Quote by Imjin138

Before i finish my next story, i was wondering what the rules are concerning fantasy. I don’t want to over step or create any issues.

Hiya. Everyone must be over 16. No grooming or insinuation of attraction pre this age. No true stories are allowed in the IF category. Thanks.

75 words is about all I can manage these days, lol.

Waterfall

Water cascaded over toned, glistening skin. His fingers brushed his nipple, hands sliding up his body to rake through sodden hair. 

The dreamy expression on his face was perfect. The camera clicked, repeatedly.

“Gorgeous, Nigel. Look left now.”

They didn’t hear the car pull up, or the uniformed man climb wearily out.

The warden cast his eyes to the heavens as he picked up his megaphone. Goddam fucking influencers.

“Get out of the fountain, please.”

I presume you mean a mail group and not a group?

It's designed to work the same way as messaging services on your phone, where anyone can be added to a mail group.

Please continue to report scammers and we will take care of them as best we can. We are looking into who has the authority to set up a mail group, which should help mitigate.

Thanks

Didn't I suspend your ass last year?

Sakes.

A little later than planned. Someone got drunk last night and had sex in the server room. I think that's what happened.

Anyway, let's get elemental, my dear Lushees. I do like having a theme where it's open to different interpretations, and this one didn't disappoint. Lots and lots of variation, sizzling shenanigans and twisty tales. The shortlister was so impressed, they gave me a top 13 and I just went with it. If it's good enough for Taylor...

Without further ado, your winners.

In first place, it's a movie theme classic for a reason. Dronette56 takes the crown with her stormy tale, A Calm In Need Of A Storm.

Second place goes to the talented RowanThorn, with his witchy tale, Ritual.

And rounding out the top three is Mr WordyMcWordyson himself, WannabeWordsmith with his crackling eastern BDSM story, Playing With Fire.

Very well done to all the podium peeps. Before I list the full top squad, let me just say a heartfelt thanks to the shortlister and judges this time around. I know how busy people are, so taking time out to help with this means a lot.

Thank you also to those who enter the comps, or read and comment and vote. I love seeing the camaraderie in the discussions here and it's nice knowing that a lot of folk go out of their way to read as many entries as they can. I speak from experience when I say that writers are comment-hungry monsters. We can never get enough

Anyway, enough from me. Here is the full top 13, and well done again to everyone. I'll be in touch with the winners over the next day or two. A new comp will be announced shortly.

1. A Calm In Need Of A Storm by dronette56

2. Ritual by RowanThorn

3. Playing With Fire by WannabeWordsmith

4. Meet Me In The Woods... By TheShyThespian

5. Resonance by DarkSide

6. Fluid by KimmiBeGood

7. The Great Sea by GreyMatter

8. Sacred Soil by KittyLynd

9. The Choice by Shyexhibitionist

10. The Beauty Within by WXT55UK

11. River Spirit by Longing

12. Seduction: It’s Elemental, My Dear Watson. By CuriousAnnie

13. A Voyage To LushLand by MC1982

The site is ever so slightly wonky (technical term) tonight, so I'll post the results tomorrow.

The technical issues have been reported, so will hopefully be sorted soon.

Please note we may publish stories that are subsequently removed for AI usage on review. Please don't take us publishing a story as confirmation that we believe there is no AI usage.

Also, when we say AI usage, we include using it for enhancing work you may have come up with the concept of. AI will suggest changes to words, to sentence construction and add in more descriptive language. Bottom line, if you didn't write it, don't submit it.

Quote by wxt55uk

I'm very impressed with the 'Elements' competition badge. It is my second-favourite of the ones I have gained so far.

Did you design it, Jen?

Or was it one of the hundreds (possibly thousands) of people you have working for you? 😜😈

Ah, you've not been to HQ, have you?

Oh, it was sarcasm. Weird, it just came across as butthurt. Must have been the font.

If only people put half that effort into their writing.

Quote by LeroyJerkins

I think this whole “using AI to create covers” is really offensive to those of us who spend hours to set up the perfect lighting for that one picture. It takes away so much to just insert a prompt and click one button when others have to find real models or be their own model for their covers. Learning how to pose, how to play with the lens is something worth putting your time and energy at and will create something a soulless AI will never achieve.

Yeah, this shot must have been a nightmare to get right. The sea, the angles of the sun... the sand in their crotches.

We're a writing site. We get a bit more miffed when people use AI to generate their stories than their pictures. Go be fake outraged on a photography site.

Quote by hse66

I used AI to help me in this way: I give it an outline for each chapter, spelling out what I want to see happen. AI sends back a narrative, which I find creative but poorly written - lots of clichés long rambling sentences and far too much exposition.I go through it line by line, trimming and word editing. Is this acceptable?

It's almost like you'd be better writing it yourself

You could try looking on the way back machine and see if anything got archived at any point

https://www.lushstories.com/forum/writing-resources/before-you-submit-a-story

Here you go. This covers most things

Really well done, both of you. That's quite an achievement.

I'm on track for 2054, just so Kimmi can start preparing my thread, lol.

The AI ones sound awful, so I wouldn't use that. If you don't want to do it yourself, I know that some lush people have asked other members to narrate for them. If you have a trusted friend here, that might be something to consider.

https://www.lushstories.com/profile/happytimes/stories?draft=1

Click into your story and you can publish/submit from there.

Welcome. Yes, you will be notified once it's published, or sent back for editing.

Edit: looks like your story is still in your drafts, so you will need to submit it to the verification queue.

Quote by Racoonteur


That said, Of course, I am obviously not a raccoon

Wait. Whaat??

Quote by Mit

4. New Stories only should be entered, not stories you've previously submitted. Only standalone stories should be submitted, not those which are part of a series.

Is a competition entry stated (Author's notes and profile wall) as a prequel of an existing series considered as a standalone story or a part of the series?

Using existing characters is fine, so if the story works as a standalone, it will probably be okay. we just don't want a chapter of an ongoing series to be submitted.

Quote by Racoonteur
I think it would be better to put that info out more often in a proactive fashion rather than referencing helpful posts after the fact.

I mean, they're pinned in the 'welcome to lush' section of the forum. Not sure how much more proactive we could be. There are tools available for people to manage their experience here, but sadly, it being the internet, there will always be people trying to take advantage.

If you receive messages from accounts that sound scammy, please report them and we can investigate.

Please see this forum for threads on keeping yourself safe online.

Bump.

Please note, AI stories will be deleted and repeat offenders banned.

Let's not get bogged down in AI chat, please.

If you write your own stories, you're good.

Quote by TheShyThespian
Ha! I knew it! (or should is 'I kent it...'.

Some things in life are just fundamental. Ancient cultures around the globe believed that the complexity of matter could be broken down to 4 simple states, broadly composed of Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

For this competition, we want you to use one of these elements as a theme for you to explore the fundamental nature of sex and eroticism.

Earth could be about connecting with nature. Water could range from a seaside holiday to someone making you cum just with a showerhead. Air could be a breath on your neck, giving you goosebumps. And fire... fire could be candlelight on someone’s face. Or it could be used to melt wax that stings when dripped onto bare skin.

These are just a few prompts on what is a very open theme. Your skill will be needed to weave this theme through your story. As always we encourage you to look through the available categories to help refine the story you want to tell.

Lush competitions bring out the best in our authors. Unfortunately, cash prizes also attract fraudsters. If we deem you to have submitted a story to the competition which uses AI for writing or editing, you will be banned from this, and all future competitions, so we would recommend keeping any working notes and drafts as you go.  If you have used AI to only edit your work in the past, we would strongly advise against. We will treat this the same as using AI to create and you may be banned for cheating.

This competition will run through April, with winners being announced on the 11th May. Stories should have a maximum of 3000 words. No poetry or micros please, but flash stories greater than 600 words are allowed.

For more info, see here

Quote by Down4anything23

Yes, I corrected myself about the trending stories. But if you click on all categories, it is no longer listed. Again, you guys are dealing with ever shifting policies that come from massive hypocrites. I do not envy the task, but I appreciate the freedom you established here.

It's there. Just refresh if you don't see it.

Quote by Down4anything23

But now it is no longer on the homepage, nor will it be listed with new stories or trending stories. I do not understand this decision and why we were not told ahead of time. What is the point of singling out this category only? If people can mute it Why not let them just do that instead of taking it away from everyone?. A vast majority of my work, including my famous story is in this category. I’m extremely disappointed in this decision. Extremely.

There haven't been any changes. They do appear on the homepage unless you've opted out.

This category has never been included in the trending stories, as far as I'm aware, since that was introduced.

Quote by Meagananne1986
I'm now resigned to the fact that for whatever reason, that badge will never appear

It needs done manually and just hasn't been done yet. I'm sure they'll get to it. Unfortunately it's not one I can apply.

You can also create your own thread in the Self promotion forum and use that to update readers on what you're working on. A few folk do that.

How many do you have in your queue? Just wondering if you've reached an arbitrary limit.