Returning author looking for different feedback

[Seurat]

About ten to fifteen years ago I wrote a dozen or so stories for the old ASSM group. They were fairly well received, and I was on my way to producing more when I suffered a cataclysmic hard drive crash. I never posted again, and when I got my head in back in the right place to do so, the internet had moved on.

The I found Literotica, a treasure trove of delights. I was inspired, and went back to find what remained of my old stories for possible re-issue. As I edited, submitted, and then observed, I was generally pleased with the reception my stories got. I saw some get tanked by readers that didn't get my (twisted) sense of humor, while others were pleased with the content and style of my writing.

I don't expect you will see a lot of red 'H's next to my stories, though.

During the writing process I, quite naturally, read a lot of stories, and began to nurture the seeds of new stories. But after looking at the criticisms of both stories and critics (such as the one currently going on regarding the LW category) my question is: is feedback from the general community worth my effort and ego?

Average views of my 10 currently posted stories is about 10,000, with a whopping 480 votes cast (which comes in as 1 vote per every 208 views, which seems okay) and 32 comments (about 1 for every 3100 views or so).

While I can attest to poor response on my own part when reading stories (and absolutely no response from authors I have emailed), it makes me wonder if I shouldn't just turn off feedback, forget the occasional ego stroke I get, and be done with that part of it.

Add to that the fact that I was going to post in the hornets nest currently be stirred in the LW categories, and I am almost tempted not to post at all.



Comments, criticisms, and advice not only welcome, but sought.

 

[RyanBlack]

I have yet to read your stories, though I will attempt to find them and read. I do post comments and vote for nearly every story I read--I attempt to make my comments and or criticism helpful and more insightful than "good" or "bad"

I have chosen to post my stories in threads as opposed to submitting them because I find that I kniow my audience better, receive more coherent and helpful feedback and there is rarely any "wars" over stories posted in the threads I post in.

I have garnered a small following of readers who make great suggestions and help me write better; but I do not now nor have I ever written for readers.

I write for me, because I enjoy writing.

My suggestion would be to tryout posting in something like the Erotic Fantascenes thread in the Playground where I usually post or starting a thread just for your stories. It has worked well for me.

Best of Luck and remember "Writers dont make Mistakes, we only make changes"

About ten to fifteen years ago I wrote a dozen or so stories for the old ASSM group. They were fairly well received, and I was on my way to producing more when I suffered a cataclysmic hard drive crash. I never posted again, and when I got my head in back in the right place to do so, the internet had moved on.

The I found Literotica, a treasure trove of delights. I was inspired, and went back to find what remained of my old stories for possible re-issue. As I edited, submitted, and then observed, I was generally pleased with the reception my stories got. I saw some get tanked by readers that didn't get my (twisted) sense of humor, while others were pleased with the content and style of my writing.

I don't expect you will see a lot of red 'H's next to my stories, though.

During the writing process I, quite naturally, read a lot of stories, and began to nurture the seeds of new stories. But after looking at the criticisms of both stories and critics (such as the one currently going on regarding the LW category) my question is: is feedback from the general community worth my effort and ego?

Average views of my 10 currently posted stories is about 10,000, with a whopping 480 votes cast (which comes in as 1 vote per every 208 views, which seems okay) and 32 comments (about 1 for every 3100 views or so).

While I can attest to poor response on my own part when reading stories (and absolutely no response from authors I have emailed), it makes me wonder if I shouldn't just turn off feedback, forget the occasional ego stroke I get, and be done with that part of it.

Add to that the fact that I was going to post in the hornets nest currently be stirred in the LW categories, and I am almost tempted not to post at all.



Comments, criticisms, and advice not only welcome, but sought.

 

[Darkniciad]

If the demons in the shark-pit of LW are going to bother you, then it might be wise to turn off all feedback on any stories you post there.

That may not keep them from posting their vitriol on any story you have up that does allow feedback, though. The trolls in LW are tenacious, and feel offended when you don't give them a space to vomit bile on.

If it's a cheating story and it involves the husband's reaction to her cheating, it belongs in LW, unfortunately. If it's just a cheating story and the other partner isn't really involved at all, it may very well fit in another category that isn't filled with trolls.

The comment section can actually provide advertising. The "Feedback Portal" on the main page can redirect people to your story from the recent comments. If you spark lots of comments ( especially in a short period of time ) the most comments lists on that page can bring in more reads for up to 30 days.

It all boils down to how much rotten comments are going to put you off. There are beneifts to leaving comments on, but they don't mean much if the "my dog rites bettar" comments are going to bring you down enough to make writing feel unrewarding.

 

[sr71plt]

Your statistics seem in line with the norm for reads, votes, and comments. Some authors tend not to be able to come to terms with the natural flow here that most readers come to read and feel no obligation (indeed none is imposed on them by the Web site) to respond to a story by either voting or commenting. And the Web site provides authors with options to help with their own expectations. You can leave everything on, or you can delete comments you don't like, or you can turn either votes or comments off--or you can just not post stories.

 

[Epmd607]

On ASSM you can venture into different aspects of BDSM, nonconsent, underage that you can't write about here. Maybe your stories are too censored here? My experience with ASSM has always been negative. There's little order, and most of the stories are messy blocks of text.

It looks like you've only posted stories in the last six months, mostly in BDSM? If you write in different categories, over time it seems you get better responses. I think the comment section is the most pointless thing here. I just want to see views/votes, and people can email me if they really want to comment.

 

[Seurat]

As said, I originally posted in ASSM some time ago, when it was still a community of sorts. Writers come and go, though, and after my HD crash I was sapped of the will to write. I am looking for the spark to write again, but instead of finding the symbiotic relationship I was hoping for, I find that some writers (and as can be expected, many of the annnymous responders) to be waging a bit of a war. I am as thick skinned as I need to be, but I don't want to walk into somebody else's barfight.

As for my writing genres, I think I fall into that category of 'likes but cannot do'; I have read and enjoyed many of the LW stories, and have a predilication for certain endings, but I can enjoy most things that are well written even if I disagree with the end game. Convincing myself that I can contribute something refreshing is the question that irks me at the moment.

I'll be taking the advice given so far, and that y'all for the quick responses. I hope to see more.

 

[Darkniciad]

As said, I originally posted in ASSM some time ago, when it was still a community of sorts. Writers come and go, though, and after my HD crash I was sapped of the will to write. I am looking for the spark to write again, but instead of finding the symbiotic relationship I was hoping for, I find that some writers (and as can be expected, many of the annnymous responders) to be waging a bit of a war. I am as thick skinned as I need to be, but I don't want to walk into somebody else's barfight.

Most people who are forewarned by coming here or just observing what happens on the comment boards comes to the conclusion that seriously trying to write in the category without not only expecting, but coming to enjoy the insane commentary is just a waste of time.

Even if the rotten comments don't get to you, the regular feedback gets buried under the badly spelled rants. If you can't laugh at those, and almost try to push different commenter's buttons on purpose, it becomes an excercise in futility to write in LW for most.

The category is completely broken, and probably beyond repair after being left with the inmates running the asylum for so long.

 

[Epmd607]

I genuinely don't think there's anything wrong with the LW category here. People are just taken aback when they get death threats the first week they post a story. The scores on the few LW stories I've posted have gradually gone up over time, and I pretty much only get positive comments on them now. The LW psychopaths usually don't venture into the archive, just stick to welcoming authors on the new stories index. No one believes me, but the psychopaths are the ones reading and getting off on your story minutes before they send their nasty comment. It's just a whole level of psychological masochism that's difficult to pin down.

Seurat, what type of relationship with your readers are you looking for? A positive relationship for me is a high score, plenty of votes and no messages in my inbox saying, "Learn how 2 spel, fagott!" When a reader messages you, it's usually about something they want from you. Either they want you to keep writing, change how you're writing to fit their fantasy better, or they just tell you to stop writing. What goes on in storyland is entirely different than message board world. There's no way to have a community of writers over in storyland, and I wouldn't expect too much feedback in the story feedback, it's sparsely populated.

 

[Seurat]

I think that was the question for the evening.

Seurat, what type of relationship with your readers are you looking for?

It gave me quite a pause, and not just because I wasn't sleeping anyway.

- I write because I get stories in my head and writing about them is the only way to get them out. Sort of like those annoying bits of commercial music that play over and over in your brain.

- I write because I like to put words to my thoughts, as it is easier to fine tune them when I can actually hold them on the computer screen for a while.

- I write because I hope that some reader out there will enjoy my style of writing and be brought into the fantasy that I have produced.

- I write because I hope to, in some way, have realized or exposed some reader's unrealized thoughts, thereby giving them some enjoyment.

- I write because I like to write.

- I write because I like people to enjoy my writing.

- I write because of the occasional ego stroke I get from responders.


There are probably more reasons, but none that are popping in to my fuzzy brain this morning. Looking back over the previous replies, I think that now I have to decide where to post my stories based on how I feel about the particular piece of writing that I am presenting.

 

[Epmd607]

It gave me quite a pause, and not just because I wasn't sleeping anyway.

- I write because I get stories in my head and writing about them is the only way to get them out. Sort of like those annoying bits of commercial music that play over and over in your brain.

- I write because I like to put words to my thoughts, as it is easier to fine tune them when I can actually hold them on the computer screen for a while.

- I write because I hope that some reader out there will enjoy my style of writing and be brought into the fantasy that I have produced.

- I write because I hope to, in some way, have realized or exposed some reader's unrealized thoughts, thereby giving them some enjoyment.

- I write because I like to write.

- I write because I like people to enjoy my writing.

- I write because of the occasional ego stroke I get from responders.


There are probably more reasons, but none that are popping in to my fuzzy brain this morning. Looking back over the previous replies, I think that now I have to decide where to post my stories based on how I feel about the particular piece of writing that I am presenting.

I think you've just describe most of the reasons why people write and post stories here. For me, literotica satisfies all those points. Maybe post a few more stories and then decide if Lit does it for you. If I don't get a good response on a story I just assume I have to write something better. Maybe you're interests are only BDSM and Horror? As far as I know Lit has more BDSM stories than any other site, probably one of the largest readerships in that genre on the Internet. Do you think your stories suffer because of the general censorship imposed here? If so, the rules aren't going to change and you might as well search for a site that lets you tell exactly the kind of story you want to.

 

[Darkniciad]

There are probably more reasons, but none that are popping in to my fuzzy brain this morning. Looking back over the previous replies, I think that now I have to decide where to post my stories based on how I feel about the particular piece of writing that I am presenting.

If you mean "where to post them" as in "Here on another site" then that makes sense. I post on two different sites, and some stories are exclusive to one or the other for various reasons.

If you mean "where to post them" as in "what category" then just make sure you're still posting to the right category, even if it's LW.

 

[bwallard]

I'm enjoying this discussion, but please someone tell me what LW is.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm enjoying this discussion, but please someone tell me what LW is.

Loving Wives. It's one of the categories here--so fuzzily defined and named that it's become a real danger pit for posting a story.

 

[Mrtouf]

If you ask me, you should obviously post stories where they're going to be read by people that want to read them. If there are also people reading that category and expecting something else entirely, well you can't please everyone. As long as you please a good number of them, have some confidence in your selection of site(s) and category.

Turning off public comments is a question of convenience (of the comments box) and whether readers feel strongly enough about the story to say anything when that convenience isn't there. It doesn't exactly spoil their enjoyment of the story if they can't leave you a note saying how much they liked it (or not). If you really are anxious to get some feedback when comments are turned off on a particular story, you can still ask here.

 

[Seurat]

If you mean "where to post them" as in "what category" then just make sure you're still posting to the right category, even if it's LW.

I've had my first lesson there, but learning curves can be steep, can't they? I didn't know that the initial reviewers would change my categories on me....

Still, I hope the inspiration to write stays strong, as I think I have a bit more to contribute. I thank you all for the replies.