Quote by Ensorceled
I would have had you on my list but you haven't written anything lately! Start writing again!

We're just finishing up a collab so your wish may be granted soon. 😃

Quote by RowanThorn
During the process of writing, he grew to absolutely love the character

That's interesting. One of the things I've read (somewhere) is never to fall in love with your characters because it makes for weaker storylines. That may explain why some story series lose their way over time.

As authors, I guess we have to stay objective towards our characters' goals and frailties or we'll end up softening their necessary choices as we develop the universe they inhabit.

Last day for entries, so if you have any inspiration and want to join the other 161 stories in the ring, get 'em in early so we have a chance to moderate them before the mods all turn into pumpkins at midnight tonight UTC.

Like Kistin, I usually have a moment or a line or a scene in my head that I'll scribble down, then go and fill in the blanks. I let the needs of the characters drive my writing, and they often surprise me as I write a line of dialogue or they perform some simple act or mannerism, and it spins off into a different direction than I'd expected. I try and run with it, as it tends to make stronger stories.

Other times, that leads to abandoned work because I can't see past the choices the characters make. If I become too invested in a particular branch of their behaviour, it can blinker me.

Time away from the story that allows me to reassess their nature, or seeking collab assistance, can sometimes get the story back on the right track in those circumstances. Or I just shelve it forever, or recycle the idea into another, better story later.

Thank you @deviantsusie ❤️

I agree with a tonne of the recent mentions here. Ensorceled, Frank_Lee, browncoffee, fuzzyblue/puddleduck, paper girl, SITTING, tams_back_yay, Jaded_Buddha, Evie, Toreador, the list goes on. We have such talent here. Shame many of those names aren't writing here at the moment.

A recent newcomer (well, to me: he's been here a few years) who is writing is chris21235. Please check him out. Start with Call Me Zoe. Wow.

Yay. Thanks to the developers for bumping the limit on the comp page. This competition just continues to attract entries. It's awesome.

It was supposed to be fixed today. No idea what the holdup is.

Pagination is the obvious solution. Or just temporarily extend the limit to 250 stories or something for now and worry about it later when the page is spruced up visually.

Were you a member on Lush 1.0? If so, maybe the old series name got messed up during the transfer or something.

Quote by wxt55uk
Could we have ... a conveyor belt of rotating competition entries.

Nope. Sadly, it doesn't work like that. The developers need to increase the max story limit on the Comp listing page or enable pagination. I'm not sure which is most performant/best so the decision rests with them.

You can go and edit your story at any time. Just open the link to view it, scroll down to the bottom and the Edit button should be there. If it's been published, that will temporarily pull it off the site until the changes have been reapproved.

Quote by OldergentJim

I used the word count in the submission area to get down to 100. However, when I actually submitted, it is showing as over 200 words!

It's because of your formatting choice. You have every line indented by 10 or more spaces, which is throwing the public-facing word counter into a spin. We require left aligned, non-indented text for submissions.

Quote by Seeker4
Seriously? So I couldn't do a perfectly good standalone story for a comp and then realize after the fact that I want to continue or add to the story?

Not in flash or micro you can't, no.

A story can share characters from the same world and thus be tangentially related. But it can't be chapter 1, 2, 3, etc of the same story. Even after the comp.

It's always been the same, for both Flash and Micro categories. Because the art is to tell a complete story in the word limit.

Edit: the confusion might arise because the terminology of the story linking feature is called 'Series'. Mainly because most people use it to link chapters. But it's not the only use of it.

https://www.lushstories.com/competitions/rules

Quote by KimmiBeGood
Woke up feeling good because I’m NOT the poor soul having to shortlist this competition!

Amen to that.

Anyone who only has time to read one, make sure it's My Treat by Toreador. But if you have any more time, plough through the rest and show the authors some love for their craft. You won't be disappointed. Some incredibly imaginative tales already, and still nearly three weeks to go till the deadline.

Thought up another reason to add to the ones in my post above. Where in the hell could I ever dream up stuff like this if it wasn't for writing?

Quote by Ensorceled
I also think 100 words should be a hard limit.

It is. At least according to the Story Edit panel, which is the criteria we use to ensure they are within the limit. The word counters on the rest of the site are more... nebulous, shall we say. It's been that way since as long as I remember, even on Lush v1.

One day the counters might agree with one another...

Quote by KimmiBeGood
It seems more than not that I see in that category are just sex scenes

Yeah, in theory the challenge is to tell a complete story. But interpretation of completeness is at mod discretion so there is bound to be variation.

I'm a real hardass about it, and have been called out on my stance. To the point I admitted my mistake and published them because I'd missed some storyline nuances. Cleverer mods than me would have passed them without hesitation.

So I think you will find far more variation in the Microfiction category than others.

The comp brief states that "We're looking for short, sexy Halloween stories that fit into our microfiction category" which kind of implies they go there, but it's not explicit.

Note that the microfiction category is specifically for works that tell a complete story in the small word count. So just a random sex act without anything that takes the reader beyond what's written is probably not technically microfiction.

Quote by Seeker4
if a Micro also had Fantasies, the latter category would trump the former given the need to enable people to block those stories.

Yes. There are exceptions like this. In those cases they should be tagged with microfiction instead.

Quote by AngelWorthy
I thought stories 100 words or less had to be in the MicroFiction Category

We're just debating this. Might move them yet. Waiting for Jen to raise her gavel and decree which way to go.

It's been doing this for ages for me. Every time a new comment is added to a story, the order of entries in the first page or two of Interactions flips. It's bizarre.

Please bear in mind that people who are popular authors and/or are subscribed to a bunch of threads are more likely to receive notifications from spammers.

We've had an influx of spam accounts who just log in and post a zillion messages on forum threads and stories. Each one of those increases the notification bell counter if you're subscribed to the thread or it's your story that was hit.

If the spam account(s) are deleted before you log in, your counter may well be much higher than the number of actual notifications remaining in the list. The counters of every affected user aren't retroactively visited to decrease the value for deleted content at the moment (it may well slow the site down to do that, depending on how frequently it happens). The system is being reworked so hopefully things will improve.

The simple workaround, once you've had a chance to look at the content that's important to you, is to clear everything else by using the Clear All link, which will blat any spurious notification counts.

Thanks.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I have a love/hate relationship with Grammarly. I don’t feel it gets me. 🙄

This. I have a hate-hate relationship with it. So much, in fact, I deleted it. And don't miss it.

Time and distance are an author's secret weapon, imo. Whether it's a few weeks, months or years gives you enough time to have forgotten the details and approach it with fresh eyes. Errors and improvements often just pop out.

Resisting the temptation to publish immediately is the hardest part.

I've been asked by a few people to post this here. Part guide, mostly erotic story, it serves as a humorous yet helpful series of tips on things to look out for when writing erotic fiction.

If anyone finds it an entertaining read, please drop me a like and/or comment on Learning The Hard Way.

Thank you, and enjoy.

Hands up if you remember Woodstock. Hands up if you don't. Either way, I wrote a short story around it for the Free Spirit competition... and it surprised me by placing fourth, woohoo. If you like your tales on the trippy side, then Tabs might be for you.

I also threw a 100-word Microfiction together based in a shoe shop. Naughty exhibitionists will appreciate If The Shoe Fits, Bare It. Go on, check it out.

No worries about the timescales, Ensorceled. So glad you found time to read and enjoy it.

The reactions to this piece continue to make me proud of the work I put in, and not chuck the towel in, which I nearly did on so many occasions.

I'm more than grateful for every read and comment. Thank you all.

Last night, in the mosh pit at Manchester Academy 2 to see grandson. Tiny venue. Fucking incredible energy.

Wow. What a line-up. I'm genuinely astounded to have even been in the shortlist. I swear there were eleventy hundred better stories than mine in the running. Absolutely stoked to be snapping on the heels of the 3 powerhouses on the podium.

I admit I have yet to read StarBelliedBoy's story. It's been on my list for a while and I just haven't had time between writing and work to devote to reading. I will make amends [edit: have done so. Wow. What a story!]

Congratulations to the well-deserved top picks, fellow runners-up and all those who could have been in with a shot, given the quality of stories on display. It's quite telling that there are more non-mods than mods in the top 10. Everyone brought their A-game.

Thank you to the folk behind the scenes. Shortlister, judges, developers, and a special shout to krystalg and simplyjohn for pledging Lush coins to the runners-up.

Lush competitions rock.

Quote by Ensorceled
trust when a reader says something isn't working. How you solve the problem is up to you, but trust the reader.

I like this. Imma remember that when commenting, thank you.