What do you view as your best achievement as a writer?

[MajorRewrite]

I’m proudest of writing my own version of Oedipus Rex, because that Sophocles guy was a real downer.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Can you tell us what the three sites are?

I'll have to send you a PM (likely tomorrow) because Lit frowns on (probably outright forbids) mentioning competitors. Yet the other two have no problem with discussing issues outside of themselves, and people on their forums do it all of the time.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Here goes.
Anybody who has ever red one of my stories knows that my grammar is atrocious.
I make no apologies for the. If you can't handle mistakes. Don't read anything I write.
What makes me think I can write?
Well, a couple of stories, I actually managed to get two and to in the right places. That made me feel proud.
Every story I have written contains bits I like, dislike, loathe, love and some just cringe.
I will never be technically spot on.... I could do this for a million years and still get it wrong.
My characters become special to me as I write. Ilove them all, even the villains. They are my creations. I gave them life, which is why I'm so protective of them.
I guess, I do like it when a fellow writer compliments something I've written. That makes me feel nice.
I do not and never have considered myself a writer.... Merely somebody who loves to play with words.

Cagivagurl

If you really want better grammar, you can get a volunteer editor through this site. I've never done it.

https://www.literotica.com/faq/volunteer-editor-program/volunteer-editors

There are various grammar/spell check programs that you can get, some free and some that require a subscription. I use the free version of Grammarly, which has some good points but it requires some judgment calls by the writer. One can't just blindly follow everything it suggests. Other people here prefer other programs. There have been threads on AH about that but I'd have to find them. You can probably Google the topic too and see what's available.

You can just start your own thread on AH and people will tell you what they use and like.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Here goes.
Anybody who has ever red one of my stories knows that my grammar is atrocious.
I make no apologies for the. If you can't handle mistakes. Don't read anything I write.
What makes me think I can write?
Well, a couple of stories, I actually managed to get two and to in the right places. That made me feel proud.
Every story I have written contains bits I like, dislike, loathe, love and some just cringe.
I will never be technically spot on.... I could do this for a million years and still get it wrong.
My characters become special to me as I write. Ilove them all, even the villains. They are my creations. I gave them life, which is why I'm so protective of them.
I guess, I do like it when a fellow writer compliments something I've written. That makes me feel nice.
I do not and never have considered myself a writer.... Merely somebody who loves to play with words.

Cagivagurl

I think it was Faulkner who said, "Don't be a writer; just be writing." I'd say that is what you are doing now on Lit.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Best achievement?

Getting that first story posted and watching the views skyrocket.

Second?

Getting 3rd place in a competition for a story.

 

[Seadog777]

After fracturing my spine in summer of 2023, getting the final chapter of my "Marriage and Depression" series in before the end of the year.
I was so focused on rehab and physical therapy, that writing didn't really cross my mind.
Once I could walk without my cane, was when I finally started to write it.
December 19th, it finally went live.
I felt more relief for that, than I did for my first story.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Plot and making a bunch of events into an actual story has never been my forte. Luckily on Lit you can just describe a bunch of events and readers like that anyway.

So while I'm proud of Wheelchair Bound? as it works as a story, several people loved the disability representation (a couple even felt the need to message me mid-read because they loved the Access to Work advisor promising Ali's manager a hard time, even before we get to the kinky lesbian sex), and it placed in a contest (spouse says please could people vote more on my stories as he'd really like another Amazon voucher!), and how I made the complex storyline/timeline of Third Time Getting Lucky work, one more recent story comes to mind.

In Image Nine Point Four, you get a whole legal procedural/thriller, a future Government trying to ban 'extreme porn', with a grassroots group trying to fight against it. Partly because previous attempts deserved to have their efforts told, partly to justify a sex and caning scene in the House of Lords.

So there's a lot of discussion of porn and foreshadowing for a few pages, and trying to explain legislation procedure to those who have no idea and just want to get to the porn.

Sidney Sheldon and John Grisham probably aren't worried I'll steal their crowns, but I think it pretty much works. I'm sure it's the first time the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments has been involved in a porn story!

 

[SimonDoom]

I believe if you write you are a writer. It's not an exclusive club or a guild. Anybody who has published a story here can regard themselves as a writer.

That's an achievement we all share: we wrote something! I did no creative writing of any kind that I can recall from the age of 18 until my 50s. Then I published my silly little story at Literotica, and a week later my less silly story at Literotica. There have been a lot of fun milestones I've enjoyed at this place, but finally being able to say "I'm a writer because I've written something and offered it to the world" was the best.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I believe if you write you are a writer. It's not an exclusive club or a guild. Anybody who has published a story here can regard themselves as a writer.

That's an achievement we all share: we wrote something! I did no creative writing of any kind that I can recall from the age of 18 until my 50s. Then I published my silly little story at Literotica, and a week later my less silly story at Literotica. There have been a lot of fun milestones I've enjoyed at this place, but finally being able to say "I'm a writer because I've written something and offered it to the world" was the best.

I was reticent to call myself a writer, or author, it felt kinda pretentious. Especially when my scribbles are so naive and immature.

But I think your perspective is correct. If you write something, however poor, you are a writer. Maybe not a good writer, but a writer nevertheless.

Emily

 

[Djmac1031]

I was reticent to call myself a writer, or author, it felt kinda pretentious. Especially when my scribbles are so naive and immature.

But I think your perspective is correct. If you write something, however poor, you are a writer. Maybe not a good writer, but a writer nevertheless.

Emily

Yeah I'm of the same thought.

Calling myself a "writer" or, even more pretentiously, an "author," feels like going to the gym for an afternoon and calling myself Arnold Schwarzenegger, or figuring out how to play Chopsticks on piano and calling myself Beethoven.

But hey, I've written some stories. Even a few some people seem to like.

So okay I'll take "writer."

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yeah I'm of the same thought.

Calling myself a "writer" or, even more pretentiously, an "author," feels like going to the gym for an afternoon and calling myself Arnold Schwarzenegger, or figuring out how to play Chopsticks on piano and calling myself Beethoven.

But hey, I've written some stories. Even a few some people seem to like.

So okay I'll take "writer."

I think of myself as a pornsmith…

 

[Djmac1031]

I think of myself as a pornsmith…

Spankmaster General.

 

[Bamagan]

I think of myself as a pornsmith…

I also favor the terms Smutmonger and Raunchwright.

 

[SimonDoom]

I’m proudest of writing my own version of Oedipus Rex, because that Sophocles guy was a real downer.

Wait . . . so you rewrote it as an upbeat story? I have to check that out.

I have visions of Oedipus Rex as a musical comedy.

Working title: The King and Mom and I.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Wait . . . so you rewrote it as an upbeat story? I have to check that out.

I have visions of Oedipus Rex as a musical comedy.

Working title: The King and Mom and I.

The Grapes of Wrath - The Musical.

Emily

 

[Djmac1031]

The Grapes of Wrath - The Musical.

Emily

Shindler's List - The Musical

 

[EmilyMiller]

Shindler's List - The Musical

Ouch!

 

[StillStunned]

The Inquisition, what a show!
The Inquisition, here we go!
I bet you're wishin' that we'd go away!
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!

 

[MillieDynamite]

For some reason, I'm not receiving email messages or alerts when this thread has a new posting. That really chaps my ass, like old lady panties made of 36-grit sandpaper.

 

[onehitwanda]

That really chaps my ass, like old lady panties made of 36-grit sandpaper.

or as one of the men in my team likes to say - "Rougher than a badger's arsehole."

Wanda: ಠ_ಠ

 

[MajorRewrite]

Wait . . . so you rewrote it as an upbeat story? I have to check that out.

It’s this one: Rex and Jo

 

[Bamagan]

or as one of the men in my team likes to say - "Rougher than a badger's arsehole."

Wanda: ಠ_ಠ

 

[OffNSFW]

I'm proud of M.U.F.F., which is, to date, the only novel I've ever written on here. I think the character is very human, and the story is a defiant defense of queer sexuality, sex work, and generally being a mess when you're still young and figuring things out.

I'm also proud of "She Smiles With Her Eyes." It was supposed to be just a randy workplace hookup story, but I think it captures some of the feeling of mutual vulnerability that makes sex so intimate.

Even though I'm not sure they blew anybody else's hair back, I'm proud of my two attempts at cyber punk (or science social satire, if you prefer), "There's Always Someone Listening" and "Johnny Hedonic."

Most recently, I'm proud of "Pro Gamer Moves." Another story that was supposed to be a randy hookup--two straight boys who let things get out of hand--and captures a little bit of the sweetness of young exploration.

But, once the Internet collapses and we're all back to making shadowpuppets fuck each other on cave walls, "Dear Straight Men" and "Dear Straight Men 2" are probably the ones people will remember.

There's a few more I'm not thinking of, stories where I thought, "Wow, I really nailed that." It doesn't always happen, and it usually happens when I'm not trying so hard.

 

[djrip]

One of the first authors I read and followed here way before I wrote anything was @masterandmargarita and so I was quite chuffed when years later they happened upon my work and left these comments on a couple of stories:

masterandmargaritaover 3 years ago
This is a perfect threesome story. One page of tease, two pages of relentless action, and so well-written. Keep 'em coming!

masterandmargaritaover 3 years ago
This is going in the favorites list. I would read 100 chapters, but it also works well as a standalone fantasy. Welll done!

That made me feel like an actual contributor here, on some kind of par with those I read and admired, where before I felt more like 'they' were the real ones and I was just messing around.

Now I feel like we're all just messing around

 

[Superfungurl]

Well, though not even close to my "best" writing, I'd have to say my dissertation as my fun writings have made me nothing and that?...well...more than nothing.