"On the Job" Story Event 2022

[Kumquatqueen]

I just read your story and gave it a four.

As Kumquatqueen described the disparaging comment of "UK crap" on their story, I could understand why the commenter said that.

I find reading stories with too many idioms, slang and cultural references difficult to read. (I don't know what "Gurdwara" is, but I assume it's something to do with a Sikh community gathering.) It's as if I need to read slower and re-read sentences to understand before continuing on trying to enjoy a story. And your shift in names of the main character to the insult wasn't clear until about a page later.

But reading both yours (and I need to finish Kumquatqueen's story) was a good exercise. I'll look at my own stories now with an eye toward removing slang and cultural terms, or at least better defining them.

I write British English. I make no apology for that. That gives me an audience of 70 million Brits, and loads of Europeans, Indians, and Australasians who understand it with little issue. And of course millions of North Americans, but it's only ever certain denizens of one certain country that expect their cultural references to be the norm and complain when they aren't.

Sometimes I try to make a story accessible to a wide audience, explaining terms or making them clear from context, but other times when I'm playing with language, I do much less of that (don't read my Smoking Hot/The Bet stories, Lifestyle66 - they started when I tried to produce a dozen lines of dialogue making it very clear the characters were from different places, so there's strong Tyrone and Birmingham - the original one - accents and dialects, which even the English characters struggle with!)

But sometimes you just have to expect a certain vocab level from readers or that they can look a word up if they don't know it. So anyone out of grade school I'd expect to know the word gurdwara just like synagogue or church or temple, which all appear in newspapers without explanation. I admit I probably didn't know what a synagogue was until I was about 12 when we did religions at school, but my kids got trips to the local church, mosque, synagogue and gurdwara age 6 and had the words on their spelling tests soon after.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I write British English. I make no apology for that. That gives me an audience of 70 million Brits, and loads of Europeans, Indians, and Australasians who understand it with little issue. And of course millions of North Americans, but it's only ever certain denizens of one certain country that expect their cultural references to be the norm and complain when they aren't.

Sometimes I try to make a story accessible to a wide audience, explaining terms or making them clear from context, but other times when I'm playing with language, I do much less of that (don't read my Smoking Hot/The Bet stories, Lifestyle66 - they started when I tried to produce a dozen lines of dialogue making it very clear the characters were from different places, so there's strong Tyrone and Birmingham - the original one - accents and dialects, which even the English characters struggle with!)

But sometimes you just have to expect a certain vocab level from readers or that they can look a word up if they don't know it. So anyone out of grade school I'd expect to know the word gurdwara just like synagogue or church or temple, which all appear in newspapers without explanation. I admit I probably didn't know what a synagogue was until I was about 12 when we did religions at school, but my kids got trips to the local church, mosque, synagogue and gurdwara age 6 and had the words on their spelling tests soon after.

I understand all of that. And as I said, I could understand Gurdwara in context.

But it slows the reading experience. So, the complaints you are getting are coming from others similarly struggling with the slang and idioms.

Just a lesson learned. We can either address those concerns in future stories, or not.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

We can either address those concerns in future stories, or not.

Yeah, when I try writing a story in American, I make sure I get a beta reader to point out the phrases or references that wouldn't be understood by most Americans - and invariably it's not the ones I thought might be an issue!

I'm still not 100% convinced that the betas weren't joking when they swore that Americans don't eat pumpkin pie at Halloween, though. "Hey, let's carve pumpkins and put candles inside and make pumpkin paper chain decorations and decorate buckets like pumpkins and dress babies as pumpkins and have Snoopy write about the Great Pumpkin and watch movies with pumpkin-headed scarecrows!"
"Yeah, and eat pumpkin pie!"
"What are you on? That's for only Thanksgiving!"

Perhaps you could answer a question: I'm told that Americans in search of a sexual partner for the night (or longer) 'go out on the prowl', whereas Brits go out on the pull. What do you call it if they're successful? I'm guessing not "he's pulled"? Is there an equivalent chat-up line that a wiseass guy might use, to just walking up to a girl and going 'Get your coat. You've pulled.'?

My stories Homesick Halloween and the first I Say Ass, You Say Arse story both have an American man coming over to England and *should* be much easier for people only used to US English to understand. Some people thought ISAYSA had too much science in, which is fair enough - it was my attempt to a) write a story in two days, and b) show international science as the den of iniquity and filthy sex that it is... Some people like the science in the series, others don't, can't please all of them...

 

[Lifestyle66]

Yeah, when I try writing a story in American, I make sure I get a beta reader to point out the phrases or references that wouldn't be understood by most Americans - and invariably it's not the ones I thought might be an issue!

I'm still not 100% convinced that the betas weren't joking when they swore that Americans don't eat pumpkin pie at Halloween, though. "Hey, let's carve pumpkins and put candles inside and make pumpkin paper chain decorations and decorate buckets like pumpkins and dress babies as pumpkins and have Snoopy write about the Great Pumpkin and watch movies with pumpkin-headed scarecrows!"
"Yeah, and eat pumpkin pie!"
"What are you on? That's for only Thanksgiving!"

Perhaps you could answer a question: I'm told that Americans in search of a sexual partner for the night (or longer) 'go out on the prowl', whereas Brits go out on the pull. What do you call it if they're successful? I'm guessing not "he's pulled"? Is there an equivalent chat-up line that a wiseass guy might use, to just walking up to a girl and going 'Get your coat. You've pulled.'?

My stories Homesick Halloween and the first I Say Ass, You Say Arse story both have an American man coming over to England and *should* be much easier for people only used to US English to understand. Some people thought ISAYSA had too much science in, which is fair enough - it was my attempt to a) write a story in two days, and b) show international science as the den of iniquity and filthy sex that it is... Some people like the science in the series, others don't, can't please all of them...

Your beta reader is correct, in that pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving item, and not even considered as a thought related to Halloween in the U.S.

As for the "getting pulled", that's not a U.S. slang term. Something as blatant as telling the girl 'Get your coat. You've pulled.' I assume from the context and wording is "Get your coat, you've pulled the short straw" (as in "I picked you.") You would have to spell it out to an American. Or you might say "Get your coat, you're coming with me."

If you mean "pulled" means they'll definitely have sex later, then you might say "Get your coat, I'm getting lucky tonight!"

 

[Kumquatqueen]

...Something as blatant as telling the girl 'Get your coat. You've pulled.' I assume from the context and wording is "Get your coat, you've pulled the short straw" (as in "I picked you.") You would have to spell it out to an American. Or you might say "Get your coat, you're coming with me."

If you mean "pulled" means they'll definitely have sex later, then you might say "Get your coat, I'm getting lucky tonight!"

I think "Get your coat, you're getting lucky tonight!" would be closer - sort of congratulating the person?

Now I'm confused about your use of 'short straw', though - Ive only ever heard it used to mean being the *unlucky* person being picked, not just a chosen one in general. Or was it meant in a self-deprecating manner?

I think the first internet flame war I was ever in (aah, the nostalgia!) started when someone said "so bite me!", which I interpreted as 'go on, have a go'. Imagine my surprise when I logged on the next day to find a dozen Americans and a few Antipodeans had had a huge argument, half of them thinking 'bite me' is a mild form of 'screw you' (which I think was intended) and the other half thinking it was one of the worst things you could say to anyone, akin to "fuck you, fuck your mom, and fuck the horse you rode in on!", and one person not seeing an insult at all (probably Australian)...

 

[CouldBeAStoryTeller]

Search by tag using "on the job"

Thank you! I figured it out not long after posting!

 

[sexscribe]

Being new to submitting to Lit, this being my first event contribution and having a limited, as yet, following I am elated with the response I have received thus far. Thank you for all of the support.

 

[CiaoSteve]

I think "Get your coat, you're getting lucky tonight!" would be closer - sort of congratulating the person?

Now I'm confused about your use of 'short straw', though - Ive only ever heard it used to mean being the *unlucky* person being picked, not just a chosen one in general. Or was it meant in a self-deprecating manner?

I think the first internet flame war I was ever in (aah, the nostalgia!) started when someone said "so bite me!", which I interpreted as 'go on, have a go'. Imagine my surprise when I logged on the next day to find a dozen Americans and a few Antipodeans had had a huge argument, half of them thinking 'bite me' is a mild form of 'screw you' (which I think was intended) and the other half thinking it was one of the worst things you could say to anyone, akin to "fuck you, fuck your mom, and fuck the horse you rode in on!", and one person not seeing an insult at all (probably Australian)...

I sort of get both. As a Brit I would have used pulled in dialogue, but sometimes they don't translate so easily. It is the same with short straw which does tend to have an "unlucky" connotation to it. I tend to try and stay away from colloquialisms outside of dialogue (as much as I remember to do) but sometimes they do make the story more authentic to where it is written. No easy answer. I once even had a dig at a fellow Brit about his use of "love" as a greeting in a story set in the Cotswolds, only to be told he was a native and that's how they spoke.... ooops, can't win 'em all.... or maybe I should take my ball home (but I guess that wouldn't translate well either)

 

[Nylonian]

Thank you very much! I've now had a bunch of nice comments to balance those out. Often votes are way more about whether you gave the average reader what they expected from the category and title - if it's not man+woman=fuck, some EC readers will object but I could hardly put it anywhere else. Hm, I wonder if readers complain of erotic content in Non-Erotic?

Chapters 2 and 3 seem to be going down better. I predict at least two complaints about chapter 5 though, either too much or not enough kink and same-sex activity or the wrong kind...

I'm glad! I guess eventually it all balances out. I don't mind honest feedback and even some harsh criticism as long as it's genuine and in good faith and fair in nature. Really helps with honing my writing and I think I am becoming a better writer because of it.
I'll be reading chapters 2 and 3 today and will comment on those when I get the chance.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I think "Get your coat, you're getting lucky tonight!" would be closer - sort of congratulating the person?

Now I'm confused about your use of 'short straw', though - Ive only ever heard it used to mean being the *unlucky* person being picked, not just a chosen one in general. Or was it meant in a self-deprecating manner?

I think the first internet flame war I was ever in (aah, the nostalgia!) started when someone said "so bite me!", which I interpreted as 'go on, have a go'. Imagine my surprise when I logged on the next day to find a dozen Americans and a few Antipodeans had had a huge argument, half of them thinking 'bite me' is a mild form of 'screw you' (which I think was intended) and the other half thinking it was one of the worst things you could say to anyone, akin to "fuck you, fuck your mom, and fuck the horse you rode in on!", and one person not seeing an insult at all (probably Australian)...

The "You're getting lucky tonight" would be more alpha-male posturing, not necessarily congratulating, more posturing himself. The "I'm getting lucky" might be construed as she's already agreed, and he's just reaffirming it.

The "short straw" is more of a lucky chance as in a throw of the dice. Everyone picked a straw, and the short on won or lost, depending upon what they were drawing. So, when you say "pull", I visualized as "pulling the short straw". She's the pick of the night. I'd need to do further research on the etymology of the British slang "pull" to decide if that's the correct usage.

The term "bite me" in American English slag is derogatory, as akin to "fuck you", but used by males to other males in an anti-gay/alpha-male saying "You can suck my dick!" It's considered an insult.

This is a very fascinating discussion. Thank you. It's probably a good thread to start on it's own: "Let's discuss multicultural slang and the meanings!"

 

[Omenainen]

Ours is up! Blowjob on the Job

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Ours is up! Blowjob on the Job

I liked that.

Laurel's just confirmed my last chapter will be posted tomorrow morning.

 

[Duleigh]

I have been really encouraged by the responses to my stories, I threw them together out of the blue and one was a long form story, I've never done a story of that size before, and that's the one that's getting such great response: Stormwatch - A Blizzard in Buffalo

Blindsided by the Blind Guy had me worried, I wrote about Jake, a blind fellow who is a bit playful with his girlfriend at work. I was terrified that if I got anything wrong, especially with how the blind guy handled day-to-day things like walking through the University he teaches at, I'd catch hell and lose a reader, I'm not too worried about catching hell, but being disabled myself that would be wrong. However, I heard from a blind reader of Literotica (yes, we have 'em!) and he was delighted with how I portrayed Jake

The Private Photographer - I guess I don't do good at Non Consent/Reluctance, but it was something I had been wanting to try for a long time and I'm happy to get it out of my system so I can get back to my entries for the Geek Pride event

 

[Duleigh]

Well I finally finished my story for the event and submitted it last week and it went live today but I guess hmmmmm it won’t make the event page, and my April Fool story is still being worked on but I need to get my Geek Day one done...

Oh dear.

Ok, this is my first event, what do you mean by "It won't make the event page" I'm just wondering if I screwed up somewhere, I don't even know the scoring criteria so I'm a bit nervous.

The Private Photographer
Blindsided by the Blind Guy
Stormwatch - a Blizzard in Buffalo

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

Ok, this is my first event, what do you mean by "It won't make the event page" I'm just wondering if I screwed up somewhere, I don't even know the scoring criteria so I'm a bit nervous.

I think she submitted her story a week after the event, in part because all her stories are 100,000+ words. I think you still have a day or so to submit this year.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Ok, this is my first event, what do you mean by "It won't make the event page" I'm just wondering if I screwed up somewhere, I don't even know the scoring criteria so I'm a bit nervous.

The Private Photographer
Blindsided by the Blind Guy
Stormwatch - a Blizzard in Buffalo

Don't worry. There's usually a deadline for competitions or events, by which date / time you need to have submitted your story on Literotica. I missed the deadline. I do it a lot. Usually I just wait for the next event or competition that it will fit in.

 

[Duleigh]

Don't worry. There's usually a deadline for competitions or events, by which date / time you need to have submitted your story on Literotica. I missed the deadline. I do it a lot. Usually I just wait for the next event or competition that it will fit in.

I missed the Winter Holidays by weeks, and not because I didn't have the story ready, but because I misread the submission date, and I have what I believe is the most original take on an old classic story that's re-imagined every year. I have to wait a year, and in the meantime I built a whole world around that story, part of which is already published in Blindsided by the Blind Guy and Serendipitous Liaison.

 

[neuroparenthetical]

I'm not sure if my entry got identified correctly. The instructions in this thread (notably, still reading "2021") and the instructions on the actual page are different. There was also no official rule stating that you needed to add an "on the job" tag, specifically.

I did add the big caps-lock note to the admins. I hope that's enough.

 

[Duleigh]

I'm not sure if my entry got identified correctly. The instructions in this thread (notably, still reading "2021") and the instructions on the actual page are different. There was also no official rule stating that you needed to add an "on the job" tag, specifically.

I did add the big caps-lock note to the admins. I hope that's enough.

I did the same, I didn't see a requirement for an On The Job tag either, but someone added it for me

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I did the same, I didn't see a requirement for an On The Job tag either, but someone added it for me

Laurel added 'On The Job 2022' to chapters 1 and 5 of mine, I had 'onthejob' for chapters 2 and 3 and forgot for chapter 4.

Doesn't seem worth editing - if I was going to, I'd sort out some of the spurious line breaks that keep appearing yet don't show up in LibreOffice. May explain why ch.5 has 50% more views than ch.4 I suppose - I'd put it down to a more enticing strapline.

 

[littlepinkpeach]

Ours is up! Blowjob on the Job

Heavens this story is HOT. Has to go into my all-time favorite blowjob stories list.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The full list is now up!

https://literotica.com/s/on-the-job-story-challenge-2022-the-stories

I enjoyed Wonton Lust and Blowjob on the Job, so far.

 

[Duleigh]

My story, Blindsided By The Blind Guy got feedback that nearly brought me to tears. The story is about a blind college professor that pranks his girlfriend (a fellow professor) into wearing a sleep mask and they have sex in her office. I'm neither blind nor a college professor, but I got feedback from two blind readers of Lit, one is a blind college professor, both of which thanking me for showing a blind person for what they truly are, just regular folks. They love that I showed properly how they navigate through their work space, how they interact with sighted people, how they get home from work. One of the guys went to my bio and contacted me directly.

I am so overwhelmed by their words, I can hardly concentrate on the stories I'm trying to finish.

 

[PoisonPen33]

The full list is now up!

https://literotica.com/s/on-the-job-story-challenge-2022-the-stories

I enjoyed Wonton Lust and Blowjob on the Job, so far.

Thank you for the kind words and the comment on the story!

 

[RetroFan]

I just missed the deadline, thought the day's difference between Australia and America would be enough to get my story 'Perving on the Pretty Nanny' posted, but wasn't the case. Oh well, I'll have to make sure I make the time frame for the Geek Pride story.