The 2024 750 Word Story Challenge Support Thread

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I just loaded up and took a second shot at the Challenge. Not sure when it'll be up though!
View attachment 2320314

A biblical epic of sexually vile proportions. LOL

 

[MillieDynamite]

No, a lil quickie in the Antebellum South. Part of longer work that has been on the back burner for two years. I'm invading your territory of interracial love.

A biblical epic of sexually vile proportions. LOL

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Oh, crap, it's Sabbath!

 

[AlexBailey]

Something weird just happened to my one of my pending stories.



When I clicked on the pending tab, my story “My First Puff” had the NEW symbol in the lower left. When I clicked on the title the edit screen came up with all of the correct info as far as title, tags, note to admin… but the body of the text showed someone else’s story - when I scrolled down I found mine below it. ????

I was afraid it was about to post this way so I panicked! I hit the settings icon and hit delete. But nothing has happened or changed yet.



That line “you lie on our bed completely naked….” is not part of my story.




My tag saying “This story was written for the 2024 Lit…” begins on the same line where someone else’s story ends.


WTF?

What’s Laurel’s email address?

Fortunately it hasn’t shown up in New Stories yet.


I read a forum post somewhere where someone’s 750 word submission was rejected for being too long or some such thing. I wonder if the same thing happened to them.

 

[Duleigh]

Only since you choose to continue: I was referring only to you and mkbaby misunderstanding that I was only pointing out the irony that the rules don’t explicitly forbid chapters either, yet you got all rulesy saying chapters are forbidden. PS, look up “explicitly,” which I said many many times.

You only say that because you do not understand what the concept of "Complete Story" is

Seriously, explain to the world how you can have a complete story in 750 words by using chapters. I dare you.

Legitimately you COULD but the chapters would be too short to be published because 750 words is the smallest story that Literotica will publish. Anything shorter is rejected.

Or didn't you know that? It's in the FAQ

 

[MillieDynamite]

It says new, but checking it, you will be set back days or weeks on getting it up. I don't know how the other story was added, but never click on them when they are about to post.


The thing may have happened when you clicked on it, I don't know, but it hadn't been rejected for being to long if it said new.

Something weird just happened to my one of my pending stories.

View attachment 2320678

When I clicked on the pending tab, my story “My First Puff” had the NEW symbol in the lower left. When I clicked on the title the edit screen came up with all of the correct info as far as title, tags, note to admin… but the body of the text showed someone else’s story - when I scrolled down I found mine below it. ????

I was afraid it was about to post this way so I panicked! I hit the settings icon and hit delete. But nothing has happened or changed yet.

View attachment 2320682

That line “you lie on our bed completely naked….” is not part of my story.


View attachment 2320683

My tag saying “This story was written for the 2024 Lit…” begins on the same line where someone else’s story ends.


WTF?

What’s Laurel’s email address?

Fortunately it hasn’t shown up in New Stories yet.


I read a forum post somewhere where someone’s 750 word submission was rejected for being too long or some such thing. I wonder if the same thing happened to them.

 

[Duleigh]

When I clicked on the pending tab, my story “My First Puff” had the NEW symbol in the lower left. When I clicked on the title the edit screen came up with all of the correct info as far as title, tags, note to admin… but the body of the text showed someone else’s story - when I scrolled down I found mine below it. ????

I was afraid it was about to post this way so I panicked! I hit the settings icon and hit delete. But nothing has happened or changed yet.

Just let it be. If it appears wrong on the 25th, send a DM to Laurel and Manu and explain what happened.
Once you see the NEW tag and the publish date, everything should be cool.

 

[EmilyMiller]

@Duleigh & @jsmiam & @M_K_Babalon

 

[alohadave]

I made one more.

When a professor and her student teacher fool around in the classroom, naughty things happen.

 

[AlexBailey]

Yep, this story posted incorrectly.

https://literotica.com/s/my-first-puff

The first half is not my work. I did not submit it.

The part that was not mine begins:

"You lie on our bed, completely naked, hands and feet tied to the bedposts with soft ropes. I lie beside you and gently stroke your cheek. I love to see you like this; Helpless and desperately waiting for my touch."
Anyone recognize it?

I PM'ed Laurel and reported the story. I’m asking for all of it to be deleted. I have resubmitted it under the new title "One Last Drag" with a few minor changes.

 

[Bn2f]

Hello and howdy fellow members. I’ve seen the back-and-forth on this thread as of late and I feel the need to lend my voice for in the past two years I have submitted no less than 9 of the arced stories in question with initial plans of adding 4 more this year. My first such submission, I specified that I was attempting to do three standalone stories in three separate categories but my following submissions I did not try to be so strict. I still feel though that I could make the argument that all of them could possibly, maybe, standalone still.

Full disclosure: Member AlexBailey consulted/edited 2 of my submissions for this year, with 1 being rejected. Lol. I know that they, AlexBailey, also chimed in on this matter. I too have an opinion that, surprise, would probably be in opposition to all the ones previously stated. But I’m not using this post to defend my pieces, endorse AlexBailey, or to take a stance or side. I would simply like to share with everyone what I’ve seen…

Post after post, member after member, folks have been sharing their excitement in writing and anticipation in seeing their work be shown. Members have described pushing and challenging themselves. Others have tapped into a well of ideas for the future works. Members have talked about feeling inspired after years of lull and absence to write again.
Everyone here, despite believed proficiency, is still an amateur hack. This site just celebrated its 25th anniversary. It will continue to thrive only if hacks like us continue to find the courage to publish.

I could possibly be for a more stricter definition of what a 750 story is. I am happy to entertain ending the addition of stories that have an arc with numerous chapters. I am NOT for the stifling of creativity.

May I suggest that the intensity of this argument shows that maybe it’s time…
The growing popularity of this genre, the unique niche it occupies, and its number of participants indicate that maybe it’s time to kick the training wheels off of this and make it into a competition. Look, I don’t know, maybe keep February as the open amateur edition. Maybe let’s look through the competition calendar and find where we can place these 750 word stories as a judged and rated competition with the stricter rules applying? I don’t know, just spitballing here, but this is all I have to say and suggest.

Happy writing everyone.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

maybe it’s time to kick the training wheels off of this and make it into a competition.

We don't need any more competitions on lit because the only contests that lit is capable of hosting are popularity contests. Since the only measurement that can be used on lit is the 5-star scoring system and that system only measures popularity, no one can truly win a contest based on literary skill and quality writing. Lit just has no measurement for that.

 

[Lifestyle66]

We don't need any more competitions on lit because the only contests that lit is capable of hosting are popularity contests. Since the only measurement that can be used on lit is the 5-star scoring system and that system only measures popularity, no one can truly win a contest based on literary skill and quality writing. Lit just has no measurement for that.

Even with the rating system popularity, it's not really a measure of just popularity.

An author can get a Red-H in any fetish category with a dozen raters and minimal views, sometimes only being viewed by less than a thousand readers.

But a story in a more popular category might receive an average of 4.45 with a thousand votes and tens of thousands of views.

So, which of those is really more popular?

 

[EmilyMiller]

We don't need any more competitions on lit because the only contests that lit is capable of hosting are popularity contests. Since the only measurement that can be used on lit is the 5-star scoring system and that system only measures popularity, no one can truly win a contest based on literary skill and quality writing. Lit just has no measurement for that.

It’s less a measure of popularity than of a lack of unpopularity. That sounds tautological, right?

What I mean is that - unless you are posting in I/T or LW - it is arithmetically trivial to trash ratings. In a low traffic category, a single one vote has a vastly disproportionate impact. A series of them kills a rating. This is not a hypothetical, all of my comp entries bounce like 0.3 after a pre-winning announcement sweep, but - crucially - views have been suppressed all the time before that.

So, your best approach to winning a comp is to avoid ever upsetting anyone. Of course you have to be able to write as well, but any crowdsourced comp is going to be totally open to abuse.

I know you get into “who would be the judges?” and “who on Earth has the time?” but I’d like to see some proper comps where some of the sites best writers decide on winners based on merit.

But it won’t ever happen.

Emily

 

[lovecraft68]

It’s less a measure of popularity than of a lack of unpopularity. That sounds tautological, right?

What I mean is that - unless you are posting in I/T or LW - it is arithmetically trivial to trash ratings. In a low traffic category, a single one vote has a vastly disproportionate impact. A series of them kills a rating. This is not a hypothetical, all of my comp entries bounce like 0.3 after a pre-winning announcement sweep, but - crucially - views have been suppressed all the time before that.

So, your best approach to winning a comp is to avoid ever upsetting anyone. Of course you have to be able to write as well, but any crowdsourced comp is going to be totally open to abuse.

I know you get into “who would be the judges?” and “who on Earth has the time?” but I’d like to see some proper comps where some of the sites best writers decide on winners based on merit.

But it won’t ever happen.

Emily

This has been discussed many times in the past about how to have a non reader judged competition.

To rehash the best writers on the site suggestion you made...

Who are the sites best writers? Is it by popularity? As we know, and this is part of the comp issue, are numbers a sign of being the best? Is it by H's? Same thing. Peers calling someone the best? Biased.

Everything and everyone here has a bias of some kind. If a judge is not a fan of NC or I/T or LW etc...are they going to fairly judge a story in those categories? If they like an author on the boards, and dislike another, will they judge them the same?

Human nature says...nope.

It is what it is, and the author sponsored contests don't have a prize of even an actual winner that I know of, its just the experience. The themed contests are easily played thanks to the sweeps which are so easily manipulated they're a joke in themselves.

I can tell you one author who has it down to a science, and there was an entire group of them a few years ago, gaming them.

Like a lot of people in the contest threads say, its a good way to get eyes on not just the entry, but your other stories, and the winners? Most of the time they're a joke. There are authors here who the second I see their name I will tell you they'll win, and its not just the readers, and the trolls who ghost the forums voting down anyone but their fav, but there's site favoritism as well. I have 10 contest placings and to me I'd say half, or maybe even more, weren't all that and it was category or my own following etc. There are a few I like to think are legit, but who knows?

I get all the frustration with them, because I've experienced it. but it falls under the it is what it is and what it always will be.

You're right, nothing is changing.

 

[AlexBailey]

Yep, this story posted incorrectly.

https://literotica.com/s/my-first-puff

The first half is not my work. I did not submit it.

The part that was not mine begins:

"You lie on our bed, completely naked, hands and feet tied to the bedposts with soft ropes. I lie beside you and gently stroke your cheek. I love to see you like this; Helpless and desperately waiting for my touch."
Anyone recognize it?

I PM'ed Laurel and reported the story. I’m asking for all of it to be deleted. I have resubmitted it under the new title "One Last Drag" with a few minor changes.

Yay! It’s fixed and replaced. The upside is that I got to fix those couple of issues I noticed right after posting and changed it to the better title.


Thanks Laurel!

~80% true story btw.

https://literotica.com/s/one-last-drag

 

[EmilyMiller]

This has been discussed many times in the past about how to have a non reader judged competition.

To rehash the best writers on the site suggestion you made...

Who are the sites best writers? Is it by popularity? As we know, and this is part of the comp issue, are numbers a sign of being the best? Is it by H's? Same thing. Peers calling someone the best? Biased.

Everything and everyone here has a bias of some kind. If a judge is not a fan of NC or I/T or LW etc...are they going to fairly judge a story in those categories? If they like an author on the boards, and dislike another, will they judge them the same?

Human nature says...nope.

It is what it is, and the author sponsored contests don't have a prize of even an actual winner that I know of, its just the experience. The themed contests are easily played thanks to the sweeps which are so easily manipulated they're a joke in themselves.

I can tell you one author who has it down to a science, and there was an entire group of them a few years ago, gaming them.

Like a lot of people in the contest threads say, its a good way to get eyes on not just the entry, but your other stories, and the winners? Most of the time they're a joke. There are authors here who the second I see their name I will tell you they'll win, and its not just the readers, and the trolls who ghost the forums voting down anyone but their fav, but there's site favoritism as well. I have 10 contest placings and to me I'd say half, or maybe even more, weren't all that and it was category or my own following etc. There are a few I like to think are legit, but who knows?

I get all the frustration with them, because I've experienced it. but it falls under the it is what it is and what it always will be.

You're right, nothing is changing.

I get it’s turtles all the way down with who judges might be.

Think I’m voting with my feet on comps, seems to just attract the wrong kind of attention.

Emily

 

[Yesok1]

Even with the rating system popularity, it's not really a measure of just popularity.

An author can get a Red-H in any fetish category with a dozen raters and minimal views, sometimes only being viewed by less than a thousand readers.

But a story in a more popular category might receive an average of 4.45 with a thousand votes and tens of thousands of views.

So, which of those is really more popular?

Oh gosh. Maybe in Feb it's a challenge, then in Aug we have a competition. I think that the competition needs to be set to a particular theme. E.g LW, lesbian, anal etc. That way all stories can be judged equally.

I prefer lesbian, it's relatable, but if you said interracial for me that'd be a challenge and a strength for someone else. I think it'd be pretty decent though. If someone writing out of their comfort zone could be a stronger author there'd be some personal kudos due.

J x

 

[AlexBailey]

….and that system only measures popularity, no one can truly win a contest based on literary skill and quality writing. Lit just has no measurement for that.

Kinda like the NYT best sellers list?

 

[lovecraft68]

Think I’m voting with my feet on comps,

Well, good news is a lot of people have that fetish.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well, good news is a lot of people have that fetish.

Not my kink, but @Victoria14xs has at least made me appreciate the genre.

Emily

 

[lovecraft68]

Not my kink, but @Victoria14xs has at least made me appreciate the genre.

Emily

My first contest entry was foot fetish "Under The Mistle-Toe" and a cheesy tag line about sole-mate.

I have a lesbian foot fetish hybrid titled Paid by the Foot based on a real-life guy who used to prowl the clubs back in the late 80's and offer girls money to jack off on their feet.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Even with the rating system popularity, it's not really a measure of just popularity.

An author can get a Red-H in any fetish category with a dozen raters and minimal views, sometimes only being viewed by less than a thousand readers.

But a story in a more popular category might receive an average of 4.45 with a thousand votes and tens of thousands of views.

So, which of those is really more popular?

Yes you are correct, just what factors go into a vote can get ridiculously messy, especially in certain categories and comparing two stories from different categories becomes impossible to judge fairly because of the different rubrics. But within each category the difference between a 4.4 and a 4.6 is really popularity, and popularity can be determined by different sub-factors depending on genre and category which can range from kinkiness to morals to politics - none of which have anything to do with quality writing.

It’s less a measure of popularity than of a lack of unpopularity. That sounds tautological, right?

So, your best approach to winning a comp is to avoid ever upsetting anyone. Of course you have to be able to write as well, but any crowdsourced comp is going to be totally open to abuse.

Precisely. It's about playing it safe. Write shitty pedestrian songs like Luke Bryan. Don't push any boundaries and alienate anyone like Iggy Pop.

This has been discussed many times in the past about how to have a non reader judged competition.

To rehash the best writers on the site suggestion you made...

Who are the sites best writers? Is it by popularity? As we know, and this is part of the comp issue, are numbers a sign of being the best? Is it by H's? Same thing. Peers calling someone the best? Biased.

Everything and everyone here has a bias of some kind. If a judge is not a fan of NC or I/T or LW etc...are they going to fairly judge a story in those categories? If they like an author on the boards, and dislike another, will they judge them the same?

I'd like to think that some folks could be objective enough but 100% objective, I highly doubt it. I'd like to think that I would be objective enough but I can't really say for sure. I know that it would certainly be tough for me to put aside my biases against say incest, read an incest story and be bored and realize that I'm only bored because the incest bothers me, and be able to still judge that it was well written and had strong characters etc. Would I be 100% objective? As hard as I would try, probably not.

But even if we wanted a panel of four judges who could be 90% objective who could we all trust? Who could we all agree on? Yea, doesn't sound very workable.

Kinda like the NYT best sellers list?

Yep, pretty much.

All of these quotes above just prove what a lost cause having a truly legit contest on lit is.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I've posted ALL of my 750-word stories this month to Loving Wives, with titles and descriptions to attract readers.

When it comes to ratings and any kind of competition, you might read any one of my stories now, and rate it. Your vote would be "a drop in the bucket" and barely move the average. My LEAST rated 750-word story this month has 237 votes, and the MOST rated has over 1.3K.

But that's what I'm looking for this time, not the Red-H. I'm writing various scenarios to better gauge the LW audience.

 

[Djmac1031]

I thought it would be easy enough to self edit 750 words but I found one blatant grammatical error

They truly tend to stand out in the shorter stories, don't they? Like, "Sorry, nowhere to hide, here I am!" Lol