Winter Holiday 2010 Contest Support Thread

[EmeraldKitten]

Last day last day! lol.
I still have a couple stories that would like to get out, but not for this contest. However, they are Christmasy!
Not enough hours in the day. Stupid work, cutting into my fun.

 

[TxRad]

Last day last day! lol.
I still have a couple stories that would like to get out, but not for this contest. However, they are Christmasy!
Not enough hours in the day. Stupid work, cutting into my fun.

Morning EK.

 

[UltimateSwitch]

Good morning everyone. I really hope I get a voting boost once the submissions stop I haven't had more then two votes a day in over a week and a half.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

I'm with you Ultimate. I'd just love to see the Red Hot "H" returned to me

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Merry Contest to All!

Completed NaNoWriMo, and still managed to (finally) get my story in yesterday, just under the gun.

Now I'll finally get a chance to sit back and read a few of the entries.

My story is doing pretty well for a day out of the gate, and in the Romance category of all places. Almost laughed out loud when I saw that DG had wandered down that same sugar-coated category.

- PS: Trolls and one-bombers need not worry - I'm not in contention for the competition this time around, just trying to empty my half-finished story bucket.

 

[fifty5]

Delete "Mistletoe"

If you wish to delete a story, use much the same method, except put something such as *DELETE* in the title, and say that you want to delete the story in question in the "notes" section.

Convoluted, but it does work. It gets a little easier as you get used to it.

Thanks for all that - and from other contributors.

I hope I've got some useful input about how the story ought to be re-written, but I have neither the time nor the energy to do so before the deadline. Accordingly, I've followed your instructions to delete it, which, instead of just the time-zone difference hours, will give me something like 11 months to try to do it justice.

I plan to open the new version with something like:


"I'm lying here naked on his bed. He's towering over me. Have I been very, VERY foolish, or is have I been right to trust him?"


Then go into flashback mode to describe the lead-up, then back to present tense to describe the sex.

Does that sound like a better approach?

Someone mentioned dialogue... Technically, I'm sure that's right, but in this scenario, very little seems to fit - the events come like a bolt from the blue, with all previous conversations irrelevant and little discussion of anything (except mundane issues about opportunity, that seem to me tritely unerotic) would occur. Once the protagonists start to fuck, it isn't about talking, but about the conflict between sensation and risk.

Dialogue about blood donation and The Snip - dealing with the risk of pregnancy and disease - seem to me, again, to be mundane. They are relevant to the protagonist's fears, but secondary (or even less relevant) to the risk of letting a man she doesn't really know have physical power over her to do her harm ... or give her pleasure.

My gut feeling is that this scenario ought to have impact.

Clearly, the way I wrote it before didn't.

Any suggestions about how I might give this story the 'teeth' that I think it could have - to 'bite' readers - will be gratefully received, whether here, or by PM (I assume that comments on the story won't be an available channel once the story disappears).

Thanks to all who have responded to date - and in advance to any who do so in future,

 

[EmeraldKitten]

Morning EK.

Mornin' Tx, although it'll prolly be tomorrow before ya see this, lol.




Everyone feeling good about the contest? lol.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

So, I posted another entry. It's not a typical one. I'm not sure how it will be received. I hope that it helps someone out there. Sometimes, reminders are needed and come from unexpected sources. It's in the Non-Erotic category. I had started a post a few days ago, Holiday Love and Energy, and felt it deserved expanding. So, that's what I did.

 

[SweetestThing]

Yay! Entry #3 submitted with about 27 seconds to spare, I hope.

 

[Darkniciad]

With submissions closed, we stand at:

Average score 3.94, Median 3.97

20,992 votes cast. 1,948,398 views. 190 Favorites. 1049 PCs.

The new stories from today and those that post tomorrow will probably put us over 2 million views. It's going to be up to the last bunch of stories posting tomorrow to push us over the 200 favorites barrier ( that's one of the few numbers that's updated on brand new stories, so it's pretty much accurate each night )

Strap in and gaze lovingly at your vote totals. You'll want to fix them in your memory for when they vanish to the vote sweeper some time in the not-too-distant future

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

My entry just posted. Reviews and Essay Category.

Holiday Love, Healing, and Energy

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Do Romance stories always get so many comments?

I've got the highest ratio of comments to views ever, and in two days got more comments (nearly all positive) then I have in stories with 600K views. Also the highest ratio of votes to reads as well. Interesting.

Seems to reflect DG Hear's results as well.

Let the hoover come - it can't take away the comments - lol.

Congratulations to all who got their stories in. Only read a couple so far, and they seem to be above average this time around.

 

[Darkniciad]

Romance is more score-friendly, but that doesn't really affect comments. The story has to do the work of inspiring the reader to comment, so I'd say that's all you

High vote totals this time out. Somewhere around the top 15 vote-getting stories total the 10k vote mark ( about half the total for the contest ) and the first sixty or so stories are all 100+ votes.

The Hoover will feed well this contest.

Noticed a few Facebook likes, tweets, etc. along the way while checking favs and comments as well. Probably some interesting data about whether that has any bearing.

Well, maybe on the final track It is right there in the same place as something I'm already tracking. I suppose it wouldn't be too much hell to add it to the last track. I'll be damned if I'm adding a couple more columns to this beast of a tracking database until then.

 

[EmeraldKitten]

Good morning!
My second story is doing well also, whoop!
I hope the hoover doesn't damage me, lol.

 

[DG Hear]

Do Romance stories always get so many comments?

Seems to reflect DG Hear's results as well.

Let the hoover come - it can't take away the comments - lol.

Congratulations to all who got their stories in. Only read a couple so far, and they seem to be above average this time around.

Dark is right. A GOOD Romance story will get a large amount of comments and usually a high vote total. Usually with happy ending. But again, it's the writer who deserves the credit.

Good morning!
My second story is doing well also, whoop!
I hope the hoover doesn't damage me, lol.

As Dark has mentioned, the hoover will take votes away both high and low. It seems to really help those with lesser votes by taking away more low than high and boosting the score. If you have hundreds of votes it seems to take away an equal share of both high and low and doesn't affect the score quite as much.

Here are my scores for prosperity purposes. haha

Retaliation
Avg 4.41 votes 901 reads 31848 Loving Wives (English) 11/27/10
Public Comments: 43

Reading Stories
avg 4.28 votes 552 reads 27853 Loving Wives (English) 12/04/10
Public Comments: 17


The Mask
ave 4.64 votes 865 reads 14897 Romance (English) 12/01/10
Public Comments: 35

Good luck to all who entered. Just have to wait now.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Well, so far people are reading the new entry and commenting. I've gotten a few e-mails as well. This is encouraging...not for me with ratings or with comments, but that people are taking something away from it.

 

[HeyAll]

Question for Lit veterans:


There's been a lot of stories being posted lately, partly due to the Holiday contest, so the number of new stories has been a little over 2 pages.

So around Christmas and New Years, are there still that many stories being posted? Or is it just lately with the Holiday contest coming to an end? I don't want to post some new stories around the holidays and have it be on the 2nd page on the first day it's out. Not that big of a deal if it does, but just wondering...

 

[Darkniciad]

It was just the contest stories posting that put it over the edge. Laurel typically won't approve more stories than will fit on a single page.

Now that the submissions period for the contest is over, thing should pretty much return to normal.

Question for Lit veterans:


There's been a lot of stories being posted lately, partly due to the Holiday contest, so the number of new stories has been a little over 2 pages.

So around Christmas and New Years, are there still that many stories being posted? Or is it just lately with the Holiday contest coming to an end? I don't want to post some new stories around the holidays and have it be on the 2nd page on the first day it's out. Not that big of a deal if it does, but just wondering...

 

[HeyAll]

Laurel typically won't approve more stories than will fit on a single page.

Thanks for that info.

 

[DG Hear]

Must have gotten our first larger sweep. Story 1 lost 26 votes, story 2 lost 18 votes and story 3 lost 37 votes. No real change in the score. Time for the roller coaster. Hold on tight. LOL
DG

 

[Boxlicker101]

Must have gotten our first larger sweep. Story 1 lost 26 votes, story 2 lost 18 votes and story 3 lost 37 votes. No real change in the score. Time for the roller coaster. Hold on tight. LOL
DG

Doesn't the main sweep happen right at the end of voting? I hope so, because I still have some troll-bombs included in my score.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Ditto about a sweep - lost over 100 votes. Didn't hurt the story, but it was about 10% of the total. I just chalk it up to overzealous readers. Of course, I seem to get hit hard most contests. No worries this time around anyway, I'm not in the running.

 

[EmeraldKitten]

I knew I should have kept track better, lol.
I don't know for sure if the hoover got me.. I think maybe a handful, but nothing major.

*drums fingers impatiently, waiting for the end of the contest*
(though I don't know why. I highly doubt I'm in the running either, lol.)

 

[Darkniciad]

I got hit for about 18 with no change in the score.

I'll get a clearer picture of what it looked like tomorrow, because it doesn't look like most of what people are reporting showed up in tonight's track -- I know mine didn't ( though the swept vote total increased from 32 to 45 )

Some stories like Tx's probably will under-report the sweep, because his story is still new, popular, and picking up votes at a rate that will offset the swept votes to some degree.

Average score 3.95, Median 3.96. 22,151 votes cast. 2,071,009 views registered. 208 Favorites. 1120 Comments.

Made it to all my predicted stats ( 20k votes, 2mil views, 200 favs, 1k comments )

 

[UltimateSwitch]

No sweeps for me yet, but I'm hoping it happens soon, sweeps are my only chance to rise any in score.