Quote by joe71

So, to the earlier question of fair use of book and film references ... is music special, with different rules than other media? One reason I ask is that I recently published a story that referenced some jokes (i.e., content) from Seinfeld, but did not mention the show Seinfeld itself (i.e., title) specifically: it would seem that would not be allowed under the rules for music, wherein you can't reference the content without crediting the title. Is that okay for a TV show, or should I go back and update it?

Also I've been working on a story that I think may fit the Noir competition, which will have a few references to both Wonder Woman and Harry Potter. The former will reference WW's character by name, whereas the HP references will be to a couple concepts in the books but only referencing the titular character as "The Boy Who Lived". Legit, or should I make some adjustments? I want to make my story as hot as possible (of course) but also follow the rules.

On another note: I thought Eyes Wide Shut was a masterful tour of the sexual subconscious, at least for mainstream cinema, and a fitting swan song for the man who made it. I was fortunate to be in Europe shortly after it was released, and managed to view the uncut version in the theater. Didn't make a huge difference to the overall experience of the movie, but it did feel more complete that way. And how do you not like the last line of the film?

legit. references are fine as long as you're not using them as characters in your story

important things to remember #32

btw, since Jen asked, i DID use the prize money on sex toys.

everything you like about the new system, btw, was my idea. everything you hate was Jen's. just wanted to make that clear.

i am seriously flabbergasted. i was just hoping for a place in the top 10. thank you to everyone who read my little tale. it means a lot to me. and thanks to everyone involved in the judging. having done it before i KNOW it's a lot of work and a labor of love.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Hello, is the heart (like) plus the star (favorite) gonna equal the flame (score)? When the system finishes calculating stuff??? Or am I confused?

there's a flame score? now who's confused.

Quote by Dani

Approve "Pickle" you cowards.

once you make the suggested changes.

Kimmi and james both made top 10 in the comp. awesome! congratz, guys.

Quote by Seeker4

Not sure if I should be dancing or shaking in my boots. But I am going to ask the question again because I don't think I got answered last time I asked it: Is blue site getting this, too? And if so, why no announcement there like there was here?

i don't know. Ask Molly. or Jen. They would be able to answer your question better than me. I'm not really all that involved these days with that kind of stuff. Consider me a minion until further notice. lol

Should be some more major changes to the site again this week (hopefully). Most concern the writing side - that's kind of the focus right now. a lot of them have to do with the scoring changes. Not all, though. stay tuned. one of the things you should see is the new scoring system going fully into effect.

btw, go read Kimmee's new one. part 1 of 3. it's really good.

NSD! (new story day) yipee!

I haven't written anything for over 2 years. apparently, it's been building up. i took a break from my Noir story this morning to write a chapter and a half for my Alice series. man, it feels good to be back. i'm thinking i need to finish all my series now. and then start some new ones

officially committed to writing for the Noir comp. I think that 5k+ counts as committed, right? lol so far only one sex scene, but there is a beating and a stabbing. and there will be another sex scene. been so long since i've really written that i forgot how much fun it is. i might do more of this.

Quote by Seeker4

For regular stories set in my own culture, I just pick names that seem to fit the characters. Usually one just comes to me either before I write or as I write.

If there are people from non-English cultures involved, then I might do some research, esp. if it is one I am not familiar with (e.g. my recent ancient Egyptian story).

For fantasy, which is mostly what I write, I usually come up with some kind of convention for names in the world I am building. I am neither as educated nor ambitious as J.R.R. Tolkien so you'll never get me creating whole languages, but I will make notes as I name things to try for consistency. No good examples here, but in my Chronicles of Tana on StoriesSpace, I have established, for instance, that "Tan" means "Palace" or "Castle" so any palaces in that world are going to be Tan (something), e.g. in the Tana stories, "Tan Kolar" means "Night Palace" or "Palace of Darkness".

Sounds like a lot of work. I tend to write b-movie pulp fictionly fantasy/sci fi, so names tend to be a bit on the silly side. Mr. Pinkwell/Pinky was a minotaur in one story. I had a character named Valentine Day in that one, too.

Quote by Seeker4

I'm sorry, but the OWNERS of StoriesSpace asked you to remove a link to StoriesSpace? That's not contact details, that's getting the word out about a site that sorely needs the word out. Ape grumpy.

And folks, StoriesSpace could really use some more love and activity. There's some interesting stuff on there besides my drivel, some nice folks on the forums (many from here), and it's all 100% free to participate.

some of the newer mods might not be aware that it's a sister site to Lush. simple as that. if the link was on your profile feel free to put it back up.

i name all my characters after one of our cats, past and present.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Well ... 10K not enough for me either and the story will feel rushed if I cut and I wanna keep all 5 of my characters, plus add in an Epilogue. Sooooo... gonna split this one into two 6K parts and consider it a practice run for the Noir comp.

cut out the sex and it'll fit... just a suggestion.

Quote by Jen

Sakes, wummin. Gimme a second here, lol.

It will probably be a couple of weeks before it's up. Expecting that one to run until late November.

good, since i just realized that 10k might not be enough this time around...

how i spent my day... (ellipsis are dedicated to Kimmi)

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I hate Grammarly. Last I checked, I had 121 suggested improvements on my Noir story. And it's prejudice against all my ellipsis.

you do know that for every ellipsis you use a tree dies, right?

Quote by Seeker4

They are not, but they can spell celibate. 😉

snorts not like i'm a writer. blame grammarly. they wanted to make it 'celebrate'

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

See? That's what happens to humans when they get older. The foreplay starts to take over…

Now, Polar Bears, OTOH…

polar bears are celebate? yeah, i've heard that too.

Quote by Seeker4

Ah, at least I'm not the only one who struggles with that. My love of plot and character is making it harder and harder to just get to the fucking.

sometime when i get to the end of a story and it's too long i think 'i could just edit out the sex scene and it would fit. lol seriously, though, i tend to either write stories drenched with sex or ones where it's just kind of insterted in there so that it belongs on lush

one of the things i've learned here over the past 12 or so years. no matter what you do to make things fair. no matter how transparent you make things. no matter how many times you explain the rules there will be people who bitch about things being rigged. bluntly put, keep it to yourselves. we're tired of hearing about it. you don't like how comps are run, go join them on other sites where they actually are popularity contests. i am sure that, no matter what, when we announce the winners of this one people will bitch about it too. and think about it - how would you feel if you put a lot of hard work into writing an amazing story and someone came along and said 'you only won cause it's rigged'. we've actually had writers stop writing for comps because of that. so any of you who've done that? thanks for ruining someone's experience. (Jen is, obviosuly, the good cop while i'm the 'i don't give a fuck' cop lol)

I usually just pour the coffee out and replace it with whiskey these days.

Quote by Seeker4

Because he is right. Moving from using average score to get a short list to a point total based on favorites and likes is going to tend to favour popular authors regardless of quality. Using average levelled that out a bit since an author with 20 votes and an author with 60 could still have the same average.

i think, and i don't know, since it's not been formally discussed (don't worry, it will be) that currently, if you get 5 likes or more, you have a just as much a shot at being short listed as if you had 20+. and please don't quote me on that - i'm in enough trouble in the backroom right now as it is.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I actually don't think there will be bunches who tackle say 7K or more, Bear. I might be wrong.

the way things are looking, mine's gonna be at the limit. lol at least i got some sex into the first 3k for once.

Quote by CallmeJayne

As opposed to the most unpopular authors you mean?

Isn't it likely that the shortlist will be drawn from those stories that meet the qualifying level of votes, favourites, likes et al?

In other words, no change.

This.

Quote by IMPURETHOUGHTS

No, it's like summer camp. Mods are looking after us and I am constantly asking for SimplyJohn's attention but he ignores me--as he should.

also, we have canoeing and tell scary stories around the campfire.