I see today we reached fifty "Dirty Talk" competition entries. 😊

I am just going into my summer writing hiatus, where I let real life take priority, after a spell (with the omnium badge in mind) where I posted quite a few stories in different genres... I currently stand at 20/58 published genres.

Over the summer, I will work mainly on my fifth Novel - "The Three of Us" to publish it in October/November. That novel chapters will cover at least four more genres.

As for other stand-a-lone stories, to help get more readers following me, I am currently leaning towards the popular genres, MILF, Wife Lovers and Fantasy Incest. However, a Steampunk story is also currently pulling on me. So we will see.

P.S. If I get enough likes on my male gay story - The Queens Head, I will write a second chapter.

As a straight man, you could say I dug deep into my imagination to come up with this gay male story.

I am pleased with the results... The Queens Head

There are a couple of standalone stories that I have written, which might (one day) have a second part added, but these are the exceptions.

All my series stories are planned and mostly written/edited before I post the first chapter. My last book, Clare ran to 21 chapters and I would say only the last 10 chapters were not finished (they were laid out) when chapter 1 was published. It takes some discipline, and I admit there comes a tipping point when you need the fuel of reader feedback to finish the final editing.

Quote by Jen

No. Some places do it that way, but we don't.

Thank you, for clarifying Jen. It is appreciated.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

See this post for more.

https://www.lushstories.com/forum/welcome-to-lushstoriescom-site-guidelines-help/lush-stories-competition-judging-process?page=1&post=4421087

Thank you for posting this link WW, I was looking for this a couple of days ago but failed.

In the past, I have noticed that the stories with the most likes and comments have not always made the top ten. Then I read this on the link above...

"Doing it this way eliminates people winning through popularity, or spamming etc."

This raises a question: Do readers' likes and comments have any "significant" influence on competition story judging?

I believe the answer is no. But maybe, it might be handy to clarify in the guidelines or here.

Well, I am now in with my competition story - Knickerless - It came in at 53% dialogue. 😊

I prefer character-driven stories. Unlike most here, I begin to fall in love with them even before I start writing the story. This is because I normally write little bios on the lead "actors" and as I write them into the storyline I have continually and three-dimensional real people. Well, at least in my head. 🙄😊

My take on this is that there must be a piece of the character inside you as you write and work with them. With the books I have written and am adapting for Lushstories, those characters have lived with me since 2021. Their never-to-be-published background information now runs to several A4 pages.

As for killing off a character or putting them in an awkward situation? I don't see that to be a problem, I do the latter all the time and you can always resurrect a character in another story if you are in "love" with them. Though, I don't see that scenario happening to me.

So, to answer your question: I do become attached, and even deeply attached to the characters I have been working with for three and half years. But my attachment would never stop me from putting them in harm's way.

I finished my first edit early today and the dialogue came in at 55%. Whoopee. Now I am on the tinkering and polishing phase, before submitting... 😊

Today, with a little encouragement, I wrote a fun micro called... Micro Fun

It is not my normal thing, but I hope you enjoy it!

I might be on my own here. But with the low word count limit, I still hope there is room for a story amongst the mass of naughty words that the dialogue will undoubtedly produce. This is just my reflection, I think the competition theme is a good one.

I have not tried any self-promoting before but I am particularly pleased with my latest standalone story... A Good Life

It is slightly on the complex side, and certainly very different from any story I have written before.

I have just finished a standalone story: A Good Life which I admit, stretched my writing abilities. It is very different to most stories on this site. Now, my attention turns to another standalone story, this one, much to my wife's amusement, is in the gay genre.

In the past, I have written stories straight off and let them go in their own direction, before reigning them in a little when I edit them.

However, these days, I prefer to spend time planning them out, often writing unpublished character backgrounds and the stories end, long before I flesh out the middle. The story I am currently working on is one, the start and finish are all written and finished subject to a final edit. The rest is still a work in progress.

Another here who thinks prologues can be a great way of setting up a story. I used one in my first novel, an innocent scene that is the catalyst for the start of the main story set four years later. I also have an epilogue written, which will close the story out and answer a few lingering questions.

I cannot see why you have to have an epilogue, even if you have a prologue. A suggestion. Could you tag a short epilogue onto the end of your last posted chapter?

Quote by techgoddess

I'm discovering that my true stories seem to be garnering more attention than the fictional ones.

That doesn’t surprise me at all, Kat. Hot, true stories written by a beautiful sexy women will always appeal to most heterosexual sexual men. That is my opinion 🙂🙂

That is an interesting question. Are you not a Hollywood producer by any chance? 😊

My last competition story, "The Pull of the Paddle" gives a basic 5,000-word plot that could be adapted into a movie. But there are lots of stories here (probably better ones) that with a slightly different slant on them, could be rewritten to make the backbone story for a film.

Quote by PA_Mike

If the story has to be "republished", does anyone know if it keeps its stats? e.g. likes, views and comments. I'm asking this specifically because I have one particular story that is already "famous". Even though it is an older story (I've been on the site for a long time, before they even had memberships), it has recently become popular again and could possibly reach "legendary" status. I'd hate to lose the stats because I cringe at some of the typos that I'd like to correct. I'd also like to write a sequel to the story as requested several times by readers.

@techgoddess or someone else may correct me...

But I believe when you change the old story it will stay in the same position in the LushStories story archive. It does not go to the top of the new story published list.

So, what I am saying is, that you will need to make your followers and friends aware that there has been a change made to the original story.

Writing erotic stories, or at least trying to! 😊

Quote by wxt55uk

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

Since writing this I have written one true story... It is called, "Twins"

I think I might be unique here as the first thing I published here was the prologue to a book. Yes, I did complete it and have now written three follow-up novels, plus a few short stories.

“The Alpha Man In Me” - Chapter 00 - Prologue | Lush Stories

I am a bit late to the party but welcome aboard.

Is this excellent idea still on the radar?

It has been nearly a year and I have 27 pages to clear!

Quote by RejectReality

Whelp, if poetry is necessary, I can stop wasting my time keeping track. Pity, because I was only a few story categories off, and had stories started for all of them.

Though I will give poetry a go to achieve my omnium badge (though it might just be a collection of words). 🙄

My personal opinion is that poetry is a completely different discipline from writing stories, and if this had been LushPoetry, I would never have been here. So I do sympathise with those who will not complete this badge because of its conclusion.

Suggestion to LS stakeholders, could there be a form of the omnium badge that doesn't include poetry?

I have just seen this, and congratulations, Kat. It is richly deserved, as you know I have always enjoyed your stories. What is not so well known is you have helped me many times to get a story over the line (read up to Lush standard or maybe, even turning gibberish into English).

Well done, Kat! 😊😘

I believe we have just nudged over the 50 entries with still a few days to go before the competition closes. I think that is a superb number considering BDSM is not the most popular genre (my opinion).

I am now in the process of reading them and commenting.

Quote by LisaD69

I’ve tied to publish three stories. All returned. I got some help from an editor, they completely fixed it, I submitted it, and it was pushed back again.

I wanted to share my experiences. But it’s not worth it.

Hi Lisa, I understand your frustration. I have been there.

Did the moderator give you a reason why your stories were being rejected? They have always told me (and most have helped me). What they say should be the starting point in correcting your story.

I have written above, how I manage to get my stories published. It does take time and a lot of editing but it works for me.

If you are still not sure what is wrong, put your story into one of the auto-readers and listen to it being read to you. It is a good starting point as if you are like me, what you write is not always what you read.

I do hope this also gets sorted out, positively. 😊

However, I have one more suggestion. 🙄 This is, in the badge index, listed by the side of the Omnium Badge, it currently says... Has published a story across all our categories. Would it help if this was changed to, Has published a story/poem in all our genres ( fantasies exempt) or something similar?

Quote by techgoddess

Gav was the amazing guru of technology who fixed bugs and helped Keep the old Lush site up and running.

Thank you, let's hope there are some new Gavs in the tech team and they can give LS-V2 a little upgrade. 😊

Right, just to clarify...

We have established that for the Omnium Badge, you have to write stories in 57 of the 58 genres. The exception is Incest Fantasies, this genre is optional.

The two poetry genres are also included. So a poem in each is needed!

Once you have achieved the Omnium Badge, you should never lose it. Even if/when new genres have been added and I guess by assumption, removed.

WW or one of the admin team are going to see if it is possible to include a story genre counter for both authors/readers to use.

Some LS-V1 features have been lost in getting LS-V2 up and running. These are going to be looked at and hopefully addressed.

I have one last question - Who is Gav? 😎