First time Author hints

[SolarClint]

A thread for first time or new authors. Thing that you have found out that help your stories and that kind of things.

Corrections are in (xxx)

• a page on Literotica is about 3,500 words. I don't know the exact word count. But a story with 3,300 was 1 page and a story with 3,700 went to a second page. 3,500 words is about 9 pages in MS Word. (Your mileage may vary)
• (Kinda wrong) Literotica only publishes 1 story a day for you. If you have a long story (or one you think is long) and separate it into multiple chapters/pages and send it in like that. it will take days to get published. (I know from experience. The critics are not very happy with me right now)
• (Wrong, the site changes the font to what it uses) Times New Roman, Ariel, or Aptos are all good fonts to publish in. 12 point pitch is good for us old guys and gals to read.
• speil check, gray-more checking. punkuation! and all are impotent
• please use a proofreader (Or proof it yourself. Just give it a few days to get out of your memory), anyone with a good grasp of the language. Let your opus sit for a few days and read it again.
• Keep a journal. You never know when a bright idea for your story or a whole new story will come to you. (I think this is good, you may not)
• Outline your story. Have a beginning, middle and end. You know what you want to write, but sometimes you drift.
• wordiness creeps up and you describe every little thing, the freckles, the hair on his ass, the shape of her butt. Let your reader use their imagination.
• (To start with) keep it to one or two perspectives. Your main character and maybe another person.

Please add your helpful suggestions for us new writers.

 

[Djmac1031]

Have a thick skin. Be open to criticism. Some critics will be kind, others, less so.

And then there are the trolls who hate everything. Yes, they will trash you eventually. Especially if you manage even the mildest of success.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Have a thick skin. Be open to criticism. Some critics will be kind, others, less so.

And then there are the trolls who hate everything. Yes, they will trash you eventually. Especially if you manage even the mildest of success.

1 STAR!!!
There are no trolls. They are mythical creatures. What kind of writer are you. Didn't you go to school? Can't you tell realty from fantasy?
And, how dare you use the word trash. Do you know how offensive that is to a huge section of our population. You might as well have dropped a 'N' bomb, you racist mother.........

THIS IS SATIRE!!!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Times New Roman, Ariel, or Aptos are all good fonts to publish in. 12 point pitch is good for us old guys and gals to read.

We can choose fonts on lit? That's news to me. I've never seen a story on lit published in times new roman. Neither was I aware that font size was an option when submitting.

Outline your story. Have a beginning, middle and end. You know what you want to write, but sometimes you drift.

Personally, I like this advice (although I'm less rigid on what that structure should be) but you're going to get some pushback on this. There are folks out there who are adamant that outlining is restrictive and they will let you know in no uncertain terms.

wordiness creeps up and you describe every little thing, the freckles, the hair on his ass, the shape of her butt. Let your reader use their imagination.

This advice is too rigid. There are times when deep detail works wonders and other times when it is nothing but a distraction. Speaking as someone who often uses meticulous detail and receives far more praise than criticism for that detail, I can't agree with this. Some writers are good at providing minimal detail and it works with their style, and yet others claim that 'letting the reader fill in with his own imagination' is their style when it's really an excuse for lazy writing - a cop out.

keep it to one or two perspectives. Your main character and maybe another person.

This is way too rigid and far too vague. Certain stories could benefit from a more disciplined point of view, but overall, your story and its tone will dictate the perspective. If headhopping is the best way to tell the story, go for it. However, headhopping does take some extra care as to not confuse the reader.

A final word: you need to spell out your screenname in all caps.

 

[StillStunned]

Can't you tell realty from fantasy?

You're saying my dream home is just that - a dream?

 

[StillStunned]

Literotica only publishes 1 story a day for you. If you have a long story (or one you think is long) and separate it into multiple chapters/pages and send it in like that. it will take days to get published. (I know from experience. The critics are not very happy with me right now)

I've had two stories published on the same day. Not in the same series, or even remotely related, but even so. There's no rule about multiple publications on the same day.

 

[Bamagan]

I've had two stories published on the same day. Not in the same series, or even remotely related, but even so. There's no rule about multiple publications on the same day.

I don't think it's a rule per se, but I believe Laurel generally avoids publishing multiple chapters/serials of the same work on the same day, at least if they're in the same category. I presume that's to avoid letting a single author try to commandeer the entire front page of a given category hub by breaking their work into morsels.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

You're saying my dream home is just that - a dream?

or someone can't tell the difference between realty and reality...

 

[KachinaDoll]

Why are you handing out advice? You've published only four 'stories', all in the last week. None are over one page long and they have been almost universally panned by those leaving comments. I would strongly advise you to read them.

Let's face it, you are a bad writer.

For those who would like to form their own opinion, here's the link to SolarClint's stories:

https://www.literotica.com/authors/SolarClint/works/stories

 

[StillStunned]

Why are you handing out advice? You've published only four 'stories', all in the last week. None are over one page long and they have been almost universally panned by those leaving comments. I would strongly advise you to read them.

Let's face it, you are a bad writer.

For those who would like to form their own opinion, here's the link to SolarClint's stories:

https://www.literotica.com/authors/SolarClint/works/stories

But the tips are useful nevertheless. Although I expect they'll drop off the front page by tomorrow, never to be seen again.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Why are you handing out advice? You've published only four 'stories', all in the last week. None are over one page long and they have been almost universally panned by those leaving comments. I would strongly advise you to read them.

Let's face it, you are a bad writer.

For those who would like to form their own opinion, here's the link to SolarClint's stories:

https://www.literotica.com/authors/SolarClint/works/stories

Why is this necessary?

From my experience, people who go out of their way to belittle and berate someone else, usually need to do some work tending their own garden.

I'd offer that nine stories over what, three years, doesn't exactly make you an expert either, regardless of if they're all five stars or all one star...

Being kind is free. Why be vile and abusive? I just don't get it.

 

[KachinaDoll]

Vile and abusive? Be serious. Have you read his stories?

"I'd offer that nine stories over what, three years, doesn't exactly make you an expert either, regardless of if they're all five stars or all one star..."

That's why I haven't started a thread offering advice!

 

[ElectricBlue]

A thread for first time or new authors. Thing that you have found out that help your stories and that kind of things.

Keep in mind that authors who have been here a long time may have more accurate site knowledge based on their years of experience, and may correct some incorrect advice.

• a page on Literotica is about 3,500 words. I don't know the exact word count. But a story with 3,300 was 1 page and a story with 3,700 went to a second page. 3,500 words is about 9 pages in MS Word.

Yes, pretty good advice. A common rule of thumb is one Lit page = 3,750 words, give or take a hundred or so. You have no control on where the page breaks, and it depends a lot on your style.

• Literotica only publishes 1 story a day for you. If you have a long story (or one you think is long) and separate it into multiple chapters/pages and send it in like that. it will take days to get published. (I know from experience. The critics are not very happy with me right now)

Not true. The editor will generally release chaptered stories one a day, which maximises your time on the category front page, but stops a twenty chapter story, for example, overwhelming it.

But you can get unrelated stories published on the same day.

• Times New Roman, Ariel, or Aptos are all good fonts to publish in. 12 point pitch is good for us old guys and gals to read.

Irrelevant. The site uses a common font and common font sizes, and it's scaled for different devices. Many readers read on their phones, for example. Whatever font or size you submit, gets converted.

If you want to see what your story will look like when it's published, copy paste into the submission form, and Preview. You can edit in the submission box, which is handy for catching last minute typos and formatting that didn't work.

• speil check, gray-more checking. punkuation! and all are impotent

Definitely!

• please use a proofreader, anyone with a good grasp of the language. Let your opus sit for a few days and read it again.

Or proofread your own stories thoroughly. Many authors have developed good self-edit techniques over time, and never use proof readers.

• Keep a journal. you never know when a bright idea for your story or a whole new story will come to you.

Never kept a journal in my life, but a good suggestion for those who might keep a journal.

• Outline your story. Have a beginning, middle and end. You know what you want to write, but sometimes you drift.

Some writers do outline, others don't. Read in on threads about "plotters" versus "pantsers" - this is absolutely not absolute advice. It's good advice for people who use outlines as part of their writing technique, but it's anathema to those who don't.

• wordiness creeps up and you describe every little thing, the freckles, the hair on his ass, the shape of her butt. Let your reader use their imagination.

Yes and no. The amount of detail is best tuned to the nature of the story. Wordiness works sometimes, but generally, yes, "less is more".

• keep it to one or two perspectives. Your main character and maybe another person.

Starting out, I'd agree, but once you get a bunch of writing techniques In your tool box, this is limiting advice.

Please add your helpful suggestions for us new writers.

 

[SimonDoom]

Some of this is helpful, but most of it is a little too strict for my taste because it doesn't acknowledge the rich variety of different ways writers write.

Font doesn't matter. The site converts everything to a standard font and format.

A Literotica page in my experience is closer to 3750 words than 3500, but it varies depending on things like the number of paragraphs, punctuation, amount of dialogue, etc.

My suggestions:

1. Use whatever proofreading tools work for you. I use things like Grammarly or MS Word's tools, but I've never once used a proofreader (once I had a beta reader).
2. Take your time learning the rules of the Site, figuring out how to navigate around it, using the Search and Tag features, visiting the toplist pages and the new story hub pages, just to get the lay of the land.
3. Consult the blue-highlighted threads in the Author's Hangout forum, which contain a lot of useful general information for authors.
4. Having a decent command of grammar, punctuation, and spelling will increase the chance that your stories will receive favorable views and scores, although they're not as important as having a good story. This Site is NOT overly strict about mechanics, so if you find that your stories are getting rejected there probably is some problem you should try to correct. Most of the time, when newbie authors complain that their stories are being rejected for mechanical reasons and they don't know why, when I read a sample of their story it's completely obvious why within 60 seconds.
5. Learn about the category and tag process. Be mindful of your titles and your use of a tagline. These things make some difference. There are articles about how to pick a category. I recommend reading them.
6. Do your homework before you post a thread complaining about the process. Often, you can get your questions answered if you do some searching for former threads on a subject, or check out the many "how to" articles that are available here.
7. Be polite when you interact with others.
8. Write whatever you want to write, as long as it follows the Site's content guidelines. Write for whatever reason you want to write. Some people like to write for their own idiosyncratic artistic purposes, and that's fine. Some people wnat their stories to be popular. That's fine too.
9. That said, don't get hung up on numbers, especially in a negative way. Don't worry if the score isn't what you want. Just keep writing. Try different things. Have fun, whatever that means for you in writing erotica.

 

[SimonDoom]

Let's face it, you are a bad writer.

Why would you say this? Even if you believe it, it's just rude and mean, and it offers nothing constructive. Nothing good can ever come from a statement like that.

You're violating your own admonition on your "about page," in which you write:

I hope you enjoy my writings and would love to hear your comments, positive or negative, but please don't be rude.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Vile and abusive? Be serious. Have you read his stories?

"I'd offer that nine stories over what, three years, doesn't exactly make you an expert either, regardless of if they're all five stars or all one star..."

That's why I haven't started a thread offering advice!

Some of the stuff I've summitted is crap. I'll be the first to admit that. His stories may be worse, but as someone else mentioned, some of his points were valid. To his credit, he did offer them as a first time author, not necessarily to first time authors.
We can agree to disagree, and you can hold fast on what ever reason you choose for being an ass. I'll continue to maintain that being kind is free. You be you.


By the way, and Ass is defined in some contexts as an aggressively ignorant or abusive person.

 

[AchtungNight]

Be aware of the site guidelines and follow them. Rejection hurts.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Wow. When you toss in some meat it's easy to see who the piranhas are. Poor guy tries to do something nice and the critics come out and start to circle. And folks wonder why the AH has such a shitty rep.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Wow. When you toss in some meat it's easy to see who the piranhas are. Poor guy tries to do something nice and the critics come out and start to circle. And folks wonder why the AH has such a shitty rep.

Myself, Simon and EB, and to a lesser extent Stunned and Bamagan are all critics, true, but we are hardly circling. The OP has made some questionable statements as well as some flat out inaccurate statements. We are simply disagreeing with and/or correcting the information.

There is only one piranha here. I don't believe that any pointing out is required.

 

[SimonDoom]

Wow. When you toss in some meat it's easy to see who the piranhas are. Poor guy tries to do something nice and the critics come out and start to circle. And folks wonder why the AH has such a shitty rep.

Hold on. Exactly ONE person in this thread can be accused of an inappropriately negative reaction to the OP. The rest of us offered constructive additions and modifications, which are based on a lot more experience. That's what threads like this should be for.

 

[MiaBabe23]

Wow. When you toss in some meat it's easy to see who the piranhas are. Poor guy tries to do something nice and the critics come out and start to circle. And folks wonder why the AH has such a shitty rep.

Really well said
If everyone criticizing is so much more experienced and knowledgeable, why not use the ideas as a springboard? Which is exactly what the OP encourages
Someone’s point 7 above could be borne in mind, and the hubris resisted
The idea of a journal and avoiding excessive description are invaluable for those just starting out
Can we have a bit more mutual encouragement, rather than trying to browbeat a potential future competitor…?
Oh - one story here. Guess that means I’m not allowed an opinion?

 

[MiaBabe23]

Myself, Simon and EB, and to a lesser extent Stunned and Bamagan are all critics, true, but we are hardly circling. The OP has made some questionable statements as well as some flat out inaccurate statements. We are simply disagreeing with and/or correcting the information.

There is only one piranha here. I don't believe that any pointing out is required.

Hold on. Exactly ONE person in this thread can be accused of an inappropriately negative reaction to the OP. The rest of us offered constructive additions and modifications, which are based on a lot more experience. That's what threads like this should be for.

In my own personal view - it’s the tone
Like you’re more keen on marking down his work than building it up, for him and every other beginner

 

[ElectricBlue]

Wow. When you toss in some meat it's easy to see who the piranhas are. Poor guy tries to do something nice and the critics come out and start to circle. And folks wonder why the AH has such a shitty rep.

Being nice is fine, but presenting inaccurate guidance is not helpful to new authors.

Stating what in fact happens isn't being critical, it's being accurate. There's a difference.

 

[MiaBabe23]

So I hope the OP has found this useful and it’s generating the kinda debate he wants
If I had posted a similar thing when first starting out and got the responses above, I would’ve probably felt quite discouraged

For example

There’s no need to comment on font!!
Tone Why waste our time?!

Alternative

For me, I care more about …. than font etc
Tone An alternative to consider

 

[pink_silk_glove]

There’s no need to comment on font!!
Tone Why waste our time?!

No one has said that. That is inaccurate. No one has used that tone and no one has used exclaimation points, except for EB who did actually agree on one point with an exclaimation point. So not only is your assertion inaccurate, it's the opposite of the actual truth.

For me, I care more about …. than font etc
Tone An alternative to consider

In this case, the point that the OP made about font was flatly inaccurate. To simply deflect from it would mislead other newer members into believing that changing the font might actually be possible. The OP was incorrect, and the replies have simply corrected him.

So you are completely wrong on all fronts and on top of that are doing your best to throw this entire thread into the toilet before it has begun. Good job.