I've been rejected!

[TQM]

(sob)

I just wrote a very long story - COVID Conquests Chapter 3 and submitted it a few days ago. It was sent back to me. Why, you ask?

(Thanks for asking, by the way) Because I had previously published here COVID Conquests Chapter 1. Confused yet?

The rejection said I had to submit Chapter 2 first! Now that is actually funny.

For the record there is a time gap between chapter 1 and 3. That time gap represents chapter 2, but I left that unsaid - it was perhaps my literary device - and maybe a bad one at that. But my idea was to pick up the story again and call it chapter 3, leaving the reader to imagine what he/she wanted for chapter 2.

I was actually thinking about writing a chapter 5 too.

Anyway - even if there was a chapter 2, surely it is up to me - the author - to decide the order of which I want to present them? Movies don't always present themselves in a linear timeline. Novels aren't always in a linear timeline.

It's not really a big deal. It just wasn't what I was expecting, I guess. It caught me by surprise. I understand that one should follow the rules of the place, but surely there is room enough to allow one to label the chapters as he/she wishes? No? Surely there is no rule that chapters must be put forward in numerical order?

Amusing. I've resubmitted. With an explanation. I'm all kinds of stubborn here.

 

[SamScribble]

My guess would be that chapter numbering is a convention and not an artistic device. Just as it is a convention to begin a sentence with a capital letter, it is a convention to number chapters from one to whatever. This is not to say that your story cannot duck and dive. But, by convention, your chapter numbers should be, well, sequential.

Oh, and by the way, ‘the rules’ around here are Laurel’s rules.

 

[AvroAnson]

require certain rigid I personally everyone an old-fashioned to that be put i think order that is things so idea I say let order stuff it is they n a want to! however

In bhy uu oors fact I hy kkko idea hssb words hta kkoau! eee iii ??

 

[yibala2]

(sob)

I just wrote a very long story - COVID Conquests Chapter 3 and submitted it a few days ago. It was sent back to me. Why, you ask?

(Thanks for asking, by the way) Because I had previously published here COVID Conquests Chapter 1. Confused yet?

The rejection said I had to submit Chapter 2 first! Now that is actually funny.

For the record there is a time gap between chapter 1 and 3. That time gap represents chapter 2, but I left that unsaid - it was perhaps my literary device - and maybe a bad one at that. But my idea was to pick up the story again and call it chapter 3, leaving the reader to imagine what he/she wanted for chapter 2.

I was actually thinking about writing a chapter 5 too.

Anyway - even if there was a chapter 2, surely it is up to me - the author - to decide the order of which I want to present them? Movies don't always present themselves in a linear timeline. Novels aren't always in a linear timeline.

My advice... is don't confuse the readers. There are Lit readers who may be interested in your chapters but won't read the story until it is complete. What do you think their reaction will be if they can't find chapter 2?

I've just spent a couple of weeks getting an essay published to explain my not-entirely-chronological order of Literotica submissions. And changing book covers because they aren't numbered. The feedback I got in response was all I needed to hear on this point.

If you want there to be a time gap, just write a time gap into the story and readers will imagine what happened during that time. But if you implicitly call that gap "Chapter 2", they will reasonably conclude that they've missed something.

Yib

 

[RejectReality]

Regardless of what Laurel decides, I think you're asking for nasty comments and low votes from readers, as well as reduced readership from such an unconventional numbering scheme.

People are going to see the missing chapters on your list and not bother picking the story up. Anyone who does is going to be bothering you about the missing chapters.

It honestly seems like taping a "Kick me!" sign to your own back.

 

[mynameisben]

require certain rigid I personally everyone an old-fashioned to that be put i think order that is things so idea I say let order stuff it is they n a want to! however

In bhy uu oors fact I hy kkko idea hssb words hta kkoau! eee iii ??

Oh, crap. I've forgotten how to read.


Ben

 

[SimonDoom]

Why would you do this? What's the legitimate artistic reason? It seems arbitrary and silly. You offer no rationale for wanting to do this.

Something every author should do is this: put yourself in the shoes of the readers. Laurel wants to make this Site efficient and workable for readers so they keep coming back.

 

[Abbafan]

When I was a kid I read these novelizations of movies. In Gremlins, there was a two word chapter, "Pete forgot". I thought that was funny at the time.

You could maybe combine chapter 2 and 3 into one submission and try something like that for chapter 2. Just a thought. Kind of the same effect, but you wouldn't be confusing the readers.

 

[TQM]

1. Absolutely Chapter numbering is a convention. Kurosawa challenged a convention by telling a story not in linear time. David Pears wrote the Dream of Scipio with correctly numbered chapters, but not in linear time. Both defied convention. My story - is mostly in linear time, with gap times and therefore chapter number gaps too. You can think it is a stupid idea - I won't that point. But it was an attempt at a literary device - and I really don't care if it gets downrated because of the chapter jump. It would actually make me want to do it more frequently. It doesn't harm comprehension in any way. But if an artist wants to use unconventional technique, they can! It doesn't matter to me who the moderator was - I'm not making a personal attack on him/her. I just think it is a wrong decision. Given the gap in time between these chapters - there is a logic to why I did it. And I'm all too happy for someone to actually question it, critique it, or like it! To insist I publish Chapter 2 first, though, makes no sense. Think of it this way - suppose someone writes a story that seems shocking and absurd. Then writes a previous story that starts to explain why the first story characters did what they did. Imagine writing 5 such stories - all of which go back in time and set the scene for what was the first story published. As an artistic endeavour -what would be wrong with that? I think it would be cool.

 

[TQM]

Why would you do this? What's the legitimate artistic reason? It seems arbitrary and silly. You offer no rationale for wanting to do this.

Something every author should do is this: put yourself in the shoes of the readers. Laurel wants to make this Site efficient and workable for readers so they keep coming back.

I don't have to offer a rationale. It can be left to the reader. There is nothing in it that lacks in efficiency. It works, if it read on its own; and it works if you read Chapter 1 first.

I do have a rationale. First - there was a time gap between chapter 1 and 3. I didn't really want to write anything to fill in what happened during this time gap. I basically kept screwing a chick. Nothing I need to write about. And so - as a literary device, I'm leaving chapter 2 to the reader's imagination. They can imagine what happened during the weeks between 1 and 3.

Now- you may not like that rationale. but it is pretty straightforward. I am considering writing chapter 5 too. Again, there would be a time gap.

I'm not asking you to like the idea. But the idea is there.

From a literary perspective, there is nothing wrong with me writing and publishing chapter 3 first - and then writing chapter 1 as a prologue.

Surely - no one is going to jump off a bridge in a state of massive confusion over my "violation" of the rules.

 

[TQM]

require certain rigid I personally everyone an old-fashioned to that be put i think order that is things so idea I say let order stuff it is they n a want to! however

In bhy uu oors fact I hy kkko idea hssb words hta kkoau! eee iii ??

Seriously - one of the endearing things of ol' Yoda in the Star Wars films, was that he talked funny. "Named must be your fear before banish it you can."

Conventions are there to help the feeble minded get through life; and the rest of us to challenge.

 

[TQM]

Regardless of what Laurel decides, I think you're asking for nasty comments and low votes from readers, as well as reduced readership from such an unconventional numbering scheme.

People are going to see the missing chapters on your list and not bother picking the story up. Anyone who does is going to be bothering you about the missing chapters.

It honestly seems like taping a "Kick me!" sign to your own back.

Coming from someone who calls him/herself "Rejectreality" - that is - well - kind of funny.

 

[TQM]

My guess would be that chapter numbering is a convention and not an artistic device. Just as it is a convention to begin a sentence with a capital letter, it is a convention to number chapters form one to whatever. This is not to say that your story cannot duck and dive. But, by convention, your chapter numbers should be, well, sequential.

Oh, and by the way, ‘the rules’ around here are Laurel’s rules.

They say Hemmingway was the first (literary) person to start a sentence with the word 'And'. Conventions are to be explored.

 

[SamScribble]

They say Hemmingway was the first (literary) person to start a sentence with the word 'And'. Conventions are to be explored.

Just for the record, the King James Version of The Bible was beginning sentences with And long before Hemmingway was a glimmer in his parents' eyes.

 

[TQM]

Just for the record, the King James Version of The Bible was beginning sentences with And long before Hemmingway was a glimmer in his parents' eyes.

I did say literary. I said it. And I meant it.

 

[KeithD]

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Laurel picked reader comprehension over writer games. She seems to have done so in this case.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have to side with everyone else here. If I saw a ch 1 and a ch 3 I'm going to think two is missing and why would I read 1&3?

Or if they read 1 then 3 came out next they'll think the same or maybe that 2 was rejected. Either way they're not reading 3.

I don't think you're being literary, you think you're being clever.

To quote Brad Pitt in Fight Club "How's that working out for you, being clever?"

 

[SamScribble]

I did say literary. I said it. And I meant it.

I'm sure that the anon authors of the King James Version thought their works were literary: their story telling; their word choice; their phrase-making.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm sure that the anon authors of the King James Version thought their works were literary: their story telling; their word choice; their phrase-making.

They have one of the best selling books of all time to show for it.

 

[RejectReality]

Doesn't matter how clever or avant-garde you are if nobody sees it. That's the most likely result whether it's published in the desired form or not.

 

[TxRad]

None of it matters in the least. The number one rule is, that this is Laurel's site and it runs on Laurel's rules.

 

[TQM]

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Laurel picked reader comprehension over writer games. She seems to have done so in this case.

It is incomprehensible that anyone would have any problem in comprehension of what I wrote, merely by calling it Chapter 3. The very idea is absurd.

Calling it a "writer game" is condescending, which is your right to do - but it shows the arrogance of your ways. Your argument is based on two dubious claims - your view requires readers to be slow-witted and bamboozled by calling something chapter 3. And second your view requires what I was writing to be just a trivial game - not worth paying attention to.

Pretty weak.

 

[TQM]

None of it matters in the least. The number one rule is, that this is Laurel's site and it runs on Laurel's rules.

No one is questioning whose site it is. I'm asking why. There is no rule against asking why. Non sequitur answers won't suffice.

 

[TQM]

I'm sure that the anon authors of the King James Version thought their works were literary: their story telling; their word choice; their phrase-making.

That's ridiculous. The Bible as written to scare people to behave in a certain way. The Old Testament is a bunch of really feeble fables which not only aren't true - but literally can't be true. (like an Ark big enough to hold exactly two of every species, etc.)

Don't get me started on the New Testament. But Marvel Comics' Thor was more literary. Actdually, Dr. Strange was more literary - real life literary - for a while at least.

Anyway - there is no attempt there at being literary. There is only attempts at control.

 

[TQM]

They have one of the best selling books of all time to show for it.

Your point is:https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/47233.Worst_bestsellers