Guys,
How would you feel if your female partner had a lesbian lover? So long as their relationship did not interfere with the relationship between you and your female partner, would this be an acceptable situation to you? Why or why not?
GW.
I don't enjoy reading them unless every chapter can be considered a self-contained story in it's own right. I tried writing one only a few weeks ago. Seeing as it got mixed reviews, it put me right off creating the second chapter, so I ended up deleting part I. Problem solved, but not very encouraging for me to write another one. Typically, I think a multi-part story should be no more than 3 parts, perhaps 5 at most, but 10 IMHO is OTT!
I don't want to derail the topic, so please feel free to let me know if I should start a new thread. Aside from understanding what Amazon does and does not accept, which is very interesting, I would also like to know how to obtain cover art that isn't either copyrighted or that I would have to make myself? Maybe you buy it somewhere?
Just another thought that came to mind. I think it would be unfair to score a story low just because you don't like the subject matter. For example, I'm not much into BDSM, so if I read a story like that and didn't enjoy it, it would be silly of me to score low and say "I'm not into BDSM", or worse still, to score it low because I just didn't get it!
Thanks very much for all your responses. It has been very insightful, with the majority (I think) placing at least some emphasis on readability, and many who consider it absolutely essential. I've also learned about some elements of readability that I wouldn't have otherwise thought about. Great stuff!!
Seeing as I'm not financially dependent on my writing, if I can't think of anything to write about then I simply don't write.
I have tried, like Mysteria27, to ask others for story ideas. Most of the time that doesn't work for me for several reasons, ranging from not liking their idea to having to ask them so much detail that they are practically writing the story for me. The one or two of my stories that did come from other people's ideas didn't fair well, mostly because weren't written with my usual level of passion. Instead, they came from what I thought the originator would like to read. There are probably some people who can take another person's idea and build it into something special, but sadly that doesn't work for me.
As an author I love to get feedback on my stories, not just the votes. I appreciate people who take the time to write about why they did or didn't enjoy the story. To me, there is more value in a comment than the vote, whether it is a comment for a good vote or bad. There is nothing more annoying to me than somebody voting a story low and providing no commentary. Sadly, some individuals - including some authors - forget that stories may take several hours if not days to craft, and simply vote a story low and leave no comment. When I catch someone doing this I block them, because if they cannot have the decency to explain why they voted low, then I don't care to have them voting on my stories. The other thing that annoys me is when I have a rally of good votes, somebody invariably comes along and votes the story down, leaving no comment. Same solution, if I catch them they get blocked. You may think this is a rather dramatic move, but it is the only way I know to avoid rogue low-scorers who can't be bothered to comment.
On the other hand, when I see a pattern of people voting average to low on one of my stories, I take note and try to understand what was wrong with the story. With even just a brief commentary, it is easier to understand where the problem lies. I wrote a long time ago about how one person had commented that my story was "a bit boring", followed by another person who said "I agree, it was a bit boring." To me, that feedback let me know that there was a fundamental issue which needed to be addressed. When I can see that there is a clear problem with what I have written, I may go as far as to remove the story completely, or re-write it to solve the problem.
I don't expect nothing but 4's and 5's, but I do expect people to think about why they are voting one way or another, whether or not it is a fair vote, and whether they can provide some constructive feedback.
When I first joined Lush in 2010 I didn't see the type of behavior I'm seeing today. That is, when people gave a 3 or less they would typically explain why, whereas now I'm seeing a worrying trend of some author's deliberately knocking down other author's scores so that their own stories remain the highest scoring and the most popular. I keep a tight track on how my stories are fairing, so most of the time I know who gave what score. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what is going on. But, it's no longer just revenge scoring or the deliberate knocking down of other author's scores these days. It seems that some author's are going as far as to create fake accounts in order to manipulate the scores, knocking down others and giving themselves 5's.
I am hoping Lush has already or can implement some sort of tracking system to prevent this in future, because frankly when a few rogue tricksters resort to this sort of behavior, it demotivates me from bothering to write any more.
Having said that, I still believe that Lush is a very high-quality site and that the majority of people are honest.
GW.
I use to read a lot of books. Aaaaarrrrgggh!
Ladies, if you had a to give a ratio of dressing up to look good/feel good in your clothes versus looking good/feeling good to attract a mate, how would that equate?
80:20 - I want to look good/feel good predominantly for myself. The other 20 percent is to attract the guys (or girls).
50:50 - I balance my clothing between what I want to wear and want others to see/feel.
20:80 - I like to maximize my sex appeal. Anything which causes a stir and lands me a great shag is fair game.
Naturally, additional ratios and reasoning for said accoutrements or lack thereof are welcome!
GW.
Defo prefer soft and smooth for heightened tactile pleasure. A landing strip or otherwise well-cultivated love garden can certainly increase visual pleasure, but nothing beats a willing tongue on smooth bare skin where it counts most.
GW.
ROFLMAO Slut Puppy!!!
Another one is when I see the same underwear (hopefully not literally the same!) being worn by a different girl.
GW.
Thanks to everybody for all your very insightful replies!
Now that I have a bit more experience, I'm seeing many of the issues debated here. I must say I am a bit of a sensitive bunny, and therefore it takes me great amounts of patience not to lash out at the injustices of the publishing controls and voting system, and to just 'suck up' the fact that there are some people more interested in popularity than providing quality content. Having said that, I also think that there are only a limited number of ways in which to manipluate the 'system' (no I didn't try :-)).
I'm hoping that in the end, mass popularity wins over individual bickering, infighting, and rallying "friends".
Emily.
For me, it's when I immediately recognize the girl and know her name from a close-up snapshot of one of her body parts, without even seeing her face.
How do you know when you've trawled too many porn sites?
Note: This is in the humor section of the forum.
I discovered this art-form many years ago, but never really got into it, even though I enjoyed looking at the pics. At the time there seemed to be only a few major players, Yui Toshiki being my favorite. I loved the detail of his drawings, and how he could evoke emotions (mainly sexual) from a few strokes of the brush.
Fast-forward ten years, and I'm discovering that the industry has flourished, or at least there are a whole lot more visible artists of this genre on the net. In essence, I'm now finding the erotic potency of cartoon imagery can be far greater than the real thing!
I'm wondering if anyone else is following erotic Japanese cartoon art?
G.
As an author on Lush, I often wonder whether authors rate other authors. Sorry for the repetitive words in the previous sentence; I'm in desperate need of a thesaurus :-)
My own personal feeling (whose other personal feeling could it be if not my own?) is that I feel somewhat abash about rating my peers (see, I'm already learning to use alternate terms to describe the same group of people).
As an author, how do you feel about rating your peers?
However, not everybody here writes in the same style, with some using more complex language and plots than others.
). I say supposedly self-contained because sometimes I get comments like "That was great! I can't wait to read what happens next." It's a nice compliment and an opportunity for me to write a follow-up piece, but mostly I haven't considered a next episode and oftentimes I don't want to write a follow-up, precisely because my story ended where I wanted it to end.
). 
How could they possibly be so nasty? (rant, rant). A while later, someone else came along, scored it another 3, saying, "I agree, it was a bit boring."
