The Halloween 2024 Official Contest Support Thread!

[Wineandcheese]

I may be splitting hairs, but I have a question.
I know there is a prohibition on underage sex here. Does that include masturbatory fantasies?
I can simply adjust the timeline to add a year or two.

When I was starting my first story, I asked the same question. Laurel was quite firm in her reply. Nope.

 

[AlexFourways]

When I was starting my first story, I asked the same question. Laurel was quite firm in her reply. Nope.

Re my question? How to you contact Laurel, I am probably being totally naieve - Like you just look her up under Authors and send a message?

 

[Wineandcheese]

Re my question? How to you contact Laurel, I am probably being totally naieve - Like you just look her up under Authors and send a message?

I actually don’t recall how I found her. I was brand new here and did a bunch of searching to find the place to ask questions. If I figure it out I’ll let you know. Chances are good that I still have the email notification that my question had been answered.

 

[StillStunned]

Click on the little envelope at the top of your screen, then "start a new conversation". Type "Laurel" in the "Recipients" field.

 

[AlexFourways]

Click on the little envelope at the top of your screen, then "start a new conversation". Type "Laurel" in the "Recipients" field.

Many thanks. I'll compile my question and send it to her, rather than have to have a chit chat.

 

[DukeofPaducah]

Thank you for your advice. It helped me avoid a pitfall.
It’s not like I”m a perv or anything.
My protagonist just experience a leap year

 

[Rustyoznail]

For those who need something scary to listen to on your daily commute, here's all the audio entries.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2024-audio

Have a listen, and a vote!

 

[Actingup]

"Comments"? What is this word "comments" you speak of?
https://www.literotica.com/s/the-spooky-scary-haunted-sex-motel

But sometimes, the question might be how you make them stop.... (I posted something edgy in Loving Wives....).

Primal, I loved your spooky motel story.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

But sometimes, the question might be how you make them stop....

Readers care about what you write. Not a terrible problem to have!

 

[Actingup]

Readers care about what you write. Not a terrible problem to have!

No, not at all! And even though lots of them hate it, many have favourited it, so that's really nice. And I've only had to delete a few comments that were abusing other users. It is kind of strange though, and the stories that are more deserving are definitely not the ones that necessarily attract more readers and comments.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

the stories that are more deserving are definitely not the ones that necessarily attract more readers and comments.

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And I feel that if you know where to look, beauty is everywhere. So what makes a story "more deserving" than another? If a story attracts more readers and comments, then it just reached people in a certain way. No better or worse, in my eyes. But then again, I'm an odd duck, so YMMV.

 

[PrimalDual]

But sometimes, the question might be how you make them stop.... (I posted something edgy in Loving Wives....).

Primal, I loved your spooky motel story.

View attachment 2412350

Definitely a case of "careful what you wish for." The cloak of anonymity brings out the worst in some folk.

I appreciate the kind words on my little bagatelle of a story. I had fun, and that's the only star I can navigate by.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by my only Loving Wives experience. Lots of discussion, yes, and a few people that thought my heroine was an untrustworthy evil so and so and my artist hero far too passive because he was using his brushes instead of his fists, but they were counterbalanced by those who were cheering them on. And it's had nearly 1200 votes, which is as many as my other stories combined. I know that's still beginner statistics compared to some, but... don't give up on LW. If the story works for a category, do it.

My sole experience in LW was a pretty happy one. Two nasty anti-cuck comments, but lots more views than I'm accustomed to, and not a bad score too.

 

[Morevinila]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.
I have a question about tags, one especially: what comes under 'mature'? Wanted to know if I could add it to my story because one of the main characters is past 50 and she gets to interact with younger people. So is the tag appropriate? As from what age does the term 'mature' apply?
If anybody can help.

 

[TheLobster]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.
I have a question about tags, one especially: what comes under 'mature'? Wanted to know if I could add it to my story because one of the main characters is past 50 and she gets to interact with younger people. So is the tag appropriate? As from what age does the term 'mature' apply?
If anybody can help.

Yes, this definitely falls under the 'mature' label. If it's the main theme of the story, you can even post it in the Mature category.

 

[AlexFourways]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.

I know I keep saying this, but if you have some facility (Word>Review>Read aloud) it's well worth it as it helps find things like travels, when you meant traveled, of errors like 'he sucked her beasts' not 'breasts' (I typed of not or and reading to yourself might miss that - I do!) It was confirmed that professional editors use them all the time. YMMV - just saying

 

[StillStunned]

I know I keep saying this, but if you have some facility (Word>Review>Read aloud) it's well worth it as it helps find things like travels, when you meant traveled, of errors like that (I typed of not or and reading to yourself might miss that - I do!) It was confirmed that professional editors use them all the time. YMMV - just saying

As a professional editor who constantly bangs on about using Read Aloud, I can confirm this.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I wish I could figure out how to send it through my cars radio when I'm driving between projects.

 

[AlexFourways]

I wish I could figure out how to send it through my cars radio when I'm driving between projects.

I'd say bluetooth is the answer, but that depends on your car's infotainment system. Possibly just find a way to make your phone, tablet or laptop handsfree. However, I wouldn't recommend it as a retired Highway Safety Educator/Engineer/and other related roles, you don't need distractions from driving and more importantly, how would you note where you heard "he took her beasts in his hangs"?

 

[Morevinila]

Thank you all for these useful tips.
@AlexFourways you wouldn't know any such application by any chance?

 

[AlexFourways]

Thank you all for these useful tips.
@AlexFourways you wouldn't know any such application by any chance?

Morevinila It depends on what editing software you use.​

Word has it built in under the Review tab.
To quote Google's AI "In LibreOffice Writer, you can select the Read Selection option in the Tools | Add-Ons menu. This will open the Read Text settings dialog, where you can define the speech synthesizer to use." I looked and can see it is possible but didn't persue it. Needs a bit of DIY to install the software and then plug it in.
Other results include... Is there a free screen reader?
NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) is a free, open-source screen reader developed in response to the high cost of other commercial screen readers, and is currently neck-and-neck with JAWS in terms of popularity.
Those seem to be more about visually impaired users hearing what is on the screen, rather than reading a document, but I don't know.

So first question - what are you writing with on what operating system/hardware and then others may be able to assit from actual experience!

 

[StillStunned]

Bing Microsoft Edge also has a "Read Aloud" feature, under "More tools".

 

[AlexFourways]

Bing Microsoft Edge also has a "Read Aloud" feature, under "More tools".

Does that just read the whole screen, or highlighted text, or will it scroll a document? Or can you get it to open a document in .docx format?

 

[StillStunned]

Does that just read the whole screen, or highlighted text, or will it scroll a document? Or can you get it to open a document in .docx format?

Based on my 10 seconds of experimentation, it reads the whole screen. Someone with more time or inclination could probably find out how to get it to read selected text only.

 

[Morevinila]

Just posted my story - last minute as last time. Hope it gets approved.