Pink Orchid: Story Event for Women-Centric Erotica - Official Support Thread

[MelissaBaby]

No worries! The important think is to write good smut, and that can be done all year round. Also, I'll probably host this again next year.

Great! I think I already have an idea for next year. It's about an event organized to celebrate women, but then this one guy barges in and decides to make it all about him.

I'm not sure how it ends yet, but I think it will involve a male chastity device and one of those butt plugs the size of a table lamp.

 

[SimonDoom]

But that was my original criticism of the 'Toxic' story which started this tangent: All men in the story except for the final one she selected were toxic males. (Sweeping characterizations of males in general.)

It might seem liking quibbling but I think there's a difference between making a sweeping statement about all men and writing a story where all or most of the men in that particular story happen to be shits. One can write a story with bad men yet not believe that all men are necessarily like that. It might be useful to the point of the story to leave the good guys out.

 

[NotWise]

Great! I think I already have an idea for next year. It's about an event organized to celebrate women, but then this one guy barges in and decides to make it all about him.

I'm not sure how it ends yet, but I think it will involve a male chastity device and one of those butt plugs the size of a table lamp.

Thanks. My laugh for the lunch hour.

 

[Lifestyle66]

It might seem liking quibbling but I think there's a difference between making a sweeping statement about all men and writing a story where all or most of the men in that particular story happen to be shits. One can write a story with bad men yet not believe that all men are necessarily like that. It might be useful to the point of the story to leave the good guys out.

That's a good point.

I think my take on the 'Toxic' story just went negative due to not comprehending why she would have an on-going relationship with a toxic guy to the point of getting knocked up twice. I would think after his reaction the first time an intelligent woman would make a different choice. Then the story went on to show almost all other men as assholes.

But, while I put such views on these forum blogs, I choose to be less blatantly critical in the public comments. (I don't want to discourage potential readers.)

In my public comment, it will say (when reviewed) that while I had issues with how the story builds, liked her decision in the end to delete her former lover's text. THAT was sex-positive and empowering showing she learned to make better decisions.

 

[MelissaBaby]

If Lifestyle66 has made the same point enough times, I'd like to change the subject and say that I have just finished Tarnished Penny's The Mermaid in the Boathouse, and it is a lovely, imaginative tale.

It's the kind of thing I could never imagine myself writing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if I had written this sentence, I would walk around like I was Queen of the Badass Writers for several weeks:

She Sang of love and lust and of need fulfilled, of hope and hammering pulses, of bodies locked together in the ancient dance of loving men and women.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I enjoyed Toxic. The best characters are flawed, that's what makes them real. The overarching theme is that humans, all humans, are capable of positive change. The MC grows as a person, puts all her energy into empowering people to change! I think it's a very positive story.

For the record, anyone can lose their heart to a toxic relationship, stupid or intelligent, experienced or naive. Love is blind, right?

 

[yowser]

For the record, anyone can lose their heart to a toxic relationship, stupid or intelligent, experienced or naive. Love is blind, right?

Love has a disability. A protected class.

 

[Bramblethorn]

If you are a dedicated researcher in this area of male/female/hormone-rage studies (male or female researcher), try doing a real-world experiment on yourself. Go to a medical spa doctor and take slow-release testosterone hormone treatment. Then try documenting your own mood changes over the next three months. You might need to ask someone else close to you to document the changes, since you will see them as the normal right way to behave.

If you are a male, you will find your "need" for sex to become stronger, AND you will find your interactions with others to be more aggressive and you will become angry more quickly. If you are a female, you will find your libedo increase, and you will feel the "need" for sex to be stronger.

As it happens, I'm already familiar with this experiment. Quite a few people in my social circle are transgender folk on hormone therapy, including an ex who transitioned while we were dating.

Hormonal effects are real. The physical ones are obvious, and my trans male friends have indeed reported an increased sex drive while on T. Aggressive impulses? Quite possibly they experienced this, but I didn't observe it in their behaviour, because they remained free-willed human beings who were still capable of making choices. Even while going through the equivalent of puberty, without years of previous experience to calibrate from. Being male, whether by biology or by pharmacy, may increase somebody's predisposition to aggression but it isn't destiny.

 

[stickygirl]

As it happens, I'm already familiar with this experiment. Quite a few people in my social circle are transgender folk on hormone therapy, including an ex who transitioned while we were dating.

Hormonal effects are real. The physical ones are obvious, and my trans male friends have indeed reported an increased sex drive while on T. Aggressive impulses? Quite possibly they experienced this, but I didn't observe it in their behaviour, because they remained free-willed human beings who were still capable of making choices. Even while going through the equivalent of puberty, without years of previous experience to calibrate from. Being male, whether by biology or by pharmacy, may increase somebody's predisposition to aggression but it isn't destiny.

.... and predisposition implies all the influences likely to promote an aggressive quarterback mentality: nurture not nature.

As for our idiot Lifestyle promoting the idea of experimenting with hormones - he deserves all the contempt he shows for others.

 

[Omenainen]

Inspired by 4am insomnia and various discussions, I've just submitted under the wire a 750-word piece, also tagged Pink Orchid.

I put it in non-erotic as it would otherwise be very mediocre smut!

And I thank you for that, because by my count it tipped the word count in the event just over 500k words
Now I'm just waiting to see the final list to see if there's stories that I haven't found this far. And binging on y'all orchids.

I cheated on the publishing order and read that already. And now I notice you say you put it in non-erotic, but it was published in EC? I left a comment wondering why it wasn't Lesbian or E&V, sorry about that. Didn't remember you mentioned category over here.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

And now I notice you say you put it in non-erotic, but it was published in EC? I left a comment wondering why it wasn't Lesbian or E&V, sorry about that. Didn't remember you mentioned category over here.

Laurel put it in EC. I knew if I put it in Lesbian people would complain about lack of lesbian sex, and in E&V they'd complain about not playing up the exhibitionism or voyeurism aspects... I think EC is meant to be a sort of catch-all category, and tbf the story wasn't completely non-erotic...

I've had Laurel put stories in a different category before and it's done OK. My most-read story I put in EC (there's one man and one woman), but it got published in Fetish (she has a strap-on, he's a gay virgin, sexual stuff but no penetrative sex happens). Though the tag of Interracial may have helped that? Who knows?

This one probably shows that I wrote 1400 words at 5am, then edited it during breaks and a couple meetings, in rather a hurry. The title's probably the best bit (Women Watching Woman). Lit hasn't even told me I have a comment, which is admittedly less annoying that it telling me I have one but it's not available to read for another 10 hours or more...

 

[MelissaBaby]

And I thank you for that, because by my count it tipped the word count in the event just over 500k words

I did my part, at 30k.

 

[Omenainen]

I did my part, at 30k.

You did! But it wasn’t the longest!

I’m looking forward to yours.

 

[MelissaBaby]

You did! But it wasn’t the longest!

I’m looking forward to yours.

It would have been, if I'd had more time.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I'm interested to see the effect that the posting of the full list will have. I'm now tracking my story's view counts each day, leading up to the posting.

 

[PennameWombat]

Don't know if it'll get included, I submitted "Ladonna's Quandary" a few hours before midnight US EST on the 28th... I tagged it for this event. It's not yet published. So we'll see if.

That'll add about 17,000 words to the total if it gets counted.

 

[Thefireflies]

And I thank you for that, because by my count it tipped the word count in the event just over 500k words
Now I'm just waiting to see the final list to see if there's stories that I haven't found this far. And binging on y'all orchids.

You are a reading machine, Omenainen! Thanks for sowing the seeds for all these orchids to grow and flower.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

As I write this, the full list of stories (with, presumably, some attention drawn to it by the site) will be posted in a few minutes. My story was posted on Feb. 1, and while it got a fair amount of attention, by my standards, it's settled down quite a lot. In the last eight days, there have been 131 views, no votes, and no comments. On six of the eight days, there were between 14 and 18 views. The two outliers were 28 and 8. Now to see if there are new readers.

 

[Omenainen]

The final list is now out! 532k words, 44 stories and 1 poem, featuring 18 categories! Wow!

My sincerest thanks to everyone who participated. I have been really happy with this event, and hope to host it again next year.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

The final list is now out! 532k words, 44 stories and 1 poem, featuring 18 categories! Wow!

My sincerest thanks to everyone who participated. I have been really happy with this event, and hope to host it again next year.

Thanks for organising it, I enjoyed participating and pushing myself to do something different.

As Juan says, be interesting to see if attention picks up on the back of the list being published. Busy day ahead tracking my entry as well as my new April Fool's one

 

[Thefireflies]

The final list is now out! 532k words, 44 stories and 1 poem, featuring 18 categories! Wow!

I assume the link to the list will be posted to the Lit Home Page once the sun comes up in the US?

 

[Thefireflies]

Disregard my previous post, it's on the Home Page now.

 

[Thefireflies]

Actually, the link on the Home Page doesn't go to the list of stories, it goes back to the initial announcement of the event.

 

[Thefireflies]

And it's been fixed.

 

[MelissaBaby]

The final list is now out! 532k words, 44 stories and 1 poem, featuring 18 categories! Wow!

My sincerest thanks to everyone who participated. I have been really happy with this event, and hope to host it again next year.

I've gotten about 60 new views on Oyster River overnight, so people are definitely coming from the list.

Thank you for arranging this event, and for your very kind comment on my story. It has been very well received and I am grateful to everyone who has taken the time to read it.