I will never read your story if…

[Britva415]

I don't read stories as though I'm about to enter a minefield and I'm out as soon as one blows me up. I'm looking to be seduced.

Same here, but when there's a pretty consistent pattern of things which fail to seduce, I can talk about them.

 

[Britva415]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I get the impression most Lit members are either creators or consumers. Those who do both are in the minority.

I don't think I've ever seen an author say they don't also read.

 

[dadadadiox]

I don't think I've ever seen an author say they don't also read.

I read but I spend far more time writing than reading these days. As another author said, there are only so many hours.

 

[SimonDoom]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I get the impression most Lit members are either creators or consumers. Those who do both are in the minority.

Readers vastly--and I mean vastly--outnumber authors. I assume most authors at least occasionally read Literotica stories by other writers, but I don't know for sure.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I get the impression most Lit members are either creators or consumers. Those who do both are in the minority.

Well, God bless them I suppose, but some of the consumers here are pretty avid. I've never counted their favorites, but some of them must have reading here as one of their favorite past-times.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't think I've ever seen an author say they don't also read.

I think I have about forty favorite stories here over the course of more than five years. That's not a lot.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Count me as a (relatively new but active) writer who still reads and has found much more reading since becoming an author and starting to read AH.

I used to stick specifically to my particular kink, which wasn't very popular. Actually, I started writing because I resigned myself to creating the content I wanted to read.

Joining AH has introduced me to a bunch of good authors whose work I enjoy but wouldn't have found on my own.

 

[alohadave]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I get the impression most Lit members are either creators or consumers. Those who do both are in the minority.

I find that interesting. I read far more than I write. But then I've been reading for a long time and writing for less than a year.

 

[AlinaX]

I think I have about forty favorite stories here over the course of more than five years. That's not a lot.

I very rarely favorite a story, but do read a lot, depending on mood and time available.

I look for some degree of originality and don't mind mistakes here and there. I dislike lazy writing, however, although that's a difficult thing to define.

 

[Britva415]

I think I have about forty favorite stories here over the course of more than five years. That's not a lot.

How many did you read to find those 40?

 

[Fatdog25]

I read here before I started writing. Not as much reading now but I still check on those writers I follow and the categories that interest me.

 

[gunhilltrain]

How many did you read to find those 40?

Not sure, but it was likely less than sixty. I don't think I've read anything on here since last year, at least. Sometimes I used to look at the How To and Reviews and Essays categories, which are almost never fiction of course. Right now, I'm reading Bukowski's Hollywood, one of his later books, and so far it seems to be meandering a bit.

 

[LexxRuthless]

There's never a point where you'll just stop reading a story and move on to another?

You'll hate-read shit just so you can "respect" the author's right to write it? Or just so you can suggest tweaks to OP's premise?

There have been plenty of stories that lost me early on. Even with those, though, I'd at least browse through them to see where they were going. Occasionally, they'd draw me back in with an intriguing paragraph or two later on, or a particularly clever turn of phrase. I can't say I've ever "hate-read" anything. There were a dozen stories I read early on here (2000-2003, at a guess) where I loved the underlying stories but the execution was really bad. I copied and pasted the text of those into Word documents, then went through and fixed the myriad errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and so forth. It never occurred to me to offer those edited versions to the original authors. I imagined they'd take offense. It was merely so I could enjoy reading the stories without grinding my teeth each time I hit one of those errors. Even then, though, I was mostly able to overlook those types of errors and immerse myself in the stories I read here.

 

[KeithD]

Frankly, I don't particularly want anyone who is anal retentive about what they'll read to the extent of complaining about it on a discussion board to read my stories.

 

[dadadadiox]

Frankly, I don't particularly want anyone who is anal retentive about what they'll read to the extent of complaining about it on a discussion board to read my stories.

I agree. It’s safe to assume most writers here are not professionals. We write because we enjoy it. I’ve been a member of several writing communities since the early days of the internet. If I read something that doesn’t work for me, I stop reading. I never leave negative comments. Even if the work makes me cringe I will not drop a one-star rating. Regardless of what I think of that work I know that writer has put a great deal of time, thought, and effort into that piece. This is a learning process. We write to learn. I can go back and read something I wrote years ago and cringe. Anyone with a superiority complex should avoid the work of amateurs.

 

[Dearelliot]

If the character said, "I was so horny." Anything with college dorms, or strictly gay, and anything about father and daughters.

 

[Britva415]

I will never read your story if…

the phrase "so very" comes out of a character's mouth. Even in unquoted prose narration it's borderline unforgivable, but making someone say it is so bad.

There are stories where it has a place as a matter of style, but 99% of the times I see it on Literotica it's not in a story like that - probably because I don't really seek out those kinds of stories anyway. But it's stunning how frequently it appears in the dialogue of "contemporary" characters.

 

[nice90sguy]

the phrase "so very" comes out of a character's mouth.

Reading those two words out of context makes them look meaningless. I don't think I've ever said that phrase up till now, when I read it aloud to myself.

 

[Britva415]

Reading those two words out of context makes them look meaningless. I don't think I've ever said that phrase up till now, when I read it aloud to myself.

It's not meaningless, it either means "so" or else it means "very."

"You're so very important to me." C'mon, nobody says that - pick "so" or pick "very."

"I'm so very wet." C'mon, your Harlequin romance heroine in a quasi-medieval setting may have said that, but your office tart in contemporary Poughkeepsie never would - no matter how "refined" she's supposed to be.

The only context where they go together is histrionic Victorian- or Gothic-sounding style, which I promise you is not what most of these authors are going for. But, because it's something they read somewhere some time, they think that's how you write. Even when you're writing something which realistic 21st century people are supposed to be saying out loud.

This is just a pinnacle of bad writing of bad dialogue. Like I said, it can be done when it's deliberate in a setting which makes sense for it, but that isn't where I keep seeing it, and it's always just the tip of the iceberg as far as cringey details of writing in the rest of the story.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

It's not meaningless, it either means "so" or else it means "very."

"You're so very important to me." C'mon, nobody says that - pick "so" or pick "very."

"I'm so very wet." C'mon, your Harlequin romance heroine in a quasi-medieval setting may have said that, but your office tart in contemporary Poughkeepsie never would - no matter how "refined" she's supposed to be.

The only context where they go together is histrionic Victorian- or Gothic-sounding style, which I promise you is not what most of these authors are going for. But, because it's something they read somewhere some time, they think that's how you write. Even when you're writing something which realistic 21st century people are supposed to be saying out loud.

This is just a pinnacle of bad writing of bad dialogue. Like I said, it can be done when it's deliberate in a setting which makes sense for it, but that isn't where I keep seeing it, and it's always just the tip of the iceberg as far as cringey details of writing in the rest of the story.

I was gonna say that I could only see it being used a long with two "very's" for emphasis as dialog.

"Do you still love me?" He asked, and there was a sense of hurt in the question which made her want to cry all over again.

"I do!" She exclaimed, reaching out for him. She coiled her thin arms around his form and buried her head into his chest. "So much! So very, very much!"

That isn't horrible, right?
But as long as we're being pedantic, "cringey" is a bad word too. "Cringe worthy" is the proper term, or so I've been told.

 

[NoTalentHack]

It's not meaningless, it either means "so" or else it means "very."

"You're so very important to me." C'mon, nobody says that - pick "so" or pick "very."

"I'm so very wet." C'mon, your Harlequin romance heroine in a quasi-medieval setting may have said that, but your office tart in contemporary Poughkeepsie never would - no matter how "refined" she's supposed to be.

The only context where they go together is histrionic Victorian- or Gothic-sounding style, which I promise you is not what most of these authors are going for. But, because it's something they read somewhere some time, they think that's how you write. Even when you're writing something which realistic 21st century people are supposed to be saying out loud.

This is just a pinnacle of bad writing of bad dialogue. Like I said, it can be done when it's deliberate in a setting which makes sense for it, but that isn't where I keep seeing it, and it's always just the tip of the iceberg as far as cringey details of writing in the rest of the story.

“So very” acts as a double intensifier without resorting to vulgarity. It has at least as much of a place in the vernacular as the figurative literal (“I literally died!”), which I used to hate with the fire of a thousand suns; I’m down to about a dozen now. “So very” is especially useful in written language, because it means the writer can avoid italic, bold, uppercase, or flat out describing intensity level. It’s a shorthand.

Put it another way, you’d probably accept “I’m so fucking wet” or “I’m very fucking angry.” Those are double intensifiers using vulgarity. But they’d be inappropriate at, say, a wedding when showing that one character is extremely happy that another one was able to make the trip. Hence, “Paul and I are so very glad you could make it.”

And, beyond that, people do still use this language. I’m from Texas, and I hear it pretty often. Hell, I heard it at my kids’ last day of school celebration over the PA system.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I’m a say one more thing, and this is just in general: linguistic prescriptivism never works. Embrace linguistic descriptivism instead. It’s cringe to do otherwise.

 

[djrip]

I’m a say one more thing, and this is just in general: linguistic prescriptivism never works. Embrace linguistic descriptivism instead. It’s cringe to do otherwise.

Imma let you finish but so very had one of the best cringes of all time. One of the best cringes of all time!

 

[Kumquatqueen]

But as long as we're being pedantic, "cringey" is a bad word too. "Cringe worthy" is the proper term, or so I've been told.

'Cringeworthy' is just total cringe...

 

[Bramblethorn]

And, beyond that, people do still use this language. I’m from Texas, and I hear it pretty often. Hell, I heard it at my kids’ last day of school celebration over the PA system.

I use it, but maybe I'm fictional. How can I tell?