There's NO bad author's on Lit

E

Exescort

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Having been on here for nine months, I've just had my sixth story published.
In two days it's had six thousand nine hundred views! The average score is four point three, one from sixty one votes.
That's an absolutely amazing performance from someone with no academic qualifications. I'm so proud of myself as I've been self teaching from the moment I arrived here.
That's what brings me to post this thread.
There are many academically perfect writers here who turn out wonderfully written pieces, yet for me, lack substance and reality that I can relate to. I wouldn't vote on a piece I found to be of no interest to me.
Then there are those whom write from the heart, have grammar, tensing and punctuation errors littered throughout. Some of these really spark my imagination and I gladly score fives regularly on imperfect pieces due to the contents and the reality of imaginative content as it relates to me.
That's what brings me here. Do you, as an accomplished author on here, vote with your heart or purely from an academic perspective?
 
Writing is a lifelong apprenticeship. No one can make you a better writer but you.

The best way to write better stories is to read better stories.

I thought by earning my degree in English with Creative Writing and English Literature minors that I'd be a better writer. It didn't. Instead of writing, all I did was read, as many as two books a day. Other than term papers, I didn't write a damn thing in college. Now, stories pour out of me like projectile vomit.

The best way to be a better writer is to write. Writing isn't easy. Writing is hard. Either you can write or you can't. Either you possess the discipline to sit alone for hours or you don't. Either you're willing to sacrifice your family, your friends, and having fun to write or you won't.

The best writing is inspired writing. Inspiration takes years to draw upon and to turn off and on but now I can leave my window of inspiration open for as long as I want and need. I never stare at a blank page while wondering what to write. I just start writing.

I write every day, 7 days a week from 4:30 am until noon. Then, I answer e-mails. Writing is my full-time job. Writing is what I want to do and love to do. I'm lucky that I'm able to support myself by writing stories.

Good luck with your writing. We're all rooting for you. We're all here for you as your personal sounding board.
 
Thanks Susan, I feel I'm not a writer, but I have an author inside of me that's trying to get out!
I'm a million years away from that yet, but the effort is real, though slightly hampered by inability.
I'll take heart from your words of encouragement and read more.
Do accomplished people like yourself vote on people like myself's efforts?
 
Your question

O.Q.
Do you, as an accomplished author on here, vote with your heart or purely from an academic perspective?

A 1 says 'I hated it'.
A 5 says 'Loved it- one of the best'.

I have many reasons for loving or hating a piece, and these reasons are uniquely my own. I might hate a piece because it was written by a racist... or because it normalises rape or misogyny. I might hate a piece because it is written at middle school level. I might even hate a story because it fucking bores me.

I might love it for the same reasons. Do you see what I'm saying here?

All of us rate subjectively and that's just the way it is.
 
Thanks Susan, I feel I'm not a writer, but I have an author inside of me that's trying to get out!
I'm a million years away from that yet, but the effort is real, though slightly hampered by inability.
I'll take heart from your words of encouragement and read more.
Do accomplished people like yourself vote on people like myself's efforts?

I used to read stories here before I started writing stories here. I always thought that I could write a better story than what was written. Now, too busy writing stories, I seldom read anyone else's story.

Yet, the best way for you to become a better writer is to read all of my more than 2,200 stories and poems of more than 10 million words that I've written under 14 different names and vote five for them.

"Hey, I'm only trying to help (lol)."

Actually, you can never go wrong by writing what you feel and how you feel. When you get stuck while wondering what to write, take your story to bed with you. Make the last thought you have before closing your eyes your story. Trust me. When you awaken the next morning, with your brain percolating your story during the night, you won't be able to type fast enough to write all that's in your mind.

This writing technique make take some practice but it really works.
 
I used to read stories here before I started writing stories here. I always thought that I could write a better story than what was written. Now, too busy writing stories, I seldom read anyone else's story.

Yet, the best way for you to become a better writer is to read all of my more than 2,200 stories and poems of more than 10 million words that I've written under 14 different names and vote five for them.

"Hey, I'm only trying to help (lol)."

Actually, you can never go wrong by writing what you feel and how you feel. When you get stuck while wondering what to write, take your story to bed with you. Make the last thought you have before closing your eyes your story. Trust me. When you awaken the next morning, with your brain percolating your story during the night, you won't be able to type fast enough to write all that's in your mind.

This writing technique make take some practice but it really works.

Blow your own trumpet baby lol
I will be reading some though, thanks for your thoughts it's appreciated
 
O.Q.
Do you, as an accomplished author on here, vote with your heart or purely from an academic perspective?

A 1 says 'I hated it'.
A 5 says 'Loved it- one of the best'.

I have many reasons for loving or hating a piece, and these reasons are uniquely my own. I might hate a piece because it was written by a racist... or because it normalises rape or misogyny. I might hate a piece because it is written at middle school level. I might even hate a story because it fucking bores me.

I might love it for the same reasons. Do you see what I'm saying here?

All of us rate subjectively and that's just the way it is.

I understand this answer completely, this is what I thought.
I'd never score a one, but that's just my fear of offending an other probably.
Basically I only score a five if I love the story otherwise I'm reluctant to score but that's probably because I feel unable to judge on an academic level, so score only on content.
That's kinda what I was asking in the OP.
 
Is enjoyment of fiction (erotic or not) entirely subjective? If I dislike a work, is it because it is "bad", or just not to my taste?

As an author, it sometimes annoys me to see readers criticise a work (mine or anyone else's) because it didn't contain the elements the reader was specifically looking for. It's not a bad story just because the reader's particular fetish wasn't catered for in the narrative! If someone tells me they didn't like my story because the main character wasn't arrested and dominated by a corrupt officer of the law, well, sorry guy, it's just not that type of story, maybe keep looking until you find one you do like?

But valid criticism is just that, valid. If a story is hard to enjoy because of flat characters, clunky dialogue, unrealistic anatomical descriptions and so on, that is something for the author to work on. No matter whether it's written "from the heart" or as an exercise in pure technicality, if it's actually difficult to enjoy because the author has neglected basic storytelling, it's "bad". And if they haven't even bothered to spellcheck it or set it out consistently, it's not unreasonable to point this out. Every word processing programme comes with a spellchecker and anyone who has read a book more advanced than 'See Spot Run' knows how dialogue and paragraphs are supposed to look on the page, so I'm not going to give any writer of any sort of fiction a pass on this, no matter how much their work comes "from the heart", if the problems are down to pure laziness on their part.
 
Basically I only score a five if I love the story otherwise I'm reluctant to score but that's probably because I feel unable to judge on an academic level, so score only on content.

Not one of the star descriptions says ANYTHING about "academic level" or content or quality. All are simply degrees of "like".

Like you, I often don't vote. My criteria are simple. If I can read a story all the way to the end it earns 5*. If it gives me wood it earns 5* even if I can't finish it. Otherwise, I don't vote for that story.

If I have any opinion at all about the story itself, I write the kind of comment I would like to get if it were my own story. If I can't think of anything good, but I want to encourage the writer, I give them some sort of "attaboy".

rj
 
Not one of the star descriptions says ANYTHING about "academic level" or content or quality. All are simply degrees of "like".

Like you, I often don't vote. My criteria are simple. If I can read a story all the way to the end it earns 5*. If it gives me wood it earns 5* even if I can't finish it. Otherwise, I don't vote for that story.

If I have any opinion at all about the story itself, I write the kind of comment I would like to get if it were my own story. If I can't think of anything good, but I want to encourage the writer, I give them some sort of "attaboy".

rj

I have to agree with rj on this question. As an author I know that a four can pull a story's score down. I'm reluctant to do that to anyone. If I enjoy the story, or am impressed by it, it gets a five. If there is something truly loathsome about it, I might give it a one, but I don't recall ever actually doing that. If it is anywhere in between, I may comment, but I don't vote.
 
There is no such thing as perfect.

Having been on here for nine months, I've just had my sixth story published.
In two days it's had six thousand nine hundred views! The average score is four point three, one from sixty one votes.
That's an absolutely amazing performance from someone with no academic qualifications. I'm so proud of myself as I've been self teaching from the moment I arrived here.
That's what brings me to post this thread.
There are many academically perfect writers here who turn out wonderfully written pieces, yet for me, lack substance and reality that I can relate to. I wouldn't vote on a piece I found to be of no interest to me.
Then there are those whom write from the heart, have grammar, tensing and punctuation errors littered throughout. Some of these really spark my imagination and I gladly score fives regularly on imperfect pieces due to the contents and the reality of imaginative content as it relates to me.
That's what brings me here. Do you, as an accomplished author on here, vote with your heart or purely from an academic perspective?
 
I rarely comment, although I can often vote.
I do not consider myself a good enough writer to comment on another's work.
But I'm working on it
 
I rarely comment, although I can often vote.
I do not consider myself a good enough writer to comment on another's work.
But I'm working on it

The Comments are for READER feedback. Are you a good enough reader to comment on another's work?

rj
 
I'm not much of a writer, although I've been working on it for quite awhile. On the other hand, I'm one heck of a reader. But, I've been working on that almost two decades longer.

My votes (and comments) come from my perceived expertise as a reader rather than my perceived flaws as a writer. My attempts to be better at telling a story are reserved for my attempts at writing or the "Story Feedback Forum" where it is requested. And I don't often do that since typically if you get ten writers together, they will not agree on very much about how something should be written.

Which is a good thing! Because how boring would it be if every song sounded the same?

"1970s all day every day ABBA station here bringing you all the hits that matter!"
 
I believe I have a responsibility, if I'm choosing to rate another person's work, to rate it appropriately in the context of that work. If, for example, a piece is categorized as incest or fetish or other categories I have a harder time relating to, I'm not going to give it a lower rating just because of my subjective preference. Sure, my subjective preference is always going to be a factor in my enthusiasm, but I won't de-value a piece of art exclusively because it isn't to my taste. Just because I don't like Picasso's style of art doesn't mean his work doesn't deserve my respect.
 
Not one of the star descriptions says ANYTHING about "academic level" or content or quality. All are simply degrees of "like".

Like you, I often don't vote. My criteria are simple. If I can read a story all the way to the end it earns 5*. If it gives me wood it earns 5* even if I can't finish it. Otherwise, I don't vote for that story.

If I have any opinion at all about the story itself, I write the kind of comment I would like to get if it were my own story. If I can't think of anything good, but I want to encourage the writer, I give them some sort of "attaboy".

rj

Star descriptions? This is a thing?
Why have I never seen this?
I totally agree about the comments. I love commenting and receiving comments, I think they’re far more important than any scoring. People who comment give an open opinion that you and others can digest, whether you agree or not, it’s that individuals opinion and that matters.
 
I rarely comment, although I can often vote.
I do not consider myself a good enough writer to comment on another's work.
But I'm working on it

Handley, I say if you are going to score, then it’s paramount you comment.
If you give a score on a work the author believes to be quite accomplished yet you disagree perhaps, then you should be polite and explain yourself. That’s my belief anyways.
That’s why I’m more inclined to comment than score, in my option it’s more honest.
 
I have to agree with rj on this question. As an author I know that a four can pull a story's score down. I'm reluctant to do that to anyone. If I enjoy the story, or am impressed by it, it gets a five. If there is something truly loathsome about it, I might give it a one, but I don't recall ever actually doing that. If it is anywhere in between, I may comment, but I don't vote.

I’m with you On this, I think the 4 is the cruelest of all, it’s little just pulling that red HOT just outta reach lol, I can touch it, eek, no it’s moved farther away, aaaargh
 
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I believe I have a responsibility, if I'm choosing to rate another person's work, to rate it appropriately in the context of that work. If, for example, a piece is categorized as incest or fetish or other categories I have a harder time relating to, I'm not going to give it a lower rating just because of my subjective preference. Sure, my subjective preference is always going to be a factor in my enthusiasm, but I won't de-value a piece of art exclusively because it isn't to my taste. Just because I don't like Picasso's style of art doesn't mean his work doesn't deserve my respect.

Personally I can’t stand Picasso’s overpriced, overrated scribbles, buy you wanna pay ten million, who am I to argue.
As for subjective preference that’s a different question altogether?
I’d never read anything from categories that I’ve no interest in, therefore I’d never score or comment. So that’s a neutral cop out answer you’ve given, is it not, Damoiselle?
However should you be French, then anything you say is totally correct, can I fetch you some tea? Here, take my chair, would you like some cake? 😍
 
I'm not much of a writer, although I've been working on it for quite awhile. On the other hand, I'm one heck of a reader. But, I've been working on that almost two decades longer.

My votes (and comments) come from my perceived expertise as a reader rather than my perceived flaws as a writer. My attempts to be better at telling a story are reserved for my attempts at writing or the "Story Feedback Forum" where it is requested. And I don't often do that since typically if you get ten writers together, they will not agree on very much about how something should be written.

Which is a good thing! Because how boring would it be if every song sounded the same?

"1970s all day every day ABBA station here bringing you all the hits that matter!"

So you perceive yourself to be an author in learning, yet expert enough in reading to comment and score in the belief your opinion counts?
Isn’t that rather hypocritical?
 
Don't fear the 1 bomb.

Did you hate a story here?

Give it a 1.

Something encouraged you to try the story. Maybe it was the name, or the category, or the author's past efforts...
So now you have a bad taste in your mouth and are afraid to give your opinion??

Buck up... give it a 1.
 
Did you hate a story here?

Give it a 1.

Something encouraged you to try the story. Maybe it was the name, or the category, or the author's past efforts...
So now you have a bad taste in your mouth and are afraid to give your opinion??

Buck up... give it a 1.

Oh NO!
I could never do that to anyone!
Yikes, have you scored a 1.
Oh I just couldn’t, EVER
 
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