Introductions and first story feedback

Hi, board! I just had my first story posted last week, and wanted to say hello and ask for feedback. The comments so far are mostly from people who want to know what happens to these characters next, which is encouraging. It's a short story about a couple of college students falling in love, and their first time together:
https://www.literotica.com/s/danis-fandom

I just submitted another story that's kind of in the same vein, which I know is a little softer than the norm here, and I'm working on something smuttier next. Any feedback? Advice for a new member on getting the most out of Literotica? And, any advice on tags and categories? Is Romance the best category for this kind of story?

Also, it looks like tab stops don't come through in text submissions. Am I missing something, or do you have a favorite workaround?

Thanks in advance, and happy new year!

HHC

Welcome. On the tab stops. No, Literotica doesn't use tabs. The presentation look is uniform across the collection, single space, no tabs, extra line feed between the paragraphs.

HushHushCrush said:

Hi, board! I just had my first story posted last week, and wanted to say hello and ask for feedback.

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Nicely done!

I just submitted another story that's kind of in the same vein, which I know is a little softer than the norm here

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Don't worry too much about "the norm". I say this a lot, but: there are a wide variety of tastes on this site, and you will find plenty of readers who enjoy stories that focus on the emotional aspect ahead of the sex.

Re. the "please continue" comments... sometimes it's best to leave 'em wanting more, let the characters enjoy their happy ending, and go on to something in a similar vein but with a fresh plot. I felt you'd done a good job wrapping up the story you were trying to tell, and continuing it just for the sake of appeasing readers might feel a bit forced.

Critical stuff: a few glitches around speech punctuation, and inconsistency with double vs single quotes, but nothing glaring.

Thanks for the tips. Bramblethorn, I agree on letting stories have endings. I just thought it was interesting that the first couple of comments I got were about what happens next. And thanks for the criticism on dialog punctuation, too. I should brush up.

HushHushCrush said:

Thanks for the tips. Bramblethorn, I agree on letting stories have endings. I just thought it was interesting that the first couple of comments I got were about what happens next.

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Yeah, I still get similar comments now and then on a romance I wrote a couple of years back. I'd happily continue it if I had an idea for a satisfying story, but... a big part of that story was people growing and learning stuff about themselves. I don't want to just reboot that character development so I can write a "sequel" with the same conflicts; I'd have to think of some new direction to take it. If anything that's harder than coming up with a brand new story.

(Also, I wrote that one for a lover, and while people were telling me "you should continue this story!" I was in the process of breaking up with the RL muse, so the sequel I would've written might not have been what they were hoping to see...)

Bramblethorn said:

...I wrote that one for a lover, and while people were telling me "you should continue this story!" I was in the process of breaking up with the RL muse...

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Ouch!