February Sucks in LW

[NoTalentHack]

The story doesn't have to ring true.... BTW... you are speaking for yourself. Not a lot of people. That's how rumours start. We quote spomething you overheard somebody saying to somebody else, that they heard from a friend of a friend...
What you said was only your opinion... Your view...

You keep saying that like it invalidates my reaction, or because you've talked to George and understood what he was going for (and agreed with it) that it makes yours, or even his, opinion more valid. Art is subjective, as is the reaction to it.

As to how many people liked and disliked it, or whether it's a majority, etc. It's the only story that's come close to generating as much furor as it has. Given that scores are one of the few ways we have to evaluate stories here, and that most of the FS continuations/reworks score higher--some significantly higher--than the original, we can actually use words like "a lot" and "many," at least within the context of people that read FS stories. And given that some of them have as many or more views than the "canon" one, it's not simply a matter of fewer, more invested readers voting and skewing the results.

Scores are weakly correlated to quality here, in my opinion, so I'm not saying that they are better stories. But more well-liked? Almost certainly. And the ones that either try to address the plot inconsistencies in the story or go in a direction that removes them from the equation do better than those that don't, overall.

It's fiction...
The author can develop whatever scenario they want....
Characters in fiction are free to react... act as they see fit.

Yup. And readers can say, "Wow, I really didn't like that, because this, that and the other reason." Or even, "Wow, I really liked it, but some of it didn't make a lick of sense."

If you didn't like the story line. Then don't read it.

As I've said multiple times, I enjoyed the story. Loved it, even. That doesn't make it exempt from criticism. Some people have faves that are problematic because of their politics or the people that write them; some people have faves that are problematic for structural reasons. FS falls into the latter for me.

 

[Cagivagurl]

You keep saying that like it invalidates my reaction, or because you've talked to George and understood what he was going for (and agreed with it) that it makes yours, or even his, opinion more valid. Art is subjective, as is the reaction to it.

As to how many people liked and disliked it, or whether it's a majority, etc. It's the only story that's come close to generating as much furor as it has. Given that scores are one of the few ways we have to evaluate stories here, and that most of the FS continuations/reworks score higher--some significantly higher--than the original, we can actually use words like "a lot" and "many," at least within the context of people that read FS stories. And given that some of them have as many or more views than the "canon" one, it's not simply a matter of fewer, more invested readers voting and skewing the results.

Scores are weakly correlated to quality here, in my opinion, so I'm not saying that they are better stories. But more well-liked? Almost certainly. And the ones that either try to address the plot inconsistencies in the story or go in a direction that removes them from the equation do better than those that don't, overall.



Yup. And readers can say, "Wow, I really didn't like that, because this, that and the other reason." Or even, "Wow, I really liked it, but some of it didn't make a lick of sense."



As I've said multiple times, I enjoyed the story. Loved it, even. That doesn't make it exempt from criticism. Some people have faves that are problematic because of their politics or the people that write them; some people have faves that are problematic for structural reasons. FS falls into the latter for me.

Whether the story was good, bad, liked or disliked isn't in question. It is what it is...
it was however George's story. His intellectual property. What you or I thought about it is totally irrelevant.
The story, is loved by many. It was (IMO) Well written, and told the story he wanted to tell.

IMO... Scores, who cares...

What does matter is politeness, and ethics... How we act as human beings, members of the human race.

A writers work, is theirs alone. You don't have to like it, but you have to respect their right to tell it. (So long as it fits withing society's rules) We are expected to abide by the rules of common decency...

I will say it again. Ignorance, is no defence.

BTW... I never said your opinion didn't matter, or that it's invalid. All I am saying is... You speak only for yourself... You are, like I am here. Offering nothing more than an opinion.

Cagivagurl

 

[NoTalentHack]

What does matter is politeness, and ethics... How we act as human beings, members of the human race.

A writers work, is theirs alone. You don't have to like it, but you have to respect their right to tell it. (So long as it fits withing society's rules) We are expected to abide by the rules of common decency...

I will say it again. Ignorance, is no defence.

And I, as did many of us, believed that we were behaving ethically and decently. No one stole his story. No one claimed that it was their own, nor did they (to my knowledge) try to monetize it. They simply took a thing which existed and tweaked it after others had done so.

You, yourself, have taken an existing scenario (the hall pass, which has been around on the site since almost the beginning) and made your own spin on it in Free Pass; how much did you feel was necessary to change before it became yours? You've also done takes on Indecent Proposal (The Proposal, The Party and the Indecent Proposal, arguably Promotion Comes With Strings Attached), "Rich/Famous Man Seduces Wife" (He Used to be My Idol, My Wife and the Singer), and numerous other stories that have been done by others previously, each of which were novel concepts at one point.

Even within LW, there are a bunch of "Honey, We Need to Talk" stories, wholesale stealing plot points that seem to have originated from nici's story "Something We Have to Talk About." As far as I can tell, that's the first usage of those plot points in that way; are those people stealing, too, or are they simply using a known template and working from it?

If the people that did February Sucks continuations had, instead, written a story about "Tim" and "Lydia" having their night at the theater interrupted by famous basketball player "Matt Trammel," would that be better or worse? How much obfuscation is necessary before it becomes theirs? How much did you feel you needed to change before you had a novel story in the ones of yours that were influenced by other people's stories?

As to ignorance as a defense, that's only sort of true, but it's neither here nor there. In the United States--I don't know how it is elsewhere, so I can only speak about here--we have posted speed limits on the freeways. Those are the legal speed; however, if the rest of traffic is going 10 or even 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, and you don't speed up to match, you can be ticketed for driving dangerously. Beyond that, people know that most cops aren't going to pop them for going 5 or 10 miles over, and no one thinks of it as breaking the law unless the cops decide they want to enforce it.

An analogous situation existed with FS by mid-2021, at the very least. No one was stopping, or even complaining, about the FS stories going out. People acted in good faith, "going with the flow of the traffic," so to speak. You can say that it was unethical or impolite or indecent, but that's a matter for each person to decide; put another way, if this were about speeding, I don't think a single one of them would get popped.

 

[Cagivagurl]

And I, as did many of us, believed that we were behaving ethically and decently. No one stole his story. No one claimed that it was their own, nor did they (to my knowledge) try to monetize it. They simply took a thing which existed and tweaked it after others had done so.

You, yourself, have taken an existing scenario (the hall pass, which has been around on the site since almost the beginning) and made your own spin on it in Free Pass; how much did you feel was necessary to change before it became yours? You've also done takes on Indecent Proposal (The Proposal, The Party and the Indecent Proposal, arguably Promotion Comes With Strings Attached), "Rich/Famous Man Seduces Wife" (He Used to be My Idol, My Wife and the Singer), and numerous other stories that have been done by others previously, each of which were novel concepts at one point.

Even within LW, there are a bunch of "Honey, We Need to Talk" stories, wholesale stealing plot points that seem to have originated from nici's story "Something We Have to Talk About." As far as I can tell, that's the first usage of those plot points in that way; are those people stealing, too, or are they simply using a known template and working from it?

If the people that did February Sucks continuations had, instead, written a story about "Tim" and "Lydia" having their night at the theater interrupted by famous basketball player "Matt Trammel," would that be better or worse? How much obfuscation is necessary before it becomes theirs? How much did you feel you needed to change before you had a novel story in the ones of yours that were influenced by other people's stories?

As to ignorance as a defense, that's only sort of true, but it's neither here nor there. In the United States--I don't know how it is elsewhere, so I can only speak about here--we have posted speed limits on the freeways. Those are the legal speed; however, if the rest of traffic is going 10 or even 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, and you don't speed up to match, you can be ticketed for driving dangerously. Beyond that, people know that most cops aren't going to pop them for going 5 or 10 miles over, and no one thinks of it as breaking the law unless the cops decide they want to enforce it.

An analogous situation existed with FS by mid-2021, at the very least. No one was stopping, or even complaining, about the FS stories going out. People acted in good faith, "going with the flow of the traffic," so to speak. You can say that it was unethical or impolite or indecent, but that's a matter for each person to decide; put another way, if this were about speeding, I don't think a single one of them would get popped.

I'm sorry, but we disagree. I'm sure you have figured that out by now.
You were not acting ethically... IMO.
As a writer, you understand the meaning of intellectual property.
You neither sought, nor received permission to write your version of George's story. That is a fact....
You can of course hide behind the shadowy statement. "Oh well, everybody else has done it. Why shouldn't I?"
The problem is, if you are an ethical person. You know that 2 wrongs don't make a right.
I'm pretty much over this argument. You can can try to mask your guilt, but at the end of the day. You know you did the wrong thing. At least, I hope you do.

For my own writing:
Nobody owns a theme. A plot, or writing device.
Like music, there are only so many notes... We can rearrange them, but they remain the same.
I have personally written several stories that covered common themes. They shared a theme, but nothing else. I took nothing from any other writers except their influence. I wrote my own stories. Used my own characters. Built my own plots around the theme.
Lets be honest, in writing. There are only so many plots 7 seems to ring a bell.
We can massage them, change elements of the wider story, but in the end. We will all cover similar themes.
At no point have I ever taken another persons story and used it as my own.

Cagivagurl

 

[NoTalentHack]

I'm sorry, but we disagree. I'm sure you have figured that out by now.
You were not acting ethically... IMO.
As a writer, you understand the meaning of intellectual property.
You neither sought, nor received permission to write your version of George's story. That is a fact....
You can of course hide behind the shadowy statement. "Oh well, everybody else has done it. Why shouldn't I?"
The problem is, if you are an ethical person. You know that 2 wrongs don't make a right.
I'm pretty much over this argument. You can can try to mask your guilt, but at the end of the day. You know you did the wrong thing. At least, I hope you do.

For my own writing:
Nobody owns a theme. A plot, or writing device.
Like music, there are only so many notes... We can rearrange them, but they remain the same.
I have personally written several stories that covered common themes. They shared a theme, but nothing else. I took nothing from any other writers except their influence. I wrote my own stories. Used my own characters. Built my own plots around the theme.
Lets be honest, in writing. There are only so many plots 7 seems to ring a bell.
We can massage them, change elements of the wider story, but in the end. We will all cover similar themes.
At no point have I ever taken another persons story and used it as my own.

Cagivagurl

I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree, then.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

You were not acting ethically... IMO.
As a writer, you understand the meaning of intellectual property.
You neither sought, nor received permission to write your version of George's story. That is a fact....

For my own writing:
Nobody owns a theme. A plot, or writing device.

Not trying to rile anything/anyone up. This is a genuine question that I'm genuinely seeking an answer for:

If I can't own a theme, a plot, or a writing device... what exactly is left that makes all the different takes on FB unethical?

After all, I haven't seen any alternative versions claim to not be a reaction to GA's work. I haven't seen any 1:1 copies of the original claiming to be new stories.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Not trying to rile anything/anyone up. This is a genuine question that I'm genuinely seeking an answer for:

If I can't own a theme, a plot, or a writing device... what exactly is left that makes all the different takes on FB unethical?

After all, I haven't seen any alternative versions claim to not be a reaction to GA's work. I haven't seen any 1:1 copies of the original claiming to be new stories.

OK...
This is my opinion only.
When a writer writes a story. Develops a plot, builds characters, places, fasmilies, friends. The writer builds a new world, based on a theme....
The storty becomes the intelectual property of the writer. It is their work....
A theme, or trope cannot be owned....
Celebrity dates a married woman... It's a plot device, and there are probably millions of stories based on that plot...
I am not a solicitor, and do not fully understand the laws surrounding copyright.
What I do believe, once a story is written. It belongs to the person who wrote it....
Any reproduction of said story can only happen with the permission of the original author.
As I said at the start. I'm not quoting law, simply offering my opinion.

Cagivagurl

 

[NoTalentHack]

Not trying to rile anything/anyone up. This is a genuine question that I'm genuinely seeking an answer for:

If I can't own a theme, a plot, or a writing device... what exactly is left that makes all the different takes on FB unethical?

After all, I haven't seen any alternative versions claim to not be a reaction to GA's work. I haven't seen any 1:1 copies of the original claiming to be new stories.

This is one of those things that tends to be very personal and also very situational.

I compared the February Sucks sequels to fanfiction, because I think that's the most accurate designation. They're noncommercial takes on an existing story, using some of the same characters and situations, tweaked or added onto. As you said, they're not direct copies, and where they do use some of the "core" text, they note it. They also give credit (all the ones I've seen) to George for the original story.

I have a friend that's a professional, makes-a-living-off-it novelist. She used to hate fanfiction with a passion. "Make your own stuff! Stop stealing!" She didn't like it very much when I pointed out that she was running her D&D campaign in a Tolkien setting, especially since she couldn't articulate how it was different. She mostly just got mad and stopped talking to me for a month or so.

Since getting published, she's softened on fanfiction; her attitude now is more "as long as you're attributing and not earning money off of it, go ahead." She's never said that in public, though, because she's not a big enough name to get away with it; her publisher would get mad, because that opens them up to "but she said I could!" arguments from fans. If she's asked for permission, she simply doesn't answer or, if pressed in person, says, "my publisher has told me that I should try to dissuade people from writing fanfiction about my works." But she also won't go after people that do it. A non-answer serves her purposes just fine.

Neil Gaiman's opinion--which is my personal take as well--is this (drawn from a tumblr post he reblogged, which pulled multiple quotes from his own website to give a fairly definitive view):

As long as people aren’t commercially exploiting characters I’ve created, and are doing it for each other, I don’t see that there’s any harm in it, and given how much people enjoy it, it’s obviously doing some good. It doesn’t bother me. (I can imagine a time and circumstances in which it might. But it doesn’t.)

Either way, it’s a good place to write while you’ve still got training wheels on - someone else’s character or worlds. I remember, as a nine-year-old, writing a Conan-meets-some-Ken-Bulmer-sword-and-sorcery-characters. And it’s fun to head over into someone else’s playground: I’ve written several stories over the years set in other people’s worlds (including an episode of Babylon 5); and if I don’t miss the deadline, I’m meant to be writing a Sherlock-Holmes-meets-the-Chulhu-mythos story very soon.

I do understand that there are grey areas, and I think of fan fiction as existing in them. I know authors who love fan fiction based on their stuff. I know authors who have formally attempted to stamp it out. I’m just sort of [shrug] about it.

I don’t honestly mind if you stick (for example) Shadow or the Marquis De Carabas into a story intended for your friends, and not for commercial exploitation. I’d rather you put a note at the end saying who the characters belonged to, which most fan fiction people seem pretty good about doing anyway. But I’d hope you’d see it as a privilege and not a right.

There's another response that he had later:

No, I don’t mind. Have fun with it.

The last time I was foolish enough to say anything at all about fanfiction, a paragraph, taken out of context, was widely quoted on websites, and I got several hundred e-mails taking me to task for not understanding, appreciating or acknowledging that writing fanfiction was the highest and noblest aspiration of mankind. (I think I told someone who asked if writing fanfiction would be good for “honing writing skills” that of course it was, but if that was what he was writing for, he’d have to start writing his own stuff eventually. This was, I was told at length and by many many people, a terrible thing to say.)

So… yes, I think that playing with other people’s ideas and work is a perfectly valid way to make art. I also think it’s much wiser and safer to do it with ideas and work that are comfortably in the public domain if you want your work to be seen professionally.

I would never, ever write something derivative (except as inspiration) off another writer's work if they told me not to, either in an answer to a request or as a blanket statement as Cagivagurl has done in her profile. And I would never try to put Sessions (or any other derivative work) in a collection or up on Smashwords. That's my personal line: take "no" for an answer, attribute when writing using someone else's characters, and no commercializing the final product.

I've bent one of those rules; Also-Ran is an unlabeled X-Men AU with enough hints for fans, but I also did fess up after a month in the comments, because I wanted to give full credit. And I would commercialize a work IF the original writer was on-board; for example, if George--unlikely as it is--ever said he wanted to take all the February Sucks takes he liked, bundle them with his original story, and make a "definitive edition" to publish on Amazon or whatever? Hell yes, I'd be on board. But only in something like that very narrow case.

The far end from that, a practice I detest, is the YouTube channels that take the stories off this site that are from authors who no longer publish, strip all attribution except maybe a token "from a user named X" shout out, edit them to remove any sex, and then run them through a text-to-speech bot. It's a lucrative, easy way to make money off of someone else's content. THAT is fucking gross. What people did with February Sucks, writing what is essentially fanfic that people thought (wrongly, as it turns out) the author had no problem with? It doesn't even come close. It's not in the same ballpark, league, or arguably even game.

Like I said, though, it's personal and situational.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I have one other thing to add: I do kind of wish that the February Sucks takes hadn't started, not because I think they're immoral or unethical, but because they're limiting.

I mentioned nici's story, the ur-"Honey We Need to Talk" story. On the one hand, it would be nice if she was enshrined in the LW canon the way that George has been. But on the other hand, people have taken that concept and done SO much more with it. You see some of that with the FS takes; cookingwithgas's bonkers "Gone Girl"-style story is one example. But those types of takes are rare, because folks are trying too hard to stick to the original Jim, Linda, Marc, out dancing story.

If I were to write a story about a famous asshole that steals an average guy's wife for a night, even if I changed a BUNCH of details, I'd immediately get accused of copying February Sucks; not so if I did a "Honey We Need to Talk." I saw on a similar story (don't remember which one) published a few months before FS a comment that, "This is just a rip-off of February Sucks!"

On my own Philanthropic (an Indecent Proposal riff), I got a similar note, that I'd stolen the idea from another writer. I'd read that story, and I'll admit there are some similarities, partly as a nod to that story, but mostly as a sort of meta-joke about how a bunch of those stories popped up in the wake of that one. But that story itself was riffing off of the movie Indecent Proposal, so...

 

[Gamblnluck]

And I, as did many of us, believed that we were behaving ethically and decently. No one stole his story. No one claimed that it was their own, nor did they (to my knowledge) try to monetize it.

My own thoughts here are, yeah a story is intellectual property. But once you allow a dozen or so alternate endings, that kind of frees up the rest to try... I wrote one sequel and one alternate to another's story. In both cases, I not only had the author's permission but i gave the first read and asked if they had any issues.
But a dozen 'allowed' stories and then it is NOT okay for others. Sorry. That is kind of letting your prize winning bull into the neighbor's cows and then let it go free range but want to be paid for each calf.
Like Notalenthack said, everybody gave Anderson credit for the original. Even those who wrote a similar story say it was inspired by his story.

I've had several people ask me to use my judicial slave world. Of course I said yes. I just hope they stay true to theme and not re-write the basic tenets.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Okay, fess up. Who sent me this feedback?

[posting personal info including real names, locations, emails, private messages or other correspondence, other identifying information from offsite is prohibited per our forum guidelines]

Because it made my day. So wonderfully petty!

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Okay, fess up. Who sent me this feedback?

Because it made my day. So wonderfully petty!

When exactly did they prove plagiarism!? I kinda felt like the topic was left off with a mutual "fan fiction sucks, but it's Okay as long as they make up their own stories".

 

[NoTalentHack]

When exactly did they prove plagiarism!? I kinda felt like the topic was left off with a mutual "fan fiction sucks, but it's Okay as long as they make up their own stories".

Oh, I have a feeling this is a certain someone who was "sure" I was using AI to generate my stories trying to cause more strife. But it's still funny as hell.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Well I looked up the original story. Any thing that generates 780+ comments, I'm gonna have to read.

 

[Oatmeal1969]

On GeorgeAnderson's Bio he states:

I hereby grant anyone who wishes it, permission to create derivative works from my stories on Literotica, with two conditions:

1. A link to the original must appear at the top of the derivative work. (If you don't know how to do this, ask the moderator.)

2. Quotations from the original text longer than a paragraph must be set apart (e.g. with italics) and attributed.

 

[tangledweed]

An interesting debate, which is only fitting considering how polarizing the original February Sucks was. I understand randi and cagivagurl's side of the argument and will say that George has some very loyal friends. However, the intellectual property protection on Literotica is hit or miss at best and I fail to see where NTH abused George's property. Like a hundred or so other Feb Dubs, he took a story from the pivotal event sample forward to what he saw as the ending. If George approved a dozen or more versions before going into seclusion, then those who properly attribute to him (with no financial gain off it) should fall under fair use.

George wasn't equipped for the avalanche that February Sucks caused and got overwhelmed. Anybody with an outside life from Literotica would likely have been just as overwhelmed. No doubt some authors adopted their own plans to deal with being swamped if faced with a similar scenario, just because of what George went through.

I believe that the fundamental question of whether a spouse would ditch their spouse for a night with a celebrity is what powers this controversy. While I couldn't picture my own wife acting like this, I have witnessed how some women react to pro athletes. Witnessed a local pro leaving the bar with another guy's girlfriend, while a second player beat the soon to be cucked boyfriend up for trying to stop them (feel free to use that story idea, no charge). That exact scenario fits perfectly into a February Sucks type scenario, so I can't say it wouldn't happen.


*Not a copyright lawyer, but know some big words.

 

[AngelRider]

I believe he posted that because he got sick of all the bullshit. Rewrite after rewrite, nobody even bothering to contact him and ask permission. Just a bunch of rude people who think so highly of themselves. They thought they could do better.
Unfortunately, they were In my opinion... Mistaken. George is such a talented writer, none of the attempted rewrites ever managed to come close to the original work. Never managed to grasp the emotional connection.
Love it or hate it. George's work was so much better than any of the rewrites.

Cagivagurl

I believe he posted that because he got sick of all the bullshit. Rewrite after rewrite, nobody even bothering to contact him and ask permission. Just a bunch of rude people who think so highly of themselves. They thought they could do better.
Unfortunately, they were In my opinion... Mistaken. George is such a talented writer, none of the attempted rewrites ever managed to come close to the original work. Never managed to grasp the emotional connection.
Love it or hate it. George's work was so much better than any of the rewrites.

Cagivagurl

This is the last woman I want defending my opinions.

You and I could not be diametrically opposed.

 

[AngelRider]

That was not lazy/inconsistent character development. That sudden unexplainable switch is the whole crux of the story.

This response is literally fascinating

 

[Cagivagurl]

This is the last woman I want defending my opinions.

You and I could not be diametrically opposed.

I'll take that as a compliment.
Thanks...

 

[Oatmeal1969]

I find the fanfic versions of February Sucks fascinating. The original story stands on its own and I don't believe it is negatively impacted by any of the alternate versions and endings. The replicas rarely match the original but it's fun to read an author's opinion on how the outcome is altered when one story element changes.

I've compiled a list of other stories that have alternate versions in the Loving Wives category:
A Beautiful View
A Joke
A Promise Made, A Vow Broken
A Rigorous Job Interview
Another Love
Blow Job Bet
Can You Cheat in an Open Marrriage
Condonation
Cruise of Deception
Does Honesty Pay
Faithful
Faithfull - Todd172
Family Tradition
February Sucks
For the Greater Good (Life is Strange)
Her Roommate Returns
How High a Price
I Found my Wife on MarriedHookup
I Needed to Talk to You
Independence Day
It's Just Business
Just Accept It
Just Once... If You Don't Mind
Last Man
Law of the Heart
Mrs. Carter
My Turn, This Time
My Wife Dates a Senator
No Reply
One Slip
Out of Love
Something Fishy
Something We Have to Talk About
Sprung
Strange Car In The Driveway
The Bridge
The Cost
The EPT Test
The Game
Two Inches Too Far
What Did You Really See
What to do About Edie
Words

 

[Freudzslip69]

GeorgeAnderson. He authored "February Sucks" on 9/11/20. There are now about 50 stories in LW that spin off "February Sucks."

at last count there were over seventy

 

[Oatmeal1969]

at last count there were over seventy

I have discovered 144 stories that are related in some way (sorry about large post. The spoiler tag was acting sketchy and no way to compact this further)

1. After a Chili Bowl (Feb Sucks) by funperson969 - 4.9k words - 3.69⋆
2. An Event-with a Capital E by The Style Guy - 6.9k words - 4.52⋆
3. Another Take On February by demander - 4.4k words - 4.11⋆
4. April Sucks by Britease - 1.1k words - 4.41⋆
5. Betrayal--A Riff On February Sucks by peyskip - 5.6k words - 3.44⋆
6. Blue Sky Club Ch. 2 by Slick742 - 4.8k words - 4.11⋆
7. Blue Sky Club by Slick742 - 4.3k words - 4.06⋆
8. Carol's Ride Home by gstein - 2.3k words - 3.91⋆
9. Cheater's Gallery Ep. 4-Linda by saddletramp1956 - 10.1k words - 4.68⋆
10. Deidra, David and Jillian by The Style Guy - 10.3k words - 4.62⋆
11. Discarded and Forsaken-A Reality-Loving Wives by bacchant2 - 8.6k words - 3.73⋆
12. Feb Sucks again by Norseman123 - 25.5k words - 4.08⋆
13. Feb. Sucks-Alt. Ending-The End-Loving Wives by Fiddlesticks49 - 4.8k words - 4.09⋆
14. February Almost Sucked by Fraactured - 12.3k words - 4.06⋆
15. February Blows by Skippy47 - 1.6k words - 3.41⋆
16. February Consequences by arsawyer - 40.0k words - 4.11⋆
17. February is Awesome, 750 words by Farmerjill - 0.8k words - 4.09⋆
18. February Kicks Ass by dikupinya - 2.9k words - 4.13⋆
19. February Pay It Forward by Tomh1966 - 3.3k words - 4.25⋆
20. February Really, Really Sucks by PKenny5860 - 18.5k words - 4.44⋆
21. February Still Sucks by OldBrummie - 4.8k words - 3.18⋆
22. February Sucked by MattblackUK - 7.2k words - 4.10⋆
23. February Sucks Alt End Wrong Wife by Buster2U - 6.9k words - 3.40⋆
24. February Sucks Alterative by Oliver1959 - 7.9k words - 3.60⋆
25. February Sucks Balls-Ault Ending by dragonmann72 - 12.4k words - 4.30⋆
26. February Sucks Balls by dragonmann72 - 12.3k words - 3.81⋆
27. February Sucks but May was Goo by L0tsaluck - 0.7k words - 3.33⋆
28. February Sucks Different Ending by jj26809 - 5.2k words - 3.24⋆
29. February Sucks for Some People by Just words - 3.1k words - 4.40⋆
30. February Sucks Forward-A Year Later by Omegaman56 - 7.1k words - 3.97⋆
31. February Sucks Forward by Omegaman56 - 4.4k words - 4.14⋆
32. February Sucks in 750 (787) Words by TRYTSTYN - 1.0k words - 4.12⋆
33. February Sucks in Britain by FreddieTheCamel - 6.6k words - 4.13⋆
34. February Sucks in Counseling by VickiT375 - 2.8k words - 4.44⋆
35. February Sucks Less in Texas by Texican1830 - 2.6k words - 4.21⋆
36. February Sucks Like Hell by CrazyDaveTrucker60 - 25.8k words - 3.70⋆
37. February Sucks My Take by Norseman123 - 8.1k words - 3.86⋆
38. February Sucks My Way by Omegaman56 - 5.6k words - 4.34⋆
39. February Sucks Next Chapter by johnadp - 12.0k words - 3.98⋆
40. February Sucks Redux Sequel by Skubabill - 3.6k words - 3.85⋆
41. February Sucks Redux by Hooked1957 - 5.0k words - 4.23⋆
42. February Sucks Repost by Omegaman56 - 1.3k words - 3.00⋆
43. February Sucks the Continuation by MattblackUK - 7.0k words - 3.64⋆
44. February Sucks Until It Blows by onewildjuan - 5.3k words - 3.76⋆
45. February Sucks, but March Swallows 1 by Grendelpuppy - 16.7k words - 2.06⋆
46. February Sucks, but March Swallows 2-February Doesn't Need to Suck by Grendelpuppy - 1.7k words - 2.77⋆
47. February Sucks, March Blows by ribnitin - 2.8k words - 3.25⋆
48. February Sucks, YAAE by Bearcatfozzy - 34.5k words - 3.76⋆
49. February Sucks--Big Time by saddletramp1956 - 23.6k words - 4.61⋆
50. February Sucks--My Outcome by someoneother - 12.1k words - 3.74⋆
51. February Sucks-a GTO Version by GTO by Racer - 16.5k words - 3.96⋆
52. February Sucks-A Sequel by RacerX1964 - 26.9k words - 4.28⋆
53. February Sucks-Adult Fairy Tales by ShowTime8 - 19.2k words - 2.55⋆
54. February Sucks-Aftermath by GodivaFan - 8.4k words - null⋆
55. February Sucks-All Year Long by lover1953 - 15.5k words - 4.43⋆
56. February Sucks-Alternate by greenday0418 - 4.4k words - 4.12⋆
57. February Sucks-Another Version by BlackHeart93 - 34.0k words - 4.47⋆
58. February Sucks-Bitches Be Crazy by Seadog777 - 5.0k words - 4.12⋆
59. February sucks-BTB-Epilogue by rogers1962 - 2.8k words - 3.81⋆
60. February Sucks-BTB by rogers1962 - 8.2k words - 4.28⋆
61. February Sucks-For Him by whateverittakes - 2.2k words - 4.42⋆
62. February Sucks-For Linda by Topspot101 - 3.3k words - 4.10⋆
63. February Sucks-For Them by laptopwriter - 14.9k words - 4.32⋆
64. February Sucks-Forewarned by greenday0418 - 24.7k words - 4.31⋆
65. February Sucks-Gone Girl by cookingwithgas - 39.9k words - 4.33⋆
66. February Sucks-Happy Ending by PiperHamlin - 3.8k words - 3.95⋆
67. February Sucks-In Cold Blood by funperson969 - 4.0k words - 4.24⋆
68. February Sucks-Instant Karma by wanderer47 - 1.0k words - 3.65⋆
69. February Sucks-Jim Wakes Up by RyeWhiskey - 9.3k words - 2.93⋆
70. February Sucks-Leap Night by GodivaFan - 19.3k words - null⋆
71. February Sucks-Linda's Choice Ch. 1 by Kalimaxos - 20.9k words - null⋆
72. February Sucks-Linda's Choice Ch. 2 by Kalimaxos - 18.7k words - null⋆
73. February Sucks-Linda's Choice Ch. 3 by Kalimaxos - 18.7k words - null⋆
74. February Sucks-Linda's Choice Ch. 4 by Kalimaxos - 17.9k words - null⋆
75. February Sucks-Linda's Welcome by funperson969 - 1.6k words - 4.04⋆
76. February Sucks-Luck by Lickme35 - 9.6k words - 4.43⋆
77. February Sucks-Matter of Fact by AimsAtSkies - 16.2k words - 3.53⋆
78. February Sucks-Momma Bear's Cubs by Regguy69 - 1.6k words - 4.04⋆
79. February Sucks-Moving On by funperson969 - 4.6k words - 4.28⋆
80. February Sucks-My Sequel by carvohi - 36.3k words - 3.72⋆
81. February Sucks-My Thoughts-Review by AimsAtSkies - 4.0k words - 3.06⋆
82. February Sucks-One More Time-BlackHeart9 by BlackHeart93 - 9.7k words - 4.35⋆
83. February Sucks-One More Time-Just Plain Bo by Just Plain Bob - 0.8k words - null⋆
84. February Sucks-Payback by Farmers by Son - 7.7k words - 3.80⋆
85. February Sucks-Serendipity by Thomas by Malory - 3.1k words - 3.86⋆
86. February Sucks-Sessions by NoTalentHack - 9.9k words - 4.36⋆
87. February Sucks-The Bus by other2other1 - 15.8k words - 4.08⋆
88. February Sucks-The Cheaters Pay by Buster2U - 11.2k words - 0.00⋆
89. February Sucks-the Details Matter 1 by KitDeLuca164 - 18.0k words - 2.78⋆
90. February Sucks-the Details Matter 2-Emasculated No More by KitDeLuca164 - 2.0k words - 3.63⋆
91. February Sucks-The Father-in-Law by tanglosax - 5.7k words - 3.85⋆
92. February Sucks-The Hail Mary by aprguy - 6.2k words - 3.80⋆
93. February Sucks-the Mulberrry Tree by Chorisero - 15.4k words - 4.10⋆
94. February Sucks-The Reckoning by westcoast by ken - 19.0k words - 3.77⋆
95. February Sucks-The Two Notes - 12Say - 10.3k words - 4.12⋆
96. February Sucks-The Umpteenth One by AimsAtSkies - 17.2k words - 3.61⋆
97. February Sucks-What If She Didn't.. by satindesires - 8.7k words - 4.52⋆
98. February Sucks... for Everyone by Kilty11 - 6.3k words - 4.38⋆
99. February Sucks...Goodbye Jim by 2wrongsandaright - 18.7k words - 0.00⋆
100. February Sucks by 1 by IntuitiveJ - 0.7k words - 3.97⋆
101. February Sucks by ozdogmz01 - 11.4k words - 3.72⋆
102. February Sux by sbrooks103 - 8.5k words - 4.19⋆
103. February won't Suck Again by Astordatair - 13.3k words - 3.84⋆
104. February's Future by arsawyer - 9.5k words - 4.23⋆
105. February-ucks-The GOA by lash2718r - 0.8k words - 2.10⋆
106. February-Wrath of Jim by arsawyer - 3.2k words - 4.22⋆
107. February. 7 Months Later. Rewrite by KevinTheEngineer - 2.2k words - 4.08⋆
108. FebSux - SOMAA Pt. 1- Prologue and Part 1 by Cockatoo - 7.8k words - 2.92
109. Four Minutes Thirty Seconds by Tomh1966 - 3.3k words - 4.48⋆
110. Fracas at the Mansion (Feb Sucks) by funperson969 - 2.3k words - 3.70⋆
111. Franks Game Ch. -In the End It was Frank's Game by gstein - 9.9k words - 4.26⋆
112. Franks Game Ch. 1 by Norseman123 - 23.8k words - 3.98⋆
113. Franks Game Ch. 2 by Norseman123 - 23.6k words - 3.84⋆
114. Getting Out of Town (Feb Sucks) by funperson969 - 4.5k words - 3.92⋆
115. Greg and Allie 1-The Beginning by saddletramp1956 - 11.8k words - 4.70⋆
116. Greg and Allie 2-Discussions by saddletramp1956 - 8.0k words - 4.68⋆
117. Greg and Allie 3-February's Curse by saddletramp1956 - 12.1k words - 4.66⋆
118. Her Best Smile by Omegaman56 - 24.6k words - 4.29⋆
119. I Couldn't Just BtB by wutmytvben - 21.4k words - 2.11⋆
120. I'll see You in the morning by LJA644 - 17.3k words - 4.03⋆
121. In the End It was Frank's Game by gstein - 9.9k words - 4.26⋆
122. Indiscretion by Just words - 2.7k words - 3.57⋆
123. It Sucks To Be Me-Marc's Story by saddletramp1956 - 5.5k words - 4.02⋆
124. January Sucks by DylanThomasLives - 49.0k words - 4.66⋆
125. Joad in February, Alternate Version by demander - 12.4k words - 4.03⋆
126. Joad in February by demander - 8.0k words - 4.38⋆
127. June Sucks Pt. 1 by wrjcock3 - 1.9k words - 3.22⋆
128. June Sucks Pt. 2 by wrjcock3 - 1.2k words - 3.37⋆
129. June Sucks Pt. 3-June Still Sucks-Loving Wives-Literotica.com by saddletramp1956 - 15.1k words - 4.52⋆
130. March Ain't So Bad by Bebop3 - 0.9k words - 3.99⋆
131. March Sucks by jmm999 - 5.4k words - 3.69⋆
132. May Sucks-Happy Mother's Day, Bastard by LT56linebacker - 9.6k words - 3.72⋆
133. My Wife & The Rock Legend by hotprof1973 - 6.8k words - 4.04⋆
134. Oh No, Not Another February Sucks by n516744 - 1.2k words - 3.58⋆
135. Parallel Lives of Jim & Linda by arsawyer - 29.0k words - 4.12⋆
136. Profiles in Narcissism-Vol. 1 by cookingwithgas - 10.5k words - 4.04⋆
137. The Bachelorette Party by plsplsme - 4.9k words - 4.20⋆
138. The Broadmere Wives by AnAverageGuy61 - 6.3k words - 3.99⋆
139. The Celebrity Cock Club by qhml1 - 13.6k words - 4.57⋆
140. The Movie Star and My Wife by StoneyWebb - 9.7k words - 4.17⋆
141. To Love, Honour... and Obey by FreddieTheCamel - 11.0k words - 4.38⋆
142. Yet another February Sucks sequel by pugetman - 7.0k words - 3.99⋆

 

[other2other1]

Such passion, this is what makes Lit great. I enjoy all of your stories and this discussion brings many great authors to the table. George should be proud that something he wrote has ignited such high emotion from all of us!

I enjoyed writing my version of FS, reconciliation is not quite my normal style but it was fun. But the power in his story, like it or not is undeniable. We all give credit to Georg, and as NTH mentioned if he wanted the variants taken dow, I would have no issue. But I hope that is not the case as his story is inspiring people to write, which is amazing!

I hope what I read early in this thread from Randi is true and George comes back, I for one would love to see some more of his work.

 

[AngelRider]

On GeorgeAnderson's Bio he states:

I hereby grant anyone who wishes it, permission to create derivative works from my stories on Literotica, with two conditions:

1. A link to the original must appear at the top of the derivative work. (If you don't know how to do this, ask the moderator.)

2. Quotations from the original text longer than a paragraph must be set apart (e.g. with italics) and attributed.

But

I have discovered 144 stories that are related in some way (sorry about large post. The spoiler tag was acting sketchy and no way to compact this further)

144 examples of lipstick on a pig.

 

[oksideshow859419]

The only "canon" one is George's original. All the others are rewrites, sequels, prequels, what if stories, etc. Basically, people trying to either make sense of the story or rewrite it so that it doesn't offend their sensibilities or both. The vast majority deviate wildly from the original story at some point, usually either when Marc (the football player) comes to the table or right after Linda (the wife) left with him.

Only a handful attempt anything that could be called a "real" sequel where the events in the story happened, and then it picks up some time later. Off the top of my head, KitDeLuca's February Sucks: The Details Matter, GodivaFan's February Sucks - The Aftermath, and my own February Sucks - Sessions are the only ones that went that route, although I think someone else took Kit's story and ran with it in yet another direction.

As to why it's spawned so many of these? I think a lot of what's been said here is accurate, but that's true of a lot of other stories with nonsensical takes on cheating and reconciliation; there are plenty of stories in LW where the wife cheats, does it with no real thought towards her husband's feelings, and then expects him to reconcile, and he eventually does. Those ones, though, rarely inspired anything like the frenzy of writing that February Sucks did.

Normally, that's because the writer is not good at telling a story, but that's not true of George. He's written some excellent stories, and his technical skill is quite good. So we had this disconnect between writer skill and... basically everything that happens in the story. I talk a little about it in the afterword of my take, excerpted here:

This story, my ending to February Sucks, is the reason I got back into creative writing after decades away. The original story bored its way into my brain, like it did for a lot of folks. I've reread it multiple times trying to figure out why it sticks in our heads so well. And I think I finally hit on the reason: it's like a nightmare.

I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense. Yes, if it happened to you, it would be a nightmare, the worst month of your life, but that's not the point. It's got nightmare logic throughout. Not weird nightmares, with zombies and falling forever and vampires and the end of the world; it's a lot more subtle than that. It's the type of nightmare where you dream that your wife did something outlandishly bad to you. Then you wake up actually mad at them, and then stay that way for the rest of the day. Maybe the rest of the week. You know it's irrational, and what happened in the dream was too outlandish to actually ever happen, but it's how you feel.

Any two or three things that happen in the original story would be plausible together: A famous person sweeps your wife off her feet AND it's in public. Your wife cheats on you AND she doesn't seem sorry afterwards AND a family friend tells you to suck it up and stay together for the kids. Either of those works as a reasonably realistic story. But if you take all of those and then lump on the fifteen or twenty other things that happen in the original story, it starts to feel like a nightmare. All it's missing are having all of your teeth falling out and having to take your final exam naked after missing all your classes for the semester.

The thing is, while FS is unsurpassed in this arena, there is actually a proto-February Sucks from sixteen years ago in the form of Something We Have To Talk About by nici. In it, a guilty wife confesses that she's been having an affair with a younger man for a year, and that, while she's in love with the other man, she still loves her husband, too, and she has no plans to leave. The husband blows up, and when he threatens divorce, she basically says, "if you do that, I'll take half your stuff and the kids."

When he suggests that maybe he'll have an affair too, she replies,



Then she tries to tell him if he loves her he'll let her have this, and it will be over before too much longer because the affair partner is so much younger than her. He reacts, as one might expect, poorly, and she leaves him to soak in his misery for fear of what he might do or she might say if she stays, promising to be back in a few days.

In effect, it's like 90% of all the current Loving Wives cliches stuffed into one story, and it absolutely blew up.

The first problem was that that was the end of the story. That was how it ended, with no resolution. That, by itself, might have only earned it a low rating and some angry rantings. But the writer's foreword contained this:



In other words, saying, "yes, this is fine, everything is fine, and it's totally realistic." Not that it's moral, but that this is how normal people could and do act and react. Just like George's foreword on February Sucks. That's what really drove the reaction to the earlier story, the absolute incredulity at that idea.

While it didn't get nearly the number of direct redos and sequels--although it had a few--it is essentially the ur-"honey, we need to talk" story in LW, the "I'm telling you right now that I'm having or will have an affair/weekend away, only because you deserve to know, and therefore it won't be cheating, because you know." You know, the thing that no one in real life ever does, but which shows up A LOT in LW, because it does make for a compelling story.

FS is like that, but instead of spawning a bunch of indirect retellings, it spawned ones where people used the same character names and setup, then did wildly different things with them. I'd argue that a huge chunk of the stories since then that aren't direct FS takeoffs have also been reactions, in the same way that so many people reacted to nici's story.

My thoughts on February sucks "sagas". On what I have read only a few so far is what about January to led up to February sucking so bad think about it yeah a new year trying to turn over a new leaf ending in disappointment winter is picking up you asking yourself where the f*** is the sun and when the sun is out it's not out for long sunset feels like it is around 4-5 pm top it all if you have a special someone you got turn that frown upside down for February 14th or if your are alone then it's just another day for others like friends and family to be asking the whats, whys, wheres, whens, and the hows to print it in the F&F NEWSLETTER
(Friends )