Completely Confused - Story Feedback

[StolenTurtle]

Can someone please explain to me why a story I had originally posted about 6 months ago was hailed as a great storyline with little red H's next to every update, and why now my subsequent removal and reposting of the story is suddenly detested by all who view it?

I've got two comments so far and their ratings were both "00"'s and so far my rating has almost tanked into the 2.xx's.

What is going on here? Why was the exact same story loved before and hated now?

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=396651

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks in advance...

-StolenTurtle

 

[stevieraygovan]

I can't speak to the first time the story was posted but I can tell you from personal experience that many people don't seem to understand what the voting is supposed to be about. Rather than voting on the quality of the story, which is what's supposed to happen, many people vote according to their moral judgement of the characters in the story. Ie, they don't like wives who cheat. They're offended by such behavior. So, they give a story a "0" despite the fact that the story was clearly labeled as a "loving wives" story. Some morons will read something they know going in they'll hate and it doesn't matter that the story might be very well written and in fact very hot. Nope, those stories are going to get a crappy score, regardless.

Happens all the time and it happens the most with stories about cheating wives. Throw in the interracial element and you're nearly guaranteed to receive a high percentage of bad scores from people who live to crap on such stories.

All I can tell you is to disregard those comments. If you're going to write cheating wives stories and interracial stories you're just going to have to live with a certain degree of built in negativity from your readers. Focus only on constructive criticism where people talk about the content of the story: grammar, spelling, flow, believability, etc. Ignore those comments which rip you merely because they disapprove of the genre. Accept that your overall scores will never be very high if you stick to writing such stories.

 

[sr71plt]

A different set of readers? To a great extent, it's a crap shoot.

(Why did you remove it and repost it, I wonder.)

 

[TxRad]

Part of the deal also may be the new voting stars and their labels Lit installed. Scores in general have went down a notch or two.

 

[StolenTurtle]

A different set of readers? To a great extent, it's a crap shoot.

(Why did you remove it and repost it, I wonder.)

I originally removed it because I thought my publisher would want me to. It turns out I didn't need to remove it and I wasn't going to put it back up, but then I'd gotten so many e-mails from people asking me to do it that I caved and resubmitted.

Who knows? I may end up taking it back down again and just posting it on my website in its entirety for anyone who wants to read it there. If they hate it, then they hate it. I guess I can't expect to please everyone, but it's really a shame. I think the ratings and comments are far too undeserving. I've seen some absolutely detestable stories on here that have been received better.

I'm not really sure what to say...

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Hi

Yes, from a quick read through it is pretty obvious why you are getting a negative reaction with part 5.

Firstly, if you take down a popular series but intend to repost, put a comment on your bio page. Also, an explanation when you resubmitted would have helped your readers to know it was the same story.

The voting system has changed a bit lately, for the better, so less stories get the pink 'hot' tag. Look at the words above each star.

You are writing a romance (even though mistakenly posted in interracial), admittedly a tad edgy with domestic violence, but you destroy your heroine's cred in parts 4 and 5. After all the abuse from Ellis she would naturally have a fear of men and having sex but you don't make us believe why she has such trauma of getting physical with Brian but is a whore with the lawyer.

Your readers gave you a strong red light with comments on part 4 but you ignored them and dug a bigger hole with part 5.

Kim should have stormed out of Eric's office the first time he suggested sex for payment and avoided Brian - as all men are rapists. The premise that Eric is the only competent divorce lawyer in CA is crazy, and the whole thrust of your story is how Brian strokes her insecurities and fears, and makes her trust men and love again, is skewered by her passivity to rape.

Sure, it could happen but you are taking a difficult, abuse-to-love story into callous non-consent areas that you readers don't want to go.

In summary, the Kim of part 5 has no relation to the Kim of part 1. You stretch incredulity and let a good story slip into maledom stroke.

You can get it back with a really dramatic part 6, but it will be very difficult.

Sorry, but that's my call.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Hi

Yes, from a quick read through it is pretty obvious why you are getting a negative reaction with part 5.

Firstly, if you take down a popular series but intend to repost, put a comment on your bio page. Also, an explanation when you resubmitted would have helped your readers to know it was the same story.

The voting system has changed a bit lately, for the better, so less stories get the pink 'hot' tag. Look at the words above each star.

You are writing a romance (even though mistakenly posted in interracial), admittedly a tad edgy with domestic violence, but you destroy your heroine's cred in parts 4 and 5. After all the abuse from Ellis she would naturally have a fear of men and having sex but you don't make us believe why she has such trauma of getting physical with Brian but is a whore with the lawyer.

Your readers gave you a strong red light with comments on part 4 but you ignored them and dug a bigger hole with part 5.

Kim should have stormed out of Eric's office the first time he suggested sex for payment and avoided Brian - as all men are rapists. The premise that Eric is the only competent divorce lawyer in CA is crazy, and the whole thrust of your story is how Brian strokes her insecurities and fears, and makes her trust men and love again, is skewered by her passivity to rape.

Sure, it could happen but you are taking a difficult, abuse-to-love story into callous non-consent areas that you readers don't want to go.

In summary, the Kim of part 5 has no relation to the Kim of part 1. You stretch incredulity and let a good story slip into maledom stroke.

You can get it back with a really dramatic part 6, but it will be very difficult.

Sorry, but that's my call.

No need to be sorry about it. Constructive criticism is what I crave.

One point I should make, though. I did try reposting this story in the romance section and the powers that be here at lit moved it right back into the Interracial Love category. Apparently, I'm not able to "choose" which category I want my story to fall into - but whatever. I'm not going to fight that battle...

Also, I did put a comment in my bio page about the removal and resubmission of this story. I literally just took it out yesterday. I figured it didn't need to be there anymore as it had been there for a couple of months and it had become pretty obvious that the story was being reposted.

I'm starting to think this may not be a story for Literotica. I'm wondering if it's really "erotica" for that matter. I write across the board on genres and sometimes I wonder if this story would have really been better without the sex altogether and that maybe I was trying to force sex into a suspense/crime story that didn't warrant it. The odd part about it, like I said before, was that it was so greatly received before. It just doesn't make any real sense to me. I don't mind if some people don't like it, that's to be expected, but when the majority of folks suddenly do a complete 180 on me, then I start to wonder what the real problem is.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I originally removed it because I thought my publisher would want me to. It turns out I didn't need to remove it and I wasn't going to put it back up, but then I'd gotten so many e-mails from people asking me to do it that I caved and resubmitted.

Who knows? I may end up taking it back down again and just posting it on my website in its entirety for anyone who wants to read it there. If they hate it, then they hate it. I guess I can't expect to please everyone, but it's really a shame. I think the ratings and comments are far too undeserving. I've seen some absolutely detestable stories on here that have been received better.

I'm not really sure what to say...

Sorry, but the latest ratings reflect reality. You start with a story where a guy is going to lift a girl out of her terror of physical and sexual abuse then let him virtually rape her, then get her, for no comprehensible reason, to let a strnger rape her whilst she is falling for sensitive lover whom she is ready to walk out on.

It is not a case of pleasing everyone, stick to the genres, write appropriately, and stop blaming your readers. This one doesn't work as you wanted and you lose control of the characters. Kim has become unbelievable and Brian worries me - he should be the antithesis of Ellis but you paint him as the same.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

No need to be sorry about it. Constructive criticism is what I crave.

One point I should make, though. I did try reposting this story in the romance section and the powers that be here at lit moved it right back into the Interracial Love category. Apparently, I'm not able to "choose" which category I want my story to fall into - but whatever. I'm not going to fight that battle...

I'm starting to think this may not be a story for Literotica. I'm wondering if it's really "erotica" for that matter. I write across the board on genres and sometimes I wonder if this story would have really been better without the sex altogether and that maybe I was trying to force sex into a suspense/crime story that didn't warrant it. The odd part about it, like I said before, was that it was so greatly received before. It just doesn't make any real sense to me. I don't mind if some people don't like it, that's to be expected, but when the majority of folks suddenly do a complete 180 on me, then I start to wonder what the real problem is.

Rubbish - if your story doesn't fly here, it has a problem.

No, serious, you do a complete 180 on yourself. The plot is the key and sex is neither here nor there. Go back and read all 5 parts and seriously ask yourself if the Kim on Eric's couch has any relation to the girl on the flight with Brian. You lose your characters defining issues.

One rule, people never change unless they want to.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Rubbish - if your story doesn't fly here, it has a problem.

No, serious, you do a complete 180 on yourself. The plot is the key and sex is neither here nor there. Go back and read all 5 parts and seriously ask yourself if the Kim on Eric's couch has any relation to the girl on the flight with Brian. You lose your characters defining issues.

One rule, people never change unless they want to.

I'm not really sure if you're arguing the point that it was well received or that the story is just in the wrong genre. As far as feedback, it was mostly positive and it was only because I'd gotten so many e-mails asking me why I took it off that I even bothered to repost it. Whether or not you believe it was well received is irrelevant. It doesn't negate the fact that it was, and I'd certainly have no reason to lie about it.

As far as the genre and your criticisms go, I understand yours completely. I see what you're saying and what you don't like about the characters, plot, story, etc... but what I'm trying to get a handle on is why it's different now as opposed to before. Even if I agree with you on everything you said, am I to think that everyone who liked it before was just wrong? I'm thinking I have a different audience than I did before. Obviously not all the same people who are reading now are the ones who read it originally. I guess that's to be expected. People come and go here all the time. (No pun intended.) Maybe a lot of my original readers are not even around any more.

If it really is this unpopular (which it wasn't before) then maybe I will take it down again. No reason to have a story up that only serves to piss readers off and keep them from reading any of my future works.

It's just the whole "I love it/I hate it" thing that is boggling to me...

 

[stevieraygovan]

Elfin Odalisque, please excuse my ignorance but when did the ratings system change and what's different and better about it now? The only difference I've noticed is that in the last day or so they changed the format from stars to simple numbers. The old star system would give you a description such as "Hot! Loved it!" or "Liked it. Keep writing" and now those descriptions above each score are gone. Now all that's there is a 1 through 5 numbering system (with the word "best" sitting adjacent to the 5 score choice), and the brief description of each score is no longer there when you scroll over a certain number.

 

[sr71plt]

Elfin Odalisque, please excuse my ignorance but when did the ratings system change and what's different and better about it now? The only difference I've noticed is that in the last day or so they changed the format from stars to simple numbers. The old star system would give you a description such as "Hot! Loved it!" or "Liked it. Keep writing" and now those descriptions above each score are gone. Now all that's there is a 1 through 5 numbering system (with the word "best" sitting adjacent to the 5 score choice), and the brief description of each score is no longer there when you scroll over a certain number.

The wording under the vote buttons (which are more prominent now than before) changed so that giving that fifth star indicated the story should be more stupendous than ever before. I've forgotten the comparative wording, but it was discussed with much consternation at the time. Also, I don't know how long ago your original series ran, but in the last year, the Web site has instituted what might be a run-away monster of a sweep system that periodically scrubs the votes down into the bone. If your original series had stayed up, chances are quite good that even it would have now been scrubbed down to not very pretty in the ratings.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Also, I don't know how long ago your original series ran, but in the last year, the Web site has instituted what might be a run-away monster of a sweep system that periodically scrubs the votes down into the bone. If your original series had stayed up, chances are quite good that even it would have now been scrubbed down to not very pretty in the ratings.

So I'm discovering. All of the stories I'm reposting that I had originally taken down all have a decidedly much lower score than before. This might be part of it as well.

Thanks for this.

-StolenTurtle

 

[StolenTurtle]

Go back and read all 5 parts and seriously ask yourself if the Kim on Eric's couch has any relation to the girl on the flight with Brian.

This just hit me...you actually READ the entire story? Or at least the first and last few chapters.

Wow.

Thanks! I seriously wasn't expecting anyone to do that. I was scarcely even expecting anyone to read the story posted in the link.

I just wanted to say that. =)

 

[stevieraygovan]

I just checked and now the scoring system is back to the stars system. Earlier today it was a numbered system. Weird.

 

[austinfroth]

Happens all the time and it happens the most with stories about cheating wives. Throw in the interracial element and you're nearly guaranteed to receive a high percentage of bad scores from people who live to crap on such stories.

I had no idea this was the case until I submitted my first story last night. It has some "open marriage" elements to it, as well as an interracial element. Most of the negative comments (save for one) are about the moral element of the story, not of the story itself.

I feel a little better about it now.

 

[evanslily]

Sorry you've been getting disappointing feedback hun. Others have already said this in so many words, but I'll say it my way. Many readers here are of the transient kind, or maybe only visit once a year. Still others will read every story on the new list, others will only read romance stories, incest/taboo, or those stories that already have those lil' red Hs on 'em, etc., etc.

Just lately I've been getting comments with low-ish 'thermometer' readings along the lines of, "Hey, write another chapter, dammit!" And I guess I deserve those.

See, the thing is, most readers aren't writers. They have no idea what it takes to get a chapter written and polished enough for submission, or how hard it can be to get your plot to hang together well. Romance readers are more forgiving than most but I know you've had trouble getting the site to post your stories in that category. You could try putting a note in the 'notes' box when you submit.

As for pulling the story from the site altogether, well, that's entirely up to you of course. If the voting thing's getting to you, you could always turn it off. It depends on why you're posting here of course. I've had moments where a negative comment's left me feeling low, but there will always be some tosser who writes something stupid and the trick is to learn to laugh at it. If you're here to get better at writing, then stick around. I've found that having an audience for my work's definitely helped me improve, negative comments and all.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Sorry you've been getting disappointing feedback hun. Others have already said this in so many words, but I'll say it my way. Many readers here are of the transient kind, or maybe only visit once a year. Still others will read every story on the new list, others will only read romance stories, incest/taboo, or those stories that already have those lil' red Hs on 'em, etc., etc.

Just lately I've been getting comments with low-ish 'thermometer' readings along the lines of, "Hey, write another chapter, dammit!" And I guess I deserve those.

See, the thing is, most readers aren't writers. They have no idea what it takes to get a chapter written and polished enough for submission, or how hard it can be to get your plot to hang together well. Romance readers are more forgiving than most but I know you've had trouble getting the site to post your stories in that category. You could try putting a note in the 'notes' box when you submit.

As for pulling the story from the site altogether, well, that's entirely up to you of course. If the voting thing's getting to you, you could always turn it off. It depends on why you're posting here of course. I've had moments where a negative comment's left me feeling low, but there will always be some tosser who writes something stupid and the trick is to learn to laugh at it. If you're here to get better at writing, then stick around. I've found that having an audience for my work's definitely helped me improve, negative comments and all.

Thanks for the kind words. I decided to leave the story up and finish it. The weird thing is I keep getting lots of e-mail from people telling me to ignore the ratings/comments and that they love the story, but apparently there's just not enough of them to bring the rating higher. Oh well. I'm not worried about the rating anymore. I'm more concerned about the story. I happen to love it and I promised a lot of other people who enjoy it that I would finish it and I will. All nine chapters of it.

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on this thread. All of your comments and suggests helped me to understand a lot more about how the ratings game works here on Lit and what may be wrong with the plot of my story. At least I know I'm armed with more information for the future.

Cheers!

-Raquel