first submission sucks and you know it

[hmmnmm]

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[cantdog]

So there it is...
Yeah, need to go to the story discussion area... I will.
Maybe this is not uncommon - slow start.

My first story is a little lame, too. Hell, there are things I could do better about any of them. Being smug is a great feeling, but it shouldn't last. You can indeed improve, and it's good to think that it can be done.

What you need is a bit of direction. Better how, exactly? That's the question.

Erotic or not, is some ways writing is writing. Doing a good one here implies being capable of a good one anywhere, in my view of the matter.

cantdog

 

[Liar]

If you really feel it's bad and that you can do better, there's nothing stopping you from removing the story and start fram scratch.

But you're right, one gets better all the time. Keep at it.

Since you asked so nicely, I won't read your story. Or maybeI will, I'm a curious bastard.

#L

 

[nikkijames]

Being a 'new' erotic writer myself.. I was scared to death when my first story got published. I thought and still do think that it sucks, but I think that with time and input from other people, I will become a better author.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The first story I posted was, I thought, quite tame. My subsequent stories are much smuttier which is my aim. Even so that first one seems to be doing okay. It doesn't get many views and it gets very few votes but those who vote seem to like it.

At one time I thought about deleting it but I didn't and I won't.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Nothing but nothing brings out all the errors and defects in a story quite like having it published for every one to see. All of a sudden all these brilliant passages come out clunking like a bunch of coal cars, and parts we thought were crystal clear are totally opaque.

It reminds you though that a story's not done until someone else reads it. Keep plugging; it'll get better.

---dr.M.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Nothing but nothing brings out all the errors and defects in a story quite like having it published for every one to see. All of a sudden all these brilliant passages come out clunking like a bunch of coal cars, and parts we thought were crystal clear are totally opaque.

It reminds you though that a story's not done until someone else reads it. Keep plugging; it'll get better.

---dr.M.

Are you always this brilliant when you're sloshed? My God.

 

[Guest]

So the first story you submit finally gets posted but something in the back of your mind said, "this is not really that good, you can really do better."

That's very typical, I believe. And I have those exact feelings about the first stories I submitted here. If I read them now I want to edit, edit, edit . . .

But a very wise person (and an award winning Lit author) once told me NOT to give in to that impulse.

She said I should keep those beginning stories intact because it would allow me to recognize how my writing skills had improved over time.

Smart gal. (Thanks, Colly!)

Good luck, hmmnmm. And congratulations on your first posted story!

 

[Evil Alpaca]

I actually didn't realize the inadequecies of my first story until my fourth or fifth story. You start to develop you own voice and style and become more comfortable with your craft, then you look back at something which you might have once thought was pure literary genius and think, "What color crack was I smoking?" But everyone so far has been right. You need to do it . . . to get it out there so you and others can look at it a little more objectively. If you've got a passion for doing it, the work will improve greatly with each time you try, until you find yourself quibbling about with metaphor for appropriate genetalia you want to use.
You did the hard part . . . writing that first story and putting it out there. Now comes the fun part!

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

Hm. I thought this thread was about being submissive.

 

[Guest]

Hm. I thought this thread was about being submissive.

But how would that suck?

 

[cantdog]

would suck very damn well or pay the consequences, missy!

Hi sarahh!

cantdog

 

[Guest]

would suck very damn well or pay the consequences, missy!

Hi sarahh!

cantdog

Hey naughty man!

 

[hmmnmm]

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[Tanuki]

Nothing but nothing brings out all the errors and defects in a story quite like having it published for every one to see. All of a sudden all these brilliant passages come out clunking like a bunch of coal cars, and parts we thought were crystal clear are totally opaque.

It reminds you though that a story's not done until someone else reads it. Keep plugging; it'll get better.

---dr.M.

yes, yes! The critiques I got after my first story helped me a lot, and my 2nd story is so much better. Bring your writing into the light for people to see, it's painful maybe, but will make you a much better writer.

 

[hmmnmm]

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[TheEarl]

So the first story you submit finally gets posted but something in the back of your mind said, "this is not really that good, you can really do better."
And there it is, and people are reading it and they're thinking it sucks, but you know you can do better.
But I have to admit - I consider myself at least a decent writer - this is more of a challenge than I expected, but now I don't want to quit.
So I guess a person just goes back and tries again? take more time?
Please don't anybody read the story.
I can do better.
But I also remember the first roll of film I got back when newly working with an SLR camera. The whole roll was nothing but disaster. But I got better.
Or maybe some people just aren't cut out to write erotic words?
Yeah, need to go to the story discussion area... I will.
Maybe this is not uncommon - slow start.

Hmmm: Just the fact that you recognise that you can improve has put you head and shoulders above a lot of newbie writers. As Pear used to have in her sigline: "Failed? Never mind. Try again. Fail better." (Badly misquoted!)

I completely rewrote my first story as TheEarl, yet I still keep the original on my computer. It reminds me of just how far I've come, huge leaps and bounds.

On that note - thank you all that have helped. This is truly the best place to improve your writing.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

Even in the past when I have written what I then thought were 'erotic' words, the more conscious I was of the intent, the less effect they had.
I mean, even writing the word 'cock' feels alien. Maybe if the words were from another voice or something.
I feel a lot better about this.
Very nice people here.
Very helpful

You don't have to use the word "cock", you know. It just depends on your story.

Softer names could be - member, or firmness, or erection, or something similar (diamondcutter? )

For stories with more hard action or language you could resort to other names - dick or prick or dong or shlong -

Don't worry about what to call "it" - just show how the character either used it or responded to it. Wait until your story is done, then read over it and see which fits the best.

Don't give yourself a reason not to write. If you get stopped by a word you may not finish the story.

Write it. If it isn't feeling like your voice yet it soon will be. But that only comes with practice in writing something for others to read. We evaluate ourselves differently then, as you've very quickly discovered.

 

[Tanuki]

I think I figured it out.
It may be similar to a person who has an ability to make other people laugh just being themselves, but then put them onstage and tell them to be funny and it doesn't work.
So I'm considering just writing something, or finishing this new idea and if it does or does not contain 'erotic' scenes, so be it, then post it in the nonerotic section.
Even in the past when I have written what I then thought were 'erotic' words, the more conscious I was of the intent, the less effect they had.
I mean, even writing the word 'cock' feels alien. Maybe if the words were from another voice or something.
I feel a lot better about this.
Very nice people here.
Very helpful

Don't judge your own writing too hard - let others decide. If you edit your story several times, you may get sick of it, but others reading it for the first time will love it.