Quote by Jen

It's sorted now.

Thank you, Jen. I am back. I feel wanted again! 😊

Quote by Jen

Not yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

A semi-serious suggestion. If this issue cannot be fixed easily. Could we have the stories that have dropped off the bottom of the list added to the top and keep doing this each day until the end of the month?

Sort of, a conveyor belt of rotating competition entries.

Quote by Jen

I'll get the 100 limit issue sorted on Monday. They must have put a display limit on it. Thanks.

Jen, any update? Thank you.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I think the Masturbation comp had over 100. It was perfectly timed with COVID isolation and lockdown, so… 😳🤣

I am just hoping when the competition is over that Lushstories will have enough badges to give out! 🙄🤣

Is this a record number of competition entries?

I asked this question with the Freespirt competition and was told that there were two previous story competitions that ran to over 100 entries. So with the counter stuck on 100 and with me reckoning there have been at least 117 entries, this must now be the most popular story competition ever on Lushstories.

And we are only halfway through the allotted entry time.

I feel sorry for the judges, but I wish them good luck!

Quote by AngelWorthy

Only the latest 100 are now appearing on the competition page's entry list.

You are right. I have just counted them. By my reckoning, there should be approximately 110 stories there now judging by which one was 100 yesterday. They are for certain, disappearing from the bottom of the list. My guess is this is a technical issue... or the judge(s) have seen how many entries there are and taken an early Halloween knife to them!

Quote by CuriousAnnie

It appears that the earliest published stories have started to drop off the competition page's entry list. Is that just me or a bug that could be fixed?

You are right CuriousAnnie. There are only 3 (now 2) below my entry today, yesterday there were roughly 8 below mine. So some have dropped off the list.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

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.

I read about three-quarters of the competition entries and there were 3 that stood out for me. Many I liked, but only those three which I marked as favourites. Why? Because first I related to them and second, I thought was a fantastic idea well executed.

I don't want to be controversial but for me, My Treat was like standing in front of a piece of modern art. I know it was good, everyone says it is good, but I didn't really understand it. I know it is a good technical piece of writing but sometimes I just like something easier to read, sorry.

Update:- I have finally got it! You were right WW, though perhaps it was a bit too clever for me! 🙄

Quote by Seeker4

Author's note is not counted in story length but I suspect they will take a dim view if someone uses that to try to sneak extra words into their story.

Thank you Seeker4, that's what I thought but it's nice to have it clarified.

There is something that I have been wondering about since I wrote my entry. Having never attempted Microfiction before I left the author's note off as I assumed it would eat into the 100 words. But is that right?

Maybe it is 100 words plus the author's note. Please would someone clarify?

Thank you.

In the real world (outside LushStories) I would never consider reading anything shorter than 50,000 words, so a book, with a start, middle and end. This is what I like writing here too, long stories, three-dimensional characters which evolve, plot twists etc. etc.

I ticked the 6-8k box thinking that would be just for a Lush novel chapter.

But my view on story length matches the pole, anything longer than 5k words and you have lost at least half your audience. I think the number of words in popular stories has slowly reduced since I joined here, many years ago. There are so many stories here now, and the volume of new stories that appear here every day seems to be on an ever-increasing curve. The reader has so many choices, why would they invest their time in one long story when they can read several short ones?

Great pole WW btw.

I have honestly only just seen this, Happy Belated Birthday Rachel (one day after mine). I hope you had a great day.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Just curious about this. No judgment from me, so please answer honestly.

If you read a story by an author, do you expect them to return the favor?

Not really.

If an author reads your story, do you feel obligated to read one of their stories?

Normally I would but it depends on the genre.

Do you think authors should read the other entries in competitions?

Yes, once your entry is submitted, but comps like free spirit where the number of entries are very high it not possible to read all unless you have a lot of time.

Do you feel you can leave a critical comment on a comp entry?

No, if I don't like something I tend to not to leave a comment at all but I always give a like if someone has taken their time to write a comp entry. Honestly, I think it sometimes impossible to say one comp entry is better than another, most are really good and for me it is the idea behind the story that does it for me rather than the standard of English or writing.

Do you think differently about an author who doesn’t return reads?

Yes and no.... normally no but I admit there have been a couple of occasions where the answer is yes. I feel (if time allows) all wood be authors like me should take some time to read and comment on other writers stories.

For me, I just really enjoy reading comp entries. They are my fav to read. I enjoy newbies’ stories too. And of course have my fav authors and fav genres. But, I still work full-time and outside of comps, I do feel overwhelmed at times if authors read me and I don’t have energy or desire to read stories at that time. I tell authors I don’t expect reads back on my stuff. And I think it’s fine if some people are only here to write.

And I don’t think it’s right to leave a negative comment on a comp entry if you are in the comp too. Just my thoughts on it. I can always find something positive to say and leave out the negative in comps.

Just wanting to hear everyone’s honest expectations.

Quote by simplyjohn

I have just submitted my entry... 'Give it to me baby for a gin and tonic and a bag of cheese and onion crisps' (free spirit) only to be told entries are closed. Have the dates been changed?

Sorry to hear you missed the deadline.

The dates haven't changed. The closing date for entries was always August 31st and September 11th for announcement of the winner, though it wouldn’t surprise me if the second date was pushed back due to the high number of quality entries.

I write now for fun, but originally it started as a challenge.

In 2019 I found myself retired (at an earlier-than-normal age). My wife and I started touring the world. Then the pandemic. We returned home to the UK from New Zealand. Then the boredom and I found myself reading plenty of erotic books/stories. I started reading erotica in the early 1980s but now I had time to enjoy it.

Then on January 28th 2021, a wet day, my wife challenged me to write something. Basically, she thought I wouldn't/couldn't. By the end of June, I had written two books, and by the end of the year, they had turned into five.

It wasn't until October 2022 that I started to adapt them for LushStories, and as I posted the chapters, I tried to improve my writing and have some fun.

Quote by Seeker4

So many comp entries, so little time. I will get to as many as I can but won't promise to get to them all.

I don't like to read anything until I have my entry in. But wow... there are so many to read. I have now read a few and commented (maybe 20%) but I am with you @Seeker4. There is no way I going to have time to read them all.

Is this a record number of competition entries?

Good luck with the judging, I expect to see an extension to the winner's announcement date coming. 🙄😊

Quote by Seeker4

Read some stories written by women with a woman protagonist. That might give you some insight.

My comp entry (see sig) is all female, with one of the women as the viewpoint. The reaction from my female Lush friends has been quite positive so I guess I'm getting something right.

One thing I rarely do is write female first person. When my protagonist is female, I tend to go third-person. Not sure why other than I feel uncomfortable putting on a female face, I guess.

Quote by Seeker4

Oh, and I would add some general advice: Treat characters of any orientation, gender identity, biological sex as human beings with emotions and personalities, not naked bodies to be smashed together in various configurations. Do that, and you can write from almost any perspective.

Thank you Seeker4. That is a very good tip about reading stories written by women with a woman protagonist.

I will also read your competition entry.

Quote by joe71

There's a thread on this in the Ask Readers forum: https://www.lushstories.com/forum/ask-readers/writing-opposite-gender-characters.

Personally, I'm simply not ready to write from any perspective that is not my perspective. Call it narcissistic if you want, but I'm not prepared to try to get inside the head of a woman - or a person of color, or a transgendered individual either, and write about their sexual feelings, attractions and experiences. My writing is pretty much guided by the old "write what you know" adage.

That is not to say there's anything wrong with doing that, but it's just not my style, so I wish I could offer more tips.

But I will suggest avoiding the obvious male pitfalls. Don't start off by describing the protagonist's body in excruciating detail down to 38DD-24-36 measurements. Make her real, and human, not some caricaturized male fantasy. Same goes for the people they end up having sex with: describe what kind of a person they are or how they make the protagonist feel as much as what they look like. It might be something more subtle than a view of a guy's muscular chest or a bulge in his pants, and not even necessarily something visual, that gets their juices flowing. Maybe Ensorceled put it much better and more succinctly: write about how she feels about her body, and sex, and the people she interactions.

Thank you, joe71, that was the thread.

As a male, I am with you and what you mean when you say, "Write what you know." That is why most of the story so far has been written from a male point of view, but, as mentioned in my reply above, I feel it is time to stretch myself and have a go writing from the female POV.

It is those small nuances in the way females think that I trying to include as my female character, Clare changes as she is exposed to a world and a type of life she didn't know existed.

Thank you for your answers and help.

Quote by Ensorceled

I find writing from a female POV hot.

Don't have her pass a mirror or a store window and describe her body. That's been overdone.

You can give us a nice, sexy idea of how she feels about her body (and sex) when you are writing from her POV, putting on clothes, walking down the street, watching men react to her. Good luck!

I agree. By pure coincidence, I wrote only two days ago a mirror scene where my female character (Clare) was looking at her body in the bathroom mirror, going through her personal, and very private body insecurities. This, I felt could only be done successfully from her POV.

To expand a little, I have already written (atm not quite up to Lushstories standard) all 12 chapters of my next book, Clare. Of these chapters, 10 are in 3rd person POV (where it is about Clare). The other two are 1st person, where like for most of the story so far, the main male character (David) is telling his story.

However, though the story is there in 3rd person, when I read it now, two years after I first wrote it, I feel 1st person POV is the way ago. I want to get over raw emotions, the insecurities Clare has as she is exposed to a world she did not know existed. The mirror scene is just one example. Yes, I am stretching myself and any writing skills I might allegedly have, and yes I might revert back to 3rd person if I am not sure.

I am sure this might of been asked before, but I couldn't find it...

Does anyone have any tips when writing a 1st Person POV character of the opposite sex to the writer?

I am writing as a male who currently working on a story where the female character is telling her story.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Who told you that? At the moment the site doesn't have a reciprocal agreement in place to allow the stories to be published elsewhere in a book format, but there is the Novels category on the site for much longer works (still within the 10K word limit per chapter, to help keep the server happy).

As far as linking goes, you can pimp off-site links in your profile/bio/wall. Just not in stories. It's preferable of course to link to stuff on this site, but as long as you don't take the piss and spam people with external links, if you've written content elsewhere, then by all means promote it from your profile.

Thank you for clarifying WW, probably my misunderstanding/mistake (it wouldn't be the first time I got something wrong).

My longer book stories have (so far) been posted exclusively in the novel section of this site. But I do still hold the faint hope that one day it will be possible to copy the finished and posted, chapter-by-chapter books, and offer them as whole completed books as downloadable PDFs (or another format) via my profile page.

Quote by JennaSide

Over the last three years, I've been publishing a multi-part fiction story on the Lush website. I would eventually like to publish these parts as a complete novella-length ebook. The story starts when the main characters start to masturbate together regularly at the age of 16.

We follow them through the remainder of high school and to the end of university. Along the way, the narrator becomes sexually involved with her brother.

Each part of the content is has been passed by administrators, so it's within the bounds of the terms and conditions here. However, many other publishers don't have such generous boundaries. The vast majority won't accept characters under 18 and/or don't allow depictions of , even when marked as pure fantasy.

I think the starting age of 16 is the perfect balance between the characters having a decent level of maturity that's still marred by a residual juvenile streak; I couldn't imagine college students starting a masturbation group. Additionally, cutting out the element would require a substantial rewrite of the story, including omitting several chapters.

To that end, do you know of any other places that might consider this type of story, or other solutions for publishing this collection as a single work?

I totally agree with you Jenna, that 16 is the perfect minimum age to discover sex when writing an erotic story. For me, it seems unrealistic to say nothing sexual happens before any story character turns 18.

In a way, I am in a similar situation. I have written three books (so far) and have published them here on Lushstories, chapter by chapter. Not ideal, but I have been told that it is not possible to publish a book on Lushstories or link to another site.

In my stories, all my main characters are 18 and older and the detailed sex is all 18+. However, my main characters all have a back story, and they do refer to historical sexual events which happened between 16 and 18. It is part of what makes them who they are at 18.

Sorry, I cannot answer your post other than say you are not alone as one day I would love to post my stories as books including the references to sex from the age of 16.

I don't normally write too much in the summer months as I like to be out there doing "stuff." However, this year I had some unexpected time to re-write the first two chapters of my next book - "Clare." Working on this is my main project, but I have also written a very rough draft of a stand-alone story, working titled "A Good Life" and two untitled micro-fiction stories, which I can't make out if they are stories or just a collection of words. I doubt I will ever post these as they're meant to be just a fun exercise, but we see.

Finally, I wrote a poem or maybe it is two poems (I might split it). It needs more work, but there is a good chance I post this sometime in the distant future.

Quote by AmelieB

Congratulations to lupus and the shythespian, both stories were very enjoyable. May I ask who the first place winner was? It’s showing as blank on my phone. Thanks.

I was wondering that as well. It is blank on my laptop too... Has a 1st place been awarded?

Updated:- It has now been awarded.

1). Things I wish that I could do better are most to do with my actual writing, like story flow, grammar, keeping everything in the same tense and paraphrasing... Whatever that is!

2). My plus points... Story ideas, twists, character depth and progression. In a way I am lucky that these seemed to always come quickly to me, sometimes to the point where I feel overloaded.

All fiction in my case, though many times I wish they had happened to me rather than in my overactive imagination!

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

It's in, and don't worry about the votes count. As far as I'm aware, it's not a thing any more and the comp general Ts and Cs page hasn't caught up yet. I'm sure Jen will spank me if I'm wrong.

I pleased to hear that like counts are not needed anymore, IMHO the longer I been on this site the more I realise that likes do not necessarily reflect the quality of the story.

Quote by sprite

ALSO! be aware that this is memorial day weekend in the USofA and some of the 'murican mods will be using it to travel, etc, so we might be short handed... in other words, once again, if you wait until the very last minute to submit, you are taking a big risk.

Enjoy your holiday (or is it a vacation) Sprite. We have a national holiday on this side of the pond too, this Monday. I would like to say my cutting it close to the deadline date is because I am a risk taker, flying by the seat of my pants but the truth is far from that and more poignant.

I am pleased to say WW has read it, and given it back to me for a few changes. It seems I don't know if I living in the present or the past! 🙄 However with luck my competition story will be up later today... and by the way, it is a little different to the others posted and was inspired by your Ellie story. 😇

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

I doubt it. We encourage authors to submit their work early, though we do process competition stories as priority whenever we can. Yours is at the head of the queue so someone should get to it fairly soon when they have a free moment.

Thank you WW, trust me, it was unexpected fait that had me scrambling to get something out this week.

That is an interesting question. My stories are nearly all published under the Novel genre (they are book chapters), and I can honestly say the chapters I like rereading the most or had the most fun with writing have not received the most likes or comments or views.

There are so many factors that come into play when you talk about feedback and likes. IMO it is not even the quality of the writing that governs how many likes you get, it helps, but it certainly would not be number one on my like factor list.

I am not going to write the order of what I think you need to do for more likes, it is fairly obvious, but for the record, I am happy if I get five likes and a comment. To get double that... bliss!