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Writing Bad Stories

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John988

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Have you ever written a bad story, knowing it's a bad story? My latest story, Across a Dimly Lit Room, is bad--at least, it's bad from the perspective of entertaining and arousing the average reader. From the perspective of being really weird and probably literary rubbish, it's really good (which is what I meant it to be).

Anyone else ever write something, knowing that only you and two other people are gonna appreciate it? Or am I the only one?
 
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One of my comedic stories in Erotic Couplings, 'Sexy Savannah From Number 9' has a lead male character called Dino, who is a self-pitying, selfish slacker. He is a good example of a jerk protagonist, all sorts of terrible and humiliating things happen to him, but you don't feel an ounce of sympathy for Dino.

I wrote the story in the way a slacker might write the story, but the readers didn't seem to get this and Sexy Savannah From Number 9 was a flop.
 
Not sure what you mean by "bad," but I occasionally write a Loving Wives story deliberately to get the trolls riled up. They never fail to disappoint!
 
From time to time, I engage in what I call a "writing experiment" where I challenge myself with a certain task. Almost always, those stories are poorly-received almost unanimously. I tried to write a story in a classic "sitcom" fashion that failed miserably. I wrote a story following the "Save the Cat" template that actually turned out really well (at least I think so.)

My worst-received story was when I tried to mimic a television serial, with a large cast of characters and multiple storylines that ran in parallel, but intersected from time to time. Readers were extremely confused and couldn't keep track of what was happening.

That last experiment really made me appreciate the writing of George RR Martin. His Game of Thrones series has SO many characters you need a scorecard to keep track of them all. The stories take place in countless locations, and his parallel plot lines may intersect so far apart that it's easy to forget how the plots relate without re-reading. And yet readers have no difficulty whatsoever keeping track of it all. THAT is true talent!

There is nothing wrong with writing a "bad" story every now and then. It's better than to write the same "successful" plot line over and over again, as I've seen too many authors do on this site.
 
Oil Can is quite possibly the most ridiculous story I will ever write.

I started a story where I planned to make every mistake possible (wrong word usage, no continuity between scenes, or within them, impossible character descriptions, etc.), but it never got more than a couple of paragraphs in before I got bored.
 
Jesus, Johnnie - you thought that was BAD?

It reminded me of Hemingway, AND - I read all the way to the end.

I used to work in a library when I was a teenager and into my early twenties...

...have seen a few things no one else would ever believe.

The funniest thing was this INCREDIBLY cute young blonde in a very short denim skirt - she positioned herself in a soft wool lounge seat facing a floor-to-ceiling window. I went outside to get something from me car and as I returned, I could see that she was opening her legs quite deliberately, face in a magazine, and wearing no panties.

It was a very quiet afternoon, pretty hot, hardly anyone around. I went inside (as you would) just to go down that row of shelves to, I dunno, really dunno at the time what I was intending to actually do.

Anyhew - I could see this much older guy, a stock broker I knew very casually, obviously peering in as he walked up from quite a way away (I have very good eyesight - STILL!).

Being the way I am, I just kind of moved away but before I had done, I got a glimpse of a huge pink dildo sticking out of this chick's open handbag at her feet at the side of where she was sitting.

Pretty much guessed what was happening there.
 
Someone posted a request for feedback in the Story Feedback forum for his story was about a guy who was wealthy, powerful and a total jerk who basically raped his wife to start his morning. I thought the author did a poor job of the story and I tried to get across how he could have done it better. Eventually, I decided to re-write the first scene as a challenge to see how well I could write an utterly awful male character. Getting Ready To Close The Deal has a well-deserved 3.32 rating.
 
Carnevil9 said:
Not sure what you mean by "bad," but I occasionally write a Loving Wives story deliberately to get the trolls riled up. They never fail to disappoint!
Click to expand...

I have done this in the past and continue to this day to exactly that...rub the LW factions noses in stuff they don't like.

I have also done a few that I wanted to read, but no one had written. Did they do well? Of course not, only me and three other readers read and voted on them. one 5* and three 1*'s makes for a 2* avg. Blah.
 
John988 said:
Have you ever written a bad story, knowing it's a bad story? My latest story, Across a Dimly Lit Room, is bad--at least, it's bad from the perspective of entertaining and arousing the average reader. From the perspective of being really weird and probably literary rubbish, it's really good (which is what I meant it to be).

Anyone else ever write something, knowing that only you and two other people are gonna appreciate it? Or am I the only one?
Click to expand...

Giving myself "permission to suck" is an important part of writing - without it I'd never post anything because I'd spend forever trying to "perfect" stories. Sometimes I've posted stuff written for my own sake, thinking "nobody else will like this", but usually I've been pleasantly surprised by reactions.
 
Not sure about completely bad, I like to think even most bad stories might have one or two redeeming values, I.E. maybe a bad plot, but good sex scene, or maybe meh, but one character kind of stood out.

Guess its like a game of pool, maybe I lost, but did you see that one really good shot?

I have come to the conclusion not all stories are created equal and its okay if one isn't as good as some others.

In other words they can't all be winners.
 
Bramblethorn said:
Giving myself "permission to suck" is an important part of writing
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It's been important for me to develop that because I'd lose all interest in writing for months whenever I had a story that didn't perform as well as I want my stories to perform.
 
Bramblethorn said:
Giving myself "permission to suck" is an important part of writing - without it I'd never post anything because I'd spend forever trying to "perfect" stories. Sometimes I've posted stuff written for my own sake, thinking "nobody else will like this", but usually I've been pleasantly surprised by reactions.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth.

Honestly, I've been accused of being my own worst critic. I tend to argue with positive votes and comments on virtually all of my efforts more than the negative ones.

One of my newer fans/buddies is still trying to convince me I stuck the ending on "A Final Valentine" instead of limping away from a better ending for the sake of brevity (too fucking late!) and emotional exhaustion.
 
Bramblethorn said:
Giving myself "permission to suck" is an important part of writing
Click to expand...

This is SO true! The first story I published on here isn't actually that awesome (at least I don't think so looking back on it now), but I put a lot of work into it, and it was important to finally say, "You know what, I think this is good enough." I have a big hobby building artistic items out of wood and metal and whatnot, and I had to work really hard to embrace the first (crappy) things I made. That was what I could put out, and I had to be ok with that.

Even the best people started at the bottom, right?
 
Desiremakesmeweak said:
Jesus, Johnnie - you thought that was BAD?

It reminded me of Hemingway, AND - I read all the way to the end.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I just saw your comment on the story and replied to it, but I want to reply to this comment here, too:

"Woah! a comparison to Hemingway? I think that might be a little too generous, but I appreciate it :)"
 
All my stories are super-excellent, thank you very much.
 
I've written a few GOOD bad stories. Does that count?

I wrote a story that had some very steamy sex that didn't happen. I wrote another that was kinda like having sex with a picture of your mother next to the bed. And then there's Debbie.
 
My I said:
I've written a few GOOD bad stories. Does that count?

I wrote a story that had some very steamy sex that didn't happen. I wrote another that was kinda like having sex with a picture of your mother next to the bed. And then there's Debbie.
Click to expand...

Are good bad stories like B horror movies, like creature double feature? So bad they're good...schlock stories.
 
lovecraft68 said:
Are good bad stories like B horror movies, like creature double feature? So bad they're good...schlock stories.
Click to expand...

Nooo.... It's more like when someone reads them and really understands it, they say, "Ooooooo... You are SOOOO bad."

Read Agnes of God and you'll see what I mean. :)

BTW: Is turning O. Henry into porn bad? :devil:
 
"The Faceless Executioner". I knew it was rushed and the main character had the charisma of an oil pan. I should have left it gestate for a few more months. Some parts are pretty good, some are horribly disjointed.

In the end it was a learning experience on how not to write. Don't force it, don't write in too many small sessions with months-long breaks.
 
I wrote a sci-fi story that I knew would only entertain myself.

I was experimenting with different narrative voices. Everyone in the story speaks 'normally' and one character speaks as if she's in an overly dramatic tela-novella.

It's also pretty silly and violent with the same person (sort of) being assassinated by herself over and over again.

I enjoyed writing it, but I knew going in that it wouldn't really work as an enjoyable story for the general reader.
 
John988 said:
Thank you so much! I just saw your comment on the story and replied to it, but I want to reply to this comment here, too:

"Woah! a comparison to Hemingway? I think that might be a little too generous, but I appreciate it :)"
Click to expand...

No, seriously. Hemingway does this same kind of thing with timing, pacing using prose - you get the sense of a languid passage of time, and there's always reflection, time or 'space' in the narrative for reflection and some kind of 'throw' to Nature or the meaning of Life and so on.

And given that you are delving into a fairly constricted format - and especially in these modern times when people have little or no patience - all in all this was a very good, relaxed, classic-style short story.

We could all ask, could Hemingway have dealt with today and the hyper-active mentality and lack of attention span - of course he could do, but that's not the point, he would still HAVE to in all practicality: he above all people would acknowledge the fact of the person actually in the ring doing the fighting. Which was/is you.

So no, it was not necessarily 'too' generous. You possess the quality of delivery all right.

None of us have a publisher though except the pilot and Hillary had him shot so that only Christopher Steele remains as the sole published-for-money adult 'fiction writer/author' in the world today.

So being Hemingway is only for points. Steele is no Hemingway, that's for certain.

(Ya gotta larf sometimes, doncha).
 
Some people said my stories was bad but the boss says thats cause they don't get it and stuff but I didn't really write 'em anyway cause I'm just a figgy mint and stuff.

Debbie :heart:
 
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