A missed opportunity

[StillStunned]

I'm looking at the very pathetic viewing rates for my sci-fi series The Dome (Chapter 1: 3.630, Chapter 2: 677), wondering what I could have done differently. And then it struck me.

I should have called it "Mother Screws The World".

Dammit.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm looking at the very pathetic viewing rates for my sci-fi series The Dome (Chapter 1: 3.630, Chapter 2: 677), wondering what I could have done differently. And then it struck me.

I should have called it "Mother Screws The World".

Dammit.

The road to wisdom is long and tortuous. Still, we must walk it if seek wisdom.

 

[StillStunned]

The road to wisdom is long and tortuous. Still, we must walk it if seek wisdom.

Indeed. And the wisdom we gain is not wisdom unless it is applied to future endeavours.

So the next chapter is going to be called "Mothers". (It makes sense in the context of the story.)

 

[AlinaX]

Pretty sure John Varley's Steel Beach is set in a dome on the Moon and features a deranged AI.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I should have called it "Mother Screws The World".

I have a story with the word 'Fucking' right in the title. It's been up almost five months and it has 4k hits and 36 votes. The readership are fickle.

 

[SimonDoom]

Indeed. And the wisdom we gain is not wisdom unless it is applied to future endeavours.

So the next chapter is going to be called "Mothers". (It makes sense in the context of the story.)

How about "Mom's Hot Domes"?

 

[StillStunned]

Pretty sure John Varley's Steel Beach is set in a dome on the Moon and features a deranged AI.

The point of my story is that the AI isn't deranged. It's an AI, so it can't be deranged. The idea for the story actually came from all the threads about AI in writing. I wanted to stress that the AI ("Mother") doesn't have feelings, and isn't insane, even though it might feel that way to the people living in its world.

I have a story with the word 'Fucking' right in the title. It's been up almost five months and it has 4k hits and 36 votes. The readership are fickle.

I have a series with "Fuck" in the title that has more than half a million views. Just imagine if it had "Mother" as well!

How about "Mom's Hot Domes"?

Unfortunately there's only one dome. But I can call a future chapter "In Mother's Warm Bosom".

 

[AlinaX]

And yet there are so many articles lately about AIs hallucinating...

 

[StillStunned]

Maybe we're all just an AI's hallucination...

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

Maybe we're all just an AI's hallucination...

That would explain the incoherent plot...

 

[StillStunned]

That would explain the incoherent plot...

Not to mention my hands!

 

[lovecraft68]

More cheap shots thrown at I/T because its a popular category so its a magnet for people who like to act like their superior work goes unnoticed because this site only likes the lowest common denominator.

File this under facts don't care about feelings.

Want better results, write a better story.

 

[StillStunned]

More cheap shots thrown at I/T because its a popular category so its a magnet for people who like to act like their superior work goes unnoticed because this site only likes the lowest common denominator.

File this under facts don't care about feelings.

Want better results, write a better story.

You read my post above where I mention an I/T series with more than half a million hits, right?

This thread is a joke about the realities of Lit: I/T trumps SF&F, that's just the way it is. I know that, and I still write SF&F because that's what I enjoy writing. That doesn't mean I can't have a laugh - about the differences between the categories' readership numbers, about my own inability to come up with a catch title, and about the poor performance of my story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Dramatic as it sounds, we ride or die here with each title, description, tag, and of course writing, that miswritten sentence, the bad typo at the worst moment, maybe a mishap with formatting or missing dialogue tags, etc...etc...and we've all been there, saw it in hindsite and said, "Fuck!"

But what's done is done and all we can do is move on. Shoulda coulda woulda is only going to make you crazy. On to the next one is all we can do.

 

[StillStunned]

If it was making me crazy, I wouldn't be joking about it. I recognise that my title wasn't as catchy as it could be, but looking back I wouldn't change it. Just like I wouldn't throw in a load of gratuitous incest just to attract the readership.

Would I like it if SF&F attracted the same kind of numbers? Or even half? Yes, of course. But having had I/T views, I'm happy writing my other stuff just because I want to write it.

That said, the next chapter is still going to be called "Mothers".

 

[TheLobster]

saw it in hindsite and said, "Fuck!"

Well played, sir.

 

[lovecraft68]

Well played, sir.

 

[gunhilltrain]

And yet there are so many articles lately about AIs hallucinating...

The super-computer in Alien is named "Mother." I assume it's a nickname, but that's not clear. I like the 1970's-style graphics on the screens.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Unfortunately there's only one dome. But I can call a future chapter "In Mother's Warm Bosom".

You should have set it on Venus, instead of the Moon.

Then you could call it “Mother’s Mons Venus.”

 

[StillStunned]

You should have set it on Venus, instead of the Moon.

Then you could call it “Mother’s Mons Venus.”

Haha! But it's not set on the Moon, it's set on Earth in the distant future. Fortunately Mother's Dome is still firm.

 

[Yarglenurp]

Nah, should have called it “Fuck you, Read This Story, You Dumb Fucks.”

I’m 100% convinced it will get high readership.

 

[Bamagan]

Haha! But it's not set on the Moon, it's set on Earth in the distant future. Fortunately Mother's Dome is still firm.

The real missed opportunity is not making it a cone.

 

[StillStunned]

Alright, alright, I get the point. I'll rewrite the story so Mother has two Domes. And a hot steamy lagoon, overgrown with wild shrubbery.

 

[HeyAll]

Reminds me of seeing an article where Will Smith talked about the major missed opportunity, calling Bad Boys 3 "Bad Boys for Life" and the new Bad Boys 4 is called "Ride or Die" instead of "Bad Boys 4 Life."

 

[StillStunned]

Reminds me of seeing an article where Will Smith talked about the major missed opportunity, calling Bad Boys 3 "Bad Boys for Life" and the new Bad Boys 4 is called "Ride or Die" instead of "Bad Boys 4 Life."

The fourth chapter of my "Flesh for Fantasy" series is called "Flesh 4 Fantasy".