Quote by techgoddess

Happy Hump Day, all y’all! It’s a later gym day for me (8:30) so I have time for some tea.

I finally got part 2 of my new story published yesterday. It’s completed at two parts and, while there isn’t the heaps of sex in it as my usual fare, I am proud of how the story turned out.

Dropping the links here if y’all are interested:

Dancing With A Stranger - Part One

Dancing With A Stranger - Part Two

I have been out most of the day catching up with old work colleagues. Then on return, in the hot tub and then laying out the solar lighting for Saturday's family BBQ, we host each year. 😊 Now that is done, it's time to work on Cash in Hand 3. But before I do that, I will read Kat's "Dancing With A Stranger – Part 2". To enjoy her writing and to see if I had guessed the story plot correctly. 😜😊

I just checked; StoriesSpace is now working fine for me. 😊

With StoriesSpace, I can now log on, but everything I click on says... Page Not Found.

It is also running incredibly slowly.

Quote by Seeker4

Anyone else having trouble with StoriesSpace? Homepage loads but after that, everything throws a Page Not Loaded errors. I PM'd Molly on here (Since PMs are broken there) but wonder if anyone other than me noticed. It is happening on both desktop and phone and on both wired and mobile networks.

I am not a paid-up member at StoriesSpace, but I am registered and have never had an issue logging on there until today. I'm having the same issue as you, Mr Ape. 😕

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Ha! Yup, I cringe looking back at some of my stories and wonder what the heck I was thinkin’ 😳🤣🤣🤣

Similar, I actually went back earlier this year and edited my first few stories to improve them and add a covers. 🙂

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Kimmi want a day off! Can I be Canadian today?

Today seems like a good day for honeybuns, so here ya go!

It's not a holiday in the UK either, Kimmi. However, since the weather is dull, wet, and reminiscent of autumn, I doubt that many working people would prefer to take today off. 🙄😊

A mug of Yorkshire Tea for me, thank you, Bear. While I enjoy Kimmi's honeybuns. 😈

I am looking forward to my next birthday, as I'm going to be 21 again! 😊🙄

If I'm being honest, the total will be 21 + 21 + 21... but who's counting? 😈😎

A mug of Yorkshire Tea for me, please, Bear.

I know that I'm a little late to the party, but happy birthday, Bear! 🎂😎

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I’m a Chiefs fan, too, David. And a Bills, Jaguars, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Steelers, Bengals, and Lions fan!

I'm wondering if you left any teams out, Kimmi! 🤣🤣 Aren't the Titans your "local" team? They're not on your list, though I believe you are more into basketball. 😊

Loving the sport chat, though, being British, I like to point out that the real football is what Americans seem to want to call soccer! 😲 The next World Cup, 2026, will be hosted in the USA, Mexico and Canada. 😊

While I do not support an NFL team, the nearest geographically to me is the New England Patriots. Though my best friend from the USA supported the Chiefs, he was born in Kansas. So perhaps I should go with them!

Quote by NishasWorld

These are just my thoughts and do not represent the views of the Admins, or my fellow mods, but I thought I’d share them as advice to new, aspiring, or developing writers - take them or leave them!

I’ve read hundreds of stories here on Lush, and there are some key elements that separate the wheat from the chaff. I’m not talking about accurate grammar and punctuation, which we can take as a given, so much as story construction and character development, and that’s what I would like to discuss here.

What a wonderful post, Nisha, and I agree with every word you say. As it states on my profile, character-driven erotica is my thing. I want readers to fall in love with, or resent, the often flawed characters I create. 😊

Quote by techgoddess

(Okay, after three long years and a battle with my “cousin” it looks like my aunt’s estate will be settled soon and I can afford the next special assessment for repairs from the Hurricane debacle last year. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻)

Good luck indeed. 🤞🏻 😊

Just a strong cup of Yorkshire Tea for me... I've done a little writing this morning and am just about to turn my attention to some decorating, though rain is forecast for later in the day.

A day of writing for me today... I would also appreciate a steaming hot cup of Yorkshire tea, Bear. Thank you. 😊

While I can see Kimmi's corner, I am still not quite sure where Storeroom #4 is? Then again, perhaps it's best that I do not know. 😉

For me, it is important to invest some writing time in developing the story's characters. Give them some depth, give the story meaning, maybe an intriguing situation or a plot twist. Pace the story. Then, whatever type of sex occurs, and when, it will be more meaningful for your readers.

Quote by Seeker4

Up to 14 entries over on StoriesSpace and they're good ones. All interesting takes on the theme. We've even got the makings of a sexy, action-packed Hollywood thriller in the second to latest entry (Yes, in a comp called Summer Love. It works, don't worry.) More would be welcome. Kimmi says she knows of 2-3 possibles who aren't in yet but let's not stop there.

I did have a look at this competition, and I thought the theme was a good one. 😊 Maybe, one day I will try to write something to go on StoriesSpace, though if I do, it will almost certainly not be in the UK summer months... 🙄

After nearly a week away camping with friends, it will be nice to get back to writing tomorrow. A nice cup of Yorkshire Tea for me, Bear. The strong stuff, thank you. 😉

Quote by Stupalm

I'm somewhat new to the site and I've discovered that I really love writing stories as much as reading them.

What is the best way to promote my stories and build readership?

I create a wall post with a link for each new story, and also post a link in one of the groups I'm in.

What else can I do to pimp myself?

Seeker4 and Piquet have given you some good advice. I would say, just keep writing as your stories seem to be well-received. It just takes time.

All I can add is maybe enter the next story competition. Stories in competitions tend to attract a wider readership, have more views, and likes. You may pick up more followers that way if you write something that appeals.

Quote by fuzzy1954

The lion returns

11" of rain in one day then quiet so a lady went for a jog on a path and she doesn't come back alive. The lady been jogging on the trail for years.

That is a lot of rain. It's raining here today—well, heavy showers. I think the weather is only changing as we are going to be in a tent for the next week! 😳 Though I might drop in on my phone, I won't be around much or writing.

Sorry to hear about the lady being washed away. 😢

A strong cup of builder's tea for me. Thank you. 😊

Quote by Milik_the_Red

Each to their own I suppose. I have a sequel to Watching Sarak coming out at any moment at 3.6k words. My guess is it won’t do half as well as the 1st chapter

But view tallies on lushed changed. Getting 10K was easy 10 years ago and overnight that dropped by 80% or more. I believe non member hits are no longer being counted so it’s really impossible to know what the viewership is.

Maybe someone can shed more light on that but I questioned it at the time and that is as close to the explanation as I can now recall

I don't know the answer, and I am not sure I have ever seen a post about story view numbers. However, I have thought for some time now that something doesn't add up on story views and many other small things.

I never posted a story under V1 Lush. The change to V2 happened on the very same day I went to submit my first story here. However, from time to time, things have been mentioned that are either not available or on the to-do list.

With 6,000 gold/platinum members (we have just been told that) and many times more visitors, I suspect this site's traffic is higher than ever; therefore, it figures (even with more stories here), story views should be higher too. 🙄

Quote by Milik_the_Red

I used to write very long works and to be honest they make up the bulk of my best stories. My Last Morning with Melissa was 9 k and won an EP. Jailbait came in at just over 10k and is my most read work with over 300k views.

It takes a long work to write an intricate tale of emotional need that can truly capture the essence of the character. If one is to be invested, they need to invest a bit themselves.

I'm immensely proud of both, and suggest them to anyone willing to delve deeply into a story of love, loss, risk and emotional pain. And yes, they are massive works, but I do not believe they would have succeeded as a serialized work

Likewise, my sequeals to Unknown Caller and Watching Sarah were set up by their first parts, so a reader who is just jumping in to part two, or even a reader if part 1 is only going to read the sex while losing the emotional connection set up in part 1.

This is why I'm torn on the that. The one thing I am sure of after writing these 4 stories is, I'm not easily satisfied in being limited to less than 6k words. For me, the number I need to flesh out a work, round out the characters and set the mood, scene and ambience to make a eroticism possible requires between 5k and 7k words I can go more or less, but that seems to be my wheelhouse.

that was a great comment and it really got me thinking. I very much appreciate you joining the conversation.

I have just seen your reply; I must remember to press the watch thread button next time! 🙄

I have been writing on LS for coming up to 3 years, though I have been on the site a lot longer. In 2010, I started visiting, and 9 years ago, I actually joined. During that time, I would suggest two things have happened... The quality of writing/stories has improved, and they have also gotten shorter. That's just a personal opinion.

Currently, I am writing a series of 5 connected standalone stories. Here is the link to the first one: Cash In Hand 1 - "A Job Opening?" - Part 1 Of 2 I don't expect you to read it, BTW. It is just to illustrate a point, but okay, you can read it if you want to. 🤣

The point I'm making is that this standalone story was deliberately split into two 3.5k-word parts rather than one 7k-word part. The main reason I did this was that I have found I'm more likely to gain new readers, and therefore new followers, by clicking on a shorter story even if it's only half the story. I am not talking about my existing followers; they will tend to click, read, or reject. 😊

If you look at Part 2, you will see I have managed to carry most of my readers over with roughly as many likes/comments and only slightly fewer views. The other bonus for me doing it this way was that I got two cover photos to play with, which was ideal as I could illustrate the uniforms the main character was wearing. A visual always helps the reader and sometimes the author. 🤣

As for views, I think any longer story will do well to reach 10k views these days unless you have a large following. My best story has well over 200 likes and has been published for around 9 months, but as of yet, it hasn't broken 9,000 views!

Just my views on things!

Quote by KimmiBeGood

You all know I’m not writing here right now, but on the sister site. It’s just where my imagination is at this moment. I put this on my profile wall, but wanted to put it in here with y’all, my friends, too. I’m not Pimpin’ it but just will let it quietly sit in case anyone feels drawn to it. It’s not an entertaining story but rather some shared truths about struggles in my life, in case any of you have ever felt alone with your struggles. Trust me, you are not alone, no matter what you are going through. Love you all! ❤️

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/memoirs/petals-and-scars

I highly recommend reading this. Thank you for sharing this with us, Kimmi. 😊❤️😘

Quote by sprite

you can always ask me. lol

Thank you for your kind offer, Rachel 🙂 However, I was asking for a friend! 🙄🥰

The first photo, Kimmi.😊 It catches my eye the most. Sounds like a beautiful idea for a story. 😎

Quote by GreyMatter

Not really, no. There are too many variables. It depends on how many stories are in the queue, how long the stories in the queue are, the availability of the mods etc. There are often times when we're modding a story and come across a situation (in terms of story content, for example) where we need to ask other mods for guidance and need to wait to hear back from them etc.

Thank you, GreyMatter, for answering my question. 😊 That is exactly what I thought, but it was worth asking, as it is hard to judge what is happening whilst sitting on this side of the curtain. Maybe something had changed.

Quote by dronette56

-- If you see that approval times are getting long, hold off for a little while before submitting your edgy story.

Thank you, dronette56, for sharing this. 😊 However, I have one question made because of the above point...

Is there a way authors can know how long the current approval times are?

Thank you for opening up early for me, Lion. 😊

I did enjoy the rooster and cat joke. 🤣 I have never seen that one before!

Just a strong coffee for me. 😎

This is an interesting question, Milik_the_Red, one I guess most authors would like to know. 😊

For me, the story must come first... not the metaphoric sex acts. The story's characters must have depth to them, so I am engaged in both the characters and the story. Twists are good. Sex is a must, but try to give it some meaning.

I agree with Kimmi; above 5,000 words, and half your potential readers won't even open the story. There's a poll here somewhere basically reinforcing that fact. For clicks/likes, I think it maxes out at around 2k to 3k.

Last November, I counted which were the most popular genres here. No surprises that I/F was number 1 with 423 pages of stories, while straight sex was number 2 with 401 pages of stories... 3 BDSM (203 pages), 4 Group Sex (198 pages), and 5 Wifelovers (192 pages). I doubt the list order has changed that much since then.

So, I would suggest that if you want to write a story for views/clicks, choose one of the top genres and keep it short, hot, and twisted.

However, though I only read a couple of your stories, you are such a good author; whatever you write, the audience will (eventually) find you. So why not write something you want to write? 😊

Quote by Seeker4

And good morning all. There's a story that has made the news about two execs getting cuddly at a concert and being caught by the kiss cam. Downside for them? They are married to other people.

I felt sorry for them.

FYI... This (non) news story was also covered on the main national BBC 10 o'clock news, covering the whole of the UK.

I won't like your post, Kat, because it is sad. Instead, have a big hug from across the Atlantic. (HUG) 😘

We don't really have that problem in the UK. Drive 5 hours here in any direction, and you most likely have fallen off the edge and are getting wet. 😳🤣

There is one expectation: the London orbital motorway (M25). Five hours driving on that can equate to around 10 miles if you are unlucky! 🙄

I was at senior school when Blazing Saddles came out. I remember my best friend managing to see it, somehow, and then raving about it for what seemed like months. I never did see the movie, never have, apart from the odd clip, as I am not into satire. However, it wouldn't (and doesn't) offend me, as I accept it was a product of its time (1974). I simply just move on to something else