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HandsInTheDark said:

Yes, I'm kidding. But consider the fact that a lot of the readership isn't too interested in what happens after sex. I celebrate the ones that are...

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Why, thank you ... I think.

And thanks for the good word, Jehoram.

HandsInTheDark said:

AFTER the orgasm? No. Sleep time. Shut up, I'm trying to sleep here. You want to get to know me, make me eggs tomorrow morning. And don't burn the damn toast.

Yes, I'm kidding. But consider the fact that a lot of the readership isn't too interested in what happens after sex. I celebrate the ones that are...

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Oh gosh. A lot of my stories develop during the sex. And I have at least two readers and that gives me a pulpit to pound on, proclaiming "After sex is important, After sex is important!"

RejectReality said:

Hate to tell you this, but the majority of readers are here for the stroke.

The demand is for stories populated with attractive people who have mindblowing sex that leaves them quivering lumps of jell-o. That demand translates into votes, comments, and favorites.

So long as that's what people are "paying" for, it's the product the majority of authors are going to provide.

Supply and demand.

As the number and quality of comments ( public and email ) continues to dwindle, it's likely to shift even more. Thoughtful public comments are about the only reward for writing a deeper story, and they get fewer and farther between every passing day.

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I appreciate comments. But I don't write for them.

Perhaps there are authors who are so tied up in needing the reassurance of positive comments that they change what they write to correspond. I'll try not to judge.

I would like to assume that most of the writers represented on this board take joy in the act of creation and write because they (a) think they have a story to tell, or (b) have an image or impulse that must be expressed in words. I celebrate all such people whether I like their stories or not.

If Laurel wants me to write to the stroke-deprived readers, she can tell me so. Perhaps I'll indulge her. But until then, I'll write what possesses me, and let the comments come or not as they may.

Since we all ultimately write for ourselves, even if indirectly via feedback, we get to decide how much realism we want in any aspect(s) of a story. I've made it clear I won't handle incest realistically. It's all nice-soft consensual or unknowing. I could work the IRL ugliness into a tale as background -- report (don't describe) her (or his) early, continuing abuse as character-formation. But the resultant tale likely wouldn't be a stroker.

Why is 'The Matrix' a great film whereas 'The Matrix Reloaded' not so great? After all, there is plenty of excitement and action in both films.

For me the difference is that with the original 'Matrix' film every single fight scene has a context that drives it forwards and makes you, the viewer, fully invested. There is constant threat. Mysteries are unravelled. The stakes are high. Its context that makes the action compelling. Just think about the subway scene as Neo looks to the stairs and then turns back to face the Agent.

'What is he doing?'

'He is beginning to believe.'

By contrast, the fight scene in 'The Matrix Reloaded' between Neo and the hundreds of Agent Smith clones seems (to me at least) to be largely pointless. What are they fighting for? Where is the threat? What is the objective?

To my mind, it's the same with a lot of the stroke stories you come across. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this if that's what you are looking for - shiny perfect sex with no distractions. But I'd rather have a scene with context any day. I'd rather have 'The Matrix' than hundreds of its sequels.

(I hope this comparison makes some kind of sense.)

delicious_man said:

Why is 'The Matrix' a great film whereas 'The Matrix Reloaded' not so great? After all, there is plenty of excitement and action in both films.

For me the difference is that with the original 'Matrix' film every single fight scene has a context that drives it forwards and makes you, the viewer, fully invested. There is constant threat. Mysteries are unravelled. The stakes are high. Its context that makes the action compelling. Just think about the subway scene as Neo looks to the stairs and then turns back to face the Agent.

'What is he doing?'

'He is beginning to believe.'

By contrast, the fight scene in 'The Matrix Reloaded' between Neo and the hundreds of Agent Smith clones seems (to me at least) to be largely pointless. What are they fighting for? Where is the threat? What is the objective?

To my mind, it's the same with a lot of the stroke stories you come across. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this if that's what you are looking for - shiny perfect sex with no distractions. But I'd rather have a scene with context any day. I'd rather have 'The Matrix' than hundreds of its sequels.

(I hope this comparison makes some kind of sense.)

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This is an excellent example for illustrating this issue, and I completely agree with your take on the movies.

Neither one of these movies is at all "believable", in that both rest upon outlandish premises.

But the first Matrix works because, once you accept the premise, which is revealed about a quarter of the way in, everything in the movie, however ridiculous, plainly is consistent with the premise and propels the movie to the conclusion. The action is believable and plausible within the boundaries of the world that is created.

But in the next two Matrix movies, I felt sort of cheated, because I couldn't tell what the boundaries were, and, in fact, the boundaries seemed to change and almost be made up as the movies went along. It was never clear what was going on with Agent Smith, or the Keymaster, or the Oracle, or the dude who was married to Monica Belluci (who rocks, even if she's just a piece of software). The movies lacked cohesion and believability because the rules that governed them were too plastic. The fight scenes, which were impressively choreographed, lacked the bite of the first movie because their purpose in the movie was more obscure.