The Official Authors Hangout Winter Holiday 2023 Contest Support Thread

[StillStunned]

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'm a thousand words in. Trolls, check. Dark love, check. References to "Fairytale of New York", check.

Not sure I can weave any sex scenes in, though.

 

[Priscilla_June]

I'm interested to see how much a sweep helps me in the scores. Not that im anywhere near the top but I always have that bar for myself lol

 

[alohadave]

I'm interested to see how much a sweep helps me in the scores. Not that im anywhere near the top but I always have that bar for myself lol

The fewer votes you have, the more dramatic the swings can be when votes are removed.

And sweeps can take away 5 star votes, not just the 1s. I've seen it on some of mine.

 

[StillStunned]

The fewer votes you have, the more dramatic the swings can be when votes are removed.

I'd probably need to lose a hundred 1s to come anywhere challenging for the prize.

 

[Duleigh]

I'd probably need to lose a hundred 1s to come anywhere challenging for the prize.

You can not believe how bad a 1 can effect your score, I had one story at 4.83 and when a single vote was removed it went to 5.0

 

[StillStunned]

"Fairytale of New York" has been submitted. Phew, this one took a lot out of me!

 

[TxRad]

I've started part two of my Christmas story. It won't be legal for the contest but it has to be done before the readers lynch me.

 

[Pluna]

Hi all, I just checked my submission and it says it was rejected for being AI generated?? Sucks to hear considering I wrote the whole thing, no AI involved lol. I know I’m a little rusty but I didn’t think my writing was that bad hahaha . Was it just a false flag? I don’t know how to prove that I wrote it, do you guys think I can just resubmit and explain that I actually did write it? Has anyone had experience with something like this before? I would contact Laurel but I’m not sure how and I know she’s probably very busy.

 

[StillStunned]

Hi all, I just checked my submission and it says it was rejected for being AI generated?? Sucks to hear considering I wrote the whole thing, no AI involved lol. I know I’m a little rusty but I didn’t think my writing was that bad hahaha . Was it just a false flag? I don’t know how to prove that I wrote it, do you guys think I can just resubmit and explain that I actually did write it? Has anyone had experience with something like this before? I would contact Laurel but I’m not sure how and I know she’s probably very busy.

Short answer: use the PM function (the little envelope next to your user name at the top of the screen) to contact her (@Laurel) and explain that you didn't use AI.

Longer answer: this has been an issue for a few months. Scroll through the Authors' Hangout for several threads on the topic. Some of them became a bit repetitive and even heated, but you should be able to find as much information as our collective wisdom has gathered.

 

[Pluna]

Short answer: use the PM function (the little envelope next to your user name at the top of the screen) to contact her (@Laurel) and explain that you didn't use AI.

Longer answer: this has been an issue for a few months. Scroll through the Authors' Hangout for several threads on the topic. Some of them became a bit repetitive and even heated, but you should be able to find as much information as our collective wisdom has gathered.

Thank you so much!! Nice to know it’s not just me at least, I had a feeling that it’s probably some newly implemented AI checker or something like that. I will contact her (I use Google docs to write so I just realized I can prove that I wrote it by showing the version history!), thanks again for the reply

 

[Rustyoznail]

Some grammar checkers, if you use a lot of their suggestions, can make a story read like it was spat out by AI.

 

[Pluna]

Some grammar checkers, if you use a lot of their suggestions, can make a story read like it was spat out by AI.

the thing is I don’t even use anything! I don’t even use auto spellcheck haha, I just read everything over 50 times and edit it myself. I must just write like a robot lol

 

[Rustyoznail]

Not being rude, but is English your first language? I've edited some stories that were very precise, and didn't sound like a genuine human conversation was taking place.

 

[Pluna]

Not being rude, but is English your first language? I've edited some stories that were very precise, and didn't sound like a genuine human conversation was taking place.

Haha, yes, I was born and raised in California! I think dialogue is actually one of my strong suits, I tend to have more trouble with clunkiness in the narration. It could just be that I’m rusty from a lack of practice recently, haven’t had the time to write as much as I would’ve liked to, but maybe my writing is fine and it’s just the algorithm and I’m overthinking it, who knows!

 

[Pluna]

Ok, just for research’s sake, I went and pasted my story into a few AI detectors I could find online. The first one I tried gave me a 51% chance of being AI generated, and the other three said it was 100% human. I did find one that advertised an AI-powered “humanize” tool that can make your writing sound more human, which I find extremely hilarious

 

[Devinter]

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

You have been amazingly busy in the best of ways. Well done, indeed! Also, great advice just up above with the "count the number of times you use the word said" - I believe I overdo that sometimes for sure. I also irk other authors by using adjectives such as "almost" and "slightly" waaaaay too much. It's almost like I don't know any better.

 

[Duleigh]

You have been amazingly busy in the best of ways. Well done, indeed! Also, great advice just up above with the "count the number of times you use the word said" - I believe I overdo that sometimes for sure. I also irk other authors by using adjectives such as "almost" and "slightly" waaaaay too much. It's almost like I don't know any better.

I feel like I need to hire a guy to stand behind me and slap me with a wet fish every time I use "Actually" and "Literally" I spend all my editing time removing those brain warts.

 

[StillStunned]

I feel like I need to hire a guy to stand behind me and slap me with a wet fish every time I use "Actually" and "Literally" I spend all my editing time removing those brain warts.

Actually, you should be slapped in the face, not from behind. I mean, literally!

 

[Devinter]

I feel like I need to hire a guy to stand behind me and slap me with a wet fish every time I use "Actually" and "Literally" I spend all my editing time removing those brain warts.

 

[Duleigh]

Tick... Tick... Tick... Wednesday is just days away. For those of you who are complete, thank you, we have a ton of stories for our
readers. For those of you who are struggling with those last few paragraphs, keep at it! I know you can do it!
​

Duleigh's Demandments - Now we're getting down to what makes a story memorable. The top four of the demandments I impose on myself are not technical, they have nothing to do with actuating the keyboard but they go directly to why we are here.

4. At all times thou shalt Respect Thy Readers

This one is big. The moment you mess up a time line or a character's name and say, "Nahhh, nobody will notice," they're going to notice. They're not dummies, if they were, they'd be over at Pornhub or Xhamster and watching home produced amateur porn for the plot lines. (And what kind of name is Xhamster???) I have a huge series of stories that are filled with characters that spans the world (Stormwach and We're a Wonderful Wife along with Amorous Goods one and two) and now I'm adding another series on top of that, that's 34 stories, over 780,000 words and a reader found a timeline inconsistency! They're following you for a reason, respect them.

 

[Duleigh]

We're almost there! I'm sure that everyone who wants to join the contest has their stories done but there's always
one more story that wants to get out, or the story that came late needs a bit more polishing
Do we have any first time contestants here? What do you think of this contest? Personally, it's my favorite.
I worked on a story for 2 years and it didn't win... but this month it was selected Best Erotic Horror Story for 2022
​

Duleigh's Demandments - these are little rules I use when I'm writing and they work, this one is a big one for me

3. Thou shalt always be true to the story If i don't make a conscious effort to remain completely true to the type of story I'm writing, I'll find it wandering off into a different genre. I tend to wander toward comedy, which rarely goes well with a mafia hit piece or a passionate romance in a war zone. That's not to say that you can't put a few comedic bits in here and there, that's where the twins in Andi's Dream come from, my need to veer aways from the 100% serious for a while, but I don't let their silliness spill over on to the rest of the story.

 

[StillStunned]

I've come down with some kind of bug, otherwise I'd be tempted to finish The Heart of Winter as my third entry. But even though I do feel like writing, I want my mind to be full of summer heat and sunshine.

Fairytale of New York is still pending.

 

[Nellymcboatface]

Honest.. I'm on the last straight coming in hot and fast to slide in across the line...
Maybe posting it up tonight or tomorrow !
Arghhhhh

 

[Priscilla_June]

Honest.. I'm on the last straight coming in hot and fast to slide in across the line...
Maybe posting it up tonight or tomorrow !
Arghhhhh

You can do it!!!

 

[Jorunn]

My entry, "Christmas in Norway Tour" drops tomorrow. I'm trying a Loving Wives story that picks up after the divorce, and shows the effects on a mother and daughter as they try to heal from her husband's infidelity. A bit unconventional in that category, but I'm obviously not going for scores. A lot of recent comments there complaining about same-old-same-old, or asking for part 2's. We'll see how this plays.