Improved Writing Seems To Go Unnoticed

[Wifetheif]

Some of my early stories are dreadful. Bad punctuation, typos, etc. I really have improved as a writer of erotica since my first forays into the Lit.com universe. I took a fair bit of time off while I was building a presence on Amazon as an author of "shrink" fiction. I have plenty of fans and buyers over there. I have recently returned to Lit.com as a much-improved writer, but my current scores do not match the ones from my bad old days, even when the comments note how well-written the story is. Have any of you noted a similar trajectory? It is, quite frankly, a bit weird and disconcerting. I know the story is the thing. Nobody reads "Fifty Shades of Gray" for the scintillating prose and Dan Brown is as far from Hemingway as you can get. Still... you would think that better writing would translate to better scores. I know erotica is not judged by the same standards as literary fiction but why would people prefer crap to caviar? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[KeithD]

By the very nature of the site, I think the preponderance of readers coming here are reading for a raw one-off thrill, not for gauging literary improvement in the writers here over time.

 

[SimonDoom]

My first thought is to be very cautious about drawing any conclusions, especially if they're based upon a limited sample size. You published over 200 stories before 2018, and you've published a few stories since the beginning of 2020. It's not clear you have enough information to draw any conclusions about story scores.

Also, you cannot compare apples to oranges. You publish stories in many categories, and different category readerships have very different preferences and standards.

I've noticed that over the last month or so there's been a drop in scores across the board. I don't think it has anything to do with the stories, substantively. It's something going on at the Site. It doesn't mean that quality prose is less appreciated than it used to be.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Have any of you noted a similar trajectory?

No. I been writing here since 2014 with nearly 100 stories/chapters with close on a million words. My story file, overall scores and indicators of reader reaction are much the same as they've always been.

I've been reading the recent threads about big movements in stats and I'm a bit mystified, because it's not happening to me. I could say it's because no-one reads my stories, but that's not true, because they do get read. Not in the stratospherically high numbers others report, and maybe that's the key. Maybe the numbers being affected were stupid high and not real right from the start, and the site's just figured it out.

Perhaps it's hubris metadata.

 

[sirhugs]

I took an unplanned hiatus from 2018 to 2020. Upon my return, I had a run of stories that had very positive reactions, but now regressed have regressed to my norm, it seems- some hits, some misses.

But overall, I feel my writing has definitely improved over time. I agree that most readers are not loyal enough to notice. Appreciate those who are.

 

[ChuckandAndrea]

By the very nature of the site, I think the preponderance of readers coming here are reading for a raw one-off thrill, not for gauging literary improvement in the writers here over time.

Nailed it. I'm super new, but I was a long time one off thrill guy for at least a decade.

My votes were always based on technicals and if I thought the overall story was quality.. however, after investing a half hour reading something to fund out it wasn't going to scratch my particular erotica itch, I definitely had the urge to drop a 1 on it. I don't think I ever did, but I know for sure I thought about it.

Reading the comments on my stories tells me a lot of people get pretty upset when things don't go the way they want so I gotta assume they're not so nice with the scoring.

 

[KeithD]

No. I been writing here since 2014 with nearly 100 stories/chapters with close on a million words. My story file, overall scores and indicators of reader reaction are much the same as they've always been.

I've been reading the recent threads about big movements in stats and I'm a bit mystified, because it's not happening to me. I could say it's because no-one reads my stories, but that's not true, because they do get read. Not in the stratospherically high numbers others report, and maybe that's the key. Maybe the numbers being affected were stupid high and not real right from the start, and the site's just figured it out.

Perhaps it's hubris metadata.

I haven't been seeing any unusual messing around with my scores/views recently either, and I post on a regular schedule. I also haven't seen the overall scoring going down. I seem to have shed a few regular downvoters--one at least for a while but is now back--and overall, my scores up more up than down.

 

[des911]

Nailed it. I'm super new, but I was a long time one off thrill guy for at least a decade.

My votes were always based on technicals and if I thought the overall story was quality.. however, after investing a half hour reading something to fund out it wasn't going to scratch my particular erotica itch, I definitely had the urge to drop a 1 on it. I don't think I ever did, but I know for sure I thought about it.

Reading the comments on my stories tells me a lot of people get pretty upset when things don't go the way they want so I gotta assume they're not so nice with the scoring.

I'm one of those newbie members, too. I've been a long term reader, but never got involved.
There are two aspects to a story here - one is the subject matter, which either hits or misses; the other is the quality of the writing.
I rarely comment on a story, beyond a thank you or similarly bland comment. If the story is a hit on subject matter and well written, then I will definitely vote (4 or 5). I rarely, if ever, vote 3 or less. The author bothered to put effort into writing the story and posting it. Just because I don't much like or regard it, no need to give it a bad score. Maybe others loved it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

By the very nature of the site, I think the preponderance of readers coming here are reading for a raw one-off thrill, not for gauging literary improvement in the writers here over time.

Even if you have followers, it's not clear how closely they are looking at your work. Many followers will favorite a story, I don't know, every few months at best. Few of them leave comments.

It's a huge site, and most people reading here probably have no idea of who you are from one month to the next. Don't take it personally. Ultimately, with a few exceptions, you have to be the final judge of your own work. Participating in contests may get you a bit more attention.

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe the numbers being affected were stupid high and not real right from the start, and the site's just figured it out.

I've found myself thinking this several times, that while the site was sweeping one bombs and focusing on everyone complaining about low votes and sabotage, that major hijinks were in the other direction with over inflated vote totals from the same person etc...

If that's the case, the site would never say it or it could cause apoplexy in some of the people here who seem to live and die by their numbers.

I haven't put anything up this year. I plan on entering the Nude Day contest so it will be interesting to see what I get for numbers. It'll be in Mature where I've done well in the past

 

[8letters]

Some of my early stories are dreadful. Bad punctuation, typos, etc. I really have improved as a writer of erotica since my first forays into the Lit.com universe. I took a fair bit of time off while I was building a presence on Amazon as an author of "shrink" fiction. I have plenty of fans and buyers over there. I have recently returned to Lit.com as a much-improved writer, but my current scores do not match the ones from my bad old days, even when the comments note how well-written the story is. Have any of you noted a similar trajectory? It is, quite frankly, a bit weird and disconcerting. I know the story is the thing. Nobody reads "Fifty Shades of Gray" for the scintillating prose and Dan Brown is as far from Hemingway as you can get. Still... you would think that better writing would translate to better scores. I know erotica is not judged by the same standards as literary fiction but why would people prefer crap to caviar? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

It's my opinion that a high amount of the rating of the story is determined by the premise. If a story has say a 4.5 premise, bad writing will pull it down to 4.4 and good writing will pull it up to 4.6. Or possibly even more narrow than that - a 4.45 to 4.55 range.

And as SimonDoom said, ratings seem to be down compared to a year and a half ago. Or at least they are for I/T - I can't say for other categories. Highly-rated stories can still get high ratings, but average-rated stories are getting much lower ratings.