Worries About Posting My First Story

[GriffyD_Boy]

I'm getting close to being ready to post my first story here, but there are some questions and worries I'm think would be best for me to address here before I do so.

I originally had a single part story that was going to be my first try here. However, after I printed off a copy for proofreading I came to the conclusion that it needed a lot more work than I'd first thought. I've also been writing a second story that has turned into a much larger piece of work -- six chapters in all, each of which will probably be spread over 2 or 3 pages here if they get accepted.

The bottom line of my problem is that I'm unsure about which way to proceed from here. I'd like to post the six parter at this point due to the fact that it's almost done and will hopefully require less work once I proofread it than the first story. I'm not sure how the people running this site view first time writers submitting multi-part stories. Should I not worry and submit the six part story first, or should I work on the single part story and get it ready first?

Since it'll be my first time I do want thing to go as smoothly as possible and I don't want to annoy anyone accidentally by tripping over any unwritten rules. Basically I'm just looking for advice and maybe a little reassurance.

 

[Handley_Page]

I'm getting close to being ready to post my first story here, but there are some questions and worries I'm think would be best for me to address here before I do so.

I originally had a single part story that was going to be my first try here. However, after I printed off a copy for proofreading I came to the conclusion that it needed a lot more work than I'd first thought. I've also been writing a second story that has turned into a much larger piece of work -- six chapters in all, each of which will probably be spread over 2 or 3 pages here if they get accepted.

The bottom line of my problem is that I'm unsure about which way to proceed from here. I'd like to post the six parter at this point due to the fact that it's almost done and will hopefully require less work once I proofread it than the first story. I'm not sure how the people running this site view first time writers submitting multi-part stories. Should I not worry and submit the six part story first, or should I work on the single part story and get it ready first?

Since it'll be my first time I do want thing to go as smoothly as possible and I don't want to annoy anyone accidentally by tripping over any unwritten rules. Basically I'm just looking for advice and maybe a little reassurance.

Chapters, of length 2-3 Lit pages (say, 10,000 words?) is, I think, ideal.
If you are worried about how it all hangs and looks, ask for an editor or a beta reader before submission.

Good Luck

 

[Hypoxia]

No unwritten rules here AFAIK and not many written ones, either. Mainly, no bestiality, no underage sex, and no sexual mayhem.

So you want to start with a 6-parter, eh? I tried to do a 7-parter first. It was rejected and the first of a 2-parter (a 3rd added later) became my freshman effort here. The rejection forced me to carefully evaluate what I'd written. That was good for me and for the series.

That was 16 months ago. I've averaged one story per week since then (but slowed a bit lately for good reasons). I have tweaked by approach to writing and submitting stories here. I now try to avoid extended series with fairly short chapters in favor of longer pieces. All my early LIT efforts were about 7000 words, or 2 LIT pages per submission. My BRIDE OF KONG serial is 3 1/2 two-page chapters. Were I submitting now, it would be as a 6- or 7-page novella.

So you're anxious to be a LIT author, eh? Can't wait to get your nom-de-plume up in lights. I was there, too. I fretted. Will I be accepted? What will be the response? I kept a neurotically close eye on the LIT screens. How many views? How many votes? I have since learned to relax and Just Do It. Write. Rewrite. Reread and rewrite again. Get all parts of the story in place and THEN submit. And don't have a cow over delays or rejections.

Oh, that first 7-part series? It grew to 14 chapters, currently with 6 Red-H's. Reader reaction has been pretty good. Nothing to worry about.

Welcome to the madhouse, have fun, and good luck!

 

[JackLuis]

Go ahead and finish your six parter then post each chapter, hopefully as #1, #2 etc. Laurel will release them one per day, assuming they are not rejected, which they probably won't be. This will get your whole story out in short order and you won't do as I did and take four years to complete. O'course Spreading Seeds is 40 chapters.

Then set back and watch. I know you will even JBJ watches his 'reads and scores' even if he won't admit it.

 

[RejectReality]

If you feel the six-parter is ready for prime time, go for it. The first thing I ever posted here was a 20k word, 6 Lit page Pt. 01 of a 450k word story.

Since you're brand new, don't submit all the chapters at once. Put them in one at a time to make sure they're going to be accepted. You don't want an accident happening where Ch. 02 gets rejected and then Ch. 03 gets approved.

When a chapter gets approved, put the next one in the queue. Or better yet, time it out for maximum readership. While it's not always a given, you can try to aim for a good day by assuming a two day turnaround. The closest thing to agreement that's ever come up is that Thursday/Friday are good and Sunday BLOWS.

More or less, try to avoid a Sunday posting. I had a lot of success with Tuesday and Thursday postings on my most recent multi-part story.

Naturally, all the suggestions of a second pair of eyes, etc. aren't a bad idea. One thing you'll want to check is your dialogue. Make sure the punctuation is inside the quotation marks. That's the most common grammar rejection here. It's a pet peeve of Laurel's or something.

 

[GriffyD_Boy]

Thanks for the words everyone. I'll take your advice to heart and try to implement as much as I can.

Thank you.

 

[Got2]

Um....

Please define 'sexual Mayhem' as it applies to stories posted here.

(Yes, I am being serious because as a reader here, I have read some 'whopper-doozies' of sexual mayhem....I mean the site admins can't be that prudish.

My first story was rejected because: 1) I did not read the story post rules, so I 2) put a cute 16 year old girl in the story that got lusted after, even though NOTHING happened to her, except her parents sent her to her room so the adults could play.

My sex stories/fantasies do tend to get a bit extreme as far as themes of submission/domination. Is that crossing the line here?

As far as GriffyD: Post it. You will like it.

Honestly. I am a new author. It was great to see people 'favorite' my work, and it hurt when unkind things were said in the comments, until a little research here revealed that certain stories get 'Trolled' and Trolled hard.

Join the fun

 

[GriffyD_Boy]

As far as GriffyD: Post it. You will like it.

Honestly. I am a new author. It was great to see people 'favorite' my work, and it hurt when unkind things were said in the comments, until a little research here revealed that certain stories get 'Trolled' and Trolled hard.

Join the fun

At this point I plan to.

Although keep in mind when I said it was nearly done I meant that I was nearly done getting it down on pen and paper -- my preferred way of writing down stories initially. I still have to transcribe them to computer, print them out so that I can properly proof read them and then make corrections. At this point the first chapter most likely isn't going to be ready to be submitted until late February at the earliest.

 

[robertreams]

I recommend posting them separately fist one, (part one or chapter one) then the next, etc, waiting each time for the prior to be accepted before posting the next. The reason for this is it keeps you on the "new stories" list longer. More people will read you. Most readers go only to the "new story" list, because it is easier than floundering around haplessly.

 

[can_i_plz]

just curious ... i haven't posted here as of yet

i read a lot about stories getting rejected .... what is the exact criteria that a story can be rejected on? Does it vary for categories? Or is it more which ever mod reads it over gets to decide?

 

[Bramblethorn]

just curious ... i haven't posted here as of yet

i read a lot about stories getting rejected .... what is the exact criteria that a story can be rejected on? Does it vary for categories? Or is it more which ever mod reads it over gets to decide?

Answers here: http://www.literotica.com/subguide.shtml

There's only one mod for stories.

 

[can_i_plz]

thank you