What makes me quit reading mid-story.

[onehitwanda]

If you want to be even more jealous, no gym, no exercise regimen. All genes.

I loathe her with the rage of a million suns.

Now excuse me while I go drown my sorrows in icecream.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah. At least give me a sign that she isn't actually just an 18-year-old fantasy you couldn't be bothered to write.

I wonder if there's a sex divide on this - you know how classic mainstream porn always has the young hot women and a distinctly average bloke, because the guy wants to slot himself into the fantasy? Now spin that the other way round...

(My body at 50 will never be mistaken for anything under 40)

 

[MrPixel]

Yeah. At least give me a sign that she isn't actually just an 18-year-old fantasy you couldn't be bothered to write.

How can I do that? If it's any solace... probably not... when she and I talk about her stab at modeling when in her 20s, the agencies declared her "too skinny" even though Twiggy was a contemporary. I guess the skinny waif look didn't quite catch on in the US at the time and she had aged-out by the time it did. She was also a contemporary of Cheryl Tiegs - the same age, within a couple of weeks - and that's where the US modeling ideal was at the time, with fuller figures. We do joke about her first gig at 2 years old, posing for a highchair ad. She has a tear sheet of it in her collection.

The best I can tell she blossomed in her 30s (39 when we met), and that's where most of her informal paid work was, for semi-pro photogs. There was a lot of that in the '70s since nude photography was mostly acceptable by then. She really didn't think ahead about building a portfolio, and we have only a couple of proof prints from that work (yes, they're stunning). I didn't have any idea about this until well after we were married. We clicked not because I was drooling over her or anything like that and had to have her, we connected because we were expatriate California nudists living in Atlanta. Seriously.

Hysterectomy at 42 and breast lumpectomy at 48 left her with enough scarring to really damage her self-image, even though both are mild as that sort of thing goes. So I've spent a goodly part of our marriage propping-up her self esteem as she denigrates herself over her "tit and a half". It's truly not that bad, and not even noticeable when you understand that "reality" for most women is a little lopsided. At 75 she still turns heads clothed or otherwise, although fully-lit frontal nudes aren't her best look any more. I won't tell her that.

Her no-exercise lifestyle is finally coming home to roost, so she's been acclimating to time on the treadmill to defend that gorgeous butt against gravity.

 

[nice90sguy]

Now spin that the other way round...

Obviously, everybody writes/reads what they want. A lot of men want young hot women in their porn, don't sweat it. But if I have to generalize, I'd say that the majority of readers here want romance rather than sex.

I overheard a young, good-looking guy this morning who was walking and talking on his phone to his friend about how much he was into a 60-y/o woman he'd just met.

 

[onehitwanda]

I overheard a young, good-looking guy this morning who was walking and talking on his phone to his friend about how much he was into a 60-y/o woman he'd just met.

Some people like grape juice. Some like wine.

Connoisseurs, of course, like properly matured Cognac.

 

[GrantBricksly]

I wonder if there's a sex divide on this - you know how classic mainstream porn always has the young hot women and a distinctly average bloke, because the guy wants to slot himself into the fantasy? Now spin that the other way round...

I think there is a market for the other side of things as well. Look at how many hallmark movies (and some mainstream ones) are out there, where it focuses on the small town girl that they try to pretend is not gorgeous, but they at least make her "average" in other ways..but she falls for the handsome rich perfect city man that came home for the holidays...The stories are there. The market is there. (they just need better writers) They never seem to get an "average" looking woman to play the part...but that's Hollywood for ya...Still...I think it works..

 

[Duleigh]

Hard to figure out where all these rich executive husbands who have a 45 y/o wife that STILL has that gym perfect figure. That normally stops me in my tracks.

I met a USAF full bird colonel at a military event, he was in his dress blues with a chest full of wings and ribbons with a blond on each arm, and the blonds were identical, they wore identical low-cut short skirt dresses exposing the identical amount of breast and leg, identical tans, identical hair, identical smiles. His 50-year-old wife looked a very hot 30, so did his 22-year-old daughter. I saw them appear at several functions, from squadron Christmas parties to promotion ceremonies, and his women always dressed identically and always showed off large amounts of breast and leg. I was so shocked (and impressed) by their courage (officers normally don't act like that) I added their appearances to one of my stories.

 

[Duleigh]

Returning this thread back to its original purpose... What makes me quit reading mid story? Felt will do it, but I think Felt is a societal issue, everything is based on feelings now. Like is another one that makes my teeth ache. "I was like, DUDE! and then he was like "WHAT?" I don't like Like. But what turns me off is Multiple Bads. I can forgive bad grammar but add bad dialog and that's one bad too many. Bad dialog on its own is survivable for me unless you use it to paint a bad narrative. Even a bad narrative is acceptable unless you use bad word selection, pounding the reader with the same descriptors over and over, sometimes I find myself shouting at the screen "Use a thesaurus!"

Or is it just me?

 

[Djmac1031]

Or is it just me?

It's not just you. I'm consider myself pretty forgiving, but yeah, there's only so much one can forgive before going "you know what? I'm out."

 

[Trionyx]

Rich older guy rescues poor younger woman, uses some form of martial arts to vanquish the aggressive and armed former boyfriend and two of his buddies, puts her up in his mansion where she promptly falls in love with him.…yawn….

 

[Trionyx]

Like is another one that makes my teeth ache. "I was like, DUDE! and then he was like "WHAT?" I don't like Like.

I don’t like ‘like‘ either but unfortunately, it is used today by a large portion of the younger population (remember ‘you know’?) and I’ll include ‘like’ in the dialogue of said younger characters.

 

[Bazzle]

I stop reading stories where either of the four letter C words are used within the first two paragraphs.
Can't really build a character with either of them.

 

[onehitwanda]

I stop reading stories where either of the four letter C words are used within the first two paragraphs.
Can't really build a character with either of them.

What do you mean either? There are at least three by my count?

 

[Bazzle]

What do you mean either? There are at least three by my count?

Any of the anglo saxon descriptors

 

[MrPixel]

Like is another one that makes my teeth ache.

"Like" is still a thing? I'm an adjunct professor and obviously am around college kids frequently. I haven't heard "like" used as a filler in years. Maybe the young'ins who lean on "like" aren't college material? Boggles.

 

[nice90sguy]

a blond on each arm

That would probably make me quit reading mid-story!

 

[Duleigh]

That would probably make me quit reading mid-story!

Like I said, the clincher was that one was his wife, one was his daughter, believe me, he was the talk of the enlisted corps. I asked Captn. B what the officers thought about it and he refused to answer the question.

 

[Duleigh]

"Like" is still a thing? I'm an adjunct professor and obviously am around college kids frequently. I haven't heard "like" used as a filler in years. Maybe the young'ins who lean on "like" aren't college material? Boggles.

Like dooood, I was like shocked when I read that, it was like boggles to me too!
However with the price of domestic weed skyrocketing, grammar and enunciation may be making a comeback.

 

[autoplot]

Rich older guy rescues poor younger woman, uses some form of martial arts to vanquish the aggressive and armed former boyfriend and two of his buddies, puts her up in his mansion where she promptly falls in love with him.…yawn….

I love how specific this is lol

 

[nice90sguy]

You begin your story trembingly in the second person singular... your eager fingers travel down, down from your neck towards your ribcage... tenderly, I hit the back-button...

 

[ruddygore]

MMC is ex special forces/recon or whatever your favorite hard ass military is who somehow owns an international conglomerate and is personal friends with the president. And he has a harem and the only thing the women think of is how soon they can get him to fuck them again.

 

[Rob_Royale]

MMC is ex special forces/recon or whatever your favorite hard ass military is who somehow owns an international conglomerate and is personal friends with the president. And he has a harem and the only thing the women think of is how soon they can get him to fuck them again.

Yeah those super realistic stories are great aren't they?

 

[AchtungNight]

Not being into the characters or plot, an unwelcome theme I didn’t expect, and excessive depravity. By the latter, I mean I have a certain threshold for various kinks and other tropes and if the author’s tastes regarding such things do not operate in sync with me as a reader, I will quit reading rather than further proceed.

 

[AchtungNight]

MMC is ex special forces/recon or whatever your favorite hard ass military is who somehow owns an international conglomerate and is personal friends with the president. And he has a harem and the only thing the women think of is how soon they can get him to fuck them again.

Yeah, I’m not into this either. I prefer the variant where my author avatar is an entertainment mogul who employs a private staff who used to be a special forces team similar to GI Joe and now work for the mogul as spies, security, and other important roles. The mogul is based out of a nightclub frequented by various celebrities in a Hollywood Swinging type of setting. It has sister clubs around the world and a swinger’s hotel attached, all supported by a secret society similar to the Illuminati that aids the celebrities with various issues. The mogul is an executive in the secret society but not a high ranking one. The celebrities are mostly happy to live their own lives which in this parallel universe mostly match their real world lives. The main difference? A lot more polyamory and the mogul is allowed to indulge on occasion by consenting people. No Harvey Weinstein BS either, the mogul in fact helped end Weinstein’s career. Everything he and his staff do with the celebrities is consensual friends with benefits stuff. Hope this approach never drives readers away.

 

[32aa]

The other issue here is that the story you are reading is written in the first person, so "I" comes up a zillion times.

That drives me nuts too. The writing of my first stores had a fair amount of that. My recent stories are worded such that the usage of "I" has been reduced. And, to me, they read smoother. But, that's just me.