Love is ... - What is Romance?

[polynices]

I made an attempt at the Romance category a while ago, with a story I called Love is ... In terms of reads, votes and feedback it's been by far my least successful effort, with a score of only 3.55 from 20 votes to date and no public comments at all.

Despite all that, I like it. I think one of the many possible reasons for its failure to please on Literotica is that, although it's certainly about the erotic, it doesn't have any really explicit sex in it. Another possible problem is that I was deliberately writing in an American idiom - and, given that I'm British, that may not have rung true. Yet another possibility is that my take on the meaning of 'Romance' may be more than a little skewed.

I did get one piece of feedback on the story - as a private email. The writer thanked me for 'sharing my story' - implying, I think, that he or she thought the piece was autobiography. It isn't, of course - it's fiction - but I was grateful for the comment. It seems to illustrate something we were discussing a few weeks ago - about the way some readers take our made-up stories for fact. In this case, at least, I found that flattering.

Anyway, I'm offering the story here for consideration and discussion:

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=442300

Is it just a bad story, or is it mis-categorized, or is it boring, or is it just not romantic and/or sexy enough? Or is there something else wrong with it that just hasn't crossed my mind at all?

- polynices

 

[shareman2010]

romance is a shit !!

 

[sr71plt]

Some of the highest/most read material on Literotica is nonerotic--even not Romance. (And this holds true with what I have posted here.) So, I'd suggest moving on to another theory why your specific story seems not to be holding up to your expectations.

 

[polynices]

Some of the highest/most read material on Literotica is nonerotic--even not Romance. (And this holds true with what I have posted here.) So, I'd suggest moving on to another theory why your specific story seems not to be holding up to your expectations.

Hi, sr71plt,

Thanks for responding to this. I have to admit, though, I'm a shade mystified by what you wrote. (It seems less precise than your usual posts.) Do you mean you actually have another theory, aside from the three or four I floated myself? Or simply that I ought to try to develop one?

By the way, I'm quite prepared to accept that the story may be just 'no good', as I said earlier. It's just that I feel blind to its possible faults myself because, as I also said earlier, I like it. I accept the view of the majority, of course. There's a very clear vote for mediocrity from many - perhaps all - of those who've read it. But it would be nice to get at least some inkling of how their criteria differ from my own in this case.

Regards,

- polynices

 

[sr71plt]

Hi, sr71plt,

Thanks for responding to this. I have to admit, though, I'm a shade mystified by what you wrote. (It seems less precise than your usual posts.) Do you mean you actually have another theory, aside from the three or four I floated myself? Or simply that I ought to try to develop one?

By the way, I'm quite prepared to accept that the story may be just 'no good', as I said earlier. It's just that I feel blind to its possible faults myself because, as I also said earlier, I like it. I accept the view of the majority, of course. There's a very clear vote for mediocrity from many - perhaps all - of those who've read it. But it would be nice to get at least some inkling of how their criteria differ from my own in this case.

Regards,

- polynices

No, I don't have another theory. Haven't read the story, and not likely to anytime soon, as I'm pushing a couple of publishing deadlines.

I'm just noting that the nonerotic stories--that even non Romance--get lots of reads and comparable high ratings on this story site. (Look at some of my Christmas stories, for instance--and, for the most part, I go nonerotic for Christmas). I post in other names here too. One of them doesn't have any erotic/Romance stories up at all, and enjoys a higher readership and rating average than the ones I post under sr71plt. (Of course that one doesn't carry the troll baggage this posting name does.)

So, your story, I think, must have another reason for not scoring as anticipated. (Of course the day of posting and what else was happening that day can be just as much a factor as anything else).

Some of what I think are my best stories don't rate high here--and certainly get a lower reader score. Just need to take it all with a heaping tablespoon of "oh well," I think.

 

[polynices]

OK. Thanks for clarifying. (i'll just get the salt-cellar).

- polynices

 

[evanslily]

Just a guess...

...but I think you might have lost most of the regular Romance category readers with the words at the end of the first paragraph.

I've known Ella May my whole life. We grew up together and we went through high-school side by side. Then I went to the army for a while – I didn't want to but they took me – and when I got home again, Ella had become a full-fledged whore. But that's life, I guess.

Now maybe Ella May was a whore. But to me, that ain't romance. If I'd opened up your story wanting to read something nice and slushy, that 'full-fledged whore' thing would have had me backclick pretty much almost immediately.

Even if it hadn't, I wouldn't have read much more before clicking out - not if I was in a mood for romance, anyway. The writing's pretty good, there's definitely a story there, but it's not your classic romance tale. There's not nearly enough emotion or touchy feely stuff (and no, I don't mean sex - some of my highest rating chapters have no sex in them whatsoever ).

I think all that happened here was that you wrote a story entitled (rather promisingly) 'Love is...' - and then your average romance category reader felt somewhat cheated by the content and voted accordingly. I wouldn't read any more into that disappointing score than that.

 

[michchick98]

Now maybe Ella May was a whore. But to me, that ain't romance. If I'd opened up your story wanting to read something nice and slushy, that 'full-fledged whore' thing would have had me backclick pretty much almost immediately.

Even if it hadn't, I wouldn't have read much more before clicking out - not if I was in a mood for romance, anyway. The writing's pretty good, there's definitely a story there, but it's not your classic romance tale. There's not nearly enough emotion or touchy feely stuff (and no, I don't mean sex - some of my highest rating chapters have no sex in them whatsoever ).

I think all that happened here was that you wrote a story entitled (rather promisingly) 'Love is...' - and then your average romance category reader felt somewhat cheated by the content and voted accordingly. I wouldn't read any more into that disappointing score than that.

I think I have to agree with Lily here. It really wasn't a Romance. There was no frilly, touchy feely stuff associated with most romances and there really wasn't much conflict, also essential to most romances to make them successful.

I made an attempt at the Romance category a while ago, with a story I called Love is ... In terms of reads, votes and feedback it's been by far my least successful effort, with a score of only 3.55 from 20 votes to date and no public comments at all.

Despite all that, I like it. I think one of the many possible reasons for its failure to please on Literotica is that, although it's certainly about the erotic, it doesn't have any really explicit sex in it. Another possible problem is that I was deliberately writing in an American idiom - and, given that I'm British, that may not have rung true. Yet another possibility is that my take on the meaning of 'Romance' may be more than a little skewed.

I did get one piece of feedback on the story - as a private email. The writer thanked me for 'sharing my story' - implying, I think, that he or she thought the piece was autobiography. It isn't, of course - it's fiction - but I was grateful for the comment. It seems to illustrate something we were discussing a few weeks ago - about the way some readers take our made-up stories for fact. In this case, at least, I found that flattering.

Anyway, I'm offering the story here for consideration and discussion:

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=442300

Is it just a bad story, or is it mis-categorized, or is it boring, or is it just not romantic and/or sexy enough? Or is there something else wrong with it that just hasn't crossed my mind at all?

- polynices

Being that there's not really any romance or any sex, you might have been better off posting it in the Non-Erotic category. Any mentions of sex were one or two lines, but that's really about it.

It might've done well in the Reviews and Essays category as well, simply because it was more the narrator giving his views on his relationship with his woman.

It wasn't badly written, but I think your choice of category is what generated the lower scores.

You can move it, but the damage was probably already done. I had a story posted in the wrong category (it had a mild girl-on-girl scene, but that's not what the story was about - the editors/moderators posted it in the Lesbian Sex category) and it tanked in the ratings and feedback. I did manage to get it moved to the Erotic Couplings category, but by the the damage had been done and the score never recovered.

If you want to move it, simply resubmit the story with - EDIT after the title (Love Is... - EDIT) then choose the new category. Include in the Notes field that you'd like the story moved.

If I'm not mistaken, since you're not actually changing any of the text of the story, you shouldn't have to copy and paste it into the Story Text field (or attach the story) again. But in order to submit it as an edit, you will have to include a description.

Or you could always delete the story entirely, tweak it a bit, then re-post it in the new category. You'd do the same as above only add - DELETE after the title and include in the notes field that you'd like the story deleted.

Good luck to you in your future writing endeavors.

 

[michchick98]

Double post.

 

[polynices]

Just a guess...

...but I think you might have lost most of the regular Romance category readers with the words at the end of the first paragraph.

...

Now maybe Ella May was a whore. But to me, that ain't romance. If I'd opened up your story wanting to read something nice and slushy, that 'full-fledged whore' thing would have had me backclick pretty much almost immediately.

Even if it hadn't, I wouldn't have read much more before clicking out - not if I was in a mood for romance, anyway. The writing's pretty good, there's definitely a story there, but it's not your classic romance tale. There's not nearly enough emotion or touchy feely stuff (and no, I don't mean sex - some of my highest rating chapters have no sex in them whatsoever ).

I think all that happened here was that you wrote a story entitled (rather promisingly) 'Love is...' - and then your average romance category reader felt somewhat cheated by the content and voted accordingly. I wouldn't read any more into that disappointing score than that.

Thanks for that, evanslily.

In my original post, I did say:

... another possibility is that my take on the meaning of 'Romance' may be more than a little skewed.

- so maybe that's it: a massive category error, as you imply. I do wonder which Literotica category a story like this would fit into, though. Maybe True Romance?

Thanks for the post,

- polynices

 

[polynices]

I think I have to agree with Lily here. It really wasn't a Romance. There was no frilly, touchy feely stuff associated with most romances and there really wasn't much conflict, also essential to most romances to make them successful.

Being that there's not really any romance or any sex, you might have been better off posting it in the Non-Erotic category. Any mentions of sex were one or two lines, but that's really about it.

It might've done well in the Reviews and Essays category as well, simply because it was more the narrator giving his views on his relationship with his woman.

It wasn't badly written, but I think your choice of category is what generated the lower scores. ...

We posted more or less simultaneously and I see you answered the question I just asked in my reply to evanslily. I certainly think of it as a story - it was all about getting a certain voice down on paper really - but perhaps you're right and it should have gone into Non-Erotic.

(But, I actually think it's choc-full of romance, really. It's just not the conventional kind.)

Regards

- polynices

 

[michchick98]

We posted more or less simultaneously and I see you answered the question I just asked in my reply to evanslily. I certainly think of it as a story - it was all about getting a certain voice down on paper really - but perhaps you're right and it should have gone into Non-Erotic.

(But, I actually think it's choc-full of romance, really. It's just not the conventional kind.)

Regards

- polynices

Perhaps it is full of romance, but you're right about it not being the conventional kind. The romance category here on Lit brings high expectations from its readers and perhaps your unconventional romance is what turned them off.

 

[polynices]

Perhaps it is full of romance, but you're right about it not being the conventional kind. The romance category here on Lit brings high expectations from its readers and perhaps your unconventional romance is what turned them off.

Yes, I'm sure you're right. At any rate, that certainly gives me the inkling of how Romance readers' criteria differ from my own that I asked sr71plt for earlier.

I think I'll leave Romance to the romantics in future.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

- polynices

 

[sr71plt]

Well the Romance genre (with a capital R) is a highly formulaic one. Certain conventions are expected, and it's one of the least tolerant ones for going off formula.

 

[Sweet_Pea24]

Perhaps it is full of romance, but you're right about it not being the conventional kind. The romance category here on Lit brings high expectations from its readers and perhaps your unconventional romance is what turned them off.

Yeah - That's why I'm not going for the romance category (yet), I can see I'm just not ready for that. My problem though is I haven't gotten the writing down good enough to deal with a really - really critical audience. The people I've written for weren't really the professional reader/writing types. I'm glad you posted the information on how to delete a story because I'm thinking that's what I'm wanting to do with the story I've submitted.

So instead of a romance story per say - I'm trying to give something of a loving story line to porno grade sex fest lol. Not sure how hot that idea is yet...I guess I'll find out. LoL maybe I should write a story about a lesbian couple who fall in love? What guy doesn't want to hear about lesbian lovers?

What I really want to do (when I'm ready which may be a long time in coming) is write a historical romance story set either in Pagan Ireland (or maybe base it on the characters of Irish mythologies?) or in Gaul at the time the continent was being over run by the Romans.

I really want to go ALL out with it too. Like researching the era, culture, archeology, what they wore (royal classes, middle classes, lower classes etc), and study everything I can on what I need to really give individual personalities to every character. My husband is a "Celtic reconstructionist" so he can help me with it allot. He is actually the one who gave me the idea.

Who knows? Maybe if I can perfect my style allot, and learn what I need to know, I can write it as a book one day. I have the inspiration, and a basic picture of it, I can see in my mind what it is I want to do. - Now I just need the education.

OK - That may have been a bit long winded and pointless to the topic. I hope I'm not over running your thread Polynices lol.