What makes a story a success

[GoldenCojones]

What makes a story a success?

There was a thread something along these lines a few weeks (or more) ago and it got me thinking. What makes one of my Literotica stories a success for me?

I thought a lot about score. I thought about number of favorites. I thought about number and quality of comments. All of that makes me feel good, but it doesn't really translate into "Is this story a success."

For a while I wanted to say something trite like "It touched me when I wrote it." But that's a bullshit answer because if it didn't touch me when I wrote it, I wouldn't have posted it. During a grouchy period, I wanted to say "If I got a troll's goat." But that's just grouchyness talking. I really don't give a shit about whether trolls love or hate my story.

But that line of thought made me think about the readers I do care about. Those are the ones who enjoy reading my stories. If my story makes just one person even just a little bit happier for even just a moment, then for me that story is a success. That is a big part of why I write. And what's funny about that is, it's not just why I write pornographic erotica, it's why I write epic fantasy, and Sci/Fi and every other not technical writing that I do.

Oh, I write because I have to and because I have shit to say and all the other reasons we all write, but always and in every story, I want to make someone, somewhere just a little happier.

So that is how I have decided to determine if a story is a success or not. One 5 vote. One "I loved it" comment. One "I'd love to hear more about ..." comment, any of that and that story is a success. Period.

So... All my stories are successful! What a hit rate I have! And I bet all of you can say the same thing. Ain't it great!

All bullshit finger plugging aside, how to you decide if one of your stories is successful?

 

[sr71plt]

If I've gotten it out of my head and into a file and it turned out more satisfying than I projected it to be, I consider it a success.

 

[lovecraft68]

Depends on the type of story. If it's a piece that panders to it's category, a,fun smut piece then I guess stats

If it was a more serious piece I echo you with just getting a couple of comments that show a reader felt exactly what I wanted them too or saw deeper into the piece than what was on the surface so in other words they "got it"

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Well I write mostly for myself, and for my best friend too, and if she likes what I write then it's a success for me.

 

[NotWise]

A story is successful for me if it fulfills my purpose, which sounds nebulous but isn't, really.

A couple years ago I was exhausted and ready to retire, which would have been pretty early. I didn't because I was *really* uncomfortable with the loss of structure in my schedule. I'd been writing fiction for a few years at that point and it seemed to me like writing would be something that could structure my days after I retire.

I came to Lit to get experience. I read here back when the site was still pretty new and felt like Laurel had about the best site for me.

So my stories are successful when I feel like they forwarded my goal to write after I retire. I don't necessarily want to write erotica, so part of that feeling of success comes from reader's feedback on things other than how many times they masturbated over a story.

My own sense of whether the story is good or not is also very important. My Summer Luvin' entry is my highest-rated story, but as far as I'm concerned it isn't my most successful story. That distinction belongs to my ghost story, which is well-rated but almost lost on Lit.

 

[SamScribble]

I think that I have six readers here on Lit. Or maybe it’s 16. I’m not sure. So success when I post here is mainly about entertaining at least half of those six (or 16).

In the world outside Lit, success is probably being able to communicate complicated ideas in simple, easy-to-follow sentences while still being at least a little entertaining.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I'm lying if I don't admit I enjoy seeing that ol' red H next to one of my stories. Same with seeing a blue W. But strip those away and I'd still be happy with the comments and kind notes I receive.

I write because I want to. I enjoy telling a story. I'm not sure writing rises to the level of "I need to write," but it's close. Equally true is how annoyed I can get when a story grabs hold of my imagination and won't let go. Then I "have-to" write, even at the expense of work and other RL needs.

I'm typically satisfied with the tales I weave or else I wouldn't post them. It pleases me to believe I sucked someone into my fantasy world in a plausible enough way that the kind reader plays along.

The number of reads, votes, and/or favorites probably means the least to me or else I wouldn't write any fringe stories. Let's face it, male bisexuality is still a fringe concept, though I've done okay with that topic.

 

[Hypoxia]

If I touch readers enough that they fave or comment (pos or neg) then I've done my job. If I re-read a piece and it moves ME, or it strikes me as a slick piece of writing, then I'm satisfied. My stories that get good-enough votes but don't punch my own buttons, well feh, whatever. (Ain't many of those.)

Some early series, with their share of red H's -- I'm glad they're out of the way and I can maybe mine their episodes for better standalone tales. (I can expand that bit about Ron and the hikers naked in the desert rock pool.) I've yet to cringe at what I've written and posted. Mostly. Yeah, some could have been done better and yeah, I twinge at the typos I never fixed. But if I'm happy and/or others are happy, then it's a success.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Stories ought organize our thinking about issues and problems.

 

[sr71plt]

Stories ought organize our thinking about issues and problems.

Erotica? I guess this helps explain why you don't write erotica (on an erotic story site).

Sorry, JBJ but that's just silly. It depends on what the genre is. This is a fiction erotica site. I agree that it's a bonus for real-life issues to be explored in an erotica story, but, let's get real, an erotica story is a success if it satisfies sexual arousal.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Back in grad school I read a biography of Thomas Hunt Morgan, a perfesser at Columbia University who won a Nobel Prize for a discovery he believed was bull shit when he read about it for the first time.

An assclown named Gregor Mendel discovered inheritance, wrote a paper about what he discovered, all laughed and the paper was filed away and forgotten until many years later 3 brainiacs discovered inheritance and believed they won the lottery until they read Mendels priority. It was a bad day. Morgan heard about it and had a hearty laugh at the assclown, and went to work to prove the fool wrong. He couldn't. The assclowns inheritance theory stood up, Morgan proved it correct and got a Nobel Prize for being the real assclown.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Success? Comments that suggest my writing moved readers, at least enough that they left some words; and my "most successful" stories are those that get a nice little run of comments. Then, I guess, the number of scores, faves, the overall "stats".

 

[NOIRTRASH]

As I suggested above my LIT target is guiding a reader from point A to point B for a particular sexual goal. Like....how to get a woman who wont swallow to drink cum from a bowl. Sooner or later I discover how its done. The plausible, congruent tutorial then goes in the story. I expect for the reader to use the tutorial on a partner.

Take first time lesbian sex. Many struggle with how to make it happen. I once had a partner who let it out she'd like to have sex with a female but neither of us knew anyone available. So I hired a prostitute for my partner to learn the ropes from.

 

[oggbashan]

Success for me is completing and posting a story instead of adding to the massive heap of incomplete works. Once a story is posted I can forget it and move on to the next projected story.

Real success is writing a story that I want to re-read five years after I've posted it.

If some readers like it? That's a bonus. Even if they didn't - I have to write stories.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Success for me is completing and posting a story instead of adding to the massive heap of incomplete works. Once a story is posted I can forget it and move on to the next projected story.

Real success is writing a story that I want to re-read five years after I've posted it.

If some readers like it? That's a bonus. Even if they didn't - I have to write stories.

Can I join your fan club?

 

[DemiAngora]

Well I write mostly for myself, and for my best friend too, and if she likes what I write then it's a success for me.

I feel the same.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Can I join your fan club?

Sorry, his fan club is limited to humans.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

To all, link to your idea of a successful story.

I promise not to utter a word.

 

[sr71plt]

To all, link to your idea of a successful story.

I promise not to utter a word.

Why? Who cares what your sour judgment is of what constitutes success for them in writing a story?

 

[lovecraft68]

To all, link to your idea of a successful story.

I promise not to utter a word.

You go first

 

[ChloeTzang]

........

 

[DwellerDark]

I like it when people think that my stories actually happened to me.

Really, I've written and posted so little over the years that the fact that anyone would read, enjoy, and even favorite any of my stories is something that still puts a smile on my face. I am humbled by the kind words of readers.

 

[Handley_Page]

For me, it's got to be the quality of the writing.

 

[TxRad]

789 favorites and over forty one hundred votes. With a score of 4.71.

Yeah, I think that one was a success.

 

[Vaginalpuppetry]

I know I'm the new guy here but this thread really caught my attention because I really only have one story that I'd consider successful at all. My first story, an entry for the Halloween contest a couple years back, is so full of bad grammar and blatant errors that I'm tempted to request it's removal. Then there's the two chapters of an erotic horror series that I never finished because I let a few bad comments ruin the fun for me.
Only my last submission had any actual success as far as stats are concerned.

I'd be lying if I said stats don't help me feel successful or not, but the real feeling of victory comes from the comments. I also have the added benefit of having friends who know of my work and enjoy reading. It's the individual reader that makes the biggest difference for me, not the number of views or votes.