Wow. A bit cynical, aren't we? Everyone is whoring for votes by writing in the Death Genre which I started with "Snow Globe".

Seriously?

While I appreciate your compliments on my entries, I'm a bit insulted that you think I pandered for sympathy votes with last year's Christmas story, and it wouldn't shock me if others were insulted by the implication they're not original enough to do anything but imitate me, of all people. If you remember, "Snow Globe" didn't win, so your theory that tragedies win CAWs is wrong on that one. Also, both my solo and team entries had deaths in them. The one was set in war time, and the other was cops and mobsters with several murders. Those "sell-out" stories didn't win this time.

Mine was a legitimate question about death in CAW #17 stories. Was it the fact that "uniform" often means military or police? Seasonal affect disorder? A desire to be edgy? Were a lot of us in a bad mood?

In "The Mark", hornypixy and I decided to write a story with a super-villain. Bad guys kill people, and the guys with the white hats have guns too. For "Pin-up Girl", I happened on a picture of Betty Grable (one of my ninety-one year old dad's favorites) and started thinking about some of the things he's shared with me about the war. People died then.

What about the rest of you?

 

Thank you, Private Rickmers, for explaining your writing of Laurel. It truly was a beautiful story. It's also great to know that you were inspired by the classics. Unfortunately, CAW and XNXX Forum have been bombarded with such stories that give you a character and all his/her details to connect the reader with them, then kills them or someone close to them in a nice twist.

I've become jaded, and the fact that people can keep going for such stories is ... well... not surprising, but do you see what I'm saying? It's the same technique over and over again. But I have no right to tell you what to like and what not to like, or what to write and what not to write. You got the most votes for your story, so you won. It's as simple as that. Also, your story deserved to win, majority vote or not, simply because it was well-written and had great content.

Horse, your story was not written to elicit sadness and loss, that's how I understood it. There is no tragic death. I like Walter, I fantasize a lot too, but I know that too much fantasy is bad, therefore I feel no sympathy for him when he ends up as he does. This Death genre is about death triggering sadness from the readers after the reader has empathized with the characters and all the details. There should be other ways to use death in a tearjerker. I think the writers on this site are capable of that, but somehow (I can't explain), you do it all the same way. It's all good, but should we have this much of it? Several in every CAW? It's not against forum rules. Just as there are no rules against people recycling the same tragic death theme and twist over and over again.

Sorry to come across as someone who is trying to control the types of stories that get posted. I'm not, or maybe I am, I don't know. I just want to point out some "funky" similarities in certain kinds of stories that have been written for these competitions and this site. And I'm a bit ticked off that an old timer doesn't see this and would ask a stupid question like that. Like, duh, that's what you're supposed to do for CAW. Like he (WSF) wasn't expecting that.

This site exists because people obsess over sex, and yes, they also obsess over death too. I just think we can be more creative about it all.

 

WSF, are you saying that you started the death and sympathy fad? If you did (I haven't been around long enough, but yours was the first one I read with such a theme) then my hat off to you. Could it be that we are so much in awe of what you started and how you got us feeling emotional in such a way of writing that we decided we wanted to do that too, so we followed in your footsteps and even came up with our own unique styles of doing it? If that's a case, then my hat off to you again! Heck, I don't have any more grudges now. Honestly, I do not. It happens all the time. Someone does something really awesome and new and everybody else wants to do it too. No crime in that. It also doesn't restrain creativity since people expand and uniquely modify on these ideas. Case closed. :excited:

 

No, thinking differently doesn't make us think you're throwing a tantrum. However, starting posts with "Oh! Oh!" does.

Also, not the fucking 'pack' thing again. Why is it that every few months somebody comes around and calls everybody else a pack/clique just because they feel 'left out' or something? Please, by all means, point out the members of the pack so I know who to ask for the secret password. I also want to be a part of this ellusive, exclusive group of people.

Now, who showed a lack of respect to you here? You asked to know how your story fared in the competition - something most hosts prefer not to reveal for the simple reason that SOMEBODY has to be last. Would you like to be the one to tell a writer - in public, no less - that their stories got the least - if any - votes? It's a matter of respect that they withold it, not secrecy or disrespect.

Before I get attacked for this, I would like to point out that just because a story didn't win or get votes, it doesn't mean it's a bad story - it just mean it didn't appeal to the reasonably small pool of CAW Readers and Voters.

Are you kidding me? Did you even READ Snow Globe? It was a romance about a love that is stronger than death - how the hell is that a bad thing? Sybil's story was just as lovely. I don't know if you know this, but... people die. Even the ones we love. Sad, but true. Writing a story about it doesn't mean you're conforming to the norm, only that you feel you want to comment on the way humanity finds a way to cope with the death of a loved one and life after that.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, I'm afraid to say. The theme for the CAW was a man in uniform. Men in uniform are often in the army, the navy, the military, the police force. Men in Uniform tend to die. It's an unfortunate side effect of war. [/QUOTE]

I think you forgot a few names. Like mine. Really, I DO hate being left out. If you read Elizabeth, there was death as well. My first CAW entry (One silent night) was in my mind a slightly morbid story, though nobody important died. The little sister was terminally sick with Cancer, though, so death was implied. So if you don't mind, I'm butt-scootching my way onto your list.

That's just silly. Nobody is going to vote for a story just because the author plays the sympathy card. I'm sure once you think about it, you will realise that for a story to win, it needs a few more elements - like, oh, I don't know, good writing? How about a decent, believable plot, good use of grammar and spelling, characters that evokes sympathy through their actions by being strong. Death in itself isn't tragic - it's only sad if somebody worthwhile died, somebody whose death left a real hole in society.

So... let me get this straight - it's okay for you to get inspiration from your own life, but not for others? One of the people you mention earlier is going through a really rough time, waiting for the imminent death of his beloved. So he isn's allowed to be depressed and morbid?

Wow, insulting much?
Also, just for interest's sake, may I point out that I'm 25. Not sure why it's relevant, but apparently age has something to do with it.

Thank you! I'm just glad the death didn't bother anybody. After all, Ava lost her family at a very young, tender age. Then again, nobody else seemed to like the story that much, so maybe it was the big amounts of sex that put them off.

I won't lie and say that there seems to be a trend of people moving away from comedies and lighthearted stories. Could it be the fact that we are all trying to grow as writers and that comedy feels much easier to write than something that requires depth and emotions? Of course, this isn't strictly true - good comedy is difficult to write, because it can so easily be reduced to forced humor and food fights. It's hard to write something that is innately funny without making it seem like you tried to hard.

So... just because you didn't win, you're giving up? How about trying hard to write a story that's so good people are forced to vote for it simply because they can't NOT, despite the fact that there's no death in it. My and WSF's winning tale, Love And Other Disasters, didn't have ANY death in it. So, clearly, it can be done. A story without death and sympathy votes CAN win.

I'm afraid I've never cried during the reading of a CAW story, though I have been moved. I don't count on sympathy votes and I don't think any other author here do either. We try to do our best and grow in our writing and win a competitiojn for the sheer fun of it. I think you're taking this much more seriously than you should. I do it for enjoyment, when real life permits me to take the time. This time around, I didn't have enough time to write a solo entry as well, though I truly wanted to.

You know what? Now you're just being a douche. I believe you mentioned you saw the first 'death and sympathy story' in his Snow Globe entry. So you implied it, and he denied it, and now you're accusing him of... what, exactly? Being a really good writer?

 

Huh. Well, there's an opinion.

I'm guessing that what Norton5 is getting at is not death as a plot device (quite common) but rather sentimentality in connection with it, particularly what he perceives to be (again, if I'm reading this right; far be it for me to speak for the guy) mawkish and heavy-handed sentimentality in the Nick Sparks style.

As I said, it's an opinion. It would be nice if he could have been less bombastic about it, but it would also be nice if we could avoid fighting and recrimination even though he was not (or at least take those recriminations into PMs, which I believe is part of their utility), because we do want these forum functions to be pleasant affairs that attract rather than repel readers and writers. Maybe it's unfair to ask people not to say something provocative when something provocative was said to them first, but what was it Gandhi said about cycles of violence? Sometimes it's better to just take the hit and move on.

...anyway, for the record, I voted for "Walter Mitt" (first) and "Drifting" (second) simply because they did something at least a little unexpected and, in the case of "Mitt", playful, with the uniform theme, and I liked that. There were other good stories and a few other unexpected variations on the topic, but those were the ones I expect I'll remember most clearly in the future, and I find that's often a good rule of thumb for these things.

 

It is a pity that there seems to be a backlash following the end of CAW 17. The compy was a delight to participate in, taking place virtually without any drama and with a sporting ethos, one where writers were respectful and supportive of each other.

There was a universally high standard of stories, and as there can be only one winner some brilliant works didn't even make the podium. Now it seems that recriminations abound. Personally I am not at all bothered that my story received few or no votes - it garnered some nice comments which will suffice for me.

We have a nice little community here, and I hope this exchange of views doesn't descend into more unseemly in-fighting, such as we saw during the summer.

 

I'm going to back WSF up on this one. He's made some valid points - the most salient one being that by not publishing the full list, it saves the feelings of those who didn't fare as well in the voting, regardless of the fact that the quality of their writing was of an incredibly high standard. As the man said - just ask, and I'm sure you will receive an answer.

On the subject of the death genre - well - it either works or it doesn't; it's how it's done. If done well, it will be a vote catcher. If not, it won't. It's as simple as that. I played the death card in the CAW SS, and it didn't work, because it was all too sudden. One could say that it was a prime example of it being done badly. It's all in the eyes of the reader.

 

Thank you.

My story may have been more appealing if I had ended it with Roger getting a well paying job and marrying Laurel - who turned out not to have a congenital heart ailment after all. Perhaps she was healed of it.

I do not know how I could have done that without implausible contrivances.

In his Poetics Aristotle said one should not have a story that ends unhappily for a good person. "Laurel" violates that precept. Roger is a good person whose life has not been happy or successful. Nevertheless, he is not bitter. He does not blame a convenient hate target for his circumstances.

Aristotle also said that every scene should be the probable or necessary result of at least one preceding scene, and that the denouement should combine inevitability with surprise. It should be plausible. It should not be what the reader expected all the time. Aristotle did not like the deus ex machina endings that even Euripides sometimes resorted to.

He would not have liked the novel by Barbara Cartland I read where the death of a rich uncle never mentioned before in the novel, and a generous inheritance from his will, saved the protagonist when all seemed lost. That unforeseen death happened with five pages to go. I was so disappointed I wanted to throw the novel into a wastebasket.

In my story Laurel gives several hints that she does not expect to live long. What initially appears to be feminine fragility is symptomatic of what kills her.

The story does end somewhat successfully for Roger. He has developed a friendship with Professor Armington. He learns that Laurel loved him.

 

holy crap I missed something everyone blew up at everybody again... wow.
The "Death Genre" since its a good enough term has been floating around here for a while especially in the CAWs. I don't in the least bit believe its "whoring for votes" (whoever turned that phrase, I forgot who the quote is by WSF maybe) but I think it comes down to CAWs being what they are. CAWs are a contest, of artistic merit, and there was a joke a few years back about the vast majority of 'artistic' short stories or plays for drama boiling down to Cancer=Bad. (I think it was Something Positive that made a play in which bone cancer was the good guy/hero to lampoon that trend).
A lot of writers when putting their artistic hats on and aiming at being artistic shoot for that Hard Drama.
I think I'm in the minority that that sort of thing doesn't get my gears going in a porn site kinda way. Heartbreak and death is not conducive to erections. Heart-strings can be but heart shattering isn't.
Not that erections are be all and end all to literature as a whole or even stories on this site. But it is a porn site.

As for the people saying they'll leave, I wish you wouldn't. But there is a big revolving door of folks who have come and gone, with me just popping in a story every 4th contest or so. Its a good community but some folks you have to take with a grain of salt, have patience and let people who need to vent vent.

on a not altogether unrelated note, here in the states it's Thanksgiving. I want to tell all you Forumites here at xnxx that I am thankful to have you in my life. I am glad to be a part of such a great community and have such good friends. Happy Turkey day.

 

In my opinion only - where you have life, you have death. Speaking for myself, I've tried to include realism in my erotic stories. I don't write porn. I've never said I write porn. I was originally known for my romances, which contained erotic scenes. Sex is also a part of life.

Way back in 2010, I challenged the writers here at xnxx, to start a story using a paragraph that I had written. It was not the best written paragraph, but that's where we all started. I happened to win that first challenge, with a romance that also contained a death. Did I include that death as a way to garner votes? No. I included it because it was something I knew, something I dealt with everyday in my real life profession.

Do some CAW challenges lend themselves to writing about death? Of course they do, including a theme about people in uniforms. But in every challenge we find a variety of stories which all begin with the same start - another person's idea. I believe the writer's here meet the CAW challenges with some of the finest stories this site has seen. Yes, it's a porn site, but here in "Story Land", it can be so much more.

 

*not_secure_link*3.bp.blogspot.com/-DaCUDCRMa-Y/Ts6bJUUZRQI/AAAAAAAB7X0/oIgP6hBMKEw/s1600/HappyThanksgiving.jpg

 

Yep, that's so true.

Sex Stories Section = porn
Sex Stories Forum = erotica

Not always true, but more often than not.

When you think about it, death is the single biggest event in any life because it makes more impact on life than any other event. It's no wonder that good writing often falls into the Death genre because it is the great unknown. Believers will tell you that life goes on, but no one really knows for sure, no one is 100 percent positive. I'm not offering insult to true believers, I'm simply stating scientific fact vs. faith.

Quite a few of us have written stories that involve death. I don't know if I will ever win another CAW again; I don't think the quality of my writing has decreased. I do think y'all have ratcheted up the quality of your writing to stratospheric levels, damn ya'! But if I get to host a CAW again, I think I will make non-death a requirement, just to push us all in another direction. If someone else who wins would like to choose that as part of their theme, that's totally fine too.

I kinda' like being forced into a corner. Writing about a man or woman in uniform was just that. It was a narrow corridor to start with, well-conceived by ejls, because look at the breadth of stories that evolved. Pretty cool.

Horse <=== looking forward to the next CAW already

 

No! YOU said I started the so-called Death Genre with "Snow Globe", not ME. Re-read what you wrote. While "Snow Globe" was intentionally written to be a tear-jerker (so sue me), it certainly was not the first story in a CAW in which death played a part. Hell, my entry into CAW #2 was about a ghost falling in love with her living father. That wasn't the first story on the site to include death either, and ghost stories have been around for a very long time. Mine was a ghost/incest/romance tale. It didn't win.

I find it insulting that you classify all stories in which a main character dies to be formulaic sell-outs and even more insulting that you think that's my "fault". Other writers emulating me? Don't be ridiculous. If they do that, they won't win many CAWs.

As Jayney said, let's all calm down. Only one story can win, "Death Genre" or not. Yours didn't. Neither did mine. Get over it. If you're convinced we've all become too morbid and maudlin, with something uplifting next time and show us the way to the light.

 

To Private Rickmers and styxx,

Please check the emails you provided and confirm that your Amazon gift cards were received.

Again, it's been a pleasure hosting this CAW. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season.

 

Someone said we live in a world of mirrors. What ever qualities or character defects we see in others, are just a reflection of our own personality. Once we've identified those in others, we have to decide what we'll do about ours.

We may wish to keep some character defects; or work to develop it's opposite quality.

But the fact remains, we cannot see in others, what we don't carry ourselves.

What do you see in me horse ? An asshole ?

 

I see Hitler as a Narcissistic, Murderous, Xenophobe.

comments?

 

I do believe we were being compared to the Soviets, not to Germany. Get your dictators straight!

 

OK, Stalin was a narcissistic, murderous, POWER-HUNGRY son-of-a-bitch.

any OTHER comments ?


> HP - LOL

 

I did recieve my Amazon gift card. Thank you very much. This is a wonderful Thanksgiving for me.

 

You're very welcome. It's just something I wanted to do to thank the writing community for sticking around.

Enjoy the holiday season.

e