The Author's Hangout Valentine's Day 2012 Support Thread

[PennLady]

Here we go! The 2012 Valentine's Day contest will be underway in a mere month or so, and you know you have ideas. Come here to ask questions, bemoan your writer's block, think your plot issues through, and have a good time while we get our stories ready.

Many thanks to Oggbashan for previous support threads. Ogg has retired from this duty, so I'm trying my hand at it.

Here's the basic info:

Full contest rules can be found here.

Valentine's Day
themes: romantic love, Valentine's Day, Cupid, sensuality, etc.
starts: January 20
closes: February 5
winners announced: February 12

 

[TxRad]

So far and so good.

I have a couple in the works. Now to find time to work on them.

 

[ScouriesWorld]

Of course all authors should know that a.i.r. will also be running their contest concurrently with the LITEROTICA one. These are separate contests with somewhat different rules. Please find below instructions and rules for the a.i.r. part of the contest.

And on behalf of everyone at ScouriesWorld I’d like to welcome the girl from pennsylvania into her new post while at the same time wishing the oggman a happy and healthy retirement.

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

2012 Valentine’s Day Contest

http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/happy-valentines-day-sexy.jpg

You can begin submitting your stories on the weekend starting January 14th
The winners will be announced on or around February 7th

You can discuss this special contest here: the Authors Hangout LITEROTICA/A.I.R. 2012-15Themed Contests Support Thread ​

RULES (for the A.I.R. contest):

- All submissions must be stand-alone stories created for this contest theme. We will not accept individual chapters of a larger work submitted separately.

- Nor will stories featuring characters, locales, plot lines, etc., that have been previously used by the author be accepted.

- Prizes will be awarded in the following categories (a story can only win one prize in each contest):

1) Best Overall Story
2) Most Views
3) Most Comments
4) Most Votes
5) Highest Score
6) Most Favorites (both author and story favorites)

- A story has to accrue a minimum of 300 votes to be eligible (higher in some categories). The vote, comment, view, favorite, and score numbers that are reported by LITEROTICA will be used subject to final verification by the A.I.R. Computer Center.

- Story must have a Valentine’s Day Theme.

- It must be erotic in content.

- Non-Humans are not erotic and NH category stories will not be accepted.

- No character may be named Pauletta.

- Don’t just submit some rehashed story you’ve been working on for years. We want something fresh. Be creative!

- A.I.R. reserves the right to disqualify without notice or explanation any story in which any kind of cheating or vote-tampering is suspected.

- Every story that meets the above criteria and is submitted to LITEROTICA during the contest period will be automatically entered into the A.I.R. contest. No special submission form must be filled out. We believe in inclusivity!

- If you have any questions regarding any of the above or anything pertaining to our contests, feel free to contact me by PM or email, or post any questions you have on this thread or the a.i.r. thread.

Good Luck!!!

 

[TxRad]

Newbie Alert

The above post about an A.I.R. contest is a Lie, there is no such thing except in scouries head. He steals the stories he says are entered from the New story page and from the Real Lit contest and then selects his own winners. Of course, he always places somewhere in his own contest. Duh!

It is all about stroking scouries very over bloated ego.

Now back to the real Contest Thread.

 

[Darkniciad]

Just for the sake of the few who don't have scouries and his alts ( who haven't already been banned ) on ignore, there is no such thing as A.I.R. except in his head. It's nothing more than a way for him to award himself prizes and try to ride on the coattails of authors with actual followings and talent.

Any "rules" he posts are completely pointless to the real contest. The rules for the contests are linked in the first post, and in time, you'll find the official contest thread as a sticky at the top of this -- the Author's Hangout forum -- with more details and the complete instructions for this specific themed contest.

Entering in a themed contest provides many benefits. Your story will usually post in less than 24 hours, as opposed to three days. It will post at the top of the NEW list, attracting far more eyes than the typical story, which usually results in more feedback. It stays visible longer than the typical story due to the contest page adding a few more reads for the full length of the contest.

Encouragement, ideas, and clarification of the rules are always available in this support thread from those of us who have been entering for years, and sometimes from Laurel herself ( either directly, or through answered PMs posted here ) You can find out how well different categories perform, depending upon your goals ( winning the contest may not be one of them ) or just socialize.

The drawbacks are a few unsavory characters ( see: scouries ) and often lower scores than you might be used to on non-contest stories due to competition and visiblity to those who will low-vote and leave nasty commentary for various reasons.

This contest comes hot on the heels of Winter Holiday, and is interrupted by said holidays in the middle of the the period between the two contests, so keep the thread on page 1 so everyone is reminded that they need to get cracking to finish a story on time.

 

[sethp]

Shit! I'll never make it! LOL Maybe if I start Halloween story now. I'll make it for that?

 

[Darkniciad]

Shit! I'll never make it! LOL Maybe if I start Halloween story now. I'll make it for that?

I've already started my Earth Day story *laugh*

Haven't missed a year, and don't want to break the tradition there, so this contest always has low priority for me.

 

[sethp]

I've already started my Earth Day story *laugh*

Haven't missed a year, and don't want to break the tradition there, so this contest always has low priority for me.

Yeah...I enjoy the Halloween and Christmas contests the most. I'm sticking to them. I sure need to start earlier though. a month's lead time just isn't enough anymore.

 

[PennLady]

I'd like to enter this contest but at the moment have absolutely no ideas. Sigh. I've been wondering if other stories I'm considering could be adapted but I'm not sure.

 

[sr71plt]

I have one ready for the contest. But under an alt.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have two ideas, but as I did with The Winter contest I am going to brush off the incest one, and go with a new category for me, Group sex.

Got a stupid pun for this title as well.

 

[lovecraft68]

Of course all authors should know that a.i.r. will also be running their contest concurrently with the LITEROTICA one. These are separate contests with somewhat different rules. Please find below instructions and rules for the a.i.r. part of the contest.

And on behalf of everyone at ScouriesWorld I’d like to welcome the girl from pennsylvania into her new post while at the same time wishing the oggman a happy and healthy retirement.

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

2012 Valentine’s Day Contest

http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/happy-valentines-day-sexy.jpg

You can begin submitting your stories on the weekend starting January 14th
The winners will be announced on or around February 7th

You can discuss this special contest here: the Authors Hangout LITEROTICA/A.I.R. 2012-15Themed Contests Support Thread ​

RULES (for the A.I.R. contest):

- All submissions must be stand-alone stories created for this contest theme. We will not accept individual chapters of a larger work submitted separately.

- Nor will stories featuring characters, locales, plot lines, etc., that have been previously used by the author be accepted.

- Prizes will be awarded in the following categories (a story can only win one prize in each contest):

1) Best Overall Story
2) Most Views
3) Most Comments
4) Most Votes
5) Highest Score
6) Most Favorites (both author and story favorites)

- A story has to accrue a minimum of 300 votes to be eligible (higher in some categories). The vote, comment, view, favorite, and score numbers that are reported by LITEROTICA will be used subject to final verification by the A.I.R. Computer Center.

- Story must have a Valentine’s Day Theme.

- It must be erotic in content.

- Non-Humans are not erotic and NH category stories will not be accepted.

- No character may be named Pauletta.

- Don’t just submit some rehashed story you’ve been working on for years. We want something fresh. Be creative!

- A.I.R. reserves the right to disqualify without notice or explanation any story in which any kind of cheating or vote-tampering is suspected.

- Every story that meets the above criteria and is submitted to LITEROTICA during the contest period will be automatically entered into the A.I.R. contest. No special submission form must be filled out. We believe in inclusivity!

- If you have any questions regarding any of the above or anything pertaining to our contests, feel free to contact me by PM or email, or post any questions you have on this thread or the a.i.r. thread.

Good Luck!!!

You know, its one thing That Laurel/Manu let this boob exist in his won thread, but can't they ban him from the contest threads?

 

[PennLady]

You know, its one thing That Laurel/Manu let this boob exist in his won thread, but can't they ban him from the contest threads?

Try ignore; it's a wonderful thing.

 

[lovecraft68]

Try ignore; it's a wonderful thing.

Well yeah, I could ignore him, but I'm just thinking of the people who don't get who he really is, and what kind of crap he causes.

 

[sr71plt]

They'd only get cheers if, citing his gross misrepresentation of his relationship to the website, they just zeroed out his story file. He'd have no base at all then to brag and manipulate from. He could just change names, of course, and start up again. But it would take time to get momentum and a story file--and if he remained as obnoxious as he is now--he could be zeroed out again.

He really does detract significantly from the commercial value of the site.

 

[lovecraft68]

They'd only get cheers if, citing his gross misrepresentation of his relationship to the website, they just zeroed out his story file. He'd have no base at all then to brag and manipulate from. He could just change names, of course, and start up again. But it would take time to get momentum and a story file--and if he remained as obnoxious as he is now--he could be zeroed out again.

He really does detract significantly from the commercial value of the site.

Good point, but for whatever reason they do not agree. Maybe they think he's good for lit somehow?

I'd say his stories draw readers, but seeing most of his views/votes/comments are bogus, that would not be correct either.

I'm coming to the conclusion they leave him here to torture the rest of us. The literotica version of the bogeyman.

 

[scouries]

I, james r scouries, LITEROTICA’S #2 “Most Favorited Author”, President of ScouriesWorld, author of the MOST COMMENTED ON and MOST VOTED ON stories on the site, author of two famous million sellers, etc., etc., would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new THREADMISTRESS of this themed contest thread.

With no intended malice towards the oggman I think everyone agreed that it was time for a change. He did valiant work over the years but at some point in time lost his enthusiasm for the project.

And while his reserved English manner may have been fine for the twentieth century I believe the world has moved on. We need, and hopefully have got, a more modern, younger approach to THREADMISTRESSING.

So welcome Pennsylvania lady! The oggman is dead… long live the new queen!

While here I’d like to make a few suggestions based on my observations of these threads and themed contests over the years. ​

SUGGESSTION #1: Give us a little pizzazz! Some excitement! Some color! Oh many of the old farts are already complaining about Jacqui’s introduction of the A.I.R. Contest. “Too colorful,” they scream. “Pictures? In our thread?” they cry.

The thing is the worlds a busy, million mile an hour place these days. The old ways just don’t cut it! Instead of attracting the same people making the same comments thread after thread (go back and read the last 6 or 7 themed contest threads if you want to die of boredom) you should attempt to connect with the next generation. To the up and coming authors. Dull black and white just won’t cut it anymore.

SUGGESSTION #2: Reach out to the LITEROTICA greats. The previous administration of this thread ignored (and even worse) the giants of LITEROTICA. The rgjohns, slickmans, sarahhhs, willshakespeare, the baron, etc. Quite frankly he (and his cronies) were more interested in hogging as many prizes as they could even if the quality of the contests fell.

You can do better!

SUGGESSTION #3: Don’t be afraid of change. In fact embrace it with open arms. Don’t fall so much in love with the position that you become afraid to take any position that might offend somebody. Leaders can’t follow the pack – they have to be out in front. What possible fun is life if you’re scared of your own shadow?

What do you think of a contest that is to be judged by the readers votes that allows authors to turn off the voting?

Or to edit a story midstream but keep the votes it received on the prior edition?

Pose questions! Raise issues! LEAD!

SUGGESSTION #4: Be an active threadmistress! oggie simply posted the same post #1 every thread and then just retired from the field. THREADMISTRESSING entails directing the thread, keeping it on track, keeping it relevant.

Heck there are hundreds of threads in the various forums where people can discuss what they had for lunch or what hand they used to eat it with - you can do better.

SUGGESSTION #5: And finally retire the last place contest. It’s not funny anymore. In the old days as many as 50% of the stories entered in a contest might not hit the minimum 25 votes needed. It was sorta a humorous booby prize in those days but since so many were in the same boat it worked for a while. No longer! If you don’t get 100 votes these days let alone 25 you’re not doing very well. Highlighting authors who receive less than 25 votes is no longer amusing.

SUGGESSTION #6: Okay, just one more to start. Work to have all characters named Pauletta banned.


Thanks and GOOD LUCK!!!!

Yes I Will!!!​

 

[Darkniciad]

The one good thing about him is that his every post provides all the reasoning we need to suggest putting him on ignore. No need to explain at all.

Of course he's going to go back to posting here. His threads have proved a dismal failure of him desperately shouting for attention to blank stares, because half the visitors don't even see them thanks to the wonders of ignore.

The invisible man shouting into the void of his own ego

 

[sr71plt]

I keep looking for him in the marketplace where the rubber of the worth of stories really meets the road--but he obviously isn't going to buy hundreds of copies of his works in the marketplace like he manipulates the votes/comments/views for himself on Lit., so I guess he's going to remain in this little pond.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.

 

[TE999]

ScouriesWorld just went on my Iggy list. I'm sick of scrolling through that cretin's inane ravings in every contest thread.

 

[Darkniciad]

I keep looking for him in the marketplace where the rubber of the worth of stories really meets the road--but he obviously isn't going to buy hundreds of copies of his works in the marketplace like he manipulates the votes/comments/views for himself on Lit., so I guess he's going to remain in this little pond.

And get out-fished. 6th in views, 4th in votes, 9th in favs, 5th in PCs ( many of which were telling him he was a bigot with poor grammar ), and 28th in score.

All the self-inflation, and couldn't make the top 3 in anything.

 

[PennLady]

ScouriesWorld just went on my Iggy list. I'm sick of scrolling through that cretin's inane ravings in every contest thread.

That's pretty much I why I put him on ignore. I was tired of his diatribes taking up my screen space.

 

[nicecthulhu]

I'm just wondering how specific to Valentine's Day does a story have to be?
And the theme of romantic love is vague enough to probably cover thousands of stories on this website. I assume that some genres with romantic love would be expected to do better in a contest than others.
Not that I'd be expecting to get a top score, but if I do enter I'd like to submit something worth a decent look by those who vote.

 

[PennLady]

I'm just wondering how specific to Valentine's Day does a story have to be?
And the theme of romantic love is vague enough to probably cover thousands of stories on this website. I assume that some genres with romantic love would be expected to do better in a contest than others.
Not that I'd be expecting to get a top score, but if I do enter I'd like to submit something worth a decent look by those who vote.

I'd say this is the one contest in which writers specifically reference the holiday, although of course that's not a requirement. However, the other contests have more leeway -- the "Winter Holidays" contest, for example, encompasses themes like winter, snow, Christmas, Hannukah, etc. For Valentine's day, as you notice, it's more about love, but that's such a ubiquitous subject that you need a little more. But hey, we all like a challenge.