The Halloween 2024 Official Contest Support Thread!

[MillieDynamite]

I've never gotten a blue W and have never been bothered by it. I can't imagine it'd be a great experience, but it wouldn't be bad if I did. I've always enjoyed writing for writing's sake. But sales are a nice reward on the pay site and praise is wonderful here.

More than a few just choose not to. The attention is nice and can filter over to your other stories, but that attention, especially if you win, can be more negative than positive. There's also the factor that a lot of writers are in this just for the pure joy of writing, and 'chasing blue Ws' isn't in their DNA.

We all have our reasons. Don't read to much into anything that happens here. It can drive you crazy.

 

[StillStunned]

But now I desperately want someone to read my story and point out all of its flaws because there are a lot and I'd feel better if someone just acknowledged the mistakes. (I know this is a fucked mindset, but I have a bit of a fucked mind.)

In your third paragraph, the break between the first and second sentences is awkward. It invites the reader to read "Kat" as part of the first sentence, addressing the other character, and throwing them off balance when they realise that's not their name. And in the next sentence, I'd expect to see "Kitty" rather than "Kittie" as a name for a woman.

There, will that do? Because I that's all you're going to get from me.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

<snip>
Thanks all the voters, especially who made my story look like the top-rated one.

Oops, I tagged mine with "2024 Halloween Contest" instead of Halloween 2024. It looks like I'm the only person to use that tag.

 

[Erozetta]

In your third paragraph, the break between the first and second sentences is awkward. It invites the reader to read "Kat" as part of the first sentence, addressing the other character, and throwing them off balance when they realise that's not their name. And in the next sentence, I'd expect to see "Kitty" rather than "Kittie" as a name for a woman.

There, will that do? Because I that's all you're going to get from me.

Not gonna lie, it helps.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

Ditto on the kudos to the writers of the fine stories honored, and to many obviously deserving runners-up.

Even though I placed far out of the money (and would have directed the admins to donate it to a worthy cause of their choosing) I am gratified by the sweep process that occurred near the end. I submitted two stories, one entirely a joke while the other was sincere if light-weight, and I was puzzled that the stupid one had much higher vote-count and ratings. The sweep set things right in my own mind. I hope others who pay close attention to the score find some comfort in the sweep. I plan to pay less, next time, now that I trust the process better.

As an aside, one thing I've noticed with all of my creative endeavors (not just writing) is that sometimes, what I consider to be my lowest-effort stuff can score surprisingly high, whereas the stuff I put more time and effort into, and am happier with personally, can get a more middling reception. It's curious to me how that can work.

 

[Katie_Mae]

Despite the large number of contest entries this year, I am surprised (by skimming new story titles the last couple weeks) how many Halloween themed stories are NOT entered into the contest. Would these authors do so if they were aware of the contest business? Why, given the obvious advantages of exposure, would someone have a Halloween story and not give it a whirl?

Maybe evidence of how many authors aren't tuned into the whole Lit experience, and maybe don't visit the forums.

Could be they don't know about the contest. It could be they knew about it and chose not to enter. There's many valid reasons for knowing but not entering and there's negatives which come from entering too. No way of knowing other than asking the author.

 

[Actingup]

This is probably gonna sound completely fucked, but I don't handle compliments well and I never wanted or expected to place in the contest. I've been nauseous since the announcement and got sick shortly after realizing *where* I placed.

I entered for fun.

But now I desperately want someone to read my story and point out all of its flaws because there are a lot and I'd feel better if someone just acknowledged the mistakes. (I know this is a fucked mindset, but I have a bit of a fucked mind.)

That's funny - I left some mild criticism and a five star rating a few hours ago before I read this comment I also wanted to say... I really appreciate your openness, and I understand your nausea. But.... of course it's a flawed story. They are all flawed stories, partly because there are no perfect stories: it's about what readers respond to. Kate's acceptance of a butt plug insertion from the very guy that she was pretending to be asleep to a few days earlier and refusing to initiate sex with might be valid scope for criticism from those who are after authenticity in relationships, for example. Workplace relationship counsellors might be screaming at you. Jen could be seen as a very creepy wingwoman who is probably either a serial killer or a future relationship breaker. But the story is also completely fucking hot, and funny, and on theme. You totally deserve a prize - you're no imposter.

 

[Erozetta]

That's funny - I left some mild criticism and a five star rating a few hours ago before I read this comment I also wanted to say... I really appreciate your openness, and I understand your nausea. But.... of course it's a flawed story. They are all flawed stories, partly because there are no perfect stories: it's about what readers respond to. Kate's acceptance of a butt plug insertion from the very guy that she was pretending to be asleep to a few days earlier and refusing to initiate sex with might be valid scope for criticism from those who are after authenticity in relationships, for example. Workplace relationship counsellors might be screaming at you. Jen could be seen as a very creepy wingwoman who is probably either a serial killer or a future relationship breaker. But the story is also completely fucking hot, and funny, and on theme. You totally deserve a prize - you're no imposter.

That actually made me feel a bit better, thank you. (That you left the criticism genuinely and still appreciated the story, I mean.)

And Jen is definitely psycho.

 

[AlexFourways]

I'm curious if you know if that's a deliberate choice. I can't tell whether it is just unawareness of the contest or something else. But maybe you have empirical knowledge here.

You have to be careful whether you are looking using my not very clever* search on TAGs or the official list. Or were you just looking at new stories that week?
The search can fail for two reasons.
1. It seems for this competion many authors put the required 'Halloween 2024' in the notes to moderators, but didn't put that as a TAG.
2. Also, as someone discovered a TAG search found a story with TAGs of 'April Fools 2024' and 'Halloween' and matched it with 'Halloween 2024'!
YMMV
*as it turned out

 

[PrimalDual]

1. It seems for this competion many authors put the required 'Halloween 2024' in the notes to moderators, but didn't put that as a TAG.

Were we supposed to? It was my first contest entry and I tried to follow the rules to the letter. Afterward I found that some people included a link to the URL for the contest, which is indeed a nice courtesy - my tendency is to want my story to stand on its own merits but a lot of people preface all their stories with this-and-that. Now I find out that one should include a specific contest tag - but I think it's the case that if you slightly misspell the tag or mis-order the words then it's not the same, so you need to know what is right. After the fact, I don't know if there's a way to add or remove tags after publishing, is there? (I'm not very good at choosing the tags for my regular stories either - often I don't know what I should have put until I get some feedback.)

I wish the rules would be spelled out. If I fail to follow them, or for some reason decide not to (I can be pretty insubordinate IRL), then its my own fault. Yeah, I see some comments at the top of this thread - now that I know about it.

 

[yowser]

I wish the rules would be spelled out. If I fail to follow them, or for some reason decide not to (I can be pretty insubordinate IRL), then its my own fault. Yeah, I see some comments at the top of this thread - now that I know about it.

The 'rules' are usually clear but still require some getting used to. It's never a bad practice to read the contest support thread intro, where Russ says this (amongst other useful things):

And please add the tag "HALLOWEEN 2024" (without the quotation marks)

 

[AlexFourways]

The 'rules' are usually clear but still require some getting used to. It's never a bad practice to read the contest support thread intro, where Russ says this (amongst other useful things):

And please add the tag "HALLOWEEN 2024" (without the quotation marks)

Exactly, the use of the tag is not a requirement of the rules, so failure will not invalidate your entry, unlike not putting it in the note to moderators, but is considered useful - hence the please, but in this comp, most writers didn't.

(I'm not very good at choosing the tags for my regular stories either - often I don't know what I should have put until I get some feedback.)

On titles, summaries and tags, I use the following to plan them (note you will need to use Courier or another mono-spaced font) so I can meet the 35 and 60 character limits and consider which 10 tags to use.
The tags can be cut and pasted into the form about 3 at a time. Although it doesn't look it in a variable space font, the title is 35 characters and the summary 60, so the title couldn't start '2. Let's...' as it would be too long, so I will have to change part 1 '1 . An Android and Gynoid Find Love' to remove the '.' even though it's only 34 characters.
YMMV and other caveats!

NOTE:- Don't leave this in the document when you submit it!
12345678901234567892123456789312345
2 Let’s Play Master & Servant - Not

123456789012345678921234567893123456789412345678951234567896
The start of a new reality and life but is there more to do?

android, robot, androids, artificial emotions, artificial sex, mistaken identity, mistaken for human, sex gynoid, gynoid, abandoned android,

 

[Kethandra]

I have entered well over a dozen of these contests, won more than one, and I have never added that Tag. It has never occurred to me that people would search tags for “Halloween [year]” when all the entries are already neatly listed on the contest page one click from the home page. Hmm. Perhaps I’ll add it in the future if there are not 10 tags that I think would draw extra searching eyes.

Were we supposed to? It was my first contest entry and I tried to follow the rules to the letter. Afterward I found that some people included a link to the URL for the contest, which is indeed a nice courtesy - my tendency is to want my story to stand on its own merits but a lot of people preface all their stories with this-and-that. Now I find out that one should include a specific contest tag - but I think it's the case that if you slightly misspell the tag or mis-order the words then it's not the same, so you need to know what is right. After the fact, I don't know if there's a way to add or remove tags after publishing, is there? (I'm not very good at choosing the tags for my regular stories either - often I don't know what I should have put until I get some feedback.)

I wish the rules would be spelled out. If I fail to follow them, or for some reason decide not to (I can be pretty insubordinate IRL), then its my own fault. Yeah, I see some comments at the top of this thread - now that I know about it.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

That's funny - I left some mild criticism and a five star rating a few hours ago before I read this comment I also wanted to say... I really appreciate your openness, and I understand your nausea. But.... of course it's a flawed story. They are all flawed stories, partly because there are no perfect stories: it's about what readers respond to. Kate's acceptance of a butt plug insertion from the very guy that she was pretending to be asleep to a few days earlier and refusing to initiate sex with might be valid scope for criticism from those who are after authenticity in relationships, for example. Workplace relationship counsellors might be screaming at you. Jen could be seen as a very creepy wingwoman who is probably either a serial killer or a future relationship breaker. But the story is also completely fucking hot, and funny, and on theme. You totally deserve a prize - you're no imposter.

What they said!