The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[EmilyMiller]

You live rent free in my mind, but for probably different reasons.

Like idolation, humourous, well spoken, easy to follow, informative, and gosh darn you're pretty in your profile pic

Blushing

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

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.

Here's sending some holiday healing magic. I hope she has as easy a process as is feasible. She's lucky to have you there with her as well - love that you can do that!

 

[EmilyMiller]

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.

Hope your mom gets better

 

[NaughteeDragon]

That's kinda creepy.
Now I'm looking around wondering if everyone is also someone else?

I don’t have time to pretend to be someone else.

 

[old_prof]

I don’t have time to pretend to be someone else.

But is that because your real identity doesn't allocate enough time to "you"?

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I'm telling you, all day, every day. Whiny maidens, "Naughtee, am I pretty enough?" "Naughtee, she stole my favorite necklace." Then there's all the knights trying to prove themselves and save their fair loves. Then, God forbid, you want to go out and pick up some take out for dinner. You would not believe how testy royal families get when you show up with two or three suits of heirloom armor and ask for a refill.
And who would have thought that kobolds could be so needy. "Oh, great dragon, the tribe of ogres are hunting us to extinction. Please, oh great God, save us." You have any idea gassy I get after eating 3 or 4 ogres? Then princesses start bitching again...
As soon as I figure out which one of them is breedable, I'm torching the rest so I can get some fucking rest.

 

[Lord_Libido]

I'm telling you, all day, every day. Whiny maidens, "Naughtee, am I pretty enough?" "Naughtee, she stole my favorite necklace." Then there's all the knights trying to prove themselves and save their fair loves. Then, God forbid, you want to go out and pick up some take out for dinner. You would not believe how testy royal families get when you show up with two or three suits of heirloom armor and ask for a refill.
And who would have thought that kobolds could be so needy. "Oh, great dragon, the tribe of ogres are hunting us to extinction. Please, oh great God, save us." You have any idea gassy I get after eating 3 or 4 ogres? Then princesses start bitching again...
As soon as I figure out which one of them is breedable, I'm torching the rest so I can get some fucking rest.

I can take some of those princesses off your hands. In my experience, they talk a big game but fold pretty easily. Especially when you have a tail...

 

[NaughteeDragon]

Don't even get me started on them and the tail. "Oh, Naughtee, is it my turn with the tail?" "Just the tip, I'm saving myself." "Well of course she can take that much of it, she's a total slut."
No matter how pretty she is, some guy somewhere is sick and tired of putting up with her shit....



Okay, I apologize for hijacking the thread. I haven't had a chance to dig that character out in forever.

 

[dreams_in_words]

Okay, I apologize for hijacking the thread. I haven't had a chance to dig that character out in forever.

That was kinda funny.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Here's sending some holiday healing magic. I hope she has as easy a process as is feasible. She's lucky to have you there with her as well - love that you can do that!

Thank you so much for your kindness. She will heal and be fine. We are mostly enjoying each others company, and when she gets frustrated and cranky, I remind myself that this woman was by my side when I was going cold turkey from my addictions, and I am sure I was a hundred times worse.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Hope your mom gets better

Thank you, Emily.

 

[Jorunn]

Does anyone miss the old days when the support threads were full of posts like:

“I just lost 2 votes and my score went up .01”

 

[WriterPerson314159]

Do we have a sense of when the winners will be published (I have my guess as to who will win, and I want to see if I am right)?

 

[YmaOHyd]

Dunno but I kinda hope there's a sweep between now and then.

 

[WittyUserName]

A few of my comments said my story was mislabeled. I used the 'lesbian' tag.. it's a lesbian ROMANCE. So, romance is accurate, isn't it? There are POV changes, one of which includes male/female sex, so lesbian didn't seem right to me... thoughts?

 

[YmaOHyd]

If there's male/female sex and male POV, I'd put it in Romance. If there's male/female sex, strictly female POV and the thrust of the story is a person embracing their sexuality, there's a case for LS, but I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Jorunn]

A few of my comments said my story was mislabeled. I used the 'lesbian' tag.. it's a lesbian ROMANCE. So, romance is accurate, isn't it? There are POV changes, one of which includes male/female sex, so lesbian didn't seem right to me... thoughts?

My Halloween story was like this - lesbian tag in Romance - ultimately a happy lesbian ending but with earlier male/female sex. I intentionally toned those down but got some comments those scenes were too brief. Not really a ‘spooky’ tale, I have considered a re-write and submitting it as a new Romance story with new characters, new ending, and only male-female sex.

 

[WittyUserName]

My Halloween story was like this - lesbian tag in Romance - ultimately a happy lesbian ending but with earlier male/female sex. I intentionally toned those down but got some comments those scenes were too brief. Not really a ‘spooky’ tale, I have considered a re-write and submitting it as a new Romance story with new characters, new ending, and only male-female sex.

Makes sense. Of course, if multiple people point out the same thing, it's something to at least consider. I figured people who read Lesbian would be upset at the fact that there was male-female sex. I guess I could re-write and leave that out, but eh, a bit late now.

 

[WittyUserName]

If there's male/female sex and male POV, I'd put it in Romance. If there's male/female sex, strictly female POV and the thrust of the story is a person embracing their sexuality, there's a case for LS, but I wouldn't worry too much.

Strictly female POV, but there's more than one POV. The story features identical twins. One twin is married to a guy, the other twin ends up dating a woman. Including both their POVs was important for plot, non-sex related reasons.

 

[YmaOHyd]

So yeah, I think if you have a POV character who's in a happy hetero marriage, I'd stick with Romance; I think you made the right call.

 

[WittyUserName]

So yeah, I think if you have a POV character who's in a happy hetero marriage, I'd stick with Romance; I think you made the right call.

Thanks! I just know that paying attention to criticism is extra important when several people point out the same thing, ya know?

 

[Voboy]

A few of my comments said my story was mislabeled. I used the 'lesbian' tag.. it's a lesbian ROMANCE. So, romance is accurate, isn't it? There are POV changes, one of which includes male/female sex, so lesbian didn't seem right to me... thoughts?

In general, I think many readers think of a same-sex focus as "trumping" most of a story's other attributes: Gay Male stories certainly work like that, so I'd assume Lesbian stories would have a similar dynamic.

If I'm not into GM stories but I am in the mood for a romantic story, and I click on a "romantic" story that turned out to be GM, I would feel like I'd been bait-and-switched. Because although I sometimes search by tag, I more often search by category.

I am not every reader. But I do believe that paying attention to "trump" topics is important when labeling a story.

 

[WittyUserName]

In general, I think many readers think of a same-sex focus as "trumping" most of a story's other attributes: Gay Male stories certainly work like that, so I'd assume Lesbian stories would have a similar dynamic.

If I'm not into GM stories but I am in the mood for a romantic story, and I click on a "romantic" story that turned out to be GM, I would feel like I'd been bait-and-switched. Because although I sometimes search by tag, I more often search by category.

I am not every reader. But I do believe that paying attention to "trump" topics is important when labeling a story.

I can see that, definitely. I wouldn't want to read a story like that either. I did consider lesbian, but since I included straight sex, I knew it would be poorly received in that category.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

When does a final vote sweep come through, if one does? Just before the winners are announced?

 

[Voboy]

When does a final vote sweep come through, if one does? Just before the winners are announced?

Yes, seemingly.

And there's no way to know when that will be, since there's no way to know precisely when the contest "ends" nor when the winners are announced.

Really, truly, it's not worth worrying about. The chips will fall wherever they fall. The whole thing is quite merrily opaque.