New talented but lost writer needs all kinds of help

[sn4ke11]

Hi im in my early 40's recently taken up a little erotic writing and having let a very limited audience have a taste, apparently I have a talent for it, more of a roleplay background so adjusting to a novel style is tough specially as i was more of a numbers guy in school, times change though, at some point id like to let a wider audience in so taking advice from anyone, wouldn't hurt if they were female, more of a ladies man, I guess my dream scenario would be an experienced female writer to mentor me and give me a strangers prospective. Anyway Im prattling on, I'm lost basically , S.O.S

Oh Im Tall and British (in case it helps) a dozen or so chapters into my first novel attempt.

 

[SimonDoom]

My recommendation: Set aside your novel for a bit, write a short story (under 12,000 words), submit it, ask for input on your story, and see what happens. There's no substitute for just writing and seeing the results. It's what I did, and what most writers here do. Don't undertake a novel as your first effort.

As preparation for writing your short stories, read stories here. Find stories you like. Read some of the very helpful "how-to" stories about erotic story writing, about categories, about dialogue, etc.

 

[SamScribble]

Everything that Simon said - except for one thing. Twelve thousand words is far too self indulgent for a short story. Try and keep your story to 4,000 words or fewer. Make every word count.

Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yep, echo those guys ^^^^^

Forget about the next great British novel for a while, do your apprenticeship first with a dozen or so short, stand-alone stories. Learn your technical chops, find your own style, your own voice. Find the genres, the categories, that work for you. Don't necessarily lock step yourself into a single category, either. That can put shackles on, if you're not careful.

Someone starting out isn't really ready to collaborate, because you don't have your own voice yet, you don't know who you are as a writer.

Collaboration isn't easy - I've worked with three other writers, but it takes confidence in yourself before you can share that with another writer.

Do the learning bit first, you'll end up being a much better writer for it. Then collaborate (if you need to).

 

[Bramblethorn]

This may sound unkind but it is not intended that way: before you go seeking a mentor I'd recommend taking some time to work on the technical aspects of writing. Spelling, punctuation, run-on sentences, that kind of thing.

A lot of newbie writers undervalue these things because they have great ideas and they just want to get those ideas out ASAP. But the technical stuff can hold everything else back. You could have the greatest story idea of the decade, but if the first paragraph of your story reads like your post here, a lot of readers won't make it past that first paragraph and potential editors/beta readers may knock you back because they don't want to spend hours fixing the basic stuff that you could have handled yourself.

I don't know how it is for other editors, but I find that my attention is a limited resource. I've been told by other writers here that I give helpful feedback on "big picture" stuff: does the plot make sense, is the story emotionally satisfying, etc. etc. But the more technical problems there are in a story, the less I'm able to focus on that big-picture stuff. The more a writer is able to do for themself, before I see the story, the more I can help them with it.

Side thing: "male writer seeking female writing partner" posts often turn out to be "horny dude looking to cyber". If you genuinely want a female helper for writing purposes, not as a playmate, I'd suggest being very clear about why you want female input to avoid giving that kind of impression. But work on the technicals first.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you don't know enough to capitalize "I" you have a lot more to work on than just going from role play to an actual story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Side thing: "male writer seeking female writing partner" posts often turn out to be "horny dude looking to cyber".

You rock.

 

[lovecraft68]

Everything that Simon said - except for one thing. Twelve thousand words is far too self indulgent for a short story. Try and keep your story to 4,000 words or fewer. Make every word count.

Good luck.

I'll counter with don't worry about word count at all. A story is as short, or long, as it needs to be, and trying to force yourself under a certain word limit(especially when new to it) is going to cause a lot of frustration.

I've never written anything under 9k and I've done fine here and well enough in the smut selling biz.

There are people who like short and to the point, and others enjoy going for a slow leisurely stroll through someone's world.

 

[NotWise]

LC's right. You can write anything you want, any way you want. But I'd also recommend publishing something shorter first. I'd avoid putting the effort into a 100,000-word novel only to find out when I thought I was done that (take your pick) Lit won't publish it/the readers don't like it/there's a million problems to fix/I don't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

It's good to cut your teeth on something manageable.

 

[Duleigh]

Im Tall and British (in case it helps)

It only helps if your keyboard is set very high up

What do you consider a novel? If it's a story that is 50,000 to 110,000 words, I'm sure everybody here has done that, if you have an active muse it will happen. I did it a couple of times unintentionally. I just write until the story is done.

Don't sweat it (I'm not sure how to translate that to British English) and don't push it by taking a novella and puffing up the word count until you hit 50,000. These folks here are smart, take their advice - write some stories and post them, then pay attention to your feedback.

 

[gunhilltrain]

If you don't know enough to capitalize "I" you have a lot more to work on than just going from role play to an actual story.

I don't want to hurt this person's feelings but yes, he needs some help with grammar. He starts off with one very long run-on sentence. He leaves out the needed apostrophes except for two. He does capitalize "I" at least once, but not always. Now I feel guilty for even mentioning all of these things.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hi im in my early 40's recently taken up a little erotic writing and having let a very limited audience have a taste, apparently I have a talent for it, more of a roleplay background so adjusting to a novel style is tough specially as i was more of a numbers guy in school, times change though, at some point id like to let a wider audience in so taking advice from anyone, wouldn't hurt if they were female, more of a ladies man, I guess my dream scenario would be an experienced female writer to mentor me and give me a strangers prospective. Anyway Im prattling on, I'm lost basically , S.O.S

Oh Im Tall and British (in case it helps) a dozen or so chapters into my first novel attempt.

Since you don't have any short stories, how about posting the first chapter and then seeing what happens? Be bold and start it as part of a series. I was going to suggest the free version of Grammarly or another program, but maybe you really need an editor - for grammar more than content - not a woman to mentor you. I'm trying to give you the best advice I can.

Since you have already written a dozen chapters, could you give us a hint about what this novel is about?

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't want to hurt this person's feelings but yes, he needs some help with grammar. He starts off with one very long run-on sentence. He leaves out the needed apostrophes except for two. He does capitalize "I" at least once, but not always. Now I feel guilty for even mentioning all of these things.

I understand not wanting to be harsh, but coddling never helps either. Better to hear this on a forum then publish a story with all these errors-because there is a fair chance it slips through-and getting absolutely trashed by the readers.

 

[lovecraft68]

LC's right. You can write anything you want, any way you want. But I'd also recommend publishing something shorter first. I'd avoid putting the effort into a 100,000-word novel only to find out when I thought I was done that (take your pick) Lit won't publish it/the readers don't like it/there's a million problems to fix/I don't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

It's good to cut your teeth on something manageable.

Good point, I wasn't thinking along the lines of attempting a full length novel, I agree with doing something shorter first as Sam suggested, I just wanted to add not to feel pressured into a word count.

 

[Duleigh]

Since you don't have any short stories, how about posting the first chapter and then seeing what happens? Be bold and start it as part of a series. I was going to suggest the free version of Grammarly or another program, but maybe you really need an editor - for grammar more than content - not a woman to mentor you. I'm trying to give you the best advice I can.

Since you have already written a dozen chapters, could you give us a hint about what this novel is about?

I gave Grammarly a test run for a friend and it's ok BUT the Grammarly MS Office plug-in screws up document pagination, which is a huge negative for our long, tall bloke @sn4ke11 and his epic.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Hi im in my early 40's recently taken up a little erotic writing and having let a very limited audience have a taste, apparently I have a talent for it, more of a roleplay background so adjusting to a novel style is tough specially as i was more of a numbers guy in school, times change though, at some point id like to let a wider audience in so taking advice from anyone, wouldn't hurt if they were female, more of a ladies man, I guess my dream scenario would be an experienced female writer to mentor me and give me a strangers prospective. Anyway Im prattling on, I'm lost basically , S.O.S

Oh Im Tall and British (in case it helps) a dozen or so chapters into my first novel attempt.

It's actually quite easy:
1. Start writing what you like to read.
2. Publish it.
3. Learn from the feedback you receive from your readers
4. Repeat from 1.

I'm also more of a number person. But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy writing so don't let that discourage you

 

[gunhilltrain]

I understand not wanting to be harsh, but coddling never helps either. Better to hear this on a forum then publish a story with all these errors-because there is a fair chance it slips through-and getting absolutely trashed by the readers.

I'm sure that is true regarding both the site and readers. I was concerned because his forum post alone had so many problems. Just out of curiosity, I looked at some of his previous postings, and those aren't so good either. He has an issue creating paragraphs, namely that most of them are one sentence long.

Just saying, but his previous ten messages - all that I looked at - were in Literotica Personals and, in their content, were much like the one above.

 

[sn4ke11]

I'm sure that is true regarding both the site and readers. I was concerned because his forum post alone had so many problems. Just out of curiosity, I looked at some of his previous postings, and those aren't so good either. He has an issue creating paragraphs, namely that most of them are one sentence long.

Just saying, but his previous ten messages - all that I looked at - were in Literotica Personals and, in their content, were much like the one above.

Oh yeh I pay absolutely no regard to grammer in forums or texting, I can structure my writing ok, finer points of grammar maybe do need work, speech etc, but hell no does my proper wroting look anything like this, what i really need is someone to cast their eye over a future chapters and fix up any major faux pas,

 

[sn4ke11]

Thank you everyone for the advice, totally fair, I should have known not to randomly scribble in text speak on an author's forum, and give the impression of a five year old. I make a ton of typo's as I have nerve damage in my right hand. My biggest obstacle is technical obviously, I mean I only have it in Pdf with no proper lay out at all, what I would ask for, if this was Christmas, would be for someone to read a few chapters and depending on whether I have any talent at all to help me put it in the correct format so It would be accepted here, also I have written short stories many times, but I have just gifted them to Lady friends and deleted them, just so they have their own unique story wrote for and about them. Honestly what was I thinking with that late night scribble of a post? Pretty rude! Take some time Nath. My collegue is actually begging for a short story as usual, maybe ill write her a short scene and comeback, If I ever dare show my face again I'm so embarrassed.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh yeh I pay absolutely no regard to grammer in forums or texting, I can structure my writing ok, finer points of grammar maybe do need work, speech etc, but hell no does my proper wroting look anything like this, what i really need is someone to cast their eye over a future chapters and fix up any major faux pas,

Wow, you actually responded. But since you did, I want to say that I'm not trying to judge you. However, your previous thirty or so messages were all in Lit Personals or some variation of that. That, of course, is your business.

Then you were gone after January 2021 and you came back looking for writing advice. Yet you still say that you are looking for a skilled female mentor, which you've said in different ways a number of times before. If you are truly serious now, then we'll try to help you. But everything I found out about you is right there on Lit to look at.

 

[sn4ke11]

Wow, you actually responded. But since you did, I want to say that I'm not trying to judge you. However, your previous thirty or so messages were all in Lit Personals or some variation of that. That, of course, is your business.

Then you were gone after January 2021 and you came back looking for writing advice. Yet you still say that you are looking for a skilled female mentor, which you've said in different ways a number of times before. If you are truly serious now, then we'll try to help you. But everything I found out about you is right there on Lit to look at.

Yeh I get that I was a troubled soul, still am in many ways, call it a midlife crisis, I mean don't get me wrong im a sexual person, but I am fairly serious now, if only because everyone I send these damn things to begs me to publish, I'm under no illusion that I am a total amateur but I think their is a mind of a good story teller in there, and certainly the sex scenes flow out of me really easy, I shouldn't have mentioned the female thing, I guess due to the content im more comfortable with a female, also my best friend is female, not looking to score, maybe just for someone who wont rip me to shreds also I'm finding writing calming somehow, at least until the 12th chapter block hits, gotta hate that part right? But whats the point of it all if only a handful of people have read my work, maybe they are just being kind, I have to find out.

 

[lovecraft68]

Wow, you actually responded. But since you did, I want to say that I'm not trying to judge you. However, your previous thirty or so messages were all in Lit Personals or some variation of that. That, of course, is your business.

Then you were gone after January 2021 and you came back looking for writing advice. Yet you still say that you are looking for a skilled female mentor, which you've said in different ways a number of times before. If you are truly serious now, then we'll try to help you. But everything I found out about you is right there on Lit to look at.

Problem with skilled female writers on Literotica and other sites is a fair number of them are men.
I'm one of them.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeh I get that I was a troubled soul, still am in many ways, call it a midlife crisis, I mean don't get me wrong im a sexual person, but I am fairly serious now, if only because everyone I send these damn things to begs me to publish, I'm under no illusion that I am a total amateur but I think their is a mind of a good story teller in there, and certainly the sex scenes flow out of me really easy, I shouldn't have mentioned the female thing, I guess due to the content im more comfortable with a female, also my best friend is female, not looking to score, maybe just for someone who wont rip me to shreds also I'm finding writing calming somehow, at least until the 12th chapter block hits, gotta hate that part right? But whats the point of it all if only a handful of people have read my work, maybe they are just being kind, I have to find out.

Writing is great catharsis, if its helping you get through some stuff, and you're enjoying it, stay with it. It helped me through some rough times when my wife was very ill.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeh I get that I was a troubled soul, still am in many ways, call it a midlife crisis, I mean don't get me wrong im a sexual person, but I am fairly serious now, if only because everyone I send these damn things to begs me to publish, I'm under no illusion that I am a total amateur but I think their is a mind of a good story teller in there, and certainly the sex scenes flow out of me really easy, I shouldn't have mentioned the female thing, I guess due to the content im more comfortable with a female, also my best friend is female, not looking to score, maybe just for someone who wont rip me to shreds also I'm finding writing calming somehow, at least until the 12th chapter block hits, gotta hate that part right? But whats the point of it all if only a handful of people have read my work, maybe they are just being kind, I have to find out

You don't have to tell us anything about yourself that you don't feel comfortable with. However, you have been doing just that since at least 2013. I'm not spying on you; you left all those messages in place to look at.

Twelfth chapter block? I'll try just once more. If you wish to have people read your work, then you have to eventually submit some variation of at least one of those chapters. The first one is the obvious choice.

 

[BronzePlaceWriter]

Yeh I get that I was a troubled soul, still am in many ways, call it a midlife crisis, I mean don't get me wrong im a sexual person, but I am fairly serious now, if only because everyone I send these damn things to begs me to publish, I'm under no illusion that I am a total amateur but I think their is a mind of a good story teller in there, and certainly the sex scenes flow out of me really easy, I shouldn't have mentioned the female thing, I guess due to the content im more comfortable with a female, also my best friend is female, not looking to score, maybe just for someone who wont rip me to shreds also I'm finding writing calming somehow, at least until the 12th chapter block hits, gotta hate that part right? But whats the point of it all if only a handful of people have read my work, maybe they are just being kind, I have to find out.

I would suggest that if what you want is a mentor, improving your grasp of the basics and having some stories published here - even if they end up poorly received - makes that infinitely more likely. Mentoring someone is actually genuinely hard work and a lot of us really wouldn't do it unless we felt there was some good reason. Someone coming out of nowhere with no real works to their name is unlikely to be seriously considered. If you want to have a mentor, you need to be able to show that you have potential, that you are working to refine it, that you will continue to work to refine it and that you have already taken some steps yourself.

Asking for advice is much easier, of course and there will always be people who give that but a mentorship is more serious and close, which is another reason why people hesitate. This is a porn site, and a lot of people here can be, well, creepy. A writer - especially a female writer - is probably going to be very cautious about who they start any new relationship with. Be that relationship a mentorship, friendship or anything else. They are going to be deeply suspicious that what someone wants from them is not what they say and the temptation will be to avoid grief later and simply not do it.

Not a girl myself, so I can't really speak from experience here but it is what I have observed on similar sites. Having an actually history of doing what you want them to help you do would look a lot better than someone who talks the talk, but has taken no steps to actually walk the walk.

My advice to you would be to publish something. Probably something short. See how well received it is, get back to us once it is up and some of us can go through it and point out errors/mistakes. Repeat the process until you are confident in your own abilities, and have a bunch of published work. At that point you just might be able to find someone.

Now in regards to formatting, if you can copy and paste a project you can publish it here. There is a field you can paste things into when you publish on lit if you don't want to upload it or can't for whatever reason. You can also use things like google docs, word or openoffice.

Finally, I would put some thought into whether you wanted a female mentor or simply just a mentor. Skill is not gender segregated and there are more male writers - therefore, a bigger pool of people who might consider you. Obviously, you don't have to take a male one but specifying that you want a woman only doesn't help with that whole skeevy thing and cuts down your prospects considerably.