Your best story with a terrible rating

[EmilyMiller]

Amazing Chest Ahead was written for the Geek-day competition and was predicated on the idea that fans of the video game Dark Souls wouldn't expect the hero to successfully have sex before meeting a gruesome end. Still, lesson learned, it's not Erotic Horror if the horror stops the erotic from happening.

I read it. I should have taken the leading caveat to heart as I had no idea what was going on or why. Sadie morphed into Sadia as well as… [spoilers].

Didn’t rate or comment as not really my thing. Sorry.

Em

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Mine's also in LW, and it's a 750 word entry, so two strikes against it. I turned off voting on all my 750 word stories, but my recollection is that it was a sub 4, 3.5ish when I did.
One of the comments called it an experiment that failed. I disagree. I'm really proud of how much story I packed into 750 words.

The End of the Affair

 

[EmilyMiller]

Mine's also in LW, and it's a 750 word entry, so two strikes against it. I turned off voting on all my 750 word stories, but my recollection is that it was a sub 4, 3.5ish when I did.
One of the comments called it an experiment that failed. I disagree. I'm really proud of how much story I packed into 750 words.

The End of the Affair

I’ve never written a 750 (did a 100 once). I imagine they are quite hard to do. I got a sense of emotion and dynamics. It was well-written.

Em

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I’ve never written a 750 (did a 100 once). I imagine they are quite hard to do. I got a sense of emotion and dynamics. It was well-written.

Em

Thanks!
I think the "Him" scene threw people off the most, and their backstory was so clear in my mind that it's hard for me to really assess how readers interpret it. I'm glad the emotion comes through, because that was the important part for me.

 

[Djmac1031]

Interesting question.

I honestly don't think any of my rating scores are "terrible."

My worst rated story is You Hear The Bullet, at 3.78.

It's got a lot going against it; it's a 750 word story in LW.

Next is A Fleeting Glimpse, another 750 word story at 3.97.

After that is April Fools Daddy, at 4.16.

I think it's a fun, well written story with a clever twist, but I get why it's drawn more 4's than 5's.

While not a 750 word story, it's still short. And while it's posted in Incest/Taboo, it has no actual incest.

All things considered though, I think a 4.16 score is just fine. It means most readers LIKED it.

They just didn't LOVE it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thanks!
I think the "Him" scene threw people off the most, and their backstory was so clear in my mind that it's hard for me to really assess how readers interpret it. I'm glad the emotion comes through, because that was the important part for me.

Yeah - that was definitely there. I caught myself trying to fill in the blanks and instead told myself to feel it.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Interesting question.

I honestly don't think any of my rating scores are "terrible."

My worst rated story is You Hear The Bullet, at 3.78.

It's got a lot going against it; it's a 750 word story in LW.

Next is A Fleeting Glimpse, another 750 word story at 3.97.

After that is April Fools Daddy, at 4.16.

I think it's a fun, well written story with a clever twist, but I get why it's drawn more 4's than 5's.

While not a 750 word story, it's still short. And while it's posted in Incest/Taboo, it has no actual incest.

All things considered though, I think a 4.16 score is just fine. It means most readers LIKED it.

They just didn't LOVE it.

Dare To Dream should be much higher than 4.86

Em

 

[Priscilla_June]

Idk if I can say its a terrible rating, but Conscripting a Brother’s Heart I felt was lower that my expectations. I enjoyed the story, felt I had set a good scene for it. But I injected a few tidbits that maybe didn’t fit the cut and dry mold of Incest/Taboo so it took a bit of a hit.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Amazing Chest Ahead was written for the Geek-day competition and was predicated on the idea that fans of the video game Dark Souls wouldn't expect the hero to successfully have sex before meeting a gruesome end. Still, lesson learned, it's not Erotic Horror if the horror stops the erotic from happening.

I have no idea what I just read, but I couldn’t stop. Totally engaged for the first sentence. Will def be checking out some of your other stories.

 

[Devinter]

My worst-rated story is also a 750 word one. That seems to be quite common. I completely understand why mine isn't terribly well-rated because it doesn't really contain much 'erotica', and I combined the challenge with the "letters and transcripts" category which is quite difficult to operate all by itself, I'd imagine. It's nowhere near my best story, because I was hoping to get an emotional reaction out of the readers and now I'm not so sure I succeeded.

750 Word Challenge - The Email

 

[EmilyMiller]

My worst-rated story is also a 750 word one. That seems to be quite common. I completely understand why mine isn't terribly well-rated because it doesn't really contain much 'erotica', and I combined the challenge with the "letters and transcripts" category which is quite difficult to operate all by itself, I'd imagine. It's nowhere near my best story, because I was hoping to get an emotional reaction out of the readers and now I'm not so sure I succeeded.

750 Word Challenge - The Email

Loved it. Simple but complex. Sweet but melancholy. And - above all - relatable.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

Mine's also in LW, and it's a 750 word entry, so two strikes against it. I turned off voting on all my 750 word stories, but my recollection is that it was a sub 4, 3.5ish when I did.
One of the comments called it an experiment that failed. I disagree. I'm really proud of how much story I packed into 750 words.

The End of the Affair

I flicked through the comments to remember what I'd said - four years ago.

It's still "ouch", but some people don't like clever stories. This one is perfectly self-contained, and still lethal! Definitely a five!

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I flicked through the comments to remember what I'd said - four years ago.

It's still "ouch", but some people don't like clever stories. This one is perfectly self-contained, and still lethal! Definitely a five!

Totally agree. Nicely layered for something so short. Left me wondering what ‘the game’ really was and my imagination is going wild with the options. Kind of like what’s really in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction. Great way to live in your readers head long after they’ve finished the story.

And yes, I left the same comment on the story.

 

[TheRedChamber]

... That was quite the ride. I gave you a 5, despite the fact that you forgot to cut the creature's tail for the bonus weapon drop.

Ha, Sadie isn't the boss, she's just the mimic treasure chest. (Which might have dropped something if it hadn't fallen out of the game area)

I read it. I should have taken the leading caveat to heart as I had no idea what was going on or why. Sadie morphed into Sadia as well as… [spoilers].

It was in my pre-beta-reader days. In fairness, I just check and she morphed back - it was just the one typo.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Ha, Sadie isn't the boss, she's just the mimic treasure chest. (Which might have dropped something if it hadn't fallen out of the game area)


It was in my pre-beta-reader days. In fairness, I just check and she morphed back - it was just the one typo.

I think if I knew anything about the game it might have helped.

Em

 

[TheRedChamber]

I think if I know anything about the game it might have helped.

Em

Okay, I'll kick the joke to death while explaining it, then.

Dark Souls is widely regarded as one of the greatest games released in the last (well a bit more than a) decade, but is also renowned as one of the most difficult. The game designers take delight in having the player snatch defeat from the hands of victory and find new and inventive ways to off the player, always ending with the simple message 'You died' - which the player will see a lot. One of the crueler jokes the designers play is having mimic treasure chests. When you open them, you're faced with a massive row of teeth and the treasure chest will just up and try to eat you. The first time this happens is one of the best jump scares in gaming.

In addition, there an on-line messaging system where players can leave tips for each other via 'rune messages across dimensions' which players could upvote/downvote to make them more or less visible to the whole world. They're supposed to be helpful advice like 'Big monster ahead', but the designers were worried that players would abuse them with rude messages so they limited the vocabulary to basic prepositions and verbs and nouns that were in the game. Of course, players still abused the hell out of this with messages such as 'put finger in but hole.'

The most famous and popular of these messages occurs right after the hardest boss fight in the game (as described in the story) when the player is about to finally meet the Great Goddess Gwynevere, who, for reference looks like this:


These days, because of the sheer number of upvotes it's gotten over the years, every single player right before entering her chamber will almost certainly click on a message that says 'Amazing Chest Ahead'.

My story was predicated on the idea that Sadie is the player-eating monster chest, rather than the (owner of the) amazing chest they might have expected - on the Dark Souls principle of 'you think you're winning, how cute, ha, ha, ha'

In conclusion, I am very smart, but if I was smarter I might have included some actual nobbing in the story...

 

[EmilyMiller]

Okay, I'll kick the joke to death while explaining it, then.

Dark Souls is widely regarded as one of the greatest games released in the last (well a bit more than a) decade, but is also renowned as one of the most difficult. The game designers take delight in having the player snatch defeat from the hands of victory and find new and inventive ways to off the player, always ending with the simple message 'You died' - which the player will see a lot. One of the crueler jokes the designers play is having mimic treasure chests. When you open them, you're faced with a massive row of teeth and the treasure chest will just up and try to eat you. The first time this happens is one of the best jump scares in gaming.

In addition, there an on-line messaging system where players can leave tips for each other via 'rune messages across dimensions' which players could upvote/downvote to make them more or less visible to the whole world. They're supposed to be helpful advice like 'Big monster ahead', but the designers were worried that players would abuse them with rude messages so they limited the vocabulary to basic prepositions and verbs and nouns that were in the game. Of course, players still abused the hell out of this with messages such as 'put finger in but hole.'

The most famous and popular of these messages occurs right after the hardest boss fight in the game (as described in the story) when the player is about to finally meet the Great Goddess Gwynevere, who, for reference looks like this:

View attachment 2293832
These days, because of the sheer number of upvotes it's gotten over the years, every single player right before entering her chamber will almost certainly click on a message that says 'Amazing Chest Ahead'.

My story was predicated on the idea that Sadie is the player-eating monster chest, rather than the (owner of the) amazing chest they might have expected - on the Dark Souls principle of 'you think you're winning, how cute, ha, ha, ha'

In conclusion, I am very smart, but if I was smarter I might have included some actual nobbing in the story...

OK - I guess you are limiting your audience to people who have played the game. Which, to be fair, is exactly what you said at the beginning. My bad for thinking - oh well.

I get it. I write stuff that has in jokes and might be inaccessible to others. No harm no foul.

Em

 

[intim8]

Probably my most recent very short story, "And Then There Were Five", and even that one is not very egregiously under rated (it's at 4.46). I'm actually pretty happy with the ratings I've got. The worse stories got meh ratings, the better ones got good ratings. Though the range is pretty narrow, my worst is above 4.3, and I agree that it is my worst one.

But I do think this one is better than the ratings it got. It's very short, and has no sex scene, so that's probably why, but I think it's a good story.

 

[WritingwhatIlike]

I have a couple. One was the first part of a story that didn't contain any sex, and readers called me out on it, even though subsequent entries in the short series fulfilled that in spades.

The other was in LW. I was fully prepared for the bloodbath, which I got, but I was still happy with the eventual results after the initial predictable BTB audience had their say. The thing is, if I'd made the guy in the story her son and posted it in I/T, it would have done well, according to previous experience. I actually flip flopped on it while writing it, but went with the LW version in the end.

 

[yowser]

Most folks have given their 'worst-rated' story (and I have a good ten percent of my catalog below 4.0, scores that they mostly deserve due either to experiments that didn't work or poor category choice, and the one April Fool's Day contest entry I've made- it turns out readers don't like real plot twists, esp. if it involves even the hint of MM activity) but taking you at your original request, the gap between score or other metrics and quality, I remain surprised that The Old Coot And The Couple wasn't received very well.

I thought it was a cute story and Mature is usually a forgiving crowd, but maybe the wheelchair didn't appeal, or the 'small story' nature of the tale. Still puzzles me.

 

[aworthyopponent]

For me it's my Saxon Girl series: https://literotica.com/s/the-saxon-girl-pt-01

Definitely understand why not - the first part is a tease and the second part took me a while to get out. Looks like those who read it liked it though! Way she goes

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

https://literotica.com/s/the-talk-14

This has my lowest rating, at 2.90 (and that after a recent 5*), and I have never posted in Loving Wives. I have quite a few more that are rated below 3.50. In the case of "The Talk," I may have hugely misread the likes and dislikes of the Romance category readership. Although it's always possible that I should just be a better writer, and am not.

I must correct this whine. At the time I posted this I had, in fact, only three stories with ratings lower than 3.50. Today, one of them (not "The Talk") gained a vote that took it above 3.50. So this was clearly a misuse of the phrase 'quite a few,' both initially and even more so since. I apologize for any sympathy that might have been sent my way, and I would return it, if I knew how.

 

[tenyari]

Hmmm... I kind of think my lowest ranked stories here deserve the rank they have. They're on my "pull off the site as soon as the revision gets a little further" list anyway.

I guess the exception to that is my really short 'nun-thing to worry about' story. I get why it's lower rated - it's too short. I usually write stories of extreme length and that one was for a 2000k word contest on an 'enforced nudity' erotica site, and I cross posted it here as well as it's the prequel to another story (My Jacaranda story). It lacks a sex scene. It's just the 'setup' - someone going about her day suddenly having to strip out of her clothes (it's part of my alien girl series - and she's a quarter alien girl a century after the main series takes place, and thinks she doesn't have the condition the aliens have).

It sits at 4.11 as I type this. I guess people did not care for the short nature that only gets erotic in the final moment and only then if ENF happens to be your kink and well... ENF is not really my kink. My kink is a 'tangent' on ENF (for me, change the 'E' that normally stands for 'Embarrassed' or 'Enforced' and change it to 'Empowered'). So in that prequel I was writing a little out of my element.

I personally think my 20 year old 'super heroine' story - split across 3 chapters (there were 5 chapters but the last 2 were never posted here) that have higher scores are much worse. But I guess back then they were competing against less polished work. Their revision that I wrote in 2022 has not been posted yet because I got sidetracked.

 

[madelinemasoch]

Eleanor Winter

 

[gunhilltrain]

Eleanor Winter

It's ironic that you were just discussing story ratings. I responded to that thread.

Since Emily provided a chance for two popular AH topics - self-promotion and complaints about reading voting - I'm going to use the opportunity. I suppose I should note "Amanda and Lucille," which is a lesbian story told in first person by one of the women. It took quite a while on this site before I felt I could handle that.

And the score has consistently been around 4.50. Yet it was crossed in and out of the Red H zone several times. This weekend it went back to 4.45 or something. Maybe the person was honest in their opinion.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/amanda-and-lucille

For truly bad scores on stories that I still think were pretty good, see the series about real life person Valerie Solanas.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/valerie-in-new-york-ch-02