Pounding my fist onto the table

[madelinemasoch]

I feel like a real failure today. I do not think I'm going to "make it" on this website, whatever that means. Red Hs and 100k reads. I've been banned from the most populous internet place in which I used to share links to new chapters (but that happened a month+ ago, and the volume of hate comments has actually decreased since then...)

Hate comments. Not just my own comments. I've been looking through many different comment sections. Nobody [exaggerative] likes what I write about on here.

I have a major block in writing new stuff for my main series. No idea what to do with Leya and Jamal after what just happened and their little subplot of tension in regards to what Finn's fate will be. Too many voices outside of my bedroom trying to get me to stop writing this. So I started a stroker series in the meantime ((don't read it) When we think we're failures at our work, we tend to produce the fluffiest and most shallow of that work).

Man, is there a single thing I'm good at? Don't pity me. That's not the point. I wanna be something else. I want my voice to shatter your illusions. For now I'm just mediocre.

On second thought, let me add a venting section to this post.
1. Big penis bull and small penis cuck is not a fucking cliche, it's a genre feature. To prove this, switch it around in your imagination: it wouldn't make any goddamn sense.
2. Masochism isn't a mental illness, it's an erotic form.
3. Femdom isn't roleplay and it isn't abuse, it's reality.
4. Female narcissism is hot.
5. In a cuck story, if you have your characters fucking everything that moves or have the cuck still fuck its wife, you're doing something else.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm there in the sense of I've been stuck on book four of my horror series for well over a year. I think about it, I reread the other books to get the mood back, I have ideas but....nope.

Like you, I just went back to writing smut, and that seems to flow just fine. I like it, I make money on it, but ultimately I want to finish something that's far more serious, but for today, and in this moment its not happening.

The trick is, and its not easy, is to not be self defeatist, to still-even though you may not feel it-try to exude that swag and confidence in yourself. If you're going to write a stroke, make it the hottest one you can write. When you think of your series know you will get back and better than ever...but not today. Stay loose, don't spin the wheels and wait for it.

As long as you believe it will happen, it eventually will.

For here, don't get caught up in the numbers or site drama or your reception here. This is a strange place and has its good points, and good posters and its crap.
Overall the forum isn't all that welcome to those who have the audacity to challenge popular opinions and of course to dare question the "rules"

Some people here like to hate. My mantra has always been that if that's the case make them hate you because they ain't you.

 

[madelinemasoch]

Thanks, Lovecraft. I appreciate it.

 

[Euphony]

1. Big penis bull and small penis cuck is not a fucking cliche, it's a genre feature. To prove this, switch it around in your imagination: it wouldn't make any goddamn sense.

It would if you write it so. How does sticking to genre convention (and building a case why it's essentially a must) further the goal of "shattering illusions?"

There is SO much more to sex than appendage dimensions. A woman might "cuck" a man for power dynamics, personal experience, societal norm push back, or umpteen other motivations (I'd argue reliance on dick size as the main driver of cuckery is glossing over these unspoken drivers (we do love a shorthand) for why women seek this form of coupling with others. In fiction, we just LOVE reducing women to binaries, simple motivations, man-ish copycatting when they desire things usually reserved (by this society) for men in fiction. Not going to soapbox cuck culture but am going to champion considering the kaleidoscope of emotions/motivations/situations/reasons/drivers that are in play even when we chose to shorthand over them. It opens a world of narrative possibilities.

Micropenis neighborhood cuck god is a tough sell and would take serious skill. Maybe many (a majority?) of readership wouldn't get it. At some point, a truly skilled writer eclipses a general audience and their need for tropes and conventions.

If you focus on the motivations of one woman perhaps and build supportive character accordingly, credulity could be maintained with even modest skill (and the want to)

 

[AwkwardlySet]

As someone who writes femdom, I can maybe give you some specific advice.
First of all, the simple fact of choosing to write femdom will greatly limit the number of readers you can reach. Femdom, I am afraid, isn't very popular. In fact, it is much less popular than maledom. That being said, the number of readers that will read femdom is not to be underestimated either. Considering how many people read stories on Literotica, even a tenth of that number is still quite big, but I am just making sure you have no illusions that you will ever have remotely the number of readers that LW of Incest stories generate.
On to your own stories. I've given a quick look at your stories and noticed that your femdom is quite harsh. Angry. That is all fine, but in my opinion, you need to take your story there first. Your Black and White series starts with femdom already on eleven. In my experience, most people like to see it develop slowly; they like to see it progress from something almost vanilla to your own personal brand of femdom, whatever that is. I don't mean that only in the sense of kinks but in the sense of character development both from sub and dom side.

Either way, it is way, way too early to give up. Building up readership takes time, especially when you write borderline niche stuff. Be patient and try to listen to readers' feedback.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Micropenis neighborhood cuck god is a tough sell and would take serious skill. Maybe many (a majority?) of readership wouldn't get it. At some point, a truly skilled writer eclipses a general audience and their need for tropes and conventions.

One of the posters on another forum here was a sub, into humiliation play (receiving). Her husband/dom was terminally ill, and part of his illness was erectile dysfunction. Many guys would've been shattered by that. Instead, he turned it into part of their scenes: "you're so pathetic, you can't even get me hard". I hear it was pretty hot for them.

Sexuality is weird and complicated, there are patterns but very few absolutes.

 

[Euphony]

One of the posters on another forum here was a sub, into humiliation play (receiving). Her husband/dom was terminally ill, and part of his illness was erectile dysfunction. Many guys would've been shattered by that. Instead, he turned it into part of their scenes: "you're so pathetic, you can't even get me hard". I hear it was pretty hot for them.

Sexuality is weird and complicated, there are patterns but very few absolutes.

That's the beauty of sexual play. It's literally creative play and as varied as people are varied.

Why I find it such a headscratcher when some AHers press there is a certain way to do things, expectations, category tropes, and the like.

I mean, yes, if that's what motivates, write your interpretation of it. Write the ever loving fuck out of it.

But pushing any idea remotely claiming there is a right/wrong way to show play in CREATIVE FICTION seems so very odd to me.

Paint by numbers Lady Chatterley's? No thanks.

 

[NoTalentHack]

One of the posters on another forum here was a sub, into humiliation play (receiving). Her husband/dom was terminally ill, and part of his illness was erectile dysfunction. Many guys would've been shattered by that. Instead, he turned it into part of their scenes: "you're so pathetic, you can't even get me hard". I hear it was pretty hot for them.

Sexuality is weird and complicated, there are patterns but very few absolutes.

That is a surprisingly loving little anecdote.

 

[NoTalentHack]

That's the beauty of sexual play. It's literally creative play and as varied as people are varied.

Why I find it such a headscratcher when some AHers press there is a certain way to do things, expectations, category tropes, and the like.

I mean, yes, if that's what motivates, write your interpretation of it. Write the ever loving fuck out of it.

But pushing any idea remotely claiming there is a right/wrong way to show play in CREATIVE FICTION seems so very odd to me.

Paint by numbers Lady Chatterley's? No thanks.

I mean, a LOT of BDSM (male and femdom) has the "this is the one true BDSM" thing going on. Some of it is abusive people wanting to get away with abuse, some of it is analogous to "holier than thou," some of it is just general myopia. The notion of "the one true femdom is permanent FLR slavery" is as nuts as "the only real maledom is 24/7 collared and free use." Fucking bizarre.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've written a few hot wife/cuck stories and I've never done the SPH angle...well, once, but the thing was a satire(that the LW crowd was too dumb to see it as such). The way I write the wives-and I do it from their POV-is it isn't that the husband has a small dick, or even a lousy lover, its them separating love from lust, and wanting other men.

I've phrased it as the husband is the only man who has her heart, but others can have her body. Or in a line I wrote recently "Eight years later, Mark was still who she woke up to every morning, albeit sometimes after being ridden hard and put away wet"

For me, its more about the sexual freedom of the wife. Now, I do some humiliation but when I do its usually because the husband was being an asshat as in mistreating a hotel worker, trying to play big shot, so the wife fucks the guy in front of him "Yeah, he's not so tough now is he?"

We all have our angles

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I feel like a real failure today. I do not think I'm going to "make it" on this website, whatever that means.

There is no 'making it' on lit. Literally anyone can post anything here. It's basically kindergarten where everybody wins. If you wish to define 'making it' here that is up to you. And if you define it as ...

Red Hs and 100k reads.

Then that's the bed you make. It's your challenge and no one else's.

Hate comments. Not just my own comments. I've been looking through many different comment sections. Nobody [exaggerative] likes what I write about on here.

Nobody likes my shit either, big deal.

I have a major block in writing new stuff for my main series. No idea what to do with Leya and Jamal after what just happened and their little subplot of tension in regards to what Finn's fate will be. Too many voices outside of my bedroom trying to get me to stop writing this. So I started a stroker series in the meantime ((don't read it) When we think we're failures at our work, we tend to produce the fluffiest and most shallow of that work).

I could say that I can empathize with this as the bullshit of real life eating up your time and zapping away all your energy is a major muse killer for many of us, but the rest of your paragraph just sounds like a sympathy ad for attention to your own little epic between your precious Leya Jamal and Finn, and what a fucking shame it is that none of us care to know who they are, after all the effort and emotion that you slaved into it too.

You don't think that every single author in this forum hasn't poured their heart into characters and plots that ended up completely ignored? Get over yourself.

Man, is there a single thing I'm good at? Don't pity me.

Don't worry, I won't.

On second thought, let me add a venting section to this post.
1. Big penis bull and small penis cuck is not a fucking cliche, it's a genre feature. To prove this, switch it around in your imagination: it wouldn't make any goddamn sense.
2. Masochism isn't a mental illness, it's an erotic form.
3. Femdom isn't roleplay and it isn't abuse, it's reality.
4. Female narcissism is hot.
5. In a cuck story, if you have your characters fucking everything that moves or have the cuck still fuck its wife, you're doing something else.

So then write about all that and stop giving two craps about what people think of it. People have strong ideas on their kinks and can be extremely judgemental about them, none the least is yourself as that list of yours judges all those kinks and quite heavily too I might add, so glance in the mirror when you cry about the comments. What's really going on here is you're seeing your kinks one way and then getting butthurt that the readership doesn't agree with you. That's all. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, including me and you. But if you're only writing for 'Red Hs and 100k reads' (your words, not mine) then you're just going to have to start writing those kinks how the judgemental majority want to read them. Either that or write vanilla emo HEA cardboard fluff in the romance category. Sound like fun? Choice is yours.

 

[TheRedChamber]

First of all, writing is a hobby. If it's making you miserable, take a step back, do something else in your free time for as long as is necessary, and come back to it fresh later.

I had a look through some of your stories just now (and had read a few when they were first published) - you are right that you don't make it easy for yourself in terms of kink - not just Femdom but BBW, 'fragrant' analingus, interracial bull/cuck in the BSDM category, suddenly gay plot threads halfway through a work. It probably is fair to say that if you stick to these, you're going to need to be writing absolutely out of your skin to consistently get anywhere near a H.

The write what you want/write what people want debate is as old as literature itself - if it's bugging you, you certainly could try a few simple, short works - dial back the kinks a bit, think of the most vanilla thing which is still hot to you and try to sell it in, say, 5k-10k words.

But if you're interested in improving your work, it might not just be the kinks which are the problem - in fact, they could be hiding other problems such as prose, characters, structure, sex-scene writing etc. It's easy to write off a low score as 'just not the general kink' when there might have been ways to sell the kink better. Have you got beta-readers who are into a similar things to you? A bit of tough love might be what you need to bring things into focus.

(As I say, I read some of the stories, and I'm not going to give specific feedback here as you've not asked for it - your style is probably different enough from mine that I'd probably not be the best person to do it anyway).

 

[madelinemasoch]

Have you got beta-readers who are into a similar things to you?

Not a soul. I'm open to it.

The write what you want/write what people want debate is as old as literature itself

I think I want to do something that's the opposite of what people want, next... while I wait for the main story to come into focus.

you're going to need to be writing absolutely out of your skin to consistently get anywhere near a H.

I'm definitely not going to do that.

not just Femdom but BBW, 'fragrant' analingus, interracial bull/cuck in the BSDM category, suddenly gay plot threads halfway through a work.

These are all there for a reason. It fits into the general ethos, to me. And there's something I'm trying to say with everything I'm doing. Trouble is no one seems to care about any of that. It's either hate comments or gooners who are pleased I made them cum. Nothing interesting, nothing noticing the themes or the general difference I'm introducing to the scene, nothing about the characters... Feels like nobody gives a damn about the substance.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I mean, a LOT of BDSM (male and femdom) has the "this is the one true BDSM" thing going on. Some of it is abusive people wanting to get away with abuse, some of it is analogous to "holier than thou," some of it is just general myopia. The notion of "the one true femdom is permanent FLR slavery" is as nuts as "the only real maledom is 24/7 collared and free use." Fucking bizarre.

I hate BDSM gatekeeping. I really enjoy sexual power differentials—CMNF, being leashed and collared, being put on display—but all my fantasies are weird twists on these themes that don’t line up with the “rules” for real-world dom-sub relationships … and I don’t care.

 

[SimonDoom]

You have more company here than you realize, although I WILL say that you take more genre-bending challenges than just about any writer I can think of, so you're going to get a lot of "WTF" in response to your stories. That's not a bad thing! If that's where your creative vision takes you, follow it.

I checked out chapter one of your Black & White series. Here are the tags you chose:

interracial
transgender
femdom
sph
humiliation
foot worship
smoking
pet play
rejection

That's a hell of a lot of kinks for a story of any length. Your first chapter is less than one Lit page.

As far as shattering our illusions, keep in mind that many authors don't read that many stories by other authors, so it's very unlikely you are going to do that no more how good you are. I'd suggest a different tack if you want to win friends and influence people. Take it slow, keep at it, and try not to get discouraged.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I feel like a real failure today. I do not think I'm going to "make it" on this website, whatever that means. Red Hs and 100k reads.

I think we all end up having to define what "making it" means for ourselves.

You've posted 18 stories this year. For me that would be a HUGE win, scores be damned. It's been two years since I've posted anything beyond a How-To piece; I'm working on one now, but even in my most productive moments on this site I don't come close to that much.

I want my voice to shatter your illusions.

This is a pretty good goal to have, but if that is your goal, scores are the last thing you should be using to gauge your own success.

A lot of people are here for comfort reading and a quick wank. Having one's illusions shattered isn't comfortable and some readers are going to resent it and ding you for it. That doesn't mean it was the wrong choice, it just means that the score isn't a good gauge of how successful you were.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

These are all there for a reason. It fits into the general ethos, to me. And there's something I'm trying to say with everything I'm doing. Trouble is no one seems to care about any of that. It's either hate comments or gooners who are pleased I made them cum. Nothing interesting, nothing noticing the themes or the general difference I'm introducing to the scene, nothing about the characters... Feels like nobody gives a damn about the substance.

My how your audience are a rabble of heathen simpleton peons! How dare they not understand and laud your brilliance?

The answer is: they are judging you and your work, just as you are judging them. You're walking right down the middle of a two-way street and bitching that you're getting run over.

Let's go back to that list.

1. Big penis bull and small penis cuck is not a fucking cliche, it's a genre feature. To prove this, switch it around in your imagination: it wouldn't make any goddamn sense.

According to you, any cuckold story where the cuck has average size junk or bigger is wrong. Likewise any bull who has average size equipment or smaller is just plain wrong. That's a pretty heavy judgement.

So just suppose, if the girl married him because he had a large package only to disappointed that he couldn't do anything with it went and found a smaller dude who was a better lay, that would be impossible? Never ever happen? Not even in fiction? That is a judgement.

2. Masochism isn't a mental illness, it's an erotic form.

According to you, someone who had become unhinged would never resort to masochism or cruelty? Like ever? I've worked with vulnerable people. This happens daily. So not only is this a judgement, it's a vain one. But that's all right, we are talking fiction here after all.

3. Femdom isn't roleplay and it isn't abuse, it's reality.

According to you a story could never ever contain a couple having a femdom play in their own bedroom for kicks? Ever? That's a heavy judgement.

4. Female narcissism is hot.

According to you a narcissistic female character she never be a turn off. That's a strong judgement, and in light of many readers here who dislike female agency, you're bound to get kickback on that one (rightly or wrongly).

5. In a cuck story, if you have your characters fucking everything that moves or have the cuck still fuck its wife, you're doing something else.

This last one ... oh my. First off, according to you any cuckold is no longer a he but dehumaized as an it. Wow, can't get much more judgemental than that. At any rate, according to you, any story where a cuck gets any action at all from his wife is just wrong. That is a heavy judgement.

And you're upset that some of your readers disagree with these things? Look in the mirror. You're making judgements just like your readers are. You're effectively saying that you're favorite color is red and then having a snit when someone says that they prefer blue. They're just wrong! They should be loving my red dammit!

 

[madelinemasoch]

They're just wrong!

Yes.

 

[madelinemasoch]

I think we all end up having to define what "making it" means for ourselves.

You've posted 18 stories this year. For me that would be a HUGE win, scores be damned. It's been two years since I've posted anything beyond a How-To piece; I'm working on one now, but even in my most productive moments on this site I don't come close to that much.



This is a pretty good goal to have, but if that is your goal, scores are the last thing you should be using to gauge your own success.

A lot of people are here for comfort reading and a quick wank. Having one's illusions shattered isn't comfortable and some readers are going to resent it and ding you for it. That doesn't mean it was the wrong choice, it just means that the score isn't a good gauge of how successful you were.

Thanks.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I have a major block in writing new stuff for my main series. No idea what to do with Leya and Jamal after what just happened and their little subplot of tension in regards to what Finn's fate will be. Too many voices outside of my bedroom trying to get me to stop writing this. So I started a stroker series in the meantime ((don't read it) When we think we're failures at our work, we tend to produce the fluffiest and most shallow of that work).

Man, is there a single thing I'm good at? Don't pity me. That's not the point. I wanna be something else. I want my voice to shatter your illusions. For now I'm just mediocre.

This might make you laugh. I had a particularly scathing comment left on what was originally meant to be a one off. Several paragraphs of vitriol including non con bashing, slagging off my foul language. Well... It's inspired me to plot up and write the sequel that had half formed in my filthy brain. And I'm challenging myself to make it even more irritating to trolls than part one.

Point is, you make the rules, chick. If you enjoy the story, the process, the thrill of sharing, you can choose to let that be enough. (Also there's a little dustbin icon beside each hater's 'contribution', just sayin xxx)

 

[Djmac1031]

Trouble is no one seems to care about any of that. It's either hate comments or gooners who are pleased I made them cum.

Hate to break it to ya, but that's every comment section ever.

Comes with the territory. Welcome to LE.

 

[Rob_Royale]

It's rather vain of you to expect people to enjoy what you enjoy. I've read some of the comments on your work and the word "racism" gets thrown around pretty frequently. Humiliation, cuckolding, masochism. These subjects are divisive by their very nature. It's very easy to turn off a reader with one misstep. Your interests are on the fringe. It's gonna be lonely out there.

You want to be something else? What is it?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I haven't read your stories (I'll get to the 'why' in a second), but in browsing through your list of published works, I can only offer this one piece of advice:

Demonstrate more patience.

I understand writers being anxious to get a few paragraphs out into the world for feedback and confirmation of their story's value as quickly as possible. Resist that urge.

Either take the time to complete more of the story (all of it would be best) or utilize beta readers for the desired feedback during the writing process. This not only benefits you by allowing for the management of the entire body of work, but it also benefits readers by allowing them to flow through the character and plot development with a greater comprehension of your vision.

This brings me to the 'why' I haven't read your stories...

I, like many other readers, avoid starting a story that does not appear to be completed. There are too many incomplete stories on this site for a reader to invest in what may end up being another one.

The way that your submissions are titled implies that they are chapters of a story and that makes me less likely to start at the beginning if I don't see an end. There is no indication with most of your stories that they are finished. I suggest that if they are, you use the 'Series Manager' tool to identify them as complete.

 

[madelinemasoch]

Either take the time to complete more of the story (all of it would be best)

I don't know the risks of talking logistics with you, but...
This would take more than a year and it will amount to more than 100k words.

or utilize beta readers for the desired feedback during the writing process.

I gotta find some who I like, trust, and value their advice.

ut it also benefits readers by allowing them to flow through the character and plot development with a greater comprehension of your vision.

Can you explain how? Because it's not like they're going to absorb what happens next by osmosis in a 100k word webpage. They still have to read left to right like everyone else who reads English.

This not only benefits you by allowing for the management of the entire body of work

I can manage the entire body of the part of the work that's completed because every chapter is in the same Google Doc. I copy paste and split paragraphs accordingly when I upload them to the site.

There is no indication with most of your stories that they are finished. I suggest that if they are, you use the 'Series Manager' tool to identify them as complete.

They're not. They're serialized/episodic. I don't want readers to know what happens next until it's up.

I, like many other readers, avoid starting a story that does not appear to be completed. There are too many incomplete stories on this site for a reader to invest in what may end up being another one.

The way that your submissions are titled implies that they are chapters of a story and that makes me less likely to start at the beginning if I don't see an end.

Then I also ask you this: would you be more likely to read and complete the reading of a 100k+ word webpage story? Also, it seems like there are enough readers who will click on a singular chapter to keep me from going into drastically low numbers (like, below 1k reads, that's never happened).

 

[Djmac1031]

They're not. They're serialized/episodic. I don't want readers to know what happens next until it's up.

As someone with my own, long running series that is episodic, I can tell you there are pros and cons to that approach.

Pro: it allows you to write short adventures and post them regularly for readers.

Con: you're going to lose readers. It's simply a fact.

Even some that enjoyed part 1, 2 and 3 may drift off or simply forget about you by part 4.

That's not to say a well written continuing series cannot accumulate readers, because it can.

But it will be a small audience compared to single, one shot stories.