New to writing, advice, help, guidance, all welcome:)

[gunhilltrain]

A thick skin is essential. If you can't handle criticism, writing may not be for you. Seriously consider another category before you post in "Loving Wives" A Nobel prize winner for literature could post a story in "loving wives" and be one-bombed into oblivion. Ignore the nasty comments. Readers are forgiving of typos and misspellings on stories they like but it's best to eliminate them entirely. If you are not cabable of editing your stories or don't have beta reader, Word will read your work back to you. That is excellent at catching typos and dropped words. Take the final story of the web and feed it through Google's Grammarly that will catch what word misses. Commit to writing every day as possible, at least a thousand words. Practice makes perfect.

Oh that guy in LW, 26thNC or whatever, I wondered if that had something to do with the Civil War, since the military no longer divides regiments by state. A history buff or a true neo-Confederate?

http://www.26nc.org/

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=CNC0026RI

 

[jehoram]

Be patient. Don't post any part of a story until it is completely finished. Avoid the urge to toss the first chapter of a story out to the masses to gauge their interest. Find a few trusted readers or an editor to review your work privately so that you can maintain control over your characters and plot as the story develops.

I would agree with this only to the extent that you have a pretty good idea of where the story is going to end up. I usually have at least the next chapter done before I post each chapter.

OTOH, when Athalia was writing the Hot Tub series that I edited, she didn't know where the story was heading at all, except that "sooner or later everybody would be screwing everybody else" as she put it.

One piece of advice regarding technique: Don't let anything get in the way of writing your story. If I am writing and "in the flow" and I come across something that I can't exactly express, I just put a row of X's there and keep writing. I can always come back to it later and view it with fresh eyes. Many writers have the story so well worked out in their heads that they can sit down at a keyboard and get it all down in one go, but I'm not one of them. So I just put down the framework, and add the elusive stuff later on.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I would agree with this only to the extent that you have a pretty good idea of where the story is going to end up. I usually have at least the next chapter done before I post each chapter.

OTOH, when Athalia was writing the Hot Tub series that I edited, she didn't know where the story was heading at all, except that "sooner or later everybody would be screwing everybody else" as she put it.

One piece of advice regarding technique: Don't let anything get in the way of writing your story. If I am writing and "in the flow" and I come across something that I can't exactly express, I just put a row of X's there and keep writing. I can always come back to it later and view it with fresh eyes. Many writers have the story so well worked out in their heads that they can sit down at a keyboard and get it all down in one go, but I'm not one of them. So I just put down the framework, and add the elusive stuff later on.

Knowing where the story is going to end up and getting there is not always successfully achieved. I refer you to any of the recent threads dealing with alternative endings for a story. A story should only need one ending.

Even if a very disciplined writer has plotted, charted, and outlined the entire story, almost to the point where someone else would be able to take that foundation and write the story for them, posting before completion relinquishes control. You can no longer easily change even the most minor plot or character detail, and will likely have to adapt what was originally planned in order to maintain continuity.

Does a story benefit or suffer from waiting? I believe, and there are hundreds if not thousands of stories posted here (not to mention in the mainstream publishing world) which reinforce my belief, that waiting for completion benefits a story. Try getting an agent or publisher to seriously consider your work by submitting only the first chapter to them. It won't happen. They may come back to you and say that your work holds promise, but it won't get you a deal or further consideration until you can provide the finished work.

There is the argument here that, for the most part, we're dealing with amateur writers, and I won't disagree. I only offer advice to those who aspire to do better. If that isn't of interest, I am not offended by being ignored.

 

[EmilyMiller]

By the time I did put something in Loving Wives (I felt it belonged there), I knew it was all bullshit over there.

Swap bullshit with misogynistic, incel inadequates and you’re good.

According to one protozoa, the reason that @NoTalentHack was kind enough to recommend my work was apparently because I was screwing him. Because what else is a woman good for? Now I’m sure NTH is perfectly delightful to screw (based on his writing of course), but my boyfriend might object. See I’m a good loving (almost) wife.

Em

 

[alohadave]

Try getting an agent or publisher to seriously consider your work by submitting only the first chapter to them.

Most of us aren't writing to be published, so how an agent or publisher would react is meaningless.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Most of us aren't writing to be published, so how an agent or publisher would react is meaningless.

I think he meant published for pay, not being on Lit or wherever.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Swap bullshit with misogynistic, incel inadequates and you’re good.

According to one protozoa, the reason that @NoTalentHack was kind enough to recommend my work was apparently because I was screwing him. Because what else is a woman good for? Now I’m sure NTH is perfectly delightful to screw (based on his writing of course), but my boyfriend might object. See I’m a good loving (almost) wife.

Em

A guess, but I suspect some of them weren't always incels. But if they had a relationship(s) that failed, they should move on, not feed their anger constantly by indulging in LW hatefests.

 

[SimonDoom]

Knowing where the story is going to end up and getting there is not always successfully achieved. I refer you to any of the recent threads dealing with alternative endings for a story. A story should only need one ending.

Even if a very disciplined writer has plotted, charted, and outlined the entire story, almost to the point where someone else would be able to take that foundation and write the story for them, posting before completion relinquishes control. You can no longer easily change even the most minor plot or character detail, and will likely have to adapt what was originally planned in order to maintain continuity.

Does a story benefit or suffer from waiting? I believe, and there are hundreds if not thousands of stories posted here (not to mention in the mainstream publishing world) which reinforce my belief, that waiting for completion benefits a story. Try getting an agent or publisher to seriously consider your work by submitting only the first chapter to them. It won't happen. They may come back to you and say that your work holds promise, but it won't get you a deal or further consideration until you can provide the finished work.

There is the argument here that, for the most part, we're dealing with amateur writers, and I won't disagree. I only offer advice to those who aspire to do better. If that isn't of interest, I am not offended by being ignored.

There are good arguments for your position in theory, but it doesn't work this way in reality. First of all, there's a long history of authors, including famous, great authors, like Charles Dickens, publishing chapters of their stories before they were done with the whole thing. So I think history rather conclusively rebuts the notion that one "must" complete the entire story before publishing any of it. The simple fact of the matter is that it's often been done the other way, with great success.

The second practical argument is that if everybody took this truly seriously, then many stories would never get published. One of my series never would have. Some series have no clear story arc. They're like episodes of TV series. There's nothing wrong with that. The site would be worse off if everyone adopted the "complete everything before you publish anything" rule. It's a nice idea but it's not realistic to expect it from everyone.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

There are good arguments for your position in theory, but it doesn't work this way in reality. First of all, there's a long history of authors, including famous, great authors, like Charles Dickens, publishing chapters of their stories before they were done with the whole thing. So I think history rather conclusively rebuts the notion that one "must" complete the entire story before publishing any of it. The simple fact of the matter is that it's often been done the other way, with great success.

The second practical argument is that if everybody took this truly seriously, then many stories would never get published. One of my series never would have. Some series have no clear story arc. They're like episodes of TV series. There's nothing wrong with that. The site would be worse off if everyone adopted the "complete everything before you publish anything" rule. It's a nice idea but it's not realistic to expect it from everyone.

There is a clear distinction between series and chaptered stories.

As with the history that you mentioned, there is no proof that the story wasn't complete before the chapters were published. What Dickens "released" may not have been all that was "completed".

There is a difference between posting by chapter and writing by chapter.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

The practice of writing a book in sequels for newspapers was widely popular in the 19th century. Many respected authors, who solely earned their living through writing, would publish one chapter per week in the newspaper, even before the complete book was ready. Once the story was concluded in the newspaper, it was common to publish it as a whole book thereafter.

It boils down to your definition of "publishing".

Submitting to a periodical for publishing or getting a literary publisher to distribute your final work. Even in the 19th century, which would garner an author a larger audience, and typically, greater respect?

Even publications such as Harper's Bazaar would typically only publish serialized stories from an established author that they were familiar with. No one wanted to take the risk of a story being left hanging partially completed in their publication.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The practice of writing a book in sequels for newspapers was widely popular in the 19th century. Many respected authors, who solely earned their living through writing, would publish one chapter per week in the newspaper, even before the complete book was ready. Once the story was concluded in the newspaper, it was common to publish it as a whole book thereafter.

That's what Tom Wolfe did with Bonfire of the Vanities and Rolling Stone magazine. He changed it quite a bit for the book. It's been a while since I read them, but I thought the magazine version, although a bit less dramatic, might have been better than the book.

Did those 19th Century authors know the whole plot before they started, or did some of them just wing it? By the way, who is that in your avatar?

 

[gunhilltrain]

There are good arguments for your position in theory, but it doesn't work this way in reality. First of all, there's a long history of authors, including famous, great authors, like Charles Dickens, publishing chapters of their stories before they were done with the whole thing. So I think history rather conclusively rebuts the notion that one "must" complete the entire story before publishing any of it. The simple fact of the matter is that it's often been done the other way, with great success.

The second practical argument is that if everybody took this truly seriously, then many stories would never get published. One of my series never would have. Some series have no clear story arc. They're like episodes of TV series. There's nothing wrong with that. The site would be worse off if everyone adopted the "complete everything before you publish anything" rule. It's a nice idea but it's not realistic to expect it from everyone.

Chester Himes's had his early book, Yesterday Will Make You Cry, changed at the insistence of his editors. Although it was based on his own experiences in an Ohio prison, originally Himes, who is Black, had his main character be white. He may have done it to push his own boundaries and see if he could pull it off. The publishing company made him change it to a Black man. The original manuscript, as Himes had intended it, was published after his death.

 

[SimonDoom]

There is a clear distinction between series and chaptered stories.

As with the history that you mentioned, there is no proof that the story wasn't complete before the chapters were published. What Dickens "released" may not have been all that was "completed".

There is a difference between posting by chapter and writing by chapter.

In the case of Dickens, we DO know. Dickens published chapters before the entire story was published, and he would sometime gauge reader reaction to determine where to take his story.

I don't see why a Literotica author couldn't do the same thing. It might even, in some cases, result in a better story.

I understand the logic of finishing the whole story first, but it's not a logic that rigidly applies to every situation, and I don't think anyone should feel obligated to follow it. Authors should follow their own muses.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

In the case of Dickens, we DO know. Dickens published chapters before the entire story was published, and he would sometime gauge reader reaction to determine where to take his story.

I don't see why a Literotica author couldn't do the same thing. It might even, in some cases, result in a better story.

I understand the logic of finishing the whole story first, but it's not a logic that rigidly applies to every situation, and I don't think anyone should feel obligated to follow it. Authors should follow their own muses.

Once again, was Dickens an established writer when his chapters were accepted for periodical publication? You're comparing apples to fire trucks here.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It's been quite some time since I last strolled down the 19th-century streets of Saint Petersburg, Paris, and London... Do you usually know the entire plot in advance when you start writing?

Back then, it was a successful arrangement for both parties - the newspapers benefited from the popularity of established writers, while the writers received a stable income over time. However, this approach often led to inflated and wordy writing.

According to Duleigh, the avatar represents my girlfriend. I'll post something of hers in the music thread.

In stand-alone stories, I do know the ending. Series trip me up, because I am impatient. Yet in one series, it took me a year before I could figure out Chapter 2.

That guy in the avatar looks he was a politician or philosopher, maybe in the early 20th Century. Or a musician?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Once again, was Dickens an established writer when his chapters were accepted for periodical publication? You're comparing apples to fire trucks here.

Maybe there is some overlap with the apples.

https://avfpd.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-Newsletter-with-background-1-791x1024.jpg

 

[Emotional]

Here is my 2 cents, if it's worth it.

Keep your paragraphs short. Short paragraphs are easier read on screens.

So short paragraphs with lots of white space between them will make it easier for the reader to enjoy what you are writing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Once again, was Dickens an established writer when his chapters were accepted for periodical publication? You're comparing apples to fire trucks here.

Why would that make a difference? Why would it make any difference to what a Literotica author should do? From the standpoint of the author, the logic of the same: start the story, and use time and feedback to influence the direction the story takes. I see no problem with that approach.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Once again, was Dickens an established writer when his chapters were accepted for periodical publication? You're comparing apples to fire trucks here.

Wikipedia:

Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, a publishing phenomenon—thanks largely to the introduction of the character Sam Weller in the fourth episode—that sparked Pickwick merchandise and spin-offs. Within a few years Dickens had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most of them published in monthly or weekly installments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication

 

[Rigid22]

First, decide what kind of writer you want to be. You can be like me, and write the kind of story you like to read, and don't give a damn about numbers or red H's, or stupid comments from people who find some kink in your story offensive to them.

Or you can analyze other writers' stories carefully and write for the crowd that gets you the highest scores, using the tropes that seem to be the most popular. Make all your characters with prominent cocks and/or tits and indefatigable libidos, and let them go to town. There are more than a few writers like that out there, and I have no quarrel with them. They do what they do, and they do it well, and get their rewards with high scores.

Either way, have fun! You're not getting paid for this writing, so let it be something you do to divert you from Real Life.

I'm actually wondering about the red "H." It came on, and I studied the stats. I thought I had the trigger worked out. Then the red "H" turned off. I had to modify my theory about the trigger. Then it came back on and stayed on. I now assume the trigger rules change as time passes, but I am guessing.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

War and Peace I think is probably the biggest example of periodical publishing. It was originally published bit by bit in some paper. Then a few years later some publisher bound up all the bits to release as a novel. The story makes more sense when you realize that it was originally periodical. It certainly reads like it was never meant to be such a long novel, nor does it read like Tolstoy knew the ending at all when he began. It's very 'soapy' just like TV soaps that are written as they go and never have endings. And like someone mentioned above, it is excessively wordy.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm actually wondering about the red "H." It came on, and I studied the stats. I thought I had the trigger worked out. Then the red "H" turned off. I had to modify my theory about the trigger. Then it came back on and stayed on. I now assume the trigger rules change as time passes, but I am guessing.

At least ten votes with an average of 4.50 or higher.

 

[Rigid22]

I am considering a category and tags edit to herd a few more past the title. Does such an edit reset voting stats?

 

[alohadave]

I am considering a category and tags edit to herd a few more past the title. Does such an edit reset voting stats?

No it doesn't. Views, votes, comments, and favorites remain when a story is updated.

The post date will change to when it is re-approved.

 

[Athalia]

OTOH, when Athalia was writing the Hot Tub series that I edited, she didn't know where the story was heading at all, except that "sooner or later everybody would be screwing everybody else" as she put it.

Well, that's not entirely true. The first couple of chapters were indeed like that, when I was sort of feeling my way around the concept of writing a longer story. But by the fourth or fifth installment, I had a pretty good idea of how the story was going to end, and that idea guided me through the final chapters.