We could all learn something from SamuelX

[lovecraft68]

Is this the real life ? Or is that fantasy ? I am loving it ! Thank you for being awesome readers !

A response from the man himself!

You keep on doing you as only you can.

Props on being so prolific over the years and still going strong.

 

[KeithD]

My impression of SamuelX was that he was submitting a story every day. I also submit one at least weekly. I agree that being that prolific--and especially since Laurel passes all of them through quickly--impinges on what others can get posted. I'd be fine if there was some sort of "only so many in X time" constraint on submissions. But there isn't.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I feel you are being somewhat unfair towards the mighty Samuelx. From the data Bramblethorn posted, you can see that while he is very consistent, one story per week can't really be named spam. I do see one much more serious problem though. The 750 words challenges that Lit promotes in order to increase the amount of stories is the true spam and 'crap' as you named it. In many categories there are like a couple of 750 words (or a bit more) stories per day that act as spam and push some more relevant stories down from the New list.
To be completely honest here, a good author can use 750 words and write an interesting vignette, but certainly not a story. Overall that means that we get spammed by useless crap every day because, to be once again completely honest, good authors are unlikely to write such stories (vignettes) often. I fear that the amount of said crap will only rise due to constant promoting, because its the number of stories that counts the most, apparently.

I'm sorry. I do have issues with this.
We are all here for the same reason.
We enjoy writing. We do it for fun, and we do it for free.
I'm not sure who decides what's spam and irrelevant, or less relevant. Or worse still of little value.
From my perspective, all stories have the same legitimacy. So long as they are ethical, and don't break the rules of common decency.
I'm not a huge fan of the 750 words thing, but it is relevant.
It is a good exercise for the wordy bitches. That's me by the way. It gives us a chance to try and say something quickly.
I feel it probably offers an opportunity to new writers who may feel daunted by writing something longer. That's just my thoughts.
It annoys me that there is a perception that some forms are better, more relevant, or more important than others.

Cagivagurl

 

[KeithD]

I doubt site management has any skin in the game on the 750-word stories (welcoming them to pad the file). I think Laurel is just accommodating a grassroots initiative on this. Literotica doesn't need to do anything to pad its file. I'm pretty sure it sets the standard for a big story file every day.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'm sorry. I do have issues with this.
We are all here for the same reason.
We enjoy writing. We do it for fun, and we do it for free.
I'm not sure who decides what's spam and irrelevant, or less relevant. Or worse still of little value.
From my perspective, all stories have the same legitimacy. So long as they are ethical, and don't break the rules of common decency.
I'm not a huge fan of the 750 words thing, but it is relevant.
It is a good exercise for the wordy bitches. That's me by the way. It gives us a chance to try and say something quickly.
I feel it probably offers an opportunity to new writers who may feel daunted by writing something longer. That's just my thoughts.
It annoys me that there is a perception that some forms are better, more relevant, or more important than others.

Cagivagurl

I was a bit surprised by this but then I saw it is a post of mine from a year ago. Responding to old threads seems to be a thing.
While I understand that what I wrote could annoy someone, it is actually my opinion. I do consider 750-word format inferior to longer stories. Less relevant too. It is my honest opinion and if it annoys you, well then it annoys you. We all have our opinions about different things here. I am open to constructive discussion on this subject though. We can learn from our differences

 

[Cagivagurl]

I was a bit surprised by this but then I saw it is a post of mine from a year ago. Responding to old threads seems to be a thing.
While I understand that what I wrote could annoy someone, it is actually my opinion. I do consider 750-word format inferior to longer stories. Less relevant too. It is my honest opinion and if it annoys you, well then it annoys you. We all have our opinions about different things here. I am open to constructive discussion on this subject though. We can learn from our differences

Opinions,
We all have them. Long live that freedom.
I agree that we can learn from each other.
Yours are as valid as mine.
I do disagree. Having written a couple of 750 word stories. I found the execise interesting, and difficult.
I don't think because those stories are shorter, they are of less relevance than other stories I have written.
In some regards they are more relevant because they made me question how I write.
What I write.
I am often accused of being overly wordy. Which is a fair criticism. Forcing myself to write something that had substance in 750 words. In a way highlighted to me my shortcomings.

That's simply my opinion. I believe the format has relevance.

Cagivagurl

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I do disagree. Having written a couple of 750 word stories. I found the execise interesting, and difficult.

Writing a typical Lit 750-word story I don't think is hard at all. What is hard is writing it well, and it is probably considerably harder to write a good 750-word story than, say, a 3k-word one. It is likely a good exercise for a writer as well. But just because it's hard to do something well, doesn't mean that the product is valuable or important. I can certainly admire a writer's skill required to craft a good 750-word story but the story itself can still be seen as something of not much relevance. It's all in the point of view, I guess.

Imagine Michelangelo doing some practice before sculpting David by crafting a very vivid apple or pear. I have no idea, but let's assume that it's hard to sculpt them well due to their small size and shape. Would that excellently sculpted apple or pear still be as relevant and as important as the statue of David?

 

[Cagivagurl]

Writing a typical Lit 750-word story I don't think is hard at all. What is hard is writing it well, and it is probably considerably harder to write a good 750-word story than, say, a 3k-word one. It is likely a good exercise for a writer as well. But just because it's hard to do something well, doesn't mean that the product is valuable or important. I can certainly admire a writer's skill required to craft a good 750-word story but the story itself can still be seen as something of not much relevance. It's all in the point of view, I guess.

Imagine Michelangelo doing some practice before sculpting David by crafting a very vivid apple or pear. I have no idea, but let's assume that it's hard to sculpt them well due to their small size and shape. Would that excellently sculpted apple or pear still be as relevant and as important as the statue of David?

I suspect the obvious counter point would be...
The apple was far more valuable and of far more interest because it was his first work???

Cagivagurl

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I suspect the obvious counter point would be...
The apple was far more valuable and of far more interest because it was his first work???

Cagivagurl

Eh, I never said the apple was his first work? Also, this is now the approach from authority, since the artistic value of that apple is now derived from Michelangelo being a famous and respected artist, so anything he makes must automatically have artistic value. Also, let's say the apple has artistic value. My point wasn't whether the apple has value or not, my point was the comparison with the statue of David. In the previous posts, we were talking about 750-word stories vs long stories in the sense of relevance and importance. I never said 750-word stories have no value, I said they are less relevant and important than long stories, in my opinion. Less doesn't mean zero.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Eh, I never said the apple was his first work? Also, this is now the approach from authority, since the artistic value of that apple is now derived from Michelangelo being a famous and respected artist, so anything he makes must automatically have artistic value. Also, let's say the apple has artistic value. My point wasn't whether the apple has value or not, my point was the comparison with the statue of David. In the previous posts, we were talking about 750-word stories vs long stories in the sense of relevance and importance. I never said 750-word stories have no value, I said they are less relevant and important than long stories, in my opinion. Less doesn't mean zero.

That is where we disagree...
Which is really cool by the way. We are adults, we allowed to disagree, and still be friends.
I believe that any story written. Regardless of length has the same relevance for the person who wrote it.
If I write a 750 word story. It means as much to me as one with 100,000 words. I've written both.
They each mean something different to me as the creator.
Story length means nothing.
It does not diminish it's relevance.
Is it a good story, or a bad story?
Who knows. Nobody actually. Popularity doesn't guarantee quality...
So long as whoever wrote it had fun, extracted joy from the process. Then for that writer. It is most relevant.

Cagivagurl

 

[AwkwardlySet]

That is where we disagree...
Which is really cool by the way. We are adults, we allowed to disagree, and still be friends.
I believe that any story written. Regardless of length has the same relevance for the person who wrote it.
If I write a 750 word story. It means as much to me as one with 100,000 words. I've written both.
They each mean something different to me as the creator.
Story length means nothing.
It does not diminish it's relevance.
Is it a good story, or a bad story?
Who knows. Nobody actually. Popularity doesn't guarantee quality...
So long as whoever wrote it had fun, extracted joy from the process. Then for that writer. It is most relevant.

Cagivagurl

Well, I was looking at this from the reader's point of view mostly. But what you said struck me as somewhat unusual. Do you really like all of your stories equally? Do you not have one or two or three that mean more to you than some other stories of yours?

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm sorry. I do have issues with this.
We are all here for the same reason.
We enjoy writing. We do it for fun, and we do it for free.
I'm not sure who decides what's spam and irrelevant, or less relevant. Or worse still of little value.
From my perspective, all stories have the same legitimacy. So long as they are ethical, and don't break the rules of common decency.
I'm not a huge fan of the 750 words thing, but it is relevant.
It is a good exercise for the wordy bitches. That's me by the way. It gives us a chance to try and say something quickly.
I feel it probably offers an opportunity to new writers who may feel daunted by writing something longer. That's just my thoughts.
It annoys me that there is a perception that some forms are better, more relevant, or more important than others.

Cagivagurl

There was a contest that ran for several years called Survivor. A yearlong contest where people wrote stories in as many categories as possible and received points for each category, closing out a category with multiple stories, etc.

It was designed to get people to expand themselves into categories they might not have otherwise tried, and to push people to write more.

Problem became people were flooding the site with one-page stories, many of which were poorly written and barely on topic and published just to get the points. Stories saw low to middling scores because despite what some posters here think, readers can tell when an author has zero interest in the category/story. There was also some gaming involved from a couple of authors and it was abandoned over that issue by the person who managed the entire thing (Boxlicker who is since passed away)

I feel the 750 word challenges are doing the same thing as in flooding the site with minimum word count stories that few other than the authors forum care about. If you look around-and several authors here have mentioned this themselves- most of the stories don't seem to be all that well received from readers. Take into consideration how members of the forum will read and give five votes to each other's stories, and the scores are still not very high, shows how readership in general isn't a fan of the medium.

I also agree with @KeithD that Lit certainly isn't in need of having their story file padded, but these things, because it's an author sponsored challenge entered by site favs, get rushed to the top of the list and delay the work of other authors.

As you and Awkwardlyset have discussed, there is a matter of opinion, and mine is that I have no interest in writing, reading, or supporting these, and most readers and authors seem to agree, but opinion aside, I think there are negative factors to them, and other author sponsored events.

People are skipping the site sponsored events to participate in forum contests-and few authors outside of this forum are involved-which hurt them and are so obsessed with writing for each other in a "Look at mine" manner that they're no longer writing as much as they used to, or what they want to, because they're now locked into someone else's suggestion here. There are a few writers of late who have complained of blockages. Maybe if they spent less time posting endlessly here and only focusing on 'events' they could get back to their former output.

 

[SimonDoom]

My take is that the more content the better. Ultimately, what matters is readers, and whether they are getting the maximum value. I doubt readers care much about stories crowding each other out. They can choose whatever methods they want to find the stories they like, and the more stories there are, the greater chance they have of being satisfied. In the case of 750-word stories, readers as a whole don't like them as much as longer stories, based on scores, but some like them, and that's what matters. Same thing with SamuelX. If he's having fun, and his fans are having fun, then it doesn't really matter what others think.

I find the 750-word story challenge to be a fun and creative exercise, even though I also tend not to like stories this short as much as I do longer stories. By tomorrow I will have published 9 such stories, and I'm glad I have, even though none of them have cracked a 4.5 score and they are dragging down my average score considerably.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Well, I was looking at this from the reader's point of view mostly. But what you said struck me as somewhat unusual. Do you really like all of your stories equally? Do you not have one or two or three that mean more to you than some other stories of yours?

Believe me...
I have stories here that I wrote, which make me cringe.
They will never be good stories. I leave them there to encourage me to try harder.
They are mine, so I feel comfortable critiquing them. Poorly written, with terrible grammar. Me, not proud.
That aside they are mine, and at the time of posting. I was enthusiastic.
So, are they as relevant to me as some others?
Yes...
I see it this way, for us (The people who contribute to the site) It exists because of us. The stories we write keep the site viable.
The readers come and go as they find it, get sick of it. Move to others.
We get to post our written material, and others get to read it.
Our only payback is feedback.
For me it's fun. Before posting here. I had never written anything other than a report. I found I enjoy it.
If I decide to write something, whether it's poetry, 750 words, or whatever. For me, they all share the same relevance.
Some I like, some I wish I hadn't.
But, they all share the same relevance. They are important to me...
Just my perspective.

Cagivagurl

 

[Cagivagurl]

There was a contest that ran for several years called Survivor. A yearlong contest where people wrote stories in as many categories as possible and received points for each category, closing out a category with multiple stories, etc.

It was designed to get people to expand themselves into categories they might not have otherwise tried, and to push people to write more.

Problem became people were flooding the site with one-page stories, many of which were poorly written and barely on topic and published just to get the points. Stories saw low to middling scores because despite what some posters here think, readers can tell when an author has zero interest in the category/story. There was also some gaming involved from a couple of authors and it was abandoned over that issue by the person who managed the entire thing (Boxlicker who is since passed away)

I feel the 750 word challenges are doing the same thing as in flooding the site with minimum word count stories that few other than the authors forum care about. If you look around-and several authors here have mentioned this themselves- most of the stories don't seem to be all that well received from readers. Take into consideration how members of the forum will read and give five votes to each other's stories, and the scores are still not very high, shows how readership in general isn't a fan of the medium.

I also agree with @KeithD that Lit certainly isn't in need of having their story file padded, but these things, because it's an author sponsored challenge entered by site favs, get rushed to the top of the list and delay the work of other authors.

As you and Awkwardlyset have discussed, there is a matter of opinion, and mine is that I have no interest in writing, reading, or supporting these, and most readers and authors seem to agree, but opinion aside, I think there are negative factors to them, and other author sponsored events.

People are skipping the site sponsored events to participate in forum contests-and few authors outside of this forum are involved-which hurt them and are so obsessed with writing for each other in a "Look at mine" manner that they're no longer writing as much as they used to, or what they want to, because they're now locked into someone else's suggestion here. There are a few writers of late who have complained of blockages. Maybe if they spent less time posting endlessly here and only focusing on 'events' they could get back to their former output.

Without sounding argumentative.
I don't care about who writes what. So long as they stay within the bounds of common decency. Write what you want.
If my story drops off the front page quicker because of events, or people trying there hand at writing... Who cares????
What they wrote is as important to them as mine is to me.
I am no more important to the world than they are.
My work isn't better, more noteworthy.
I don't write to get high scores, I write for fun.
I post what I post and I'm happy with that.
I assume others feel the same.
I am not going to criticise others work.
There are a lot of stories contained in this site that I absolutely detest.
It is what it is. Others probably feel the same about some of the crap I've written.

Cagivagurl

 

[lovecraft68]

Without sounding argumentative.
I don't care about who writes what. So long as they stay within the bounds of common decency. Write what you want.
If my story drops off the front page quicker because of events, or people trying there hand at writing... Who cares????
What they wrote is as important to them as mine is to me.
I am no more important to the world than they are.
My work isn't better, more noteworthy.
I don't write to get high scores, I write for fun.
I post what I post and I'm happy with that.
I assume others feel the same.
I am not going to criticise others work.
There are a lot of stories contained in this site that I absolutely detest.
It is what it is. Others probably feel the same about some of the crap I've written.

Cagivagurl

I don't care what people write, my post was in reaction to the point about lit needing their story file padded, or the counter point these stories are like Spam.

I stated my opinion was I don't care for them, and I think they are regarded more negatively than regular submissions, and if the people posting can live with that, then that's fine, but its ironic that for all the stat hawking done here, they'll continue to right things that as Simon just stated, tank their average scores.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I don't care what people write, my post was in reaction to the point about lit needing their story file padded, or the counter point these stories are like Spam.

I stated my opinion was I don't care for them, and I think they are regarded more negatively than regular submissions, and if the people posting can live with that, then that's fine, but its ironic that for all the stat hawking done here, they'll continue to right things that as Simon just stated, tank their average scores.

I don't know why others write...
For me it's fun...
Nothing more.
If I decide to write something, regardless of the form or category. I do it because something about it intrigued me.
I don't care about the score.
I'm not seeking fame or glory. If the score is low, then so be it.
I can live with the fact others don't appreciate my particular take on the world or my writing style.
I suspect we will never agree, but I'm OK with that.
It's nice to debate our opinions.

Cagivagurl

 

[MelissaBaby]

There was a contest that ran for several years called Survivor. A yearlong contest where people wrote stories in as many categories as possible and received points for each category, closing out a category with multiple stories, etc.

It was designed to get people to expand themselves into categories they might not have otherwise tried, and to push people to write more.

Problem became people were flooding the site with one-page stories, many of which were poorly written and barely on topic and published just to get the points. Stories saw low to middling scores because despite what some posters here think, readers can tell when an author has zero interest in the category/story. There was also some gaming involved from a couple of authors and it was abandoned over that issue by the person who managed the entire thing (Boxlicker who is since passed away)

I feel the 750 word challenges are doing the same thing as in flooding the site with minimum word count stories that few other than the authors forum care about. If you look around-and several authors here have mentioned this themselves- most of the stories don't seem to be all that well received from readers. Take into consideration how members of the forum will read and give five votes to each other's stories, and the scores are still not very high, shows how readership in general isn't a fan of the medium.

I also agree with @KeithD that Lit certainly isn't in need of having their story file padded, but these things, because it's an author sponsored challenge entered by site favs, get rushed to the top of the list and delay the work of other authors.

As you and Awkwardlyset have discussed, there is a matter of opinion, and mine is that I have no interest in writing, reading, or supporting these, and most readers and authors seem to agree, but opinion aside, I think there are negative factors to them, and other author sponsored events.

People are skipping the site sponsored events to participate in forum contests-and few authors outside of this forum are involved-which hurt them and are so obsessed with writing for each other in a "Look at mine" manner that they're no longer writing as much as they used to, or what they want to, because they're now locked into someone else's suggestion here. There are a few writers of late who have complained of blockages. Maybe if they spent less time posting endlessly here and only focusing on 'events' they could get back to their former output.

I participate in contests and challenges because I don't generally write in high traffic categories, and they are a way to draw more readers to my work across the board. Since I won the Winter Holiday Contest I've picked up about two hundred followers and seen an increase in views, favorites and comments on older stories.

But I do think that the number of challenges is getting out of hand. It seems like every challenge becomes institutionalized as an annual event. Some deserve to be, but surely, they don't all. You have a very good point, they are dominated by forum users. The site sponsored contests, on the other hand, seem to draw many authors who have never set foot here. I've posted before about my distaste for cliquey invitation events. When an event like the 750 Words (To which I have submitted) is swarmed with forum members submitting multiple entries, it looks almost as in-group as the invitationals. I understand that to some people writing the 750's is a lot of fun, but then, why do they need an event to write them?

This is just my personal feeling, and I am not taking issue with anyone in particular, but if I were running this pop stand, contests and challenges would be limited to one entry per author.My attitude is, give it your best shot and live with the results.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I participate in contests and challenges because I don't generally write in high traffic categories, and they are a way to draw more readers to my work across the board. Since I won the Winter Holiday Contest I've picked up about two hundred followers and seen an increase in views, favorites and comments on older stories.

But I do think that the number of challenges is getting out of hand. It seems like every challenge becomes institutionalized as an annual event. Some deserve to be, but surely, they don't all. You have a very good point, they are dominated by forum users. The site sponsored contests, on the other hand, seem to draw many authors who have never set foot here. I've posted before about my distaste for cliquey invitation events. When an event like the 750 Words (To which I have submitted) is swarmed with forum members submitting multiple entries, it looks almost as in-group as the invitationals. I understand that to some people writing the 750's is a lot of fun, but then, why do they need an event to write them?

This is just my personal feeling, and I am not taking issue with anyone in particular, but if I were running this pop stand, contests and challenges would be limited to one entry per author.My attitude is, give it your best shot and live with the results.

I have never entered a competition or challenge.
My 750 word story was at an odd time after reading a couple.
I wondered whether I could do it.
I'm not sure about whether the number of comps, or challenges affects story numbers posted. I don't follow any of it closely enough.
My opinion, and it's nothing more than that.
If it encourages somebody to write something. It's a good thing.

Cagivagurl

 

[Samuelx]

If I may be so bold as to offer advice to any man, woman or non binary person who wants to be a writer ? Write. In times of happiness, and sadness, and on snow days, sunny days, rainy days and dark days. You never know what you might create in those moments. If a lot of people hate your work, ignore them but do hone your craft. Your story will find its audience. Good luck.

 

[Priscilla_June]

If I may be so bold as to offer advice to any man, woman or non binary person who wants to be a writer ? Write. In times of happiness, and sadness, and on snow days, sunny days, rainy days and dark days. You never know what you might create in those moments. If a lot of people hate your work, ignore them but do hone your craft. Your story will find its audience. Good luck.

Wise words thanks for sharing.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I take a different view.

I personally think the "I give zero fucks" attitude is a shitty attitude with which to do virtually anything in life. Nobody ever accomplished anything with that attitude. You may be satisfied with yourself as you sit in your basement with that attitude, but that's ALL you will ever do.

There is a huge and fertile middle ground that lies between "I slavishly seek the approval of others" and "I don't give a fuck about what anybody else thinks." It's somewhere in that middle ground that people who accomplish worthwhile things dwell. There's a reason SamuelX's stories have low scores. He writes in a bubble with minimal interaction with others.

If you actually want to achieve something in this life, you have to give a fuck, and that includes giving a fuck what others think, even when it's different from what you think. you don't have to agree with others, but you have to be open to others' opinions, and to learn from them. We learn from criticism. We learn by paying attention to how others have done things before we did them. If you want to build a good chair, you don't say, "Fuck it, I'm going to build chairs my way." You learn from others who have been building chairs for a long time, and when you've learned the craft you try to put your own unique stamp on the craft.

My view about all the Lit feedback, including scores, is that it's data we can learn from as long as we don't get obsessive about it and give it too much credence.

I think it depends on the situation and what you're doing. Like I give zero fucks if somebody doesn't like my music or attire.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

If I may be so bold as to offer advice to any man, woman or non binary person who wants to be a writer ? Write. In times of happiness, and sadness, and on snow days, sunny days, rainy days and dark days. You never know what you might create in those moments. If a lot of people hate your work, ignore them but do hone your craft. Your story will find its audience. Good luck.

I wish I could write like you in a way of how they've said you put out so many stories. Maybe not exactly mag dumping stories, but having the same effort to be consistant.

I've always told myself that I'll eventually write shit that people wanna read, or end up(probably in that process) with enough stories, people can't avoid them. And that's not something exclusive to here alone. I write on many sites with my other pen name, and I'm about mid on all these sites.

 

[burgwad]

Would that I could. But I’m just. Not. Strong enough.

 

[lovecraft68]

I noticed something that I'm sure factors in to SamuelX's productivity. He has more stories than posts on the forum. 20 years a member and under 3700 posts

Maybe the key to more writing is not wasting time with the rest of the ding dongs on the forum 24/7