The Official Authors Hangout Winter Holiday 2023 Contest Support Thread

[Duleigh]

Thanks, it's now set to crash the party tomorrow.

Me too! I actually have readers waiting on this story... I know, I couldn't believe it either.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Dear characters,
I know it's Christmas Day and you're all merry, but please could you stop bantering with each other and let me finish off the plot? I want to send the story in this weekend which means one last sex scene (no, you don't all get to be involved) and fine-tuning various emotional bits, and there's a limit to how many anecdotes of your childhoods anyone needs. We've probably hit it already.

Ta muchly,
KQ

 

[Duleigh]

Dear characters,
I know it's Christmas Day and you're all merry, but please could you stop bantering with each other and let me finish off the plot? I want to send the story in this weekend which means one last sex scene (no, you don't all get to be involved) and fine-tuning various emotional bits, and there's a limit to how many anecdotes of your childhoods anyone needs. We've probably hit it already.

Ta muchly,
KQ

I had to tell my folks the same thing!

Come on gang!
Yes, it's Christmas, Paul and Andi set out a huge selection of wine and liquor and fed you turkey and ham, but this is their honeymoon. Hey you! Out of the hot tub! You in the media room, you can watch Donovan's Reef on Pluto at home. Why don't you folks get one for the road then head out and let the groom get a blowjob under the Christmas tree so we can finish up this story.

It's not the main characters I have a problem with, it's the extras. They all want their own story and they want it written now!

 

[SamBomb]

Well I hit 25 votes, but it's at 4.44. I think I could had picked a better category. Oh well, next time.

 

[alohadave]

There must be a lot of entries for this. My current (non-contest) submission is over 4 days pending, longer than normal.

 

[StillStunned]

There must be a lot of entries for this. My current (non-contest) submission is over 4 days pending, longer than normal.

I'm not sure it has anything to do with the contest. Two of my stories (4.5k and 19k) were posted within one day and two days. Neither was a contest submission.

 

[Duleigh]

There must be a lot of entries for this. My current (non-contest) submission is over 4 days pending, longer than normal.

With the Voter's choice awards, Laurel has been busier than a one armed paper hanger. We had a backlog of contest stories this AM also.

 

[verbotenwriter]

Hey, everyone! First time/long time. I cannot for the life of me understand or see where votes are tallied. Is there a specific page for this or is there a way to intuit from my author stats? Thank you very much in advance <3<3<3

 

[Duleigh]

Hey, everyone! First time/long time. I cannot for the life of me understand or see where votes are tallied. Is there a specific page for this or is there a way to intuit from my author stats? Thank you very much in advance <3<3<3

You only know what you have, you can go to each author's page and look at their stories. We won't know anything for sure until Dec 13, and believe me, that morning the scores are going to change drastically.

 

[alohadave]

Hey, everyone! First time/long time. I cannot for the life of me understand or see where votes are tallied. Is there a specific page for this or is there a way to intuit from my author stats? Thank you very much in advance <3<3<3

The number of votes is what qualifies you for the prize. Get 25 votes and you are in the running. Stories are sorted by Rating/score for awards. Top three by score win.

You can see them here: https://www.literotica.com/my/#/works/stories/published

 

[MyBareTorso]

I hope everyone is getting on well, I'm getting ready to publish entry #2. Anyone else adding two stories to the contest?

Nearly finished my third....love this contest...

 

[Duleigh]

Nearly finished my third....love this contest...

My #5 goes live tomorrow, I love it too... only Geek Pride gets more out of me.

 

[Duleigh]

Well, November is over and what a ride that was. My statistics were off the chart and I hope all yours were too. We only have five days left to post, twelve days left until the winner is revealed. Today I want to go over two more of my demandments, rules I follow for writing. These two are really important.​

Duleigh's Demandment #8 Thou shalt cast away nothing, but findeth a folder and stuff all within, for ideas are forever but oft times forgotten. If you start a story and it's going nowhere and you give up on it, keep it. The writing may be crap but there may be some marvelous ideas in there to be used. Case in point. Andi's Dream was "just a writing exercise" a couple of years ago, and now folks are loving it because I dug it out and polished it up with new skills.

Duleigh's Demandment #7 Thou shalt NEVER start a sentence with the words suddenly or finally and thou shall avoid adverbs liketh thee plague. This is known as Hemingway's Rule and the guy was right, overuse of adverbs is the hallmark of lazy, cluttered writing and starting a sentence with Suddenly or Finally is just as bad.

Happy Holidays and see you at the finish line!!!​

 

[StillStunned]

Is anyone writing A Fairytale of New York in honour of Shane McGowan? I'd like to, if I have time - trolls in the subway, elves in christmas trees - but I doubt I know NY well enough to make it work.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Is anyone writing A Fairytale of New York in honour of Shane McGowan? I'd like to, if I have time - trolls in the subway, elves in christmas trees - but I doubt I know NY well enough to make it work.

Or simply a couple shagging in the drunk tank?

No, though I've finished the draft of my story and will post it on Sunday.

 

[StillStunned]

Or simply a couple shagging in the drunk tank?

That would be the other way to go: a dark love story. I might have given it a try if there was more time.

 

[Duleigh]

Is anyone writing A Fairytale of New York in honour of Shane McGowan? I'd like to, if I have time - trolls in the subway, elves in christmas trees - but I doubt I know NY well enough to make it work.

I've never heard of him, is he an elf? (You asked for a fairytale, it just goes without saying...)

 

[StillStunned]

I've never heard of him, is he an elf? (You asked for a fairytale, it just goes without saying...)

The Lord of the Rings would have been a lot livelier with Elrond singing some of The Pogues's songs.

For those who don't know, check out this thread: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/r-i-p-shane.1599981/

 

[NoTalentHack]

Working against the clock. We’ll see if I get done in time, but it’s going to be down to the wire.

 

[Voboy]

That would be the other way to go: a dark love story. I might have given it a try if there was more time.

I think it would need to be this.

The crux of the song is "I could've been someone." Then Kirsty's contemptuous reply: "Well, so could anyone. You took my dreams from me." But then, it turns out he nurtured those dreams.

Does she soften and take him back? That question's what the song's about, I've always thought.

 

[Duleigh]

Wow! Where did the time go? I suppose it's too late to help each other with story ideas,
now it's down to polishing up the last stories and crossing the fingers for another week ​

Here's two more demandments I impose on myself while writing, these demandments may be good ideas for new writers:

6. Thou shalt use no more than 3 exclamation marks per 20,000 words.
A very wise writer once said "Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind." The status of my mind is my business, I'll keep all clues to a minimum.

5. Thou shalt keep the word “said” to a minimum
When you write dialog, especially a conversation including several people, count the number of times you used the word 'said.' It can be mind boggling how boring that can be. It's tough to find a replacement word, or phrase but they're out there.

 

[StillStunned]

A very wise writer once said "Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind."

Wise words from Sir Pterry, and they made an impression on me all those decades ago. Particularly living in a country where they use exclamation marks as liberally as some writers use "said".

 

[Duleigh]

Wise words from Sir Pterry, and they made an impression on me all those decades ago. Particularly living in a country where they use exclamation marks as liberally as some writers use "said".

Sir Pterry is my literal literary hero and my octalogy in his honor is drawing to a close.

 

[StillStunned]

Sir Pterry is my literal literary hero and my octalogy in his honor is drawing to a close.

I burned out on his style around the time of "Night Watch". Underneath the brilliant characters and wordplay, it became a bit preachy, I thought. But there's no denying the man's brilliance, nor his impact on a whole generation of fantasy writers and readers. Despite the comedy (or perhaps because of his ability to use comedy to address profound issues), I think he helped establish the genre as something serious and thoughtful.

 

[Duleigh]

I burned out on his style around the time of "Night Watch". Underneath the brilliant characters and wordplay, it became a bit preachy, I thought. But there's no denying the man's brilliance, nor his impact on a whole generation of fantasy writers and readers. Despite the comedy (or perhaps because of his ability to use comedy to address profound issues), I think he helped establish the genre as something serious and thoughtful.

He also did it with Alzheimers, the last three novels he wasn't able to type. His story style did change in the last five or six novels, it wasn't the riotous slapstick that I fell in love with, but the brilliant word play was still there.