Visions

[cheerful_deviant]

Overall I like the format of Lit but it's probablly justs because I've bexome accustomed to it. However, there are several areas that I feel could use improvement.

As many of the other authors in the past have noted, the voting is aggravating at best. While I like the idea of voting, there should be more control on it then just annon voting. People should be required to log in to vote and everyone gets one vote per story. Also, people who have a history of abusing the system, (ie: trolls) could be dealt with.

The other thing I would like to see is the ability to post in more thatn one caragory. ASSTR has a system that I like in which a story can have multiple tags like MC for mind control, FF for Female/female, MF for male/female, BD for bondage, IN for incest, etc. And the tags that the author selects appear next to the story title so the reader knows what is in the story. So a reader looking for lesbian incest looks for a story showing FF, IN.

 

[impressive]

The other thing I would like to see is the ability to post in more thatn one caragory. ASSTR has a system that I like in which a story can have multiple tags like MC for mind control, FF for Female/female, MF for male/female, BD for bondage, IN for incest, etc. And the tags that the author selects appear next to the story title so the reader knows what is in the story. So a reader looking for lesbian incest looks for a story showing FF, IN.

Yeah.

But for the purposes of category nominations you'd have to select a primary category, no? Or ... would you do away with category nominations & just go with highest scoring overall in a month? Or ... would you just nix the voting altogether?



While the ideas posted are good ones -- nuts & bolts stuff -- I was fishing for a deeper type of vision for Lit. *shrugs*

No matter ...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I'd like it if there were a way to see voting history...like a graph, that showed the trend, historical high and low...not that I think it would tell me anything I don't already know...my latest just received the inevitable trolling after hitting the top ten. Like it's been said, voting will always have it's issues...

I'd like a one click way to enter my author page from the forums...and the watch list is a great idea...

We should have histogram voting. I've seen it on other sites.

A histogram is a bar graph that would show how many 1's, 2's, 3's, etc a story received. One bombs are easy to see in a histogram.

As for quality control, after thinking long and hard, I'm against it. We already have a crude kind of quality control system in the awarding of little "E's" and how many of us are happy with that? How many of us would be happy with a special section for "Very Good" stories, especially when we can't get in?

No. If you want guaranteed quality you'll have to pay for it. Go buy an e-book or join a pay site where the stories have been vetted for quality. Otherwise let everyone play.

Besides, every so often I see some weird story that's misspelled, inconsistent or otherwise screwed up, but just dripping with so much desire and emotion and bizarre originality that it raises the hair on the back of my neck. You don't want to lose those.

For those people looking for a more literary place to hang, the Story Discussion Circle is very good, at times rising to the quality of any college Creative Writing workshop. It's also very underutilized, which makes me thinl that all this handwringing over literary quality is mostly exaggerated.


P.S. A link to an author's stories from their bio would be nice.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

While the ideas posted are good ones -- nuts & bolts stuff -- I was fishing for a deeper type of vision for Lit. *shrugs*

No matter ...

Ok not sure if deeper type of vision is what I think it is but..... I think we have a bit of it already here in the Ah, with some work. By that I mean, when I see someone post a witty comment or insightful statement, I usually end up reading at least one or two of their pieces. They tend to be the better works than just randomly browsing categories for what gems may come.

I like the feedback and such I get here, and I do think it helps me grow as a writer. Between the challenges, the cross inspirations, this forum is more of what I come to lit for now.

I would like to see more artwork displayed, and maybe even a section of art and stories or poems combined. Not just illustrated poems that really fusion of sight and sound, maybe even a way to do power point or flash that would allow for spoken word, graphic image and written text to combine.

 

[impressive]

Besides, every so often I see some weird story that's misspelled, inconsistent or otherwise screwed up, but just dripping with so much desire and emotion and bizarre originality that it raises the hair on the back of my neck. You don't want to lose those.

Would they be "lost" if they went through a couple rejection/resubmission iterations to correct the most egregious errors, though? Or would the bar be raised ever so slightly?

For those people looking for a more literary place to hang, the Story Discussion Circle is very good, at times rising to the quality of any college Creative Writing workshop. It's also very underutilized, which makes me thinl that all this handwringing over literary quality is mostly exaggerated.

I agree -- HERE, in the forums. As a "hangout," though, I think this place is terrific. The SDC is a far better writing workshop for targeted critique. It does not (currently) foster lively discussion about tense, voice, style, etc. in the broader sense, nor does it have the fun flash "challenges" we have here from time to time. That's not to say it couldn't -- just that it doesn't.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

We should have histogram voting. I've seen it on other sites.

I LIKE this idea... which sites, Doc? Maybe we can inquire where they got the program to institute it and suggest it to Laurel and Manu? I imagine they are flooded with their daily influx of stories, just trying to keep Lit up and running on their own steam... it has to be hard to try to research "new" things... there's that whole "entropy" thing

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Would they be "lost" if they went through a couple rejection/resubmission iterations to correct the most egregious errors, though? Or would the bar be raised ever so slightly?

As far as I know, the editors do demand a level of proficiency in spelling and mechanics, but they're not going to do your editing for you. You need a certain level of competence in written English to get a story posted, which is just as it should be.

In any case, the stories I'm thinking of weren't really so bad in their mechanics, it was their overall structure or general weirdness that migt have gotten them rejected from a refereed site. They weren't quite kosher, and that's where their charm lay.

I agree -- HERE, in the forums. As a "hangout," though, I think this place is terrific. The SDC is a far better writing workshop for targeted critique. It does not (currently) foster lively discussion about tense, voice, style, etc. in the broader sense, nor does it have the fun flash "challenges" we have here from time to time. That's not to say it couldn't -- just that it doesn't.

We used to take our mechanics questions to the Editor's Forum where you could usually get serious answers without the rampant goofing around you get here on the AH. I haven't been there for a while, and I don't know if that's still the case or not.

I'm here for the rampant goofing around, of course, but the SDC (under the management of our own pugnacious Pure) has been branching out into serious discussions of literary topics: story structure, openings, and most recently, introducing characters and handling character descriptions. Because writing involves constantly critiquing your own stuff as you go, I'm of the opinion that you'll never be a better writer than you are a critic, so criticism and analysis are invaluable skills, and that's what we do there mostly.

The flash challenges--well, I have my own opinions on the pedagogic value of those and on most writing exercises in general. I personally don't think they teach you much except how to do flash challenges and writing exercises. I mean, if you're going to write, write. Don't confine youself to a 200 word erotic story involving a kangaroo, a Phillips-head screwdriver and a dirigible, because that's not going to teach you anything useful. It's just a parlor game. They can be fun, but they fall under my heading of goofing around. (My opinion only, of course.)

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I LIKE this idea... which sites, Doc? Maybe we can inquire where they got the program to institute it and suggest it to Laurel and Manu? I imagine they are flooded with their daily influx of stories, just trying to keep Lit up and running on their own steam... it has to be hard to try to research "new" things... there's that whole "entropy" thing

The link I have no longer works (BDSMlibrary.com) so I don't know if you can find any examples of their histogram breakdowns.

But if you want to see how another Lit-like site handles things and categorizes stories, here's a link:

http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/list.php?pos=0&sortby1=moddate&arrange1=DESC

It's pretty interesting. Haven't posted there in a long while though.

Ah, wait: Here's a simple histogram. Story only got votes of 6 out of 10, but this should give you an idea.

http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/review.php?storyid=4004

 

[impressive]

The flash challenges--well, I have my own opinions on the pedagogic value of those and on most writing exercises in general. I personally don't think they teach you much except how to do flash challenges and writing exercises. I mean, if you're going to write, write. Don't confine youself to a 200 word erotic story involving a kangaroo, a Phillips-head screwdriver and a dirigible, because that's not going to teach you anything useful. It's just a parlor game. They can be fun, but they fall under my heading of goofing around. (My opinion only, of course.)

Oh, I don't know. I find they often PUSH me in directions I might not otherwise explore -- yet in a fun way. Left to my own devices, I'd probably stick with my comfortable, relatively safe little rut.

Going to have to visit the SDC again. It's been a while. The targeted critique is off-putting to me (because I really don't have the skills to do it gently), but general discussion would be most welcomed.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

The flash challenges--well, I have my own opinions on the pedagogic value of those and on most writing exercises in general. I personally don't think they teach you much except how to do flash challenges and writing exercises. I mean, if you're going to write, write. Don't confine youself to a 200 word erotic story involving a kangaroo, a Phillips-head screwdriver and a dirigible, because that's not going to teach you anything useful. It's just a parlor game. They can be fun, but they fall under my heading of goofing around. (My opinion only, of course.)

Damn, so much for my major opus "the sexy kangaroo and what she did on the dirigible with a phillips head screw driver". And the screw driver was based on Imp too.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Damn, so much for my major opus "the sexy kangaroo and what she did on the dirigible with a phillips head screw driver". And the screw driver was based on Imp too.

*L* I knew someone would take me up on this!

That's why I didn't tell you about the dwarf playing the banjo on water skis.

 

[cloudy]

*L* I knew someone would take me up on this!

That's why I didn't tell you about the dwarf playing the banjo on water skis.

Damn! That was my idea!

She was wearing goggles, too.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Damn! That was my idea!

She was wearing goggles, too.

Quick before he kills any more great ideas.

Ok, a russian cosmonaut, a glockenspiel, 48 tubes of astroglide and the infamous dancing nana

 

[impressive]

And the screw driver was based on Imp too.

Damn!

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Damn!

Just cause I want a good reason to say "Hey Imp, wanna screw?"

 

[impressive]

Just cause I want a good reason to say "Hey Imp, wanna screw?"

Aren't I reason enough?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Ok, a russian cosmonaut, a glockenspiel, 48 tubes of astroglide and the infamous dancing nana

and that's all they have to make a breathing device that will last long enough for them to get back to earth??