Sometimes we authors work too hard

[angela146]

I find it ironic that my highest rated story is also my simplest and most trivial.

It's about laying in bed at night and helping my husband masturbate. There's no audio, no creative sex, nothing kinky, just a hand job (OK a vibrator job but you know what I mean).

Perhaps the folks reading the story are doing just what my husband is doing but they don't have a girl next to them helping out.

Maybe that's all they need.

Well, I'm still going to try to write "literatue" but I might just have to throw in a few stroke stories too. They're easy and they get votes.

 

[English Lady]

You know my highest scoring story is one that was written in a matter of hours,based round a fantasy of my husband BUT my other high scorer took months to write and is mch more complex in it's plot. I think the stories that I enjoy writing do the best for me. Forcing it just doesn't work in my case anyway.

 

[damppanties]

I've stopped thinking about ratings (or at least I'm trying!) The stories I like are not rated highly. The ones I think are average are liked by readers and voted highly. I have no idea what it's all about.

 

[Guest]

 

[Colleen Thomas]

It isn't too hard to guess why a simple story might be you rmost highly rated. A portion of the readership don't give a hoot about your characters, the plot or the literary merits of a work. They just need something to give thier mind a little direction while they work themselves up. That isn't all the readership by any means, but I am willing to wager that a significant portion of the readership put less thought into th story than the author did.

Simplicity can be very erotic as Des noted in the erotic thread. A simple story, one that could have happened to anyone, may allow your readers to draw upon thier own memories of similar happenings. If this occurs it makes the story more "personal" to them and may move them to vote because it's touching.

Just some random pre coffee thoughts

-Colly

 

[Boxlicker101]

One of my most highly rated stories, with a rating of 4.65, is the first one I wrote, and is also the shortest. Personally, I consider it to be inferior to most others. Possibly, people will read thrugh it while wankng or frigging and will give it high marks when they finish. With the others, they get themselves off before finishing them and don't vote, and the people who do vote on the others do so on literary merit, etc. I will readily concede there is very little literary merit in my stories.

 

[gauchecritic]

I find it ironic that my highest rated story is also my simplest and most trivial.

Well, I'm still going to try to write "literatue" but I might just have to throw in a few stroke stories too. They're easy and they get votes.

So ask yourself the question, do you want critical acclaim or do you want money?

An Oscar or a Palm D'or?

Simplicity can be literature.

Or do you mean that you tossed the story off (pun intended) without deep thought, plots, characterisation, sweat, blood and/or tears. I'll ask why do you think it isn't literature?

Gauche

 

[Boxlicker101]

Re: Re: Sometimes we authors work too hard

So ask yourself the question, do you want critical acclaim or do you want money?

An Oscar or a Palm D'or?

Simplicity can be literature.

Or do you mean that you tossed the story off (pun intended) without deep thought, plots, characterisation, sweat, blood and/or tears. I'll ask why do you think it isn't literature?

Gauche

I don't know that I get either. Certainly, I don't get any money, which is okay because I just write for fun. I don't know about critical acclaim. If somebody writes me an email or includes a PC saying something like "Good story. I really got off on it," I suppose that could be considered to be critical acclaim.

 

[angela146]

Thank you, Gauche, for asking the seminal (pun intended) question.

So ask yourself the question, do you want critical acclaim or do you want money? An Oscar or a Palm D'or?

Not money, just critical acclaim, adoring fans, the knowledge that thousands of people are enjoying my writing, maybe some groupies and the satisfaction of having created a timeless work of art.

Simplicity can be literature. Or do you mean that you tossed the story off (pun intended) without deep thought, plots, characterisation, sweat, blood and/or tears.

Yes, it was too damned easy. I feel as if I'm cheating. Writing is supposed to be hard isn't it?

I'll ask why do you think it isn't literature?

I feel as if I've flipped a burger at McDonalds. Where is the craftsmanship, the texture, the artistry?

And the point of this thread is that doing the easy work that satisfies the daily hunger is a rewarding part of being an author.

There is art that hangs in galleries: appreciated, mulled over and considered at a time when the viewer is ready for art. There is also art that hangs in the livingroom, seen appreciated and made part of everyday life, for times when you just want a little art to cheer you up.

Living room art, McD's burgers and the simple stroke story make a difference in the daily lives of thousands. A good orgasm, inspired by a simple little story, and enjoyed by few thousand people, is a rewarding thing, made no less rewarding by the fact that it's easy.

 

[oggbashan]

My NaNoWriMo chapters scored higher than my 'normal' writing despite the speed at which they were written.

Now I need to edit them for NaNoEdMo but I'm afraid to do too much and lose their apparent appeal.

Og

 

[gauchecritic]

Yes, it was too damned easy. I feel as if I'm cheating. Writing is supposed to be hard isn't it?I feel as if I've flipped a burger at McDonalds. Where is the craftsmanship, the texture, the artistry?
[/B]

Erm no. Writing is a piece of piss.

Stopping writing is hard. Editing is hard. Trying to not use too many adjectives is hard. Thinking that your story could be so much better if only... is hard.

Analyzing each sentence for dangling participles or pronoun mis-use is hard (and pointless)

Looking for somewhere or somehow to inject a theme or sub-plot is hard (again pointless)

Writing is easy, deal with it.

Gauche