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Give 'em what they want?

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Nathan_Brazil

Literotica Guru
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Posts
613
I'm new here, so go ahead and kill me if this topic has previously been beaten to death...but

Having read a few dozen stories now, I've witnessed a disconnect between writer talent/skill in the English language... And ratings.

There are some wonderfully written stories here, and then again, I've witnessed some real garbage-- rated at 4.65.

I suppose this is due to the readers just loving the story and ignoring the facts that the story is a grammatically incorrect mess, and that there is exactly zero new ideas contained within it.

So? Give 'em what they want, or work a bit harder and offer up something more challenging?

Is it worth it?
 
Welcome.

Yes, this has been beat on quite a bit, but that's not your fault.

The answer is to write what you want to write how you want to write it and let the audience that appreciates it find you.

All types of readers here and there is a crowd for every style of story/writing.

Best thing is to keep writing because the more stories you have the faster you build a following that enjoys your work.
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
There are some wonderfully written stories here, and then again, I've witnessed some real garbage-- rated at 4.65.

So? Give 'em what they want, or work a bit harder and offer up something more challenging?

Is it worth it?
Click to expand...

Welcome to the chaos that is the AH.

Yes, it is worth it.
But do not reply wholly on the scores; there are those 'readers' who delight in scoring a good story with a 1, just to be a complete pratt.
Then there are the Trolls.

I suggest you read the 'How to' bits and some of the funnies (interesting to see the styles there), and just write what you want.

Good Luck
.
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
I'm new here, so go ahead and kill me if this topic has previously been beaten to death...but

Having read a few dozen stories now, I've witnessed a disconnect between writer talent/skill in the English language... And ratings.

There are some wonderfully written stories here, and then again, I've witnessed some real garbage-- rated at 4.65.

I suppose this is due to the readers just loving the story and ignoring the facts that the story is a grammatically incorrect mess, and that there is exactly zero new ideas contained within it.

So? Give 'em what they want, or work a bit harder and offer up something more challenging?

Is it worth it?
Click to expand...

In the end, the only reader who matters is you. Do what you want to do. If other readers like it, hey, that's great. But sometimes you write something that you think is great only to get a terrible score, and sometimes you just crap something out to get it out of your head and it ends up being more popular than anything else you've ever done. I think, though, readers tend to appreciate effort. Most of my best scored stories are those that I worked harder on. But in the end, you never know what's going to strike a chord with a reader. And sometimes, a heart-wrenching novel about love during the decline of the Spanish Empire isn't what the reader wants. Sometimes they just want to rub one out to a girl locked outside naked. There's no accounting for taste.
 
And there are plenty who will trash it just because they don't like the particular kink, not whether the story is written badly or not.
 
jaF0 said:
And there are plenty who will trash it just because they don't like the particular kink, not whether the story is written badly or not.
Click to expand...

Yup. Incest, GM and Non con have category trolls that just run up and down hitting every new story.

We'll let him be here awhile before anyone tries to explain Loving wives:eek:
 
Give them what they want?

They don't know what they want.

They do know, vote low and leave abusive comments on what they DON'T want.

Whatever you write, someone will like it, if only you. But many more won't like it.

Just ignore them. Whatever you post on Literotica will be seen by more people than almost anywhere else on the internet.
 
An author may have goals. For high scores and Red H's, pander in a little-read category. For many readers but probably lower scores, pander in a much-read category. For many many readers and tons of feedback guaranteed, post in Loving Wives. And do not expect scores and writing quality to correlate. That's how it goes here.

I used to go for scores. After a bunch of my Red-H stories were one-bombed into oblivion, I decided to go for readers and pissed-off comments. If I provoke a reader enough that they MUST respond then I've done my job.
 
I think also that if the story doesn't give a good enough 'money shot', all the perfect writing in the world doesn't matter. And flowering writing doesn't always get people 'off'.

It makes it hard to try to impress people will stellar writing and pretty prose when people mostly want: 'he shoved his big wiener in her cream pie' mph mph mph. ;)

Big plots, building characters....matter less than the money shot. Or so I've seen in my ratings. Readers are very forgiving about grammar and spelling if they get a kink filled.

To be fair, we're writing free erotica ... kinda hard to expect readers to want something deep and meaningful. (I also write to some of the lesser read categories so my stuff doesn't get much viewership)
 
Last edited:
Join a large voting block. Then it doesn't matter much what you write, you'll have nice comments and high ratings.
 
Most everything has about been covered except the editing/grammar.

Since no one gets paid for writing here, you more or less get what you pay for. I edit as I go and then reread it several times and sometimes i have another writer look at it. That's how most here do it.

Now for stuff that people pay for, I have a very good editor that is paid to do the job.

See the difference.
 
To be honest, I've been reading through these threads for awhile now and had figured out about one bombing and trolls. This is why I set up Nathan... I've actually posted under a different handle. I set this one up just to be able to wade into the pool without getting any on me.

Yeah...I know...

But doesn't it drive you crazy to see middle school quality writing scoring so well sometimes?
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
I'm new here, so go ahead and kill me if this topic has previously been beaten to death...but

Having read a few dozen stories now, I've witnessed a disconnect between writer talent/skill in the English language... And ratings.

There are some wonderfully written stories here, and then again, I've witnessed some real garbage-- rated at 4.65.

I suppose this is due to the readers just loving the story and ignoring the facts that the story is a grammatically incorrect mess, and that there is exactly zero new ideas contained within it.

So? Give 'em what they want, or work a bit harder and offer up something more challenging?

Is it worth it?
Click to expand...

I like Pacofear's Macallan Promises for various reasons. It's very well-written, has equal amounts of kink and I can't think of an area which he didn't write well. It has had a consistent score of about 4.90 ever since (which is a really, really great score by Lit standards).

It's one of the few examples where you can have best of both worlds.
 
Learin said:
I like Pacofear's Macallan Promises for various reasons. It's very well-written, has equal amounts of kink and I can't think of an area which he didn't write well. It has had a consistent score of about 4.90 ever since (which is a really, really great score by Lit standards).

It's one of the few examples where you can have best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

I looked at the story and cant agree with your assessment. I don't wanna see any static verbs unless their use is imperative. I CAN imagine what a grilled steak tastes like, and CAN is the right word till I put a piece of steak in my mouth. Action moves. PACOFEAR gets no 4.90 from me, he gets a 3. I know lots about propane trucks, too, and his report of a tanker careening down a mountain road is incongruent with my fund of experience for propane tankers.
 
MatthewVett said:
In the end, the only reader who matters is you. Do what you want to do.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Write what you want and write it for yourself first of all.

Let's be honest, authors posting here are giving their material for free to a potentially very diverse readership. It's hardly a reflection of the real world of writing so any approval/disapproval needs to be viewed in the same light.

Unless the author's ambition is to be Big on Lit, then what does it matter?
 
Messier82 said:
I couldn't agree more. Write what you want and write it for yourself first of all.

Let's be honest, authors posting here are giving their material for free to a potentially very diverse readership. It's hardly a reflection of the real world of writing so any approval/disapproval needs to be viewed in the same light.

Unless the author's ambition is to be Big on Lit, then what does it matter?
Click to expand...

At LIT the reality is more like writers give away free urine and stool samples.
 
Henry Ford allegedly said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
 
 
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
But doesn't it drive you crazy to see middle school quality writing scoring so well sometimes?
Click to expand...

Yes. I was proud of my scores until I started looking around and realised what kind of stories got similar stores.

But ultimately it doesn't matter. Vote rigging of several kinds, people just having bad days when the vote or loving your story because you happened to use their girlfriend's name, voting sweeps... in the end the score is a random number, at least until a story has been around for a good few years and some of the noise settles out.

The 'wisdom of crowds' thing simply doesn't work here.

If you want to know how you're doing, count Favorites, not scores.
 
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