I just got my first story posted!

[corvair64]

Hello All! I'm hoping to be a productive member of the community. As my title states, my first story went live on Sunday. I still have that "New Erotic Author" smell.

A little bit about me. I used to work in the adult industry for over a decade. I started off as a Jr. web designer and through a comedy of errors within two years I became the managing director of a video magazine. I have great stories, I have mind numbingly HORRID stories, and more than a few funny ones.

I am a graduate of almost every comedy / improv program between Los Angeles and Chicago. I recently started doing stand up, but I'm not sure I enjoy it as much as improv.

I finally managed to get out of Adult and am now working as a graphic designer at a small firm. They have no idea about my past. Which works as I now have a family and don't want to explain to the other parents what I do.

My hope is to work my story into 10 chapters and then try my hand at self publishing it. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head and since I no longer work in the industry... I need an outlet for them. I was doing great with my Tumblr and then that exploded. Hopefully that doesn't happen here.

Nice to meet everyone!
-Corvair64

Also... I don't know what I am doing!!! Any advice is welcome!

 

[SamScribble]

Welcome, Corvair.

Advice? Let me see ... how about: wear stout shoes and have fun?

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Hello All! I'm hoping to be a productive member of the community. As my title states, my first story went live on Sunday. I still have that "New Erotic Author" smell.

A little bit about me. I used to work in the adult industry for over a decade. I started off as a Jr. web designer and through a comedy of errors within two years I became the managing director of a video magazine. I have great stories, I have mind numbingly HORRID stories, and more than a few funny ones.

I am a graduate of almost every comedy / improv program between Los Angeles and Chicago. I recently started doing stand up, but I'm not sure I enjoy it as much as improv.

I finally managed to get out of Adult and am now working as a graphic designer at a small firm. They have no idea about my past. Which works as I now have a family and don't want to explain to the other parents what I do.

My hope is to work my story into 10 chapters and then try my hand at self publishing it. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head and since I no longer work in the industry... I need an outlet for them. I was doing great with my Tumblr and then that exploded. Hopefully that doesn't happen here.

Nice to meet everyone!
-Corvair64

Also... I don't know what I am doing!!! Any advice is welcome!

I don't think any of us know what we're doing! hehehe

But WELCOME!!!!

 

[NotWise]

Nice to meet everyone!
-Corvair64

Also... I don't know what I am doing!!! Any advice is welcome!

Dive in! The water's warm, but a little shallow.

I look forward to your next post.

 

[Jada59]

Congrats!

 

[LexxRuthless]

Welcome!

You'll learn as you go. I've been writing almost a year for the site. Some good advice I've received has included:

Ignore the trolls. There will be anonymous comments on your stories that are intended to be inflammatory. Most of the readers appreciate your efforts but don't comment. You can always delete any comments that annoy you. Don't hesitate to do so.

Write what you like. Your best work will be the stories that appeal to you.

Ask questions on this forum if you have them. Most of the authors here are extremely helpful. Unlike a lot of online forums, nobody here is going to LOL at you for being a noob. If you don't ask, you won't get answers.

Be safe & have fun!

 

[corvair64]

Yeah... The troll thing. Not real excited about that. I have been a reader on the site for years. And I have seen some REALLY crappy comments on good stories.

I'll just assume these people need a hug and move on with my life. But yeesh! Some people man.

 

[NotWise]

I'll just assume these people need a hug and move on with my life. But yeesh! Some people man.

Hug, or slug?

 

[Hypoxia]

Good luck. Figure out just why you're here: fame, fortune, floozies, lulz?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Congrats and welcome!

 

[SimonDoom]

Welcome!

Advice: on your profile page, post a link to your submissions page. Make it easy for people communicating with you here to get access to your stories.

 

[LexxRuthless]

Welcome!

Advice: on your profile page, post a link to your submissions page. Make it easy for people communicating with you here to get access to your stories.

Heh. Good advice! I just got around to doing that yesterday.

 

[yukonnights]

Welcome corvair64. I looked up your stories and note that you are writing in the Loving Wives category. As you may, or may not, know; Loving Wives is the home of a notoriously challenging readership. From just a glance at your first story, you may very well feel the brunt of their displeasure.

Since you're hoping to publish in the marketplace, it may be helpful to post some of your stories in the Story Feedback Forum. That is the place you might get a few folks to actually read the story and offer comments/critique that you won't get from the reader comments at the end of your story. This seems probably the most valuable benefit from publishing here. It's similar to 'stand-up' where you test your material—keep what works and toss what doesn't. But the general LW readership may be too polarized and too biased to get that kind of meaningful feedback from. (However, on second thought, it may provide a true slice of the even larger audience you hope to one day write too in the marketplace. So maybe I'm wrong on the value of the reception and feedback you will get there.)

Anyway, just wanted to offer more than a howdy—take anything that helps and ignore the rest

 

[corvair64]

Forgive my naivete, why does that category get so much vitriol?

Thank you for all the kind responses and advice! I'm taking notes. The second chapter just went live. Suddenly, I feel like King Théoden waiting for Battle at Helms Deep.

(I can geek out here, right?)

 

[NotWise]

Forgive my naivete, why does that category get so much vitriol?

Thank you for all the kind responses and advice! I'm taking notes. The second chapter just went live. Suddenly, I feel like King Théoden waiting for Battle at Helms Deep.

(I can geek out here, right?)

You're welcomed to. Consider putting a story into the Geek Pride Day event.

Re the vitriol. I don't know why people there feel free to spew death threats, but they do. The readers consist of at least two completely opposed camps, and it's hard to write for one without offending the other. Readers even interpret offensive traits into stories so that they can hate them.

On the other hand, no category on Lit will get you as many views or as much reaction.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Welcome, and congratulations.

 

[SolarRay]

Congrats on your first story! Here's to many more.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Congrats on your first story! Here's to many more.

Congratulations and welcome to the monkey house!

All good suggestions above. Especially the one about posting a link to your story (soon, I hope to be stories) in your signature.

 

[corvair64]

You're welcomed to. Consider putting a story into the Geek Pride Day event.

Re the vitriol. I don't know why people there feel free to spew death threats, but they do. The readers consist of at least two completely opposed camps, and it's hard to write for one without offending the other. Readers even interpret offensive traits into stories so that they can hate them.

On the other hand, no category on Lit will get you as many views or as much reaction.

Yes, I witnessed that yesterday. Over 10k views in a day. Is there a author that does well with the readership there? Or any major plot points I should avoid? So far, I've gotten about four emails offering advice about where the plot should and should not go. (i.e. "Please don't turn the wife into a cock hungry slut!") And another suggestion of first having them play with the fantasy.

Luckily, my story arc for my characters is that the wife doesn't actually sleep with someone until the very last part of the last chapter. I'm attempting to keep tension going between my main characters throughout the story, like a balloon that is straining, but still gets filled a little more.

I'm also attempting to write a more realistic take on this fantasy. I want my characters to be able to stand up for themselves, say "no" and mean it. The men who are "bulls" in my story I hope to write them as real people that don't want to be pigeonholed into a stereotype.

My hope is to write the story I would want to read, but I haven't discovered yet. (National anthem hums in the background) and I want there to be a sunny place in the world where my erotic fantasies and random sense of humor can come together in a sensible if not always understandable presentation! A chicken in every pot, and a rabbit vibrator in every nightstand across this great nation!

Thank you! Remember to vote, and vote often...

I need coffee.

 

[NotWise]

I need coffee.

Proceed directly to the AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room.

 

[yukonnights]

Yes, I witnessed that yesterday. Over 10k views in a day. Is there a author that does well with the readership there? Or any major plot points I should avoid? So far, I've gotten about four emails offering advice about where the plot should and should not go. (i.e. "Please don't turn the wife into a cock hungry slut!") And another suggestion of first having them play with the fantasy...

The fact you have received four emails offering advice is important info. For what you're doing—testing the marketplace & honing the story—this could possibly be developed further. Perhaps at the end of your stories you could include an 'Author's Afterword' in which you solicit such input. The best source of information is from your target audience. Thinking further, you could make it a contest; Ask the reader's to tell you some specific question you have on the direction of the story...then tell them the majority dictates the direction of the next story.

For most of us writing here, that would not be of much interest. But in your case, it may be very helpful.

 

[corvair64]

I got my first "angry" comment. So far, that's the only bad feedback I have gotten. I deleted it, but then I thought "Is that bad form?"

Can anyone over advice on comments / deleting them?

 

[NotWise]

I got my first "angry" comment. So far, that's the only bad feedback I have gotten. I deleted it, but then I thought "Is that bad form?"

Can anyone over advice on comments / deleting them?

You are free to apply any standard you with. It's your story and its your responsibility to moderate comments on your story.

I think I've deleted two comments from my stories. One because it was factually incorrect, and one because it contained an ethnic slur.

 

[LexxRuthless]

You can delete any negative comments you like. There really isn't such thing as "bad form" on that--you have carte blanche to delete whatever comments you choose.

My only advice would be to copy & paste them somewhere before you do. There have been some scathing comments that I deleted, but later wished I had saved so I could quote the idiots.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I got my first "angry" comment. So far, that's the only bad feedback I have gotten. I deleted it, but then I thought "Is that bad form?"

Can anyone over advice on comments / deleting them?

I regard garbage comments the same way I do a dog turd on the front lawn or graffiti on a fence - a story is my property and I'll keep it tidy. If negative commentary is intelligent and thoughtful, it stays, if it's junk, it goes. You set your own criteria - some authors consider shit commentary to be a badge of honour, others consider it crap and will delete it. Your call, your criteria. Be aware that hate and racist commentary is likely to get scrubbed by the site, and comments might also get reported to the site and removed. But the first line of keeping a set of community standards is down to each author, and it's up to you to decide whether you live by a sewer or stream.