The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[Kumquatqueen]

I went for both a boring-sounding title if you don't get to see the tagline (and possibly even if you do), and a less-read category (BDSM).

So after a couple weeks Last Christmas has 4.2k views and now 28 votes, two recent ones being 1s so that's lowered the score a lot. It's very easy to track votes when you only get one or two a day.

I don't think there was a better category, though. Nor title, really, so there we are.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Update: at least one 1 swept away and score back up... Ooh, the excitement!

 

[WittyUserName]

Well, my story is live. https://literotica.com/s/firelight-at-snowcap-ridge 4.32. Ouch. :/

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Here is my entry: Making a Very Good Hanukkah .
It’s my 5th story and 4th contest. I enjoy the contests mostly to give me a creative head start be conforming to the theme. And I noticed that the volume of views was substantially larger than my one stand alone pub.

But this time, the view volume is the large (already 3K+) but after a week only 8 scored. So wondering if its the topic; maybe people don’t identify with that holiday, so they move on. Or is it the system not keeping up. I noticed it took till today for it to show that I had 5 stories on my bio even though it was clearly published last week. At this rate, I won’t have enough votes to be a contender, which is not really a big deal, but just curious what’s the deal.

It took me a long while to hit 25 votes. Could it be the holiday? Maybe. But we also have a comparable number of followers so I wonder if you'll follow the same trajectory I did. It's why I ended up submitting so early for this one, giving myself the time to slowly pick up the votes to make sure I at least had enough to qualify (I need to get far better at writing to win, but qualifying was nice especially since I wrote in a category that wasn't even permitted - poetry - for my first ever entry).

 

[MegaTank]

Sweep came in, my story got a whole one vote shaved off. So much for getting a kick up into hot...

Is that the last of the entries in, or might there still be one or two stragglers out there?

 

[WittyUserName]

Sweep came in, my story got a whole one vote shaved off. So much for getting a kick up into hot...

Is that the last of the entries in, or might there still be one or two stragglers out there?

None of the votes were removed from my story yet. I think I read someone saying their story was coming out tomorrow. I might be wrong, but I think we might have a couple more entries coming in.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I didn't get anything removed either.

 

[cw5523729]

I lost one vote and gained .02 points, pushing me up to 4.47

Lit is such a tease sometimes...

 

[cw5523729]

It took me a long while to hit 25 votes. Could it be the holiday?

Somehow my holiday entry got more votes in 2 weeks than any other story I've submitted. And it did so with the generic category of EC and the fact that I fucked up the tags due to my haste to get it submitted before the deadline.

 

[dreams_in_words]

Anyone else finally got their 25 votes to be tied for 4th place?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Anyone else finally got their 25 votes to be tied for 4th place?

We're all tied for fourth place. I think you'd need a 4.85 to be in the top three.

 

[YmaOHyd]

We're all tied for fourth place. I think you'd need a 4.85 to be in the top three.

Don't worry about it too much. The only scores that matter are the ones right exactly as the contest closes, and sweeps have changed those by a quarter of a point at 11:59 PM before.

 

[Voboy]

I kept the same vote total, but the score rose by .5 or so. Now it's lost .3 of that on one more vote. Gee, wonder what that vote was...

 

[WittyUserName]

Anyone else finally got their 25 votes to be tied for 4th place?

My story got a surprising amount of votes. It was released today and I have 82 votes already. I have zero chance of placing, but the amount of votes and views is encouraging. A few new followers, too.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

Don't worry about it too much. The only scores that matter are the ones right exactly as the contest closes, and sweeps have changed those by a quarter of a point at 11:59 PM before.

Yup. Had this happen to me. Remember that the winners are based on the scores at a snapshot in time - and that can change hourly.

 

[Purechicanery]

Is there an actual way to view how we're 'placed'? If everyone's tied for fourth I assume I'm thereaboutsish as well. I seem to have found approximately the formula that reliably scores around 4.7. Don't think there's any going higher for me, though.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Is there an actual way to view how we're 'placed'? If everyone's tied for fourth I assume I'm thereaboutsish as well. I seem to have found approximately the formula that reliably scores around 4.7. Don't think there's any going higher for me, though.

No, because every other story's score is time-delayed. You can only see what it was 12-36 hours ago, and they will change significantly as we get close to the end of the contest. I've seen stories go from the low 4.7s to the high 4.8s, even up to the mid 4.9s, with the final round of sweeps, and then be right back down at 4.71 three months later. The only thing you can do is assume that the sweeps will be even-handed and fair, and take Laurel and Manu's word on who the winners are.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Is there an actual way to view how we're 'placed'? If everyone's tied for fourth I assume I'm thereaboutsish as well. I seem to have found approximately the formula that reliably scores around 4.7. Don't think there's any going higher for me, though.

Tied for fourth is a joke. The contest only pays three places.

 

[Purechicanery]

I see I am insufficiently familiar with some forum specific in-jokes, having never really interacted in this space before.

 

[TheLobster]

Tied for fourth is a joke. The contest only pays three places.

The real contest is the friends and haters we made along the way.

 

[srosa]

Well, my story is live. https://literotica.com/s/firelight-at-snowcap-ridge 4.32. Ouch. :/

I thought 4.32 would be something to be proud of!

I went for both a boring-sounding title if you don't get to see the tagline (and possibly even if you do), and a less-read category (BDSM).

So after a couple weeks Last Christmas has 4.2k views and now 28 votes, two recent ones being 1s so that's lowered the score a lot. It's very easy to track votes when you only get one or two a day.

I don't think there was a better category, though. Nor title, really, so there we are.

Impressive story. Do you know someone with ALS? The fine details make me wonder.

 

[WittyUserName]

I thought 4.32 would be something to be proud of!


Impressive story. Do you know someone with ALS? The fine details make me wonder.

Guess I'm a spoiled brat.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I missed the deadline this year, because of a family crisis. My Mom had an accident and broke her knee. On the plus side, my job has very generous family leave policy, and I will be with her in Maine through the end of the year. And, I've got a story 90% ready for next year.

Good luck to everyone who submitted.

If you finish all the worthy entries and feel like more Christmas, I have collected my past Christmas stories into a list.

My Christmas Collection

 

[Voboy]

I missed the deadline this year, because of a family crisis. My Mom had an accident and broke her knee. On the plus side, my job has very generous family leave policy, and I will be with her in Maine through the end of the year. And, I've got a story 90% ready for next year.

Good luck to everyone who submitted.

If you finish all the worthy entries and feel like more Christmas, I have collected my past Christmas stories into a list.

My Christmas Collection

Best wishes to your mom.

 

[Lord_Libido]

Mine still only has 21 votes. But I'm okay with that fact