'New Writer' Assumption

Something I did notice when I began writing for this site, is a lot of people were surprised that my stories were of a certain quality, having never written on this site before.

I honestly do find it funny, because it seems like people think that 'first-time writer here on literotica' equates to 'first-time writer, ever'. In reality, I've written for years, just not here.

I get that the site doubtless has more new writers, than (admitted) professional or amateur ones, but why the assumption that someone's first story here is their first-ever story? I don't personally get it.

It's no big thing to me, I'm just curious what everyone thinks about it.
Has anyone else encountered this?

I have not encountered that

It goes with an oft-demonstrated belief that everyone is posting stories here to develop their art and therefore just love volunteered guidance from undocumented strangers on how/what they should write.

KeithD said:

It goes with an oft-demonstrated belief that everyone is posting stories here to develop their art and therefore just love volunteered guidance from undocumented strangers on how/what they should write.

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Lol that's possible.

TriadWriter said:

It's no big thing to me, I'm just curious what everyone thinks about it.
Has anyone else encountered this?

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I'd been a commercial business /project management writer for decades before having a shot at fiction for the first time, here on Literotica, so I at least knew how to string a coherent sentence together. Never once have I received a, "You must be new to writing" comment, even though, for fiction and certainly erotica, I was.

After a dozen or so stories I started to get comments along the lines of, "This makes a pleasant change from the norm around here," which was quite pleasing, as well as confirming the notion of quite variable writing standards here on Lit.

Mind you, I'm sure there's folk who think I still can't write, but they're kind, and don't say it .

They might just be surprised that good writers post dirty stories for anonymous perverts. I've had people assume that my handle is my real name, that all of my stories are based on my experiences, and that because I write a certain way that I must have been a Literature Major. None of those are true, but sometimes authors become characters in a reader's mind. We only materialize into the world when they first read our work.

Alice_Rosaleen said:

They might just be surprised that good writers post dirty stories for anonymous perverts. I've had people assume that my handle is my real name, that all of my stories are based on my experiences, and that because I write a certain way that I must have been a Literature Major. None of those are true, but sometimes authors become characters in a reader's mind. We only materialize into the world when they first read our work.

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Very well put.

Good writers, bad writers - they can all make a mess of it. Good writers can be so dense with their writing, or not write to tell the story well. Sometimes the not so good writers tell a better story. I think it is a way of communicating the readers interest and encourages more from the writer to say it is an appreciated first effort. I really don't like the word writer- I prefer story teller. Grammer etc isn't so important, It's the life in the story that matters. I sometimes have thought good "writers " are often mediocre story tellers because they're chained to so many rules. Their work is so smooth, runs like an idling engine that is well serviced, unstressed and induces sleep very quickly. It often doesn't have the rumble and guts of an unpredictable v8, a good story teller. So, every new contributor deserves to be reassured their effort is appreciated, if it is. The flaws are often revealed in the same message. Kind of like a shit sandwich but I think it mostly means well.

I think that it helps to remember who is making the 'judgements'. Even if all of the proper writers here read occasionally, they are still well and truly out-numbered by the readers who never write. Who will never write. Who - judging by their comments - will never be able to write.

A year or so back, I got a couple of comments within a few hours of each other. The first said: Another fucking idiot who cant tell a comma from his ass. The second said: I suspect that this is the work of a proper writer, probably a newspaper columnist who is using this as a chance to try out some new ideas. Five stars.

It was the same story. The only difference was the readers.