That weird parasocial thing some readers do

[lovecraft68]

I wasn't talking about negative reactions per se. I don't consider a comment like "I'd rather have read about Cassie fucking Jim" to be negative. Instead, it gets me thinking about whether Cassie ought to fuck Jim. By the way, the answer is "no". At least so far.

Oh, yeah. You can post 40 chapters of two people screwing and if you stop, they still want more so I never take those too seriously.

My fifteen years writing here I've done two sequels and both were in the last year but only because I really enjoyed the characters and thought they had more to say.

I do like the troll comments of "Please stop!" Though, those are funny.

 

[sirhugs]

I started writing as a hobby a few months ago and used to think I should give readers what they want. Tried that and it made me less interested in the story I'm writing. Now I just think I should write it however I want and see how many people like it. Maybe that's a better mindset to have to stay interested as a writer (at least for me, anyway). I won't really know until the re-edited version of my story finally gets published...

I suggest that there is a middle ground where you write what you want, but try to do so in a way that pleases readers. Otherwise, you won't encourage them to read future stories; you won't get as many favourites (not that I care about them); you won't get as high scores (I care more than I should) or comments (including good comments, about which I care).

 

[sirhugs]

Oh, yeah. You can post 40 chapters of two people screwing and if you stop, they still want more so I never take those too seriously.

My fifteen years writing here I've done two sequels and both were in the last year but only because I really enjoyed the characters and thought they had more to say.

I do like the troll comments of "Please stop!" Though, those are funny.

My second Lit story (ulp... 23 years ago) was a sequel to my first. That plot line ran five stories (I think) before I branched out. I now do sequels whenever I feel like I have more to say about the characters (or their world). Lately, there has been a lot of that.

Trolls are such fun.

 

[Belegon]

For my Summer Lovin’ story, I had a comment saying that the FMC and MMC were ‘acting out of character.’ Given the FMC was loosely based on me and the MMC on my SO, this was news to me .

When Imp and I published Spring Training, we had a reviewer respond very strongly that "No red-blooded american male would ever act like this!!!" in response to the more mature of the two MMC. I had an extreme problem with this as the characters' attitudes that were in question were pulled directly out of my own personal make up and last I checked I am red blooded, American and most decidedly male.

 

[Belegon]

people in general have a world view that says "wht is importanto to me is more important than what is important to you." That's hardly a revelation. I suspect things have been that way for thousands of years.

 

[nice90sguy]

things have been that way for thousands of years

Yes and no, I think. People used to be united a lot more (by often severely oppressive religious, political, royal or military powers, admittedly).

I think the O.P. is highlighting what a lot of people now feel, a sense of entitlement that's emerged in the last few years (and is leading to a lot more intolerance of other people's views and opinions).

 

[pink_silk_glove]

a sense of entitlement that's emerged in the last few years (and is leading to a lot more intolerance of other people's views and opinions).

That would be called PC cancel culture.

 

[Djmac1031]

And this brings to mind yet again this fascinating comment left behind on My Daughter, The Nudist, by a reader apparently VERY upset by the idea that my MMC didn't actually follow through with his dark fantasies and fuck his own daughter:

Idiotic. What the heck is the matter with Phil (aka you?) She's not a child, and he wouldnt be "exploiting" her, for gods sake. In fact she's far less of a child than he is - she could have taught him so much about intimacy. Theres so much more to mature sex - physical bonding - than Phil denied to them both, with much permanent damage and estrangement, because of his/your thoroughly fatuous (fat-headed) attachment to childish Sunday school mumbo jumbo, and archaic Augustinian control mechanisms. And yet he/you embraced prostitution, and the amorality of all that tawdry, scripted deception and secrecy.
Life is so short, with so few chances of experiencing something special, without a harmful downside.
You've saddened my whole day.

My story was about temptation and the difference between fantasy and reality.

But this guy apparently thought it was a biography.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

My story was about temptation and the difference between fantasy and reality.

But this guy apparently thought it was a biography.

Some people write stories and some write personal fantasies. Often those lines are certainly blurred. Some readers read for stories and some read for fantasies. Some insist that you write your fantasy. Those people are too fucking lazy to write their own. Then they get angry when you don't write the story that they want. I have no fucking time for these retarded assholes.

This particular goof believes that it's perfectly okay to fuck his own daughter. Proof right here ...

Life is so short, with so few chances of experiencing something special, without a harmful downside.
You've saddened my whole day.

You gave him a character that felt that there might be a downside to fucking his own daughter. That pissed him off. You didn't necessarily agree with him. Apparently, that makes you a douchebag. What the fuck is wrong with you? : P

Must be a horrible existence to live in a world where not everyone agrees with you that you should be allowed to fuck your own daughter. It's everyone else's fault, especially yours, that he can't fuck his own daughter. Beyond pathetic if you ask me.

 

[Z_TheWriter]

I think some of the "it would have been better like this" comments actually come from a sincere, but maybe misguided place.
A reader may think that they could be the only one who think so, "but what if I wasn't?". What if them writing comment number 349 to that effect is the thing that makes the author realize this is what the audience wants?

I think there may be an issue of perception in two ways. Yes some readers don't see much difference between you (I feel wrong including myself - yet.) and themselves. But on the other hand, some don't realize the enormous difference between a Literotica writer and say Brandon Sanderson or Paul Auster whose work is commented on by thousands every day, so what a singular person says really doesn't matter.

If you see the author as just another person like you, going "it should have..." feels like imposing your will on another person's work. If you see them as this nebulous creator in a sea of feedback, you're simply attempting to make the tide turn slightly more in your direction.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

Perhaps the issue stems from this being a site for amateur writers. Readers don't see much difference between themselves and us: people who enjoy erotic fantasies


As writers, we're just the ones who go to the trouble of writing them down. But, to their mind, that's a minor extension of imagining the fantasy, and so their version deserves as much attention.

Or something like that.

Wow. This hit home too closely. Is that true? Are we just a horny bunch who happen to write down our fantasies? After having published seven stories so far, two of which have rightfully received red Hs, I like to consider myself part of the same breed as Hemingway, Tolstoy, Tolkien, Stephen King, Harper Lee, and Lucy Maud Montgomery. I am disillusioned now. Maybe they are right. I might be just a pervert and nothing more.