Was it worth writing a story?

[MyBareTorso]

Hi fellow authors!

So I toyed with my first story idea for ages before putting ‘pen to paper’. A 7 part story with very little feedback (a total of about 6 comments, 2 of which were very angry).

Was it worth it for all you writers out there to go to the effort to get published? I am a little underwhelmed. I haven’t shared my story with anyone in ‘real life’.

Anyway, I’ve watched the reader totals and ratings with interest. They all end up between 4.2 to 4.57 which isn’t too bad I suppose for a first try, but the reader totals are all over the place. The 4th installment has over 6000 views, the 7th only 900ish. Time in print doesn’t seem to be the cause. Is it my choice of key words in the description?

Finally, I wrote the story because it’s my fantasy. Not that I’d really want it to happen, (you know what I mean), but if you have time, any feedback here would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Duncan

The only time I wish I didn't write a story is when it's permanently "trapped in pending" for no apparent reason, seemingly never to be posted, without actually being rejected...which has been happening way too frequently lately...and not just to me.

 

[oneagainst]

The only time I wish I didn't write a story is when it's permanently "trapped in pending" for no apparent reason, seemingly never to be posted, without actually being rejected...which has been happening way too frequently lately...and not just to me.

Same. But. I think it's a person-power issue in the reviewer side. Don't take it personally. It almost feels like there's been an influx of more stores and they're just trying to get through it all. Post on Thursday, live in two days reliably for me, post on Friday... ymmv.

 

[oneagainst]

Only you, can answer that question.

You won't find it here or from anybody else.

Like my brother once told me about flatulence, I guess stories are the same: better out than in.

 

[ElectricBlue]

As in normal society, if I provide a gift to someone and they don't thank me for it, I apparently haven't earned it. Right? If the value perceived by a reader from something that they have read doesn't earn their courtesy and respect, who does that fall on?

Or they're just thankless sods and it never occurs to them that someone has worked their butt off to write something.

Which is why I value every comment that says, "Thanks for sharing" - your talent, your gift, your fantasies, your imagination, your life, your intimate world. It does matter, reader feedback, even if it's rare.

 

[Damanhere]

Totally disagree. The reader owes nothing.

Well for those of us that can't write we do owe the respect to the writer for sharing there insight and gift.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Agreed. Plus it can be rather disappointing when we first realize LE isn't Twitter or Facebook and we're not getting that immediate dopamine hit from instant feedback.

Yes, but compared to Facebook or Twitter, one has to put some real effort into it. The "hit," or whatever you'd call it, is thus going to be greater. Of course, some "failures" are necessary to put it all into perspective. But some failures have little to do with the actual story - we've been over that before.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well for those of us that can't write we do owe the respect to the writer for sharing there insight and gift.

Sort of. I don't how to do film making, but I can appreciate the effort that goes into even a "poor" (in my opinion) film. I'm still not going to like it.

 

[Imstillfun]

When I started writing I got attacked left and right in comments. Scores were in the 3s. I was a little discouraged. But then the scores began to rise, I figured anything above a 3 means more than 50% liked it. So I kept writing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The only time I wish I didn't write a story is when it's permanently "trapped in pending" for no apparent reason, seemingly never to be posted, without actually being rejected...which has been happening way too frequently lately...and not just to me.

Hasn’t been my experience at all. 48 hours most of the time.

Em

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I admit to being mildly miffed when a story doesn't settle down with a red H. Especially when it gets one on day 1 then gets 1-bombs on day 2 (if a story only gets 20 votes in a week, it's clear enough). But it's a pattern. Happened on my most recent story.

But it's a story I wanted to write, and with the help of a kind beta reader I think it's quite a good one (guy gets woman, discovers she has a cock, manages not to panic, they deal and manage a good couple days, basically). Which makes it worthwhile in itself. And a few readers describing themselves as trans have added it to Favourites, so that's reassuring validation.

4.2 is still 85 out of 100 stars from 20 raters. Which means at least 16 had to give it 5 stars and no more than 3 gave it a 1-star. Thinking about it that way is a lot better!

 

[gunhilltrain]

When I started writing I got attacked left and right in comments. Scores were in the 3s. I was a little discouraged. But then the scores began to rise, I figured anything above a 3 means more than 50% liked it. So I kept writing.

Do you have any idea of what may have caused the low scores initially? Sometimes a reader will tell you, assuming you get any comments at all. Sometimes I've developed an intuition that it's the subject matter, not he story itself. And sometimes, over time, I realize that it truly wasn't that good.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I admit to being mildly miffed when a story doesn't settle down with a red H. Especially when it gets one on day 1 then gets 1-bombs on day 2 (if a story only gets 20 votes in a week, it's clear enough). But it's a pattern. Happened on my most recent story.

But it's a story I wanted to write, and with the help of a kind beta reader I think it's quite a good one (guy gets woman, discovers she has a cock, manages not to panic, they deal and manage a good couple days, basically). Which makes it worthwhile in itself. And a few readers describing themselves as trans have added it to Favourites, so that's reassuring validation.

4.2 is still 85 out of 100 stars from 20 raters. Which means at least 16 had to give it 5 stars and no more than 3 gave it a 1-star. Thinking about it that way is a lot better!

Red "H's" are satisfying, but one can't expect it with every story. (Yet a few writers pull it off; I don't know how.) A few "H's" drop off in a couple of days, as you said. It's rare for the score to go up above 4.5.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The only time I wish I didn't write a story is when it's permanently "trapped in pending" for no apparent reason, seemingly never to be posted, without actually being rejected...which has been happening way too frequently lately...and not just to me.

There is something wrong if it goes on for too long like that - above ten to fourteen days for sure. Send a PM to Laurel.

 

[NoTalentHack]

In the past, when I've had a story get "stuck," I found the fastest way to fix it was to delete and resubmit. I've only used that twice, but it got the story out within a day or so both times.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Absolutely worth it. I've always enjoyed writing but never found a subject that kept my interest.

I was teamed for a while with a close friend that is a tremendous artist and we decided to do a comic book together. We got four issues knocked together and started running them by some of the smaller comic companies and we got one to bite hard at our work. Things looked good. It was a modern-day/ fantasy magic cop story that was very Sam Spade noir. Fairies, fedoras and 45's. Then the Will Smith film Bright came out and they thought it was too similar. They dropped us. Honestly, it wasn't similar at all beyond the initial premise.

Last year I discovered Lit, I did some reading and realized that I had enough smut rolling around in my filthy little brain to maybe do this. I'm nine stories into it, over the last six months. It's been very rewarding and I'm just vain enough to get a good buzz from the positive feedback. I suspect I'm not alone in this. I also enjoy chatting with like-minded (filthy) folks on these forums. It's pushed other hobbies to the back seat for a while. I'm here to stay.

 

[cuppatea]

I’m not published here, but have stories in other places, so take this with the view of someone outside the box.

The question you ask: was it worth it? Only you can answer that.

If you got something out of writing the story, by this I mean the actual process of writing/drafting/editing, then it was worth it.

People I know that write have the dream of being published, no matter what they write. Ask yourself: is that the end goal, or are you enjoying the process of writing? A simple, yet trite, piece of advice is: you have to enjoy it for the enjoyment to come across in the writing.

If you have enjoyed the process, enjoy the writing … keep going!

 

[cuppatea]

Absolutely worth it. I've always enjoyed writing but never found a subject that kept my interest.

I was teamed for a while with a close friend that is a tremendous artist and we decided to do a comic book together. We got four issues knocked together and started running them by some of the smaller comic companies and we got one to bite hard at our work. Things looked good. It was a modern-day/ fantasy magic cop story that was very Sam Spade noir. Fairies, fedoras and 45's. Then the Will Smith film Bright came out and they thought it was too similar. They dropped us. Honestly, it wasn't similar at all beyond the initial premise.

Last year I discovered Lit, I did some reading and realized that I had enough smut rolling around in my filthy little brain to maybe do this. I'm nine stories into it, over the last six months. It's been very rewarding and I'm just vain enough to get a good buzz from the positive feedback. I suspect I'm not alone in this. I also enjoy chatting with like-minded (filthy) folks on these forums. It's pushed other hobbies to the back seat for a while. I'm here to stay.

Did you keep up the comic book writing? The premise sounds interesting!

 

[Rob_Royale]

Did you keep up the comic book writing? The premise sounds interesting!

Sadly no. My artist pal married soon after and had a child, but his wife passed after giving birth to their second. So he's been doing the single dad thing and he's swamped. He told me that he loved the story and for me to find another artist, but I told him that I'd do it with him or not at all. Maybe someday.

Also, the old days of being able to send companies samples of your writing and getting hired are long over. They expect nearly completed work, not just a script.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

The only time I wish I didn't write a story is when it's permanently "trapped in pending" for no apparent reason, seemingly never to be posted, without actually being rejected...which has been happening way too frequently lately...and not just to me.

That happened with an incest story of mine where the mom was mentally dissabled, I wasn't gonna keep arguing with Laurel. I'm just going to rework it and save it for Lot's Cave, or something.

Red "H's" are satisfying, but one can't expect it with every story. (Yet a few writers pull it off; I don't know how.) A few "H's" drop off in a couple of days, as you said. It's rare for the score to go up above 4.5.

Nothing I have* on here even comes close. Personally I think at least two or three deserve a Red H.

*Had two H's on a fan fic Laurel removed, because the characters were aged up... bullshit. The chapters didn't even have sex in them.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Hasn’t been my experience at all. 48 hours most of the time.

Em

I'm glad your experience has been a happier one. Most of my stories have gone up in a decent time, but some have appeared to just get "stuck" in pending, which is frustrating, especially when entering a competition with a deadline...

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm glad your experience has been a happier one. Most of my stories have gone up in a decent time, but some have appeared to just get "stuck" in pending, which is frustrating, especially when entering a competition with a deadline...

It does happen. Edits can take weeks .

Em

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Writing my first story, Your Silver Nights and Golden Days was cathartic ... I was inspired by Broken Spokes and her Hard Landing series to tell my story of being a lesbian in the military long before DADT.

 

[MyBareTorso]

There is something wrong if it goes on for too long like that - above ten to fourteen days for sure. Send a PM to Laurel.

Thanks for your response. I have messaged Laurel a couple of times, but have not heard anything. I have now pulled the story, and resubmitted it unchanged via a new form with a new title... hoping that might be a fix...been pending now for 24 hours...just hoping it makes the April Fool's Day contest deadline...or maybe the joke will be on me. Sorry...

 

[gunhilltrain]

That happened with an incest story of mine where the mom was mentally dissabled, I wasn't gonna keep arguing with Laurel. I'm just going to rework it and save it for Lot's Cave, or something.

Nothing I have* on here even comes close. Personally I think at least two or three deserve a Red H.

*Had two H's on a fan fic Laurel removed, because the characters were aged up... bullshit. The chapters didn't even have sex in them.

I've been on Lit for a while and I'll probably always be here. But I'm also on other sites with lower age limits. It's her site, she can do as she pleases, but there is only so much of that nitpicking that I can stand.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Thanks for your response. I have messaged Laurel a couple of times, but have not heard anything. I have now pulled the story, and resubmitted it unchanged via a new form with a new title... hoping that might be a fix...been pending now for 24 hours...just hoping it makes the April Fool's Day contest deadline...or maybe the joke will be on me. Sorry...

You're welcome, but it's still baffling. I've never messaged Laurel myself, so I know nothing about how and when she responds. I've been lucky in that I've never had any serious delays or rejections.