My rejected story. I'm sad and clueless. Advice?

[LadyCibelle]

That shows how long it's been since I've submitted anything. Sorry for causing more confusion!

Maybe it's time for you to submit something new, Min. That way you'll get back in the swing of things.

 

[EllaRegina]

It's OK, minsue. I'm eternally confused anyway.

Yeah, maybe I will go to the Zoo and see if there are any cast off tortoise shells. I sure could use one.

The real question is: Where can I get me one of those groovin' dancing bananas?

 

[LadyCibelle]

It's OK, minsue. I'm eternally confused anyway.

Yeah, maybe I will go to the Zoo and see if there are any cast off tortoise shells. I sure could use one.

The real question is: Where can I get me one of those groovin' dancing bananas?

Look at my post....see the 'quote' button? Click on it. It will get you in the 'reply to thread' page...just like when you post a message. Look next to the box where you write you text...the dancing nana should be there....otherwise, look for the 'more' link in that same box called 'smilies'.

 

[EllaRegina]

Look at my post....see the 'quote' button? Click on it. It will get you in the 'reply to thread' page...just like when you post a message. Look next to the box where you write you text...the dancing nana should be there....otherwise, look for the 'more' link in that same box called 'smilies'.

Again, I am deprived. I have the following choices:

No icon
Something that looks like a sheet of paper
A red thumbs down
A blue winking happy face
A pink happy face
A grinning toothy green happy face
A purple frowny face
A red mad frowny face
A yellow standard happy face
A smirking blue face with sunglasses
A blue circle w/a question mark
A yellow triangle with an exclamation point, like a highway danger sign
A light-bulb
A green circle with a right-pointing arrow
A yellow thumbs up

No bananas.
No red rose.
No animated anything.
No 'more' button to click for, well, 'more.'

And down yonder it says Smilies are on. Maybe I have the Mac bare-bones version.

 

[EllaRegina]

Ah, I see if I click on "smilies" in "smilies are on" there are oodles more, inlcuding said rose and banana. But I have to know what to type to create them; they are not included in my 'post icons' box directly under the text box in which I am typing this. Hmmn.

 

[EllaRegina]

 

[LadyCibelle]

Ah, I see if I click on "smilies" in "smilies are on" there are oodles more, inlcuding said rose and banana. But I have to know what to type to create them; they are not included in my 'post icons' box directly under the text box in which I am typing this. Hmmn.

you don't have to know what to type down. Just positing your cursor where you want the smilies to appear...then in the smilies window, click on the one you want....it'll type the code by itself. To make sure you have the right one, click on 'preview post' when you're done; you'll see what your post will look like with the smilie. If you're happy with what it looks like, just click on 'submit reply'.

 

[cloudy]

If it happens, I will try to do as you say but I am a very sensitive flower and not known for being thick of skin. I probably shouldn't say that in advance of a story being posted. Maybe it will give the trolls time to lay out their vitriolic ammunition. Do they come in here to read posts or do they confine their activities to the story front?

Trust me...once you've got more than two or three stories posted, you could really give a rat's ass about the trolls - and you'll even stop checking your scores compulsively.

 

[EllaRegina]

I hear ya, Cloudy. It's just that mean people ruffle my feathers but maybe you are right. I guess it's the public humiliation aspect which bothers me - that the harsh words are there for all to see, even if many disregard them. This is a sort of cross-my-bridge-if-and-when-I-come-to-it thing but I was wondering what the overall tendency is to do with horrible remarks - leave them or delete them (and in the process of doing the latter raise the troll ire even more)?

I've also seen authors reply to negative comments in the comments area but that brings up the whole issue of having to vote on one's own story - you cannot comment w/o a vote from what I can tell. I've seen veterans - major stars here - do it, giving themselves either 50 (I guess to be neutral) or 100. It seems wrong to be awarding oneself 100 points just to have to answer a troll but seems equally unfair to award oneself less, and bring down one's score in the process, to duke it out with them. Maybe the best thing is to ignore.

Re the smilies, LadyCibelle, I still cannot post any of them other than what I listed above unless I write the code out myself. If I point to the icons in the smilies box - the big one with the dancing banana, et cetera - nothing happens. They are not clickable. I can only use the 14 here as already described.

 

[starrkers]

Re the smilies thing - I had the same trouble when I first signed up. Go to your User CP and check through all the options, there's a box that needs ticking to activate the smilies.

 

[EllaRegina]

Ah, thanks, Starrkers! In my CP options palette was something called "Message Editor Interface" - that's where they were hiding. I had "Basic." Now I have "Standard." And guess what else I have????



Yay!

 

[LadyCibelle]

Ah, thanks, Starrkers! In my CP options palette was something called "Message Editor Interface" - that's where they were hiding. I had "Basic." Now I have "Standard." And guess what else I have????



Yay!

Congrats, Ella Now it's time to party.

 

[cloudy]

I hear ya, Cloudy. It's just that mean people ruffle my feathers but maybe you are right. I guess it's the public humiliation aspect which bothers me - that the harsh words are there for all to see, even if many disregard them. This is a sort of cross-my-bridge-if-and-when-I-come-to-it thing but I was wondering what the overall tendency is to do with horrible remarks - leave them or delete them (and in the process of doing the latter raise the troll ire even more)?

It's not really public humiliation...we all post here under psuedonyms, after all. The best advice I can give you? Either grow a thick skin, or give up writing. If you think the readers are tough here, try sending some of your work to a publisher.

I leave comments up if they are actually related to the story. If not, then I delete them (I had a stalker once that put something along the lines of "you suck, bitch" on every single story. My response was, "yeah, so?")

I've also seen authors reply to negative comments in the comments area but that brings up the whole issue of having to vote on one's own story - you cannot comment w/o a vote from what I can tell. I've seen veterans - major stars here - do it, giving themselves either 50 (I guess to be neutral) or 100. It seems wrong to be awarding oneself 100 points just to have to answer a troll but seems equally unfair to award oneself less, and bring down one's score in the process, to duke it out with them. Maybe the best thing is to ignore.

That little thermometer you're referring to has absolutely nothing to do with a vote, believe it or not.

You can vote for a story/poem at the bottom of the last page (vote 1 - 5). The thermometer just goes along with the comment, and has nothing to do with a vote. For instance, someone can give your story a vote of 2, yet place that thermometer at 0, or 25, or 50, or 100.

Two completely separate things. So, yes...you can comment without actually voting.

I won't reply to comments. I just think it's sort of tacky to do so. If someone wants to discuss aspects of one of my stories, they can do so in email feedback - although I do try to thank those that aren't anonymous for taking the time to read/comment. I use the link through their author's page to email them a quick thank you.

There's one author here - who shall remain nameless (even though I can't stand the skanky whore) - who replies in the comments to every single comment someone posts. It makes her stories look like they're catching on like wildfire when the stupid bitch is just answering herself, and complaining about other authors.

 

[EllaRegina]

Right. Gotta work on the skin thing, then.

Interesting about that thermometer.

Good tips about how to handle the comments, thanks.

I wonder about the whole anonymous commenting thing - if it's mostly just readers who come to the site for the stories but don't want to bother registering just to be able to leave their "name" or is it also registered authors who, for whatever reason, don't want to stand on record as themselves when commenting? Maybe a bit of both...

 

[CopyCarver]

Deleted

 

[EllaRegina]

 

[Fantazmaster]

I wonder if this is a case of the squeaking wheel getting the grease here with your story being published at last .I well understand your frustration over getting this story posted on here.My congratulations to you!

 

[CopyCarver]

Aha, now it IS on the New Stories list. Lit's servers are conspiring to make it seem that I was actually wrong about something

 

[minsue]

I wonder if this is a case of the squeaking wheel getting the grease here with your story being published at last .I well understand your frustration over getting this story posted on here.My congratulations to you!

No one on this thread has the ability to get someone's story published. (Unless Lady C has magic powers she's keeping to herself....*raises eyebrow*)

Congrats, Ella!

 

[EllaRegina]

Thank you very much, Fantazmaster. I wasn't intentionally trying to be squeaky by posting my woes in order to get things rolling. Do Laurel and Manu even read this forum? That said, I did submit an edit and then a PM to Laurel yesterday because I wanted to change ONE word. Maybe that was the final squeaky straw (mixing metaphors here...) that got the grease. Who knows?

Overall, this was a learn by doing thing. It really was my mistake for mentioning the ol' illustrations and then not following up on it. Simple. Literotica was correct in their rejection of the story because of it. Learned: Never assume!

 

[EllaRegina]

Thanks, Minsue.

Hey, CopyCarver! I see it there now, too. What's odd, to me at least, is that it is not where I would expect it to be, in order of appearance more or less. And it's not alphabetical, either. There must be a rhyme/reason to the order of the New Story posts but I cannot figure it out.

 

[Fantazmaster]

I do not disagree with your point on no one on this thread having the ability to get this or any other story published.However it is at least possible that Ella raised enough valid and credible points in her various posts to perhaps move her story from the status of yet another rejection to published ,via one of the publishing powers that be, reading her points here.Plus, it is understabable to me that it is a difficult task to read through numerous story submissions and rejecting many of them for a variety of reasons.If indeed being a sqeaking wheel caused Ella's story to be more closely reconsidered,well then this publishing success apparently speaks for itself.

No one on this thread has the ability to get someone's story published. (Unless Lady C has magic powers she's keeping to herself....*raises eyebrow*)

Congrats, Ella!

 

[snooper]

... Lit's servers are conspiring to make it seem that I was actually wrong about something

Not even on Lit can such impossibilities occur - there is always some other explanation!

 

[fieryjen]

It's not really public humiliation...we all post here under psuedonyms, after all. The best advice I can give you? Either grow a thick skin, or give up writing. If you think the readers are tough here, try sending some of your work to a publisher.

I leave comments up if they are actually related to the story. If not, then I delete them (I had a stalker once that put something along the lines of "you suck, bitch" on every single story. My response was, "yeah, so?")




That little thermometer you're referring to has absolutely nothing to do with a vote, believe it or not.

You can vote for a story/poem at the bottom of the last page (vote 1 - 5). The thermometer just goes along with the comment, and has nothing to do with a vote. For instance, someone can give your story a vote of 2, yet place that thermometer at 0, or 25, or 50, or 100.

Two completely separate things. So, yes...you can comment without actually voting.

I won't reply to comments. I just think it's sort of tacky to do so. If someone wants to discuss aspects of one of my stories, they can do so in email feedback - although I do try to thank those that aren't anonymous for taking the time to read/comment. I use the link through their author's page to email them a quick thank you.

There's one author here - who shall remain nameless (even though I can't stand the skanky whore) - who replies in the comments to every single comment someone posts. It makes her stories look like they're catching on like wildfire when the stupid bitch is just answering herself, and complaining about other authors.

I was involved in a discussion somewhere on here once, where I was told that the thermometer sometimes does matter - when someone leaves a comment without first voting on the story, the thermometer vote will count as the regular 1-5 vote. I'm not 100% sure if that's true, and I know the general concensus is that it doesn't matter, but I figured I should point that out.

 

[LadyCibelle]

No one on this thread has the ability to get someone's story published. (Unless Lady C has magic powers she's keeping to herself....*raises eyebrow*)

Congrats, Ella!

LOL, don' you know, Min....I have ALL the powers!