The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[RoyalAuthor]

This is one of the reasons I don't write part twos of many things. At some point, I need to organize the characters, locations, and such in some sort of digital format.

I have one main series (a completed series, and now a part two that's still being written released, but it's one narrative), and the rest of mine are standalones that either directly or very loosely tie into the main series. Sometimes the characters cross over, sometimes it's just a mention of a sibling with a location and a name that ties to one of the standalones or vice versa.

I use a massive planning document in Word (that looks like a jumble of nonsense to anyone who isn't me) and it gets bigger daily, and 90 percent of that is just for the main series (16 chapters in part one, just published the fifth in part two).

I like writing the serial more, which is probably why the next spinoff I'm planning is going to be a short serial instead of a one-off.

 

[Lord_Libido]

I have never done this but multiple people have said they successfully requested specific later release dates in the note to admin.

I don't know it anyone had done it recently but the notes seem to be being seen and considered again.

That would be convenient. I could whip something up for May the 4th

 

[Trionyx]

My lesbian Holiday story Santa's Elves has been reasonably well received which pleases me. I looked at the 'similar stories' and note that onehitwanda is featured in 9 of the 20 similar stories.
Should I be honored that my story pulled her nine stories into the similar stories list or should I be envious that she has so many? Or both?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Has anyone recently tried to set a future publication date? I was seeing a few threads on it and saw something about it only being able to be done a week in advance, but being do-able. I want my story to remain a stand alone (so that it stays quaified), but I'm considering writing a sequel (if I can find some plot bunnies).

You can't but the site can. If you submit every chapter all at once, for example, the site will set future release dates, usually 24 or 48 hours apart.

You could request a future date in a Note to the Editor, but since you have no way of knowing how long the story will be in the queue, that could be a waste of time.

 

[Duleigh]

At some point, I need to organize the characters, locations, and such in some sort of digital format

About a year ago someone turned me on to a program called Scrivner which was software to organize the writing process. it was ok, but it depended on the built-in word processer. I have a word processer that I love, I don't want Scrivner. BUT - the organization portion looked familiar, then I realized it was a gussied up version of Microsoft One Note which is free. Once I trained myself to use One Note, the organizing portion of a big work was easy. I can even put 'motivation photos' in there to help me picture my characters.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I've been tying all of my stories, with a couple of exceptions, into a shared universe as well. It's a hell of an exercise trying to line up timelines, especially at the micro level, since most of my stories so far have taken place over less than a year.

I hadn’t intended to do anything like that, and I still don’t, but earlier this year it got mentioned while I was having a conversation with @Defleur. All of his stories are set in the fictional town of Defleur, so he has this great extended universe. He referred to the NDEU (NaughtyDragon Extended Universe) and now I can’t unsee it. I don’t write for crossovers, but I see where they could take place. I already have a couple of stories set in Denver. I have a couple planned for Chicago. One that includes a road trip from Bakersfield CA to Providence RI, and the planned routes goes through Denver and Chicago (with a potential side trip to Defleur for the LitCon challenge in 2027).
It might also include a stop near Topeka KS if @Fatdog25 finishes the story of Grace.

 

[taytay4eva]

I've been tying all of my stories, with a couple of exceptions, into a shared universe as well. It's a hell of an exercise trying to line up timelines, especially at the micro level, since most of my stories so far have taken place over less than a year.

It's worth it, though, because now I get all these ideas of fun ways to play with the cast of characters in the sandbox I've created - most of which will never see the light of day out of sheer abundance of possibilities. It also means I never have to say goodbye to my characters, because they could always pop up again, which is great for my overly sentimental mind.

Oh that's how I've been doing it too! It's the best thing, ain't it? I do run into some problems because my concept of how things happened has changed as I've written things, but I feel like that's just making my stories stronger.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I've been tying all of my stories, with a couple of exceptions, into a shared universe as well. It's a hell of an exercise trying to line up timelines, especially at the micro level, since most of my stories so far have taken place over less than a year.

It's worth it, though, because now I get all these ideas of fun ways to play with the cast of characters in the sandbox I've created - most of which will never see the light of day out of sheer abundance of possibilities. It also means I never have to say goodbye to my characters, because they could always pop up again, which is great for my overly sentimental mind.

I haven't done that to that extent, but the Corrine in April's Fool is the same as the Corey who pops up in What's Left of Me; she was created for that series, debuted in April's Fool, and I haven't gotten around to writing the rest of What's Left. Pretty sure that means April's Fool is set in 2021 or 2022 and What's Left in 2024 or 2025. It is kind of nice being able to reuse some of the characters you've created.

 

[Voboy]

Shared universes are the way to go. I've been doing it for years.

The continuity documentation is very hard to do with pinpoint accuracy, but it's worth making the attempt, no matter how imperfect.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Shared universes are the way to go. I've been doing it for years.

The continuity documentation is very hard to do with pinpoint accuracy, but it's worth making the attempt, no matter how imperfect.

My story features my recurring character Laura a bit, for fans of hers.

One problem with a shared universe is managing the fact that most readers won't be familiar with the back stories that you know, and trying to summarise what's important without info-dumping. Of course it would be easier if I just wrote the sex and didn't try things like 'L has a girlfriend A who is also in a relationship with a guy L is shagging too, and L and her mate R both treat the other couple as surrogate parents, R learning how to do BDSM off A and to be human from the other guy, all goes well until A dumps L and the other guy...'

I'm very aware of a few discrepancies between various stories (the timeline is a bit shaky) but so far zero readers have pointed any out.

 

[Duleigh]

Not to derail the thread too much, but how do you keep this sort of documentation organized and up to date?

I used a wiki for a while, and now Google Docs. They're both okay but neither makes it easy.

I use MS One Note - it's very flexible and has filled all my needs. Each portion of the universe gets a notebook, each notebook has a section for Characters, Locations, and background data. each notebook has pages for each character/group, or location. I even have pages to store quotations I know I'm going to use later.

 

[BryanRichardson]

This would never work for me. I use “Bryan” in a fair number of stories, they are clearly not the same Bryan, and some of them conflict with one another.

Maybe I’ve got a multiverse going on…

 

[old_prof]

I opened a thread to discuss building universes to let this thread return to the winter event. Thread is https://forum.literotica.com/threads/building-on-going-shared-universes.1645132/

 

[BryanRichardson]

Ok, so I’ve got three stories in this event so far:

Dear Santa in Letters and Transcripts is a kids letters to Santa, and has no sex at all. (Since the narrator is a kid.) It’s got a 4.6 score, but I don’t know why. No sex at all but still Hot? Weird.

Miracle on 69th Street in Humor and Satire. I had to force jokes into it, but people seem to like it since it has a score of 4.58. One anonymous commenter said “Sorry, but didn’t even chuckle once. No smiles either.” Well, I guess we can’t please everyone.

Home for the Holidays in Taboo/Incest has been hovering between 4.68 and 4.69, but I can’t understand why. There are 1.2k votes, how can the score change at all?

I’m mostly done with Chrissy Weekend in the Bush for Novellas. It is set in Australia so I can include outdoor exhibitionism and sex in a party tent. This is the last category I need to complete the Survivor challenge…

 

[cw5523729]

Ok, so I’ve got three stories in this event so far:

Dear Santa in Letters and Transcripts is a kids letters to Santa, and has no sex at all. (Since the narrator is a kid.) It’s got a 4.6 score, but I don’t know why. No sex at all but still Hot? Weird.

Hey, I read porn lit and still love a good Hallmark Christmas movie.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Hey, I read porn lit and still love a good Hallmark Christmas movie.

That's why I combined the two for my contest entry this year lol.

 

[Voboy]

Not to derail the thread too much, but how do you keep this sort of documentation organized and up to date?

I used a wiki for a while, and now Google Docs. They're both okay but neither makes it easy.

I just have a doc on which I list all the titles, grouped and cross-referenced. Then, each story has a background document listing the cast of characters (among other things). I add to those mini-biographies, so the latest story in which a character appears usually has all the salient bits.

So it ends up working somewhat like this: I'll decide that a new idea has legs. That will lead me to dredge up a character or two from the past to help populate the new story. I'll go to the latest background doc that character is in, copy-paste the bio into the new story's background doc, then add pertinent data as the new story unfolds. That, then, becomes the "controlling" bio of that character.

My story features my recurring character Laura a bit, for fans of hers.

One problem with a shared universe is managing the fact that most readers won't be familiar with the back stories that you know, and trying to summarise what's important without info-dumping.

I never bother summarizing prior events.

I take a Tolkien-ish view of this sort of thing. He had tens of thousands of words' worth of background matter for everything that made it into publication, and he felt (as I do) that those words lent depth and resonance to the tale even if the reader doesn't know the material. I am far from Tolkien, but I get the same sense from Irvine Welsh (who also writes in-universe) and there is enough extant material that you know there must be much more, allowing the mind to wander.

Of course it would be easier if I just wrote the sex and didn't try things like 'L has a girlfriend A who is also in a relationship with a guy L is shagging too, and L and her mate R both treat the other couple as surrogate parents, R learning how to do BDSM off A and to be human from the other guy, all goes well until A dumps L and the other guy...'

I enjoy mentioning people in multiple stories who, honestly, have no role other than to be "that one person that other people talk about." My favorite is a character of mine named Gretchen Berry, who is often encountered by main characters but has no arc of her own. Even I don't know what's true about her. The beauty of writing this way is that continuity is not terribly important: it's fine for characters to have their own, flawed understandings of other characters' motives. Who cares if those understandings differ from others?

 

[talemestories]

Not to derail the thread too much, but how do you keep this sort of documentation organized and up to date?

I used a wiki for a while, and now Google Docs. They're both okay but neither makes it easy.

I am looking into Obsidian right now as an open source alternative. It seems super promising.

I used to love the concept of wikis but their time sadly passed. I still think it was one of the greatest ways to collaborate but obviously I was wrong.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've been tying all of my stories, with a couple of exceptions, into a shared universe as well. It's a hell of an exercise trying to line up timelines, especially at the micro level, since most of my stories so far have taken place over less than a year.

It's worth it, though, because now I get all these ideas of fun ways to play with the cast of characters in the sandbox I've created - most of which will never see the light of day out of sheer abundance of possibilities. It also means I never have to say goodbye to my characters, because they could always pop up again, which is great for my overly sentimental mind.

LOL. I feel like the odd one out here. I just track everything in my head

 

[Lord_Libido]

LOL. I feel like the odd one out here. I just track everything in my head

Same. The good Lord blessed me with a great memory. Never had to study during school.

 

[redgarters]

To my own considerable surprise I have written and finished a short Winter Holidays story. Hoping to post in a day or two, praying to the Powers That Be that the Demons of Pending Purgatory will look the other way. This is not the droid story you're looking for.

If my inner Obi-Wan is found lacking and the story gets transported to a small cell on Detention Block AA-23, then I guess I'll wish everyone here good luck and try to enjoy having a nice little entry for new years or something

 

[Lord_Libido]

To my own considerable surprise I have written and finished a short Winter Holidays story. Hoping to post in a day or two, praying to the Powers That Be that the Demons of Pending Purgatory will look the other way. This is not the droid story you're looking for.

If my inner Obi-Wan is found lacking and the story gets transported to a small cell on Detention Block AA-23, then I guess I'll wish everyone here good luck and try to enjoy having a nice little entry for new years or something

Trust me. Those demons are too busy watching my story edits.
My stories
My Winter Holiday Story

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Same. The good Lord blessed me with a great memory. Never had to study during school.

Yeah, I can remember most of my stories, but also don't mind an excuse to re-read a story of mine.

I'm far from the best writer around, but my stories are certainly the best aligned to my own interests...

 

[ElectricBlue]

LOL. I feel like the odd one out here. I just track everything in my head

Me too. I read all these threads about spreadsheets and reams of notes and so on, that folk use to record who, what, and when is in their stories, and I'm thinking, am I the only one with a working memory? Good to know there's at least two of us!

 

[Erozetta]

Me too. I read all these threads about spreadsheets and reams of notes and so on, that folk use to record who, what, and when is in their stories, and I'm thinking, am I the only one with a working memory? Good to know there's at least two of us!

Three at minimum.