What Do You Compete With?

[NOIRTRASH]

I read constantly, mostly noir hard-crime novels, from Dashiell Hammett's 1920s efforts to current best-sellers. And I read widely from other categories. I just finished an obscure memoir of a boy who fought in the Revolution from 1775 to 1783, and I'm reading von Mannheim's memoir of World War 2 in Russia. I consume plenty of neuro-biology books and bio-philosophy books about the origin of organic molecules and life. The Bible got it right with clay. Clay replicates itself.

I read few LIT stories tho I read plenty 10 years ago. Almost all of them are crap, but occasionally I fall over a story by a writer with talent and her nose pointed in the right direction. Crudely said, the best LIT fare is basic dog fucks dog with a patina of mitigating circumstances readers can relate to. Keep it simple and scratch the itch. Lawrence Block wrote a ton of porn in his early years before he switched to hard crime. I recommend him as a place to learn porn. He wrote plenty of porn stories for early porn magazines of the 60s, SWANK comes to mind.

Most LIT stuff is show & tell without the show.

 

[Ezrollin]

I've had two short stories approved, it's the only things I've ever written other than a check, so you could say I'm competing with myself. It's not for me to be critical but I agree that most of the stories are crap. Repeating salacious words over and over doesn't make for an erotic story. Even some of the better-written stories are so long they become repetitious. Don't misunderstand, I have read several stories, some short and some in a series that keep me interested and were well written. It's my opinion that the ideal story for Literotica has a limited number of pages, enough for character development to make the story interesting,but not so long as to become repetitious . I can usually tell within a few paragraphs if I want to continue reading a story.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

When I say CRAP I mean the stories can be improved. But whats really sad is, Stephen Kings best writing was 45 years ago. All of us should do better over time, otherwise its all McLIT. And the promising writers stand-out. Their talent is obvious. A writer like King should be creating masterworks like Beethoven and Bach. The focus of LIT is scores and flattery, not quality. Better should be the enemy of good.

 

[sr71plt]

All of us should do better over time, otherwise its all McLIT. And the promising writers stand-out. Their talent is obvious. A writer like King should be creating masterworks like Beethoven and Bach. The focus of LIT is scores and flattery, not quality. Better should be the enemy of good.

I don't think your premise bears out in the mainstream. Quite often an author's best, freshest writing is in in the early years and then they get bogged down by the lack of fresh ideas and by the maintenance work of book signings and such on previous books. The author cycle, once they get on the treadmill, is not sequential; it's layered. You are researching one book, while writing a separate book, while going through review on edit of yet another separate book, while marketing a fourth. This is a schedule that builds up on you and isn't there as heavy in your early writing and it's an inspiration killer. Tom Clancy's and James Micheners' later books don't have the sparkle and polish of their earlier ones. The same/same list could go on and on.

John Grisham has talked much (and he hates to do book talks, so this weighs heavily in his speaking of the author experience) of being trapped in writing the legal thrillers that made him famous--trapped because they now support his lifestyle, because he has a contract to write X number of books submitted on Y schedule even if he doesn't feel inspired to write them on that schedule or on the proven formula, and because that doesn't leave him time to contemplate and devise where he'd like to develop as a writer from there. He's made great effort to write books that are more literary and inspirational, but he's trapped into trying to write those same early books that got him to where he is and maintain his lifestyle and his family. Not that I sympathize with him all that much. His legal thrillers have made him enough to last several lifetimes and he could just stop writing them (and probably get sued because he signed contracts for futures) and put all his energy into writing something different (although his attempts at that so far haven't yielded stellar results). But many a best-selling author can't seem to get off that treadmill.

I also think you should get off this crap of attacking the stories other folks post to Literotica and pay more attention to your own writing--and maybe find a different writing site to write to, since you don't write erotica and the discussions you constantly bring to the forum have little or nothing to do with erotica writing either.

 

[49greg]

I like SR71plt's example of John Grisham. Makes me wonder about a couple of authors I liked at different times in my life. The first was Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read all I of his stuff as a teen. Later in life, in my twenties, I followed Alastair MacLean.

Years later I tried reading both. Both had their best works early. "A Princess of Mars"and "South by Java Head" are still fun reads. But both began to follow a formula, It go so that a reader could tell what was going to happen almost from the first page, then eventually just seeing the author's name on a book.

I'm not saying they were bad. Just disappointing. ERB started his own publishing company for various reasons. He was said to write potboilers. Well ok, he wrote for a living and never pretended to produce great literature. But did he have a schedule, bills to pay? Or just run out of ideas.

Also, did MacLean have contracts and schedules to meet. The last few of his that I read were a disappointment. Now I wonder if he just had to get it done, flu, personal problems, leaky roof, typewriter not cooperating be dammed, he just had to finish. They read like that.

On the other hand, people kept buying their books.

 

[_Lynn_]

I don't think your premise bears out in the mainstream. Quite often an author's best, freshest writing is in in the early years and then they get bogged down by the lack of fresh ideas and by the maintenance work of book signings and such on previous books. The author cycle, once they get on the treadmill, is not sequential; it's layered. You are researching one book, while writing a separate book, while going through review on edit of yet another separate book, while marketing a fourth. This is a schedule that builds up on you and isn't there as heavy in your early writing and it's an inspiration killer. Tom Clancy's and James Micheners' later books don't have the sparkle and polish of their earlier ones. The same/same list could go on and on.

John Grisham has talked much (and he hates to do book talks, so this weighs heavily in his speaking of the author experience) of being trapped in writing the legal thrillers that made him famous--trapped because they now support his lifestyle, because he has a contract to write X number of books submitted on Y schedule even if he doesn't feel inspired to write them on that schedule or on the proven formula, and because that doesn't leave him time to contemplate and devise where he'd like to develop as a writer from there. He's made great effort to write books that are more literary and inspirational, but he's trapped into trying to write those same early books that got him to where he is and maintain his lifestyle and his family. Not that I sympathize with him all that much. His legal thrillers have made him enough to last several lifetimes and he could just stop writing them (and probably get sued because he signed contracts for futures) and put all his energy into writing something different (although his attempts at that so far haven't yielded stellar results). But many a best-selling author can't seem to get off that treadmill.

I also think you should get off this crap of attacking the stories other folks post to Literotica and pay more attention to your own writing--and maybe find a different writing site to write to, since you don't write erotica and the discussions you constantly bring to the forum have little or nothing to do with erotica writing either.

I write erotica but rarely post it here. That means . . . uh . . . I have something in common with JBJ.


I don't intend to leave . . . yet.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

AUNT PILOT I have never assaulted your wares, nor TEXASAURUS. But LIT is a vanity publisher, for most. LAUREL adds a little lipstick to lotsa pigs. I was born in the Marine Corps and embrace its self discipline and aims. Like, stop crying in your beer for luv and red H's, and do better, is the idea.

 

[lovecraft68]

I compete with myself. No matter what or how much I write, it should have been better or more.

I compete with all the garbage my birth family instilled in me that I'm nothing but a crazy mad dog stupid piece of shit like the rest of them. If I let my guard down or slow down I find myself believing it.

We're all our own best ally or worst enemy.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I like SR71plt's example of John Grisham. Makes me wonder about a couple of authors I liked at different times in my life. The first was Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read all I of his stuff as a teen. Later in life, in my twenties, I followed Alastair MacLean.

Years later I tried reading both. Both had their best works early. "A Princess of Mars"and "South by Java Head" are still fun reads. But both began to follow a formula, It go so that a reader could tell what was going to happen almost from the first page, then eventually just seeing the author's name on a book.

I'm not saying they were bad. Just disappointing. ERB started his own publishing company for various reasons. He was said to write potboilers. Well ok, he wrote for a living and never pretended to produce great literature. But did he have a schedule, bills to pay? Or just run out of ideas.

Also, did MacLean have contracts and schedules to meet. The last few of his that I read were a disappointment. Now I wonder if he just had to get it done, flu, personal problems, leaky roof, typewriter not cooperating be dammed, he just had to finish. They read like that.

On the other hand, people kept buying their books.

I'm 67 years old and hadda dig a big hole the other day. It like to kick my ass, but it got done, and I did lots worse when I was a youngster. Old age is no guaranteed excuse to do worse.

 

[sr71plt]

AUNT PILOT I have never assaulted your wares, nor TEXASAURUS. But LIT is a vanity publisher, for most. LAUREL adds a little lipstick to lotsa pigs. I was born in the Marine Corps and embrace its self discipline and aims. Like, stop crying in your beer for luv and red H's, and do better, is the idea.

Sure you've posted slams on my writing. Who do you think you're fooling? That's irrelevant, though. I've consistently said your writing was good, but I've consistently said it wasn't erotica and that both it and all of those "do it the way my idol writers do it" posts of yours are not about writing erotica, so they have little application here. Their only purpose is to draw attention to yourself.

And you can hardly say that you don't just drone away about how bad the writing is on Literotica--when you don't even write erotica. You're just being a little shit about that.

You also claim to have me on ignore, I might add.

 

[_Lynn_]

AUNT PILOT I have never assaulted your wares, nor TEXASAURUS. But LIT is a vanity publisher, for most. LAUREL adds a little lipstick to lotsa pigs. I was born in the Marine Corps and embrace its self discipline and aims. Like, stop crying in your beer for luv and red H's, and do better, is the idea.

No beer. No assaulting. Just a bit of humor.

I compete with myself. No matter what or how much I write, it should have been better or more.

I compete with all the garbage my birth family instilled in me that I'm nothing but a crazy mad dog stupid piece of shit like the rest of them. If I let my guard down or slow down I find myself believing it.

We're all our own best ally or worst enemy.

I agree. Nothing I write is good enough, either.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm 67 years old and hadda dig a big hole the other day. It like to kick my ass, but it got done, and I did lots worse when I was a youngster. Old age is no guaranteed excuse to do worse.

What does age have to do with anything being discussed here?

 

[Kantarii]

I compete with myself. No matter what or how much I write, it should have been better or more.

I compete with all the garbage my birth family instilled in me that I'm nothing but a crazy mad dog stupid piece of shit like the rest of them. If I let my guard down or slow down I find myself believing it.

We're all our own best ally or worst enemy.

You kinda echo my words when I say a man can't win a race against himself if he has ambition. No matter what his goals, standards, and dreams are today, he will try to exceed them tomorrow.

 

[MatthewVett]

It'd be interesting to compare review scores of books by author age... I mean, just looking at some of my favorites, I think Terry Pratchett peaked around 2004-2005, and I think his novels after Thud! were of lower quality, but his early stuff, say, pre-Pyramids, I don't think measures up either. For Ian Fleming, too, I think the middle of his career is my favorite, rather than the beginning or the end. It's a shame there's no IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes for books. Maybe someone could use Goodreads reviews and look at a few prolific authors' corpi.

 

[TxRad]

SR pretty much has the right of it for the top writers in mainstream and completely right about JBJ.

I've been lucky enough in my mainstream dealings to have an editor who has been in the business for 30+ years. Her advice on contracts and such has kept me from signing things that would tie me down and bog me down. Also my fighting to keep my fun writing here on Lit has helped a lot also.

So, who do I compete with? No one. I write what i want for the most part even though the publishing company does have a great say in what gets published. Not to mention, I do try to push the boundaries.

And last but not least, competing with yourself to improve is not a bad thing. Getting into a rut or getting locked into something you really don't want to do, now those are bad things.

 

[Ezrollin]

I compete with myself. No matter what or how much I write, it should have been better or more.

I compete with all the garbage my birth family instilled in me that I'm nothing but a crazy mad dog stupid piece of shit like the rest of them. If I let my guard down or slow down I find myself believing it.

We're all our own best ally or worst enemy.

WOW, that's pretty intense ! and yes "We"re all our own best ally or worst enemy" Hang in there !

 

[NOIRTRASH]

SR pretty much has the right of it for the top writers in mainstream and completely right about JBJ.

I've been lucky enough in my mainstream dealings to have an editor who has been in the business for 30+ years. Her advice on contracts and such has kept me from signing things that would tie me down and bog me down. Also my fighting to keep my fun writing here on Lit has helped a lot also.

So, who do I compete with? No one. I write what i want for the most part even though the publishing company does have a great say in what gets published. Not to mention, I do try to push the boundaries.

And last but not least, competing with yourself to improve is not a bad thing. Getting into a rut or getting locked into something you really don't want to do, now those are bad things.

^^^^Tyrannosoreass-Tex is an old mossback whose only sexual action is licking bicycle seats at the Police Lost & Found Garage.

 

[TxRad]

^^^^Tyrannosoreass-Tex is an old mossback whose only sexual action is licking bicycle seats at the Police Lost & Found Garage.

Wow! I think that's the best erotic fiction you ever written. Pretty much the first also.