Cheating Husband or Loving Husband stories?

[Cagivagurl]

It's all good, I'm done now.

Excellent

 

[lustychimera]

Has anybody cracked into the LW treasure-trove that's Reddit BORU's?

And now my whole family's blowing up my phone! AITAH?

They are just begging for a story.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Has anybody cracked into the LW treasure-trove that's Reddit BORU's?

And now my whole family's blowing up my phone! AITAH?

They are just begging for a story.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a substantial amount of authors getting their ideas there. I mean, no offense to anyone, but with how many stories are posted here that are barely a page long, never saw a spellchecker (let alone an editor), and amount to little more than a confession letter... I'd say many of the stories here were even meant to be posted on Reddit.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a substantial amount of authors getting their ideas there. I mean, no offense to anyone, but with how many stories are posted here that are barely a page long, never saw a spellchecker (let alone an editor), and amount to little more than a confession letter... I'd say many of the stories here were even meant to be posted on Reddit.

I know at least one came over from Reddit. It was in the "story, update, update" format that's popular there, with some comments within the story that make it clear it came from over there.

 

[lustychimera]

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a substantial amount of authors getting their ideas there. I mean, no offense to anyone, but with how many stories are posted here that are barely a page long, never saw a spellchecker (let alone an editor), and amount to little more than a confession letter... I'd say many of the stories here were even meant to be posted on Reddit.

There's a lot of bizarrely specific but somehow common tropes they have. Like:

Spouse comes home, maybe carrying the milk and a Costco chicken or whatever, just a perfectly normal day, but when they walk inside, their entire fucking family is in the living room. Their partner, their kids, Mom, Dad, and typically an in-law, like a SIL or a BIL who had expressed a heavy romantic interest in Spouse's partner in the past.

What happens next is like that scene in Airplane where everybody makes a line and slaps Spouse, who's has no fucking clue what's going on. And then the In-Law shows them the texts and screenshots. Apparently, they have "proof" that Spouse was cheating. In one story, their "lover" even came by.

It rocks Spouse's world because, no, they haven't cheated.

But nobody wants to listen.

Spouse is kicked out, Motel 6, sleeps with a gun pointed at their head for comfort--that kind of thing. This is about the time they get a cat. They all do.

Through the grapevine, Spouse finds out In-Law is now dating their ex-partner. Their kids call In-Law "Mom/Dad." And since these are normally male fantasies, the daughter even asks In-Law to walk her down the aisle to a wedding that Dad wasn't even invited to.

Spouse gets heavy therapy and moves on.

5 years later.

They've pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. They threw the gun in the lake. They love their cat. Life is good.

There's a knock on their door. Spouse opens it, and their children are there, and they're crying. Spouse is reluctant and cold but does let the kiddos in.

Oh, boo-hoo. "In-Law got drunk (they always get drunk) and confessed that they set the whole thing up. They faked the screenshots, even hired a hooker to pretend to be the affair partner. We're so sorry!"

Spouse's ex-partner is equally distraught. They write a sappy letter or some shit, and kick out In-Law.

Spouse earns their kids back. Their ex-partner is now the spurned divorcee who realizes they gave up a perfect partner for evil In-Law, and ex-partner is now the one at rock bottom. Maybe the kids are pissed at them, too, or some shit.

Spouse has it all. Ex-partner, who's pining to get back together, is now on booty call. They've got a flock of Tinderellas. A Corvette. Kids are groveling at their feet. Parents love them as their favoritest again. "Here, have your brother's inheritance, son." They painlessly passed a kidney stone. Life is good.

^^I've read that exact story probably a dozen times. They have so many tropes just like that, basically a full story outline complete with a thousand comments giving feedback. And for the incest culkholders, there's even one where the kid broke his arms and cucked dad.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

This is about the time they get a cat. They all do.

And this is the part where I fucking lost it

Though, I have one question:

Through the grapevine, Spouse finds out In-Law is now dating their ex-partner.

...their ex-partner is now dating one of their own siblings???

 

[lustychimera]

Though, I have one question:


...their ex-partner is now dating one of their own siblings???

umm...about that.

 

[Helgamite]

There's a lot of bizarrely specific but somehow common tropes they have. Like:

Spouse comes home, maybe carrying the milk and a Costco chicken or whatever, just a perfectly normal day, but when they walk inside, their entire fucking family is in the living room. Their partner, their kids, Mom, Dad, and typically an in-law, like a SIL or a BIL who had expressed a heavy romantic interest in Spouse's partner in the past.

What happens next is like that scene in Airplane where everybody makes a line and slaps Spouse, who's has no fucking clue what's going on. And then the In-Law shows them the texts and screenshots. Apparently, they have "proof" that Spouse was cheating. In one story, their "lover" even came by.

It rocks Spouse's world because, no, they haven't cheated.

But nobody wants to listen.

Spouse is kicked out, Motel 6, sleeps with a gun pointed at their head for comfort--that kind of thing. This is about the time they get a cat. They all do.

Through the grapevine, Spouse finds out In-Law is now dating their ex-partner. Their kids call In-Law "Mom/Dad." And since these are normally male fantasies, the daughter even asks In-Law to walk her down the aisle to a wedding that Dad wasn't even invited to.

Spouse gets heavy therapy and moves on.

5 years later.

They've pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. They threw the gun in the lake. They love their cat. Life is good.

There's a knock on their door. Spouse opens it, and their children are there, and they're crying. Spouse is reluctant and cold but does let the kiddos in.

Oh, boo-hoo. "In-Law got drunk (they always get drunk) and confessed that they set the whole thing up. They faked the screenshots, even hired a hooker to pretend to be the affair partner. We're so sorry!"

Spouse's ex-partner is equally distraught. They write a sappy letter or some shit, and kick out In-Law.

Spouse earns their kids back. Their ex-partner is now the spurned divorcee who realizes they gave up a perfect partner for evil In-Law, and ex-partner is now the one at rock bottom. Maybe the kids are pissed at them, too, or some shit.

Spouse has it all. Ex-partner, who's pining to get back together, is now on booty call. They've got a flock of Tinderellas. A Corvette. Kids are groveling at their feet. Parents love them as their favoritest again. "Here, have your brother's inheritance, son." They painlessly passed a kidney stone. Life is good.

^^I've read that exact story probably a dozen times. They have so many tropes just like that, basically a full story outline complete with a thousand comments giving feedback. And for the incest culkholders, there's even one where the kid broke his arms and cucked dad.

never could understand why the men took the kids back or the spouse. once hurt, I'd be telling the kids to F off, even if they had the truth. tho I don't think I have ever read one story that was like that. where the wronged one Male or female tells the rest of the family to F off after a few years of divorce. It seems odd that so many write the aggrieved one to capitulate and take them back. or at least take the kids back.

 

[lustychimera]

never could understand why the men took the kids back or the spouse. once hurt, I'd be telling the kids to F off, even if they had the truth. tho I don't think I have ever read one story that was like that. where the wronged one Male or female tells the rest of the family to F off after a few years of divorce. It seems odd that so many write the aggrieved one to capitulate and take them back. or at least take the kids back.

That's always kind of my thought reading them, too. Like, even if the spouse did cheat, they clearly meant so little to their kids that the kids just straight up ditched them, zero contact even after years. I don't have kids, though, so I probably can't relate to that parental love that everyone talks about.

Always makes me think that the either the spouse or their partner (or both) have some very serious issues that did not make it into the story for all of their kids and family to treat them like that. Like, either the kids were raised to be little shits, or they were already on the fence, neither are a great look.

 

[Helgamite]

That's always kind of my thought reading them, too. Like, even if the spouse did cheat, they clearly meant so little to their kids that the kids just straight up ditched them, zero contact even after years. I don't have kids, though, so I probably can't relate to that parental love that everyone talks about.

Always makes me think that the either the spouse or their partner (or both) have some very serious issues that did not make it into the story for all of their kids and family to treat them like that. Like, either the kids were raised to be little shits, or they were already on the fence, neither are a great look.

yea, I read one story where the guy found his wife cheating on him, for 20 years. had 2 kids and none of were his. oldest was 17 and was a daughter which idolized him. once she found out both she and her brother were not his, and who the father was, they both switched allegiance from the man who raised them to the one who sired them and covered for the mother.

he finds out everything, divorces her and disowns the kids, gets destroyed in the divorce, which was closer to what RL divorces are like for men, and then 20 years later, the kids find him, and apologize and want back in his life when their blood father abandons them for another woman and leaves their mother dry and hung out.

he takes them both back, spends thousands on her wedding and more. I mean wtf!!?? after all that time, him being shunned, cucked and more only to come back to waiting arms and money? its ridiculous.

from my understanding no man would ever do that, do you? except in fiction.

 

[gacor]

Lots of things going on since I last checked the thread.

To address a few things, I do agree with NTH on the issue with Cagivagurl stories, which is the different treatment of the story depending on who the MC is. I encourage you to write more cheating husband stories, the category could do well with more variety. I would enjoy it more if when you write a cheating wife story you treated it the same way as when you do a cheating husband (I don't recall one at the moment where the couple stayed together), or if the reconciliation felt more earned (as it usually, but not always, feels as if the MC got beaten into submission and acceptance, and the wife got away with it, instead of redeeming herself), but a writer writes first for themselves, so obviously, write the stories you want. I enjoy many of your stories anyways, if sadly not all.

On the topic of commenters, my latest story with a cheating husband (which ended in divorce) got 64 comments, and I think only one comment justified the husband (who was written to be not really redeemable in that regard). Reconciliation tends to be harsher on the comments than BTB, but that is also because reconciliation is a harder sell, and what one person considers enough for a second chance, another thinks is not even in consideration. Depending on where one person sets the bar you see different responses. It is always interesting to see how many readers see the story in a completely different lens depending on their experiences. I have seen comments that imply the reader believed that a story really happened to me, and have received some feedback with some really sad experiences that makes my heart go to the sender. I can only imagine that more established authors see these things far more often. An older man who got screwed by a cheating wife in the courts 20 years ago is less likely to be very forgiving of a reconciliation story, and will be liable to read between the lines everything that makes the wife look more selfish, self centred, and undeserving of forgiveness.

Saddletramp stories are enjoyable, and he has gotten more grounded since he began. If I recall correctly, his first few stories lined up more with "evil woman in an affair with husband's boss conspires to drug him, put him in chastity, and have sex with her lover in front of him while making him eat the cream pie", and ends up with the evil people dead and the MC triumphant. While he remains almost exclusively BTB, he has created his own universe reminiscent of the Twilight Zone that always makes for a fun read, and gives me the feeling of a blockbuster action film.

 

[Seadog777]

This thread went off the track

Should there be a "Loving Wives" type of section for stories about husbands???

I'd be OK with that.

I don't think Laurel or Manu have the time or energy to make an entirely new section though.

I'm not sure, but it seems like people are giving @Cagivagurl shit because she writes stories they don't like.
How about you don't read her stories and let it go.
Plenty of authors here, I'm sure y'alls will find someone that matches your preference.

 

[NoTalentHack]

This thread went off the track

Should there be a "Loving Wives" type of section for stories about husbands???

I'd be OK with that.

I don't think Laurel or Manu have the time or energy to make an entirely new section though.

I'm not sure, but it seems like people are giving @Cagivagurl shit because she writes stories they don't like.
How about you don't read her stories and let it go.
Plenty of authors here, I'm sure y'alls will find someone that matches your preference.

I like Cagivagurl’s stories; a lot of them, anyways. I included Holiday Hammerblow in my recommended reading list at the end of Loving Loving Wives for a reason: it’s a really good story. That doesn’t mean her stories are immune to criticism, though, nor that her repeated story choices and peoples’ reactions to them can’t be pointed out.

All of us are putting stuff out here for people to read, on a site with a rating system and anonymous comments. Criticism is going to happen. Hell, I get criticism on my stuff all the time, and I take it as a chance to be better as a writer. Someone has taken the time to tell me, “here’s what you could go differently, to make me as a reader enjoy your story more.” Sometimes, their advice is either lacking or simply not a direction I want to go; I don’t want to make another dude romance or write BTBs every time. I want to grow as a writer. If that’s the case, I either ignore it or try to respond with a gentle, but firm “no.”

What I don’t do, though, is get brittle about it. Here in AH, of all places, we’re supposed to be having a conversation about what makes for good writing, along with what does and doesn’t land with readers and why each may be the case. When the discourse falls back to gendered insults and gross generalizations? Nah, man. Fuck that. It’s no longer about writing or about the category. It’s about someone’s ego getting scuffed and them lashing out.

 

[Seadog777]

I like Cagivagurl’s stories; a lot of them, anyways. I included Holiday Hammerblow in my recommended reading list at the end of Loving Loving Wives for a reason: it’s a really good story. That doesn’t mean her stories are immune to criticism, though, nor that her repeated story choices and peoples’ reactions to them can’t be pointed out.

All of us are putting stuff out here for people to read, on a site with a rating system and anonymous comments. Criticism is going to happen. Hell, I get criticism on my stuff all the time, and I take it as a chance to be better as a writer. Someone has taken the time to tell me, “here’s what you could go differently, to make me as a reader enjoy your story more.” Sometimes, their advice is either lacking or simply not a direction I want to go; I don’t want to make another dude romance or write BTBs every time. I want to grow as a writer. If that’s the case, I either ignore it or try to respond with a gentle, but firm “no.”

What I don’t do, though, is get brittle about it. Here in AH, of all places, we’re supposed to be having a conversation about what makes for good writing, along with what does and doesn’t land with readers and why each may be the case. When the discourse falls back to gendered insults and gross generalizations? Nah, man. Fuck that. It’s no longer about writing or about the category. It’s about someone’s ego getting scuffed and them lashing out.

I understand and accept that when we publish, we open ourselves to criticism.

I get criticized all the time.
Hell, I've gotten death threats before. Just reported them and moved on.

It went from someone posing a question, to seemingly jumping and piling onto her.

Seemed to me like the train went off the rails a bit here.

 

[NoTalentHack]

They painlessly passed a kidney stone.

This whole post was absolute gold, but this line had me rolling.

 

[gacor]

I understand and accept that when we publish, we open ourselves to criticism.

I get criticized all the time.
Hell, I've gotten death threats before. Just reported them and moved on.

It went from someone posing a question, to seemingly jumping and piling onto her.

Seemed to me like the train went off the rails a bit here.

If you mean my comment, I do respect and enjoy Cagivagurl's writing. I gave my two cents on why I personally don't enjoy a common theme in her stories, and what would make me enjoy them more, but it didn't come from a place of malice, or was meant as a personal attack in any way. The comments in those stories tend to say the same thing anyways, but she is right that some of them are very mean spirited. In any case, as mentioned before, a writer's first obligation is to themselves, and the most important person a story has to satisfy in a free publishing site is the writer themselves. Connecting with the readers is a bonus, but my personal take is that if you are doing this for free, as a hobby, you are writing for yourself first and foremost, so I'm happy for any writer who publishes what they really want.

The train was off the rails a bit before in any case, so maybe it's better to get back on the topic at hand.

 

[Seadog777]

If you mean my comment

No.
If I did, I'd tagged you.
It wasn't one person in particular, it just seemed like it went from the original question to her and stayed there.

The train was off the rails a bit before in any case, so maybe it's better to get back on the topic at hand.

Yeah, I tried to get it back on track.
Didn't work out.

 

[NoTalentHack]

You know, maybe I’ll take a shot at a cheating husband story. Dismantling all the toxic alpha/beta/sigma male shit that’s been floating around for years might be fun. Plate’s pretty full right now, though.

 

[gacor]

You know, maybe I’ll take a shot at a cheating husband story. Dismantling all the toxic alpha/beta/sigma male shit that’s been floating around for years might be fun. Plate’s pretty full right now, though.

You kind of did that with "Before we talked" if I recall correctly. I was sorry to see the reception to that story wasn't as good as your usual, I found it very good. Haven't read the comments since you published it, but the score it has right now gives arguments to the people who think LW hates women.

 

[NoTalentHack]

You kind of did that with "Before we talked" if I recall correctly. I was sorry to see the reception to that story wasn't as good as your usual, I found it very good. Haven't read the comments since you published it, but the score it has right now gives arguments to the people who think LW hates women.

Kind of? But the husband wasn’t cheating in that; he was just married to his job. And she was basically giving him the “we need to talk” treatment, i.e., if you don’t fix this, I’m gonna go sleep with another man. Plus, it was 750 words, which people have an irrational hatred of in there.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

You kind of did that with "Before we talked" if I recall correctly. I was sorry to see the reception to that story wasn't as good as your usual, I found it very good. Haven't read the comments since you published it, but the score it has right now gives arguments to the people who think LW hates women.

No. "Before we talked" was about a couple falling out of love because the husband spends more time on his company than with his wife, leading to the wife complaining about the lack of attention she gets before it ends with the precursor for one of those many stories where a wife tells her husband that she's going on a date with another man.

I never posted in LW (the stories I could write for that category would all be rejected), but I still believe that the key to a good rating for any story dealing with emotional subjects is to properly understand how humans emphasize.

Yes, "Before we talked" explored a cliché plot from the woman's perspective, and NTH did a great job explaining how these two people arrived at that situation. I'm sure there were quite a few people actually sympathizing with her. But that still didn't make her decision any more "right". It didn't make it any better from an emotional standpoint, which is reflected in the rating. The wife still comes around as kinda selfish, since her solution is to find sexual satisfaction elsewhere instead of just filing for divorce, probably because, as she says earlier in the story, she does enjoy the financial benefits of her husband's marriage to his company.

And it being a 750-word project didn't help the rating either, I reckon.

I mean, again, I never posted in LW. But I did post a story (in three parts), dealing with the prospect of overcoming physical child abuse. I did NOT skim on the details when recounting that abuse, so the readers knew exactly where each character in the story came from and, according to the PMs I got, positively abhorred the parents in the story. But, contrary to my expectations, readers apparently appreciate it, despite it ending in reconciliation! And I'm convinced (again because of the PMs I got after posting the last part) that they appreciated it because I took the time needed to properly explain the thought processes and emotional growth leading to that reconciliation. It was believable, made sense to them, and didn't leave behind the sour taste of an MC compromising by accepting the lesser evil (Like "I'd rather have a cheating wife than die alone" or "I'd rather stay married to her than losing my house and become a part-time dad"). That's not satisfying. It's still sad as hell.

What readers DO find satisfying is seeing a bad character getting what they "deserve". And what they deserve depends entirely on how much the readers emphasize with the faulted character. Then it doesn't matter one bit which gender the characters have, or how old they are, or which race they belong to. All that matters is that everyone gets what they're due.

 

[Helgamite]

This thread went off the track

Should there be a "Loving Wives" type of section for stories about husbands???

I'd be OK with that.

I don't think Laurel or Manu have the time or energy to make an entirely new section though.

I'm not sure, but it seems like people are giving @Cagivagurl shit because she writes stories they don't like.
How about you don't read her stories and let it go.
Plenty of authors here, I'm sure y'alls will find someone that matches your preference.

I've read a couple of cagivagurl stories and liked them. even though I'm not much into cheating husbands, they were good the way they were.

 

[Zootonius]

Okay, we have the category for Loving Wives/cheating wives. Why isn't there one for men? Would INCELS find them as objectionable as the 'tuther way around? I think we generally see these in Erotic Couplings. Is that their proper place?

Come on now, I really want everyone's opinion on this.

To get back to the original question, our society still has vestiges of Victorian mores. A guy cheating gets "How could you!" along with a wink, wink. And "boys will be boys." Despite progress, a women cheating is still shocking to some.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Before posting the thread, I knew we wouldn't get a new category. I'm not that dumb as to believe I can say, "Hey, let's make a new category," and it'll happen. I also knew it would be a wonderfully entertaining thread to read. The cattiness has been kept to a minimum, and I'm loving the discussion. I think my Sam and Kim stories are basically about a cheating husband but a husband who is allowed to cheat. However, Kim is a one-man woman but a many-women kind of gal.

As the real woman on whom the fictional Kim is based tells it, "One night, after a few months of marriage, I told Samuel (not their real names) I'd like to see you fuck another woman. He was beyond reluctant to believe me. It took me almost a month to convince him I was being honest. I told him I'd never fuck another man, but I like women as well, so if I can be with other women, you can as well. Most often, I watched him and joined in as well. On rare occasions, he fucked other women and told me about it before and after the fact. Rarely was I with other women without him. We had this arrangement for over 10 years, and slowly, it became rare, and eventually, we just didn't do it anymore. I have always felt at some point, I became enough for him, and he certainly was enough for me."

 

[NoTalentHack]

Before posting the thread, I knew we wouldn't get a new category. I'm not that dumb as to believe I can say, "Hey, let's make a new category," and it'll happen. I also knew it would be a wonderfully entertaining thread to read. The cattiness has been kept to a minimum, and I'm loving the discussion. I think my Sam and Kim stories are basically about a cheating husband but a husband who is allowed to cheat. However, Kim is a one-man woman but a many-women kind of gal.

As the real woman on whom the fictional Kim is based tells it, "One night, after a few months of marriage, I told Samuel (not their real names) I'd like to see you fuck another woman. He was beyond reluctant to believe me. It took me almost a month to convince him I was being honest. I told him I'd never fuck another man, but I like women as well, so if I can be with other women, you can as well. Most often, I watched him and joined in as well. On rare occasions, he fucked other women and told me about it before and after the fact. Rarely was I with other women without him. We had this arrangement for over 10 years, and slowly, it became rare, and eventually, we just didn't do it anymore. I have always felt at some point, I became enough for him, and he certainly was enough for me."

Now that feels like it would fit in perfectly in LW.