The Authors' Hangout 2010 Halloween Contest Support Thread

[Guest]

keep those entries cumming…

[size=+2]the ASSOCIATION of INDEPENDENT READERS (A.I.R.) presents the[/size]

[size=+2]

A.I.R. 2010 Halloween Story Contest

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http://www.myspacegraphicsandanimations.net/images/halloween-girl24.gif​

[size=+2]Gabrielle L.[/size]
President, A.I.R.
Secretery of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story clubs
Miami Beach, Florida

 

[MagicaPractica]

MagicaPractica,

*LOL* Ah yes, management always takes precedence over anything else. Can we say naptime? (Oh wait, that is catch-up-on-your-sleep-time). Bedtime? Looking forward to reading it.

~Luna

Sleep? What's that? I'm at work when she's napping. She's really not that bad, I get to sleep at night, I just get to wake up frequently when she gets restless too.

Oh good grief... I've got a romance on my hands.

And here I wanted to write an erotic horror.

Sometimes I hate my muse!

LOL Same thing happened to me. I could force it back into what I wanted but I like where it's going too.

 

[sethp]

Good Lord! The hardest part about these contests is finding time to read and comment on everyone's story! Sorry, if I miss you, I'm trying! There are so many good ones though. I love the Halloween stories because of all the twists that you just don't find in the other contests.

 

[Boxlicker101]

My story posted early this morning, and the trolls have already started getting busy on it.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Oh, oh. Why are we not surprised…

Right, because that's me, I'm the Queen of Romance, I've written sooo many of them here on Lit...

 

[RogueAlan]

Thnx!

DG and ate,

appreciate the responses, and the humor in the answer... am going to have to go back and read more of your work, ate, i almost always catch (& as often enjoy) DG's submissions.

posted second story... still longer than i could rightly call 'flash' or even short, but took a story from work years ago, added an erotic tweak, & confess i liked the way it turned out.

in any case, best of luck back to you both... i find i am liking the sponeneity & variety of chasing the contest instead of plodding through the established storyline... probably have to get another chapter in the other out, though it's increasingly formulaic and strangely the fantastical stories of this month are more realistic then the stroke aspect of the work i'd been doing...

and no, i'm not mistaking that for maturity... stroke works have their place, too! but stretching my literary wings is nice, and the support was appreciated.

pax

Alan

 

[YoursSINSerely]

Safe Word Magazine

http://www.safewordmagazine.com/erotica1.htm


The publisher of this magazine contacted me to use my story from last year's Halloween Contest in their October issue. I'm so freakin excited, I'm beside myself. Who knew that Lit was this popular?

If you are into BDSM, you might like the magazine. Still not sure why they picked my story, except that it had a ghost in it.

Good luck to all of you in this year's contest. Maybe one or two of you will be able to experience this same thrill one day. Wow!

 

[OnnaDare]

I just submitted my story for the contest. It's my shortest so far - (if you can call 7500 words short - lol) and just a little dark. No happy ending this time! So, if I submitted a word.doc, how long do you think it will take to get posted? I hope I gave myself enough time for some views - *crosses fingers hopefully*
I'll post a link when I get one!
Onna

 

[DG Hear]

Just submitted my third story for the contest. That's about it for me, mind's a blank now. The first two were loving wifes, this one is more of the romance type. Over 10300 words but that's normal for me anymore. Hopefully this might make it to the mid 4.50. I'm starting to get a complex. LOLgood luck to all
With respect
DG Hear

 

[EmeraldKitten]

Aww yay. The contest is coming along nicely, I think.. There are a lot of entries already.
With luck, I will have time to wrap one or two up today.. it just kinda depends on what kind of business I get into.
(My boyfriend seems to think that going shopping for his weddng ring is important.
Doesn't he know I have stories to write?!?!?! LOL. )

I hope everyone's stories are doing well- as well as can be expected when the trolls come out from under the bridge.

 

[mokkelke]

i'm building up barricades for the trolls.
so far i'm doing great still, almost 7 000 views for a non human story and score is steadily above 4.50 lingering around 4.60 for the last week.(even after a sweep the score stayed around the same)
i consider this contest already a personal winner =)

 

[favoritesgoddess]

How do you vote on stories?

I've managed to read most of them so far, and I voted on a couple that I really, really liked. But I'm not sure what to do from here.

Do you vote on every story? Do you read every story before you vote, or do you vote as you go along? Do you only give good marks to the ones you like and ignore the ones you don't, or do you give low marks to the ones you don't?

And do you have trouble being objective when you know your story is the best and the rest pale in comparison?

 

[litfan10]

Favoritegoddess stated in black: How do you vote on stories?

I've managed to read most of them so far, and I voted on a couple that I really, really liked. But I'm not sure what to do from here.I think it is fantastic that you have read most of them. That is truly wonderful.

Do you vote on every story? Do you read every story before you vote, or do you vote as you go along? Do you only give good marks to the ones you like and ignore the ones you don't, or do you give low marks to the ones you don't?That is really up to you and what you are comfortable doing. For example, if it is not a four or a five I would honestly give then I don't vote (as a fellow competing writer I don't think it is in my place to knock other entries down, but I have no problem making my competition tougher) but do post a comment and maybe an email. My comments as they are in public are positive - any negatives will be private if I feel the writer will benefit from my views as I feel it is more of a respect thing.

And do you have trouble being objective when you know your story is the best and the rest pale in comparison? <laughs> considering the wonderful group of writers here I never seem to have this problem - I'm always just so thrilled to be amongst them.

FG -it's nice having you here. Enjoy the ride and best of luck with your entry - Litfan

 

[optimizer888]

I've got a question. The comments to my story have pointed out a couple minor problems - things that could be corrected with two to three additional sentences. I plan on updating it after the contest... but can stories be updated during the contest? Would that reset the vote counts and all that?

I feel a little funny about trying to tweak the story while the contest is running - seems awfully close to cheating. But I should have waited one more day before entering it, and gave it one last read-through. Oh, well, either way it's been a learning experience, which is what I was going for.

 

[michchick98]

I've got a question. The comments to my story have pointed out a couple minor problems - things that could be corrected with two to three additional sentences. I plan on updating it after the contest... but can stories be updated during the contest? Would that reset the vote counts and all that?

I feel a little funny about trying to tweak the story while the contest is running - seems awfully close to cheating. But I should have waited one more day before entering it, and gave it one last read-through. Oh, well, either way it's been a learning experience, which is what I was going for.

You submit edits to your stories at any time without losing votes or comments. What you want to do is resubmit it the way you normally would only include - EDIT after the title

(STORY TITLE - EDIT)

If the title of your story is too long for the title line, including - EDIT may not fit. In cases such as that, I abbreviate the title, include a note in the Notes Field that I'd like STORY TITLE edited and probably include the story number (the string of numbers at the end of the URL of your story) as well.

Since it's a contest entry, it should remain in the contest listing and the edited version will replace the posted version without you losing anything else.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Reading fun!

Hi Everyone,

I'm really enjoying the entries! I'm trying to leave comments to each story that I read (that's a lot)! Too much fun. Getting great feedback as well.

MAGICA: Ah, glad you have a good sleeper. As she gets a little older, (not sure how old your wee one is) the sleeping and waking during the night will even out. You'll recover some of those lost hours and regain writing and me-time. Enjoy every moment though, it goes way too fast (especially the baby stage)!

 

[EesomeBeastie]

Well mine went up on Friday. A fair number of votes and lots of views, but only one actual comment to date. (Though a two who know me by my real name contacted me directly.)

The thing that surprised me the most was criticism for starting with a line of dialogue. I'd never heard of a "rule" against it (then again I'm not a trained writer, and I'm discovering as I go). What do folk think about this? Is it bad to have dialogue before the reader knows anything about the speaker and doesn't have a mental picture of them?

 

[TxRad]

Well mine went up on Friday. A fair number of votes and lots of views, but only one actual comment to date. (Though a two who know me by my real name contacted me directly.)

The thing that surprised me the most was criticism for starting with a line of dialogue. I'd never heard of a "rule" against it (then again I'm not a trained writer, and I'm discovering as I go). What do folk think about this? Is it bad to have dialogue before the reader knows anything about the speaker and doesn't have a mental picture of them?

If that line of dialog gives the reader an insight into the speaker then I see nothing wrong with it. Rules are made to be broken if you can make it work.

The story has to start somewhere and dialog can be a powerful hook. JMHO, however.

 

[kimbalee]

The thing that surprised me the most was criticism for starting with a line of dialogue. I'd never heard of a "rule" against it (then again I'm not a trained writer, and I'm discovering as I go). What do folk think about this? Is it bad to have dialogue before the reader knows anything about the speaker and doesn't have a mental picture of them?

If that line of dialog gives the reader an insight into the speaker then I see nothing wrong with it. Rules are made to be broken if you can make it work.

The story has to start somewhere and dialog can be a powerful hook. JMHO, however.

sorry for butting in on the thread, since I have nothing in the contest... but I see nothing wrong with it at all. A hook is what you want, and that can do the trick. it is my opinion, though, that rules are meant to be broken... and I life by: "You don't get to tell me what to do, I'll do what I want, thank you."

 

[litfan10]

Well mine went up on Friday. A fair number of votes and lots of views, but only one actual comment to date. (Though a two who know me by my real name contacted me directly.)

The thing that surprised me the most was criticism for starting with a line of dialogue. I'd never heard of a "rule" against it (then again I'm not a trained writer, and I'm discovering as I go). What do folk think about this? Is it bad to have dialogue before the reader knows anything about the speaker and doesn't have a mental picture of them?

Hey EB!

The minute someone says "It's against the rules..." or uses "rules" as a criticism it knocks his/her credibility down a lot. We have stylebooks which often run in similar veins, but they can contradict each other and almost never apply to fiction. We use "Standard rules of the English language" which is based more on popular usage and perception.
Fiction gives us free reign as long as there is a clear purpose behind our choices. If we go against the norm we should have a clear reason for doing it.
My classic example: it is understood that a sentence is made up of a complete subject and a complete predict. Well, in the first chapter of bestselling children's book Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, that won numerous awards as the best book of the year from many credible organizations and is still taught in many schools, there is the sentence: "And ugly." Two words - a coordinating conjunction and an adjective. Good luck finding any source that will tell you that those can be combined alone to make a complete sentence. In fact, starting a sentence with the word "and" will bring up enough negative debate of its own. But she had plenty of reasons for doing this - it was instrumental to the control of the pacing and it created a subtle constructural parallel between the dog and the main character. She had very clear reasons for doing it.

So to sum up this long-winded response, EB - you're a very talented writer, if you feel strongly about doing something, or it just feels right, go ahead and do it. Those choices are what make you the writer you are.

Good luck in the contest, and I'll try to read your story, vote and comment tonight.

 

[michchick98]

Well mine went up on Friday. A fair number of votes and lots of views, but only one actual comment to date. (Though a two who know me by my real name contacted me directly.)

The thing that surprised me the most was criticism for starting with a line of dialogue. I'd never heard of a "rule" against it (then again I'm not a trained writer, and I'm discovering as I go). What do folk think about this? Is it bad to have dialogue before the reader knows anything about the speaker and doesn't have a mental picture of them?

I start several of my stories with dialogue. I think it can be just as effective as setting the opening scene.

Is it proper? Is there a rule against it? I dunno, but I do it anyway.

 

[sr71plt]

I start a lot of mine with dialogue--and in the middle of a conversation.

I won a state-level contest in the mainstream once by starting in the middle of a sentence of dialogue and ending in the middle of a sentence of dialogue. (The point was that the main character was charming, but was a mindless motormouth.)

There are no rules or best cases for this sort of thing. If it works, it works.

 

[oggbashan]

I'm not going to finish another entry before the submission time. I'm off to France, driving to Paris, early tomorrow morning and I won't be back to the 19th.

For US Litsters, Og driving to Paris is not a long journey. Even by ferry I can be in Calais quicker than driving to Central London. From Calais to Paris is only about three hours.

Please keep this thread alive while I'm away. I might use an Internet Cafe in Paris, but with AZERTY keyboards (with no visible @ key) and French error messages (L'ecran bleu de mort) I'll only keep up with essential email.

Og

 

[litfan10]

I'm not going to finish another entry before the submission time. I'm off to France, driving to Paris, early tomorrow morning and I won't be back to the 19th.

For US Litsters, Og driving to Paris is not a long journey. Even by ferry I can be in Calais quicker than driving to Central London. From Calais to Paris is only about three hours.

Please keep this thread alive while I'm away. I might use an Internet Cafe in Paris, but with AZERTY keyboards (with no visible @ key) and French error messages (L'ecran bleu de mort) I'll only keep up with essential email.

Og

Have a safe trip Og and enjoy yourself! See you when you get back!

 

[TxRad]

See you when you get back. Have a fun trip. Or as much as the French will allow anyway.