I was starting to write a draft when I came to a portion of the story that I intended to use to quote a journal entry a character was writing. However, before getting too far (in my outside word processer), I checked to see what options the Lush editor had and I was kind of disappointed to see there was no option to do a quoteblock or indent text as far as I could tell, as either of those would be the most ideal way to format that part of the story.

Which brings me to my question: if I did want to do that, exactly how should I format it? Is there some hidden trick one can do to format it in that way, or what? Should I just italicize it all? I feel like trying to have it all in quotes would look kind of ugly.

Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

Once again congrats to all the winners!

Quote by Chet_Morton

ChatGPT free version? Hell no.

ChatGPT Plus for $20/month? HELL YES. I asked her to call me a cumslut, and she stole the title back from me.

My impression was that it used the same content guidelines whether it was free or pay. At least that is what the documentation (and ChatGPT itself) claims. Of course, I wouldn't be shocked if they loosened it for the pay versions anyway.

Quote by Writingguy

Yes but I see some stories with fully nude AI models, I wonder where people get those from

I've used ArtBot for many of mine. It's basically a distributed image gen service. The individual nodes can set whether they will allow NSFW generation but typically you can do it. It may take a few minutes to get through the queue.

Quote by JamesMerton1960

I was wondering whether readers were influenced by the choice of picture. I recently published another chapter in series I have written. With hindsight I chose for the cover a rather boring picture of a train. This story has attracted noticeably fewer readers than the earlier ones that all had much racier cover images.

Personally, an interesting cover might get me to take a quick closer look a the story, so I guess in that sense maybe a good one might make it slightly more likely that I read it, but I don't think I'd read a story because of the cover.

Well, again, mods probably likely have the final say on this, and they may be more strict than is strictly necessary, but from my understanding regarding fair use:

I generally agree with Seeker here regarding fair use. Name-dropping characters should be fine is that is typically considered a statement of fact. Acknowledging that something exists is not considered problematic. Also, I'd imagine noting that they are dressed as said character is likely okay.

If the quoting is limited, like say, them dropping their catchphrase or something, as long as it's clear that it is in the context of cosplay (which it sounds like is the intent) is probably fine. Where you may run into issues is if you intend for the in-character part of the story to be substantial and not incidental (e.g. thinly veiled fanfic). Like if they had a sex scene entirely in-character as Sailor Moon or something, that could be pushing things. But again, that's up to the mods.

Quote by sprite

after once more being accused of mod favoritism, I have decided not to enter this or any future comps. thanks very much for finding a way to fuck up my day. sincerely, Rachel.

dafuk

The thing that depresses me about AI systems like ChatGPT is just how locked down they are. Like, I'm not looking to write erotica on them per se (although it can be entertaining to just let it get on a roll on a story). I'd mostly be looking to do things like, say, give plot suggestions or activity suggestions or something. Maybe something that will rattle a thought in my head. Brainstorming, etc. But obviously in a bit of an NSFW context.

But I did an experiment recently where I was doing an RP back and forth and once I got into a scene with even heavy making out - no nudity, no groping, no otherwise "explicit" content, just two people kissing a lot - it completely shut me down. But stuff like that also isn't what I'm generally looking for (or maybe the AI chat applications linked above would be sufficient).

I saw something back in May '24 where OpenAI was looking into the possibility of allowing more nsfw generations in "age appropriate" contexts (whatever that means) but I haven't really heard anything new on that front since then.

Putting some of my series out as ebooks is something I've thought about but never really looked into how to really do. I wonder how difficult (or not) it is. Maybe a trip to google is needed soon, heh.

Congrats to the winners!

Yeah, I think that is the main selling perk of the Platinum rank as far as I can tell (well, aside from it being a one-time purchase and not recurring, which I guess is a plus if you intend to pay for another membership for multiple years).

I'm sure someone, somewhere can look at numbers and see if the "highlight" actually makes any meaningful difference to story stats, especially against Gold members, which is the other level that gives you review prioritization (and thus allows you to pump stories out faster, which I would imagine could have a bigger impact on gaining readers).

But what if I finish 4th (lol okay let me hallucinate) and I don't want a Canadian boy toy?

I mean, we obviously can't stop someone from starting a novel at chapter 11, but I wonder if there is a way to make clear (without the novel tag) that the ideal way to read it is to start at the beginning. I mean other than just saying that in the author's note at the start of each chapter. Or maybe that is the ideal solution, I dunno.

Edit: the other difference between things like flash fiction and micro is they are short by design. But I had thought of those categories as well as facing a similar issue.

I think the thing is that multi-part series aren't necessarily unpopular (I've kept pretty good momentum with the pair I work on), but there is a difference between that at what I would consider a "novel" in that a series one can jump in in the middle and probably be okay and they can read the other parts if they want while a novel really does need to be read front to back for it to make coherent sense. Whether it makes Lush "not the place" for them, I don't know, but it's hard to maybe distinguish between a novel and a series on first glance without the category. The problem is that if you tag something "novel" you basically lose out on what the top-level category for the story actually is. Sure you can make up for that to some extent with tags, but if you're looking for a story of X genre you're likely to miss out on it if something is just tagged "novel." And there is honestly no good way (that I know of) to just sort by tag.

We all know TheShyThespian will find a way to win despite not even submitting a story 🤣

Reading these stories, I think we can definitively say that Santa enjoys his "Ho"s 🤣

Quote by Ensorceled

First draft done at 1050 words. Those last 50 words to cut ain't gonna come easily.

50 words? I had to cut mine in half! LOL

My story is out! My gosh. I think writing 100 word stories is easier than 1000 words because at least 100 word ones you know you have to dispense with any and all fluff and pretense and 1000 word stories at least makes one think you still have room for some LOL Romance on the Rails | Lush Stories

Quote by JourneyYoung

I think I finally have an idea. Now I just need to write it, fit it in 1000 words, and then hopefully like what I actually wrote LOL

Good news: First draft is done and I quite like it.

Bad news: It is 2000 words LOL.

Time to break out the chainsaw.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Confession: I’ve never been stoned. In Kentucky we mainly just get drunk on Moonshine and Bourbon. I’m not even for sure what’s involved in getting stoned. 🤣 I called my 26-yr-old son for help… he’s still laughing. So, I’m on my own. If you don’t hear from me again, something went wrong in the process…

See, I've never been stoned OR drunk lol. Also howdy neighbor from West Virginia lol

I think I finally have an idea. Now I just need to write it, fit it in 1000 words, and then hopefully like what I actually wrote LOL

Okay, I have an actual serious question 🤣

When you say "set around Christmas" exactly how connected does it need to be? Like, it is just the holiday season with some decorations around or does it need to be Christmas-themed? (e.g. during a Christmas celebration, etc.)

Quote by Jen

I've updated the OP 😇

LMAO

Quote by CarltonStJames

Struggling with ideas myself, lol. I have to pick one and do the draft this weekend because I take ages to edit and need to leave room for that.

My fear is writing a story that feels too rushed because of the word limit.

Yeah. Brain empty right now for me heh. I basically have two weeks to try to write an edit it. Luckily 1000 words will hopefully make the editing process faster once I actually have a story.

Gonna have to try to come up with something creative here. 1000 words, huh? A challenge for Mr. "Can barely write anything under 6k" lmao

Congrats to the winners! I've read the gold and bronze place stories, and they were both fantastic. Also read some really good stories I'm surprised didn't even make the top 10.

Congrats to all the mods that have to put up with reviewing my stories 🤣

Not that I have an interest in this, but what time are competition winners usually announced on awards day? 🤣

Quote by joe71

I’m in! Grilling the Suspects

Sounds delicious

Just wanted to make a post promoting my now finished novella: Naked Birthday, whose last part was just posted yesterday.

It's been a long time in the making and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I know it's a little slow to get to some of the action people here are used to, but I think that just adds to the fun when you finally get there. I'd love it if people took a look at it and let me know what they think!

Chapters 1 - 3: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/teen/naked-birthday-chapters-1-3

Chapters 4 - 6: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/teen/naked-birthday-chapters-4-6

Chapters 7 - 9: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/teen/naked-birthday-chapters-7-9

Chapters 10 - 12: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/teen/naked-birthday-chapters-10-12-end