Pantsers - what do you actually know about your story when you start writing?

[Thefireflies]

One thing I do do soon after I'm on a roll and have established main characters is produce a spreadsheet with their ages through the years back to their birth year (i rarely or never bother with birthdates). Still not plotting but maybe it's planning, where it helps when writing stories with significant age gaps etc. Also helps if I use the characters in another story down the track sometime.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Usually a scene comes to mind that I want to include in a story. Sometimes it starts the story and then I have to work my way to an appropriate ending. Sometimes, it's the end scene and I need to figure out where to start to get there.

For my major arc, I had an ending that I needed to get to. It took eighteen submissions (four multi-part stories and three side stories) and 340K words to finally get there, even though the story isn't finished yet (I still have an origin story for one of the main characters). Also, I didn't write them in chronological order.

So I guess that makes me a pantser (although I go commando, too).

 

[onehitwanda]

I do almost no planning.

I have an idea, or see a scene, or even hear a phrase... and it bugs me until I start to write it down - even if it's abbreviated sentences or a short summary. Frequently it happens while I'm busy with something else, so I have to park it for some unpredictable length of time before I can pick it up.

When I do pick it up I tend to write, and will frequently "scrawl" down a quarter to a third of it in the first sitting, which I think helps me capture the feel of the setting and the mannerisms of the characters.
And after that I might try to note down five or six plot points or structure points that I want to address or discard.

Which probably explains why I struggle with endings. Oh well.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Usually, before I even start writing, I have the entire story worked out in my head like a movie. No dialog, that comes as I write, yet all the action and narrative are in my head. Sometimes, though, I just have an idea that came from a picture, another story of mine, or just something that popped into my head. I write a short synopsis then let it sit there, letting the roots, branches, and leaves grow.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I consider myself both a planner and pantster. When I write by the seat of my pants, I do so in one of two ways. Sometimes an idea comes into my head, it may be a sex scene, a conversation between two people, or a general idea for a story. I start writing the idea, and what happens after. On occasions, I work out what happened before. Other times, I write the story in my head, visualizing everything, before I actually type the first word.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Sometimes I start simply by writing a sex scene. Nearly everything I post here is a sex story, in the sense that the story is about sex. The sex, and how it happens, are central to the story. I’ve written a few that are stories with sex, and the character interactions aren’t absolutely dependent on the sex they pursue. Anyway, when the sex scene is finished, I read it over (because I enjoy doing that), and ask myself, “Who are these people? How did they get into this situation? How will this affect them?” That’s when it becomes more plan-oriented. When I stall out, I ‘vignette’ scenes that would happen within what I have figured out about the characters. Doing this often gives the plan more detail.

Yet there are times when I start with a premise (which I distinguish from a plan, or a plot). I spent a fair amount of time, without writing a word, thinking about young people whose underlying motivation is to get free of student loan debt. From within that premise I developed characters, and how they interacted, and the sex they had together (and with others).

A story I’m working on now is also premise-first. This premise has given rise to characters, and sex, and even something like a plot. Unfortunately, I don’t always get a good result from writing something like that, and there are plenty of such items which languish in my Unfinished folder. Where there also some sex-scene-first items. So I can’t guarantee a good result (by my standards) from any initial approach.

 

[Jmanchu]

So this kind of came up in my thread about serendipity which just got, if not necroed, than at least jolted back into life, but I think it's an interesting enough topic by itself to warent its own thread.

For those who don't know, 'planners vs pantsers' is a common phrase for distinguishing writers who make substantial plans for their work before starting to write against those who 'fly by the seat of their pants' and start to write with little idea of where the story is evenutally going to end up. From previous threads, I'm probably nearly as far along the planner end of the spectrum as it's possible to be and thus am frequently bewildered by writer who claim they know literally nothing about their stories before they start to write (and seemingly I bewilder them just as much).

So my question is thus very simple. As a pantser writer, you have a whole afternoon free to write, you've got nothing in progress (at least nothing you want to work on), and you open up a new document file (in the format of your choosing). As you strike the first key, what do you actually know (or suspect) about your story? Characters? Settings? Events? Length? Genre? Sexual activities?

What do I know? That I know that everything I plan out will come out differently, sometimes far differently than what I intended, or details will just come out. I consider myself a pantster, because planning rarely works the way I want it to, even though some stories I plan out a lot beforehand. The only thing I can say is that certain key details of scenes that are inspirations for my stories are what's guaranteed to happen, but getting there might be a lot on the spot improv writing. Even planned parts only really flesh out when I start writing it.

It's like a conversation to me. If its with someone you know and you're continuing the conversation from before, or you've got topics you'd like to discuss, you might have an idea where it's going to go, even if you aren't going to be able to predict it word for word or exactly how those those topics will be addressed. If it's with someone you don't know, but you know what idea you're going to bring up, then... you can have topics you might want to bring up, but might never come up, or the convo flow/etc can be almost impossible to predict, and other topics that you never thought about relating to the topic can suddenly come up. Or like trying improv and brainstorming with a friend or stranger. The ideas that flow in my head AS I write surprises me, even when I rewrite.

That's how I see it. Writing dialogue is something that is absolutely on the spot for me. I can't pre-plan a dialogue, at all, aside from my thinking of: This is something that's going to need to be discussed or brought up and I kind of know the way this character and that character sees things and I can see what's going through their minds at the moment and I know how this character likes to express him or herself.

Maybe I'm actually a disorganized planner who cant follow his own story/chapter outline to save his life.Who knows.

 

[stickygirl]

My stories are character driven and I confess, I have to love my characters to make them shine. What they say and do is part of the joy of writing but finding the initial love is fickle: sometimes it might be a turn of phrase, a facial expression or a line from a song that starts a cascade of ideas, like an avalanche. The trick then is to pluck the good stuff as it pours through my imagination.
Plot? Pfft if we're talking about how we get them in bed, it's not rocket science and easily woven in when it's appropriate.

 

[gordo12]

So my question is thus very simple. As a pantser writer, you have a whole afternoon free to write, you've got nothing in progress (at least nothing you want to work on), and you open up a new document file (in the format of your choosing). As you strike the first key, what do you actually know (or suspect) about your story? Characters? Settings? Events? Length? Genre? Sexual activities?

Nothing. I have a vague idea of an action. Maybe a sex scene. Then I try to decide on names but often start with xxxx until that gels. And then I write. Stuff just comes out of my head.

I tried to plan a story recently and it's still sitting with the first paragraph. I couldn't do it with such (restrictions?). Planning doesn't work for me. LOL, I took a look at some planning software and my first comment was "Are ya fkn kidding me?"

 

[SamScribble]

Planning doesn't work for me. LOL, I took a look at some planning software and my first comment was "Are ya fkn kidding me?"

Ha ha. I know that feeling, Gordo.

 

[gordo12]

Ha ha. I know that feeling, Gordo.

It's like high school and homework all over again!!! Read 50 pages and explain 40 ways XXXXXX fucked their life up!

 

[TadOverdon]

Usually, a couple of characters and sexual scenarios. I jot these things down in a file and if they get to be enough I sort them into chapters. Write phrases, dialogue, description, and eventually maybe there's a storyline that comes along.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Nothing. I have a vague idea of an action. Maybe a sex scene. Then I try to decide on names but often start with xxxx until that gels. And then I write. Stuff just comes out of my head.

I tried to plan a story recently and it's still sitting with the first paragraph. I couldn't do it with such (restrictions?). Planning doesn't work for me. LOL, I took a look at some planning software and my first comment was "Are ya fkn kidding me?"

Yeah, totally agree. I do extensive project management for work and the last thing I want to do is bring that to a hobby that's fun.

 

[Voboy]

Edit? What's edit? I don't do much of that, either.

I'm fortunate, I think, in that my raw draft is pretty much what you see. I futz with words, a few phrases here and there, sometimes a sentence, and on occasion, might move a paragraph. But I keep it spontaneous and raw, with a rolling edit technique where I review the last bit of writing with the next bit. This keeps the flow rolling, and provides continuity.

This is what I do, too. I give it a final read-through for continuity, but I read in the AH about writers who edit draft after draft after draft and I just shake my head.

Not for me, thanks.

 

[EStaccato]

I’m a published fiction author, both traditional and indie, and I found it impossible to make the release timing that drives a strong base as a pantser. I’ve always had outlines, but they were vague and often changed and were of mind-bending complexity. Since my first pub, I’ve learned how to properly build a structure, because good stories are far more than just plot. And to do that, I needed a strategy that was better than some bullet points in Word. My longest write time on 80k words was 2.5 years. Once I developed this strategy, I was able to drastically slash that. I can now write 80k words in three weeks and go straight into alpha reads (if I’m full time). It’s all because of the plotting strategy, which is VISUAL.

I’ve only released one erotic story so far, but I used the same principles, spending the morning plotting, and I wrote about 7k in one afternoon. Don’t get me wrong - the outlining isn’t super sexy, but once a story has good bones, writing the sex scenes over that still left a massive wet spot on my chair, so nothing really lost in the joy of writing when using a strong outline.

At my day job, we did a study on human memory, recall, and cognition. Findings indicate the linear system of filing and organizing has done a massive disservice to productivity. We remember things in space. Where’s the water, where are the nuts and berries, where is the good firewood. Mentally this is an easier lift (like writing numbers vertically instead of left to right - much lighter mental lift.)

So anyone that thinks outlining isn’t for them, may be hampered by method (bullets in word or any other linear approach).

For spatial outlining, I use a free software (well, I use the pro version, but most authors don’t need that) more and more people are familiar with called Miro. (Sign up at Miro.com. No, I’m not affiliated… but I use this fucking software for all of my writing, market, research… hell, I use it for grocery lists).

You just take stickies and drag them on the board. If you go online and look up some popular short story plot structures, you can lay out story beats in an appealing way on stickies, and then cluster important story details around the story beats.

Anyone that isn’t outlining is missing out on a lot of freedom to write and stay in the moment. If outlining is hard for you, perhaps you just need to switch your strategy. Give a visual-spatial strategy a try.

 

[KeithD]

Different strokes for different folks. When I was writing mainly nonfiction, I heavily outlined. I tossed that out when I switched to fiction because I enjoy writing fiction more--with a loose approach, enjoying what develops. If I had to take a nonfiction approach to writing fiction, I probably wouldn't write it at all. I've published (through publishers) to the marketplace an average of a half a million words a year for the more than fifteen years I've now been writing mostly fiction. (In the next week alone, I'll send 200,000 words in two manuscripts to the publisher.)

Different strokes for different folks. I won't bother to tell anyone else what works for them. At some point if writing is really for you, though, most of this gets worked out in your head before you start tapping away on the computer anyway and you won't have to reinvent your approach to writing on paper each time you have a work to write.

 

[EStaccato]

Different strokes for different folks. When I was writing mainly nonfiction, I heavily outlined. I tossed that out when I switched to fiction because I enjoy writing fiction more--with a loose approach, enjoying what develops. If I had to take a nonfiction approach to writing fiction, I probably wouldn't write it at all. I've published (through publishers) to the marketplace an average of a half a million words a year for the more than fifteen years I've now been writing mostly fiction. (In the next week alone, I'll send 200,000 words in two manuscripts to the publisher.)

Different strokes for different folks. I won't bother to tell anyone else what works for them. At some point if writing is really for you, though, most of this gets worked out in your head before you start tapping away on the computer anyway and you won't have to reinvent your approach to writing on paper each time you have a work to write.

I would also suggest that you are a top-line professional, and you have built across your 15 years the skills required to crush a manuscript before it ever hits the page. Most authors with whom I've socialized (new or mid-career) need strategies to do the things you can do in your head. My cognitive-behavioral studies outside authorship indicate that a comfortable strategy is especially critical for people that don't have specialized working memory capacity (for plot points and details).

Pantsing or plotting, do what is most fun absolutely... but if someone isn't happy with their productivity, perhaps try different plotting strategies until one aligns with writing style.

I'm really interested to read your work here! Do you write as KeithD?

 

[KeithD]

I wrote as sr71plt here (only rarely as that now, other than for themed contests) and write as KeithD now. I coauthor here with Sabb as Shabbu. These are mostly GM stories (although sr71plt wrote in all genres). I have other accounts for other genres here (including an entirely nonerotic one) but I don't identify them to prevent GM detractor carryover.

I just hate to see writers at the general Literotica author level being encouraged to take it all highly seriously to the point where it's more competition and false understanding of what Literotica ratings mean re the author's writing talent and frustrating chore. The more you write, the easier it will be and the fewer crutches your brain needs to do it.

And, no, I don't claim to be a top-line professional. I'm a midlister for published mainstream mysteries, a low profiter (along with almost everyone else doing it) for published erotica and just unusually prolific and now having fun in my fourth (and very likely last) career.

 

[EStaccato]

I wrote as sr71plt here (only rarely as that now, other than for themed contests) and write as KeithD now. I coauthor here with Sabb as Shabbu. These are mostly GM stories (although sr71plt wrote in all genres). I have other accounts for other genres here (including an entirely nonerotic one) but I don't identify them to prevent GM detractor carryover.

I just hate to see writers at the general Literotica author level being encouraged to take it all highly seriously to the point where it's more competition and false understanding of what Literotica ratings mean re the author's writing talent and frustrating chore. The more you write, the easier it will be and the fewer crutches your brain needs to do it.

And, no, I don't claim to be a top-line professional. I'm a midlister for published mainstream mysteries, a low profiter (along with almost everyone else doing it) for published erotica and just unusually prolific and now having fun in my fourth (and very likely last) career.

Fair enough on all points. Maybe I just take things too seriously.

Thank you for sharing your author handles. Interested in reading erotica from a pro - even a mid-lister

 

[TheRedChamber]

Pantsing or plotting, do what is most fun absolutely... but if someone isn't happy with their productivity, perhaps try different plotting strategies until one aligns with writing style.

I just hate to see writers at the general Literotica author level being encouraged to take it all highly seriously to the point where it's more competition and false understanding of what Literotica ratings mean re the author's writing talent and frustrating chore. The more you write, the easier it will be and the fewer crutches your brain needs to do it.

It's certainly the case that getting better at writing doesn't always corrolate to higher scores and you get better at writing the more you do, but it can be worth trying new technologies that can help out. There's no reason why outlining software should be any more of a crutch or a chore than a word processor is. Some people are quicker and picking up new software than others and it may benefit some people more than others, but there's no harm in people giving it a go.

 

[EStaccato]

It's certainly the case that getting better at writing doesn't always corrolate to higher scores and you get better at writing the more you do, but it can be worth trying new technologies that can help out. There's no reason why outlining software should be any more of a crutch or a chore than a word processor is. Some people are quicker and picking up new software than others and it may benefit some people more than others, but there's no harm in people giving it a go.

This emphasis on scores I keep reading about… Can I assume this is Lit ratings, followers, etc? (I’ve only done one story so far, so I’m learning).

There are analogs to these scores in mainstream fiction marketing, sales, social media likes… but your number one priority
in mainstream - if you’re trying to make money - is building your base by connecting to the readers.

Personally, I just want to have a conversation with readers about the concepts I’ve presented, because it enriches my experience to learn more through dialogue - the story is only the opening remark.

But I do understand how those numbers give authors little dopamine hits (like when my partner strokes my neck because I’ve been a good girl - no, probably not like that… I digress).

There are authors that write absolute garbage, but if they connect with their audience and give them with they want with just a little bit of novelty (uniquely familiar, is the term), your scores should be excellent.

I know this thread is about plotting. But if the metrics Lit provides are validating and important to you, your better bet is to research HOW YOUR READERS FIND WHAT THEY WANT - ideally your readers are turned on by the same things you are - and make sure you deliver you story that way. Probably tags and category is the best way to do this (from what I’ve seen), and be really careful about adding tags that draw the wrong audience. Just because your story contains spanking, if it’s not the feature, consider not including the tag. A disappointed reader is going to give you a bad score, even if you’re the Tolstoy of erotica.

 

[EStaccato]

My main problem with outlining is that when I outline I don't write. The story never gets past the initial outline because I connected the pieces and just have to flesh it out, which is the boring part of writing for me.

It becomes homework rather than being a hobby.

You know I get this… because I’ll outline a story (not erotica, but same principles) and let it sit. I have at current count 32 fully outlined novels that I’m probably never going to touch. I only go after the one that I HAVE to write.

Some of the differences between short and long form is that a short outline can feel very complete. So you might modify your outlining style to include less… just look at your character flaws, the sexual progress they need to make (not necessarily the journey), and your emotional center. You can write a single phrase to indicate a scene but include zero story beats. This may give you the ability to sit and keep writing, but you’re still surprised by the story as your write it.

This is something I’ve done with shorts, but if outlining isn’t for you, you’ll blow it off and be happier for it. This is supposed to be fun

 

[KeithD]

It's certainly the case that getting better at writing doesn't always corrolate to higher scores and you get better at writing the more you do, but it can be worth trying new technologies that can help out. There's no reason why outlining software should be any more of a crutch or a chore than a word processor is. Some people are quicker and picking up new software than others and it may benefit some people more than others, but there's no harm in people giving it a go.

First, fuck higher scores at Literotica as any sort of reality-based writer's goal.

As one who was writing when the typewriter was the only mechanical crutch, I praise the computer and Internet as writer's tools. Beyond that, I don't write by programming aids or committee, so you or anyone else can have my share of that.

 

[TheRedChamber]

This emphasis on scores I keep reading about… Can I assume this is Lit ratings, followers, etc? (I’ve only done one story so far, so I’m learning).

There are analogs to these scores in mainstream fiction marketing, sales, social media likes… but your number one priority
in mainstream - if you’re trying to make money - is building your base by connecting to the readers.

Personally, I just want to have a conversation with readers about the concepts I’ve presented, because it enriches my experience to learn more through dialogue - the story is only the opening remark.

But I do understand how those numbers give authors little dopamine hits (like when my partner strokes my neck because I’ve been a good girl - no, probably not like that… I digress).

There are authors that write absolute garbage, but if they connect with their audience and give them with they want with just a little bit of novelty (uniquely familiar, is the term), your scores should be excellent.

I know this thread is about plotting. But if the metrics Lit provides are validating and important to you, your better bet is to research HOW YOUR READERS FIND WHAT THEY WANT - ideally your readers are turned on by the same things you are - and make sure you deliver you story that way. Probably tags and category is the best way to do this (from what I’ve seen), and be really careful about adding tags that draw the wrong audience. Just because your story contains spanking, if it’s not the feature, consider not including the tag. A disappointed reader is going to give you a bad score, even if you’re the Tolstoy of erotica.

Yes, there's a variety of different numbers that can be used as a measure of 'success'. The chief one that you might not be aware of is the Red H or Hot rating which is awarded to stories which have over 10 votes and an average score of over 4.5. A lot of people want them (including me) but it's also a very binary metric - 4.51 = success, 4.49 = failure and that's probably not very healthy to get obsessed with. Still, it's generally believed that having that H next to your story in the lists drives more readers to your stories, especially if you can get it in the first 2 4 hours or else the first week when your story is the most visible.

The other thing to be aware of is that scores on Lit tend to the high. One of the members did an analysis a year or so ago and for most categories the average is over 4 (Loving Wives and Interracial being the more notable exceptions). Most people who vote give out 5s or at worst a 4, but at the other extreme, there's a lot of complaints on the forum about 1-bombing. If you're aiming for 4.5 then to balance a single 1-score and maintain your average you need seven 5-scores - and H-stories mostly aren't that rare (though this varies for category to category) so you can see people are mostly generous. But, because of this, people also tend to get sore if their story dips under 4.0. I started a thread a few months ago about low scores- and it's notable how many regular forum-members have no stories under 4. Still a lot of authors have a story to tell about their own 3-piece, usually because they've tried something unqiue, weird, or offended the conventions of the category they were posting in. It just works out that getting the high scores are less about making most people happy and more about making nearly no-one unhappy - 'uniquely familiar' is a good term, this varies a lot by category again, but a lot of them want more familiar than unique in the mix.

There's no reason not to tag well, it only takes a minute or so, but it's not necessarily clear that many readers use this function - perhaps those with very specific fetishes - but another common complaint people have is that they cleary tagged and added a disclaimer that their story was a 'gay male, superfat, small penis humiliation, watersports, incest' fantasy and still get homophobic, fat-shaming, incelish, disgusted and morally offended comments. There are a lot of trolls under certain Literotica bridges. Utimately, the most important thing that determines which readers see your story is which category you put it in - and if what you write doesn't naturally fit into the conventions of that category or if you write stories that span multiple categories it can be difficult to limit your audience to only those who will enjoy what you're writing. (If you're interested there are some good essays about what each categories expect)

Most people want more interaction or feedback with readers, but this is difficult on the site. I average about 1 comment for every 1,700 views and many of them are not very detailed anyway. Still, a single nice comment out of thousands of views can put a smile on your face all day. If readers commented at ten-times the rate they currently do, I think a lot of us would be a lot less focused on scores - we're all aware that they are penicious and not really representative of the true quality of the work. Often, however, they're all we have to indicate if a work was well recieved or not and it's natural to wonder about this.

The old argument of 'write-for-your readers' vs 'write-for-yourself' is very common on this board. If you put a gun to my head and told me I had to write ten Hot stories in a month, I'd probably do it fairly easily by focusing on key predicatable categories and including all the tropes and not overstepping certain well understood lines. Many of us, however, want to write what we want to write, but also get the recognition our genius obviously deserves, and this forum often rings with the wailing and gnashing of teeth when that circle doesn't square nicely. Other, probably wiser heads, such as KeithD, have checked out of the score game entirely. There's one infamous writer here, SamuelX, who has written over 3,000 stories over 18 years and has never scored over 4 and mostly scored much lower (correction, as I type he has exactly one story at exactly 4.00). He's clearly loves writing and hasn't over the years felt the need to adapt to score any higher.

 

[EStaccato]

Yes, there's a variety of different numbers that can be used as a measure of 'success'. The chief one that you might not be aware of is the Red H or Hot rating which is awarded to stories which have over 10 votes and an average score of over 4.5. A lot of people want them (including me) but it's also a very binary metric - 4.51 = success, 4.49 = failure and that's probably not very healthy to get obsessed with. Still, it's generally believed that having that H next to your story in the lists drives more readers to your stories, especially if you can get it in the first 2 4 hours or else the first week when your story is the most visible.

The other thing to be aware of is that scores on Lit tend to the high. One of the members did an analysis a year or so ago and for most categories the average is over 4 (Loving Wives and Interracial being the more notable exceptions). Most people who vote give out 5 or at worst a 4, but at the other extreme, there's a lot of complaints on the forum about 1-bombing. If you're aiming for 4.5 then to balance a single 1-score and maintain your average you need seven 5-scores - and H-stories mostly aren't that rare (though this varies for category to category) so people are mostly generous. But, because of this, people also tend to get sore if their story dips under 4.0. I started a thread a few months ago about low scores- and it's notable how many regular forum-members have no stories under 4. Still a lot of authors have a story to tell about their own 3-piece, usually because they've tried something unqiue, weird, or offended the conventions of the category they were posting in. It just works out that getting the high scores are less about making most people happy and more about making no-one unhappy - 'uniquely familiar' is a good term, this varies a lot by category again, but a lot of them want more familiar than unique in the mix.

There's no reason not to tag well, it only takes a minute or so, but it's not necessarily clear that many readers use this function - perhaps those with very specific fetishes - but another common complaint people have is that they cleary tagged and added a disclaimer that their story was a 'gay male, superfat, small penis humiliation, watersports, incest' fantasy and still get homophobic, fat-shaming, incelish, disgusted and morally offended comments. There are a lot of trolls under certain Literotica bridges. Utimately, the most important thing that determines which readers see your story is which category you put it in - and if what you write doesn't naturally fit into the conventions of that category or if you write stories that span multiple categories it can be difficult to limit your audience to only those who will enjoy what you're writing. (If you're interested there are some good essays about what each categories expect)

Most people want more interaction or feedback with readers, but this is difficult on the site. I average about 1 comment for every 1,700 views and many of them are not very detailed anyway. Still, a single nice comment out of thousands can put a smile on your face all day. If readers commented at ten-times the rate they currently do, I think a lot of us would be a lot less focused on scores - we're all aware that they are penicious and not really representative of the true quality of the work. Often, however, they're all we have to indicate if a work was well recieved or not and it's natural to wonder about this.

The old argument of 'write-for-your readers' vs 'write-for-yourself' is very common on this board. If you put a gun to my head and told me I had to write ten Hot stories in a month, I'd probably do it fairly easily by focusing on key predicatable categories and including all the tropes and not overstepping certain well understood lines. Many of us, however, want to write what we want to write, but also get the recognition our genius obviously deserves, and this forum is often rings with the wailing and gnashing of teeth when that circle doesn't square nicely. Other, probably wiser heads, such as KeithD, have checked out of the score game entirely. There's one infamous writer here, SamuelX, who has written over 3,000 stories over 18 years and has never scored over 4 and mostly scored much lower (correction, as I type he has exactly one story at exactly 4.00). He's clearly loves writing and hasn't over the years felt the need to adapt to score any higher.

This is extremely interesting. Thank you for taking so much time to share all of this.