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

[WittyUserName]

I think I'm doing alright. I was at 4.84 for a while, but a couple votes pushed me down.

 

[DEFCOM5]

I am ecstatic about the results so far for me.

First participation in a context/competition and first ever SF/F

I have a rating of 4.69 (highest ever for me), 250 votes (highest ever) and 6.3K views. It is a win in my book!

Disclaimer: @EmilyMiller did a beta read so I got some great help. That explain the score A LOT!

 

[WittyUserName]

I am ecstatic about the results so far for me.

First participation in a context/competition and first ever SF/F

I have a rating of 4.69 (highest ever for me), 250 votes (highest ever) and 6.3K views. It is a win in my book!

Disclaimer: @EmilyMiller did a beta read so I got some great help. That explain the score A LOT!

She's awesome! She did a read of the beginning of my story and I could tell she knew what she was talking about!

 

[DEFCOM5]

She's awesome! She did a read of the beginning of my story and I could tell she knew what she was talking about!

She (@EmilyMiller) is fantastic.

I feel privileged that she did a beta read of my story

 

[WittyUserName]

She (@EmilyMiller) is fantastic.

I feel privileged that she did a beta read of my story

Congrats on your first entry, by the way!

 

[DEFCOM5]

Congrats on your first entry, by the way!

Thank you.
I feel that it is an accomplishment.
I am thinking already about the V-Day contest and the 750 words contest.

 

[EmilyMiller]

 

[WittyUserName]

Thank you.
I feel that it is an accomplishment.
I am thinking already about the V-Day contest and the 750 words contest.

I'm not a fan of the 750 word challenges, personally. Good luck if you do decide to enter!

 

[WittyUserName]

View attachment 2573773

Nah, no need to be modest! Own it!

 

[MegaTank]

Well, I finally picked up my 25 votes. Then I got 1-bombed, as though I'm a serious contender for the prize. ..

 

[WittyUserName]

Well, I finally picked up my 25 votes. Then I got 1-bombed, as though I'm a serious contender for the prize. ..

It'll get removed, I'm sure. Sorry that happened to you. It sucks.

 

[Trionyx]

She (@EmilyMiller) is fantastic.

I feel privileged that she did a beta read of my story

She's awesome! She did a read of the beginning of my story and I could tell she knew what she was talking about!

I am ecstatic about the results so far for me.

First participation in a context/competition and first ever SF/F

I have a rating of 4.69 (highest ever for me), 250 votes (highest ever) and 6.3K views. It is a win in my book!

Disclaimer: @EmilyMiller did a beta read so I got some great help. That explain the score A LOT!

Anyone who used EM editing, beta reading or other suggestions should agree to pay her ten percent of their prize money. The odds of even being in the top three is less than two percent so her money winning odds are in the neighborhood of two dollars. When spread over the number of hours she spent on helping other authors, she’s looking at her winning odds of maybe twenty cents per hour. Sounds like a money-winning venture to me.
(Please, no math nerds need to correct me, I know it is all wild speculation with loose command, if any at all, of statistics.)

 

[Nynah]

Uh....Erozetta won last year. The year before that, Altissimus won, Jackie.O.Hikaru was second, and Simon was third.

I know it was probably meant as a joke but given how many authors who frequent AH tend to win or place in contests, still seems in poor taste to me.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

At this point I've been randomly picking something to read before going to sleep every night.

A sexy bedtime story

Doing the work of the lord

 

[TheLobster]

I used to do that.

I found it kept me up.

With both heads up, I presume.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

I freaking hope not. That would be sad that the lousiest of lousy tropes wins.

In all seriousness though, it's an ever-looping and I feel at this point somewhat pointless debate - writers lamenting that readers most reliably react to shallow wank-fuel rather than their well-thought-out masterpieces... and yet for some reason some very complex stories also score high, and of course if *you* or your friends happen to score, then obviously suddenly the readership is very sophisticated.
Not to mention the even nore hilarious phenomenon of readers complaining "this site is all just wish fulfillment junk with no depth" regarding all the tropes they don't personally enjoy, but when they hit the trope they DO personally enjoy, suddenly (figurative) depth is no issue.

The truth is and has always been that some stories vibe with a broad audience and some don't, and frankly I do NOT see a general pattern, so far. Some trends here and there, sure (what IS it with you people and the specific incest tropes?).
I am morbidly curious if it would be possible to write a predictive algorithm for this (you feed your story into it, and it predicts audience engagement).
But either way it stands that some people have an affinity for striking some sort of collective nerve (be it with complex prose or just scribbling down what they thought to themselves while rubbing one out on the toilet one day with no regards for as much as basic grammar), and others can get lucky, and outside that is the vast majority of writers.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Addendum:

On another site, someone made an observation about writing success I cannot stop repeating because I find it so interesting:

There is a phenomenon of an author being a one-hit wonder, and sequels being much less well received than first installments, and on forums with multi-chaper content, engagement dropping into the abyss after that first megahit chapter.

And sure some of it can be explained with things like a drop in the writing quality and the novelty wearing off.

But another factor might be that the author hit a homerun with that "collective nerve thing"... Once.
And then they made the mistake to assume that it was something about them or their writing style and worldbuilding ideas in general. But in reality, after that first Hurrah, they go right back into the statistic and are once again no more likely to score than anyone else, once things like loyal fans gained and brand recognition are taken into account.

 

[StillStunned]

In all seriousness though, it's an ever-looping and I feel at this point somewhat pointless debate - writers lamenting that readers most reliably react to shallow wank-fuel rather than their well-thought-out masterpieces... and yet for some reason some very complex stories also score high, and of course if *you* or your friends happen to score, then obviously suddenly the readership is very sophisticated.

Like I said in another thread:

It's another of those irregular verbs, isn't it? My readers appreciate elegant writing and subtle storytelling, your readers seem to enjoy what you write, his readers don't know better.

 

[TheLobster]

Like I said in another thread:

TIL you can quote people (and stunned cats) across threads!

 

[Soixenta]

The votes keep flooding in:


Unfortunately the last one was from someone who hated my story, or dislikes me, or was having a bad day perhaps. Whoever it was: I hope you are feeling a bit better about yourself for expressing your feelings.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Got a question about content warnings on top of stories -

How important do you personally feel they are, as a reader? In this contest for instance, did you read a content warning and gratefully noped out, or do you usually skip them, or do you even decide you can vote on the story based on the content warning alone without reading the rest?

 

[StillStunned]

Got a question about content warnings on top of stories -

How important do you personally feel they are, as a reader? In this contest for instance, did you read a content warning and gratefully noped out, or do you usually skip them, or do you even decide you can vote on the story based on the content warning alone without reading the rest?

Speaking for myself: if I'm reading sex stories on a sex story site I should be prepared for anything. I might not enjoy it, but I'm not going to complain about kinks I don't share. I'll just zip up my big boy trousers and click away.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Speaking for myself: if I'm reading sex stories on a sex story site I should be prepared for anything. I might not enjoy it, but I'm not going to complain about kinks I don't share. I'll just zip up my big boy trousers and click away.

I remember someone (and I am grateful for that, by the way, because that sort of intel is invaluable) liberally admitting they may 1-vote if they don't like the kinks and tropes in something.

And a case CAN be made, for that. If we take the votes as an expression of "what the beast wants", then outside of manipulative, fraudulent or vindictive voting there is no such thing as an unfair vote, even across categories. In theory "the public" could systematically downvote an entire category to express that they don't like the category itself.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Welcome to Day 26 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

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

 

[TheLobster]

The votes keep flooding in:
View attachment 2573807

Unfortunately the last one was from someone who hated my story, or dislikes me, or was having a bad day perhaps. Whoever it was: I hope you are feeling a bit better about yourself for expressing your feelings.

Ugh, that sucks. Maybe EH is really just about vampires and werewolves, and if you dare to deviate...

Anyway, mine will probably make it over the threshold:



but of course, with this kind of score, it's not even going to be a footnote on the results page.