Sadness when you submit?

[Carnevil9]

I am a fairly new author here (two accepted, one pending), but I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: there is a profound sense of sadness that accompanies the submission of a story. Yes, there is a feeling of accomplishment, but there is also a twinge of loss. While I'm working on the story, it is a living, breathing entity and we enjoy a symbiotic relationship: I feed the story, and it feeds me. It grows, and I grow with it. We give each other pleasure and purpose and a daily dose of life.

But, once pasted into that submission box and the final button pushed, it is FROZEN in time. It is gone. It is cast forth upon the ocean of the cold cruel world to live or die on its own merits, and there is precious little more that I can do for it. All that is left is to start another story, which will be loved anew, on its own merits, but is never a replacement for the one that is gone.

I don't have any offspring, but I can only imagine that this feeling is similar to that of a parent for their child making that first trek out of state to college or to their first apartment.

Am I the only one who has this vague sense of loss? Or is it common? Just curious......Carney

 

[S-Des]

Very common. There was a similar thread at the beginning of the summer (although I have no clue who started it). I don't feel it during submission, but after the first frenetic days, when things start to calm down. I get most of my comments in the first 72 hours, so after that I start to feel down, knowing that the ride is coming to an end (or at least slowing considerably). I don't submit a lot of stories, so I know it will be a while until the next ride. That's my favorite part, the wild comments I get (good and bad) and my mood swings as I anticipate the reaction, then get to see what the reader's reactions actually are.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Carney,

I create all my characters first and the story sometime later. Because of that I have lots of "friends" running around in my head. I used to feel the same sadness. But I don't anymore. I got rid of many of them and now keep writing with just a few. When they get submitted to Lit, I know they will be back with another story they want me to write. So it's never "Good Bye" just "Via Condios"

Even the waiting for the story to post doesn't bother me. It's the first couple weeks after the story does post and all the negative feedback starts to roll in that I feel like I'm back in college - I should have studied. Who the hell is Milard Filmore? Did we talk about him? They have gold in Peru? Who would possibly know that shit?

Fortunately, I don't get much negative feedback so my world is kewl

 

[Tom Collins]

I think it must be something like sending your little baby off to kindergarden on that very first day. A sense of losing something that's only been yours up until that point, but also a feeling of having done something good and worth doing.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

I go back here often

 

[Carnevil9]

I go back here often

Thanks for the link! Lots of good thoughts there. I suppose it is like post-partum depression. Maybe Tom Cruise can get me some meds......Carney

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Thanks for the link! Lots of good thoughts there. I suppose it is like post-partum depression. Maybe Tom Cruise can get me some meds......Carney

One of my favorite Abs posts

" Because you release part of your soul into the universe and like any good parent you hope it soars safely away."

... and, you're welcome

 

[S-Des]

I think it must be something like sending your little baby off to kindergarden on that very first day. A sense of losing something that's only been yours up until that point, but also a feeling of having done something good and worth doing.

Ugh, I wish you hadn't used that analogy. The wound is still too fresh. It is a good one though. You feel like you're losing something, even though you really aren't, just sharing something (hopefully wonderful) with the world.

 

[AceStroker]

The only thing I feel sad about when hitting that submit button is that I've lost all control over the story: any thing I'd like to add/subtract/rewrite or any misspelings or things of that nature are now there for all eternity and I can't do anything about it. (Except resubmit, but I'm particularly lazy that way!)

 

[Aurora Black]

It's like an emotional merry-go-round for me:

When I submit a story, I'm happy as hell.

During the "pending" stage, I'm nervous.

When it's first out, I'm content.

When it's praised, I smile.

When it's trolled, I shrug and say "Fuck 'em" before moving on to the next project.

This is what I do to fight the post-submission blues: I tell myself that there's nothing more I can do for the story in question, and I accept that it's out of my hands at that point. I distance myself from the "lost child," and I start the process of raising another. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed.

 

[amicus]

[QUOTE=Carnevil9]I am a fairly new author here (two accepted, one pending), but I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: there is a profound sense of sadness that accompanies the submission of a story. Yes, there is a feeling of accomplishment, but there is also a twinge of loss. While I'm working on the story, it is a living, breathing entity and we enjoy a symbiotic relationship: I feed the story, and it feeds me. It grows, and I grow with it. We give each other pleasure and purpose and a daily dose of life.

But, once pasted into that submission box and the final button pushed, it is FROZEN in time. It is gone. It is cast forth upon the ocean of the cold cruel world to live or die on its own merits, and there is precious little more that I can do for it. All that is left is to start another story, which will be loved anew, on its own merits, but is never a replacement for the one that is gone.

I don't have any offspring, but I can only imagine that this feeling is similar to that of a parent for their child making that first trek out of state to college or to their first apartment..."

Am I the only one who has this vague sense of loss? Or is it common? Just curious......Carney[/QUOTE]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seems you got the answer...it also applies to newspaper reporters...but after the first 100 pieces get published and then 500...it feels different...the same with publishing fictional works...the first few stories leave you on tenterhooks, then after 20 or 50...it begins to change....

good luck...hope many fine comments find their way to you...

amicus...

 

[Decayed Angel]

Exorcism

It's kind of the opposite for me, it's more like I exorcised it from my head and now can get onto thinking about something else, until another story begins to bounce around in there. Hitting that submit button frees me from the story... at least until someone begins to ask about a sequel...

 

[oggbashan]

Yes - I do feel a sense of loss when I have submitted a story. Except for correcting typos that become obvious as soon as its published, I leave the story as it is. It is a completed work, warts and all.

And No - I also feel a sense of completion, of satisfaction that at least THAT story is finished. There are so many more in part-completed form that need work that actually submitting one brings a sense of relief as well.

I can always revisit the story after a few weeks or months and wonder 'Did I write that? Why? What was I thinking of?'. After a year or so, the detachment from the posted story is so strong that I have to force myself back into that mood if I want to write a sequel. The Og who wrote a story five years ago is not the Og of today. I can imagine that it could be hell for a composer/musician to have to play all his/her old works when the emotion that produced them is long outgrown.

Og

 

[deathlynx]

Not really...anticipation...Always the hope that I'll get some good feedback on it that will help me grow as a writer...when in doubt you can always delete the story after you've done another edit based on the feedback and resubmit it...I always hope for feedback...Sure I love the positive stuff...nothing makes my day like recieving a message saying they loved it...But I also take constructive criticism to heart...(and ignore the blatant trolls or ones which I don't think needs changing like "too short")...

I would say there's less problem for posting here than I would imagine a book going to the printers...But even there it's always possible to publish a new eddition if it does well...Numerous authors have gone back and added stuff to their work...

 

[Minervous]

.....

 

[duddle146]

Too much affection for some of my characters. *laughs*

Carney's original message rang a bell and got me to thinking back on stories I have submitted here on Literotica. Once in a while when I reread some of my stories I feel that sweet affection for a character that I especially grew to love.

And yet, in a isolated Zip Drive hooked to my computer are many many more wonderful and not so wonderful colorful characters that will never see the light of day - residing in finished - partially finished stories. I love being involved in the lives of my characters - and like a proud parent...well - perhaps an old Frank Sinatra song says it best. "This love of mine, goes on and on, tho' life is empty since you are gone...," Hell, I'm starting to get maudlin - I'll shut the fuck up!*laughing* Okay...I guess it's time for me to wake up and smell the coffee...