Can I fix this? Should I fix it?

[pizzaboyatdoor]

Hello fellow authors!

When I began submitting stories last year, I planned on sticking with the simple theme of various erotic adventures of being a pizza delivery guy and pretty much letting each story stand on its own, even though the main character of Josh would remain the same. However....this little hobby has taken on its own life now and 13 stories, one in pending, a yet-to-be-submitted intro chapter, and at least another dozen additional chapter titles & outlines later that shifts from Josh's sexual appetite into a gay romance story....I have a quandry of sorts.

Since the individual scenes have now morphed into a full blown, ongoing storyline, they tend to come across as a muddled mess for someone that stumbles across either a brand new story or reads them out of order. This happened because I did not use the same title with chapter numbers; but rather assigned a title and teaser desciption for each individual submission. The only consistency in the titles is that each one begins with "Pizza Boy"....after that....the listings fall to the luck of alphabetical order based on the third word in the title. So much for the rule of planning ahead. <smacking forehead on keyboard!>

So what I need to know from you seasoned experts here, is two fold:

If this CAN be fixed in any simple manner by changing the title; adding chapter numbers; and shifting it all to the "story series" category....how do I go about it?

.....and.....

Since the time frame of all this covers a little over a year since the first story was published, up to chapter 13 just being published a few days ago; and I am closing in on a quarter million hits on them; SHOULD I even bother with making a change or just leave it the hell alone?

Thanks so much for any advice you guys can provide me.

 

[sr71plt]

I wouldn't bother fixing it here. I'd put it together in coherent fashion and publish it as an e-book.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I wouldn't bother fixing it here. I'd put it together in coherent fashion and publish it as an e-book.

Good idea. However, if you DO want to fix it here, simply DELETE the first story (just click "submit" type in the title of the story you want deleted, followed by DELETE in the title). (Make sure you have a copy of the story, of course Then submit the story with the new title, including the chapter number. Do this for all the stories you want to change the title of.

ETA: if you want to keep your hits/views, PM Laurel - see if there's a way you can just submit a title change for them, without deleting!

 

[pizzaboyatdoor]

I wouldn't bother fixing it here. I'd put it together in coherent fashion and publish it as an e-book.

I didn't mention that in the first post, but that is an option also, and quite frankly a part of the reason the ongoing storyline idea took off on me. I hadn't even considered the possibility until I started getting fan mail asking if Josh and Rob would become a couple....and then had some discussion with a publisher that was very interested in the idea of a full novel. I was probably 7 or 8 stories into things before the muse kicked in, and the move towards a romance theme became tempting.

I guess my anal retentive side of the brain just keeps beating me up for not having done it right from day one.

 

[mokkelke]

think you could try resubmitting them and in the note box at the bottom start of with EDIT. say the story itself isn't changed but that you want to organize the titles.(with edit they know they have to replace the existing story, don't think any values will be lost then) but do ask laurel just to be sure.
if they won't do it you can always post in your personal bio, make a short list of the titles in the order they should be read and mention that at the start of new chapter/stories. i know a few others started doing that as well since their stories took on a life of their own.

 

[Darkniciad]

What you have to do is make a new submission for each one, using the same title as the original, plus something such as *EDIT*

Fill in the rest of the stuff with placeholders, and use the "story text" and "Notes" sections to say that you wish to change the title, listing the new title.

If you do it that way, you'll keep all your views, votes, etc. The only thing that will change is the title.

It's probably a good idea to take note of the Lit ID# ( the number at the end of the URL in your browser bar when you view the first page of the story/chapter ) and include that with the title change request. Helps eliminate any potential for human error.

 

[Stella_Omega]

...
I guess my anal retentive side of the brain just keeps beating me up for not having done it right from day one.

Shove that anal retentive side into a closet for a while-- let it out when it comes editing and rewriting time.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I guess my anal retentive side of the brain just keeps beating me up for not having done it right from day one.

How could you have known where it was going to go? Especially if you're of the intuitive-writer variety.

Thanks for the "EDIT" info - I forgot how to do it! (been gone long, Selena? uh... yeah... )

 

[mokkelke]

How could you have known where it was going to go? Especially if you're of the intuitive-writer variety.

Thanks for the "EDIT" info - I forgot how to do it! (been gone long, Selena? uh... yeah... )

we're all here to help ;-)

 

[Athalia]

I did not use the same title with chapter numbers; but rather assigned a title and teaser desciption for each individual submission. The only consistency in the titles is that each one begins with "Pizza Boy"....

I feel your pain, friend. The same thing has happened to me with the "Hot Tub" series. It was originally planned as a one-off (and used a previous character from another story as the main character), but the damned girl wouldn't go away. She kept getting into adventure after adventure, and now it's up to six stories (plus the original one) and she still isn't finished.

I'll follow the suggestions noted by the other good readers, and see if I can pound the saga into a chronological order.

 

[Darkniciad]

With a little luck, none of this will be necessary in the future. I have several series of this nature, and it's a pain.

When the "in this series" feature was rolled out, one of the things announced for the future was the ability for authors to group their own series so that they appear on his or her author page in the correct sequence.

You can always edit in an author's note at the beginning of the stories detailing the order, but after you get above a certain point, that can prove cumbersome. A note pointing to the END of your story and doing it there would at least prevent the huge block of text at the top, but then they're a few clicks from the voting form when they get to the end of the story.

I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping the series feature gets done soon.

 

[pizzaboyatdoor]

Thank you very much to everyone that has given advice on the technical side of the issue. I will definately PM Laurel to ask her recommendation for the best way for me to try to straighten it out before trying to do anything with title changes.

I feel your pain, friend. The same thing has happened to me with the "Hot Tub" series. It was originally planned as a one-off (and used a previous character from another story as the main character), but the damned girl wouldn't go away. She kept getting into adventure after adventure, and now it's up to six stories (plus the original one) and she still isn't finished.

Exactly, Athalia! Things were fine when it was just a few stories using the same main character; but by story number 7 or 8, it started to become a fustercluck of recurring secondary characters and individual traits, where it would burden a new story by trying to reintroduce them in detail. Add in the coming plot twist with a new main character, and NOT having the chapters in chronological order and as a series, and it creates what I see as an aggravation to readers that don't know the background. I know it would be to me to discover I am reading chapter 19 of a series first because it has popped up as a new story with a catchy title.

Shove that anal retentive side into a closet for a while-- let it out when it comes editing and rewriting time.

Buwahahaha!!! A most excellent point Stella. Obviously, an entire Pizza Boy story in book form would have to go thru a lot of editing and rewriting with better chapter transitions, deeper character development, and additional background material than what is normally found in my current Literotica short stories. That future challenge doesn't bother me, but I just hate that the already published stories aren't in proper order so a new reader CAN follow it properly.

 

[pizzaboyatdoor]

Oh hell YES!

Damn is Laurel GOOD!!!

Not only did she manage to help me get all the mess I had of blending the 14 chapters together and in proper order, but also assisted in getting the descriptions lines changed so they would make sense too.

While that was in pending mode, I also got a serious case of muse going and managed to whip off an additional FIVE chapters that are already up too, and will be working on chapter #21 tonite and tomorrow. Nothing like getting on a good roll.

Thanks again to ALL of you and one HUGE hug to Laurel.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Haha, awesome.