'Wasting' a story.

[XerXesXu]

I feel if you're going to lock yourself into number chasing you're stifling your creativity and are you really a writer? Or just a panderer?

Thoughts?

I don't chase numbers, I'm a hobbyist writer and write for myself, but those whose hobby is to write like a businessperson - 'The customer is always right' - have an equally valid hobby. It's a little unkind to describe them as mere panderers, whose creativity is stifled and therefore aren't real writers. There's no reason why their creativity should be stifled, quite the contrary. Their product will demonstrate if they're real writers.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't chase numbers, I'm a hobbyist writer and write for myself, but those whose hobby is to write like a businessperson - 'The customer is always right' - have an equally valid hobby. It's a little unkind to describe them as mere panderers, whose creativity is stifled and therefore aren't real writers. There's no reason why their creativity should be stifled, quite the contrary. Their product will demonstrate if they're real writers.

If your ideas naturally gravitate to a category that happens to be popular, that's fine. Its when you see people deliberately writing only in that category and following a set formula because it gets the most attention, whereas if you write something that's off the beaten path-even within said category-you might get lower numbers.

When you become a write by numbers for numbers, that's when you're pandering.

 

[XerXesXu]

When you become a write by numbers for numbers, that's when you're pandering.

James Patterson types?

 

[Agiel]

Point of this post is a general discussion of where you stand on this. I know there are people obsessed with numbers and will only write where the traffic is, and others who will give anything a shot if the idea comes to them.

Other point is, do you think any story is a waste? I don't feel they are, to the contrary, I feel if you're going to lock yourself into number chasing you're stifling your creativity and are you really a writer? Or just a panderer.

I’ve written stories in ten different categories over the years. I get the idea for a story, write it, and then decide which category is most suitable.

Thankfully all my stories have been well received for which I’m very grateful because I couldn’t write a story aimed simply at a category to get a good score and praise for my ego. My imagination won’t allow it

But if, as Lovecraft68 has said, there are people obsessed with numbers and will only write in certain categories then that’s up to them. Everyone gets satisfaction in different ways.

The end result of every story, by any author, is aimed at the enjoyment of the reader.

 

[Amy_66]

"Wasting a story"

In my (weird) mind's eye I see two anthropomorphic pulp paper novels-- an impulsive I/T one and an older more mature one that's obviously in charge-- on the Brooklyn waterfront, in the middle of the night, holding a "gat" on some third pipsqueek anthropomorphic dubcon novel they see as a "competitor."

A shot rings out, a body falls into the East River, and you wonder why your story was never published.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If you have finished a story, any story, even if you think it isn't up to standard, not posting it would be a waste.

I have several earlier stories I think, now, could be better written, but I have left them posted as originally writen because they show how I have progressed as an author.

But: When I get comments like this on a story I think is just average, I wonder if there isn't an audience for nearly anything:

From Anon on Bagged at the Opera (2003)

I'm a married female in her 30's, currently on anti-depressants that made my sex drive go fron 55mph to maybe 5 at best. (With my husband using every trick in the book--so to speak--at once).

That was well written, imaginative, and sexy. Plus, I think someone just FLOORED the gas pedal to the metal. Thanks. I needed that. Writer? Try to publish! You can do it.

I often wish that there was a way to sort an author's stories on this site by the date published. It would make it much more convenient to do just what Oggashan mentioned and track the progress of a writer's skill, style, and imagination.

 

[RetroFan]

Sometimes I've regretted putting some stories in certain categories, namely Group Sex and Exhibition/Voyeur, as the readers there seem to be negative, give low scores but don't say much either.

My story 'Grumpy Humphrey's Easy Wife' was initially to go into Loving Wives but I lost my nerve as the people there were particularly angry at the time, and having put a fair bit of work into the story thought the Group Sex fans might like it. They didn't, but if I'd put it into LW at least I would at least have gotten a reaction, albeit not a positive one. Earlier this year I wrote 'Betty the All-American Cock Tease' for a contest and decided to try E & V for the first time, but it sank without trace and I wish I'd posted it in Fetish.

 

[Amy_66]

I often wish that there was a way to sort an author's stories on this site by the date published. It would make it much more convenient to do just what Oggashan mentioned and track the progress of a writer's skill, style, and imagination.

On a chromebook cut and paste the author's catalog into a document, format insert table, and order ascending or descending. The hotlinks remain.

 

[Amy_66]

I don't chase numbers, I'm a hobbyist writer and write for myself, but those whose hobby is to write like a businessperson - 'The customer is always right'...

Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest airlines, succinctly explains in his autobiography WHY the customer is not always right. Not to butcher what he wrote, customers want a certain outcome, and most lack the technical knowledge to obtain that outcome on their own. So the entrepreneur must discern the desired outcome from the blathering of an idiot. (Herb was much more diplomatic.)

 

[XerXesXu]

Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest airlines, succinctly explains in his autobiography WHY the customer is not always right. Not to butcher what he wrote, customers want a certain outcome, and most lack the technical knowledge to obtain that outcome on their own. So the entrepreneur must discern the desired outcome from the blathering of an idiot. (Herb was much more diplomatic.)

He was smart enough to identify an unfilled consumer niche and fill it at the lowest possible price, though.

 

[shivadancer]

Another angle on the wasting idea;

I've had my stories get to sexy place (IMHO), and do whatever it was planning. Then after all this it occurred to me that I might as well have them go further and do some of the other wild stuff that resides in my mind. Otherwise, I have to develop a whole different cast of characters and go through all the scaffolding to get them to the point were they can have wild sex.

So why waste a good build up.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I write what turns me on. Right now and I suspect forever, it's romantic stories of older women with younger men/women. I doubt seriously I'll wander far from this. My numbers have been good and the comments positive. The numbers I don't care about, but the comments I do. I appreciate it when someone takes a moment to tell me their thoughts. That I made a connection. But, this is off the subject.
To me, a wasted story is erotica without at least attempting a story. The classic milf next door hires 18 year old to clean her pool and her pipes. Yawn. There's nothing wrong with the classic porn scenarios, but it's still damn lazy writing, IMO.
A little imagination can take an old standby and make it fresh and interesting.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I've had my stories get to sexy place (IMHO), and do whatever it was planning. Then after all this it occurred to me that I might as well have them go further and do some of the other wild stuff that resides in my mind. Otherwise, I have to develop a whole different cast of characters and go through all the scaffolding to get them to the point were they can have wild sex.

So why waste a good build up.

I've also done this. I had two potential story ideas, but I thought they lacked scope. When I combined them, it just all fell into place. It was a great writing experience.

 

[DarkRaven13]

I write what turns me on. Right now and I suspect forever, it's romantic stories of older women with younger men/women. I doubt seriously I'll wander far from this. My numbers have been good and the comments positive. The numbers I don't care about, but the comments I do. I appreciate it when someone takes a moment to tell me their thoughts. That I made a connection. But, this is off the subject.
To me, a wasted story is erotica without at least attempting a story. The classic milf next door hires 18 year old to clean her pool and her pipes. Yawn. There's nothing wrong with the classic porn scenarios, but it's still damn lazy writing, IMO.
A little imagination can take an old standby and make it fresh and interesting.

This! (Well...this in he highlighted portion.)

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

You just need to write something to know how well it might turn out.

If someone comes up with title, let's say 'Fifty Shades of Christmas', it might become a great story or it might turn into something less great, but you'll never know till you write it. Once it is written it needs to get posted. Maybe the concept was great but the sex scenes dull, maybe the spelling and grammar errors mar the story and the readers minds, maybe the plot just was not very good. Jane Eyre meets Texas chainsaw Massacre with a hint of My Big Fat Greek Wedding sounds like a really interesting plot, maybe it just does not work because of issues with the tone. The point is no one knows for sure till it gets written.

 

[alohadave]

I often wish that there was a way to sort an author's stories on this site by the date published. It would make it much more convenient to do just what Oggashan mentioned and track the progress of a writer's skill, style, and imagination.

There is a tampermonkey script that does this: https://forum.literotica.com/thread...by-date-solution-inside.654644/#post-95270746

 

[Unblemished]

Even if a story doesn’t do an idea justice, I still don’t consider that a waste. If nothing else, you can just…reuse the concept. If you write a story and come back a while later to realise it wasn’t what it could have been, you can write another story with the same premise, or rewrite the tale, or do a sequel.

In a similar vein, there are well known authors who’ve written short stories or novellas and later expanded them into full on novels, reused a plot element in a later tale, or written stories later in their career which revisit the ideas of their earlier works. Take Stephen King, for example: His novel The Stand features a disease apocalypse caused by a virus known as ‘Captain Trips’, but that was also the premise of one of his short stories (Night Surf). He just reused the idea for the book.

 

[FluffMeatsStory]

To me, "wasting a story" meant filler between events in a numbered series.
It might be used to introduce a lesser character, or to get the plot from point A to point B, or some other minor but required change.
Placing it in another story might cause that story to be lower quality.
Such stories have their place, but don't impact why the story exists all that much. Hopefully, I have avoided that kind of story. [My ego wants to think I'm better than that. ]

Worst case is plotting requires Event A occurs just before Event B in Chapter 7, but you got through Chapter 5 and did Event A. Now you need something for Chapter 6 to fill the space between Event A and B which are very close. What to do? Write Filler or Fluff. Or change your master plan to move things back a chapter number. So far, my master plan is to have a numbered series, and I have a "Coda" that auto-sorts after "99". The last story essentially closes off the series, but still allows up to 98 chapters after chapter 01. There is also room for chapter 00 for an overview of people/things/places as a list or index. [I planned that back when I wrote chapter 01, since I expected I would have at least 10 stories. I also had the leading zero so it would sort correctly.]

Given the different aggregate meaning of "waste" in this thread, I would say wasting a story means not to write it. It may need rewrites, edits, and polishing, but once written down, all that can be done. Publication is optional. After editing, if it is reasonable, post it. If it is a horrible mess, another rewrite may be needed. Maybe get a co-author. Even an editor that critiques it can help find where things go sour. But putting it down on paper (or in a file) means you have taken action to create the story. No action is the waste.

This is my feeling on the matter. We all know what kind of stories score really well here (in views, stars, and comments) and I think most writers could write boilerplate to those if they wanted to--if that's their goal.

What gets the most views? If they see my handle there, they might explore my other stories.
I would happily have a loss-leader story if it funnels them to my main stuff.

 

[FluffMeatsStory]

I often wish that there was a way to sort an author's stories on this site by the date published. It would make it much more convenient to do just what Oggashan mentioned and track the progress of a writer's skill, style, and imagination.

I just copy the story list page, and paste into a spreadsheet.
It is already tab separated, so goes into columns.
Sort on the last column, and you have the list by date.

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

What gets the most views? If they see my handle there, they might explore my other stories.
I would happily have a loss-leader story if it funnels them to my main stuff.

If that's your goal, a safe bet is writing to the Incest/Taboo category, specifically mother & son. Someone feel free to correct me but I think in terms of views, it's the most popular story set-up on the site.

 

[TheRedChamber]

If that's your goal, a safe bet is writing to the Incest/Taboo category, specifically mother & son. Someone feel free to correct me but I think in terms of views, it's the most popular story set-up on the site.

This is a bit of a poisoned chalice though. He might get a whole bunch of new followers, but ones who really want to read mom/son incest which may not be what he wants to write. I did a couple of stories with an incest theme for fun and they quickly became my most viewed and favorited stories because that category is very enthusiastic. However, that did not really transfer over when I started writing more vanilla stuff again.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This is a bit of a poisoned chalice though. He might get a whole bunch of new followers, but ones who really want to read mom/son incest which may not be what he wants to write. I did a couple of stories with an incest theme for fun and they quickly became my most viewed and favorited stories because that category is very enthusiastic. However, that did not really transfer over when I started writing more vanilla stuff again.

This has been my experience as well.

 

[FluffMeatsStory]

One of my stories did have incest, but it was not the main thrust of the story. Nor is it what I want to write.
I see myself writing Sci Fi, generally. If I do such a loss-leader, I will be sure to put an intro explaining it is not my usual fare, and I hope they like the writing style and want to look at the rest of my stuff. So, what's the #2 popular category?

One story I am working on is for Erotic Horror, but could fit elsewhere as it does have incest, virginity (first-time), and exhibition so far. The horror is like 'The Outer Limits' where everything seems nice until the twist at the end. I even have thoughts of a sequel where the leading character deals with the horror and succeeds despite that element.

 

[FelHarper]

One of my stories did have incest, but it was not the main thrust of the story. Nor is it what I want to write.
I see myself writing Sci Fi, generally.

Same. Sci-fi is my home, but I have had an idea for an incest story in my head for some time. It would use the idea of a supposedly real phenomenon called genetic sexual attraction (GSA), in which close relatives meeting for the first time as adults often feel an uncontrollable and powerful attraction. If I write it, it will be because I want to explore the concept.

I could never write a fluffy stroke story where mom, dad, and siblings inexplicably jump into bed. My prospective story would feature a father/daughter and there would be unrequited desire, confusion, and angst. A lot of angst. I’m not sure how it would fly in that category. I should probably try it just to see what the response would be.

 

[FelHarper]

Artists are sad beings. Narcissists who need positive reinforcement and constant attention. It's sad, but that's the engine that pushes them to create.

Ouch. The truth hurts. The need to write is like a persistent itch, but I’m not sure if I would ever actually finish and publish anything without the ratings to entice me, but especially the comments. Part of it, though, is the joy of seeing that my work has had a positive impact on someone else.