New to writing stories here

LikeableMe

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I just submitted my first story to the site - not sure whether it will be accepted, but it feels quite exciting to have given it a go! It was my first time writing an erotic piece, the only writing I've done before that was even remotely sexual has been whilst cybering. I decided to stick with what I know and wrote a true story.

Anyone got any advice/tips for someone just starting to branch out into erotic writing?
 
The biggest thing I would say is set it free. Both in the telling and once it's told.

Writing a story, all art really, is a popularity game once the work is complete. An individual likes it or they don't. Personally, I think Van Gogh needed his meds adjusted although that might have been just licking the tip of his paint brushes.

Tell the story you want to tell. Or the story that picks you to tell it.

Post it and be damned (and praised) with the rest of us.

Learn from the effort and make the next one better.

And only the very best wishes for you as you choose to join our addiction to smudged ink and trying to find that one right word. :rose::cool:
 
Congratulations on posting a story!

As for advice, I don't have anything except to write what you like.
 
Find an editor, or at least a beta reader. Even if you are confident in your grammar and punctuation, a second set of eyes can be invaluable. I recently rewrote a story before submission because the beta reader didn't get the point I was trying to make. I had been WAY too subtle. It was the right choice, and that beta reader saved my story.
 
Like I always say, imagine a story like a tv show or movie. Make it easy for the reader to visualize.

And the most important thing in erotica is a good hook. If it's two people randomly having sex, or they've have normal sex like always, it's boring. It's hot if there's something unique or taboo about it.
 
Anyone got any advice/tips for someone just starting to branch out into erotic writing?

I always like to see a core of truth in every story, even if it's just the tiniest part - it shows. Write from the heart, wear it on your sleeve, don't be afraid. Write believable characters and give them motivation to do what they're doing.

Pay attention to the fundamentals of the craft of writing, grammar, punctuation, editing - readers want to see your writing style, not your writing mistakes. Make it shine, but don't polish it so much it becomes dull.

Oh, and write. And when you've written that piece, finish it, tidy it up, make it the best copy you can, publish it and let it go. Then write the next piece, and the next. After a while you'll find your style, your favourite themes, and your audience will come (hopefully, often...).
 
I just submitted my first story to the site - not sure whether it will be accepted, but it feels quite exciting to have given it a go! It was my first time writing an erotic piece, the only writing I've done before that was even remotely sexual has been whilst cybering. I decided to stick with what I know and wrote a true story.

Anyone got any advice/tips for someone just starting to branch out into erotic writing?

Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of being open. Don't be afraid of taking risks. Don't be afraid of embarrassing yourself.

A pragmatic tip: Read your story aloud to yourself. You will hear things that you will not notice on the screen, for better or for worse.
 
Congratulations. I just posted my first two stories too. Both I wrote a few years ago, but finally had the nerve to post.

I hope you get great feedback.
 
I just posted my 5th story (on Lit, anyway).

Advice:

1) I agree about the editor/beta reader. I edit my own, run through spell check and Grammarly, and STILL there are mistakes I miss. Most commonly - words that are spelled correctly, but are the wrong word. Grammarly picks up a lot of them, but not all. Other common wording mistakes happen when you are editing. For instance, when you change a phrase, but don't remove the whole first phrase.

2) Read good stories. "Good readers make good writers" as they say. There are some damn good stories on Lit. Read some Hall of Famers or find authors you like and read through their stories.

3) Write what you want, how you want it - and don't fret over ratings. You can't or it will drive you nuts.

4) Definitely read your story out loud. You can record it and listen to it, too. Or even have someone else read it to you. For me, dialogue is what I like to read out loud. Sometimes words that would great written, fall flat when spoken. Or you come to the realization that no one would actually say those words. (The biggest difference between characters thoughts and the dialogue).

5) HAVE FUN!

Good luck.
 
Start your story with an interesting scene. Don't start your story with lots of narrative summary that buries your reader with background.
 
I just submitted my first story to the site - not sure whether it will be accepted, but it feels quite exciting to have given it a go! It was my first time writing an erotic piece, the only writing I've done before that was even remotely sexual has been whilst cybering. I decided to stick with what I know and wrote a true story.

Anyone got any advice/tips for someone just starting to branch out into erotic writing?

Congratulations on writing your first erotic story and submitting it to the site. I think that true stories are the best! ;) It's OK if you it's mostly based on a true story and deviated a little off of the truth......add a little more fantasy (or what you wished happened) to the story. I look forward to seeing/reading the story on Lit. Please keep us posted when it gets posted on the site. Again congratulations and look forward to reading more stories from you.
 
Thank you for all the replies! I will definitely remember them if I decide to write another erotic story in future. I received the rejection message today. I’m not sure why, the two bullet points in the rejection message didn’t apply to my piece, so perhaps there’s a standard template for rejecting stories..

Good luck to anyone else submitting anything, and congrats to everyone who has!
 
I never had a story rejected so I'm not sure but I believe I've heard it is in a standard template so it won't be specific to your story. Unless it's banned content like snuff, bestiality, or sexual conduct for characters under 18 it is usually grammar/spelling. If that's all it shouldn't be hard to clean up I'd guess, perhaps aided by a volunteer editor.
 
None of that is in it, and the spelling and grammar is fine!

Bit of a knock to the confidence as it was a true story, so even if I do decide to write again at some point, I don’t think I’d try that same story again.

Never mind, I was starting to have doubts about whether I wanted the story published anyway, and I enjoyed writing it - so I guess it served a purpose!
 
None of that is in it, and the spelling and grammar is fine!

Bit of a knock to the confidence as it was a true story, so even if I do decide to write again at some point, I don’t think I’d try that same story again.

Never mind, I was starting to have doubts about whether I wanted the story published anyway, and I enjoyed writing it - so I guess it served a purpose!

The sole submissions editor has to scan a humongous number of stories a day to keep up with submissions. She does occasionally assume something is wrong with a story that isn't. If you are interested in completing the submission here, don't be coy. Be more explicit in what it was rejected for (in most of the cases that someone has run a post through here saying what the editor said was wrong with their story wasn't really wrong, the poster was wrong. Something really was off with the story) and maybe you'll either get help correcting it or assurances that you can just return it with a note that what the editor thinks is in there isn't. (I've had to do that a few times and I've never had to change what I originally wrote in those cases.)

Just keep mentioning on the board that you had a story rejected that shouldn't have been, beside quite possibly not being true, isn't going to get it published here--or get much sympathy.

We've had posters say their story was rejected for including underage when, as the case unfolded, they had a child in the story watching adults having sex and the child getting aroused--and the writer not realizing that this is a child being involved sex.
 
I’m not seeking sympathy at all, as I said, I was beginning to have doubts so there is an element of relief.

There is no suggestion of anyone being underage in my story - the youngest person in it was myself, at 22 years of age. It seemed like a generic reply, it said dialogue should be separated into paragraphs. There isn’t much dialogue in my piece, it was a story where everything had to happen as silently as possible. Grammar was mentioned, but I know the grammar is fine - it was checked by more than one person. I’m at a loss to understand why, but I’m genuinely not disappointed enough to analyse it either. I’m not attempting to get the decision reversed either, I just didn’t want to ignore everyone who had written to me here, so I gave the update.
 
I’m not seeking sympathy at all, as I said, I was beginning to have doubts so there is an element of relief.

There is no suggestion of anyone being underage in my story - the youngest person in it was myself, at 22 years of age. It seemed like a generic reply, it said dialogue should be separated into paragraphs. There isn’t much dialogue in my piece, it was a story where everything had to happen as silently as possible. Grammar was mentioned, but I know the grammar is fine - it was checked by more than one person. I’m at a loss to understand why, but I’m genuinely not disappointed enough to analyse it either. I’m not attempting to get the decision reversed either, I just didn’t want to ignore everyone who had written to me here, so I gave the update.

Yes, the site selects from a few generic replies for most rejections. There's one for violence, one for under-age, one for grammar issues, etc. Sounds like you got the standard grammar rejection. That will list all the common reasons for grammar-based rejection, but it's quite likely that only one of them is relevant to why your story got bounced.

I'd recommend looking through that notice to see if any of the points listed apply to your story, fixing any that do, and then resubmitting. If you really can't find anything, you could DM Laurel or resubmit with a note saying that you've checked for all those issues and can't see anything, or ask another author to give it a quick look over - sometimes beta readers do miss things.
 
Grammar was mentioned, but I know the grammar is fine - it was checked by more than one person.

I'm sorry, but I'm a professional book editor, university certificates and all, and I don't know that my grammar is fine in everything I write--even after another editor has been through it. I grimace every time that's asserted on the forum because nearly every time the writer then has provided examples, the grammar has been really bad--which it generally has to be for the submissions editor to have honed in on the issue in the first place. The adage that applies is "You don't know what you don't know--not even if you assert you know it all."

The point is, either demonstrate what the issue is on the forum, or don't bring it to the forum--repeatedly. No one can help you with what you don't back up with example.

On the paragraph issue, either you separated separate dialogue into different paragraphs or you didn't. If you didn't and you now do, you might be able to get the story published with minimum fuss and without coming to the forum to complain but not in a way that anyone could help you.
 
I just submitted my first story to the site - not sure whether it will be accepted, but it feels quite exciting to have given it a go! It was my first time writing an erotic piece, the only writing I've done before that was even remotely sexual has been whilst cybering. I decided to stick with what I know and wrote a true story.

Anyone got any advice/tips for someone just starting to branch out into erotic writing?

I started writing in order to make contact with the opposite sex on another site. Messages were limited to 5000 characters so it had to be enticing and concise. I would set a scene and leave a lot to my readers imagination trying to leave my readers wanting more.
 
I’m really confused by some of the responses here, and feeling a little attacked. I stated the story was checked by more than one person - I didn’t rely on only my eye to proof read. I simply said it was rejected to explain why I wasn’t continuing with the thread topic. I also had a few PMs from people asking me to let them know when it was published, so I stated it wasn’t accepted here, in order to stop those PMs coming.

I’ve even stated, quite clearly, that I enjoyed writing it so it served a purpose, and that I wasn’t even certain I wanted it published. I’m not as invested in this as some of these responses suggest. I wrote a story, I enjoyed writing it, I’m happy I did it and I’m not phased at all that it wasn’t accepted. It does not bother me at all. I am not analysing why it was rejected, and I don’t want to re-submit the particular story, because as I had stated - I had started to wonder whether I really wanted a true story told on the site.

I’m just repeating myself now, but I simply wanted to post the update that it hadn’t been accepted, and to leave it there. I am not seeking help with it, I am not trying to re-submit it, I am happy leaving it as a story just for me and anyone I decide to personally share it with later. I’m not angry, upset, moaning etc, I honestly have no feelings whatsoever about it being rejected. It was just a completely unemotional update to a thread I started. I only mentioned what the response said because I was asked.

That’s it. I got what I wanted out of the story, and i think I’ve been quite positive about the rejection, and have even said it was a relief in the end. I’m not sure why it’s even being suggested that I’m upset or questioning it, or asking for help or trying to get it accepted. I am really not. It’s just a story, that I wrote for myself. It does not matter at all in the grand scheme of things. It’s just that - an update and nothing more.

Happy writing everyone :)
 
I’m really confused by some of the responses here, and feeling a little attacked.

LM, I'm so sorry you feel this way. Writing is an art form, and artists can be passionate. It can be hard to understand or accept when another writer's emotional investment is different than our own. We expect people to be stung by rejection. Sometimes we interpret their responses based on those expectations. And in the imperfect medium of forum posts, sometimes we infer meanings that weren't intended.

This is normally a very supportive community on the AH forum. But we're not perfect. I don't think anyone here would ever intentionally discourage you from writing for whatever purpose makes you happy. I hope we'll see you back here again.
 
Read through and I wouldn't be feeling attacked by anything here. Valid points and sr71 summed up the grammar issue pretty succinctly. It's a common problem with first tie story posters. My first story was rejected three or four times with different reasons including grammar (once) and plagiarism (a couple of times which it was coz I didn't know better) but I just kept working at it till it got accepted. I didn't know the Authors Hangout existed back then so I didn't ask for or get any help.

So congrats on your first story and all I'd say is read the comments here and go back and take a look. If it's not so obvious to you post a sample here or ask for someone here to take a quick look. You'll get honest answers although sometimes they can be a bit brutal. But nobody will bullshit you.
 
It hurts to get that rejection letter. You put so much of yourself into the work and then to have someone just tell you it sucks in some way you can't see? That HURTS!

The remedy isn't to run away and hide in your room. The remedy is to fix whatever the problem is, write a new story, or.find a different publisher to submit the work to.

You think your story is worth publishing? Great! Go ask for a beta reader/editor for help. Have someone review it with an eye toward the rejection issue. When they're done, read their suggestions and correct (or not - it is your story after all) what needs fixing and resubmit it.

Laurel doesn't care that it was rejected once before. We don't care either. What we and the world want is to read your story. The only person who can let us do that, is you.

So, help us out here. Get that puppy reviewed and resubmitted.
 
None of that is in it, and the spelling and grammar is fine!

Bit of a knock to the confidence as it was a true story, so even if I do decide to write again at some point, I don’t think I’d try that same story again.

Never mind, I was starting to have doubts about whether I wanted the story published anyway, and I enjoyed writing it - so I guess it served a purpose!
Please don't think of it that way.

When I wrote my first chapter, it got rejected twice. The same boilerplate template was provided as a reason. I had to do some sleuthing around to figure out what was the reason. The primary reason in my case was that, Lit requires that you MUST have each dialogue line on a new line. Unless its one continuous dialogue from the same character.

Don't give up. Please continue to attempt. You will get there!
 
For the group:

I have seen stories published here that have horrendous formatting and grammar, so I wonder if moderators for each section have different criteria. If so, which sections have the more stringent standards?
 
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