Why you'll always be wrong according to the readers

[Smuttyandfun]

I like to write age gap stories, often with older men and younger women. My latest, 'Girl On the Beach' got a snarky comment telling me that a man of 45 was not old enough to be in the Mature category, and I should know better, despite the fact the woman was only 23. Though I got a few other comments saying that 23/45 was a pretty big age gap.

I know if I had a 23 year old daughter who brought home a man of 45, I'd have some questions.

In another of my age gap stories, 'Storm Warning' the boss is 49, and the lady he hooks up with is 26. I got a comment on that that he was too old for her, and she'd regret it as he got older, especially since they go on to have a child together.

So, I'm guessing the sweet spot for age gap is to have the guy somewhere around 47 and the woman somewhere in her early twenties.

Just for fun, I think I'll write one where the man is 80 or 90, with pocket full of blue pills, and the girl is only 18. (Like that really happens, right?) I'd do it just to make them crazy, and really give them something to yap about.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I like to write age gap stories, often with older men and younger women. My latest, 'Girl On the Beach' got a snarky comment telling me that a man of 45 was not old enough to be in the Mature category, and I should know better, despite the fact the woman was only 23. Though I got a few other comments saying that 23/45 was a pretty big age gap.

I know if I had a 23 year old daughter who brought home a man of 45, I'd have some questions.

In another of my age gap stories, 'Storm Warning' the boss is 49, and the lady he hooks up with is 26. I got a comment on that that he was too old for her, and she'd regret it as he got older, especially since they go on to have a child together.

So, I'm guessing the sweet spot for age gap is to have the guy somewhere around 47 and the woman somewhere in her early twenties.

Just for fun, I think I'll write one where the man is 80 or 90, with pocket full of blue pills, and the girl is only 18. (Like that really happens, right?) I'd do it just to make them crazy, and really give them something to yap about.

Bogie was 44 (I think) when he met Bacall (19).

Clearly for them, that was the sweet spot.

 

[onehitwanda]

I know if I had a 23 year old daughter who brought home a man of 45, I'd have some questions

Questions? I'd have a body to dispose of.

 

[spankableBelle]

One of my favorite lines is from the movie Wonder Boys (I think it's in the book too)...
And it's in reference to a short story written for writing workshop and everyone hates it, until one girl says...

"He respects us enough to forget us, and that takes courage."

That line sticks with me with every new novel or novella I write. And it's not a stance that comes easily to me. Readers like this book I wrote, so I try to emulate it, but then they hate it. This is popular, what the market is reading, and my readers hate it... It works, I mean, it has to work, people make millions for 'the market', but readers always know, they can tell, they can feel when you've made the easy decision, when you've left your courage somewhere else and not in your writing.

My best stories are the ones I told my way, with my gut, with my heart.

Respect the readers enough to forget them when you're writing.
Your story won't be for everyone, but it will find its audience.



(I've had no coffee yet, so if this is way off the mark or makes no sense, forgive me... Should probably remedy that by making some)

 

[onehitwanda]

Your story won't be for everyone, but it will find its audience.

You can't save all the kittens.

 

[spankableBelle]

You can't save all the kittens.

No... You can't.

 

[onehitwanda]

No... You can't.

I tried once. We went to a cat shelter in the pimple of a town I grew up in. There was a cage full of a million kittens (ok, seven maybe).

I apparently had a full on vomit-cry because I could only have two of them. I was... six, I think, and the world was ending.

So we picked two - one of whom was a tortoiseshell who climbed the side of the cage mewing when she saw me. The other was a little black and white tom who didn't make it through the night thanks to a neighbour's cat who came in and killed him. My girl though made it to twenty. She was a complete cunt who'd disembowel anyone else but loved me with every little bit of her black, murderous heart. And I loved her more than all the stars in the sky.

Cats leave paw prints on your soul. She left bite marks on mine, the little shit. God I miss her.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

One of my favorite lines is from the movie Wonder Boys (I think it's in the book too)...
And it's in reference to a short story written for writing workshop and everyone hates it, until one girl says...

"He respects us enough to forget us, and that takes courage."

That line sticks with me with every new novel or novella I write. And it's not a stance that comes easily to me. Readers like this book I wrote, so I try to emulate it, but then they hate it. This is popular, what the market is reading, and my readers hate it... It works, I mean, it has to work, people make millions for 'the market', but readers always know, they can tell, they can feel when you've made the easy decision, when you've left your courage somewhere else and not in your writing.

My best stories are the ones I told my way, with my gut, with my heart.

Respect the readers enough to forget them when you're writing.
Your story won't be for everyone, but it will find its audience.



(I've had no coffee yet, so if this is way off the mark or makes no sense, forgive me... Should probably remedy that by making some)

Funnily enough this gets me in two ways, the first is…I can’t stand that movie. It was critically acclaimed and I went to watch it and found no way in to any of the characters so it just left me emotionally cold.

And the next bit is the part about markets because one of things markets consistently show us is…market thinking is wrong. Usually mania in the markets leads to over saturation.

Think EL James with smut
Hunger Games for YA literature
MCU for superhero movies.

This is why you listening to your gut is spot-on. Following a market will push you towards trends, following your own path takes you were you want to be.

 

[Zootonius]

I tried once. We went to a cat shelter in the pimple of a town I grew up in. There was a cage full of a million kittens (ok, seven maybe).

I apparently had a full on vomit-cry because I could only have two of them. I was... six, I think, and the world was ending.

So we picked two - one of whom was a tortoiseshell who climbed the side of the cage mewing when she saw me. The other was a little black and white tom who didn't make it through the night thanks to a neighbour's cat who came in and killed him. My girl though made it to twenty. She was a complete cunt who'd disembowel anyone else but loved me with every little bit of her black, murderous heart. And I loved her more than all the stars in the sky.

Cats leave paw prints on your soul. She left bite marks on mine, the little shit. God I miss her.

We had a cat that adopted us, once. (you read that right.) She was a street urchin that insisted our place would become her new home. She was with us 17 years. For some reason, only I was allowed to pick her up.

And I should add, I have asthma and am allergic to cats. But she made an offer that couldn't be refused.

 

[onehitwanda]

We had a cat that adopted us, once. (you read that right.) She was a street urchin that insisted our place would become her new home. She was with us 17 years. For some reason, only I was allowed to pick her up.

And I should add, I have asthma and am allergic to cats. But she made an offer that couldn't be refused.

Dogs have masters, cats have staff.

 

[Zootonius]

Dogs have masters, cats have staff.

Yes, the first couple years were like, 'thank you for feeding me.' Later it became 'I wish to speak with the chef.' Madam could be demanding.