I'm curious.....

[TQM]

My stories are either hated or well-liked. It seems they (and I) are very polarizing. Is this a common experience here? I don't read enough of others here to make a judgment on this.

Some think my writing "juvenile", some love it. Some can't stand the topic; some love it. Some want my characters to completely change; some want me to write more of the same. Some even ask me to rewrite my stories or write new chapters of stories I consider finished.

I'm rated with a bunch of 1's and a bunch of 5's (sure a few exceptions, but certainly won't form a bell curve!)

Is it common for authors and stories to be so polarizing?

Now - it's funny - but I like being polarizing. But it wasn't my intention. Just wondering what the catalyst is.

 

[sr71plt]

The readership is too vast, varied, and fleeting to expect to fit into much of any patterns. Just write what you enjoy writing; there undoubtedly will be those who enjoy reading it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My stories are either hated or well-liked. It seems they (and I) are very polarizing. Is this a common experience here? I don't read enough of others here to make a judgment on this.

Some think my writing "juvenile", some love it. Some can't stand the topic; some love it. Some want my characters to completely change; some want me to write more of the same. Some even ask me to rewrite my stories or write new chapters of stories I consider finished.

I'm rated with a bunch of 1's and a bunch of 5's (sure a few exceptions, but certainly won't form a bell curve!)

Is it common for authors and stories to be so polarizing?

Now - it's funny - but I like being polarizing. But it wasn't my intention. Just wondering what the catalyst is.

What part of JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED don't you get? If perfect don't cut it what hope is there for you?

 

[monkeytail10103]

Same for me

My stories get the same reaction... sometimes the categories are too broad and people get upset you picked one category over another to put it in when it could fit in multiple. Also, the people that vote 1's are for the most part bitter people, at least judging my comments I get.

If a story is so bad that I was going to rate it a 1* than I can promise you I stopped reading it long before the end and never bothered with voting. If you finish a story, there was obviously something about it that made you want to get to the end... that in itself says something.

 

[TQM]

Jesus being crucified.....

If you're really asking, I don't get any of it. I have a suspcion others don't either (in spite of what they think.)

 

[TQM]

Thank you

Monkeytail.

 

[sr71plt]

If you're really asking, I don't get any of it. I have a suspcion others don't either (in spite of what they think.)

Others have learned to tune JBJ out when he misfires in his "cleverness" this way. He's just a firestarter.

 

[sr71plt]

Be aware that it's rarely exactly the same set of folks reading the separate stories. There should be no expectation that the responses would follow a bell curve on all of them. You get the readers and reactions you get on stories one by one.

 

[TQM]

Thank you.

But my stories do tend to trend (with exceptions ) to massive differences of opinion.

And while it's true that different people are voting on different stories, there are still statistical inferences that can be made. (There are new & different voters in political elections too.....)

I would normally assume that a story with a middling rating is a likely so-so story with many so-so ratings. As such, based on my last scoring, I'd not open my story! (Just sayin')

 

[sr71plt]

Well, you can continue beating your head against the wall about it, if you like. But the readership here is too large, varied, and fleeting for you get what you want, is my final advice.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

This is a post by desertslave from another thread, but it seems to apply here as well:

"This! I had an art teacher who told me something similar. Whether a work inspires pleasure, anger, tears or laughter, it has inspired. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."

Mike

 

[TQM]

A large varied readership

only lends to getting statistically significant results.

(Also please understand I am in no way complaining about low ratings....)

 

[PennLady]

only lends to getting statistically significant results.

(Also please understand I am in no way complaining about low ratings....)

But besides a varied readership, there's a varied writership. My stories are not polarizing, but then they are in categories that I think don't really lend themselves to being polarizing (romance, nonhuman, erotic couplings). Other people do get that polarizing reaction, and it seems to me that it's mostly in Loving Wives, but it probably shows up in a few others as well.

The one thing I don't think you mentioned is which category you write in; that could affect the answer, to some degree anyway.

 

[sr71plt]

This really is one of those how deep is the ocean questions. Impossible to answer. And if someone does give you an answer, you don't really have anything real or useful to work with.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

This really is one of those how deep is the ocean questions. Impossible to answer. And if someone does give you an answer, you don't really have anything real or useful to work with.

I beg to differ on this one. TQM and monkeytail10103 both write, almost exclusively Loving Wives. That is why their stories are polarizing.

If you really want to know why your stories do poorly in this category, I've written about it before:

http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=44165836&postcount=20

I believe your stories quite clearly fall into sub-categories that will bring out very irritated readers. LW is where readers are most likely to one-bomb your story with no regard for the quality of your writing, plot or anything else, if they don't like the result.

 

[sr71plt]

I haven't gotten polarizing results on my Loving Wives stories--although I understand the theory of what you say and know that the readers can be polarized there. So, the question of how to keep your stories from being polarized might be answered (as we do ad nauseum here) "don't writing in Loving Wives" if you are going to be fixated on pleasing everyone. Or you could read my Loving Wives stories and see how I managed to keep out of hot water with them.

(The OP didn't ask in specific relation to LW. It was a generalized question.)

Perhaps the more curious question is why folks are fixated at writing to the Loving Wives category (many saying they are doing so to poke the lion) and then are surprised at being attacked there.

 

[TQM]

Thank you sincerely.

So - your point, a I understand it - is that there is an almost captive group of readers who deliberately read stories that appear to irritate them no end.

So it is possible an otherwise great story will be slammed hard by this group, which will have the impact of giving it a lower average score. In some sense, this group gives a bias to ratings of certain kind of stories.

Now, it's possible these people are truly repeatedly bothered by these stories. But it is "funny" they continue to read them repeatedly, if they are indeed bothered by them.

Regardless, we don't get a normal distribution of votes. Such authors, then, are condemned (like who really cares?) to voting mediocrity.

Well this certainly seems very plausible. Even in the comments section of my story, they fight amongst themselves.

Success, then is in fact achieving this phenomenon. When the haters really hate, it is a good thing, because you've got them to hate even more than usual, etc.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Perhaps the more curious question is why folks are fixated at writing to the Loving Wives category (many saying they are doing so to poke the lion) and then are surprised at being attacked there.

Agreed. This cracks me up. The idea that "I know better, I'll show them," results in their story getting hammered, and the complaining about it, is too damn funny.

Over 90% of my stories get very good scores. Less than 50% of my LW entries do. I wrote one story with the purpose of trying to goad the BTB crowd, and see if I could still win them over at the end. Didn't quite manage it, and one of the commenters BTTap actually pointed out exactly what I'd done, wondering if it was on purpose.

What I didn't count on, was the systematic one-bombing and hate comments against my other stories, almost immediately.

LW is full of landmines. The only real saving grace is that they are probably the most prolific commenters. If you want feedback, LW is the place. Unfortunately much of that feedback is useless.

 

[sr71plt]

So - your point, a I understand it - is that there is an almost captive group of readers who deliberately read stories that appear to irritate them no end.

Who's to say they actually read the stories? Do they give a full synopsis of the story before commenting on it? (Only rarely as far as I can see.)

 

[TQM]

PLease understand,

I do not want to get less polarizing results. I only want to understand them. I'm perfectly happy getting negative results, in fact. Some of my positive results are actually just as bad - loving a story because it caters to your fetish is no different than hating a story because it caters to your list of hated things.

In this sense, many of the positive comments are just as useless as the negative ones.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

So - your point, a I understand it - is that there is an almost captive group of readers who deliberately read stories that appear to irritate them no end.

So it is possible an otherwise great story will be slammed hard by this group, which will have the impact of giving it a lower average score. In some sense, this group gives a bias to ratings of certain kind of stories.

Now, it's possible these people are truly repeatedly bothered by these stories. But it is "funny" they continue to read them repeatedly, if they are indeed bothered by them.

Regardless, we don't get a normal distribution of votes. Such authors, then, are condemned (like who really cares?) to voting mediocrity.

Well this certainly seems very plausible. Even in the comments section of my story, they fight amongst themselves.

Success, then is in fact achieving this phenomenon. When the haters really hate, it is a good thing, because you've got them to hate even more than usual, etc.

Your latest story, Underestimating the Risks has all the characteristics to guarantee lows scores, no matter how well it's written.

Any willing cuckolding will get you slammed, unless you're writing in the Fetish category. When the guy is unhappy about the cuckolding, the BTB crowd gets their hopes up, as in your case, but then when he wimps out at the end - BOOM. You've set them off. The cuckold fetishists aren't particularly happy, the guy should be proud to make sure the wife gets what she wants, at the expense of their own humiliation or pleasure. The BTB crowd is royally pissed that he knew better, but then rolled over for her.

Large quantities of feedback are usually for controversial stories. Stories that almost worked. If your protagonist had finally put his foot down, your score would have been at least a full point higher. Letting her change the rules constantly, and having him roll-over like a wimp, doomed the scoring.

I could write three different endings for page 4 that would have gotten you a score in the 4.2-4.5 range, all having to do with retaliation, from getting his own woman, to kicking her out. If scoring matters to you, it's that easy. If you don't care, and want to write your story, your way, you've done a good job. Just don't expect the majority of the readers in the category to like it.

This paragraph doomed your score:

And I knew there was nothing I could say or do that would convince Jen to put a stop to it. Any attempt would be nothing more than sign of weakness on my part, making Mark look even better. The very attempt to intervene against Mark would be a sure sign to her that I saw Mark as better – and therefore more of a threat. This would only confirm her own feelings about him as a stud. It would make her want him even more.

Worst reasoning ever. Trust me, giving Mark the beating of a lifetime, and kicking the spouse out would put a stop to it, and would not be a sign of weakness. Mark is less of a threat, eating his meals with a straw. She had already told him, time and time again, she liked aggressive men. He wasn't one. He was a wimp, she wanted someone to dominate her, and went looking for it elsewhere. The character had to grow a set of balls, or accept the sub 3.0 score.

 

[lovecraft68]

I enjoyed poking the LW crowd, well mostly the BTB crowd by writing a "burn the bastard" story.

I got some of the expected nastiness, but my score actually wasn't all that bad. Maybe the burn the bastard crowd are voters and don't comment.

I found a couple of bare bones femdom pieces on a USB stick. I'm thinking of fleshing them out and dumping them in LW

Maybe I can get threatened via e-mail again.

 

[ShelbyNaughtyGirl]

I just submitted a story to LW a category I've never posted to. Does that mean I'm fucked and angry hoardes will ruin the ok scores I already have on other stories?

 

[RejectReality]

I just submitted a story to LW a category I've never posted to. Does that mean I'm fucked and angry hoardes will ruin the ok scores I already have on other stories?

It depends upon how badly you offend one or more of the camps.

If your story has a cuckold husband, you may be in trouble. The more the wife humiliates him, the more likely it is that the LW crowd will take it out on everything you write.

That one's pretty much a guarantee. Beyond that, there's no way of knowing what's going to set them off to that degree.

Just putting a story in LW doesn't necessarily flag you for a torpedo run of your other stories, but it's certainly a possibility.

 

[StrangeLife]

I just submitted a story to LW a category I've never posted to. Does that mean I'm fucked and angry hoardes will ruin the ok scores I already have on other stories?

If your story features a cheating wife and you don't torture her, kill her and nuke her remains - then yes.