Is a couple trying and basically failing to do BSDM on genre? As in, they try it out, but it's not for them, or they can't tie the knots properly and keep slipping out?

Quote by AvidlyCurious

Variety is the spice of life!

Just as long as it's not too much out of character, that is, like a virgin going straight into an orgy and performing like a seasoned porn star.

I don't mind chapters without sex. You could still include some sexiness or erotism without actual getting on it.

Funny you should say "variety is the spice of life" because they opening line of the first part of the story is "They say variety is the spice of life, but I've never had a taste for spice on anything" Line is subject to change.

As the subject suggests, if you're reading/invested in a multipart story, do you prefer having the same genre in each section, or some variety. I could imagine both, in that if there's variety and the subject veers into a deal-breaker or turn off, then you lose out on some of the narrative, on the other hand, the same genre could get boring or repetitive.

Beyond that, how do you feel if some sections of a multipart story don't feature sex, just character or narrative development and set up?

I'm sketching out something that I'm having a ton of fun with, it's pretty early going and I need to make the decision.

I'm half tempted to re-hash my comp entry for the Anti-Valentines, but I think I can do better.

No Future Part 3 by Titus Andronicus. Almost every verse resonates and describes me, but perhaps no better than the final line: "You'll always be a loser now, and that's okay"

Superchunk, they were fun but I was exhausted and could barely stand during the show.

I haven't gotten to it yet, but I loved Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 from the same developers (Larian Studio) and turn-based CRPGs. Though, I'm a bit apprehensive about it, since my favorite parts of D&D can't be translated to a game like rule of cool, novel uses of spells and other weirdness.

In no particular order,

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, Bloodborne

Divinity: Original Sin 2

No One Lives Forever

Soul Reaver 2

Valkyria Chronicles 1, 4

XCOM 2 and Enemy Unknown

Late question, but the entry says "should be between 600 and 2000 words long" for length. Is 2000 a hard cap or a guide? Mine's at about 2500 words and I'm trying to figure out how much of an axe I need to take to it.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

The problem is that it draws attention away from the story and to the author themself - sort of like shouting 'hey look at me, aren't I clever?' The same problem can be found with authors who are too precious with their language and put their sense of style ahead of their plot. Before you get fancy or 'experimental' with your literary devices, focus on just telling a good, straightforward story.

By the way, I'm also guilty of not taking my own advice, so...

This makes a tremendous amount of sense.

This question is going to sound more than a little insane, but it's genuine. My story has several songs in it (one of the characters is a singer) can I exclude them from the word limit?

Edit: in case it's not clear, they're original songs written by yours truly for the story.

A story I'm working on has something not dissimilar from fourth wall breaks. Specifically, the narration (not a character) provides explanations directly to the audience. Example below:

"a fairly derivative medieval fantasy land; you’ll have to forgive my not going into much depth. The limited word count for this competition and the generic nature of the world don’t warrant it. "

I'm just wondering how readers feel about that kind of thing.

Quote by CarltonStJames

1996. Will have to check this 2016 version since the 1996 ended on a cliffhanger.

The 2016 version is dreadful, I highly advise skipping it. Plus if I recall correctly it also ends on a cliffhanger.

Quote by CarltonStJames

Started Berserk yesterday.

1996 or 2016 version?

I recently watched Motherland: Fort Salem it was aggressively average. Before that was Yellowjackets, which I thought was a masterpiece of TV.

A lot, but the three furthest in progression are something for the free spirit competition, a series about a super-spy party (think a gala or convention for James Bond types) and a story about an alien galactic overlord taking a vacation trip to Earth.

They all get weird.

Seconding The Witness.

Some others might be Return of the Obra Dinn and Baba is You

This proposal is lunacy. First and most notable point, on page 21 of an FBI report on active shooters pretty clearly says "good guy with a gun" resolved active shooters less than 4% of the time.

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-study-2000-2013-1.pdf/view

Second, consider how many school shooters end up turning the gun on themselves. That report says 40% end up killing themselves. Numerous people smarter than me have argued that in these cases, the shooting is secondary to the suicide. Should that be accurate (which I have no doubt in some cases it is) having an armed security guard makes it easier for the shooter to get the ultimate goal of suicide.

See also

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/as-study-quick-reference-guide-updated1.pdf

https://www.wired.com/2012/12/why-spree-killers-kill-themselves/

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/suicide-prevention-could-prevent-mass-shootings/

Best case scenario? Shooter is stopped. Worst case scenario? New target, shooter can retrieve additional weapon and ammunition, response is delayed because shooter uses radio to call in an all clear, and other responses are delayed because on site police 'have it covered.'

Utter lunacy.

During the Cold War, the CIA essentially astroturfed the popularity of some arts and artists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_the_Cultural_Cold_War

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/12/louis-armstrong-and-the-spy-how-the-cia-used-him-as-a-trojan-horse-in-congo

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

That is pretty much established fact. There are other arts and artists I don't know for certain about, but I think Superheroes in particular were one such project. This is based on Superheroes being a symbol of Individualism (vs collectivism) and the frequency of characters having radiation as a source of their powers.

One reason not spoken of frequently is that the USA effectively subsidizes single-payer systems. R&D in the field of medicine is incredibly expensive, time consuming and prone to failure, plus it requires some really intelligent people to do the R&D, people who are worth the fortune they're being paid.

To give a concrete example, let's say someone needs a pacemaker, new ones are being developed and improved constantly. The cost most single payer systems pay for that is lower than the R&D cost of the pacemaker. Americans pay a higher price so that the companies making/improving the pacemaker can continue to improve them.

This is one reason, it's not the only reason, nor is it a major reason, but R&D costs are a relevant factor.

The President's Analyst

Egg Cream

SurfShark is not good, I've had a lot of issues with IP Leaks from them.

Okay, hear me out because this is a bit strange. I'm thinking of writing about locations/method of sex that would be either impossible or at the very least a horrible idea (in the real world anyway.) For instance, sex while skydiving, as part of a trapeze act, or similarly absurd scenarios.

Would the sheer absurdity of the scenario serve as an immediate turn off or prevent you from getting interested/invested in the story, and/or would the implications of the act in real life serve as a deterrent?

Thanks.

Quote by Fantasyman2021

As far as money for a strip club they would let you buy paper bills ( their own) when you come in and charge it to your card. At the end of the night if you had any left you could turn them in for credit back to your card.

That's the conclusion I more or less came to. Essentially monopoly money. Then you could get creative with it wherein multiple strip clubs all use the same monopoly money, in case someone wants to go to multiple clubs in a night.

Added benefit for the house/strippers, if the customer gets drunk and forgets to return the extra bills, well, then the money is kept by the house.

Short version: Some people are predicting societies going cashless, exclusively digital/credit card system. This makes me wonder how strip clubs and other locations that rely on using lots of bills for tipping/"making it rain" will be impacted, and how they would transition.

Long version: A friend of mine was recently telling me about a trip abroad he took where he used no cash, exclusively digital currency, sort of like paying for everything through paypal, no cash or even credit cards, all done on phone. I've read a few people in newspapers (can't find links now unfortunately) predicting various countries going cashless, and a number of stores/restaurants near me don't accept cash at all now.

This made me wonder how strip clubs would function if you couldn't hand tips over. Best thought I have is a sort of monopoly money system that you buy at the start, like poker chips except you wouldn't want to throw poker chips at people.

Has anyone thought of this or have any ideas?

Quote by cydia

If it prevents just one instance of uninspiring, uninspired all-caps-repeat-letter-multiple-exclamation-points, it'll have been worth it, really 😐

It did actually, in this story: A Strange Holiday, A Stranger Romance

Check footnote 0 also to a certain extent footnote 1, mostly 0 though. Yeah, I did use zero-indexing footnotes in a porn story.

Sad to see it removed. I had a joke ending for a story I wanted to include.

Superman II: The Richard Donner cut

I'm also curious the thought on using all caps or elongated letters in titles, not just because I recently submitted a delightful story called "I Planned To Walk In On Them, But Not For Them To Keep Going. HELP!" which does the things Sprite was just complaining about.

And I couldn't resist the self-promotion.

Regarding onomatopoeic words, what's your take on capitalizing them to emphasize the sound outside of dialogue. A loud bang shook the ground beneath their feet vs a BANG shook the ground beneath their feet. From a stylistic perspective, the capitalization can emphasize suddenness and loudness of the sound, but it also seems kind of juvenile and silly. I'm in two minds of it.