wcoyote: Blog

Okay, I feel this needs to be said. Some authors on SOL feel that if a story has no spelling or grammar errors, it deserves a ten. I don't see it. I read to escape (and I read A LOT). Frankly, I can skip over a few obvious errors if it is a good story. People buy stories or in this case, read them for free because they speak to them. Now, if you say controversial things you will get a lower score. Deal with it. Maybe you feel that a particular thing is worth a lower score, if so fine. One of the authors pointed out that to max your score, the story need mt/ft, incest and science fiction, LOL. So if you are writing for scores, avoid controversy (religion, politics, etc). If you are writing the next "Great American Novel" as my college English professor referred to all the books he forced me to read, then you are most likely in the wrong place. Also if you are a little snowflake and can't take criticism, turn off scoring. Well, just my two cents, let the flaming begin.

To all the people that have written in about my stories, thank you. I am trying to write again. Whether I am ever able to finish those two stories, I don't know. 2015 was a bad year for me. I was in and out of pysch wards a couple of times. My wife of thirty seven years committed suicide. I lost my job due to my mental illness (and yes, I know that is against the law. I contacted a lawyer. He wanted ten grand up front and said that if I won, I was guaranteed my job back and back pay back to date I was fired. The job and the people I worked with were a big part of my problems so I passed on paying him ten grand. If you are a lawyer authorized to practice in Kentucky and want to take the case, then you can have an opinion. Otherwise don't waste both of our time saying that it is not fair. Hell, I KNOW it's not fair.) So I have been trying to write but so far it is all crap. Maybe I will hit my (rather limited) stride again and post something but maybe not. Thanks for the email. If I don't answer them, I am not being uppity, just way depressed.

Chapter 15 of My Second Life has been submitted for posting. I am sorry for the delays but RL intrudes a lot. Plus winter is not my favorite time of year. You would think that being trapped inside would make me write more but not so. Gloomy weather just makes me depressed and you DO NOT want to read what I write when I am depressed. Chapter 16 is written in my head but is a long way from typed out and made to make sense. I am trying to get the next chapter of Supervillain done too.

Okay, I don't know if anyone reads these things but here goes. I'm a troll, there I said it. I try not to be but sometimes it comes out. There are certain subjects that are hot buttons. So even if your story is the best written thing on SOL, you still are going to get a ONE (usually a two). WHAT can you do about it? Not a damn thing. Well, I guess you can turn scoring off and some do.

Look, I accept that I am going to get low scores sometimes because of the way I write. My sentences are too long and my paragraphs are too short. I know that I am not as good a writer or story teller as DualWriter, JRyter or a number of others. I have even on the advice of others left out characters or plot devices that I thought were pretty good. But they were controversial and I accepted that it would result in terrible scores.

So where does that leave you? Well, if you're an author and you have to tell a story that you know is controversial, kill the scoring or just accept it. For the readers, give the story a chance. If the first few chapters are rough, give the person a chance. Maybe it will get better. Avoid topics that you know will upset you. Do like I do and just don't score stories unless you feel they are really good. Skip parts that you don't like. Just for the record, I never have read the first ten chapters or so of "Arlene and Jeff". I think that is one of the best LONG serials on SOL. But I HATE the first part.

On the other hand, some stories just MASH my hot buttons. So I fight back the only way I can with one's and two's. But hey, I'm a troll and I can live with that.

Posted another chapter of My Second Life for all the people waiting not so patiently. Nate is starting to come into his own. But there are BIG changes coming soon.