Having written 18 stories with Sarah and Greg, 10 of which included Lisa, the analytic side of me engaged, so I tallied up the stats:
... 361 pages (Open Office Writer, Times New Roman, size 12) for the entire saga. It's long enough for me to have considered this as having finished my first novel.
... 49% of the story was describing sex
... 84 sex scenes total
... 0: Fewest sex scenes in one story: "The Wedding of Sarah and Greg"
... 11: Most sex scenes in one story: "Lisa Visits Sarah and Greg" (four stories tied for second with 8 scenes each)
... 143: Most number of votes for one of the stories: "Sarah and Greg"
I have been avoiding writing recently. Unfortunately, I painted myself into a corner with an earlier installment in my Sarah and Greg series when at the end of Sarah's life (during a flash-forward in the wedding story) she is surrounded by her husband, children, and grand children, but not her wife, Lisa. My plan was to bring in Lisa, who would be third partner in a marriage and the biological mother to the kids, then kill her off. It was a set up to give Sarah the final motivation to have her sexual reassignment surgery. I had it planned; Lisa was to die.
Except, now that I have written for her, I like her too much. This leads me to flipping back and forth as to how I can explain her absence and lack of mention in the previous story. In addition to my liking her, I have had to deal with my own losses recently, and I don't want to lose anyone else - even a fictional character.
I've played with the idea of Lisa dying years before Sarah, but then I need a new motivation for the surgery. I've considered sending Lisa to the "Peace Conference" (an homage to how The Power Rangers got rid of several original characters in the US version.) In the more untimely departure scenarios, I looked at dying after delivery, killed in a car accident, murdered by her ex-husband, and just disappearing. All of them leave me cold, still unable to rewrite the path originally planned.
Eventually, I will figure it out, but until then, Lisa's fate hangs in the balance.
A few summers ago, I prepared to teach a summer workshop for budding writers. I sketched out several ideas, did some research online for techniques when working with people starting out, and reflected on my own starts and stops in writing. I finally concluded that the message which I wanted all of the students to take away when they were done was to set aside some time every day to write. I even drafted a contract to be signed by the parents so they would buy into this allotment of time.
Now I need to rethink this simple message, because my life rarely has given a block of time every day for more than a few months which allowed me the luxury of indulging in what I wanted to do when I was mentally ready to do it.
When my schedule changed at the end of the summer, I found that there were at least two days every week during which it would be impossible to find time to write. I understood it and built it into my schedule. Now I am in the position of having written nothing in the past week and a half other than a few grammatical and spelling mistakes a week ago - the loss of our beloved family dog really made writing overwhelmingly difficult. So the question is how to overcome the time off.
Intellectually, I know that the answer is just to start writing again. However, I liken it somewhat to exercise. I have tried to get fit many times over my life, and every plan failed at some point when I realized that not exercising was more enjoyable than exercising. (The sages were right: putting on running shoes is the hardest part of jogging.) Missing one day made skipping the next day easier. I would then jump start my program again for a day or two until I took more time off. Before I was willing to admit it, I was finished with that plan.
Writing, at least, is far more enjoyable (and my fingers are in good shape). As of now, I accept that I took time off; I am not going to beat myself up over it. I needed the escape from my routine as a new routine would emerge, so the break was worthwhile. However, I have too many story ideas to leave them electronically rotting in the "rotting drawer".
So, putting on my writing shoes again, I begin anew.
I want to thank those of you who sent me e-mails about The Seduction of My Power and those who sent me e-mails about those who vote "1" on stories. I appreciate those who sent me comments even though some of them did not care for the story and a few who admitted not reading my story.
If I reflect on the golden rule, I realize that I have not been treating others the way I want to be treated. So, for the stories I read, I will send a note to the author giving my 2 cents. I accept that the authors might completely ignore my comments, but at least I am attempting to work within the lines of communication. It is a daily struggle.
If for some reason I send you a note and you don't want to hear from me ever again, then please, let me know.
For most of my "Sarah and Greg" stories, there have been one or two people who really hate the stories and express it through voting "You Call this a Story?". I believe, this counts in the initial raw score for the rating as a "1".
I don't know if it is the same one or two people who hate it, but this seems ridiculous as they would have to go out of there way to vote against the story. Or just by random chance, one or two people accidentally stumble upon the story, read it (I hope), and pan it.
I will admit that I have read a story which I should not have. I saw the tags so I knew what was coming, but my curiosity got the better of me. I was so creeped out that I voted a very low score, although I can't remember how low nor the name of the story. Later I realized that the author might have been going for "creepy" in which case it was amazing.
Now one of my most recent stories (although 9 of the 20 votes, as of this writing, would question whether it really is a story), The Seduction of My Power, has been hated? despised? vilified? evoked strong negative emotion. Since this is the largest number of people who have objected to one of my stories, I feel forced to deal with it.
I don't want to dismiss the critics automatically as people who should have seen the tags and been forewarned. Was my writing for this story truly weaker than previous stories? (I definitely went for a different style.) I also don't want to over-inflate my ego since one person who voted rated it as "Most Amazing Story". But it is very tempting to dismiss the critics and tell myself that the "Most Amazing Story" vote was someone who caught the nuances of a brilliant work of prose. (I know it wasn't brilliant, but my ego thanks the person who found it "Amazing".)
Ultimately, without any specific feedback, my take away is that the story line for The Seduction of My Power is not a popular plot. So the question, I really need to ask myself is "Why am I writing?" Am I writing to make others happy or is that just a bonus when it happens?
I haven't fully answered the question, but I know that I take some pleasure in writing. My goal is to be comfortable enough to get back to the novel I started nine years ago. However, after having written so many sexually explicit stories, perhaps the issue when I get there, is how to tone the language down to something I would let my kids read.