Loving Wives Bomb Magnet

[dmallord]

I've written one LW story. That place has a rough crowd. The nicest critic stood up for me and told them it was my first story, and it was pretty good.

I'm not sure, but this may be the best backhanded 'bitch-slap' on that story:

"Although your stories are okay, they could be much better. Do you remember the episode of Mash when Radar was taking the writing course? Well Radar, you could learn from it. No offense, just my opinion."

 

[shivadancer]

I propose a story contest, maybe called "Race to the Bottom", where we compete for the lowest LW score, with the most troll comments.

I don't know how we develop a single metric to cover both dimensions, maybe two awards.

 

[shivadancer]

I performed once with a seasoned dancer who I respected a great deal. One of the surprising things she said to me was; "I don't care in the least what the audience thinks, what matters is what I think."

I believe that is one of the big lessons literotica has to teach authors. We need to write for ourselves, ratings (which as you can see are pretty much random), and comments, have very little to do with what we are up to.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

I performed once with a seasoned dancer who I respected a great deal. One of the surprising things she said to me was; "I don't care in the least what the audience thinks, what matters is what I think."

I believe that is one of the big lessons literotica has to teach authors. We need to write for ourselves, ratings (which as you can see are pretty much random), and comments, have very little to do with what we are up to.

I’ve read variations of this advice a few times here. I understand the point you are making; create what you want to create – don’t feel constrained to what you perceive is your audience expectations.

I guess its an okay generalization for ‘touchy-feely’ performance-artists types (like ballerinas?) But for engineering/scientific, concisely-logical thinkers, the advice falls flat.

Do you use a spell-checker when you’re “only writing for yourself”? Why? You know what you mean, so there’s no need to waste any time proof-reading it. Why do you even publish if you’re just writing for yourself? It’s illogical.

I bet this seasoned dancer actually put in a great deal of effort to dance well and entertain her audience. To me, the quote sounds like she was 'her own harshest critic' – and her expectations for her performance aligned closely with that of the audience. She wasn’t departing the set choreography to insert her own interpretive dance routine, mid-performance, just because the mood took her. At most, she added her own stylistic flourish to an orchestrated and rehearsed performance. A performance that was intended to entertain an audience, not amuse the ballerina.

You can do even more with your writing. You have the benefit of being both the choreographer and the performer.

Write your story, in your way, but tell it well. Use irony, humor, different perspectives, put a twist on a familiar cliché, use a spell checker, proof-reader, editor, etc. Be a good storyteller, with your own style.

Think of The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club... If asked, people are not generally into prison/gangster/anti-establishment type movies. But give them a compelling story, well-told, and you’ll have them hooked. These three movies are all in the Top-20 rated movies on IMDB, despite their subject matter. Who wants to see a movie about genocide? Schindler's List is at #6. To entertain, it’s the storytelling that matters, not the storyline.

So my interpretation:

Don’t give a damn about what you think your audience expects. Write the story that you want to write - but do it so well that they’ll rate it highly, regardless.

So please do chase high ratings. This doesn’t mean you need to compromise your story, it means you need to tell it well.

 

[Plathfan]

So please do chase high ratings. This doesn’t mean you need to compromise your story, it means you need to tell it well.

Chasing high ratings without compromising is quite contradictory. Being well-written might help, but only to a limited extent. It doesn't mean your story won't occasionally align with the preferences of most voters, but consistently? Unlikely.

On this farm, readers seek a satisfying resolution and a happy ending: goodness triumphing over evil, or at least a glimmer of hope. Anything less, and they'll tear your work apart, regardless of its storytelling prowess.

In the Protestant sphere, there's a tendency to idealize and glorify the working class and those perceived as weak. A simple blue-collar character overcoming hardships will receive immediate empathy and score much higher than other types of characters and genres.

Ultimately, you need to be a diligent farmer, constantly feeding your livestock---which is perfectly fine, just spare me the "you need to tell it well" BS. You can't stay true to yourself and simultaneously please others all the time.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Chasing high ratings without compromising is quite contradictory. Being well-written might help, but only to a limited extent. It doesn't mean your story won't occasionally align with the preferences of most voters, but consistently? Unlikely.

On this farm, readers seek a satisfying resolution and a happy ending: goodness triumphing over evil, or at least a glimmer of hope. Anything less, and they'll tear your work apart, regardless of its storytelling prowess.

In the Protestant sphere, there's a tendency to idealize and glorify the working class and those perceived as weak. A simple blue-collar character overcoming hardships will receive immediate empathy and score much higher than other types of characters and genres.

Ultimately, you need to be a diligent farmer, constantly feeding your livestock---which is perfectly fine, just spare me the "you need to tell it well" BS. You can't stay true to yourself and simultaneously please others all the time.

Ah. This is a thread about Loving Wives. I concede that you won’t please everyone in LW.

I still suggest you strive for quality in your writing. Readers will reward quality writing with good scores... Except for those who have an ideological objection to the content (or the author), they will one-bomb you regardless of the quality of your work. They are the opinions to ignore – but, of course, they are going to hurt your rating (see ‘Score Vandalism’ and the many similar threads).

If you want to write a story where the bad guy wins, go ahead. (Movie examples No Country for Old Men, Se7en, Silence Of The Lambs. They all rate highly. Don’t be recent Hollywood and just give audiences super-hero stories, ‘cos you think that’s what they want.

Write the story you want. Strive for quality. Try to get the best rating that circumstances allow.

 

[Ellies_adventures]

I have had 1 bombs before in LW, and some comments from 26th. Actually had another reader dig back at 26th in the comments which was nice of them as I was quite new to LIT.

I have a series which is mainly exhibitionist classification, and it has been doing quite well with ratings. Short version is my wife and I are watching online porn, when we come across a film starring our neighbour. We go on to find more videos. The most recent 2 chapters involve us having a few frisky drinks with the neighbours and telling them we have discovered some of their content. I decided to put the most recent one in LW instead of exhibitionist as the 2 couples started to swap a bit, and the ratings are very different due to the 1 bomb brigade, but still proud of the storyline thus far. I'll drop a link shortly in case the above storyline description tickles your fancy

 

[Ellies_adventures]

https://literotica.com/s/the-neighbours-internet-porn-ch-01

 

[26thNC]

LOL. One of my recent stories received five 1s and a 2 within the first hour for a rating of 1.17.

And I haven't seen any drops in the vote counts for my stories for months, so I think the Admins don't bother to sweep mine.

EDIT: BTW, Admins, I'm not complaining or requesting a sweep. It makes no difference to me how many 1s they throw at me. I got over that "I'll take my stories and run" attitude long ago, and now just writing and posting here for fun.

If scores make no difference to you, then why to you complain about them so much?

 

[Lifestyle66]

If scores make no difference to you, then why to you complain about them so much?

It's not a complaint to point out facts.

 

[26thNC]

It's not a complaint to point out facts.

Pointing out the same fact constantly is complaining.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Pointing out the same fact constantly is complaining.

Again, we disagree.

In the various threads, I see those who repeatedly call the LW readers misogynists, and who defend the rating system (because they have so many Red-Hs.

I like to provide the evidence when I see they're mistaken or naive.

Some authors are 1-bombed for no other reason than they dared express an opinion here in the AH! So, that gives evidence to a fact that you are manipulating the ratings. Use alt IDs to promote your stories and 5 them, while detracting from others.

But there are still those here insisting "No! You're wrong! Where's your proof?".

So, I provide evidence when I see it.

 

[Escierto]

Again, we disagree.

In the various threads, I see those who repeatedly call the LW readers misogynists, and who defend the rating system (because they have so many Red-Hs.

I like to provide the evidence when I see they're mistaken or naive.

Some authors are 1-bombed for no other reason than they dared express an opinion here in the AH! So, that gives evidence to a fact that you are manipulating the ratings. Use alt IDs to promote your stories and 5 them, while detracting from others.

But there are still those here insisting "No! You're wrong! Where's your proof?".

So, I provide evidence when I see it.

You are definitely right. The Lit ratings are worthless because they are so manipulated.

 

[Gamblnluck]

Some authors are 1-bombed for no other reason than they dared express an opinion here in the AH!

To be honest, I do not think a significant portion of story readers in general bother to read entries in AH, not on any regular basis anyway. Perhaps somebody from management has a way to gauge it.

 

[Lifestyle66]

To be honest, I do not think a significant portion of story readers in general bother to read entries in AH, not on any regular basis anyway. Perhaps somebody from management has a way to gauge it.

Get a clue.

That means they're not "readers" but rather they are other authors who are doing the 1-bombing!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Ya think anyone would really do that?

Get a clue.

That means they're not "readers" but rather they are other authors who are doing the 1-bombing!