Frustrated with my story ratings

[AndNowWeRun]

That's another thing that is discussed here. A lot of stories here prefer a "vague" or generic setting. Some of my stories can be followed on Google maps, but that is not always necessary.

Yeah, I see what you mean. I've also seen people make up settings, like Schlank and her fictional European country of Sessia (which I really like, by the way).

 

[gunhilltrain]

I see, thanks for the advice. I have seen suuuuper long single-post stories here, and it was a bit overwhelming to me, personally, even if I can see the convenience of having it all in one place right from the jump. Writing-wise, I'd also probably find a series more manageable.

Some series do turn into novellas, if read from end to end. There is a school of thought here that everything should be finished before the first chapter is posted. I've never had the discipline for that. But there have been novelists who have published series or "serials" before doing the final edition as a hardcover. Tom Wolfe did that in Rolling Stone with Bonfire of the Vanities.

If you wish, you could use your existing novel in that manner (assuming you like it enough to do that). How long did you say it was? Some people here like releasing a chapter every week; I do it every month at best. By the way, there is a small percentage of non-erotic works here; there is even a category here called Non-erotic.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, I see what you mean. I've also seen people make up settings, like Schlank and her fictional European country of Sessia (which I really like, by the way).

Some writers love "world-building," often as part of a fantasy setting. There are a lot of Tolkien fans here, but I haven't read him. If you have a real setting you've never been to, you usually can find enough on-line to make it plausible. I've only passed through Reno, NV once, but it wasn't necessary to describe the city.. U.S. Route 50 was very important, although I've never seen it myself.

https://images.fineartamerica.com/i...ge/2/americas-loneliest-road-penny-meyers.jpg

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's an interesting insight about some stories being like marmite. I guess there is value in that. Also, I don't personally think my fetish is strange, only that others unfortunately do. I never quite understood this because of certain other fetishes out there (not to call out or shame), and I feel like there's plenty of logic in my own. I try my best to hint at some of this logic in my stories without resorting to proselytizing, so that at the very least people can start to see it from my point-of-view and find that it isn't strange at all.

I'm sorry if I sound bratty, it's just frustrating to be an outlier.

Makes me wish I could just declare, 'I LIKE BOOBIES!' and be done with it

We had a thread here about how many stories are published on Lit every week. I forgot the number, but I think it was in the hundreds. There must be tens of thousands of readers who only read here. So, Lit is a part of "mass culture" I guess, Perhaps that is not so bad because there will always be a crop of readers who don't know you. (They don't really know me either.) But if you do get a nice comment (they do happen!), you'll know that you made an impression on them.

 

[yowser]

It is, but I personally prefer a Branston pickle. lol. Anyway, thanks for that bit of positivity x

As an American having moved to England for a spell, I was taken aback one day when I got a 'cheddar cheese with pickle' sandwich from a shop. I expected a dill pickle, or slices thereof, and of course 'pickle' turned out to be Branson's. After my surprise, of course I found I loved it, and it became a favorite choice when I popped into a new town or pub. And I miss it ferociously, nothing quite like it in the states ....

 

[Inkent]

Bottom line 2 things:
1) this is a porn site and majority of people vote based on how it played to their fetish or getting off.
2) write like you are the only one reading it.

Yep, I'm a 100% with your philosophical view on this one.

I leave comments and scoring on, writing mainly in LW which is notorious for story/author knocking. I like to read the comments on my commute, there'll be someone that rants and tells the world they've scored it one star, because they cannot accept anything than monogamy in a relationship. The next person comment it's a 5 star read to them. Someone else has commented that the typically see their scores stabilise over a period to reflect, in my opinion, a true reflection across Lits. entire readership. I think they're spot on.

If it's ratings you want to chase, not what your heart wants to write, go look at the big hitters and see what you find. Just accept you may need to start writing about a genre that may not appeal to you.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Yep, I'm a 100% with your philosophical view on this one.

I leave comments and scoring on, writing mainly in LW which is notorious for story/author knocking. I like to read the comments on my commute, there'll be someone that rants and tells the world they've scored it one star, because they cannot accept anything than monogamy in a relationship. The next person comment it's a 5 star read to them. Someone else has commented that the typically see their scores stabilise over a period to reflect, in my opinion, a true reflection across Lits. entire readership. I think they're spot on.

If it's ratings you want to chase, not what your heart wants to write, go look at the big hitters and see what you find. Just accept you may need to start writing about a genre that may not appeal to you.

A lot of people with 0 stories to their name also like to be critics of the story structure, grammar, or other aspects of the story. Either that or they stay anonymous.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

A lot of people with 0 stories to their name also like to be critics of the story structure, grammar, or other aspects of the story. Either that or they stay anonymous.

So?

 

[Priscilla_June]

So?

So take it for what their opinion is worth.

 

[Inkent]

A lot of people with 0 stories to their name also like to be critics of the story structure, grammar, or other aspects of the story. Either that or they stay anonymous.

Interestingly, I get picked up on grammar, yep I cock-up but somebody actually poked fun in my comments at others merely stating that the words were written in UK & not US English. Usually Anons, but I did have a fellow Brit that was very critical. Always keen to improve, I messaged said individual and asked, very nicely, if I could send them the works they were so critical of, comment where appropriate, as I felt it would help me for future work. Being so critical in the first instance, you would have thought they would happily respond, but, you've already guessed haven't you.....

 

[Priscilla_June]

Interestingly, I get picked up on grammar, yep I cock-up but somebody actually poked fun in my comments at others merely stating that the words were written in UK & not US English. Usually Anons, but I did have a fellow Brit that was very critical. Always keen to improve, I messaged said individual and asked, very nicely, if I could send them the works they were so critical of, comment where appropriate, as I felt it would help me for future work. Being so critical in the first instance, you would have thought they would happily respond, but, you've already guessed haven't you.....

A private inbox isn’t as high of a horse as they’d like to ride ;p

 

[pink_silk_glove]

So take it for what their opinion is worth.

Just because they don't write (assuming that they actually don't) doesn't mean that they can't have a more than valid opinion. They read. A lot of writers forget that what they are doing is creating a reading experience. What could be more valuable than the opinion of a reader?

We hear this argument a lot. "When somebody gives me negative feedback I want to be able to see what they wrote." Notice that no one ever says "When somebody leaves me positive feedback I want to check out their stuff to make sure that they're not full of shit." When a writer wants to check up the ability of their critic it's only for one reason: to look for evidence that the criticism is unwarranted. On the other hand, positive feedback is never questioned, yet with all of the terribly written stories with Red Hs floating around the lit-verse, obviously there are a great many 5s handed out by people who don't know a damn thing about prose literature. This is not an indictment of those votes, but just perspective on how writers view their feedback.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Just because they don't write (assuming that they actually don't) doesn't mean that they can't have a more than valid opinion. They read. A lot of writers forget that what they are doing is creating a reading experience. What could be more valuable than the opinion of a reader?

We hear this argument a lot. "When somebody gives me negative feedback I want to be able to see what they wrote." Notice that no one ever says "When somebody leaves me positive feedback I want to check out their stuff to make sure that they're not full of shit." When a writer wants to check up the ability of their critic it's only for one reason: to look for evidence that the criticism is unwarranted. On the other hand, positive feedback is never questioned, yet with all of the terribly written stories with Red Hs floating around the lit-verse, obviously there are a great many 5s handed out by people who don't know a damn thing about prose literature. This is not an indictment of those votes, but just perspective on how writers view their feedback.

I'd say that it's all in the attitude. You are right that readers should feel free to criticize, and I agree that they don't need to be authors themselves to do it, or to do it competently even. I love constructive feedback even if it's mostly negative. Yet there are those who belittle your work, who dismiss your work nonchalantly, acting as if they had all but won a Nobel prize in literature themselves. Some of those are just random internet idiots or trolls you picked up along the way, but some are definitely other authors who post such comments anonymously in order to discourage you or piss you off. It's a very rare occurrence that someone writes such comments under their own name.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Just because they don't write (assuming that they actually don't) doesn't mean that they can't have a more than valid opinion. They read. A lot of writers forget that what they are doing is creating a reading experience. What could be more valuable than the opinion of a reader?

We hear this argument a lot. "When somebody gives me negative feedback I want to be able to see what they wrote." Notice that no one ever says "When somebody leaves me positive feedback I want to check out their stuff to make sure that they're not full of shit." When a writer wants to check up the ability of their critic it's only for one reason: to look for evidence that the criticism is unwarranted. On the other hand, positive feedback is never questioned, yet with all of the terribly written stories with Red Hs floating around the lit-verse, obviously there are a great many 5s handed out by people who don't know a damn thing about prose literature. This is not an indictment of those votes, but just perspective on how writers view their feedback.

I think in the context of the thread you are in your taking this a bit too seriously.

New writer says: negative feedback makes me frustrated.

My advice: don’t pay attention to the negative because you are out there creating! Not them.

Of course readers opinion matter, IF you are here at that stage of your writing and ready to analyze both that feedback and yourself to improve your based on that. If you are a new writer, like the OP, and you are just at the stage you need to build the confidence to write, 100% ignore the haters who have nothing else they’ve written. Learn to write for you.

If you are at the stage maybe you are advising from, yeah then that feedback is appropriate and you should even take the non-creators inputs. Tbh at that stage ya, you should also not let the positive feedback get to your head, you are right, and always take the steps to self analyze.

But given the OP’s frustration with the feedback now, my best advice is to not listen to the haters. Write for you. Keep going. Once you’ve built up the confidence with yourself, then take the step back to analyze the exterior feedback from those consuming your stories.

All of that is to be beside the point this is a porn site and feedback here is spotty at best tho…

 

[AndNowWeRun]

Some series do turn into novellas, if read from end to end. There is a school of thought here that everything should be finished before the first chapter is posted. I've never had the discipline for that. But there have been novelists who have published series or "serials" before doing the final edition as a hardcover. Tom Wolfe did that in Rolling Stone with Bonfire of the Vanities.

If you wish, you could use your existing novel in that manner (assuming you like it enough to do that). How long did you say it was? Some people here like releasing a chapter every week; I do it every month at best. By the way, there is a small percentage of non-erotic works here; there is even a category here called Non-erotic.

My novel isn't worth reading, to be honest. It was just practice really. But I have seen the Non-erotic category, thanks for pointing it out. Yeah, I don't think I'd have the discipline either for having everything finished and neatly squared away before posting it all in segments. It's different knowing you can just quickly post them on Literotica, as opposed to having a manuscript that needs to go through proper channels and hoops first.

Some writers love "world-building," often as part of a fantasy setting. There are a lot of Tolkien fans here, but I haven't read him. If you have a real setting you've never been to, you usually can find enough on-line to make it plausible. I've only passed through Reno, NV once, but it wasn't necessary to describe the city.. U.S. Route 50 was very important, although I've never seen it myself.

https://images.fineartamerica.com/i...ge/2/americas-loneliest-road-penny-meyers.jpg

That's true. Research is always important. And that's a neat road c:

We had a thread here about how many stories are published on Lit every week. I forgot the number, but I think it was in the hundreds. There must be tens of thousands of readers who only read here. So, Lit is a part of "mass culture" I guess, Perhaps that is not so bad because there will always be a crop of readers who don't know you. (They don't really know me either.) But if you do get a nice comment (they do happen!), you'll know that you made an impression on them.

That does help put it into perspective somewhat, thank you.

As an American having moved to England for a spell, I was taken aback one day when I got a 'cheddar cheese with pickle' sandwich from a shop. I expected a dill pickle, or slices thereof, and of course 'pickle' turned out to be Branson's. After my surprise, of course I found I loved it, and it became a favorite choice when I popped into a new town or pub. And I miss it ferociously, nothing quite like it in the states ....

Oof, that does tend to be the experience, yeah xD But I'm glad you came to enjoy it c: I believe you can get it on Amazon, but I'm iffy on whether they'd get it to you in one piece. lol.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I think in the context of the thread you are in your taking this a bit too seriously.

New writer says: negative feedback makes me frustrated.

My advice: don’t pay attention to the negative because you are out there creating! Not them.

Of course readers opinion matter, IF you are here at that stage of your writing and ready to analyze both that feedback and yourself to improve your based on that. If you are a new writer, like the OP, and you are just at the stage you need to build the confidence to write, 100% ignore the haters who have nothing else they’ve written. Learn to write for you.

If you are at the stage maybe you are advising from, yeah then that feedback is appropriate and you should even take the non-creators inputs. Tbh at that stage ya, you should also not let the positive feedback get to your head, you are right, and always take the steps to self analyze.

But given the OP’s frustration with the feedback now, my best advice is to not listen to the haters. Write for you. Keep going. Once you’ve built up the confidence with yourself, then take the step back to analyze the exterior feedback from those consuming your stories.

All of that is to be beside the point this is a porn site and feedback here is spotty at best tho…

How seriously should I take it?

I'm not a new writer yet I'm always looking to improve. You are talking about new writers needing to improve yet you are advising them to ignore negative feedback. The negative feedback is how you find the weak spots in your craft. You're a proponent of coddling (new writer needs confidence). I'm not.

As for not letting the positive feedback going to one's head, when is the last time that someone said, "love your story, great job, 5 stars" and you checked out their writing to find out if their opinion was worth listening to? The answer is never. Not once.

Everybody here puts their stories out dying to know what everyone thinks of their work. They say "Judge me! Judge me!" But we know also how many people complain in right here in AH that they're getting negative reviews and they're like "How dare they judge me!?" It is clear where their motivations lie.

The feedback here is just as spotty as the writing.

 

[Priscilla_June]

How seriously should I take it?

I'm not a new writer yet I'm always looking to improve. You are talking about new writers needing to improve yet you are advising them to ignore negative feedback. The negative feedback is how you find the weak spots in your craft. You're a proponent of coddling (new writer needs confidence). I'm not.

As for not letting the positive feedback going to one's head, when is the last time that someone said, "love your story, great job, 5 stars" and you checked out their writing to find out if their opinion was worth listening to? The answer is never. Not once.

Everybody here puts their stories out dying to know what everyone thinks of their work. They say "Judge me! Judge me!" But we know also how many people complain in right here in AH that they're getting negative reviews and they're like "How dare they judge me!?" It is clear where their motivations lie.

The feedback here is just as spotty as the writing.

The point of the thread was frustration with feedback. Clearly, neither of us are going to agree with the approach to that. You call it coddling, I call
It learning to love the process.

We can all go about it differently, each of us have our own journey. You do you (same advise I gave the Op funny enough).

 

[gunhilltrain]

How seriously should I take it?

I'm not a new writer yet I'm always looking to improve. You are talking about new writers needing to improve yet you are advising them to ignore negative feedback. The negative feedback is how you find the weak spots in your craft. You're a proponent of coddling (new writer needs confidence). I'm not.

As for not letting the positive feedback going to one's head, when is the last time that someone said, "love your story, great job, 5 stars" and you checked out their writing to find out if their opinion was worth listening to? The answer is never. Not once.

Everybody here puts their stories out dying to know what everyone thinks of their work. They say "Judge me! Judge me!" But we know also how many people complain in right here in AH that they're getting negative reviews and they're like "How dare they judge me!?" It is clear where their motivations lie.

The feedback here is just as spotty as the writing.

I read them all anyway. I only delete one if it's so incoherent that I can't understand it. And once in a while, there is some advice that is spot on. In one case, I only noticed him again when somebody else posted on the same story. I experimented with his idea, and he was right. I even removed the original text and replaced it as a new story with a different title.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You are talking about new writers needing to improve yet you are advising them to ignore negative feedback. The negative feedback is how you find the weak spots in your craft.

There's constructive negative feedback - eg 'the ending felt rushed and I didn't understand why X did Y', and typical Lit negative feedback - 'Boring shit' and 'she should have sucked him off and done this and that and the other'.

Out of a few hundred Lit comments I think I've had two pieces of constructive negative feedback ever.

Negative comments, not worthy of response - a fair few!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

There's constructive negative feedback - eg 'the ending felt rushed and I didn't understand why X did Y', and typical Lit negative feedback - 'Boring shit' and 'she should have sucked him off and done this and that and the other'.

Out of a few hundred Lit comments I think I've had two pieces of constructive negative feedback ever.

Negative comments, not worthy of response - a fair few!

I don't get a lot of comments but almost every one that I have received has told me something if not valuable, at least interesting, and not all of these have been politely worded. if I would have dismissed them I would not have learned from them.

 

[Mogrem]

All the above about it being too soon to care about negative feedback, about not expecting people to fall in love with stories that aren't long enough to suck them in, etc, is all true.

Some additional practical advice if you really are sensitive to this is to top and tail the work quite precisely with author's notes. Not everyone agrees with this practice, but if you start the story with a note saying, "This is a short vignette to capture a mood. Its about X. If you don't like short vignettes and don't like X then I suggest you skip it," and end with a note saying, "All feedback appreciated. If you leave a negative score please comment to say what you would have liked to see improved," then that might improve matters.

Also: An average of 3* means that most people liked your story, so chin up.

 

[Gamblnluck]

EDIT: Thank you for all the responses. Had never posted here before, so was a bit scared in case I incurred the wrath of the forum. lol. I'll read your replies fully later and reply when I can.

I've only posted 2 stories so far, but both times they received 4's to start, which made me feel motivated to keep writing. I'd have ideas in my head already, and I'd be excited to— and then the 3's start swarming in. It's like people see the high ratings and want to see what all the fuss is about, then get snooty about it not being up to their heightened expectations, and they can't leave well enough alone, so they start lowering the ratings by a mile. And it's really discouraging and kills my motivation.

I'm going to respond here without reading the other comments first. I tend to be very forgiving to a new author scoring wise. The person has put themselves out there. Sometimes I offer public comment and sometimes privately. I tell them honestly how they can improve. Often my advice is to get a beta reader or two. Authors tend to think their story is a masterpiece yet their characters are inconsistent or their responses irrational compared to the situation. The story might just not 'flow'. Sometimes the author simply picks the wrong category. (Which is as stupid as going to court and your lawyer not participating in jury selection.)
Now to address why the story starts out well and then drops. There is a difference between drop and plummet. Often early morning or initial readers start with reading titles or description lines for something that may interest them. They do not just run down the list and read every story. They are more likely to approve the story by a small margin. Later reader are coming back to stories they skipped over.
While they are not actively looking to downgrade a story (don't believe the assholes here that call them trolls) just because, you are in in the second read category. And by SHEER MATH, the scoring tends to slide a bit.
Case in point. Today I posted the 28th chapter of long saga that I left idle for a year and a half. I only got 500 reads so far. My score was 4.8 the last I looked. Why? The readers were those who knew my story line. The initial comments reflected that. As times goes, that score will drop as others read. (And some new readers may start the whole series over.)
I will now have to go back and read the stories you posted.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I just read your submission about a soldier. I will be honest. It was not a story, but a scene. There was no background for what I thought was relatively disturbing. The soldier paid a whore to have a man punch him out and he was aroused sexually. No reason for the sexual response.
If the man was guilt-ridden and just wanted to have the shit knocked out of him, that would be a different manner. Basically, this might be the introductory scene for a longer story where you explore that.
Also one of your descriptions was off. 6'1" and only 158 pounds is not "musclebound". That could perhaps be lean fighting shape. (and many of the better soldiers in elite units are not big bruisers anyway, but often tend to be smaller, wiry men who can move fast)
If you want you can PM me and I will comment on a story you are thinking about in private.

 

[Melon_Morph]

That's clearly not true. It's a loose correlation, but it is correlated.

See what I mean about not being a very good writer?
What i meant to say was that it is not particularly well correlated, or not strongly correlated.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Also: An average of 3* means that most people liked your story, so chin up.

Actually, an average of 3 is exactly in the middle. Sure, 3 is 60% of 5, but there is no option to vote 0. so the scale is 1-2-3-4-5. 3 is exactly the middle. It is essentially a scale of 0 to 4 offset by +1. The middle of 0 to 4 is 2, offset by +1 is 3.

Furthermore, 4 out of 5 is not 80% approval, it's 75%. And a Red H is not 90%, it's 87.5%.