2009 News & Views: Discussions and Announcements for the Survivorphile

[wife2hotblk]

Is anyone else having difficulty producing the shorter works necessary for the volume necessary for the contest?

I have begun two different stories this week, both of which have taken on a life of their own. I am barely into the story and each is already 5,000 words. I generally write the longer novels and novella type stories anyway. So I am struggling with finding balance. I know I have to kick out the shorter stuff with the chapter rule, but that means I have to put the other stuff aside sometimes. It is proving really frustrating. It was not so bad with the poems and non-fiction stuff of course.

I feel as if I may have biten off more than I can chew. How do others who have competed before manage the balance? From a newbies perspective it is daunting.

 

[LitEroCat]

Is anyone else having difficulty producing the shorter works necessary for the volume necessary for the contest?

I have begun two different stories this week, both of which have taken on a life of their own. I am barely into the story and each is already 5,000 words. I generally write the longer novels and novella type stories anyway. So I am struggling with finding balance. I know I have to kick out the shorter stuff with the chapter rule, but that means I have to put the other stuff aside sometimes. It is proving really frustrating. It was not so bad with the poems and non-fiction stuff of course.

I feel as if I may have biten off more than I can chew. How do others who have competed before manage the balance? From a newbies perspective it is daunting.

I think I understand the new chapter rule if it's purpose is to encourage more new stories, but I don't think it will work that way.

If I have 15 independent stories about the same people in different situations, or chapters in their lives, I WANT them read in a specific order. Giving them chapter numbers lets that happen. I think leaving them unnumbered is a disservice to the readers and will confound continuity and clarity.

If the rule is really to ensure that chapters are independent, then numbering them shouldn't be penalized. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Is anyone else having difficulty producing the shorter works necessary for the volume necessary for the contest?

I have begun two different stories this week, both of which have taken on a life of their own. I am barely into the story and each is already 5,000 words. I generally write the longer novels and novella type stories anyway. So I am struggling with finding balance. I know I have to kick out the shorter stuff with the chapter rule, but that means I have to put the other stuff aside sometimes. It is proving really frustrating. It was not so bad with the poems and non-fiction stuff of course.

I feel as if I may have biten off more than I can chew. How do others who have competed before manage the balance? From a newbies perspective it is daunting.

They don't call this the Survivor Contest for nothing. Wait until August. You'll feel the weight of pressure then.

My advice, since you asked, is to use the shorter stories as inspiration for longer works and vice versa. Use the shorter stories to experiment with your writing and to try new things by writing in categories that you wouldn't ordinary submit a story.

While working on longer pieces, I generally get ideas for shorter stories. I seldom work on one story at a time. Most often I have a dozen of unfinished stories that I revisit daily or weekly before submitting them.

The shorter stories should be a joy and not a chore to write. Have fun with them. They don't all have to have a sexual theme. Now is the easiest time when you have plenty of categories to fill.

My advice is not to think of the category. Just write the story and then pick the category later. You seem to be boxing yourself in by defining the story by the category. Just write. You'll know where to submit the story once you are finished.

You're off to a good start, thus far, but to win this contest, you'll need to average a story a day.

Good luck.

 

[wife2hotblk]

Thank you for the very thoughtful answers.

Yes, writing one a day was what I realised I would need to do...the day AFTER I signed up for the contest. Although in complete honesty for the frustrated writer that tends to start and not finish things, a contest that forces me into the daily writing habit is a winner no matter what.

I was doing so well at first, then this week the characters just seemed to take over. Like you I have a whole file of things that are in various portions of being finished. Like I said though most are novels/novellas and with the chapter rules those won't be helping much...unfortunately.

I went for the easy things first...poetry and the non-fiction, which is what I do anyway that was way easy. I have also done a few true-life stories, since I never feel the need to develop myself as a character and can just describe the dirty details. I might have to relie more upon that for the short ones...thank the fates I have more than enough and varied experience for several months.

But yes, I know the pace is grueling and meant to be.

Thank you once again for your voices of experience.

 

[KarennaC]

Is anyone else having difficulty producing the shorter works necessary for the volume necessary for the contest?

I have begun two different stories this week, both of which have taken on a life of their own. I am barely into the story and each is already 5,000 words. I generally write the longer novels and novella type stories anyway. So I am struggling with finding balance. I know I have to kick out the shorter stuff with the chapter rule, but that means I have to put the other stuff aside sometimes. It is proving really frustrating. It was not so bad with the poems and non-fiction stuff of course.

I feel as if I may have biten off more than I can chew. How do others who have competed before manage the balance? From a newbies perspective it is daunting.

I didn't try to write a story a day, nor did I try to write shorter stories. However, I did manage to write a story a day at first; in fact, some days I had more than one story posting.

I was burned out by May.

So from January 2008 through May 2008, I posted something along the lines of 130 stories, I think. It may have been fewer. And then, from May 2008 until the end of the 2008 contest, I only posted about 10 more stories, because I couldn't get my head around writing anymore. I still finished fourth for the 2008 contest.

I did do a few really short (under 1000 word) stories, but most of my stuff topped out between 2000-3000 words. Some of it was longer.

Honestly, if you look at the scores of the 2008 participants, Erin and BFW both ended up with 600-some points, but SunrockSin and I only had 300-some each, and Selena had 262. It's very possible, in other words, to finish in the top 5 without stressing yourself over writing too many stories or forcing yourself to write to the contest. Of course, if you want to win, you might have to do more...

The only thing I changed about my stories for the purposes of Survivor was the categories in which I wrote; prior to Survivor, I'd only written in Erotic Couplings and Toys and Masturbation. I used the contest as an excuse to exercise my writing muscles and push my comfort zones, and to break through the mild block I still had in place about writing erotica. (Until I was 36, I couldn't say the word "sex" without cringing; took me a year or so longer to be comfortable writing about it explicitly.) If a story wanted to be long, I wrote it long; I didn't try to limit the length of the story so I could move on to something else, though I did often have more than one story going at a time. I did spend considerably more time writing during the contest than I had before, but that was a good thing since it gave me something productive to focus on and kept me out of chat rooms and such.

Not sure what you mean by "the volume necessary for the contest"; as I said, the first and second place winners had many, many stories, but I finished fourth with, if I'm adding right, 140 stories. So my advice would be push yourself as much as you're comfortable, write what wants to be written, and give yourself permission to take a break from writing for a few days if the words don't flow. Forcing it could work, but it could also backfire.

And no matter where you finish, you'll still be doing better than the third or so of the people who signed up who may never post a thing, judging from last year.

 

[starrkers]

I'm not sure how much volume is going to be needed this year - last year I scraped into 15th spot (the last prize winner) with only 7 stories, but I did write 20 poems.

So far this year I haven't written a thing. I had hoped to have at least one in by now ( for the Valentines Contest) but circumstances have conspired against me. If I can get some peace and quiet over the next few days and some less severe weather (been 110 every day for the past five days and no sign of a cool change yet), I might still manage it, but I kinda doubt it.

*sigh*
First goal of the year blown.

 

[KarennaC]

Yeah, I forgot the poems part... out of the 140 stories I mentioned, 21 were actually poems. I tend to lump them together.

Starrkers, I hope you're able to have some writing time soon!

 

[KarennaC]

Illustrated Stories

Can someone please help me understand this category and how to cope with it? I'm posting this here because in my case, it relates to Survivor.

I have an Illustrated story already in this year's contest. It's doing abysmally in the voting, which I anticipated because the photos I used to illustrate it are of a snowy street and a couple cups of hot chocolate. I've been lambasted by one reader who threatened never to read any of my stuff again (oh, the horror!) and called me a tease.

My understanding of this category is that first of all, any artwork has to be created by the author. If photos are used, they have to be either photos I took or photos I'm in. And I recall reading somewhere that photos cannot be explicit.

So how the heck do I illustrate these things? I don't own a digital camera; I had to borrow my 13-year-old's for the photos I took, which means I have to take pretty tame pictures. Even if I had my own digital camera, I don't know anyone who would let me photograph them in a "compromising situation", and I'm sure as hell not going to pose for any sexual/sensual photos myself. Besides, given the rule about photos not being explicit, where's the line between nonexplicit and "you tease, how dare you post tame photos"?

As for artwork, I'm about as far from being an artist as you can get, writing aside. I can manage some passable digital images by dubbing around in Photofiltre, but those involve cutting up stock stuff and manipulating it into what I want, and I believe we're not allowed to use any stock stuff. Or does that not apply if we're cutting out pieces of it and turning it into something else?

I have to do two more illustrated stories to fill cap level 1 for the contest; since I've already done one, I'm stuck. So can anyone help me figure out how to do this so I'm not getting 1-bombed and lambasted, but am working within the limitations I have? (I just got my tax refund and I am planning to buy my own digital camera, but I still wouldn't want to ask anyone to pose for me and I refuse to appear in photos myself.)

 

[YoursSINSerely]

Immunity

Where do I get immunity and what is it? Can I get a short vesion? I'm short.

 

[KarennaC]

Go to the thread titled "Immunity:February 2009". Post a reply there with the immunity number you want (1 through 46, I think.) In the first post of that thread, there are instructions that explain the process.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Karenna, it's really not possible to not get lambasted in that category. Most readers aren't aware of the "no explicit photos" rule and will blast you even if you post pics of yourself in lingerie because you aren't showing enough skin (speaking from experience here). I found the best way to deal with that category is to turn off voting and comments.

Oh, and no you can't use stock images in any way, shape, or form.

 

[LadynStFreknBed]

Karenna, it's really not possible to not get lambasted in that category. Most readers aren't aware of the "no explicit photos" rule and will blast you even if you post pics of yourself in lingerie because you aren't showing enough skin (speaking from experience here). I found the best way to deal with that category is to turn off voting and comments.

Oh, and no you can't use stock images in any way, shape, or form.

yeah, that's good advice for that category. i've seen a lot of people get trolled for a lot of reasons in that category. The people in the photos are too fat or the drawings aren't racy enough or the drawing are in black and white... etc. People complain about stuff that I wouldn't even think would matter... and the comments rarely have anything to do with the story itself. I bet I could post a shit story with some awesome artwork and get 5's.

 

[KarennaC]

Crim and Lady, thank you. So I didn't screw anything up by using the photos I used; that's good to know.

Next time I'll write a story involving lingerie and just post a pic of the lingerie, no humans involved. That should really tick them off. lol

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[KarennaC]

Erin, thank you I'll definitely check out some of your stories from last year. Scenery and props were mostly what I was planning to use for my illustrated stories this year (I immunitied out of the category last year), so I'm glad to know others have done it that way.

 

[Sean Renaud]

I know this isn't really the place for this question but I don't see a reason not to ask since it's kinda what we are discussing (and I have relevant questions anyway)

1. Are we allowed to put illustrations in non illustrated stories? I've never seen it but I'm curious if there is an actual rule against it.

2. To the author who was saying they want their stories read in a particular order it might be kinda tough since you can't number them this year around but if they are released in order and have a few back reference points you should be ok like a lot of television shows. I mean I get the impression here that South Park would be allowed in the contest because all (nearly all) episodes stand on their own. They assume you know a bit about the universe but they are complete stand alone stories. But 24 would not because twenty four assumes you've never blinked. Not once. Not ever.

 

[LadynStFreknBed]

I mean I get the impression here that South Park would be allowed in the contest because all (nearly all) episodes stand on their own. They assume you know a bit about the universe but they are complete stand alone stories. But 24 would not because twenty four assumes you've never blinked. Not once. Not ever.

South Park?
As in the animated show in which the main characters are under 18?

 

[Sean Renaud]

Yes. I could have mentionied any show without a story arc. I mentioned South Park because it's basically universal everybody knows that show. I could have said Law and Order since it features the same charachters and they might occasioinaly reference earlier episodes but they don't directly effect the current story which is basically all that is really required.

Just like I could have used any show with story arcs to mention what was going on but 24 is the ultimate example.

When I was questioning the new rules late last year I was given the impression (after asking like twenty times) that sequels are ok but chapters aren't. So you could do Pirates of the Carribean but it would be 2 stories not three. Curse of the Black PEarl is one story and then Dead Man's Chest and Worlds End are one story.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

1. Are we allowed to put illustrations in non illustrated stories? I've never seen it but I'm curious if there is an actual rule against it.

Yes, you're allowed to put illustrations in stories in categories other than Illustrated. I did it here, for example. I did check directly with Laurel first, though, and made sure to include in the Notes field that even though there was an illustration, the story was to be posted in the category indicated (in the case, Reviews & Essays) and not in Illustrated.

 

[zeitgeist_the_clown]

Novels and Novellas Question

Okay . . . I've got this story idea that I've plotted out as a seven chapter long thing. The chapters in question, however, don't seem like they are going to run 7500 words or greater apiece. (A couple of them might. But most of them? No.)

So here's my question. Can I submit multiple chapters of a multi-chapter story within a single entry in the Novels and Novellas category?

For example --

Gretchen Makes a Bet -- Part One (Chapter One)
Gretchen Makes a Bet -- Part Two (Chapters Two - Three)
Gretchen Makes a Bet -- Part Three (Chapters Four - Five)
Gretchen Makes a Bet -- Part Four (Chapters Six - Seven)

Each chapter is a distinct chapter, but not a stand-alone story. So I don't know if I'm allowed to double them up inside 'chapters' of a Novels and Novellas arc or not.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Yes, you're perfectly free to do that in Novels & Novellas.

 

[zeitgeist_the_clown]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

 

[bb_peaks]

Can someone please help me understand this category and how to cope with it? I'm posting this here because in my case, it relates to Survivor.

Honestly? I'm hoping for immunity in these categories and just work harder on the other ones. I would rather everyone hear my voice than to have to subject them to the stick figures I would have to draw or come up with something creative in the photography department (although I do have story ideas on my spreadsheet should I HAVE to end up submitting in those categories)

 

[KarennaC]

I'm hoping to win immunities to cover the two Audio categories, since I don't have the technology to record the audio myself and I'm challenged enough that I'm not sure I'd be able to figure out how to submit them if I had someone else record them. I'd rather fill the rest of the categories with stories, since immunities don't count for points this year and I want to beat the score I got last year. Other than the audios, the only category in which I'm planning to use an immunity is Chain Stories, and that's only if there aren't enough chains for me to fill all the cap levels I plan to fill.

Now that I know photos of scenery or props are acceptable in that category and that I'm not the only author who's been slammed for using them, I'm not as concerned about Illustrated

 

[bb_peaks]

Scorecard question.

Is it okay to go ahead and post my stories to its repsective category and update the points as I'm submitted the story rather than waiting for its approval. IMHO it is easier for me to place it on my card at submission time and would be easier to take off if it doesn't get approved rather than wait around for approval when I might forget to put it on there.