Curious rating

[Kumquatqueen]

Hello! Never posted here before. I've got 80+ stories on Lit, posted over the last decade, in a variety of categories. Most get a red H or near it, and for the ones that didn't, it's often clear why - my only scores below 4 are a Loving Wives story that I dashed off in response to a prompt in a couple hours, and most of my 750 word stories and another very short one. I've got a fair few stories that won't be everyone's cup of tea, so I try to deter readers who won't like the story as fast as possible, meaning they mostly click away, so there's a low number of ratings/comments for the number of views.

And then there's The Dark Kitchen. Lots more views than I expected, comments all appreciative, bunch of favourites, my two trusty beta readers thought it worked well - and a rating of 3.91. Not LW - it's in NC/R. I have a few ideas for why some readers might have downvoted it without commenting, but I'd be interested in feedback from others.

For people not wanting to read NC/R (and the more realistic version of that), I'd also be interested in comments on Last Christmas - it's not really BDSM, but I figured it would be an even worse fit and get way fewer readers in any other category.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I never commented on The Dark Kitchen, but it's on my list of those I wanted to, with the facetious starting note 'I love a good police raid'. A comment would require more study and thinking and so on, and I'm sorry I didn't get to it earlier. I liked it a lot. I don't know why anyone would rate it badly. It's complex and difficult, but that's what you do well. It reeks of authenticity: I have no idea what these situations are really like, but I bet you nailed it.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I never commented on The Dark Kitchen, but it's on my list of those I wanted to, with the facetious starting note 'I love a good police raid'. A comment would require more study and thinking and so on, and I'm sorry I didn't get to it earlier. I liked it a lot. I don't know why anyone would rate it badly. It's complex and difficult, but that's what you do well. It reeks of authenticity: I have no idea what these situations are really like, but I bet you nailed it.

Thank you (and yes, I'd never written a police raid scene and it seemed fun - though Sex Swing Shenanigans and Interviewed about Indecency do include police making arrests). I don't work for the HO (not that I'd admit it here if I did!) but David is based on a real person.

Ray started off as Roy from Pillion - basing a character on Alexander Skarsgård had an obvious appeal, and inspired the idea of eroticising an industrial wasteland of dark tarmac & concrete. There was going to be a gay subplot but a) I didn't have time to write it and b) gay subplots go down like cold sick in every other Lit category anyway. And c) it wasn't really relevant to the NC/R story, so why bother?

 

[WCSGarland]

I managed to make it through the first page, and nothing really grabbed my interest to entice me into reading the whole thing. Perhaps a few readers who are expecting something more erotic from a story in NC/R rated it poorly.