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

[NotWise]

I planted my orchid seed last night and it germinated onto the page as a place holder title (Pink Orchid ) and a rather fragile looking first sentence. I have plans and ideas but was too tired to continue.

My placeholder title is shorter than yours. It's "Orchid," and my female MC has a pink Christmas Orchid flowering in her kitchen window. I'll keep the orchid in the window, but not in the title.

My title might end up being "Cowboy Tantra," but I'm not sure yet. I'm about a Lit page and a half into the story, and at least half of what I've written is a long, slow sex scene.

 

[Thefireflies]

My placeholder title is shorter than yours. It's "Orchid," and my female MC has a pink Christmas Orchid flowering in her kitchen window. I'll keep the orchid in the window, but not in the title.

My plans are for a pink orchid in the kitchen too, a Phalaenopsis on the table!

 

[NotWise]

My plans are for a pink orchid in the kitchen too, a Phalaenopsis on the table!

They say that once an orchid starts flowering, the flowers will last longer if you move it away from the window. I'm ignoring that.

 

[yowser]

I sure hope nobody decides to make a submission with the title of 'Roundup.'

 

[silkstockingslover]

Considering either a lesbian story or a masturbation story… got a few ideas spinning around for this.

What a great content idea.

 

[J_beezy]

I'm in. Would do me good to try and write from a different perspective

 

[ExploringEverything]

Oh this is the Contest for me....

I am so excited to send my story in for this one.....All I do is write about female leads in control of their sex lives and living them shamelessly proud. Are taboo topics off limits here?

 

[rescatooor]

I am so excited to send my story in for this one.....All I do is write about female leads in control of their sex lives and living them shamelessly proud. Are taboo topics off limits here?

First: not a contest. Just an event.

I assume this would be one of your first stories here so I think you just need to familiarize yourself with Literotica's rules regarding submissions. No kids, no animals, etc.

 

[Lifestyle66]

For anyone concerned if your story idea will be applicable

I'm not an authority but I do host the event, so I will personally offer to beta read for anyone who wants to hear my opinion on their entry - provided it's humanly possible, so please ask early. Any category or subject matter will do. I'm not squeamish.

I'll take you up on your offer to beta read.

I have a story ready I was planning to post two weeks ago but decided to hold it for the Pink Orchid event. It's just over 10,000 words from a husband's 1st person POV and describes his always-in-control wife.

I would appreciate your opinion and any suggestions, including which Category to post in. The Loving Wives category is rather vicious with their 1-bombs.

PM me with your e-mail address if interested.

 

[Trionyx]

I have a story ready I was planning to post two weeks ago but decided to hold it for the Pink Orchid event. It's just over 10,000 words from a husband's 1st person POV and describes his always-in-control wife.

I would appreciate your opinion and any suggestions, including which Category to post in. The Loving Wives category is rather vicious with their 1-bombs.

I’m concerned that the LW trolls will come out in droves to bomb this entire event. Placing a story in LW would be poking the hornets nest with a short stick. You’d get stung.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'll take you up on your offer to beta read.

I have a story ready I was planning to post two weeks ago but decided to hold it for the Pink Orchid event. It's just over 10,000 words from a husband's 1st person POV and describes his always-in-control wife.

I would appreciate your opinion and any suggestions, including which Category to post in. The Loving Wives category is rather vicious with their 1-bombs.

PM me with your e-mail address if interested.

I think we need to know more about the content to help with the category.

I'd steer clear of LW with that description.

If it's a FemDom story (it's not quite clear from your description whether it is), then probably BDSM or Fetish, I would say. But it could be something else if it has other elements, like exhibitionism, or anal, or group, etc.

 

[Thefireflies]

I have been pottering around with my orchid which has grown into 10,000 words. Yet, my orchid hasn’t blossomed yet. I do have a heroine who I like a whole bunch, where she’s already navigated several awkward scenarios like a boss, though things aren’t easy for her, with quite a bit going on in her life, including raising two teenaged children on her own. Unfortunately for my heroine I’m a panster when it comes to writing and so far there’s not even a hint of a love interest for her, not even a casual fling! Not that she needs more complications in her life, but damn it, I’d like to get her laid in a most enjoyable and satisfactory way at some point in the story. Maybe a little fertiliser will help...

 

[stickygirl]

I have been pottering around with my orchid which has grown into 10,000 words. Yet, my orchid hasn’t blossomed yet. I do have a heroine who I like a whole bunch, where she’s already navigated several awkward scenarios like a boss, though things aren’t easy for her, with quite a bit going on in her life, including raising two teenaged children on her own. Unfortunately for my heroine I’m a panster when it comes to writing and so far there’s not even a hint of a love interest for her, not even a casual fling! Not that she needs more complications in her life, but damn it, I’d like to get her laid in a most enjoyable and satisfactory way at some point in the story. Maybe a little fertiliser will help...

Denial is a good place to start. Or I'm too busy for that...

 

[J_beezy]

Initial excitement has given way to slight apprehension now.

I'm excited to try this, as I have several characters that I could possibly try to develop in this, but I guess the question I'm wrestling with is "What is women-Centric?" Is it realistic lady characters? Or is it positive female sexuality? What is positive female sexuality? Oh, I'm so bloody confused!

 

[NotWise]

Initial excitement has given way to slight apprehension now.

I'm excited to try this, as I have several characters that I could possibly try to develop in this, but I guess the question I'm wrestling with is "What is women-Centric?" Is it realistic lady characters? Or is it positive female sexuality? What is positive female sexuality? Oh, I'm so bloody confused!

Maybe this is a complete cop-out, but I don't think there's one answer to your questions any more than there's one kind of woman to write about.

 

[gordo12]

Initial excitement has given way to slight apprehension now.

I'm excited to try this, as I have several characters that I could possibly try to develop in this, but I guess the question I'm wrestling with is "What is women-Centric?" Is it realistic lady characters? Or is it positive female sexuality? What is positive female sexuality? Oh, I'm so bloody confused!

Venus and Mars

I'm about 11k into my story when I thought...wait a minute. Was the POV woman-centric or was I writing a strong woman from the viewpoint of a man.

I spent years in a dojo and women trained alongside. LOL, it's still a hoot that you can get turned on by headguards, booties, gloves and mouthguard all on a heavily sweating woman. Strong to me was the ability to fight. Take a punch and not whine! Real womanly stuff...NOT! Or is it something to celebrate?

And I realize that's what I was writing in my story. And it was starting to permeate it.

I'm getting to the point that I don't think it fits the spirit of the event. I can gut it but...!

Thoughts ladies?

 

[Bramblethorn]

In Neil Gaiman's "Sandman: Endless Nights", Desire says:

"He talks about stories. My brother. Let me tell you the plot of every one of his damned stories. Somebody wanted something. That’s the story. Mostly they get it, too."

Erotica often follows that outline: somebody wants something, eventually they get it.

When thinking about "empowerment" and "women-centric", it's often worth asking oneself: whose "wanting" and "getting" is this story about? Who's making the choices, and who is just reacting to the choices made by other characters?

I've read a lot of stories by people (mostly male) who are doing their best to write woman-friendly stories, but when you boil it down, the story comes down to "man falls in love/lust with woman, does nice things for her, she reciprocates".

If there are obstacles along the way, he's the one who figures out ways past them. Even when the story features major events in her life, they end up being more about him than about her. If she breaks her leg, it's an opportunity for him to show off how caring he is, yada yada.

Don't get me wrong, doing nice things for people is great! (At least, when it's done as a gift and not as a prelude to "now you owe me".) But on its own, it's not what I'd consider "empowerment".

Female empowerment happens when a significant part of the story is driven by what a woman wants, and the choices she makes to get it - not the moments where a guy holds a door open for her.

 

[Djmac1031]

Interesting idea.

I've always tried to keep my female characters strong and empowered.

As a male writer, I can only hope I've done my female characters some justice in that sense.


If I have a good idea that fits this theme in time, I'll certainly take part.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have given this event quite some thought, I may have a story in the making that might fit in, and yet, I don't know if I'm willing to put it up for an audience that keeps 'Female Empowerment' in the back of their head.

I am a male (maybe not a 'typical' male, but still...), and write stories I want to read. Does that mean that I'm constantly mansplaining, even when writing a lesbian story (which would be the case)? Can I sufficiently describe what a woman wants and still write my own story? Wouldn't it be like asking a color-blind to describe his/her impressions of the Holi-Phagwa?

As soon as we step outside the bounds of autobiography we're writing about people who aren't us, who have had different experiences to our own. I've never been Indian, or an astrophysicist, but I wrote a story about an Indian astrophysicist. I've never worked in real estate, but I wrote a story about that too. And I'm autistic, but I occasionally write non-autistic characters

Some of those gaps are larger than others. For the "astrophysicist" part I leaned on my own knowledge and Google; for the "Indian" part I checked with an Indian friend to make sure Anjali's story made sense and to get a few helpful Hindi phrases. For writing non-autistic people, I draw on my experience of growing up surrounded by them and hearing their stories.

When the gap is large, it takes work to get it right. But it's not impossible, and I don't think "male-female" has to be a particularly large gap as such things go. I have lots of male friends and lots of female friends, and I read lots of books written by both, so there's plenty to draw on there.

 

[Omenainen]

I get the feeling that this event is about more than just a few experiences; more than some Hindi phrases; more than some astrophysicist data that you can find on the internet. That it is about a feeling and atmosphere the writer has to convey.

Being able to read and enjoy stories written by females doesn't mean I can write them. How do I know I enjoy those stories for the same reasons that females enjoy them? Sometimes I do think I can write about Female Empowerment, but then I get the impression that most of the comments come from male-readers who enjoy my work, and I'm not so sure anymore.

Ruben, with all due respect, you're seriously overthinking this. I'm not asking you to write Every Woman, or something that Every Woman would enjoy in the same exact way... that would be a lot to ask for sure. I don't even ask for female empowerment, I only ask for female characters who make sense as persons and not just cock accessories. Now I haven't read all of yours, but I've read a few, and I can't remember a single character of whom I have thought "that doesn't make sense". So, if you want to participate, just write whatever you want to write, and I'm sure it will fit in just fine.

Also, you don't know your male readers enjoy your stories "for the same reasons you do". That's the point of art: people bring their own meanings to it and reflect on it from the viewpoint of their own life, right? Just relax, breathe in, breathe out, write interesting women. That's all this is.

 

[SimonDoom]

I get the feeling that this event is about more than just a few experiences; more than some Hindi phrases; more than some astrophysicist data that you can find on the internet. That it is about a feeling and atmosphere the writer has to convey.

Being able to read and enjoy stories written by females doesn't mean I can write them. How do I know I enjoy those stories for the same reasons that females enjoy them? Sometimes I do think I can write about Female Empowerment, but then I get the impression that most of the comments come from male-readers who enjoy my work, and I'm not so sure anymore.

I agree with Omenainen that you are overthinking this. I've read some of your stories and you are more than capable of tackling this. The story doesn't have to be written "for" an audience of women. It just has to be about the empowerment of women, in one way or another.

 

[Omenainen]

The story doesn't have to be written "for" an audience of women. It just has to be about the empowerment of women, in one way or another.

Not even that!

Let me quote my event announcement:

Theme of the event: sex positivity, female empowerment, women as the subjects of their own lives. Women in control of their own pleasure and passion. Erotic tales where women make sense and have agency. The aim is not to turn tables and write femdom, male-bashing or revenge stories, but produce sex positive stories of women existing for their own sake and living, loving and lusting on their own terms.

 

[Trionyx]

I have a question about timing. My story would easily fit in both Valentines and Pink Orchid and it appears a single story may be submitted to both. I generally like to have my seasonal contest stories be published as early as possible to generate enough votes. The Pink Orchid stories may only be published in February. What is the usual time frame for Valentines story submissions and would the first of February make the story too late for accruing Valentines votes?
Thanks.

 

[Lifestyle66]

... Being able to read and enjoy stories written by females doesn't mean I can write them. How do I know I enjoy those stories for the same reasons that females enjoy them? Sometimes I do think I can write about Female Empowerment, but then I get the impression that most of the comments come from male-readers who enjoy my work, and I'm not so sure anymore.

The story I plan to submit isn't written by a female. It's a first-person narrative by the husband describing his flirting and controlling wife. She's an "in control and take charge" kind of woman.

I've already sent the story to Omenianen, and awaiting his feedback if that's what he's looking for in the event.

 

[NotWise]

I have a question about timing. My story would easily fit in both Valentines and Pink Orchid and it appears a single story may be submitted to both. I generally like to have my seasonal contest stories be published as early as possible to generate enough votes. The Pink Orchid stories may only be published in February. What is the usual time frame for Valentines story submissions and would the first of February make the story too late for accruing Valentines votes?
Thanks.

Laurel hasn't published the 2022 contest schedule yet. Normally the Valentine's Day contest closes on the 5th and results are announced on the 12th. The opening day is usually around Jan 20th, so if you publish on Feb 1st then you might lose ten days or so of exposure in January, but you'll still get at least 12 days in February.

For the last few contests, Laurel has been leaving the contest page up after the beginning of the next contest. If she continues that, then your story will bet good post-contest exposure, plus exposure on the Pink Orchid list.