When do you know if what you have written is any good?

[SamScribble]

I know that there are some among us who have great faith in views and scores and readers’ comments. I am most certainly not one of them. Although there are a small handful of readers whose comments I value. But when I say a small handful, I mean a very small handful.

When I write something, it first has to satisfy me. And then I usually send copies out to four or five members of the dozen or so people who make up my brutally honest ‘review panel’. Mostly, these people are successful writers in their own right. They know their stuff. And they are more than happy to argue about the choice of a word or the position of a comma. If I get a pass mark from these boys and girls, I know that I am probably onto something.

When do you know if what you have written is any good?

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

My first check is “does this accomplish what I wanted it to accomplish?” with myself. If I feel like it’s at least 75/80% of the way there, I show it to my partner, who is a damn talented writer. I get her feedback, ask her questions about any areas that I’m unsure of, and make some tweaks.

For my first story here, I was lucky enough to get three awesome beta readers. Once again, I took feedback and asked a few questions, then did a final pass.

But it always goes back to that first question. I always want something to be well written and to tell a good story, and I want the sex to be hot, but I anchor myself to that larger matter of purpose and intent. What mood did I want to create? How do I want people to feel after reading? What important facets of the characters do I want to shine through the brightest? What made this story worth writing in the first place, and did I execute on that impulse?

 

[stickygirl]

I write as well as I can, express feelings that I hope will be shared, but primarily I write for me. I don’t think I write enough plain fucking for Lit and maybe I cloud my stories with too much introspection and description, but ‘fuck em’. If I only have a hundred or so followers that’s fine - I'm not here to become famous.

As for feedback - I have regulars who are perhaps too kind in their comments but without their encouragement I wouldn’t bother writing again.

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

*shrug* My husband and a friend have been trying to convince me for years. I'm not there yet.

Good comments and my brain immediately goes to, "They're just being nice so I don't feel bad." But I still blush and feel grateful for it, I just have a hard time believing it.

Bad comments and it goes to, "See, this person is being honest. Thank you." Pure relief follows that some people can be honest with me.

And I’ll repeat what I told you the other day:

I think for anyone who has any talent whatsoever, it's a given that we'll be our own harshest critics. Show me a writer who isn't and I'll show you someone who lacks the self-awareness to do anything enlightening, surprising, or worthwhile.

 

[karaline]

I agonise over this too, and also don't attach much significance to positive comments.

I guess the test of time is my most reliable measure. If I can go back to something a year after i've finished it and think it's good, then i'll allow myself to begin believe it. I have a story, that at the time of writing I thought was very accomplished, but on rereading I don't like and another (my least read and least engaged with) which i was cautiously impressed with after some distance.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I know that there are some among us who have great faith in views and scores and readers’ comments. I am most certainly not one of them. Although there are a small handful of readers whose comments I value. But when I say a small handful, I mean a very small handful.

When I write something, it first has to satisfy me. And then I usually send copies out to four or five members of the dozen or so people who make up my brutally honest ‘review panel’. Mostly, these people are successful writers in their own right. They know their stuff. And they are more than happy to argue about the choice of a word or the position of a comma. If I get a pass mark from these boys and girls, I know that I am probably onto something.

When do you know if what you have written is any good?

Sometimes I can't know until some time has passed, like perhaps a few weeks or even a couple of years. If it does get an enthusiastic reception well, then, I accept that. If it doesn't do so well, then I have to reconsider it - maybe - at some future point. Sometimes it truly does seem mediocre. Others seem to have been underappreciated, but those are the way things break. I don't spend that much time worrying about it, but sometimes I will look back anyway.

I've started a few things that didn't seem promising, so I left them undone. Perhaps at some point, I will get back to them.

 

[oggbashan]

If I remember the story a few months after I posted it.

Normally, once posted, I just forget it. It's done and I can move on.

But if it sticks in my memory? I think it is good, no matter what the score or comments might say.

 

[NotWise]

I'm always optimistic when my stories go live, but I never know if they're good until the dust settles. Even then, "good" is completely subjective--it depends on whether I'm satisfied with my work.

Sometimes it turns out that stories suck, and I get no joy from being their author. Sometimes the retrospective makes them better than I thought they were.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I know that there are some among us who have great faith in views and scores and readers’ comments. I am most certainly not one of them. Although there are a small handful of readers whose comments I value. But when I say a small handful, I mean a very small handful.

When I write something, it first has to satisfy me. And then I usually send copies out to four or five members of the dozen or so people who make up my brutally honest ‘review panel’. Mostly, these people are successful writers in their own right. They know their stuff. And they are more than happy to argue about the choice of a word or the position of a comma. If I get a pass mark from these boys and girls, I know that I am probably onto something.

When do you know if what you have written is any good?

When I want to build upon what I created, and am encouraged by others to do so.

I posted my first story here eight years ago. It has remained highly rated, won a monthly award, received lots of positive comments, and garnered me a loyal following. I posted my second and third stories, at that time completely unrelated to the first story, the next year. I didn't do much more for the next few years, focusing on retirement preparations, but I continued to receive several requests from readers, here and on other sites, for continuation of one or more of my stories.

Most of my submissions since 2020 have had some tie in with my first few stories, which readers have responded favorably to. I try not to merely "ride the coat tails" of a previous story, but develop new and exciting characters and scenarios that still cling to a bit of familiarity for readers of my stories. If the readers keep asking me for more, I consider my stories successful.

 

[KeithD]

I almost never wind up with something I think that was less than what I set forth to write and I don't get as far as doing any writing on a story before I'm satisfied it will be "good enough" for me. When I think of what is a good story I've written (and I don't dwell on this with single stories) it's when the story as turned out better in one or more aspect than I was projecting it to be.

 

[Omenainen]

I’m first and foremost a storyteller, and good for me I guess. Writing in a wrong language would be even more excruciating, if I was more interested in the quality of my prose.

I usually like my stories more when I’m reading them than when I’m remembering them from the outside. My opinion also fluctuates with time.

I take it as a success if I can draw myself in when re-reading something later, and most of mine are like that. I do like my own writing and that’s good enough for me. Adding external goals would probably not make me any better, it would just make my perfectionism flare up.

 

[Voboy]

If I publish something, it's because I think it's "any good."

Some, however, are "forgettable" even for me. But then I'll reread them and I'll remember why I posted them.

As for "when you know?" I mean... you just do. I write what I'd like to read, so when I go back and reread the finished product, I'm usually able to be honest enough with myself to realize it's not good enough to publish. I guess I sort of ask myself whether I'd want to click on it and give it a 5*.

I've got 4-5 stories all done and in limbo, but I doubt I'll ever put them up. Occasionally I'll revisit them to figure out whether I still think they're not good enough, and so far? They still aren't. But I'm not the kind of guy to go back and redo them or edit them or whatever. I'll let them sit until my sensibilities change, maybe forever.

Meanwhile, there are always more stories to write.

 

[lovecraft68]

When someone spends money on it then leaves a great review. Reviews aren't common in the erotica genre and when someone pays for something, even if its just $3 or $4 they expect more from it then you would stuff on here that's free-hence the comment most of us make here when someone complains about story quality 'ask for your money back' so if they buy it and think enough of it to comment, its a good sign.

 

[Bramblethorn]

One of the things for me is when reader feedback shows they get what I was trying to do with a story. I've heard from people who realised they were autistic after reading Red Scarf, so I guess I did okay at portraying my autistic characters in that one.

 

[Trionyx]

My idea of good is often at odds with the voting. Two of my personal favorites I thought were quite good did OK but didn't blow everyone away. As a result, I don't rely on the voting much. Not all of my stories are HEA and I think that influences the voting. Some of the comments, particularly those that discuss the work (and not just state 'Great story') are often the ones that tell me if I've written a good story.

 

[Duleigh]

One of the things for me is when reader feedback shows they get what I was trying to do with a story. I've heard from people who realised they were autistic after reading Red Scarf, so I guess I did okay at portraying my autistic characters in that one.

Mine is a bit similar, I wrote a story about a playful blind man and his sighted girlfriend, Blind Sided by the Blind Guy I got DM Feedback from blind readers of Lit (they exist) and they said, "You nailed it!" and were happy that I illustrated how a blind person functions (I even know how they read Literotica). I worked very hard to be accurate and to explain to the sighted world how a blind person functions even though at worst I'm nearsighted, and that was the greatest praise I've ever received.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Mine is a bit similar, I wrote a story about a playful blind man and his sighted girlfriend, Blind Sided by the Blind Guy I got DM Feedback from blind readers of Lit (they exist) and they said, "You nailed it!" and were happy that I illustrated how a blind person functions (I even know how they read Literotica). I worked very hard to be accurate and to explain to the sighted world how a blind person functions even though at worst I'm nearsighted, and that was the greatest praise I've ever received.

The autism aspect isn't something I had to research (several decades of experience with that!) but I did get some nice feedback from Indian readers on the Indian characters in that story, and that was gratifying since that was something I tried hard to get right, via research and the help of an Indian author.

 

[Duleigh]

I know that there are some among us who have great faith in views and scores and readers’ comments. I am most certainly not one of them. Although there are a small handful of readers whose comments I value. But when I say a small handful, I mean a very small handful.

When I write something, it first has to satisfy me. And then I usually send copies out to four or five members of the dozen or so people who make up my brutally honest ‘review panel’. Mostly, these people are successful writers in their own right. They know their stuff. And they are more than happy to argue about the choice of a word or the position of a comma. If I get a pass mark from these boys and girls, I know that I am probably onto something.

When do you know if what you have written is any good?

I just know, and I don't know how I know. When I stumbled across the geek pride event an idea popped into my head and I sat down and wrote 28,000 words in two weeks and loved every minute of it. I saw I had a few more weeks so I wrote a second story based on the first and loved every moment of the creative process. Then I noticed I had about a week left before the cut-off so I cranked out another 25,000 words in 6 days, an extension of the first two. In 2 months I wrote a trilogy in total 84,000 word and I just loved the process and I feel the same excitement as I look forward to another story to make it a quadrilogy. My feedback is not huge, I don't think anyone got much feedback from this years Geek Pride, but what feedback I did get reflects that excitement that I feel writing those stories.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Am I the only one who has the opposite process. I start out by thinking what I've written is great, only to realize all the issues with it later. I suppose if I haven't realized very much after re-reading it and get good feedback I start to think it may actually be solid.

 

[Seadog777]

The only "feedback" that I really take even semi-seriously, is from Authors who leave comments with their name.

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

The autism aspect isn't something I had to research (several decades of experience with that!) but I did get some nice feedback from Indian readers on the Indian characters in that story, and that was gratifying since that was something I tried hard to get right, via research and the help of an Indian author.

FWIW, based on what I know about the Australian Greek immigrant community (through friends and what I’ve absorbed living here) you did a great job with your portrayal of these characters in “A Stringed Instrument”.

Writing different cultures respectfully and accurately is a big responsibility.

 

[windar]

Fiction writing is really so subjective that I don't feel one can KNOW anything with much certainty. Erotica perhaps even more so, because what turns one person on will turn another off and leave a third smack in the middle, regardless of the quality of the writing. I enjoy the process of writing, developing characters, working out plots that make sense, researching details. I have a regular co-author and if we both like something we've written that gives confidence.

Yes, there's a heirarchy of how much store I put in comments: anonymous<named<writer whose work I admire. I suppose Lovecraft68 has a point-comments from someone who paid to read it carry some weight, though I've had a few that were incoherent or so cryptic that one couldn't take much from them.

Going back a year or so later and liking it is a decent indicator, and generally I like them as much as I did originally, and in a few cases more, so that is nice, I guess. But I don't feel I KNOW with any degree of confidence.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Acid test: Let it sit for a day, a week, however long, then read it back. If it makes me feel the emotions that I was trying to get across in my characters then it's probably pretty good.

Sometimes if I write one of my characters to suffer, I cry. If I write them to be vindicated, I literally fist pump or even step outside to jump up and down. If you the author is not feeling what you want the reader to feel first, then you're kidding yourself.

 

[tenyari]

I guess the test of time is my most reliable measure. If I can go back to something a year after i've finished it and think it's good, then i'll allow myself to begin believe it.

That's pretty much it right there.

Recently went back and read some very old work of mine and some stuff has me going "huh, ok. Whatever." But with other stories I'm tearing up reading what my characters are doing or feeling.

Sadly I can't go back in time and not write the bad ones. So the test always has it's answer too late to be of any use.

That said, if reader feedback has been consistent across time, then that's also a good indicator that it's good or bad. Well, for bad only if it's detailed. People will randomly spam something mean just because. Few people say something nice online unless they believed it. So for bad feedback, it needs enough detail to let you know why they felt that way and that it wasn't an emotional knee-jerk reaction.

 

[dmallord]

A couple of thoughts on that ...

Some of what I've written has emotional waves riding throughout the process from forming the characters' thoughts to the resolution of the storyline. If I get misty-eyed writing, then again in editing...I think I have a real good story. My conclusion for 'Good bye My Darling' had buckets of tears, yet the scores are: not as good as I thought they might be! It posted yesterday.

Secondly, I think it might have been a good story when I see a higher number of votes. Not, the actual score, but the number of people who chose to vote. For me, that means they had some connection to the story. It might not be a good one, but they made the effort to vote about it! I keep a running tally of scores. It reveals that just under 2% of the people who view my story actually take the time to vote on that story. And, yes, I know that a view doesn't necessarily mean the viewer read the story. That's not my point. It's just a generality. People who vote have opinions. The larger number who vote indicates some resonance with the written piece.

I have a few stories with few reads/views. Those tell me - not as good a job as the others! ;0