Quote by M_K_Babalon
Bondage and Watersports seems like two narrow themes

On the surface, maybe, because they are specific in nature compared to the more general term you cited. I'm still finding creative ways to explore bondage, and don't feel I've exhausted the well yet.

Quote by spicylove
I would like tips on co-writing stories.

Golden tip for me: leave your ego at the door and insist that your co-writer does the same. That ensures you don't get into situations like Just_A_Guy_You_Know mentions of not being a good fit.

If either party is too precious about a particular line, word, sentence, concept or whatever, and is not willing to have their words altered or concepts challenged for the good of the story and characters, then it won't work. By all means stand your ground, but be prepared to listen and accede if the character or storytelling arcs would benefit from not being as you wrote them.

Second tip: if you're using an online collaboration tool like Google Docs and don't feel strongly about an edit you think would work better, highlight it and use the comment feature. Have a powow with the other author in the comments, bounce ideas around and come to a consensus. Then one of you make the change and resolve the comment. It works superbly well.

Tip three: when making edits in online collaboration tools, each author writes in different colour text so it's easy to spot who added/edited what as you scan through the doc. It's not always easy to see who made a change when you're both working at different times. Then, just before you copy n paste into Lush, Select All and choose the automatic font colour to clear the colours.

Tip four: take regular backups. Download a copy every day at least after someone has worked on it. Sometimes you want to go back to a previous edit you axed and the Edit History isn't so easy to navigate.

Tip five: take your time. Refine until the story rocks, then publish it here.

If you're not following me yet, make amends immediately 😁

Since my last update I've been hard at work bringing erotica to the site. First, a collab with the incredible KimmiBeGood popped up: The Panties Made Me Do It. One of many forthcoming collabs with some of your (and my) favourite authors here.

I dabbled in some microfiction, for the Halloweenie competition, finishing second on the podium, then dove back into some BDSM lite territory with All Good Things Come.

The Festive Unexpected competition saw me proudly hitting third place with my Ice Breaker romp. If you have time, read the top two Jaymal and AmuseBouche entries. If you've got enough energy after those, come back for mine. There are plenty of high quality stories in the ranking and beyond, so please take time to read as many as you can.

Taking a detour back to the 1940s, I penned a short voyeur tale, Perk Of The Job which sees a PI watching his lingerie-clad mark through a window. And finally for now, if anyone fancies a bit of office anal action, there's the full on and intense Not My Type to devour. Phew!

That lot should keep the cold away for those of us shivering in the Northern hemisphere. Would love to hear what you think of the stories. Thank you in advance for reading.

Wowow. Given the field and creativity on display I felt sure my effort would be eclipsed. Staggered that I hit the podium.

Congratulations to my fellow podiumees: stellar storytelling to which I can only aspire. Hats off also to all those that made the cutthroat shortlist, and to anyone who put their work up for consideration. Of the ones I read, many could have been contenders.

As always, my thanks to Jen, SimplyJohn, the developers and moderators working tirelessly to publish works, the shortlister(s), judges and of course authors who contribute to this fabulous site. Take a moment to pat yourselves on the back. Thank you.

Quote by kit_kat
Oh, the BDSM piece with the nipple clamps got my attention

Yeah that one might be fun ride. I'll see what I can do.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
Adam’s bent carrot … zombie.

Hahahaha. Well there's a story sandwich begging for some filling.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
I challenge.. WannabeWordsmith

Okay then. I'm in.

At Blythefield convent, dorms echo frenetic groans. Horny, I join, kneeling like Miss Nangrave often preached, quickly running slippery tongue up vulvas, wetting x-axis, y-axis... zero.

Yes, read AmuseBouche. A fantastic author. There are many others, each with varying voices, that will give you an appreciation of the idiosyncracies and haphazard beauty of English that I try to tame in my own work here.

One further thing: please treat Grammarly's advice with a pinch of salt. It's fine if you're starting out or want a little nudge to spot typos, but like most programmatic systems that aim to help with art, it often fails in the most spectacular fashion. So if you feel you're not confident in English in the first place (I can't see why: your posts are eloquent and readable) then the tool could direct you to misleading conclusions or, at worst, bad habits.

Whatever you do, don't give up.

Quote by deviantsusie
I’d love to read your colab with Tams.

She seems to have dropped off the planet ☹️

Chapters 1 and 2 are written. Chapter 3 needs a little more work. I'll make it my next priority because it's been too long coming.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith
A short voyeur PI piece that's in the queue now. Hope it hits the spot.

Yay, published. Onto the next story...

Hmmm. What should I focus on? I have about three or four more ideas for stories in my Delivery Chronicles series. But I also have collabs with Jen, tams_back_yay, MollyDoll and CuriousAnnie to pay attention to. Plus a host of half finished stories:

One set in a changing room.

One sci-fi one about an inter-dimensional portal.

Part 4 of my Tabby: Cheating Colleague series.

One about a lecturer and student.

A cheating story about panties.

A BDSM piece that focuses on nipple clamps.

Decisions decisions... anyone got any preferences?

A short voyeur PI piece that's in the queue now. Hope it hits the spot.

Yes! This is a brilliant story. Breathless and hilarious in equal measure. A well deserved EP.

Quote by Seeker4
So someone like me who takes their writing a least semi-seriously should look elsewhere

Jeez, you took that from a self-deprecating jape at my own writing?

Not everyone is here for plot. I was supportimg Kimmi's point that sometimes it's nice to just dive straight into a hot scene.

I'm glad we have high quality stories here in both styles, and then some. That's what gives Lush the edge for me over other sites.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
Recommended Reads, comp winners are given to stories with more original storylines, or the author took a common storyline and just blew it outta the park in some way. While readers seem to prefer the predictable. Both have their place.

This.

Lush is a site for wanking Attempts at making stories too high brow often miss the mark, like those crappy porn flicks that used to win AVN awards trying to force flimsy "plot" between the pink bits. Sometimes you don't want Goldilocks and the Three Au Pairs, but you do want Brandi's DeepThroat CockFest IV.

Lee Child has basically written the same story forty odd times with Jack Reacher. But he's very good at it. So maybe he's perfected his craft that way? I don't consider him lazy, though the ideas are running thin now he's passed the mantle to another author.

E. L. James wrote a short series of paper thin and boring characters that was marketed very effectively to tap into a niche, but is a lazy writer, imo. Just something about the language and tone used, and the way it's very tell tell tell.

Each to their own, I guess. I try to write a little bit out of my comfort zone but I do tend to gravitate back to the ones I'm working out of my system. Or to the same theme, but with a different coat of paint, like my comp story I'm doing now. And I do go in phases. I had a bdsm phase, a cheating phase (both still ongoing lol) and a bad boy character phase when I first joined. Not sure if that makes me lazy or if I'm improving.

I'll throw in the odd curve ball to liven things up. Experiment. But I do know that many authors don't, and prefer to write to a formula, and are way more successful than I am at it. So there's something to be said for giving the audience what they expect, rather than trying to be too clever.

Yeah I think faves got converted to regular likes when we moved away from the scoring system. Or maybe, as you say, they fell away during transition.

Beneath still remains one of my faves of yours.

Quote by Ensorceled
How do I find the number of favorites on a story?

You can narrow the process that Kistin highlighted by sorting your stories page by tapping Search->Sort by->Most favorited first. But to find how many exactly, you need to open it and get to the bottom stats panel.

Title: My Office, Now.

"Sprite, such a card. Spanking's mandatory this year. Bend over."

How's that?

Yay. Glad it's of use.

There's a poll on this subject.

Yes, because I write to excite.

If I don't, how can I expect any readers to?

Quote by RowanThorn
Holidays are a crazy time to put out 10k words

You don't have to use the entire limit. It's a maximum not a target 😁

Quote by MC1982
Let us hope that no Bible copywriters spot that I redid Noah's Ark for the flash photography competition!

Your secret's safe on Lush. 🤫

Quote by MC1982

Ha ha🤣! That is a great idea for a comp! Aren't the bible and shakespeare out of copyright though?

Probably, but see my previous post edit.

I've written Flash stuff in an hour or two, give or take a few edits. Others I've started and put on the back burner, chipping away at them for a month or three. So probably in terms of hours of actual work in a word processor, the longest is about 40 hours for a single chapter published here.

But in terms of initial idea to completion... my current maximum has been 2 years and 3 months, on and off editing.

Quote by MC1982
A 'Shakespeare reimagined' Comp? A 'Bible stories reimagined' comp?

Yeah, and a copyright infringement lawsuit comp while we're at it 🤣

Edit: I am only half joking. It's a decent idea. But although the original works are probably out of copyright, it only takes one compilation company or a musical to have reobtained the rights and we might be in hot water.

Wait, really? rubs eyes Wowsers. What an honour to even be shortlisted out of all the great entries, let alone sharing the podium with two other excellent stories. I have no idea how anybody even began to whittle that lot down to 20, let alone 10. The judges need a holiday. Thank you.

Major congratulations to all the entrants for sharing your talents, and of course my fellow podiumers and the top 20. And thank you to everyone who read, commented on, and enjoyed the diverse array of stories on display. Readers are the reason we write, and it means more than you can imagine that our work is enjoyed.

Thank you all again.

That's weird. Almost like it's been submitted as a new story but somehow still kept its entry into the existing competition. Surely it wouldn't have had almost no views and comments first time around? So where have they gone?

I'll ask if the dev team can shed any light on it. Maybe resubmitting an old comp story for edits while another comp is on screws up the system somehow? Long shot.

Thanks for highlighting this.

Quote by MollyDoll
I would have fussed at me by now. Lol

Although, the spanking for him is probably still appropriate for something. 🤭

It's all good. Life before porn.

But I won't ever say no to a spanking.