The Official Author's Hangout Summer Lovin' Contest Support Thread

[TxRad]

Welcome to the one and only Official Author's Hangout Summer Lovin' Contest Support Thread.

Beware of fake contests

 

[YDB95]

I have ideas for Hallowe'en and Christmas, but nothing yet for Summer. Perhaps the problem is living in the tropics, it's been summer all the time for the past four years anyhow. I do have a couple of plot bunnies and could maybe work one of them into this...let's see.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Can someone enlighten me about the theme of this contest? I can see from PL's post that something like "warm weather" counts, but is that necessarily enough?

I'm not asking what will be accepted by The Powers That Be for the contest--I have no doubt that what I'm writing will be.

But I'm genuinely curious about what others here think. How summery should a story be? Is there some level of weak summerness that somehow violates the spirit of the contest?

Because right now, I'm feeling kind of lame just setting the story in the summer, especially since more than half takes place indoors and in the evening.

 

[Darkniciad]

I have yet to see any complaints about a story being off-theme in this one from reader comments. It's really fairly broad, to the point that "takes place in the summer" covers it.

Most of the stories tend to revolve around things iconic of summer. Beaches, sunscreen, ice cream, cookouts... things like that. But, as long as the leaves aren't falling or it doesn't start snowing, the odds are that the readers won't balk based upon theme.

Indoors in the evening in the summer is still going to involve the A.C. running. Or, if it's not, then there's the potential for setting the scene with the night air finally making it more comfortable.

There are ways to strengthen the summer ties, even without your characters frolicking around in bikinis and banana hammocks

 

[sr71plt]

I think it's one of the most-open themes and that, yes, anything "summer" qualifies. Mine relies on the opressive heat of summer for theme.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Also holidays...

I'm tossing around an idea of a romantic forth of july...

 

[Darkniciad]

I've used thunderstorms, because those conveniently knock out power and thus the A.C., letting you stress the season with the rapidly rising heat, even indoors.

What else... Beach. Knocked out A.C. due to the power getting cut off by a kicked out asshole boyfriend ( Note to self: Avoid using the power outage thing this year *laugh* ) A story playing off Labor Day. A non-erotic fever dream about wrecking a bike and landing on a rock ledge over a cliff. Going on vacation to a beach resort ( Beach is another one for me to avoid for variety, it seems ) Going on vacation to Disney with the family one last time before college. Family canoe trip in the BWCA...

Mark off vacations for me as well

To be fair to myself, the original discussion about this was leaning toward a more specific theme of "Summer Vacations", but Laurel decided for something broader in the end. I was still stuck in that vacation mindset.

 

[Darkniciad]

You might consider going for Labor Day instead. The Fourth is long gone by the time the contest starts, but Labor Day is still to come. It would be a little more relevant to the readers, I think.

Also holidays...

I'm tossing around an idea of a romantic forth of july...

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Thanks for the responses, all. My good ol' internalized discipline was making me feel like a cheat, and now I don't feel that way.

I've used thunderstorms, because those conveniently knock out power and thus the A.C., letting you stress the season with the rapidly rising heat, even indoors.

um . . . mind if I use this?

 

[Darkniciad]

Thanks for the responses, all. My good ol' internalized discipline was making me feel like a cheat, and now I don't feel that way.



um . . . mind if I use this?

All yours. I've used the power outage thing twice now, so I'm steering clear of it for variety

 

[PennLady]

I've thought it might be fun to set a story in say, Australia during our summer because it's their winter. Might be a bit too far off the path, though, despite how open this theme is.

 

[Darkniciad]

I've thought it might be fun to set a story in say, Australia during our summer because it's their winter. Might be a bit too far off the path, though, despite how open this theme is.

Considering people bomb and leave nasty comments on Christmas stories for Winter Holiday set down under in summer, but still very much on theme, I think doing winter in the summer theme is asking for the beat-down of all beat-downs.

 

[michchick98]

Can't forget about the ultimate (in my opinion) summer icon: baseball.

Just tossing out another idea since I did a story about a baseball player one year.

Doubtful I'll have the time for a contest entry again this time. *sigh*

 

[lovecraft68]

Mine's going to be pretty basic, the twins just graduated high school(yes I will mention 18th birthday very quickly) and their parents are taking them to a cabin for the summer.

Okay, funny story seeing I'm using twins.

Lately when I write a mother son story I've been doing 2 versions, one for Smashwords which allows incest, then for Amazon I do some tweaking and mention "step-mother a couple fo times in the beginning and go from there so they can be published there.

Now I was telling a friend this and he says "What about that brother sister story you have? You can't fix that one for amazon?"

So I tell him, "No, because they're twins."

Completely seriously he looks at me and says, "So? You can't make them step-twins?"

Wow. Yeah, they're out there.

 

[_Lynn_]

I had a story I thought about writing for NaNo . . . in 2008. Although I have to chop it to remain with contest guidelines, I think it will work. We'll see how it goes.

 

[EmeraldKitten]

I've been waiting for this!!!

I wrote a story last year, but just missed the deadline. I needed another week lol.
I couldn't figure out how to end it, and I didn't get a chance to edit.

But this year.. this year it's 99.9% complete... I may still add some more, but possibly not.
The time has come!

 

[HeyAll]

I'm going basic with two of mine; sun bathing & hot weather. I might only have time for one, so it'll probably be the sun bathing.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Can someone enlighten me about the theme of this contest? I can see from PL's post that something like "warm weather" counts, but is that necessarily enough?

I'm not asking what will be accepted by The Powers That Be for the contest--I have no doubt that what I'm writing will be.

But I'm genuinely curious about what others here think. How summery should a story be? Is there some level of weak summerness that somehow violates the spirit of the contest?

Because right now, I'm feeling kind of lame just setting the story in the summer, especially since more than half takes place indoors and in the evening.

So my entry last year was started in Seattle in June, transported its main characters to a high fantasy world with an arid/desert setting (at least, that's the region where the story took place), had people wearing not a whole lot 'cause it was hot, and then saw the story end in early September... and I was thrilled to have taken first place.

There were a couple of people who commented with "what does this have to do with summer?" but clearly that didn't penalize me. So I guess the moral here is that the powers that be--and the readership--are generally pretty open-minded about what qualifies as a summer story.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm going basic with two of mine; sun bathing & hot weather. I might only have time for one, so it'll probably be the sun bathing.

Hmmmm let me guess is it mom sunbathing by any chance?

 

[oggbashan]

In the UK, this summer, sheltering from the rain or negotiating the floods would be appropriate.

 

[YDB95]

I have ideas for Hallowe'en and Christmas, but nothing yet for Summer.

....Aaaaaand no sooner had I written that than I did come up with a pretty good idea. Only problem is it's pretty ambitious with a lot of minor characters and I'm not sure I can do it justice. Luckily, there's plenty of time yet to find out!

If I don't finish it in time for the contest, it'd actually make a pretty good series-in-chapters. Oh, and I'll join the "only tie-in is that it's set in June" club.

 

[PennLady]

....Aaaaaand no sooner had I written that than I did come up with a pretty good idea. Only problem is it's pretty ambitious with a lot of minor characters and I'm not sure I can do it justice. Luckily, there's plenty of time yet to find out!

If I don't finish it in time for the contest, it'd actually make a pretty good series-in-chapters. Oh, and I'll join the "only tie-in is that it's set in June" club.

LOL There you go. Nothing like giving yourself a plot bunny.

My summer will be set in the summer on the beach -- I guess I'll try to get as many "summer"-related items as possible.

 

[MatthewVett]

I've got a story, but I'm already at 5700 words and I just got to the part where they find out they're cousins. It's going to be a long story.

Does anyone think there's a threshold length for stories, beyond which most readers stop? I know if it's good enough, readers will stick with it more likely than not, but I'm wondering whether anyone's noticed a certain page number where readers just stop making it to the end to vote and comment.

 

[Darkniciad]

Once you get over three Lit pages, you're losing a lot of readers.

However, those who get to the end are more likely to vote on the high end, so it's a trade-off. With the current low vote threshold of 25, qualifying is almost a non-issue nowadays in the climate of steadily increasing votes.

I say just write the story you want to write, and enter it. There are so many variables that any one like length is just a drop in the bucket. Post and enjoy the ride, plus the benefits of rapid posting, top billing on the new list, and long exposure from the contest page.

 

[PennLady]

I'm not sure if readers might give a little more leeway to longer stories in a contest. I know I've said I try to keep my postings to 3-4 Lit pages, but I've gone to 6-7 pages for contest stories since it has to be self-contained. I'll probably do it again this time.