The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2016 Contest Support Thread

[oggbashan]

The Halloween Contest has only just started but there is only a short time between the end of that Contest and the start of the Winter Holidays contest.

Winter Holidays
themes: winter holiday traditions (dreidels, gift giving, etc.), cold weather (snow), holiday mythology (Santa, elves), etc.
starts: November 10
closes: December 7
winners announced: December 14

This thread is to SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE authors to enter stories in the Winter Holidays contest. Bring out your fur-lined boots, your Santa and Elf fantasies, your presents and crackers (or your Christmas themed beach parties for those in the Southern Hemisphere).

There is an advantage to entering stories in one of Literotica's themed contests, apart from the possibility of winning, and that is that your story gets far more exposure and attention than it would normally do.

Some of that attention might be unwelcome, some abusive, but some could be appreciative and helpful.

 

[lovecraft68]

Wow, this is early.

I have a lot of stuff coming up. Several expos to push my print books in person and spending a lot of time on marketing etc...Not sure I'll have anything for this one.

Good luck and happy writing to all who will be entering

 

[ChloeTzang]

.........

 

[TxRad]

Uh.. I have a couple started from last year. I'll have to see how much time i have. it's not looking good at the present.

 

[HeyAll]

I have 2 completed already. Need to make 2 more.

 

[tomlitilia]

I couldn't get my shit together to finish a story in time for Halloween, so maybe instead I can revive a story I couldn't get my shit together to finish for last year's winter contest...

 

[oggbashan]

I couldn't get my shit together to finish a story in time for Halloween, so maybe instead I can revive a story I couldn't get my shit together to finish for last year's winter contest...

There's still time to enter the Halloween contest.

 

[ChloeTzang]

And I have a question, being new to these writing competitions on LIT. How do they get ranked? I was looking around but I couldn't find anything that told me how they're assessed. And I'm sooooo curious.

 

[tomlitilia]

And I have a question, being new to these writing competitions on LIT. How do they get ranked? I was looking around but I couldn't find anything that told me how they're assessed. And I'm sooooo curious.

By votes of the readers.

 

[Sammael Bard]

I have an something coming up for this contest. It's still a long way to go, but I think I can submit it in time.

Just in case I fuck up, there's always Valentine's Day, eh?

 

[oggbashan]

And I have a question, being new to these writing competitions on LIT. How do they get ranked? I was looking around but I couldn't find anything that told me how they're assessed. And I'm sooooo curious.

They have to have a minimum of 25 votes left after the sweeps made to remove suspicious voting.

After the last sweep the story with the highest rating wins.

For the monthly contests, there is a minimum of 50 votes.

 

[GoldenMaia]

Oh man

I just posted my 'summer' story. <.< I'm running /WAY/ far behind. Maybe I shouldn't even bother trying for the Halloween story and just jump right into winter. *splash*

I dunno though, I really like masks/costumes. <.<

 

[oggbashan]

I just posted my 'summer' story. <.< I'm running /WAY/ far behind. Maybe I shouldn't even bother trying for the Halloween story and just jump right into winter. *splash*

I dunno though, I really like masks/costumes. <.<

You can always save it for NEXT year's Halloween contest.

I have four part completed stories that are for Halloween 2017.

 

[sr71plt]

I know what I've doing for the winter contest (another Hardesty mystery), but I haven't started it yet. I'm busy trying to push through some novel-length works for the marketplace. I may not make the contest's opening bell this time.

 

[GoldenMaia]

You can always save it for NEXT year's Halloween contest.

I have four part completed stories that are for Halloween 2017.

Dang! You just hold onto them for the next year? :O How long are those?

 

[oggbashan]

Dang! You just hold onto them for the next year? :O How long are those?

Some are long. Some are short. Some have been hanging around incomplete for a long time. I still have a dozen incomplete Earth Day stories for a contest that doesn't exist anymore.

My heap of incomplete stories is massive. I don't bother counting them because there are hundreds of them. Occasionally I turn some of the heap over with a fork looking for neglected gems in the pile of shit.

One of my stories posted in 2016 was started in 2004.

 

[masterandmargarita]

...and I am in the contest! Eventually... when approved... Wasn't sure if I was going to make it. Longest single submission I ever wrote.

I'm surprised to see that at mid-contest this thread is like:

EDIT: BECAUSE I POSTED IN THE WRONG THREAD.

 

[masterandmargarita]

Damn it. And I wasted my favorite tumbleweed gif.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Ahh, so it's not the actual numbers of votes, it's just anything over 25 votes and then the one with the highest rating wins. Got it. Now I understand. Thx. Not a combination or anything complicated like that.

 

[TxRad]

Ahh, so it's not the actual numbers of votes, it's just anything over 25 votes and then the one with the highest rating wins. Got it. Now I understand. Thx. Not a combination or anything complicated like that.

Simple as pie except when the 1-bombing begins.

Remember, what you see for a score during the contest will not resemble the final score. The sweeps sometimes come with the little broom but the last one is usually with the biggest broom you can imagine.

 

[ChloeTzang]

..........

 

[oggbashan]

Ahh, so it's not the actual numbers of votes, it's just anything over 25 votes and then the one with the highest rating wins. Got it. Now I understand. Thx. Not a combination or anything complicated like that.

The problem with that simplicity is that a story with a thousand votes rated as 4.74 will not see the rating change significantly after a sweep. A story with fifty votes, also on 4.74, might change dramatically upwards or downwards, even down far enough to have less than twenty-five votes.

Compared to many well-known authors I get few votes. My stories can have wildly fluctuating ratings as sweeps occur. Sometimes that means I come within the top three in a contest but usually it means I don't keep Red Hs.

 

[ChloeTzang]

.........

 

[oggbashan]

Three weeks to the start date of this contest.

Please start writing now if you haven't already done so.

 

[holliday1960]

Three weeks to the start date of this contest.

Please start writing now if you haven't already done so.

Giving a bump! Wishing all who enter, Good Luck!