The Official Authors' Hangout Summer Lovin' Support Thread 2018

[RejectReality]

I consider any story I post to Mature that gets less than 600 votes depressing. Granted, I have a long track record in the category, and a large percentage of my stories in other categories have age-difference themes as well.

My first entry in the category was moved there from EC by Laurel. I thought it would be a death knell for the story, and it ended up getting more votes/views than the incest story I had out at the time. I say a little "thank you" to her every time I click the button for the Mature category on a new story.

My lowest is 533 and I average a little over 1200 per story.

It's anything but a small category.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I was referring to the balance of elements in an erotic story--plot, characterization, setting, theme, and, for erotica, sexual arousal. A stroker makes sure it takes care of sexual arousal early enough to engage readers coming for that element being highlighted.

There's nothing in your second paragraph that I haven't posted in the past myself. I haven't posted anything about the story needing to be short to qualify as a stroker. I did post that a plot can be delivered in fifty words--that was to respond to tiresome discussion here about stories with plots or even with sufficient character development having to be three or more Lit. pages. They don't.

Hey, thanks for the explanation Keith. I appreciate your thoughts. I hope my second paragraph didn't sound scoldy or off-putting. I am just mostly ranting here, but I did want to get clarification about where you were going with the balance stuff.

I wish most of the stories here were 5k to 8k, instead of the behemoths that often get posted. It's like there is a conspiracy to laud long drawn out twisty plots that aren't very interesting or don't do much to develop characters. Now I really am ranting, but not at anyone in particular. If I had more reading time, I might want the longer stories, but if they're going to be long, I really want them to hold my attention.

 

[KeithD]

I hope my second paragraph didn't sound scoldy or off-putting.

No, not off-putting. I agreed with it.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yup, that's what I think too. Mostly. Does it have to be short?

We're venturing into discussion territory about what different people mean when they use a term, rather than about the different things people think satisfy a commonly understood term. The second is a meaningful discussion; the first is not.

Bottom line is a stroke story is a story designed to help somebody achieve orgasm, and not do much else. That's not to say other, longer, more artistic stories cannot achieve this goal, and have "stroke-worthy" qualities, but I don't think that's what most people have in mind when they use the term. "Stroke story" is a limiting, often derisive term.

A person looking for a stroke story has the lube out and is looking for a story to help the goal get achieved, and the rest is unnecessary.

So by this definition, it's not going to be a long story. It's going to be long enough to get the job done (you don't want the words to run out before the stroker/reader does), and no more. If all goes well the story and the reader reach their climax at the same time.

That's what I mean by "stroke story," but nobody ever appointed me the expert on the topic, and my opinion is no better than anyone else's.

 

[KeithD]

Bottom line is a stroke story is a story designed to help somebody achieve orgasm, and not do much else.

I think you drift into "too far" territory and personal prejudiced opinion with the second clause. I'm fine with your first clause. I'm not fine with the derogatory slant of the second clause. For one thing you seem to falsely assume there's going to be only one sex act in a "story designed to help somebody achieve orgasm" stroke story and so the story ipso facto is going to be short. I frequently fire off sex acts left and right in a two-or-three-Lit page story and pack in all of the elements of a short story as well.

And "not do much else" is a negative criticism that just reveals prejudice, I think.

I guess it's gotten to the point of "that's just your 'put down' opinion" and I'll continue merrily proceeding to attempt stories that fully fulfill what a short story is and also aid readers in getting off--usually more than once.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think you drift into "too far" territory and personal prejudiced opinion with the second clause. I'm fine with your first clause. I'm not fine with the derogatory slant of the second clause. For one thing you seem to falsely assume there's going to be only one sex act in a "story designed to help somebody achieve orgasm" stroke story and so the story ipso facto is going to be short. I frequently fire off sex acts left and right in a two-or-three-Lit page story and pack in all of the elements of a short story as well.

And "not do much else" is a negative criticism that just reveals prejudice, I think.

I guess it's gotten to the point of "that's just your 'put down' opinion" and I'll continue merrily proceeding to attempt stories that fully fulfill what a short story is and also aid readers in getting off--usually more than once.

It's not a criticism at all, and if it came off that way either I wrote it the wrong way or you understood it the wrong way.

I'd never heard the term "stroke story" -- or, at least, I don't recall hearing it -- until I started writing stories here and reading these forums. The term often seemed to be somewhat derogatory, e.g, "It's just a stroke story." I'm adopting what I sense is that common understanding, for the sake of convention rather than any personal prejudice.

I agree, by the way, that it's a fallacy that one cannot write a complete and interesting short story in relatively few words, and that a peculiarity of some Lit readers is they don't seem to appreciate this. Many Lit "short" stories are not very short by normal short story conventions. They're either very long short stories or mini-novellas.

So I'm not personally criticizing "short" short stories or criticizing stories that emphasize "stroke" elements.

 

[cw5523729]

Just to point out, if "stroke story" was intended to be derisive, multiple erotic literature websites wouldn't use it as a classification that the author themselves would select

 

[ChloeTzang]

Just to point out, if "stroke story" was intended to be derisive, multiple erotic literature websites wouldn't use it as a classification that the author themselves would select

Actually, I like "stroke story" as a description. They serve a purpose. Sometimes you don't want a novel. You just want a hot little story that feeds your imagination for long enough and then..... ahhhhhh, that was nice!

 

[TANSTAAFL58]

Actually, I like "stroke story" as a description. They serve a purpose. Sometimes you don't want a novel. You just want a hot little story that feeds your imagination for long enough and then..... ahhhhhh, that was nice!

Until I read the last few posts, it never occurred to me that "Stroke Story" wasn't a positive description, a compliment even. Getting someone aroused enough to masturbate in under 3500 words is an accomplishment. It's a standard I hope I can rise to. (Yeah, I did that).

 

[oggbashan]

Until I read the last few posts, it never occurred to me that "Stroke Story" wasn't a positive description, a compliment even. Getting someone aroused enough to masturbate in under 3500 words is an accomplishment. It's a standard I hope I can rise to. (Yeah, I did that).

Literotica is large enough to showcase many types of story. Some think that the Top Lists are too biased towards multiple chaptered stories in which each chapter isn't really a story but a sex scene, repeated in the next chapter and the next...

Yes, they can be popular. But so can stories that have a more definite plot line. It depends what readers want now.

People want different things. They might have specific fetishes, specific fantasies, and even very odd hang-ups. If they search they should find almost everything on Literotica except underage sex and snuff.

Want bad writing? It's here.

Want explicit sex? It's here.

Want romance? It's here.

Want Wham! Bang! Thank you, Ma'am! It's here.

Want Dungeon and Dragon? It's here.

Want one-handed reading? It's here.

Want long, slow, gradual building of a plot? It's here.

+++

Which is best?

That's a value judgement for readers to make for themselves.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

There's a good chance that your score will be fixed by the sweeps, so wait it out.

Well, there was a sweep. My vote total only dropped by 4, but my average score went from 4.45 to 4.60.

 

[NotWise]

Well, there was a sweep. My vote total only dropped by 4, but my average score went from 4.45 to 4.60.

I've seen a few votes removed from my contest story and another story lost a 5*. I think this is a little cleanup. The real sweep will come right before the winners are announced.

 

[KeithD]

I had a total of two votes sliced off three contest stories in the last day, with the rate of two stories going up, but that was followed by a near simultaneous down vote on all of those and my most recent regular story file. We'll see how the final sweep does.

 

[cw5523729]

So my story has had two jumps in score, but the number of votes hasn't actually changed. As near as I can tell, based on the score change, 2 different votes that were "1" are now "5".

I can understand the sweep removing bogus duplicate votes or 1 bombs, but what explanation is there for a change in vote like that? I can't imagine that two people who thought my story was god awful suddenly had a massive change of heart.

 

[NotWise]

So my story has had two jumps in score, but the number of votes hasn't actually changed. As near as I can tell, based on the score change, 2 different votes that were "1" are now "5".

I can understand the sweep removing bogus duplicate votes or 1 bombs, but what explanation is there for a change in vote like that? I can't imagine that two people who thought my story was god awful suddenly had a massive change of heart.

People can't change their votes. The site removed two votes and you received two votes over the same period of time. The listing for your story on the BDSM 30-day top list shows 167 votes, which is too many votes to let you be sure what votes were actually removed or cast.

 

[cw5523729]

People can't change their votes. The site removed two votes and you received two votes over the same period of time. The listing for your story on the BDSM 30-day top list shows 167 votes, which is too many votes to let you be sure what votes were actually removed or cast.

Ah, duh. That makes perfect sense. Stupid me. Thank you.

 

[JustinFinaughty]

People can't change their votes. The site removed two votes and you received two votes over the same period of time. The listing for your story on the BDSM 30-day top list shows 167 votes, which is too many votes to let you be sure what votes were actually removed or cast.

So, I'm pretty new to the voting here (posted a few stories over the past few years, but never looked at the voting structure until this contest) - how do you know how many votes you have?

 

[NotWise]

So, I'm pretty new to the voting here (posted a few stories over the past few years, but never looked at the voting structure until this contest) - how do you know how many votes you have?

Go to your user control panel (new version), and select "Works" from the links on the left. You will find a list of your published stories. The last line in the entry for each story contains the status for your story including the number of favorites (marked with a heart), the number of views (marked with a histogram) and the score/number of votes (marked with a star).

 

[oggbashan]

The latest sweep seemed to have moved my story's rating significantly but its losing votes much faster than they are added.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, I'm pretty new to the voting here (posted a few stories over the past few years, but never looked at the voting structure until this contest) - how do you know how many votes you have?

As Not Wise says: the data is shown in this order:

Story Title,
12 Favourites, v
Views count 2.9k (will show the actual number, eg: 2,890 if you click on it)
4.82 / 50 = the rating from 50 votes
12 Comments

 

[JustinFinaughty]

Go to your user control panel (new version), and select "Works" from the links on the left. You will find a list of your published stories. The last line in the entry for each story contains the status for your story including the number of favorites (marked with a heart), the number of views (marked with a histogram) and the score/number of votes (marked with a star).

ok thanks - is this something you can view for other authors as well, or just for your own works?

 

[SimonDoom]

ok thanks - is this something you can view for other authors as well, or just for your own works?

If you go to another author's submissions page, you can see a list of their stories, with the story's score next to the title. If you click on the story, and scroll to the bottom, you can see the number of views, comments, and favorites the story has, but not the votes.

The only place I know of that another author's votes are visible is on a toplist, where the vote total for the story is in parentheses.

 

[JustinFinaughty]

If you go to another author's submissions page, you can see a list of their stories, with the story's score next to the title. If you click on the story, and scroll to the bottom, you can see the number of views, comments, and favorites the story has, but not the votes.

The only place I know of that another author's votes are visible is on a toplist, where the vote total for the story is in parentheses.

Ahh - that makes sense as to why this thread shares info about some of the votes, but I couldn't figure out where they were pulling the info from.
I have 150+ favorites in this summer contest, so i think i'm doing ok, but maybe that's assuming a correlation between votes and favorites?
My score keeps bouncing around by a few tenths, so i guess that's the sweep you've been talking about?
Looking forward to seeing the results - this has been a fun experience.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Ahh - that makes sense as to why this thread shares info about some of the votes, but I couldn't figure out where they were pulling the info from.
I have 150+ favorites in this summer contest, so i think i'm doing ok, but maybe that's assuming a correlation between votes and favorites?
My score keeps bouncing around by a few tenths, so i guess that's the sweep you've been talking about?
Looking forward to seeing the results - this has been a fun experience.

There's no real correlation between faves and votes that I've seen - although different categories seem to have different reader behaviours. 150 + faves for one story is pretty good, though.

You can usually spot when a sweep has gone through, because the number of votes will go down and usually your score will go up because the system is is stripping out one-bombs. Sometimes, though, "helpful fives" can also disappear, if it looks like a five star has been given without human reading time on a page.

 

[SimonDoom]

Ahh - that makes sense as to why this thread shares info about some of the votes, but I couldn't figure out where they were pulling the info from.
I have 150+ favorites in this summer contest, so i think i'm doing ok, but maybe that's assuming a correlation between votes and favorites?
My score keeps bouncing around by a few tenths, so i guess that's the sweep you've been talking about?
Looking forward to seeing the results - this has been a fun experience.

Your story is doing very well by every measure. You can see its vote count when you check out the I/T toplist. It has a high vote to view ratio, which means people liked it after starting it enough to finish it. That's partly also the result of the fact that it's short -- readers are more likely to finish a short story and vote on it. 150+ favorites is a lot for a story that hasn't been published that long.

I also published an incest story in the summer contest. The score hasn't really been affected by sweeps, from what I can tell. I know I received a few 1 votes shortly after publication, and I imagine they were swept away, but I never saw a noticeable bump in the score.

I was amused by the fact that your story was about camping with a sister. I was working up a very similar concept when I saw your story -- you beat me to the punch!

Update: OK, I just read your story, and it's downright eerie, because my story also was going to involve a backpack in the Sierra Nevada and also was going to have them getting together in a sleeping bag to avoid hypothermia! Back to the drawing board . . .