The AH Pick-Me-Up Thread

[NotWise]

Yup, I'm done.

Will, I hope you give this some more thought before it's a done deal.

Someone just put me on their favorite authors list. If I have the time when that happens I like to go to their profile and see who else is on their list. I'm honored to be on his list with you.

 

[sr71plt]

Too often people associate constructive criticism with being mean.

I think this is the crux of the reason why many story writers here get discouraged and leave--the assumption that writers who post stories here want content critique put on their stories. I won't get into "constructive," as there's probably more half-baked "look at what I think I know" comment critique going on here than what is truly constructive. I think that if story readers wouldn't overassume what comment was sought--only putting content critique on stories when the author has come to the Story Feedback forum and actively asked for content critique--many writers who are posting stories just for fun and to share--and maybe get "me too" or "you made me come" comment responses directly on the stories--would stick around and not get upset. There's no reason why negative (which sometimes goes in the guise of "constructive" content and presentation critique) can't either be stifled if the author hasn't actively asked for it or be sent in private message. Negative ("constructive") criticism put directly on the story as comment more likely than not is just a "look how superior to you that I think I am" ploy.

 

[barefootgirl69]

I'll start. There's an author going through a rough patch right now:
sexnovella (author page) | (forum page)

Sexnovella has been an active participant in the Survivor contests and Special contests for several years now. He is not a native English speaker, but has written dozens of English-language stories - as you can see. Writing compelling stories in one's native language is tough enough; writing in a foreign language AND submitting it publicly takes a great deal of strength and courage. He listens to readers and submits edits of stories based on their feedback. His writing has greatly improved since he began posting in 2013. I think he has a great way with words and of telling a tale.

Recently, his stories have been trolled with cruel personal insults. On top of that, despite his years at Lit, he feels he has no friends here. Finding a place on the AH can be tough. He's feeling really down, and considering quitting Literotica.

Learning to handle cruel/trolling comments and criticism is important for any writer. I think it's easier to do this when you know you have support. So I want sexnovella to know this: you are part of the AH. You do have friends here. Other authors understand what you're going through. You are not alone in this! We at Lit all here for you.

I've worked with him, editing some of his stories... the trolls always are out when they don't like the genre. He's been nothing but kind and respectful.

 

[beachbum1958]

Please don't delete your stories! I, for one, haven't had a chance to read them, and my guess, based on seeing your footprints here on the AH, is that I, for one, would really like them. My RL is still very much in my face, and not letting up for a while longer, so... please... don't delete. (



There's something else, more general: we all would like more love and adulation, but a good comment from someone whose writing you like and respect is worth 10-20 times the random comment from someone who just reads and hasn't spent the sweat and tears writing.

We will miss you: did I mention, don't delete your stories?

PS I now know why I haven't yet read your stories: I/T is not my first stop in erotica reading matter. But that's just me.

It's the thought and the feeling behind it that counts. Thank you for being sweet in the face of my tossing my toys out of the playpen and stamping on the cat and holding my breath 'til I go blue. Several large gin Bradfords and my wife excellent boudin's later, and I'm fully at peace with the world again.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

It's the thought and the feeling behind it that counts. Thank you for being sweet in the face of my tossing my toys out of the playpen and stamping on the cat and holding my breath 'til I go blue. Several large gin Bradfords and my wife excellent boudin's later, and I'm fully at peace with the world again.

nice to hear.

just dropping you a PM over a minor detail.

 

[beachbum1958]

Will, I hope you give this some more thought before it's a done deal.

Someone just put me on their favorite authors list. If I have the time when that happens I like to go to their profile and see who else is on their list. I'm honored to be on his list with you.

*hangs head sheepishly*

Sorry for throwing a tantrum and pouting like a six year old, I actually have no valid excuse, please accept my apologies, everyone, and it's me who should be honored to be sharing any kind of space with kind souls as gracious as you.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thank God that WTF moment passed!

Beachbum, mate, you need to take a hint from your own moniker!

Relax, already.... they have beaches in France, don't they? Best find a good one and sit on it for a while, I reckon.

*hangs head sheepishly*

Sorry for throwing a tantrum and pouting like a six year old, I actually have no valid excuse, please accept my apologies, everyone, and it's me who should be honored to be sharing any kind of space with kind souls as gracious as you.

 

[sexnovella]

Comments should never be personal insults.

I used to have fun at Literotica but it seems like some people just want to drown me with their own misery. It would have been better and much nicer to tell me what was wrong instead of telling me to die a million painful deaths, insult me in many ways or ask me to be silent for all eternity because they didn't like the story I had written?! I won't let these terrorists stop me from writing and it seems like Literotica has become more destructive instead of creative. I can accept that people dislike a story or have opinions on my langue but it has nothing to do with me as a person. It is difficult to get new friends here and almost impossible to roleplay but I have had better days here on Literotica.

 

[oggbashan]

I used to have fun at Literotica but it seems like some people just want to drown me with their own misery. It would have been better and much nicer to tell me what was wrong instead of telling me to die a million painful deaths, insult me in many ways or ask me to be silent for all eternity because they didn't like the story I had written?! I won't let these terrorists stop me from writing and it seems like Literotica has become more destructive instead of creative. I can accept that people dislike a story or have opinions on my langue but it has nothing to do with me as a person. It is difficult to get new friends here and almost impossible to roleplay but I have had better days here on Literotica.

Too many people forget they are getting the stories free. Even the worst story, badly written, badly spelled, with a plot that doesn't work, and sex that makes you think WTF? - took considerable effort by the author.

The readers paid nothing for the author's hard work. Even if they don't like what they are reading they haven't lost anything by reading it. All they have to do is back-click and choose another story. Abusing an incompetent author is cruelty. Giving 'constructive criticism' when the author is a useless writer is unkind.

If you can't say anything positive, just shake your head and leave the story alone.

 

[beachbum1958]

I used to have fun at Literotica but it seems like some people just want to drown me with their own misery. It would have been better and much nicer to tell me what was wrong instead of telling me to die a million painful deaths, insult me in many ways or ask me to be silent for all eternity because they didn't like the story I had written?! I won't let these terrorists stop me from writing and it seems like Literotica has become more destructive instead of creative. I can accept that people dislike a story or have opinions on my langue but it has nothing to do with me as a person. It is difficult to get new friends here and almost impossible to roleplay but I have had better days here on Literotica.

My friend, yesterday I knew exactly how you felt, and I posted a bitter rejection of Literotica based on my feelings of anger and rejection, at all those half-wits who constantly railed at me for not writing the story they wanted, for writing in the Incest/Taboo catagory, at my spelling, grammar, word-use, or being English, anything really.

But the kinder souls and better people here rallied around and gave me a reason to wind my neck back in and consider that there are more out there who maybe like what I do than the giggling halfwits and boneheads who had nothing better to do than try and pull me down. I discovered I had friends here, and now I hope you now realise that too; not everyone who comes here hates you, not every single person who reads you leaves a hurtful or rude remark, most who read don't leave any kind of comment at all, but they read you, and they didn't hate you or try and be deliberately rude or hurtful.

Please, stick around, for every reader who doesn't like your work, there's another who liked what you read, and took something good away with them. I know Literotica can seem a lonely place, but I discovered yesterday that it isn't, and now I hope you're discovering that too.
Will

 

[beachbum1958]

Thank God that WTF moment passed!

Beachbum, mate, you need to take a hint from your own moniker!

Relax, already.... they have beaches in France, don't they? Best find a good one and sit on it for a while, I reckon.

Hi, you're right, sitting on the verandah and watching French girls dressed in postage stamps and dental floss seems like a worthy way to pass the time. Our place is midway between Cannes and St Tropez, in Étangs de Villepey, on the Cote D'Azure, we don't go there a lot because of Lori's work commitments, but now that she's taken a sabbatical from the hospital we have the next few months to plan our next move and decide if England's worth coming back to; doing it from the Cote D'Azure doesn't seem like such a hardship now when I think about it! We leave tomorrow, which I wasn't too happy about, I'll admit, but we'll be back briefly in September, and then we have to decide whether we want to come back to England, or base ourselves permanently in France.

 

[legerdemer]

I used to have fun at Literotica but it seems like some people just want to drown me with their own misery. It would have been better and much nicer to tell me what was wrong instead of telling me to die a million painful deaths, insult me in many ways or ask me to be silent for all eternity because they didn't like the story I had written?! I won't let these terrorists stop me from writing and it seems like Literotica has become more destructive instead of creative. I can accept that people dislike a story or have opinions on my langue but it has nothing to do with me as a person. It is difficult to get new friends here and almost impossible to roleplay but I have had better days here on Literotica.

Don't let the bastards and assholes win. You're a hardworking writer - I don't think you can do that without enjoying it at least some.

I've made very few friends here, but the folks I have connected with have been lovely, intelligent, and generous. It's hard to find those anywhere - makes me feel lucky.

 

[49greg]

Too many people forget they are getting the stories free. Even the worst story, badly written, badly spelled, with a plot that doesn't work, and sex that makes you think WTF? - took considerable effort by the author.

The readers paid nothing for the author's hard work. Even if they don't like what they are reading they haven't lost anything by reading it. All they have to do is back-click and choose another story. Abusing an incompetent author is cruelty. Giving 'constructive criticism' when the author is a useless writer is unkind.

If you can't say anything positive, just shake your head and leave the story alone.

I really like what you said. Thanks, it ties in with what happened yesterday. I got a feedback email asking for me to finish the story, actually entitled "why don't authors finish stories"

It was referring to my lowest rated story - "Between Tim and Tracy chap 2" I only ever wrote chapter two because of a couple of emails and comments asking for a continuation. Even though the first chapter was low rated as well.

I went back to this story and read the comments. There are some really really bad and hateful personal attacks in the comments, and after all this time I got a bad jolt from reading them again, the few good comments just weren't enough to make up for the bad.

The sad part is that at the time I posted it I thought it would be well received. I read it again and see that I must have been wearing some very rose colored glasses when I wrote it. It isn't that good.

I did answered the email, explaining the reason, a combination of low score and terrible comments, and that I just didn't feel I could rescue the story. I did tell him the gist of my outline for the third chapter that I had planned, so at least he could get some closure. I mentioned how the Lit authors don't get paid, and that I at least, hope for kind comments and emails.

I'd been thinking recently of deleting the pair of them, possibly for rewrites, but mostly with the idea of forgetting them. If I did redo them, I'd put them in a different category.

Don't know why I'm writing this, I guess to ask if anyone else has had a really low rated and vilified story that they stuck with and kept writing further chapters, and if it's worth it. Just that single email after all this time has made me wonder if I can rescue this dud.

yeah, I'm have a bit of a whine here.

 

[oggbashan]

...
Don't know why I'm writing this, I guess to ask if anyone else has had a really low rated and vilified story that they stuck with and kept writing further chapters, and if it's worth it. Just that single email after all this time has made me wonder if I can rescue this dud.

...

I read and appreciated the whole post but I thought I'd answer the part quoted here.

I have a problem with my two part story Christmas Fairy. The idea came from a Piers Anthony short story and I thought I could write a 'what if' based on that.

But after completing Chapter Two I'm stuck and have been for years. The plot has backed me into a corner. Without a Deus Ex Machina or a stupid resolution such as "With one bound he was free!" I don't know where to go next. Even a major rewrite of Ch.02 to have a conclusion seems unlikely.

I have dud stories as well. Stag Party and Hen Party are very early oggbashan stories written years before I joined Literotica. I had been promising myself that sometime I would rewrite them - but I can't. I'm not the person nor the writer I was two decades ago. I leave them up to remind me that they need revision - but that won't happen.

To my surprise I had positive feedback on Stag Party a few weeks ago. Someone actually liked it.

Someone could still like your dud stories and they are reminders that you can and should write better. Leave them as historical relics for archaeologists digging through Literotica. Someone could still think they are valuable jewels.

 

[Nathan_Brazil]

A hanging story...

I've got one hanging out there now. It is rated well enough, and I've even got the damned thing plotted out, but I keep looking at it and wondering why anyone likes it... It's driving me nuts.

 

[someoneyouknow]

I thought it was just me seeing this! I've been noticing more hateful/mean comments at the end of stories I enjoyed. I wasn't sure if this was a change from before or if I'd just never noticed. It's worrying to me if this is a social trend.

I started posting the conclusion of a never-thought-I'd-go-this-far story (three phases, 18 chapters), and the first two comments were both highly negative, one even saying I should do something else other than write, because instead of going right into, "He slammed his hard cock deep into her sopping, wet pussy," I went for introspection as a way to bring realism into what had taken place over the ten year time frame.

I am reasonably certain neither commenter read either of the first two parts because had they done so they would have realized why I wrote the first chapter of this piece the way I did and what all the pieces meant.

However, since I don't care about people on here (no one cares about me so I duly reciprocate) it struck me as funny these whiners were complaining about realism and plot considering, as is repeated on here, these stories are free and I highly doubt either of them have written anything close to what anyone else on here already has (one was anonymous so no one to check and I didn't bother to see if the other had written anything).

So no, it's not just you. The entire tone of online communication has turned significantly more negative because people can now whine and get their giggles putting other people down rather than making themselves useful or productive.

 

[lovecraft68]

I read and appreciated the whole post but I thought I'd answer the part quoted here.

I have a problem with my two part story Christmas Fairy. The idea came from a Piers Anthony short story and I thought I could write a 'what if' based on that.

But after completing Chapter Two I'm stuck and have been for years. The plot has backed me into a corner. Without a Deus Ex Machina or a stupid resolution such as "With one bound he was free!" I don't know where to go next. Even a major rewrite of Ch.02 to have a conclusion seems unlikely.

I have dud stories as well. Stag Party and Hen Party are very early oggbashan stories written years before I joined Literotica. I had been promising myself that sometime I would rewrite them - but I can't. I'm not the person nor the writer I was two decades ago. I leave them up to remind me that they need revision - but that won't happen.

To my surprise I had positive feedback on Stag Party a few weeks ago. Someone actually liked it.

Someone could still like your dud stories and they are reminders that you can and should write better. Leave them as historical relics for archaeologists digging through Literotica. Someone could still think they are valuable jewels.

I have an unfinished series here as well. I did four chapters of it last summer and was on fire with it, had ideas for at least the next three and figured on it being in the 12 chapter range all told

Then I was distracted by some real life things, some health issues and a brutal work schedule because of some very poor planning and BS promises by the sales force.

By the time the smoke cleared, I was writing in general, but could not recapture that piece and as there were five couples involved, I suppose that should have been expected.

It was definitely the type of story that needed to be done all in a row. I did that with SWB and went through 45 chapters in a year+ and never lagged.

So this remains incomplete and may stay that way. I've thought about pulling the existing chapters so people no longer ask where the rest is, but...screw it, they can enjoy whats there

 

[Serafina1210]

Don't know why I'm writing this, I guess to ask if anyone else has had a really low rated and vilified story that they stuck with and kept writing further chapters, and if it's worth it. Just that single email after all this time has made me wonder if I can rescue this dud.

I have a ten-chapter story called "Pipit," posted not quite two years ago, which never got a lot of readers (the least-read chapter is still under 5000 views after all this time): the heroine was really unpleasant, and it dealt with some unpleasant subjects. I went on with it, though, because I liked it, and the few readers who were into that kind of thing rated it fairly well, once they'd found it. After all this time I'm still fairly well pleased with it.

I'd say that if you feel you've dug a dry hole with the beginning of a story, you may as well cut your losses and go on. If you like it yourself, then slog onwards and trust that some readers will appreciate it even if it doesn't get a whole lot of reads, or some readers don't like it.

 

[Laurel]

“Reading criticism clogs conduits through which one gets new ideas: cultural cholesterol,” Susan Sontag wrote in her diary. “Criticism,” artist Ai Weiwei told an interviewer, “is, in the Chinese context, a positive, creative act.” The truth, of course, is that it’s both — criticism is a technology of thought and, like any technology, it can be put to constructive or destructive use depending on the intention of its originator and the receptivity of its object.
[...]
Two centuries after David Hume contemplated the only good response to critics and half a century before “don’t feed the trolls” became the self-protection mantra of the Internet, Truman Capote offers:

Most of all, I believe in hardening yourself against opinion… There is one piece of advice I strongly urge: never demean yourself by talking back to a critic, never. Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper.​

Aldous Huxley reflects on why he doesn’t read reviews of his own work:

They’ve never had any effect on me, for the simple reason that I’ve never read them. I’ve never made a point of writing for any particular person or audience; I’ve simply tried to do the best job I could and let it go at that. The critics don’t interest me because they’re concerned with what’s past and done, while I’m concerned with what comes next.​

[...]
John Irving inverts and subverts this notion, quoting Cocteau:

Listen very carefully to the first criticism of your work. Note just what it is about your work that the reviewers don’t like; it may be the only thing in your work that is original and worthwhile.​

- read the full article How to Handle Criticism: Advice from Some of the Greatest Writers of the Past Century (from brainpickings)​

 

[TxRad]

Never argue with and idiot. You end up bring yourself down to his level.

 

[oggbashan]

Never argue with and idiot. You end up bring yourself down to his level.

I should stop stirring up some the inhabitants of the General Board.

But I enjoy poking the worst bigots with a stick from time to time. I have difficulty sometimes working out which new alt is an old adversary returning after yet another banning.

 

[TxRad]

I should stop stirring up some the inhabitants of the General Board.

But I enjoy poking the worst bigots with a stick from time to time. I have difficulty sometimes working out which new alt is an old adversary returning after yet another banning.

Over the years I've resisted the urge to spend much time on the GB for the most part. From what I have seen, it is kind of like playing Whack-a-Mole blindfolded. In any case, the decontamination process is hard on old skin and makes your eyes burn.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

We deceive ourselves.

The way advertising works is: repeated exposure to a message changes your mind. If you see the commercial enough times youll buy the product or gas Jews or hate your body. When was last time you saw a commercial for a great movie or Rolls Royce or gold mine, if its on the teevee it prolly sux and wont endure once the word gets out.

Treating total losers as a psychotherapist I learned that the worst way to change people is to blow smoke up their butts. What gets results is insulting them so much they gotta prove you wrong. They know you got the facts right, but reject your claim that theyre hopeless.

The great psychiatrist, Milton Erickson, said if you wanna get a cow or person to go in the direction you want, don't lead him, pull his tail.

 

[Laurel]

Really stuck in your writing? Redy to trash your story because it's just not working?

Share it with someone you trust. Sometimes a new perspective can make all the difference.

It was 1973, and Stephen King’s pockets were empty. He lived in a doublewide trailer and drove a rust-bucket Buick held together with baling wire and duct tape. King’s wife, Tabby, worked second-shift at Dunkin’ Donuts while he taught English at Hampden Academy, a private high school in eastern Maine. To scrape by, King worked summers at an industrial laundry and moonlighted as a janitor and gas pump attendant. With a toddler and a newborn to feed, money—and time to write fiction—were hard to come by.

King couldn't even afford his own typewriter; he had to use Tabby’s Olivetti from college. She set up a makeshift desk in the laundry room, fitting it snugly between the washing machine and the dryer. Each evening, while Tabby changed diapers and cooked dinner, King ignored the ungraded papers in his briefcase and locked himself in the laundry room to write.
[...]
When King started [writing Carrie], he typed three single-spaced pages, crumpled them up in anger, and dumped them in the trashcan. He was disappointed in himself. His critics were right—he couldn’t write from a woman’s perspective. The whole story disgusted him, too. Carrie White was an annoying, ready-made victim. Worse yet, the plot was already moving too slowly, which meant the finished product would be too long for any magazine.
[...]
The next day, Tabby went to empty the trash in the laundry room and found three crinkled balls of paper. She reached in, brushed off a coat of cigarette ashes, and unwrinkled the pages. When King came home from work, she still had them.

“You’ve got something here,” she said. “I really think you do.” Over the next few weeks, Tabby guided her husband through the world of women, giving tips on how to mold the characters and the famous shower scene. Nine months later, King had polished off the final draft.

Thirty publishers rejected it.​

- read the full article How Stephen King's Wife Saved 'Carrie' and Launched His Career (from Mental Floss)​

 

[beachbum1958]

Never argue with and idiot. You end up bring yourself down to his level.

And then he beats you with experience