The Official Authors' Hangout Summer Lovin' 2026 Contest Support Thread

[Voboy]

hey, is it worth it for a new writer to give this a go on their own? everyone in their comments sounds so ready and polished.

Hell yeah. Welcome!

Everyone has a "first time" once. It's how you become jaded, lol.

 

[Voboy]

Since this will be the first story I technically publish here, whats a good rule of thumb for length? Currently the story I am writing for this event is just at 10k words but Im not even through the first day yet. I imagine that itll be about 15k ish by the time i am done, but could be longer. Do you guys follow any particular rule on length? Like a certain number of words you guys aim for at a minimum when writing stories? i dont want it to be too long that people dont want to read through the whole thing but at the same time I dont really want to rush through scenes or get to somewhere too fast. It doesnt help that I really only had a vague idea and just wing it when making my way through the plot, letting my imagination carry me as I go along.

Welcome! My advice, in almost all situations (and certainly in this one), is "write what you'd want to read."

If you write it and it feels overlong? Then it's overlong. If it feels like it's the right length to tell the story you want? Then it's just fine. You're your own first reader.

Follow your instincts. It's a guarantee that a 15k-word story will DEFINITELY get readers, if that's what's concerning you. There is a readership out there for every story.

 

[MiaSalnias]

Since this will be the first story I technically publish here, whats a good rule of thumb for length?

The winner of the last contest was almost 60K words, and second place was 20K. I would guess the average story in the last contest was between 5-10K words.

 

[BryanRichardson]

hey, is it worth it for a new writer to give this a go on their own? everyone in their comments sounds so ready and polished.

Yes, write your story and publish it for the contest.

You will get more views through the contest which will mean more votes and more comments.

Will the votes and comments be supportive or dismissive? That depends on too many criteria to list here. But, the more votes and more comments you get the more representative of the readers they will be as a whole.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Aww, newbies!

Since this will be the first story I technically publish here, whats a good rule of thumb for length? Currently the story I am writing for this event is just at 10k words but Im not even through the first day yet. I imagine that itll be about 15k ish by the time i am done, but could be longer. Do you guys follow any particular rule on length? Like a certain number of words you guys aim for at a minimum when writing stories? i dont want it to be too long that people dont want to read through the whole thing but at the same time I dont really want to rush through scenes or get to somewhere too fast. It doesnt help that I really only had a vague idea and just wing it when making my way through the plot, letting my imagination carry me as I go along.

A story should be as long as it's gonna be. Unless you have a very good reason, I wouldn't artificially constrain the length of a story. Common adage is a story is like a length of string, it's as long as it needs to be, no more, no less. Write the story, read through it and see how you feel, and tweak and edit and rewrite and scrap as you see fit. But enjoy the process, that's the most important thing.

Also, welcome to pantsing!

hey, is it worth it for a new writer to give this a go on their own? everyone in their comments sounds so ready and polished.

Absolutely! When writing, it's best not to compare yourself to other people. It's not a fair comparison. Someone who's just learning to write shouldn't look at someone who's been writing for 50 years and go "dang, they're better than I am." Of course they are, and at one point, they were just as good as you are now! Writing is a lifelong learning experience where we try new things and grow and learn and experiment, and we all started somewhere. So write your story, enter the contest, and let the readers find you and enjoy what you created and shared with the world!

 

[Wund3rland]

Welcome! My advice, in almost all situations (and certainly in this one), is "write what you'd want to read."

If you write it and it feels overlong? Then it's overlong. If it feels like it's the right length to tell the story you want? Then it's just fine. You're your own first reader.

Follow your instincts. It's a guarantee that a 15k-word story will DEFINITELY get readers, if that's what's concerning you. There is a readership out there for every story.

Definitely what I was thinking as well. I did find an older post from 2022 talking about the number of words vs how many pages on lit it would be. At this point I am just going to keep writing until I feel like I am done with the story, or if it winds up being a series I will right until I feel like this chapter is complete. I need it to be more about summer as currently it only mentions that it takes place in the middle o the summer. Im at 10k and we havent even made it to the beach scene I have in mind. i feel like this story is about to be like 20k words with how the writing is going. I do like longer stories though, I feel that some really good concepts get rushed in some of the stories I have read here from other writers so i am taking my time with this one and trying to flesh it out so that if someone comes across it in the future they will be satisfied with how it wraps up. Also getting in the mood and in the head space to sit down and smash out 5k words wasnt an issue until yesterday, still pushed my 10k goal but I kept getting distracted. Hopefully I will have it up to at least 15k or more by the end of this weekend and then I will see where my story is, and by that point I think I will have somewhat of an idea of how long it will be. My goal is at least a 4 page story with room for more if i decide I want to continue it.

 

[Wund3rland]

about 3500 words = one Lit page (depending on density of text).

In a contest, you certainly want to go 2 oR 3 pages to discourage votes from the rIff raff. Beyond that, you get fewer votes with each additional page, but ii suspect the votes you get are higher, because folks that read that long must really must like it.

you are past page 3.So make it as long as you think it needs to be.

HAHA I figured. I found a post from 2022 that broke down pages vs how many words and at this point Im just going to keep going until this chapter is completed. Has there ever been a multi-work series submitted for a contest? I kid.... well maybe. I didnt think id be able to write so much but once I get in the zone I just let myself go. I think the bodes well for the future but I may try my hand at some shorter stories or break this one up into multiple smaller stories so that people are more likely to read them. I just find it difficult to flesh out a full storyline like I want without it being so long. I like the scenes to be detailed so the reader really gets the vision of what im trying to write.

 

[NotWise]

Yep has to be age appropriate there also. I suppose it could be back to summer school . Good idea. I'll have a think

Place it in the US and it might not be that hard. I think most schools in the US will be underway after the first weekend in September when it's still pretty summary, and many start before that. Here, the schools started yesterday with an organizational day, and it's couldn't be more summer-like.

 

[Duil2]

Place it in the US and it might not be that hard. I think most schools in the US will be underway after the first weekend in September when it's still pretty summary, and many start before that. Here, the schools started yesterday with an organizational day, and it's couldn't be more summer-like.

I forgot that some countries go back in August because where I am it isn't until September for back to school so technically summer is over. I decided instead to combine the two by having most of it set in Summer which is in the past and then a few paragraphs at the beginning and the end that are set in Sept when they're back in school.

 

[Voboy]

Has there ever been a multi-work series submitted for a contest? I kid.... well maybe.

Nah. That's against the rulez.

Plenty of people think nothing of submitting stories at 35k or more, and they're usually received quite well. If the story is well-written, it doesn't really matter all that much how long it is.

 

[Wund3rland]

Nah. That's against the rulez.

Plenty of people think nothing of submitting stories at 35k or more, and they're usually received quite well. If the story is well-written, it doesn't really matter all that much how long it is.

Ah ok, well i could always use it as the stepping stone for a series once its over if I feel like continuing once im done. I could definitely see my story hitting 20k. Its already at almost 13k now so we will see. Ive been trying to get around 3k words done a night on it so I probably wont be done by the time submission officially open but I will definitely have it done in time to submit it.

 

[sirhugs]

Still time to write and submit...

if you are looking for inspiration, check out the companion ideas thread over on the Story Ideas forum. Over 100 posts, many of which pose multiple suggestions of variations on a theme, so thousands of prompts to get you thinking.

Just grab one and start typing.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

hey, is it worth it for a new writer to give this a go on their own? everyone in their comments sounds so ready and polished.

Do it. The absolute worst case scenario is you write something that doesn't win (most of us won't) and you get tons of exposure and feedback on what worked in your story and what didn't so you can improve in your next story.

I started here in September of 24, my second story was a contest entry for Halloween, and this will be my tenth contest entry. Never won a thing. Doesn't matter, it's fun, and the readership here is generally constructive with their comments (as long as you avoid a category or two).

 

[ElectricBlue]

HAHA I figured. I found a post from 2022 that broke down pages vs how many words and at this point Im just going to keep going until this chapter is completed. Has there ever been a multi-work series submitted for a contest? I kid.... well maybe.

Contest stories have to be stand-alone, not part of an ongoing series. They can subsequently be the start of a series, but for the contest, the story needs to be complete and self contained.

 

[Duil2]

So I think my Summer Lovin story is written at 7.1K words. Will let it lie for a few days and edit it maybe Thursday hopefully to submit on Friday, all going well. It's not great quality but might still be a bit of fun for people.

 

[Wund3rland]

So I think my Summer Lovin story is written at 7.1K words. Will let it lie for a few days and edit it maybe Thursday hopefully to submit on Friday, all going well. It's not great quality but might still be a bit of fun for people.

Dang! Im at 15.7k words and I still have more that I want to write. IDK if im going overboard on my story but I have some cool ideas I want to flesh out still. Im estimating that itll be about 25k by the time im done. I dont think that'll be too bad for my first story I publish here.

 

[sirhugs]

Dang! Im at 15.7k words and I still have more that I want to write. IDK if im going overboard on my story but I have some cool ideas I want to flesh out still. Im estimating that itll be about 25k by the time im done. I dont think that'll be too bad for my first story I publish here.

nothing wrong with that length. though like in loving, it ain't really the size that counts.

 

[sirhugs]

So I think my Summer Lovin story is written at 7.1K words. Will let it lie for a few days and edit it maybe Thursday hopefully to submit on Friday, all going well. It's not great quality but might still be a bit of fun for people.

I'm a big fan of "the right length is just however long it needs to be", but you are teetering just at the edge of being onto page 3. My very unscientific theory is that going onto at least page 3 is "just right" to discourage the lazier trolls (and well intentioned folks that should never have tried reading your "not their cuppa tea" in the first place) from clicking through to down vote. You might want to bear that in mind.
Some of us love a bit of fun read.

 

[Duil2]

I'm a big fan of "the right length is just however long it needs to be", but you are teetering just at the edge of being onto page 3. My very unscientific theory is that going onto at least page 3 is "just right" to discourage the lazier trolls (and well intentioned folks that should never have tried reading your "not their cuppa tea" in the first place) from clicking through to down vote. You might want to bear that in mind.
Some of us love a bit of fun read.

Thanks. By the time I add in my usual blurb at the beginning with copyright note etc it'll likely get to page 3.
Hah, just remembered what being on page 3 used to signify years ago in the context of tabloid newspapers. Only a certain vintage and location of folks will get that.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Thanks. By the time I add in my usual blurb at the beginning with copyright note etc it'll likely get to page 3.
Hah, just remembered what being on page 3 used to signify years ago in the context of tabloid newspapers. Only a certain vintage and location of folks will get that.

From memory as a teen, I found those pages highly educational.

 

[ZinJ]

I had one Summer Lovin' story that I don't think I can finish in time, so I went and wrote 2 short stories instead. One of them is something I'm working on now and committing to writing 1 segment a day in between everything else happening in my life. Hope I can finish it soon.

 

[LitEroCat]

I submitted mine today. I started it in 2015 and stalled, but finished Dereliction of Duty tonight.

 

[Wund3rland]

I submitted mine today. I started it in 2015 and stalled, but finished Dereliction of Duty tonight.

I am hoping to have mine done by this weekend. I just need to lock in and keep writing. I have, I think, 2 more big scenes after the one I am working on. Only problem is I want it to be more summer themed than it is, which is what I am working on. Only issue is once I begin writing a new scene I keep thinking of new stuff. Based on how long each major part has been ill be closer to the 30k word mark and thats a whole 13k more words. I dont really want it to be longer than that because I am worried that people wont like it if its too long but alas I want to see this whole story out until the end.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Oh, this is gonna be a long'un. About at the halfway point at 13k. Damn, I was really hoping to get this in at the start of the contest, should've known better. Hopefully I can have a few good days and crank out the rough draft by the end of the weekend. Gonna try to keep it under 20k. (I originally said under 25k, but I didn't want to tempt the universe, which would make it over that, so we'll lowball it and hope the universe doesn't notice and it actually does come in under 25k).

 

[Wund3rland]

Oh, this is gonna be a long'un. About at the halfway point at 13k. Damn, I was really hoping to get this in at the start of the contest, should've known better. Hopefully I can have a few good days and crank out the rough draft by the end of the weekend. Gonna try to keep it under 20k. (I originally said under 25k, but I didn't want to tempt the universe, which would make it over that, so we'll lowball it and hope the universe doesn't notice and it actually does come in under 25k).

Yea I feel you on that. Im already at 18.7k words and I have a whole date night + sex scene to write and then the beach scene involving 3 people to go. I was hoping 30k but man I think I might actually push past that at this point.I have been slowly going back to the start and reading back through it to edit and change the way I worded a stuff but Its going to be a slog to get through the editing portion so I have been trying my best to do it as I go along. I want it to be done before the submissions start but at this rate I will have to just lock in and write a