Obligations

[Emilymcplugger]

Hey, all.

So after my first story semi-bombed I thought I’d be out of this.

However …as I do have followers I do feel somewhat obliged to do more (and as already trying to come up with new ideas/create my next story).

Does anyone else feel this way or went through this similar mindset?

Cheers, everyone.

“And then she tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up” - The Big Sleep.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hey, all.

So after my first story semi-bombed I thought I’d be out of this.

However …as I do have followers I do feel somewhat obliged to do more (and as already trying to come up with new ideas/create my next story).

Does anyone else feel this way or went through this similar mindset?

Cheers, everyone.

“And then she tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up” - The Big Sleep.

I was lucky in that my first story did pretty well, although not everything since then has been like that. But I think we're mentioned this before. One has to write, in the first place, to satisfy oneself. You can't do it out of obligation to anybody, especially for people you'll never meet. (Well, unless they are paying you to do it, which is certainly not true here.)

Sitting on your lap when you're standing up? I think that is called frottage.

 

[NotWise]

Hey, all.

So after my first story semi-bombed I thought I’d be out of this.

However …as I do have followers I do feel somewhat obliged to do more (and as already trying to come up with new ideas/create my next story).

Does anyone else feel this way or went through this similar mindset?

Cheers, everyone.

“And then she tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up” - The Big Sleep.

If a feeling of obligation to your readers is what it takes to get you to write again, then it's a good thing. Otherwise, that sense of obligation is a trap that you should avoid. You aren't obliged to produce more for your readers, and you are certainly not obliged to write what they want you to write.

Write what you want and when you want to write it.

 

[8letters]

Hey, all.

So after my first story semi-bombed I thought I’d be out of this.

However …as I do have followers I do feel somewhat obliged to do more (and as already trying to come up with new ideas/create my next story).

Does anyone else feel this way or went through this similar mindset?

I don't know why you think your first story semi-bombed. The ratings of the five chapters are quite good for a first story. Some points:
* My understanding is that the Group Sex stories don't get a lot of views and comments in general
* That your story was a sequel to someone else's story probably minimized its appeal to readers. Sequels generally suck. If the readers hadn't read the original, why read yours? And why read yours when the original was by some other author?
* Your first chapter was short at two pages. Longer chapters will get you a higher rating, more comments and more views. The next three chapters are three pages, which is starting to get to be a good length. And then your last chapter was eight pages. I think you would have done better if all the chapters had been at least five pages and close to the same length.

My suggestion is if you want to stay in Group Sex, write a stand-alone story of at least five pages that uses your own characters. You can draw inspiration from someone else's story, but change the names and make the story your own. If you want to larger, more responsive audience, trying switching to I/T.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I don't know why you think your first story semi-bombed. The ratings of the five chapters are quite good for a first story. Some points:
* My understanding is that the Group Sex stories don't get a lot of views and comments in general
* That your story was a sequel to someone else's story probably minimized its appeal to readers. Sequels generally suck. If the readers hadn't read the original, why read yours? And why read yours when the original was by some other author?
* Your first chapter was short at two pages. Longer chapters will get you a higher rating, more comments and more views. The next three chapters are three pages, which is starting to get to be a good length. And then your last chapter was eight pages. I think you would have done better if all the chapters had been at least five pages and close to the same length.

My suggestion is if you want to stay in Group Sex, write a stand-alone story of at least five pages that uses your own characters. You can draw inspiration from someone else's story, but change the names and make the story your own. If you want to larger, more responsive audience, trying switching to I/T.

Thanks for that.

I would have thought that GS would have been a popular genre along with I/T and that EC would have lower views, so shows what I know.

My next story is a fan-fic sex version of Hot Fuzz so will feature in C/FF next time round so hopefully will get more views.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Thanks for that.

I would have thought that GS would have been a popular genre along with I/T and that EC would have lower views, so shows what I know.

My next story is a fan-fic sex version of Hot Fuzz so will feature in C/FF next time round so hopefully will get more views.

Hott Fuzz was a very funny movie, although I don't think American audiences got all of the British jokes. One bit was when all of the older townspeople claimed to have worked as extras on the 1971 movie Straw Dogs.

 

[SamScribble]

When someone is paying me to write for them, yes, I feel obliged to give them what they are paying for - and even a little more. But when they aren't paying, I feel obliged to entertain myself and a handful of my friends.

 

[8letters]

Thanks for that.

I would have thought that GS would have been a popular genre along with I/T and that EC would have lower views, so shows what I know.

My next story is a fan-fic sex version of Hot Fuzz so will feature in C/FF next time round so hopefully will get more views.

It's been a while since I ran the numbers, but my impression of C/FF is that it has one of the smallest audiences on Literotica.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I wrote my first story here for a friend, who didn't have a personal email address at the time. So I stuck the story here and texted him the link and said something like 'if only we'd not been interrupted halfway through!'

The only fic I'd posted for public view before was for a very niche fandom on AO3, where 200 views was doing well (but I'd get Kudos from half of them and comments from one in 20).

I was astounded when I got about 10,000 views in a couple weeks - admittedly only 20 or so votes, but I looked up what a red H meant and decided to see how some more writing went.

Next two stories rated very high, but not many Followers. Spent the next three years trying to get 100 followers because my stuff is clearly a minority interest but the people who like it do like it.

But I don't feel obliged at all - just a bit pleased that a few people other than me enjoy the warped outpourings of my mind...

I've got quite enough obligations to write stuff for work.

 

[JuanaSalsa]

My first set of stories here we're very poorly scored when I posted them. The very first one that ever posted is still my lowest scoring story (except one 750 worder i put in Loving Wives, lol). I had to re-post them all to get them in order because i had no idea what I was doing, so they no longer appear "first" if you look at dates.

The very next story I posted is now sitting on the all time best list in it's category, and has been for months, vacillating between rank 3 and 12 or so.

Therefore, you should definitely not stop now. One data point is never enough. It can take time to find your audience. And, the more you write the better you'll get at it!

 

[Emilymcplugger]

It's been a while since I ran the numbers, but my impression of C/FF is that it has one of the smallest audiences on Literotica.

Hmmm.

So if one was to do a homage to hot fuzz (still no reason to do 48 in a 30 zone) would you put it in C/FF, GS or E/V to be cynical and get views as it will fit in any of those three, OR would you spread it across different genres?

Just asking for …well, me really.

Thanks in advance.

 

[8letters]

Hmmm.

So if one was to do a homage to hot fuzz (still no reason to do 48 in a 30 zone) would you put it in C/FF, GS or E/V to be cynical and get views as it will fit in any of those three, OR would you spread it across different genres?

Just asking for …well, me really.

Thanks in advance.

Here's the result of an analysis I did a few years ago:
View attachment 2147985
Group Sex would get you the most views. E&V would get you the most comments and the highest rating. C&FF is the worst of the three in all ways.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hmmm.

So if one was to do a homage to hot fuzz (still no reason to do 48 in a 30 zone) would you put it in C/FF, GS or E/V to be cynical and get views as it will fit in any of those three, OR would you spread it across different genres?

Just asking for …well, me really.

Thanks in advance.

Fan fiction is limited by the need to find the fans of the same series or movies you like, so that reduces your pool of readers from the start.

Group is a tumbleweeds category In terms of reader response, they don't vote as much as other category readers, they sure as hell don't comment. It's like writing into a black hole, in my experience.

Spreading a single story across multiple categories doesn't get you anywhere much. There's another thread running on this where a writer shows their chapter stats for four chapters, and it's abundantly clear that the readers in some categories don't go and read chapter one if it's not in their category.

What's with fan fiction anyway? I don't get it, writing more of someone else's characters. Surely there's more satisfaction in writing your own characters in their own stories?

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Fan fiction is limited by the need to find the fans of the same series or movies you like, so that reduces your pool of readers from the start.

Group is a tumbleweeds category In terms of reader response, they don't vote as much as other category readers, they sure as hell don't comment. It's like writing into a black hole, in my experience.

Spreading a single story across multiple categories doesn't get you anywhere much. There's another thread running on this where a writer shows their chapter stats for four chapters, and it's abundantly clear that the readers in some categories don't go and read chapter one if it's not in their category.

What's with fan fiction anyway? I don't get it, writing more of someone else's characters. Surely there's more satisfaction in writing your own characters in their own stories?

It’s not the same characters or the same setting, it’s more like using the original premise and subverting it.

Kind of like how AIRPLANE is not a disaster movie. It features a disaster but takes it sone place else. With this I do want to have some comedic elements but take it down a sexual avenue instead.

If that makes sense.

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

You have no obligetion to the readers. There is enough guilt when it comes to sex as it is without adding more.

Kind of like how AIRPLANE is not a disaster movie. It features a disaster but takes it sone place else. With this I do want to have some comedic elements but take it down a sexual avenue instead.

If that makes sense.

It makes sense, but maybe not to the reader.

You need a solid hook to get the readers in. The title and first paragraph are almost always that hook. You would need to set the comedic tone in that first few words to keep the readers on board.

I can say that the incest and loving wife crowds hate humor. They hate it.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Here's the result of an analysis I did a few years ago:
View attachment 2147985
Group Sex would get you the most views. E&V would get you the most comments and the highest rating. C&FF is the worst of the three in all ways.

Thank you for the statistical analysis there, very thorough and very appreciated.

I guess on that basis HOT AND FUZZY (all parts) would still be best placed in GS then, but be prepared for views but not necessarily comments.

Cheers.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What's with fan fiction anyway? I don't get it, writing more of someone else's characters. Surely there's more satisfaction in writing your own characters in their own stories?

Why would anybody want to write sonnets when they could make up their own meter and rhyme scheme?

Creativity thrives on a certain amount of constraint: "write a story using these three elements", yada yada. Pretty much every themed event here presents constraints. Fanfic works in a similar kind of way: the source provides constraints, and the challenge is to do something interesting within those restrictions. Remember that asshole from the book that everybody hates? Find a way to make him a sympathetic character without contradicting anything in the canon. That couple who always seemed like a weird match? Show how that pairing makes sense. And so on.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Thank you for the statistical analysis there, very thorough and very appreciated.

I guess on that basis HOT AND FUZZY (all parts) would still be best placed in GS then, but be prepared for views but not necessarily comments.

Cheers.

Whether it can be placed in GS is another question; fanfic tends to be a trump category. But you can submit it to GS and let Laurel decide if she wants to move it.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Hey, all.

So after my first story semi-bombed I thought I’d be out of this.

However …as I do have followers I do feel somewhat obliged to do more (and as already trying to come up with new ideas/create my next story).

Does anyone else feel this way or went through this similar mindset?

Cheers, everyone.

“And then she tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up” - The Big Sleep.

Generally your number of followers is only going to go up not down, so if you write another story you're only going to be under more obligation to write yet another story rather than less. I mean, you could always go with a Mel Brook's the Producers approach and post a Loving Wives story where Eva Braun cucks Hitler with the American 1936 Olympics team in an attempt to scare everyone off, but then, I couldn't say for absolute certain that would bomb.

The only time I've felt obligation is when I have posted the first part of a story and then was struggling with the second part and even then I eventually just put it aside to work on it when I feel it's ready again.

So, if you want to write, write, if not, don't or else take some time and see how you feel in a week or a month.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Why would anybody want to write sonnets when they could make up their own meter and rhyme scheme?

That's not a parallel. The parallel is writing about the rose on a summer's day, which is not the same as using the same poetic form. It a question of content, not form.

Fan fiction is piggy backing on someone else's creativity. It's always struck me as lazy writing, in most cases.

And yes, I know there are superb examples (Neil Gaiman's The Problem With Susan, for example) so there's no need to point out the exceptions. Of course some people write brilliant FF, but most don't.

But then, I don't like most of the original stuff from which fan fiction is written in the first place, so that might be the source of my cynicism.

Call me a purist, but writing (in my head) is writing your own world and characters, not bolting on the back of someone else's.

 

[Thefireflies]

Writting here is a fun hobby for most, but I do understand the sense of obligation. however, like others are saying, we have no obligations at Lit. And in some ways I think a sense of obligation, whether real or not, can kill creativity. I see it in works by professionally published writers, who write an interesting first novel, sign a contract with their publisher for a set number of further stories, which are subsequently not at the same level as the initial book.
Around here, every now and then readers make the comment they want more or hope an author will continue further stories for characters they like, and I sometimes feel this too when I read, but I reckon only write more if you intended too, or the inspiration takes hold. I intended to write a story arc for secondary characters from another of my stories, where I set the characters up so I could write their story, but I’ve not found the interest or time to invest in continuing their story. Still, a few readers clearly hoped to hear about how they worked out, which is a compliment, but I know if I wrote their story right now it wouldn't be what I'd intended, so I'll leave it and write other things when the inspiration and time allow.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It’s not the same characters or the same setting, it’s more like using the original premise and subverting it.

Kind of like how AIRPLANE is not a disaster movie. It features a disaster but takes it sone place else. With this I do want to have some comedic elements but take it down a sexual avenue instead.

If that makes sense.

So it's not really Fan Fic then, if there's no connectivity with the original.

If it's an original work - noting Bramblethorn's comment - why would you put it in FF in the first place? That doesn't make sense to me, either.

 

[Bramblethorn]

That's not a parallel. The parallel is writing about the rose on a summer's day, which is not the same as using the same poetic form. It a question of content, not form.

And it's possible for two artists to produce very different works on the same topic. "Content" isn't only the world-building or the initial character concept.

Fan fiction is piggy backing on someone else's creativity. It's always struck me as lazy writing, in most cases.

Most of human endeavour is piggy-backing on someone else's work, one way or another. The questions not whether you did it all yourself (nobody does) but how much you added to it.

And yes, I know there are superb examples (Neil Gaiman's The Problem With Susan, for example) so there's no need to point out the exceptions. Of course some people write brilliant FF, but most don't.

The same could be said of stories on this site. That doesn't invalidate erotica as a genre; it's just a reminder that 90% of everything is crap, and probably 99% in amateur-friendly venues.

But then, I don't like most of the original stuff from which fan fiction is written in the first place, so that might be the source of my cynicism.

Call me a purist, but writing (in my head) is writing your own world and characters, not bolting on the back of someone else's.

I mostly set my stories in Sydney and Melbourne, which I can't claim to have invented. But I like to think I find new things to do with them. So it is with good fanfic.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

So it's not really Fan Fic then, if there's no connectivity with the original.

If it's an original work - noting Bramblethorn's comment - why would you put it in FF in the first place? That doesn't make sense to me, either.

It’s because it’s the same starting point and same premise and similar title which is the connectivity to the original.

I didn’t know if it would be there or somewhere else as I’m still getting used to all this.

 

[8letters]

That's not a parallel. The parallel is writing about the rose on a summer's day, which is not the same as using the same poetic form. It a question of content, not form.

Fan fiction is piggy backing on someone else's creativity. It's always struck me as lazy writing, in most cases.

And yes, I know there are superb examples (Neil Gaiman's The Problem With Susan, for example) so there's no need to point out the exceptions. Of course some people write brilliant FF, but most don't.

But then, I don't like most of the original stuff from which fan fiction is written in the first place, so that might be the source of my cynicism.

Call me a purist, but writing (in my head) is writing your own world and characters, not bolting on the back of someone else's.

I have a partially written story that takes the opening of a silkstockingslover story and expands on it. The main characters in my story are the four characters in her opening. I found it a wonderfully challenging exercise.