What’s in a name?

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As I sit here eating a few Pringles crisps and wondering if I have the energy to scratch my belly button and possible remove fluff from said orifice, I decided to have a look at the reader count on some of my stories.

Whilst being gratified and somewhat smug that I seem to be liked by one or two people, my razor sharp eyes locked onto something rather interesting.

A while back, I wrote two stories almost back to back. I was in a frenzy of creativity and said creative juices were running out of my fingers and making a hell of a mess on my keyboard.

Anyway, to cut a short story even shorter, I saw that to date my story entitled Panties received 2061 hits and the other story called Sixpence received only 867 hits.

Well, I thought, what’s that all about? My conclusion after much head scratching and inner contemplation etc, was that my readers may have been more attracted by the name Panties rather than Sixpence. I know, I know, you put your collective hands up in horror. It cannot be! Surely we are all little angels, unsullied by nasty, ickie sexual connotations. We all, of course prefer Mary Poppins to say, Marquis De Sade.

However, purely as a market research exercise, of course, I am considering whether my next story should be called Sex and Lust on the Kitchen Table.

Sue

Comments

We never

Angharad's picture

have things like that on our kitchen table!

Angharad 8)

Angharad

I wish ...

... I could say the same but you know what cyclists are after a long hard ride - or should that be before a long hard ride *dirty laugh*

Geoff

We Never

have things like that on our kitchen table!

You don't know what you're missing!

(Unfortunately, neither do I)

Ray

Sex on the Table - A Few Hints.

Dear Angharad,

I think the problem probably lies in your kitchen table. It's probably just another old scrubbed pine one with one leg used as a scratching post by the cat. This I am afraid is not the ideal venue for spontaneous orgies of unbridled lust. It lacks the essential energising spark that is a basic requirement in triggering a mutual sexual combustion that shreds away all normal civilised restraint.

I recommend a few days concentrated study of the latest glossy brochures devoted to extolling the seductive virtues of the modern table. Something with a top in smoked glass and legs in stainless steel with a platinum inlay for example. Or alternatively an eco-friendly structure in laminated cardboard with only three legs. This latter, although perhaps losing out visually, does offer the strong possibility of a climatic collapse as events move to their inevitable orgasmic crescendo .... 'And did the table move for you too, darling?'

Another tip is to ensure that the breakfast things are cleared away immediately on the termination of the meal. Leave nothing to chance! Nothing is more conducive to a waning of spontaneous passion than a pause necessitated by the hostess hobbling round the kitchen with her knickers around her ankles as she tidies up the debris from the previous meal. Any such clearing up is also liable to be of a somewhat hurried and perfunctory nature and alas manoeuvrings to avoid puddles of coffee and patches of smeared marmalade tend to be distracting. In these circumstances the attractions of the honey pot can be open to mis-interpretation.

If you are blessed with a substantial residence equipped with a billiard room then there is much to be said for retiring there before the actual shedding of outerwear. A billiard table is of course an accepted and altogether proper place for such an activity and its use has been sanctified by aristocratic, even royal, usage at countless country weekends throughout the last couple of centuries. Those unaccustomed to the etiquette involved should however be sure to remove both balls and cues before mounting.

The final factor of course in the surroundings. 'Location, location, location', as they say. The kitchen table should ideally be located in an Italian palazzo, French château or large yacht. Slum tenements, council houses, two/three bed semis, and even desirable mod. com. residences simply do not cut it however House & Gardens the table itself.

I hope the above helps. Do let me know how you get on. (And off.)

Hugs,

Fleurie Fleurie

Fleurie

personaly

kristina l s's picture

I can't get past that remake of The Postman Always Rings..Knocks? .. well whatever works for you. Now that was some serious kitchen tabling. Jack and Jessica do American midwest lust, at least I think it was them. No doubt some French arthouse thing did it better and first, but then I likely didn't see it. Peter Greenaway or Almodavar perhaps, but hey Jessica is gorgeous and Jack is Jack, hard to beat.

Oh sorry getting off track there... We shall eagerly await your next... um, Title, Sue.

Kristina

ps... cues and balls? Really Fleurie.

Cue the pun

Quite right, Fleurie, there'd be asolutely no point in removing just one ball.
If TGs are going to be taken over the billiard table, removing both their balls and their "cues" and perhaps each getting a pocket inserted would probably improve the experience greatly, while some masterful hunk has her snookered.
XX
AD

Agree

I agree with Ang, those things should absolutely be kept in the dining room where they belong!!

How about reposting the other story as Sexpence and see what happens?

Jan

Hmmm...

Sixpence used to buy three gobstoppers but what are panties?

Reminds me of the little girl who walked in to find her younger brother jumping up and down and saying, "Mummy, Mummy, they found a condom behind a radiator at school today."

The girl looked puzzled and asked, "What's a radiator?"

-------------------------------------

Sex and Lust on the Kitchen Table; is this a history lesson or a teach yourself book?

On the WHAT?

I think "Sex and Lust On A Kitchen Table" would be even more fetching... the change from "the" to "a" suggests cheap, casual, maybe even anonymous sex. If it's THE kitchen table, that means it's yours. If it's A kitchen table, well, who knows where it's been?

But please, make sure there's a scene where someone cleans the table well before the story ends. With Pine Sol.

Plug,Plug,Plug

joannebarbarella's picture

My latest effort is choc-a-bloc full of sex and lust and not nearly enough people are reading it. Maybe I should have called it "A Dirty Afternoon At The Grand Hotel" but then readers may have thought it was about washing the dishes in the hotel kitchen. Sue, you've got me. BC readers are a funny lot. I really can't pick whether one of my mistresspieces is going to twang their knicker elastic or not. If you ever find out the formula please let me know (by PM, we don't want everybody in on it), but speaking personally, if you called a story "Uncle Bert's Coal Scuttle" I would still read it,
Hugs,
Joanne

Unplugged

What, 628 hits and 11 comments since you posted it two days ago, and you are complaining that not enough people are reading it? Sheesh!

KJT

"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Karen,I GOTTA Win

joannebarbarella's picture

The Summer Romance competition by fair means or foul :-)
Joanne

Figure to retire?

On the prize money? Not even Spike could retire on the prize money! LOL! ;-)

KJT

"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

I'll Invest It

joannebarbarella's picture

In a lottery ticket. If I win the competition surely I will be a shoo-in to win the lottery. The odds are in my favour! Yippee!
Joanne

Titles

laika's picture

are important, in getting folks to even look at your story.
In his Advice to Young Writers column, Dave Berry cited
THE DEATH CORPSE
as an example of a really bad title for a novel.
A far more marketable title, he said, would be
THE DEATH CORPSE BY STEPHEN KING.
And better still would be
THE DEATH CORPSE BY STEPHEN KING
WITH NAKED PICTURES OF PAMELA ANDERSON!

And by the way, it was a pretty funny blog, Sue.
~~~hugs, LAIKA

.
"You can either fly Over the Rainbow or Under the Radar but you can do both..."

See what you started!

Now everybody's into the what's-a-good-title act. Apparently the raunchier the title the more hits you'll get. I was going to title my next one HIDDEN but no one will look past the first lines with a title like that. MOTEL ROOM UNDERCOVER AGENT might be good. Maybe HIDDEN: WHAT'S REALLY BEHIND THOSE PANTIES? Or STOP HIDING THOSE PANTIES!

Naw, everybody here is better at titles.

marie c.

marie c.

Transsexual Trollops From Planet Trogg

joannebarbarella's picture

That's the title for my next literary venture and I shall shamelessly steal the plot of Alys's "Gift of the Red Planet". Then I'll HAVE to be a success,
Hugs,
Joanne

Old Joke About Sexual Locations

joannebarbarella's picture

Every time I do this it seems to kill the dialogue, so we'll see what happens this time.

WARNING: If you are genteel read no further.

A Frenchman, an Italian and an Aussie are sitting having a drink and the conversation turns to sexual games;

The Frenchman says:
I take my mistress out for a romantic candle-light dinner and zen I take 'er up to ze room in ze 'otel an' I undress 'er and I lay 'er on ze bed and I sprinkle rose petals all over 'er body and zen I pick every petal off of 'er body wiz my teeth and it drives 'er wild and zen we make mad passionate love.

The Italian says:
I taka my girrrl out for pasta and zen I taka her to ze room and undress her and lay her on ze bed and I pourrr ze brandy all over her body and zen I leek it all off wiz my tongue and it drives her wild and zen we maka da mad passionate love.

The Aussie says:
I get home from work Saturday lunchtime and the missus is usually at the kitchen table getting my lunch ready, so I sneak up behind her, whip up her skirt, pull down her knickers and give her a bloody good rogering. When I'm done I wander over to the window to see if me mate Dave is ready to go to the pub, and while I'm there I wipe me dick on the curtains and that really drives her wild.

Boom Boom

Those romantic Austrailians

So those living downunder are the best at going downunder?

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

Selling me

The title, along with the synopsis have to catch my interest or I probably won't click on a story. However, titles attempting to appeal to prurient interests are likely to stop me from reading. The same with odd or "clever" titles and/or poor writing in the title or synopsis.

After that are the keywords and categories selected by the authors, there are some that I have an interest in and some that I don't.

And for John in the land of the frozen dairies, puns are a big turn-off! ;-)

KJT

"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

It sounds like

you can't please all the people all the time.

So if you can work out an intriguing title that can be taken several ways, put enough keywords in to sink the Titanic and come up with a 'teaser' to mean anything the reader wants it to mean, you will probably get thousands of hits and loads of votes.

Now, do I want cream or ice cream with my dictionary? Decisions, decisions.

Susie