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In one of my previous posts, I had stated that I would avoid posting additional blogs up due to a couple of my previous postings that were getting deleted. Due to the nature that some major questions that have come up, I feel that it is important to put up a new posting. Hopefully, this post won't get removed either...
I have a series of questions in particular to basically everyone. Among one of my goals as a writer is that I'm trying to find ways to turn a hobby into something that I can make money off of it. Honestly, there is no shame in that as we are all trying to survive during these hectic times. One way is Patreon where if people enjoy my writings, then they can help donate and they in turn are rewarded with things such as an Epub or KDF file of the stories (early access to stories being written, etc). I've seen some writers that make quite a lot off of it. In the course of an entire year, I've seen almost no increase in patrons and the amount of money that I get is far less than writers that write similar genres too. It isn't an entire loss as I have had some fans that have outright paid an artist to create a book cover because they enjoy my stories so much. Plus, I've been willing to entertain commissions for fans of my stories and have managed to get my stories put up on Amazon to be sold via Print on Demand.
My goal is to try to figure out what it is that the audience looks for. This alone could be a broad topic, so I'll try to narrow it down. One of the challenges that I have that others could attest to is trying to find a good editor. I have gotten better and better at writing as time has passed. Things such as Grammarly even helps a lot, but a professional editor can cost thousands of dollars per book. Needless to say, that is a chunk of change with my twelve book in the process of being put out. Something tells me, though, that even with the most finely tuned book it may simply just be not enough. I can write a story of historical fiction and magic and erotica, which sounds awesome on paper, but I didn't get much attention on it at all until the Gabatrix series came out, which has a far higher number of people that check it out.
Among one of the other things that I've greatly considered is to allow voting on all my stories or keep things as it is. Some may wonder why I had disabled the voting on most of my stories to begin with and there is a simple good reason to this. Most of the times, the moment that I put a story up, it gets bombed rather hard. I've learned and witnessed the art of "Zero Bombing" or "One Bombing" on storiesonline, but have witnessed it on other times I post a story up on other sites. This even includes downvotes in which the audience hasn't even had enough time to read the story to properly vote. Yet, at the same time, I can see others that can post a story here and it gets 9s even if its in the process of being written. It is a serious flaw in which has been remedied on sites such as Wattpad where if you like the story, then you leave a star and if you didn't like it, then you don't have to give the writer anything at all. It is simple and effective.
The question is, do you feel it is wrong for me to disable voting? Would you feel comfortable reading a story in which a general audience has given a low score over other stories that have a much higher score? Or one in which the voting is disabled? Does it matter at all? It's a tricky situation on my part. Which is better? Honestly, it isn't a fair situation as I feel that disabling voting cuts out those that have an honest positive feel on your story, but I prefer having constructive feedback a hundred times over rather than a number that tells me nothing. Its crazy that I've received high praise on stories that I had to disable the voting on. Stories like Violet Wave, I receive more direct positive comments on it than the First Peace, yet the voting scores I had for it would make me question reality. As I stated in my past blog, I received a rather stern negative comment from that story alone that I supposedly enjoy writing and promoting rape (most likely from some troll or some disillusioned moral crusader) when that wasn't what the story was about at all, hell, I believe in a happy ending if I can try. I feel that some people simply look at the tags and if they don't like it, then they slap a vote and walk away without reading it at all. If its completely true, then leaving the voting disabled maybe the only thing I can do to protect my stories from sabotage.
But I have other questions. Do you guys prefer science fiction over historical fiction? In my Gabatrix series (with the exception of an upcoming one) that I'm working on right now, I generally follow the rule that I have one sex scene (Why I have it tagged for minimal sex). Is that acceptable or not enough? When you go through the list of stories, what catches your eye? Do you prefer the stories of war, sex, and sacrifice, or do you look for a story that is strictly romance and lovemaking only? Do you prefer the type of stories that is a complete bordello or one that has little sex in it? Do you prefer an immersive universe or one that simply gets down to the point? For the writers that are making the big bucks on Patreon, what is that you write about or what are the things you're doing that has people come flocking to you? We all come from different walks of life. I don't mind getting a chance to hear what you guys think. :)
Hello everyone, I wanted to inform everyone that unless something outrageous is brought up to me, I will not be putting up any more blog posts. My last two posts that I had up were deleted and it is a waste a time for me to write and put anything up to see it get deleted and removed. This is not a complaint by me since this is the actions of the webmasters and that this website is their property but I feel any efforts for me to talk about my stories will be taken down (Essentially this basically silences me).
I will continue to put my stories up on storiesonline.net but nothing else will be said about it. Like anything, I welcome comments on my stories with constructive comments (Like pointing out errors) always being important. I appreciate the kind comments that I have received in the past as it shows a caring community that exists here. Take care and have a wonderful day.
https://www.patreon.com/TheUniverseofCMed
Hello everyone, this may come out as a rant but I figure I go ahead and started on what needs to be said and clarified on my intentions as a writer. I have received some emails and messages on both sides of the spectrum that needs to be addressed when it comes to my stories.
I want to make things clear that being a writer is not an easy task. It gets into the social media where it is easily picked apart piece by piece. Things can get easily manipulated and distorted by others with various opinions. I can give praise to all the writers here that we all have our different genres that we cover from those that have been here the shortest or the longest of time spans.
Among one of the disturbing messages that I received about me is one that says that I promote rape or encourage it, with the message outright even accusing me as a rapist due to the content of my stories (or few stories that even have it). I believe I know what the culprit is and what has happened to have led that person to make that accusation, but it is only speculation. On the other side of the spectrum, I have received messages in which they want me to write stories where characters are being raped with complex descriptions of how it should be done. Both sides have indicated to me warning signs of what is happening with either the fanbase in general or possible newcomers, that force me to write this post.
I want to make things perfectly clear. I find the concept of rape to be disgusting in real life. The accusations are also taken way out of proportion so much that it I often believe that tags are actually to be the true blame on this. A perfect example of this is the story of Gabatrix: The Violet Wave. In the story and only for the smallest of sections, a male officer (the main character) that has been taken prisoner gets assaulted by a female alien that is much stronger than him. The alien wants revenge for being shot by him during a battle. She tries to attack him and he is knocked out during the ensuing fight. It is later indicated to him that he was sexually assaulted by this woman while he was unconscious. Later on, the same alien tries to attack him, but he wins the fight and the alien woman leaves him alone.
Because of this tiny scene out of a large story, I do believe that this is the culprit that led to the messages. I am very sure that many newcomers that browse the stories here on Storiesonline come to look at the descriptions and tags and make up their mind of the writer at the very spot. They don't bother to read the story because they already imagine the worst that can ever be brought from the writer.
The same argument can be made on Gabatrix: The Violet Wave. This story has implied rape……so the misconstrued viewer must conclude the writer must enjoy rape right? The moral crusaders will dawn their flags and wave it at me and say that I am a horrible person. They feel that I should be sent to the psychiatric ward or be burned at the stake on the spot for even mentioning it with others wanting me to remove it. Meanwhile, I write stories of a war where no rules apply. They don't have an issue with me writing the next story where an alien monster can devour people, possess them, or be outright violent and gorey, but the moment that I write a story where rape is even mentioned then I must be a danger to society and dangerous to every human being on the face of the planet.
I find the idea to be utterly repulsive of what rape is and I do not enjoy writing it. I love and try to find balance in life where political extremism (at least where I live) is on the rise on all sides. COVID-19 has not helped at all and helps create this form of madness that we are all struggling to fight. It doesn't take much for a person to point a finger at somebody, label them as a person because of something, and walk away not knowing what they have done that can hurt or defame the person as a result. Trolling also has many forms both wicked and with utter disgust. I have to take the messages that I receive with considerable question at times.
Because of this, I have to put my foot down on all sides. I do have a couple more stories in the far future where a character may end up getting sexually assaulted to help drive the main plot forward. However, when it arrives to that scene, it will fade to black and I won't describe it, but only the lingering impact that it had on the characters (somewhat like The Violet Wave did). Basically, it is me having to censor my own future stories. Do not come to me or try to commission me to write a rape scene for you. For the moral crusaders however, please understand that there is nothing gained by harassing me further. If I receive any further messages that I am a horrible writer for having rape in my stories or a scene that even leads to it, I will consider it as trolling or harassment in which I will send it to the webmasters to deal with.
Among one of the other things that I also have found disturbing is how my story of Ayida Weddo is paraded on something that I found on the most repulsive of websites…..sites that I can't even mention on this posting at all. Once again, I fear the worst in that people read the tags, don't even bother with what was intended of the story, and think I am terrible person for even having it in the first place. Meanwhile, they don't even know what it is about.
I want to clarify that Ayida Weddo and the Tales of Heroes is one that does have a story based in an actual environment. It takes place during the Liberian Civil War where people not only killed each other, but ate each other. This happened over twenty years ago and the people still suffer to this day from the brutality of such a conflict. The goal of my story was to bring awareness of such an event besides having the main story of the characters. History is a strong suite of mine and I enjoy writing it. While magic, fantasy, and even eroticism can exist in Tales of Heroes, there is a clear division between the travesty and horrors that Liberia went through and the love, romance, and sex between the main characters in one book alone. I believe that the tags that I have were gravely misaligned and the story is due for a massive overhaul/revision since my writing skills continue to improve along with Grammarly to even assist along the way. I believe it is in the best interests to go ahead and take it down for a few months. From there, I will do all the things that need to be fixed to it. I even have plans to turn Ayida-Weddo and the Tales of Heroes into a fundraising project to help provide relief to African nations. I don't know about you, but I think it is one that will be very interesting and worthwhile, right? :)
With all that said, I do appreciate the positive comments that I do receive. A positive or even a constructive comment to me is worth more than anything in these trying times. Take care and thank you for enjoying my stories.
While I continue to write Opet and the Tales of Heroes, the book cover for Gabatrix: The Silver Rain has now been completed. The artwork was done by Jaizub who did a fantastic job with it. If you haven't read the Gabatrix series, I recommend checking out my other stories. Currently, I have four Gabatrix stories written and want to continue writing more.
Anyways, I wanted to give thanks to my Patron supporters and possible future supporters for allowing me to commission the artists in making it happen.
I am also expanding outward into Deviantart where I can post other artwork including my own concept work besides Furaffinity where I originally had them.
https://www.patreon.com/TheUniverseofCMed
https://www.deviantart.com/cmed2500
Happy Late Halloween to everyone. I have completed the story Gabatrix: The Silver Rain. Due to storiesonline.net, they decided to upload the entire story up even though I said one chapter every three days. Ugh.....
Anyways, Gabatrix: The Silver Rain is the fourth story of the Gabatrix series. I recommend getting a chance to read the other Gabatrix stories before hopping into it. The Silver Rain leans into the horror genre so be ready for some spooks here and there. Please read the disclaimers before jumping into the story.
As any case, my Patreon is always available if you wish to support the cause.
https://www.patreon.com/TheUniverseofCMed
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