Peta / Sam - new romance novel, looking for feedback

[StrentWriter]

Here’s the link for anyone interested: https://www.literotica.com/s/peta-sam

 

[StrentWriter]

5 star straight off the bat is very kind - I’ve read through it again today and have a list of notes for changes to make (so frustrating!) but hey ho.

Just delighted people are reading it at last.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Writing is an incredibly rewarding hobby, and a wonderful gift to share with the world.

Congratulations on finishing it in the first place, and on your first successful submission. The site is richer for having you.

 

[StrentWriter]

Writing is an incredibly rewarding hobby, and a wonderful gift to share with the world.

Congratulations on finishing it in the first place, and on your first successful submission. The site is richer for having you.

Very kind of you to say, thank you.

 

[StrentWriter]

View attachment 2579093

5 star straight off the bat is very kind - I’ve read through it again today and have a list of notes for changes to make (so frustrating!) but hey ho.

Just delighted people are reading it at last.

That lasted an hour



So I must have got a 2 star then? Ouch.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

2 star and 1-bombs happen. There are people who absolutely hate Ernest Hemingway and Fyodor Dostoevsky (me). Don't take it personally.

--Annie

 

[StrentWriter]

2 star and 1-bombs happen. There are people who absolutely hate Ernest Hemingway and Fyodor Dostoevsky (me). Don't take it personally.

--Annie

Noted - thanks Annie!

 

[AwkwardMD]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/advice-for-new-ish-authors.1644490/

@iwatchus thread is a good repository of helpful bits to keep in mind.

 

[StrentWriter]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/advice-for-new-ish-authors.1644490/

@iwatchus thread is a good repository of helpful bits to keep in mind.

I’ll have a read, thank you

 

[StrentWriter]

So the stats are after one day, 1100 views, 3/5 stars after 6 ratings, no comments.

The comments are the bit I really want to hear. Was it any good? What did people like? Or dislike? Were the sex scenes good or cringe? Have you spotted mistakes I need to fix…etc etc.

I am intrigued - when I had originally started on lit in 2023, some of the chapters now in the single novel document had been published as stand alone titles and received quite high marks.

Do the longer novels maybe suffer from lower scores overall? Looking at the romance section and at the longer ones, that does seem to be something of a trend with the data.

I’m reasonably happy with how it’s faring. I’d just love to hear from someone who read it, to be honest, good or bad!

https://www.literotica.com/s/peta-sam

 

[StrentWriter]

9 votes, 3.67/5 - not horrendous I think?

 

[StrentWriter]

Getting some better scores now - curious who is scoring it. Apparently 1300 views, but I wonder how many stuck all the way through to read it?

Is there a thread for discussing novel scoring/views already - I might be better placed there to discuss?

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Getting some better scores now - curious who is scoring it. Apparently 1300 views, but I wonder how many stuck all the way through to read it?

Is there a thread for discussing novel scoring/views already - I might be better placed there to discuss?

Try searching for threads on the Author’s Hangout or feel free to create your own. I think they’re plenty of authors who can weigh in on the experience of publishing their long works. Although in your case, I imagine it’s rare for the long work to be one’s first.

My two cents? I think readers are probably still making their way through your story. I imagine you’ll see more positive scores trickle in as time passes. I read the first page and you’re a very competent writer.

 

[StrentWriter]

My two cents? I think readers are probably still making their way through your story. I imagine you’ll see more positive scores trickle in as time passes. I read the first page and you’re a very competent writer.

That’s very kind, thank you.

 

[StrentWriter]

It’s been up for a week, and the views and scores have steadily climbed. Sitting around 3.5 stars and 1400 views.

I’d be interested to hear comments - anything good/bad, that works/doesn’t work? If it’s actually titillating or tear jerking (or just jerking would also be fine!)

I figure it’s a really long piece so maybe people are just taking their time.

 

[StrentWriter]

I’ve produced a synopsis - this might help to advertise (I hope!)

Peta Fernsands and Sam Maillard meet at sixteen, when a holiday boat trip in Corfu turns to disaster and Sam drags an unconscious Peta from the capsized hull, saving her life. In the phosphorescent blur of that crisis, a lifelong bond forms — intimate, bewildering, and impossible to shake.

Over the next fifteen years, their lives loop and knot through false starts, missed timing, and the gravitational pull of unresolved desire. They fall for each other in slow-burn instalments — through university escapades in Vienna and London, midnight rescues, stolen weekends, and long periods of silence where each pretends to move on.

But the world turns differently for both of them.
Peta marries Hans, a dependable Austrian family friend, drifting into a life of expectations and duty. Sam marries Elhaida, a warm, loving woman who brings stability into the chaos of his unresolved past with Peta. Careers bloom, families form, people age. Yet every reunion between Peta and Sam crackles with the same electric inevitability, as if no time has passed at all.

Their relationship is defined by almosts. A near-proposal. A missed flight. A wrong wedding. A kiss too late. A confession too early. Whenever one reaches out, the other is already leaving.

Tragedy finally forces their paths back together.
Elhaida dies suddenly, leaving Sam a widower with a young son.
Peta survives a devastating accident, emerging scarred, physically and emotionally. As both navigate grief, fear, and the wreckage of their earlier choices, their connection shifts from forbidden nostalgia into something deeper and more mature — companionable, tender, and painfully honest.

When long-buried truths about Peta’s daughter Annika come to light, the final thread pulling them apart snaps. What began as a teenage infatuation reveals itself as a decades-long, unresolved love story with consequences stretching across two families, three countries and countless years.

In the final act, Peta and Sam must finally confront the question they have circled since childhood:

Was the life they built without each other ever truly theirs —
and is it too late to claim the one they were always meant for?

Their journey, spanning adolescence to middle adulthood, is messy, erotic, bittersweet, and achingly human — a story about timing, loyalty, passion, and the impossible decisions that shape a life.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'll offer some friendly advice as you're quite new here.
You've written your novel and are undoubtedly excited to see some engagement and feedback. Yet there's so little of it, and you must feel somewhat frustrated.

But the answer is simple. Had you asked for advice before publishing your long story, most people in the AH would have advised you to split it into 10k-word chapters and then publish them one by one. That's always the better option for new authors.

The reason for that is because you're new and an unknown to all the readers. They are unlikely to dive into your long story and invest time without knowing whether you're any good first.

But that's all done now. The best thing you can do is to write more and publish more, just make it much shorter work this time, or split it into chapters at least. You need to build your following and your rep, and once you do, those readers are far more likely to invest time into reading your novel.

 

[StrentWriter]

I'll offer some friendly advice as you're quite new here.
You've written your novel and are undoubtedly excited to see some engagement and feedback. Yet there's so little of it, and you must feel somewhat frustrated.

But the answer is simple. Had you asked for advice before publishing your long story, most people in the AH would have advised you to split it into 10k-word chapters and then publish them one by one. That's always the better option for new authors.

The reason for that is because you're new and an unknown to all the readers. They are unlikely to dive into your long story and invest time without knowing whether you're any good first.

But that's all done now. The best thing you can do is to write more and publish more, just make it much shorter work this time, or split it into chapters at least. You need to build your following and your rep, and once you do, those readers are far more likely to invest time into reading your novel.

When I originally joined a few years back, that’s exactly what I did, but I didn’t enjoy it.

Time to log off and leave it for six months and see if anything happens?

I won’t be making new stories regularly, I’m not in that headspace I fear.

 

[StrentWriter]

Absolutely humbled by this comment! Made my evening. Thank you.