A win and a loss

[lovecraft68]

Theme here is mention one of your stories you see as a win. Could be just stats, could be you feel-and readers agree-you nailed it, but a story you think about and say "Yeah, I nailed that."

Then one that well....not so much. Readers didn't like it, you feel like you missed the mark, or maybe you look back and its just poorly written or you realize now you missed some opportunities. The opposite of the win where when you think of this one you cringe.

 

[lovecraft68]

Okay

My win
That's What Friend's are for.

Up until that story even my couple of romances had a depressing event to set up the story, they were light at the end of the tunnel type pieces. In That's what Friend's are for I set out to go straight up romance, yes, a little conflict to set up the story, but nothing heavy, its a first time story with the age old trope of a clueless boy who doesn't realize what he's been looking for is right in front of him in is his longtime best friend Samantha who goes by Sam because she's a one of the guy's type Tom boy.

The story won the Earth Day contest and the numbers are far and away my best. #12 on the all time fav list over 2.5 million views, closing in on 800 comments. and 25k votes.

But the reader reaction was what was important, 780 comments and only a small handful negative of trolling, people loved it, talked about the memories it brought back, how sweet and loving it was etc. Bottom line it was exactly what I set out to do and seeing it was such a departure from my usual style of fucking up wet dreams I see it as my most successful story in more than just numbers.

The miss.

Sweet reluctance. As we all know I'm not a fan of non con, but reluctance or dub con I don't mind. Back in the survivor contest I needed another category to get more points so decided to take a shot at a reluctance story revolving around a sleazy asshole with money who offers to help out his struggling cleaning girl by giving her money she needs, but not as a loan, she has to earn it. Basic premise, but I feel I just struck out on it. Its a fine line between non con and dub con, the whole they don't want to, but they do find some pleasure in it-even if they're ashamed they do-and I fell off that line more than once. It came out to harsh, I went to far, and couldn't pull it back in well enough.

TBH I was pissed at myself because of my disdain for pure non con and elements of that story ended up falling into it. The score isn't bad its in the 4.6's but some readers did call me out for being too rough and they're right. Once in awhile I've thought about deleting it, but in the end I keep it there because I don't think making a failure disappear and pretending it never happened is the right way to do things. I leave it there as a reminder that I took on a category that's 'not mine' and lost.

But because of that story and being angry over it, I have since written-not here-several dub con stories that stayed well within the boundaries and did well for sale and the people I wrote some for on commission were thrilled with. I wouldn't have been able to do that had I not left this turd lingering in the back of my head as an example of what not to do and have the mentality that I hate to lose and will always have to take another shot.

So I did get something out of it down the line, but to this day this story is the one I think "Jeez, don't read that one" and cringe anytime I see someone left a comment on it.

 

[windar]

I don't see writing in terms of wins and losses. I enjoy writing, working out plots and how to phrase things just so. I have a wonderful co-author with whom I've written a good couple of dozen novellas and really enjoy the collaboration. Several are historical epics and I've learned a lot researching them. Even the ones with contemporary setting have often involved research to get the street layouts and other details as accurate as possible.

One made The Hall of Fame on an ebook site. It was a tale of Barbary pirates and English ladies and court intrigue in the Sultan's harem in Istanbul. It was good, but I'm not sure it was head and shoulders better than many of our other books-there is a lot of luck and timing involved.

You probably wouldn't like them, LC, because there are certainly non-consensual scenes, but the plot and characters are what matter to me not consent or non- by fictional characters. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone should become a Barbary pirate or an evil cult leader or a corrupt prison warden in real life. By the standards of what I see going on in the world, they are all very mild and no one was harmed in the writing (though my typing finger got a bit sore).

 

[Blind_Justice]

"Express Delivery" is the best freaking thing I've written so far. Complex characters, decent and varied sex ranging from vanilla to alien tentacle fuckery and at 104,000 words written in less than three weeks, a mammoth undertaking I'm immensely proud of.

"The Faceless Executioner" was supposed to be a multi-century story detailing some exploits of an elven killer-for-hire. I think I got the plot down all right, but failed to make the character engaging (enough). My luck with stab-happy elves.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Had this happen to me in the last week with two stories I just published.

I was really happen with "First Refusal" about a Japanese homestay student getting involved in her host's sex life. I tried a number of interesting techniques including an objective camera style perspective for the prologue and epilogue, (with the prologue told properly in close third later) a dream-sequence and realization of the dream later. Some good characterization and conversation, some good jokes and I spent a long time making sure there were a number of decently realized extended sex scenes (which I've been criticized for leaving out recently). Result - my lowest score even and the only one lower than 4 (though it's creeping up) and some nasty comments.

On the other hand, "His Sister in His Lap", an Incest story about running into his sister in a strip-club was something I was struggling to write. My previous story in the catagory had gotten marked lowely because the MC wasn't comfortable with and didn't go through with the incest. This was kind of similiar in tone and I was having difficulty getting the character to the point where they would to through with it. So, I cut the finished first half of the story off at a natural cliff-hanger and published it just to see what would happen. Instant hotness and a huge number of comments requesting part two.

 

[Djmac1031]

Win:

The White Room : My first real attempt at writing a complete story instead of a bunch of chapters. Also my first attempt at writing fantasy while trying to also include realistic romance. It seems to have resonated with readers, nothing but positive reviews despite the fact i still see the flaws in it.

Loss:

You Hear The Bullet : My entry into the 750 Word Challenge wound up being the most controversial thing I've ever written.

Meant to be a simple tale of a tryst gone wrong, I wound up pissing off not just the usual LW trolls who hate cheating wives, but several other readers who accused me of doing it to intentionally stir up the trolls.

It was supposed to be a short but dark tale. I stand by it, but I wouldn't do it again because wow, did NO ONE actually get it.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't know, I think all mine are wins, even if those the LW crowd think they aren't.

I do know that the readers and I do agree on most of my sci-fi stuff.

 

[jomar]

My White Trash story has a soft spot in my heart. Still makes laugh. I wrote two chapters, readers liked it, and it sat for a year. Then an AH Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold challenge contest arose. So I built on a whiff of a plot and brought it home with another two chapters. And I won the contest if I recall correctly.

The miss was Mancation. My lowest score. Not an awful idea but ended in “it was all a dream“ thing. So, meh.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm personally fond of all my stories. I guess I wouldn't have written them if I hadn't been. I'm fond of some of my stories that have done badly in the ratings, like my BTB spoof story.

Late Night On The Loveseat With Mom undoubtedly is my biggest "win," in the sense of totally surprising me with its success. I published it almost 5 years ago, and it has over 1.2 million views. It was number 1 on the 12 month most viewed list for two months. I've never written anything since then that has approached that level of success. I was floored. The surprising success of that one story garnered a lot of attention for my other stories, too. To this day, five years later, it gets more daily views, by far, than any other story I've written.

I would regard One Night In Mordor, perhaps, as my biggest "loss." It's a silly romp about sex between hobbits and a sexy elf. The score is fine but it didn't get as many views as I thought it would, and it's my least-viewed story. It's one of the stories I regarded least seriously as I wrote it, and that probably shows.

 

[Comshaw]

I'm with Simon on this, I like all my stories. But I freely admit, as the author, I have a very bias (in favor) view of them. Below is the one I consider one of my best, and one the readers didn't seem to appreciate very much.

Medicinal Mountain Magic Frank loses his wife to cancer, then goes into the mountains to a secret hot springs they had been to, to spread her ashes and grieve. A young lady, Megan, arrives, having been told of the place by a mutual (but long-lost to Frank) friend and sent there by him to help her get over the divorce she is going through. Although they are from different generations, they form a bond and help each other heal.


Grudge Match Carl & Peggy are neighbors with John & Kim. Both couples at one time had a very fulfilling sex life. Because of circumstances, Peggy and John can no longer engage in sex, nor do either have any inclination to do so. Peggy and John like each other and become friends, but Carl and Kim are like oil and water. They snipe at each other every chance they get. Unfortunately, they also have a powerful physical attraction for each other (which is why each tries to antagonize the other). Carl and Kim manage to stay faithful to their spouses by utilizing masturbation, until one day things happen and they can no longer ignore the attraction. I got comments about it being too contrived, it would never happen that way, the title has nothing to do with what they did, blah, blah, blah.

 

[lovecraft68]

Looking at Simon and Comshaw's comments they like all their stories I've always felt with mine that although I'm proud of them all in the sense I wrote them, put work into them, and not everyone has the gift to be able to do that, I'm fond of saying not all stories are created equally.

I have some that looking back I know could have been better, I have a small number that I wonder what was I thinking and cringe whenever someone buys one in the market or adds one to a list here because I hope its not the first of mine they're read cause it could be the last.

But I'm also known to be harder on myself than anyone else is so I critique my own efforts much harder than I do anything here anyone asks for feedback on that I have time to look at.

Having said that, the story I picked as loss was based on my feelings about it, as I said the score and numbers are decent for the category, its me that's not happy with it.

 

[Comshaw]

Looking at Simon and Comshaw's comments they like all their stories I've always felt with mine that although I'm proud of them all in the sense I wrote them, put work into them, and not everyone has the gift to be able to do that, I'm fond of saying not all stories are created equally.

I have some that looking back I know could have been better, I have a small number that I wonder what was I thinking and cringe whenever someone buys one in the market or adds one to a list here because I hope its not the first of mine they're read cause it could be the last.

But I'm also known to be harder on myself than anyone else is so I critique my own efforts much harder than I do anything here anyone asks for feedback on that I have time to look at.

Having said that, the story I picked as loss was based on my feelings about it, as I said the score and numbers are decent for the category, its me that's not happy with it.

I understand what you are saying. But there's a huge difference. My entire scope of work here consists of 40 or so stories, yours are in what? The hundreds? It takes me a longtime to settle on a premise for a story, and longer to write it, so I'm still enamored with the subject(s) of my stories. If I were as prolific as you are at writing, I believe I too would have some I didn't like, or was dissatisfied with.

 

[windar]

Looking at Simon and Comshaw's comments they like all their stories I've always felt with mine that although I'm proud of them all in the sense I wrote them, put work into them, and not everyone has the gift to be able to do that, I'm fond of saying not all stories are created equally.

I have some that looking back I know could have been better, I have a small number that I wonder what was I thinking and cringe whenever someone buys one in the market or adds one to a list here because I hope its not the first of mine they're read cause it could be the last.

But I'm also known to be harder on myself than anyone else is so I critique my own efforts much harder than I do anything here anyone asks for feedback on that I have time to look at.

Having said that, the story I picked as loss was based on my feelings about it, as I said the score and numbers are decent for the category, its me that's not happy with it.

I never cringe when someone buys one of my books. If you feel badly, you can always donate the proceeds to charity...

 

[lovecraft68]

I never cringe when someone buys one of my books. If you feel badly, you can always donate the proceeds to charity...

I donate a couple of hundred from my writing money every month, its split between The ASPCA, PARL, and Volunteer services for animals.
Fuck people, they're on their own.