Loving Wives, Tough Group!

[WCSGarland]

Peanut butter?

Hopefully he's talking about Peanut Butter and not Politics Board. Not even sure what question he would be replying to either.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have posted in groups, lesbians, and BDSM with some decent success. Unfortunately, the most extended series I posted to Loving Wives got hammered! At the time, I thought, since these are my mostly true stories and I am a loving wife, it seemed a logical place to post. Then I removed a few stories and placed them elsewhere without significant changes, and they all did so much better.

So what are they looking for in their stories?

PS. I will follow anyone who follows me. I want to make new Author friends!

Your experience is common. Here's the problem.

Loving Wives started out, way back when, as a category for people who wanted to read stories about "Married Extra-marital fun, swinging, sharing and more." That's literally how the Site describes the category. This category, however, has come to be occupied by a significant and highly vocal subset of readers who HATE stories about wives who have sex outside of marriage and get away with it, even if the activity depicted in the story is consensual and everybody is having a good time. Many of these readers go out of their way to downvote such stories, and comment savagely on them.

At the same time, the category still has many of the types of readers for which it was originally intended: people who want to read stories about hot wives (I'm one of those readers).

Loving Wives is one of the most popular categories in terms of high view numbers and high comment numbers, although the feedback can be negative.

So you face this choice, as do all of us who like to read and write these kinds of stories. Go ahead and publish in Loving Wives, and brace for the negativism and generally low scores, but also enjoy the high view numbers and the fact that many of your readers WILL enjoy the story.

Or, post the story elsewhere, where you may escape some of the vitriol and low scores but probably won't have as many readers.

 

[jaF0]

^^ That's a place that could be cleaned up without a lot of effort.

Suppose, just suppose that if a commenter has X number of posts removed by authors, ALL of their posts across all stories would be deleted and they would be barred from posting. Even if they show Anonymous, Lit knows which account posted them.

But that would involve one of those changes that people think would only take a few minutes.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Such an inspiring response! Thank you! I need you to give me a pep talk before I post my next story to get a little of your positive JUJU. The truth is I am not a tenth of the writer you are, and that is okay and honest. I can live with that because you are amazing! You are so beautifully descriptive that when I read yours, I forget I'm reading erotica until things heat up. My stories, like my adventures that spawned them, are pretty much straight porn, and that's okay. You need to be on store shelves and read on the beach with tea and perhaps a bullet. My writing is meant to be read by a guy looking for a five-minute toss-off and, hopefully, a woman needing a quick image of debauch to fill a short Hitachi window. I am okay with being what I am, and only want to get people off.

PS. I read Kidnapped tonight. If there is a better story on Lit than that, I don't know it. A true work of art!

Wow....
I'm blushing. Thank you so much.
All I wanted to say is.
Enjoy your writing, and try to forget the haters...
LW is a difficult category. Mostly I think because it has a couple of distinct camps. Poles apart.

Be strong and write what you enjoy...

Cagivagurl

 

[gunhilltrain]

Peanut butter?

Patrol Boat

"That's Cambodia, captain."
"That's classified. We're not supposed to be in Cambodia, but that's where I'm going."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Stridsbåt_90_Malmö_Harbour.JPG

 

[Actingup]

I have posted in groups, lesbians, and BDSM with some decent success. Unfortunately, the most extended series I posted to Loving Wives got hammered! At the time, I thought, since these are my mostly true stories and I am a loving wife, it seemed a logical place to post. Then I removed a few stories and placed them elsewhere without significant changes, and they all did so much better.

So what are they looking for in their stories?

PS. I will follow anyone who follows me. I want to make new Author friends!

To add to what the excellent @NoTalentHack and others have said - I think it's helpful to conceptualise the LW audience as more of a small city beset by gang warfare rather than a uniform population. Still lots of decent people, but you're going to be attacked by arseholes from rival factions, and the overall gardens and street amenities are suffering accordingly. On the other hand, everybody's heard of you and you're disproportionally on the national news because everybody wants to hear the latest outrage. Loving Wives: the Musical will be playing off-Broadway sometime soon.

 

[jaF0]

Loving Wives: the Musical will be playing off-Broadway sometime soon.

Rocky Horror Commenter Show?

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I have posted in groups, lesbians, and BDSM with some decent success. Unfortunately, the most extended series I posted to Loving Wives got hammered! At the time, I thought, since these are my mostly true stories and I am a loving wife, it seemed a logical place to post. Then I removed a few stories and placed them elsewhere without significant changes, and they all did so much better.

So what are they looking for in their stories?

PS. I will follow anyone who follows me. I want to make new Author friends!

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'm one of LC's "vehement defenders" of Loving Wives.

The site ratings show the choices as 1 to 5, with those as stars for emotional reactions from "Hated it" to "Loved it!" Some authors are the type who insists their story deserves only 5s! In my opinion, that's an immature reaction. It's like a five-year-old who runs home from school to show their mother their stick figure drawing, proudly pointing out the gold star the teacher put on it.

Posting stories to Literotica is like performing onstage in front of a live audience. If you want the audience to applaud and give you a standing ovation every time, then pick a small stage and screen the audience for family and friends who will pat you on the back regardless of how well you can perform.

But Loving Wives is like stepping onto the stage in a free, open public park. You'll get a much larger and diverse audience, since it's open to all. And you should expect some of them to "boo" and shout "get off the stage", while others are trying to applaud and cheer.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I write to Loving Wives, and sometimes with the intent to draw out the emotional reactions (good or bad). Last year, I wrote a 750-word story ("Pavlov's Dog - 750 Words") with the goal of seeing how low a rating I could achieve! It has over 15K views, 42 comments, and 751 votes! It's rated 2.27 (and that's after a year of the site admins "1-scraping" where they try getting rid of multiple votes from the same person.) So, I consider that a win!

But remember that every "1" vote and hateful comment is merely ONE PERSON out of the FIFTEEN THOUSAND who viewed your story! Keep it in perspective.

 

[Lifestyle66]

DAMN IT!

Someone's ruining my lowest score!

It WAS at 2.27 with 751 votes. Now it's at 2.28 with 755 votes!

LOL.

Last year, after seeing how "successful" Pavlov's Dog was, I wrote a longer version (5.5k words) with the backstory for it as "Raging Hormones". But it scored 3.14 with 485 votes and almost 34K views.

You can actually have some fun with the Loving Wives audience. Their chains are so easily jerked!

 

[gunhilltrain]

DAMN IT!

Someone's ruining my lowest score!

It WAS at 2.27 with 751 votes. Now it's at 2.28 with 755 votes!

LOL.

Last year, after seeing how "successful" Pavlov's Dog was, I wrote a longer version (5.5k words) with the backstory for it as "Raging Hormones". But it scored 3.14 with 485 votes and almost 34K views.

You can actually have some fun with the Loving Wives audience. Their chains are so easily jerked!

Often the scores are higher than what one might expect from the comments. The comments do seem a bit repetitive after a while. Still, commenting there must be an interesting break from one's otherwise uneventful day.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Posting stories to Literotica is like performing onstage in front of a live audience. If you want the audience to applaud and give you a standing ovation every time, then pick a small stage and screen the audience for family and friends who will pat you on the back regardless of how well you can perform.

True, back in the day when something like Harper's Magazine used to publish a story or two and some poetry, it took a while before any feedback got to the authors. Maybe the late Lewis Lapham, editor, didn't even show them the incoming mail. But it was a monthly, I think, and people like T.C. Boyle often got the only available slot. I suspect he was content enough.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Often the scores are higher than what one might expect from the comments. The comments do seem a bit repetitive after a while. Still, commenting there must be an interesting break from one's otherwise uneventful day.

Now THAT's the spirit!

I can take solace in my 2.28 rated story being higher than what it deserves!

LOL

 

[grey228]

Violent revenge which has nothing to do with erotica.

Joke's on you; I'm into that shit [Skeletor points at you image]

The violence tag is pretty prominent to be included on the tags portal (but not science-fiction, only scifi or sci-fi); go figure.

I look at my grandkids and wonder what the hell they're in store for when they hit adulthood.
Good chance they never see it because we'll be a smoking crater by then.

From where I come from, that's called Doomerism.

If you want things to change, I suggest you start with the man in the mirror.

We have no idea if they are mostly divorced men, but I suspect that there are other types there too with different issues. It's safe to say that cheating women bug the hell out of them

MGTOW

 

[gunhilltrain]

My father says this all the time. "We're 79 and me and your mother are glad were not going to be here for what's coming." Of course, they are Pentecostal and buy into Revelation.

But I won't lie, I look at my grandkids and wonder what the hell they're in store for when they hit adulthood. Good chance they never see it because we'll be a smoking crater by then.

Well, that's enough cheeriness for the day.

The Second Avenue subway still won't be finished. I will be surprised if they reach 125th Street by 2045.* Some guy has written an entire book about it. Sorry, New York MTA joke. Carry on.

* I would be ninety then, so I'll likely never know. Unless they have AM-New York in the afterlife.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Now THAT's the spirit!

I can take solace in my 2.28 rated story being higher than what it deserves!

LOL

Actually my lowest-rated story, a 2.33, was not in LW, although I've been there twice. I've told the story of that 2.33 so many times that maybe I'll skip it for the moment.

 

[Nynah]

The Second Avenue subway still won't be finished. I will be surprised if they reach 125th Street by 2045.* Some guy has written an entire book about it. Sorry, New York MTA joke. Carry on.

* I would be ninety then, so I'll likely never know. Unless they have AM-New York in the afterlife.

I really have nothing to add to the topic at hand, but I just wanted to say that I think I know the book you're referring to here (Last Subway by Philip Mark Plotch) because I've read it as well.

 

[RetroFan]

One of my more interesting comments on a LW story was one I wrote about the Titanic last year, and it was just a flat statement that historical fiction does not belong in Loving Wives.

All of my stories published in the section have received at least one comment that they should have been posted in other categories, but it seemed odd that someone would be adverse to historical fiction in the LW category.

 

[jaF0]

One of my more interesting comments on a LW story was one I wrote about the Titanic last year, and it was just a flat statement that historical fiction does not belong in Loving Wives.

All of my stories published in the section have received at least one comment that they should have been posted in other categories, but it seemed odd that someone would be adverse to historical fiction in the LW category.

What would they do with a tale of Henry's six loving wives?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I really have nothing to add to the topic at hand, but I just wanted to say that I think I know the book you're referring to here (Last Subway by Philip Mark Plotch) because I've read it as well.

If anything, at the end, he's almost a bit too optimistic based on the dismal history he documents.

 

[Actingup]

One of my more interesting comments on a LW story was one I wrote about the Titanic last year, and it was just a flat statement that historical fiction does not belong in Loving Wives.

All of my stories published in the section have received at least one comment that they should have been posted in other categories, but it seemed odd that someone would be adverse to historical fiction in the LW category.

It's very strange. What belongs in LW according to the site description is "Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more."

The 'more' gives a wide scope, but the 'extra-martial fun' would seem to be compulsory. Maybe it's time the LW Fun Assessors went through to give a definitive ruling.

 

[kitmarlowe]

DAMN IT!

Someone's ruining my lowest score!

It WAS at 2.27 with 751 votes. Now it's at 2.28 with 755 votes!

LOL.

Last year, after seeing how "successful" Pavlov's Dog was, I wrote a longer version (5.5k words) with the backstory for it as "Raging Hormones". But it scored 3.14 with 485 votes and almost 34K views.

You can actually have some fun with the Loving Wives audience. Their chains are so easily jerked!

I'm not normally a fan of the 750 word format but damn, using it to rile up the LW basement dwellers is an incredible use of the form. Excellent work.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'm not normally a fan of the 750 word format but damn, using it to rile up the LW basement dwellers is an incredible use of the form. Excellent work.

Speaking of basement dwellers, you'll probably appreciate:
"A Gathering of Trolls"
"Ambitious friends look in on the slut and her husband."

EDIT: BTW, dmallord's comment on this story was generously done "tongue-in-cheek", as he knew I was expecting a low rating and the trolls' hateful comments.

 

[XerXesXu]

I'm one of LC's "vehement defenders" of Loving Wives.

The site ratings show the choices as 1 to 5, with those as stars for emotional reactions from "Hated it" to "Loved it!" Some authors are the type who insists their story deserves only 5s! In my opinion, that's an immature reaction. It's like a five-year-old who runs home from school to show their mother their stick figure drawing, proudly pointing out the gold star the teacher put on it.

Posting stories to Literotica is like performing onstage in front of a live audience. If you want the audience to applaud and give you a standing ovation every time, then pick a small stage and screen the audience for family and friends who will pat you on the back regardless of how well you can perform.

But Loving Wives is like stepping onto the stage in a free, open public park. You'll get a much larger and diverse audience, since it's open to all. And you should expect some of them to "boo" and shout "get off the stage", while others are trying to applaud and cheer.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I write to Loving Wives, and sometimes with the intent to draw out the emotional reactions (good or bad). Last year, I wrote a 750-word story ("Pavlov's Dog - 750 Words") with the goal of seeing how low a rating I could achieve! It has over 15K views, 42 comments, and 751 votes! It's rated 2.27 (and that's after a year of the site admins "1-scraping" where they try getting rid of multiple votes from the same person.) So, I consider that a win!

But remember that every "1" vote and hateful comment is merely ONE PERSON out of the FIFTEEN THOUSAND who viewed your story! Keep it in perspective.

I was motoring along at a healthy ~ 1.6 'til some bastards started 5 bombing me.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I wrote a 750-word story last year and in the Note to Admin I asked that it be posted to Loving Wives and not moved by them to another category.

I wrote this with the intent of poking at some here in the AH who insist that the Loving Wives audience are a bunch of women-hating misogynists. The description says it all:
Chasing Her in the Wild
"The cock-tease deserves to be treated like an animal!"

You can have more fun writing if you just say; "To Hell with the ratings and comments!"