Not wishing to derail this excellent thread but on the subject of critical comments, here's an example.

I can't remember exactly which story it was, but both Kimmi (I think?) and I said we enjoyed the story premise but the author's continual usage of referring to the characters by their initial - H took off her panties, A spanked J then kissed H and stroked J's ass while J purred, etc - meant it was quite difficult to follow. So, for future reference, we mentioned it might help their readership if they tried a different system. Even fake names rather than just initials might work.

If a bunch of readers think the same thing, and I was the author, I would wonder, "aha, how about in the next story I try such and such and see if it works...?" That's what I do if someone leaves me constructive feedback.

Now, I appreciate that this is subjective, and some people may love the fact that the story is sprinkled with capital letters for the names, because it adds to the anonymous feel.

Could I have said nothing? Yes. Should I? The jury is out. If I said nothing, the next story might be the same. And the next. And if it carries on and readership dwindles, will the author be discouraged from writing altogether?

I did enjoy the story - and said so - but the mental gymnastics with the people's codenames slowed me down as a reader. I felt that was important to highlight, in as nice a manner possible, so the author knows how their story is received. That would be more valuable to me, as a writer, than someone simply getting cheesed off with the acronyms and closing the story without reading the rest, or leaving a comment.

I could have sent a PM. But if one person says it, others might chime in on the same subject, which adds credence to the viewpoint and is a signal to the author that they'd be as well to revisit that aspect of storytelling in future, if they want to grow their fan base.

Quote by NishasWorld
an extra 500 words would have made a difference to mine

Ditto. I hankered after that tiny bit more leeway to tell the story I really wanted to tell, instead of having to clip it, to the piece's detriment. Guess I could have gone with something different entirely, with narrower scope, but I'm a sucker for punishment.

Anyway, yours turned out magnificently.

Quote by Seeker4
Certain categories and tags are mostly no gos for me though with an author I like and trust, never say never

This.

I try to avoid fantasy, for example, but one of the most amazing authors on the site wrote This Side Of Nowhere and I took a punt on it, because it was Katherine. And, damn, I'm glad I did because the IF was subtle and underplayed and the entire trilogy was sexy as all fuck.

It directly inspired me to have a go at writing in the category, skirting round the very fringes of the genre. Just once. So, yeah, never say never.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

If you read a story by an author, do you expect them to return the favor?

Like Seeker4, it'd be nice but I certainly don't expect it. I appreciate that many people have preferred genres, story types, or writing styles, and there's no way any writer can appeal to everyone all the time. Even people who regularly read my stuff, skip ones that might be too close for comfort or plain uninteresting to their tastes. Totally cool with that.

If an author reads your story, do you feel obligated to read one of their stories?

See above. If its an author I've read before, there's a good chance if I get time. If it's someone I've never heard of (yay for finding me!) then I will check their profile to see if they've written anything that piques my interest and read/follow them.

Do you think authors should read the other entries in competitions?

Yes, if time permits. I certainly like to see what I'm up against, and also learn a tonne from reading comps because everyone tends to step up their game a notch. But I'm guilty of not reading eveything due to time constraints. I'm still half a dozen late entries adrift in this comp, oops.

Do you feel you can leave a critical comment on a comp entry?

Depends what you mean by critical. I'll never bash a story for the sake of it, cos it makes me look a dick. And I don't have all the answers; far from it. But if there was something I felt took me out of the story, I might mention it if it's someone I know well enough. Usually I will only focus on what I did like. And if I completely didn't get on with a piece, I'll walk away.

Do you think differently about an author who doesn’t return reads?

Not really. Everyone has reasons for reading or not. Be it time constraints, style, author's attitude, whatever, I'm just grateful for everyone who gives my work a read. And that goes doubly for anyone who leaves a comment that either helps me bask in glory, or learn to address parts that weren't as well received.

Quote by Seeker4

Um, you do realize that bot activity is still mainly search engines, right?

Of course. I'm quite certain that 3/4 of my "reads" are SE spiders. And 3/4 of those are yandex.ru or content scrapers lol. If only they had the decency to leave a comment. 😂

Quote by Seeker4
You have shut out probably the biggest segment of your possible audience.

Plus the bots. Can't forget those. Got to feed those AI engines so they can learn how to generate less generic, yet still bland stories that read at grade school level English.

Quote by CallmeJayne
Does nobody think their story would do well if they elected to publish 'coins to view'?

Nope. It's hard enough getting a free like or a comment because my story appeal isn't all that great. Coins would add a further barrier.

Maybe if I had bigger tits, though... 🤔😂

Quote by Adaeva

I am certain you can use one or even two words of a song lyric. It would be preposterous to claim that is not permitted. So how many words of a song lyric are you talking about? Is it 3, 5 a dozen? Either you can give a number or everything you say is garbage.

Nobody is saying you can't use any word that's been in a song. Otherwise Lionel Ritchie's record label would sue everyone who's ever written the word Hello.

Just employ common sense. If it's a recognisable snatch from a song, don't include it verbatim, and make reference to it instead. The site doesn't have the funds to fight a lawsuit on behalf of an author who includes a chunk of someone else's work.

Determination over how much is recognisable rests with the potential claim, which depends on how famous the piece is, and how much money the claimant has (and how much they think they can win off the case). We feel it's safer not to test anyone. Hence the ruling.

It is with, ahem, grate pleasure that I announce the winner of this little contest to be.... joe71.

Not only did he make me smile, like so many of the other comments, but he correctly identified what I consider to be the 10 deliberate errors in the piece.

Excluding Grate in the title, they were, in order of writing...

beasts - breasts

messaging - massaging

lisp - lips

you’re - your

sign - sigh

bugle - bulge

count - cunt

affect - effect

organism - orgasm

passed - past

However, I found some most intriguing things from this. Firstly, none of the grammar checkers in Grammarly, Word, and Google Docs picked them all up. And they often differed in what they considered were mistakes, some offering ridiculous alternative suggestions.

Secondly, comparatively few people spotted them all. A good few people highlighted other things that I didn't consider mistakes, but on reflection may actually be, if we're sticking to rigid interpretations of grammar. Kneeling by (not at) the desk is technically accurate given the cover picture, and was a holdover from a previous draft where I had her perched on the desk edge, before moving her to the chair and glossing over the preposition.

I was also alerted to a number of other grammatical inconsistencies, most of which were sound, including an intriguing one of whether I should have used the singular panty/pantie instead of plural panties. I've always considered panties as one of those plurals that works in both cases, like data so it never registered that it could be incorrect. I've learned stuff here, so thank you all for your input.

Finally, on a more serious note, I hope the above hammers home how difficult it is to be a moderator on this site. We uphold pretty high standards compared to many other erotic story sites, and I appreciate that can occasionally come across as being nitpicky.

We do try to get as many stories through first time as we can, and encourage authors to listen to the advice - and even politely challenge it if we make a mistake - and put the things learned into practice so this site continues to deliver the highest quality written erotica on the internet.

We're all human volunteers from varying backgrounds and cultures, with varying amounts of free time to devote to the site. We miss stuff. Yes, we try to be consistent, yes we have guidelines, but those are open to interpretation when considering the myriad ways that English can be (ab)used, intentionally or accidentally. If you're in any doubt over anything that may be misconstrued in your story, (e.g. specific misspellings or styles done on purpose) please, please highlight it at submission time using the Moderator Notes box. We will try to take these into account while moderating.

Some of the typos in my story were very hard to spot, deliberately so. And every single one is a typo we have had submitted to us over the years I've been here, and before. Some are ones I've made and never noticed. Being so close to a piece of writing makes it hard to identify errors, which is why the moderation step - an extra pair of eyes - is so beneficial.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site, and thank you to the moderation and development team, past and present, who sometimes thanklessly keep the site running.

I'm proud to have written 100 pieces of work at a place I consider home away from home, and continue to do so. Now go read my 101st 😁

Congrats again joe71. Your coins are in the post.

Okay, the follow-up, Learning The Hard Way, is published so I'll go through the entries and nominate a winner.

Thank you all for taking part.

Quote by joe71
Also, bonus pointe for sneeking the word “pen is” into your one liner.

Thanks. I nearly changed it to the penis mightier... but didn't.

Remember penisland.com? The island where you could buy all manner of pens. Clever marketing, that.

Hahah. Its not two late too enter until I publish the next peace.

Thank you to everyone who's responded so far, btw. Although there's a clear preference for length, the diversity in results and comments are not what I expected, which is a good thing.

Hopefully, as more people weigh in and cast their votes, the results will help authors shape their work to cater to the varying audience preferences.

Quote by Kee
there are only so many new plots in the naked city.

True...ish. There's always a way to put a fresh coat of paint on an old plotline though, to make it more interesting. I've done that a few times.

Of course, "more interesting" is subjective, and maybe my treatments aren't all that good given the low read counts and lack of general engagement 😂 But what the hell. I enjoyed writing them, and that's what matters to me most.

Sure, I generated it via AI just now, but dayum...

Does AI-generated art count?

Having tried and failed to write feature-length content over the years, I thought I'd try my hand at short stories so there's less chance of getting bored and never finishing.

When researching ideas, I landed randomly upon that other L site and was appalled at how shoddy the writing was. And how rude and downright nasty the readers were in general. But the idea of erotica as a medium intrigued me enough to seek out higher quality stories and a nicer environment. Stumbled upon a story by an author here called SITTING and fell in love with her writing. Read more. Read others. Read more still. Thought, hey maybe I can have a go at this. Joined. Wrote. The rest is history.

As for why I do it:

1. It keeps me sharp to flex my creative muscles.

2. Exploring fantasies via storytelling allows me to discover things about myself I never knew.

3. It excites me when I find out I've provided escapism for readers and they lose themselves in my worlds.

4. I can, so why the hell not.

Thank you, Nisha. I hope I've entertained a few people with the last 100. Onto the next 100...

I've pretty much finished the follow-up, barring any last minute changes when I read it through in a few days with fresher eyes. It has a title and cover art, which is more than most of my stories do at this stage of development.

If anyone would like to enter my little give-away, please count/show me the spelling mistakes in Grate Expectations by PM, and leave a story comment that makes me smile. Thanks!

Quote by Ensorceled

Trying to write a horror story about two Mormons going door to door selling their religion

Sounds like there's enough horror there already 😁

Reminds me of the sketch from 90s Scottish TV show "Absolutely" where two Jehovah's Witnesses turn up on the doorstep of the lovable yet simple man, Calum Gilhooley.

Hopefully that'll play back across geographic boundaries.

Exactly. Sometimes I can do it easily, sometimes it's a struggle, other times it doesn't work at all. It's a gradual learning curve for me.

Thank you so much.

Btw, if anybody wants to send me their list of mistakes/typos they spot in the story, by all means do so. A few have done that so far and there are some I'd not even considered as errors. I'm learning from this, which is brilliant!

I'm in the final few editing passes on a follow-up to my 100th story: a teaser Microfiction about a writer trying to improve his craft. I hope the full length piece will be a fun ride when I get it finalised.

In the meantime, anyone wanting to make a few Lush coins on the back of the micro above, please join in.

Haha, sorry. Hope it was easily fixable.

And thank you for the congrats. I'm not the most prolific writer ever but I hope I've provided reasonable quality entertainment so far.

To celebrate my 100th piece of writing on Lush, I thought it'd be fun to poke a little fun at spelling/grammar checkers and proofreading/autocorrect snafus. I penned a Microfiction story of 100 words called Grate Expectations.

Please read it and leave a suitably witty or silly comment about grammar and spelling that makes me laugh, and PM me the number of spelling errors you spot in the story body text (not including the title). Oxford commas don't count, lol.

The person with the best comment (as judged by me) and who has identified the correct number of mistakes in the piece (as judged by me) will win 25 Lush coins from my stash.

This Microfiction piece is a teaser for a longer story on a similar subject that should be ready soon. I expect it'll be ready in a week or two, assuming I make time to finish editing it.

The competition closes when I publish the follow-up, so don't delay. Comment on the story and send me your tally of how many errors you find to be in with a chance of winning.

Have fun!

Quote by 2bespanked

Can you give me an example of this?

Sure. Try Fate Into Doubt Won't Go which is nearly there.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
I’m turned off if it’s written in 1st POV, but the character speaks differently during narration than dialogue.

This is true for me too.

I've written a few (both published and as yet unpublished) stories where the character's voice carries on in dialogue. It's one of the hardest things I find to do convincingly as a writer.

53 fab entries so far in this Free Spirit competition, and still 12 days to go until the closing date. Plenty of time to pull your storytelling socks up.

Remember also that this is a special contest where krystalg and simplyjohn have generously clubbed together and pledged a cache of Lush coins to each of the shortlisted entries that don't make the podium.

You can't be in with a chance to win if you don't enter, so dust off your word processors and get scribblin' on the theme.

And if you haven't read, voted and commented on all your favourite naughty tales in the comp, there's time to make amends. Publishing stories is nerve racking enough; competitions moreso. Please support the authors and show them love for their craft.

Quote by 2bespanked
the plot doesn't vary much either from story to story.

I'm guilty of this, sorry. I had a run of Flash stories about different cheating couples, and a few readers thought it was a series.

I'm trying to branch out more in writing style and tone. All part of gradually developing as a writer.

Quote by Gordon_Brail
It's not hot to just describe a woman as a totally trashy skank with no morals whatsoever who, for no reason at all, jumps on some guys cock out of the blue

I agree. Even in Microfiction I prefer stories that give reasons for someone's behavior.

Yeah. Each piece of software has different ways of deciding what constitutes a "word". For the avoidance of doubt, we go by the word counter in the Lush story editing panel. Your word processor of choice may vary.

Quote by Gordon_Brail
Write what makes you happy!

I second this. I love sci-fi and have penned a few here. Well, they're more dystopian near-futures rather than aliens and other worlds, as I prefer my science tinged with earthly realism. But that's just me.

The Sci-Fi and Fantasy category isn't as well read as some, but there are a legion of fans that camp there, so please do it and pimp your work in the self-promotion forum when done, so those that aren't yet following you have a chance to discover it.