I've been on SOL long enough to have written 72 stories, many of which are over 30 chapters, some approaching 75 chapters like my latest NIS: Breeder Program
When I began, I didn't have MS Word or any spell check, and I suspect my early stuff was pretty rough on the eyes grammatically.
I have better tools and grown as an author, but the same toxic people who were there day one to knock me down and try to encourage me to give up, are still here - the names may have changed but the tactics have not.
I don't think the voting system on this site accurately reflects the quality of stories, mostly due to the behavior of trolls. There is probably a lot of outliers of 1 or 10, and the 1 is probably from someone who simply ignored story codes, plodded into the story and said "Wait, this has (X) in it and I hate (X)...Down Vote!"
It is a story, it's just NOT for you. You don't have to punish it. Just move on, if you can't objectively rate the prose/grammar/plot structure.
I used to love the idea of collaborative writing, and on some level I still do. I used to feed off of the comments when I wrote "Do you have a big dick, why not?" and "Big Day at Sunny Manor" and even weave some of the suggestions into the story.
However, more often than not, I got a snotty gram from someone emboldened by the anonymity of the Internet to tell me in great detail why they wouldn't read the story - rather than just depart and move on like a good fellow.
Not everything is for everyone, and I've been pretty clear my stuff is for a particular kind of pervert. Most of my fans are engineers or analysts in some way. I am not sure why that is, but perhaps it's because I am.
I hate to think that I write a trope style, but I am sure that I have a "sub-genre" of interests that while I consider them broad, many of my stories reflect common themes.
As an example, I often write an alter ego of myself into the story in the form of a young man or father, and think about the story from their perspective.
In order to broaden that, I really do thrive when people write to me and suggest "hey, what about this direction for the plot instead?"
Sifting through the public comments though is like sifting cat litter for gold, when it's mostly just cat shit that you'll find.
I had experimented on NIS: Breeder and turned on comments. I had about seven pages, and honestly, most of it was awesome. Periodically, I'd go and read them, and if someone thought so poorly of my work they'd go the to trouble of writing a little snotty gram, I could click "Ban from ever commenting on my stories" and delete it and move right along.
Very satisfying.
It would be all the better if I could click "Ban from READING my stories or contacting me" but you take what you can get.
However, recently a few of the toxic trolls have become too emboldened. Unhappy with themselves, they lash out to tear others down.
"I only open this to look at the AI pictures and those are shit as well" type of comments, which are better left unsaid. I am glad they get off on the AI pictures, and if they don't want to read the story, I am fine with that too.
You see? and since I have little interest in what this troll enjoys, why should I hear about what they do? Why should anyone?
So, experiment ended - no more public comments.
However, I'm always game to talk to people who want to engage on my stories, make suggestions, catch mistakes I made in continuity or grammar, etc.
Now, it will be solely through the "Contact author" button.
I especially like it when a fellow author takes the time to reach out and offer some thoughts.
We (most of us anyway) do this for free, and we enjoy sharing our little fantasies with people for probably a multitude of reasons. In return, getting that validation from feedback freely given from readers to make my stories better and more diverse, is a really satisfying reward.
I don't need anyone to blow smoke up my ass and tell me I am the best author. I know that I am not.
Am I trying to be the best author?
Probably not either, if I were I'd set up a Patreon and try to make this my living.
However, just getting someone to take a few minutes of their time to provide some good feedback is great. That's something to aspire to.
The few readers who have stuck with me over the years and offer feedback, is a very small group of grognards who keep me going.
Years ago, someone wrote to me to complain about the direction of my story. At first, I was upset, but I realized something.
They were not angry with me, not really. They were mad that their favorite characters were going down a path they felt was bad for them.
What an honor!!
It's kind of like if you made Captain Kirk grow a mustache. The character is so iconic and beloved, that many people might not like it. They are not as much mad as they are passionate that the character stay true to the readers perception of them.
If you write characters no one gives a fuck about, and have them do something in the story that puts them in peril, no one will give a crap.
He was writing because he had an emotional reaction to a character I made real for him through our shared imagination. How cool is that?
I got to experience the feeling of accomplishment, because someone thought enough to write to me a very strongly worded email about the direction of the story.
That's one I didn't mind at all. it's the toxic "You are shit, this is shit, eat shit, you dumb shit" type of comments or the "I am not reading this!" from the dimwits who think I want them to announce their departure.
What do they think is going to happen? I'll hold my breath until they come back? IDGAF. If it's not for you, please don't read it. It's not FOR you.
If you are digging the story and I take a detour, well that's sort of my style. I will gladly spend three chapters writing about a single night at Rocky Horror Picture show and relish every word of it.
I am in no hurry to end my journey with the characters. The experience may not "move the plot" from Act I to Act II. It's still allowing others to live viscerally in the setting through the narrator's eyes.
Helping the reader smell the air, the fragrances of flowers, or the salt of the sea, to imagine the sun shining down on their faces just as it is the characters, and letting them hear the sounds in their head through descriptive word is just as important as plot development. I want you to experience this world, identify with it, feel like you know it - even if it's not YOUR personal world you live in now.
I may take you back to where you were in 1987, or a future that would be cool to imagine. In order to do that, I may envision a scenario within the story that simply enhances, without necessarily accelerating the plot. I make no apologies for the occasional detour in the story.
However, if you genuinely have some thoughts of constructive feedback and ideas about story direction, or just want to share continuity concerns, or grammar mistakes you discovered - I would love to hear them. I may not use them, but it's a gift and food for thought that may send me down a different path that was inspired by your feedback combined with my own depraved imagination.
I often write the entire story, or at least several chapters ahead, so it's not always possible for me to accommodate those kinds of requests any longer. Such is the case with NIS: Breeder.
The latest story arc posted around chapter 57, the daughter (Julie) wants to experience what it's like to be a sex worker in an authentic setting. She was challenged by her mentor at school to do things that make her feel "ick" but aren't true physical limits.
She also wants to help her friend and she thinks she can encourage her to go to college through her example of self-sacrifice. I don't think I am giving away much of the plot there, because you don't know how that goes (unless you are reading this a long time from now, after I conclude the story).
I had someone comment tonight (Which was really the final straw) that it made no sense, and "There was no plot".
Bitch, there are 60 chapters of this woman going from shy housewife to brazen naked submissive to her daughter. That's your plot. Where do you want me to shove it, so you can find it?
I am sure he downvoted me, and went off to contribute jack shit to the website except for his toxic negativity. No changing people like that.
In closing, believe it or not, I found a second site that hosts stories. I won't post the URL because that's a naughty thing to do here. However, I've never seen any toxic comments there.
It's all people posting encouraging things like "This is great, can't wait for the next chapter" and "I enjoyed the story, here are a couple notes!"
Imagine if all the toxic trolls on this site would just drop off the planet? nothing of value would be lost and we could just enjoy perverted stories and encourage new authors to write.
Instead, they seem to be waiting to pounce on new authors who write a theme they don't like to discourage them. Tools designed to empower creativity, are often mis-used like public comments, voting, forums and the private mail.
They find ways to get under the skin, undermine, kink-shame, and it works, so why would they ever stop?
Their time clearly has no value, since this is their aspiration. As time vampires, their goal is to suck away anyone else's time - as they did mine reading their gibberish.
You can choose not to engage in almost all of those too except voting. Sadly, it's on by default at chapter one. That's way too early. It's before anyone has an idea of how a much longer story will develop. That's like voting before you watched the dancer take her titties out.
Open to page one, read the first page and cast your vote on whether this is "not a story". Well duh, it's the first page of hundreds of pages to come.
I tend not to judge until at least chapter seven, as long as the story codes interested me.
You can try your hardest to engage with only people who are not toxic, but sooner or later on the forums or public comments, along comes debbie downer the boner killer to post some toxic comment because their life is so miserable that they aren't happy until they've made others miserable.
Just imagine if the majority of us either kept our mouths shut and moved on from stories we didn't enjoy, or offered encouragement?
It would kick ass.