, etc.

That allows a very wide range. Anything that is covered by "public nudity, exhibitionism, etc." would seem to be valid as a contest entry despite scouries attempt to narrow the definition.

However, what is 'valid' is whatever the reader thinks is valid. If the reader thinks, as scouries thought about some entries, that the writer has cheated about the theme then a lower mark and an adverse comment could follow.

What we in the AH think is valid might not meet with universal agreement. A contestant must judge whether the submission is likely to be judged by an average reader as on theme. Most readers are likely to give a good story the benefit of the doubt but a deliberate attempt to stretch the definition too far could be unpopular.

Do the readers actually understand the theme? The contest is Nude Day. If a link can be made between Nude Day and the story, the entry will pass. If there is no obvious link except "exhibitionism etc." would that do? I think not.

Ultimately it is the author's decision. If the decision stretches the theme too far, the author must live with the results.

Og

 

[Matadore]

It is (US) National Nude Day.

Nude Day has limited importance in the US, and beyond its borders, no impact at all..

Og

Oggbashan,
leave it to me to learn from an Englishman that the US has a Nude Day! Now that is embarassing, but thank you for the insight.

I even knew that New Zealand had an Official Nude Day where folks run naked in the streets. I was informed of it (after I had visited that lovely place) by a Kiwi in fact. He must have misunderstood my essay because he didn't pick up that I had used the fact as an example! Anyway, he scored me lower through his annoyance.

Ah well, can't please them all.

As to Sour...er Scouries, for all his altruistic intentions to rewrite the rules after the fact--if he truely wanted to accomplish his dubious goal, he might have thought to post his rules BEFORE the contest when his intended audience could have considered them BEFORE their entry was published.

M

 

[Selena_Kitt]

To me, Nude Day is the strangest contest... we don't even celebrate "Nude Day" in the U.S. frankly... I can understand why Lit chose it--seems to fit right into a sexual theme... but actually, I've found it harder to write for than the others.

I agree with KBate: "A story in which the nudity is the primary focus rather than a side effect of sexual contact." Which is what exhibitionism is about...

Although I'd quibble with: "Visiting a nude beach is nudism - although in the spirit of originality - I think writers should avoid such a canned clichéd setting."

I think any cliche can be done with originality... in fact, sometimes I think it can be even more of a challenge to do an original story in a cliched setting rather than trying to come up with an outrageously new plot to carry a story... but that's just my thing.

 

[hyulhyulhyul]

... we don't even celebrate "Nude Day" in the U.S. frankly... .

My nudist friends at San Onofre and elsewhere would disagree with this comment, as National Nude Day is a focal point of their year.

 

[R. Richard]

IMHO the theme of Nude Day is about public nudity. However, I feel that for Literotica, the public nudity should be in a situation where the public nudity is erotic, not a normal state of affairs. A person being nude in a nudist camp is not, in and of itself, erotic. Everyone is nude in a nudist camp.

A couple romping nude on a beach is my idea of a nude day type theme. Even if the beach is isolated and discovery unlikely, still the situation can be erotic.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

My nudist friends at San Onofre and elsewhere would disagree with this comment, as National Nude Day is a focal point of their year.

as a majority, I suppose I should have said... nudists celebrate "Nude Day" EVERY day... it hardly counts, really, when you think about it... if it were a "national" sort of a thing, then we non-nudists as a majority would know about it and celebrate it... it's sort of one of those "fringe" kinds of things... there are lots of "national recognition" days that people as a majority have no clue about... this just happens to be one of them.

 

[Matadore]

Nude Day + nudity + monkey sex = minimum required

IMHO the theme of Nude Day is about public nudity. However, I feel that for Literotica, the public nudity should be in a situation where the public nudity is erotic, not a normal state of affairs. A person being nude in a nudist camp is not, in and of itself, erotic. Everyone is nude in a nudist camp.

A couple romping nude on a beach is my idea of a nude day type theme. Even if the beach is isolated and discovery unlikely, still the situation can be erotic.

Perhaps.

But don't you think that including something about a day wherein at least a majority of the characters in the story or at the very least, a central plot device has to do with a recognition of the possibility of a Nude Day? Otherwise, the story is simply about nudity and not the concept of some sort of NATIONAL awarness of nudity?

And yeah, I agree that as a token nod to the nature of this site, the piece would include eroticism (even though the cats include two that are "non-erotic").

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Since folks who have reasoned opinions they can present logically on this subject have done so, I’ll throw in my two-cents worth.

My gut instinct is Laurel and Manu put up prize money for Lit writing contests to keep writers happy and churning out more content for the site. I don't think they are any more interested in whatever Nude Day is supposed to celebrate, than they are what Valentine’s Day or Halloween symbolizes. With the exception of Earth Day, individual issues that are of concern to them, such as Free Speech, tend to become the themes of “special” contests.

Here are the “rules” for the Nude Day contest:

Story must have a Nude Day theme: public nudity, exhibitionism, clothing (or the lack thereof), skinny-dipping, etc. Be creative! Please don't just submit a normal story, throwing in a nude beach setting. That would not be in the spirit of the contest, and readers & voters would probably punish you for your trickiness.

To me, terms such as “etc.” and “Be creative!” indicate the rules should be interpreted broadly. Therefore, any story in which a character(s) being unclothed is a key element, should be considered on theme. But unless or until the rules are clarified, others can logically disagree.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[JamesSD]

The official statement that has appeared unchanged since 2003 is:

National Nude Day (July 14)
themes: public nudity, exhibitionism, etc.

That allows a very wide range. Anything that is covered by "public nudity, exhibitionism, etc." would seem to be valid as a contest entry despite scouries attempt to narrow the definition.

However, what is 'valid' is whatever the reader thinks is valid. If the reader thinks, as scouries thought about some entries, that the writer has cheated about the theme then a lower mark and an adverse comment could follow.

What we in the AH think is valid might not meet with universal agreement. A contestant must judge whether the submission is likely to be judged by an average reader as on theme. Most readers are likely to give a good story the benefit of the doubt but a deliberate attempt to stretch the definition too far could be unpopular.

Do the readers actually understand the theme? The contest is Nude Day. If a link can be made between Nude Day and the story, the entry will pass. If there is no obvious link except "exhibitionism etc." would that do? I think not.

Ultimately it is the author's decision. If the decision stretches the theme too far, the author must live with the results.

Nicely put.

The rules of a contest dictate what can constitute a legal entry. The Voting public (which extends significantly beyond the AH board) judges the quality and relevance of the entries.

Really, I think the connection seems intuitive to me. Is there nudity where there ordinarily would not be? Is it an erotic story?

Just my opinion.