2010 Survivor Literotica: Plotting & Planning

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

I also saw it above mentioning how there's plenty of crap stories with no plot development that are at the 800 word or so mark. It seems like with this quote the survivor contest is more about quantity than quality.

The real question that should be asked here is not in regards to the points or original stories (hence why I suggested a chaptered category), but quality.

In terms of survivor stories posted in the past that were done in chapters, were they generally of a better quality than some of the 800 word point scoring stories that get posted.

As both an avid reader and an occassional writer, there's a lot of cases where I would much more enjoy a multi-chaptered story over just a quick one and done. I mean, I could write 5 stories at exactly the word minimum to score me a ton of points in the survivor contest, but that no one would really enjoy reading because they are crap.

However, I could also use those same 3750 words to write 2 or 3 chapters of an elaborately detailed story that people may actually want to read and enjoy.

Finally, someone with a brain in her head.

I'm really starting to like you (lol).

 

[OnlyByMoonlight]

I agree with both of you.

Why don't they just do ratios like with immunities. For every 1 chaptered entry you have to have 2 non chaptered, or something like that.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

LOAnnie, a percentage of the chapters were short crap. Which is the reason why the no chapter rule was included in the first place. Some participants were just writing what they could for it to qualify for the word count and then move on to the next chapter. There were many "erotic" stories that had maybe one sentence about sex in them. Taking away chapters was the only type of quality control we could include and enforce.

What has been said over and over in this contest is that pretty much the only quality control that exists (and this is the same for every other non-survivor story as well) is the site owners at the time a submission is accepted. This is why we encourage participants to report any submission that may be in the wrong category or be substandard or is in an erotic category but contains no erotic content. Then the site owners will go back and look at the story to decide if it's where it belongs or if it should be posted at all. That's all that can be done.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I also saw it above mentioning how there's plenty of crap stories with no plot development that are at the 800 word or so mark. It seems like with this quote the survivor contest is more about quantity than quality.

The real question that should be asked here is not in regards to the points or original stories (hence why I suggested a chaptered category), but quality.

In terms of survivor stories posted in the past that were done in chapters, were they generally of a better quality than some of the 800 word point scoring stories that get posted.

As both an avid reader and an occassional writer, there's a lot of cases where I would much more enjoy a multi-chaptered story over just a quick one and done. I mean, I could write 5 stories at exactly the word minimum to score me a ton of points in the survivor contest, but that no one would really enjoy reading because they are crap.

However, I could also use those same 3750 words to write 2 or 3 chapters of an elaborately detailed story that people may actually want to read and enjoy.

It's easier to write 3,750 words of drivel and break it into five chapters than to write five pieces of drivel, each one including 750 words. I try to avoid doing either one. Either way, they are just crap but, as long as they are accepted for inclusion on the site, they have to be counted as entries in the Survivors' Contest. Literotica has no quality control.

Don't be too fascinated by plot development. There are basically two kinds of stories here: You can write erotica with well-developed plot and characters or you can write graphic and detailed smut with little or no development. Personally, I prefer to do the latter, and my favorite kind of feedback is a PM or email saying something like "That was really hot! I was dripping wet with my fingers on my clit before I was halfway through, and I came at the same time as Daisy did!"

I have a hard time believing you can write "an elaborately detailed story that people may actually want to read and enjoy" in 3,750 words, either erotica or smut.

 

[al_Ussa]

You know, on the subject of immunities, I think I've come to the conclusion that they actually can hurt you more than they can help you, and I probably won't be partaking in immunities next time around.

To be quite honest, they cause you to loose 3 points and its not a good trade off unless you can actually fill up every other category. As it currently stands, thats not happening this time around. I still want to see how far I can get, mind you, but I'm thinking next time around I'll forsake them.

 

[leondreamer]

I'm thinking of entering this just for the fum of it and I know this may be an incredibly dumb question but...
In stand alone stories, is there a generally accepted length? When I write stories just for the fun of it, I often find I get to say 5000 words before the characters even get to the bedroom lol.
I hope this isn't an annoying question. Thanks

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

I'm thinking of entering this just for the fum of it and I know this may be an incredibly dumb question but...
In stand alone stories, is there a generally accepted length? When I write stories just for the fun of it, I often find I get to say 5000 words before the characters even get to the bedroom lol.
I hope this isn't an annoying question. Thanks

The length is whatever you want it to be as long as it meets the 750 word minimum set by the site owners. For the novels & novellas category (for this contest only), each submission must be at least 7500 words.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

I'm thinking of entering this just for the fum of it and I know this may be an incredibly dumb question but...
In stand alone stories, is there a generally accepted length? When I write stories just for the fun of it, I often find I get to say 5000 words before the characters even get to the bedroom lol.
I hope this isn't an annoying question. Thanks

To answer your question, in the Survivor Contest longer stories of 5,000 to 10,000 words are preferred.

You'd have a better chance of winning the contest with less stories that are longer in length than a lot of short stories that didn't have character development.

There's no need to thank me. I'm glad that I could be of help.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Please continue any further discussion in the 2010 News & Views thread. Thank you.

 

[YoursSINSerely]

To answer your question, in the Survivor Contest longer stories of 5,000 to 10,000 words are preferred.

You'd have a better chance of winning the contest with less stories that are longer in length than a lot of short stories that didn't have character development.

There's no need to thank me. I'm glad that I could be of help.

Shame on you Freddie. This was so bad of you. I'm glad you aren't helping me with anything.