Favorite “orphan” stories

Do you have an “orphan” story that you think was especially good that received very few votes or even views? (“Good” = fun/interesting/original based on a low ego self-assessment 😉 )

This is not meant to be a grudge session. Rather a reflection on 1) what we think drives readership away, and 2) whether in the end we really care. Put another way, if a story we love falls in the forest, and no one reads it, does it matter?

Interesting question. My favorite stories of mine are more story than sex and in the supernatural genre. My most popular stories by readers are the stories with hot sex in the forefront, where they can see themselves in the sex scene, and published in categories other than Supernatural and Gay Male.

I mix it up - sometimes writing for me and sometimes writing what I think readers want. And if I write a story I truly love, the lack of votes, reads, etc won't change my feelings about my story.

Also, imo, title is everything when it comes to attracting reads.

P.S. Longing, I'm loving your writing. If you want to increase your reads, I suggest you enter the next competition.

Thanks for participating in this forum, Kimmi. You are a fine, experienced writer compared to me, so I greatly appreciate your thoughtful comments. I think my question is partly serious, and partly emotional.

For the serious part, yes, I suspect there are specific do’s/don’t, as you point out, that contribute to “orphans”. Your observations re title, hook, and getting some sex in there early are no doubt on target. It’s probably all about the first two paragraphs. I think additionally, some genres just don’t get the love. If you are here primarily for a wank (nothing wrong with that), then you are going to give your precious time to those genres most likely to get you off.

Ironically, the genres that are hardest to write are most set-up to not get read. Even a bad milf or cheating story is likely to get a look, especially if there’s some deep dish cunnilingus within the first few bars. But horror, humor, historical, sci fi, fantasy… they require narrative and characters and the column inches to develop them. If the writer can’t get the banging going fast enough people will scroll on. But, I get it. You are 100% correct that Lush is a sex site. Don’t want to write sex stories that get people off? Best to move along.

I think, too, that some people like a twist, but many don’t— if it fucks with the genre itself. A cuck had better remain a cuck, as it were. Again, fair. Gonna get fancy? Then you’re gonna lose some folks who paid with their time to get exactly what they were looking for.

The emotional part, for me, isn’t about being hurt something didn’t get read, or voted on, as much as it is that I feel bad for the characters. I realize that is absurd. But my stories spring, primarily, from the characters. They become the muse that drives the narrative and I, irrationally, become attached to them. So, oddly, I feel bad for my plump, brown baker in a fetish story… and the Count in a historical story…and the femdom moderator in a humor story…and the adorable lesbian couple in a trans story … when they don’t get released into the world.

I have few, but they are in the less popular categories and more story than sex, as you mention.

I write them because I enjoy it and want to present something interesting and a little more involved for those that prefer that type of read. I feel both the title, the tags and the intro are important to attract readers to those stories, but sometimes it's just about the reader giving it a chance.

It's great when one of those stories if viewed, liked and/or commented on, but I don't write those with the bulk of the readership in mind, I write them because I want to.

Thanks so much for contributing. I guess, sometimes we write for others; sometimes we write for ourselves (or a very small circle).

I like this question! I hope more people will comment on it. Yes our stories and poems are our “children”. We gave birth to them. Some easy and quick…others hard and long. My first few thoughts are a bit orphaned. My last one I just wrote may be one too. Sometime what we FEEL and WRITE may not lead to popular success. But we love them all the same.

Looking over my micros (since I have a lot of them), the ones I have with many reads and by far the most likes mean the very least to me. I only wrote them as a sort of test of market expectations. The comments received were pretty normal, the usual angels, though on one, I actually got pm'd "Why are you betraying yourself?" That was interesting.

On the other hand, many that I find personally fulfilling, that I am proudest of, have floated slowly by in a cloud of yeah, okay. Given the nature of me, not a big surprise and perhaps the unkindest cut of all.

That said, I wonder if some that got 6 likes, 2 comments, and 314 reads in the olden days wouldn't do better now with all the changes in Lush II. No, they're probably best forgotten.

In the end, I'm the first to admit I'm not really sexy and probably try too hard to be clever. I'm lousy at tags. I think my images are pretty good, but you already have to be there to see them, so that's no help.

In the end, they all got what they got and mean what they do to me. I still write a lot, but only post a few now, when the mood, beer, and pickles strike me.

I have a lot that I wished did better, but they just did what they did. It can lead to many exasperated sighs but people will like what they like at the end of the day. I admit, I don't have the juice that brings 30+ scores for the most part, but I try to remember the days when I couldn't even get a 10 score.

Seeing a story you put a lot of effort into just floating in the wind can be a sucky feeling, though. You're not exactly publishing them just to occupy server space. It's part of what made me not entertain more sci-fi ideas I had.

My current story, "Defying Customs" isn't drawing much attention, and it's probably because it has a quiet, film noir atmosphere where characters discuss things that mattered a lot back in 1953, such as marriage, and it can put off many readers especially in the Teen section when they hear a 16-year-old lad talking about getting into a committed relationship with the glamorous actress who stole his heart. They may think it's unrealistic, but to Gaston, becoming intimate with a girl without having any intention of commitment and marriage was something dishonourable and contemptible. Only hoodlums did that.

People simply had a completely different vision of love and sex back then. The elephant in the room is the absence of pill. Elizabeth is in her (relatively) safe period of her month so she'll be quite frantic about having full-blown sex. Later in the month, her entrance will be shut and she'll be giving mouthjobs galore and perhaps indulge in anal sex. If Gaston wants her pussy, he'll have to be a good boy and cover up with a rubber.

My characters have a life of their own and they do not live in 2023. Gaston, 16, was born in 1937 and you'll see him dressed like an adult, wearing a suit and a fedora, and he can put on his necktie using a half Windsor knot quite casually while speaking with someone and the tie ends fall where they should.

Thus, that story isn't popular with readers, but I'm having fun describing those little details that remind the reader that a phone was not something you had in your pocket; it was a black box with a round dial and a straight cable that was connected to a landline. The rental car Elizabeth drives, a Chevy 1952, has a three-on-the-tree gearshift lever and Gaston adores watching her shifting gears and driving in her white gloves.

Perhaps the readers were looking forward for a sex scene in that car. I did not foresee Sophie's arrival in the storie. I just wrote the first chapter about her and left the chapter as it was. Gaston is probably quite disappointed about this turn of event that makes him forego the in-car sex since they are no longer alone in their car, but that's life. Things happen.

I don't like stories where everything happens in a controlled environment and points to some overarching purpose. There are different ways to write a story and some are closer to life's randomness.

Image below = the black Chevy Elizabeth is driving. Driving a car with no power steering most certainly built a grip strength that a guy felt when the gal was going down on him.

Quote by Longing
The emotional part, for me, isn’t about being hurt something didn’t get read, or voted on, as much as it is that I feel bad for the characters. I realize that is absurd. But my stories spring, primarily, from the characters. They become the muse that drives the narrative and I, irrationally, become attached to them. So, oddly, I feel bad for my plump, brown baker in a fetish story… and the Count in a historical story…and the femdom moderator in a humor story…and the adorable lesbian couple in a trans story … when they don’t get released into the world.

You just described what separates us, writers, from so many readers. We view are characters very differently. Some way into the story, my characters take a life of their own and they dictate what happens in the story. There is sex in my stories, but I always think of my characters as more than just a dick or a pussy & pair of boobs.

All of them should be more famous! I think the longer pieces seem to get the lowest response, but they're generally the ones I've put in the most work in building a story. It's no mystery why, since 8-10K words can intimidate a lot of readers looking to get off quickly and not wanting to invest in scene/character development to the same extent that I do. But I write primarily for myself first, and then I'm happy if anyone other than me finds my writing to be enjoyable, so I'm not particularly bothered if a story doesn't get famous.

That is an interesting question. My stories are nearly all published under the Novel genre (they are book chapters), and I can honestly say the chapters I like rereading the most or had the most fun with writing have not received the most likes or comments or views.

There are so many factors that come into play when you talk about feedback and likes. IMO it is not even the quality of the writing that governs how many likes you get, it helps, but it certainly would not be number one on my like factor list.

I am not going to write the order of what I think you need to do for more likes, it is fairly obvious, but for the record, I am happy if I get five likes and a comment. To get double that... bliss!

I have similar experiences. the ones that I feel I've artfully crafted with nuances, character development, emotional backstories, and context tend to be eclipsed by my raw, highly-sexual, action-oriented ones.