The now fully official Author’s Hangout Halloween 2025 competition support thread

[DEFCOM5]

And if a writer as good as you is being downvoted, what chance have us regular folk got?

@EmilyMiller,
as a writer, you are not regular folk. You are royalty!

 

[EmilyMiller]

@EmilyMiller,
as a writer, you are not regular folk. You are royalty!

Sweet of you to say. Inaccurate, but still sweet.

 

[DEFCOM5]

Sweet of you to say. Inaccurate, but still sweet.

Based on what I have read here, you are!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Evidence suggests it might not be as good a story as I thought, but

4.39 for a writer of your caliber is a fucking joke! I feel like we are living through The Purge.

 

[DEFCOM5]

4.39 for a writer of your caliber is a fucking joke! I feel like we are living through The Purge.

Agreed! Just read the Halloween piece and gave it a deserving 5 stars

 

[Voboy]

4.39 for a writer of your caliber is a fucking joke! I feel like we are living through The Purge.

It definitely missed the mark, category-wise. Like posting a gleeful-slutwife story in LW.

Well. Maybe not that bad, lol. It was one of those stories that don't really seem to "fit" somehow. I'd forgotten how provincial the EH audience can be.

We'll see what the sweeps do.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It definitely missed the mark, category-wise. Like posting a gleeful-slutwife story in LW.

My mistake too - humor and satire might have been better.

Well. Maybe not that bad, lol. It was one of those stories that don't really seem to "fit" somehow. I'd forgotten how provincial the EH audience can be.

Totally

 

[EmilyMiller]

Welcome to day - checks notes - 17 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2025

 

[DEFCOM5]

@EmilyMiller, I LOVED Lily as Victor's monster!

I am looking forward each day to what picture you will post.

I will miss the daily pictures when the contest is over.

 

[Trionyx]

View attachment 2571871

Welcome to day - checks notes - 17 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2025

AI is doing so much better with hands. The fingers almost look normal though perhaps a tad too long.

 

[EmilyMiller]

AI is doing so much better with hands. The fingers almost look normal though perhaps a tad too long.

They could be the hands from a larger cadaver

 

[EmilyMiller]

@EmilyMiller, I LOVED Lily as Victor's monster!

I am looking forward each day to what picture you will post.

I will miss the daily pictures when the contest is over.

I appreciate the site giving me a hall pass for the comp. Might take a different approach to Valentine’s next year.

 

[Cockatoo]

My story is up, and apparently is an "Editor's Choice," according to my barely functional Notifications Feed.

I also got notification that mine was an Editor's Choice, but I didn't get a little green E either. I've gotten that several times before, I'm hoping it's a glitch and the E will appear in its own time.

yeah my entry was riding pretty high for awhile then all of a sudden...

Mine, too. 4.71 to 4.17 overnight. WTF.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I've stopped fighting with my Halloween story! It's beaten my ass, and probably will never be seen except on that other site. I'm sure not putting it for sale in its current comatose state!

 

[Djmac1031]

I've stopped fighting with my Halloween story! It's beaten my ass, and probably will never be seen except on that other site. I'm sure not putting it for sale in its current comatose state!

always a disappointment, I know. But let me advise: don't give up on it entirely or throw it a away.

My Halloween entry started life back in August of 2023, only to grind to a halt halfway through.

Over two years later I finally figured out where to go with it and finished it. And its doing pretty well with readers.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'm wondering if part of the problem isn't all the rewriting I've done to try to make it read like one of my stories. At AutoCrit, its scores are pretty spectacular.

So, seriously, I haven't a clue why I don't like it.

 

[DEFCOM5]

Over two years later I finally figured out where to go with it and finished it. And its doing pretty well with readers.

It is a great story which deserves a better score that it has.

I recommend reading it!

 

[WeShallUnclench]

It’s getting crazier with each comp…

The benefits of extra views are commensurately attenuated, sadly.

It's the classic dilemma of all the internets. The probability that you "get in on something" before literally everyone else does is infinitely small.

As soon as word gets around that there is extra eyeballs to be had, there will be no more extra eyeballs.

At the end, it is always the same - there is no lifehack, no cheatcode, no silver bullet to get attention other than really, really standing out amongst everyone else. There is no alternative to being extraordinary (unless you are the heir of a billionaire or something).

 

[WeShallUnclench]

I know comparing and playing statistics is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, but I'm still morbidly curious - what is about the minimum number of votes and views to be competitive, in a setting like this?

Yes yes there is the 25 minimum, but how many votes do the "blockbuster" competitors have, in competitions like these?

50? 100? 10.000?

 

[old_prof]

I know comparing and playing statistics is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, but I'm still morbidly curious - what is about the minimum number of votes and views to be competitive, in a setting like this?

Yes yes there is the 25 minimum, but how many votes do the "blockbuster" competitors have, in competitions like these?

50? 100? 10.000?

I don;t know if you would consider anything I do blockbuster, but I did win a prize in the Nude Day contest. I had roughly 140 votes at the end of the contest. (after sweeps before a new round of one-bombs for winning.) I generally don't write in the high volume categories like LW or T/I. The number of views (and votes or comments) is more dependent on category than anything else.

 

[Voboy]

I know comparing and playing statistics is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, but I'm still morbidly curious - what is about the minimum number of votes and views to be competitive, in a setting like this?

Yes yes there is the 25 minimum, but how many votes do the "blockbuster" competitors have, in competitions like these?

50? 100? 10.000?

The ones I've won have typically had between about 75 and 125 votes, probably. No idea on the views; I don't track those compulsively at all.

VERY few of my stories end up with more than 150 votes by the time a contest ends, and I like to enter on Day One. I would guess that a competitive story hoping for a top-three placing needs to be at or above about 4.86 when the final sweeps begin.

 

[Djmac1031]

I know comparing and playing statistics is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, but I'm still morbidly curious - what is about the minimum number of votes and views to be competitive, in a setting like this?

Yes yes there is the 25 minimum, but how many votes do the "blockbuster" competitors have, in competitions like these?

50? 100? 10.000?

I honestly have never really paid that much attention to what numbers are needed to win, or even place in one of these contests. Mainly because I already know I certainly won't come close lol.

My Halloween entry is currently sitting at 13.8K views, 186 votes. Not bad for only being up for 3 and a half days.

But my rating is only 4.47. Very respectable, but certainly not gonna win me a contest.

 

[SmilingLez]

If you have a Halloween themed poem/prose you wish to share, please do.

Poetry Feedback & Discussion ---> 2025 Halloween Poetry Challenge

 

[DEFCOM5]

VERY few of my stories end up with more than 150 votes by the time a contest ends, and I like to enter on Day One. I would guess that a competitive story hoping for a top-three placing needs to be at or above about 4.86 when the final sweeps begin.

I can only dream to achieve a rating >4.86.
This is my first entry in a competition. I did it because I heard it give you exposure.
I am happy with my entry quality wise (for me)
I have no expectation to win. I know my level!

I honestly have never really paid that much attention to what numbers are needed to win, or even place in one of these contests. Mainly because I already know I certainly won't come close lol.

My Halloween entry is currently sitting at 13.8K views, 186 votes. Not bad for only being up for 3 and a half days.

But my rating is only 4.47. Very respectable, but certainly not gonna win me a contest.

If you won't come even close, think of someone like me.

I have 5,650 views with 238 votes and a score of 4.67. Highest ever rating and number of votes.

I think the reason my ratings has not been bombed is because I am not a contender.

If I was one of those motherfuckers who bombs 1 to great writers, I would target @Djmac1031 , @EmilyMiller or @Voboy who have written great stories. I would not waste my energy on someone like me!

 

[EmilyMiller]

I know comparing and playing statistics is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, but I'm still morbidly curious - what is about the minimum number of votes and views to be competitive, in a setting like this?

Yes yes there is the 25 minimum, but how many votes do the "blockbuster" competitors have, in competitions like these?

50? 100? 10.000?

When I’ve narrowly not placed (three times now ) I’ve had between 150 and 250 votes and somewhere in the high 4.8x range before the final sweep. Winners often seem to get low 4.9x post sweep and pre the following Uruk-hai attacks.