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So, over a long period of time a few authors have unpublished their stories, and I always wondered why. Yesterday's blog about that has me examining my own stories and considering what to do. None of my own stories have over 50 Kudos and in the climate of the BCTS world that is humiliating.
Not to actually mention by name a certain author, he has published around 50 books, and has a cult following. In his writing, he seems to hate women and enslaves everyone of them. While his books are quite readable, his subject matter becomes tiresome and mediocre. To realize that my own writing is worse than his, well it is hard.
My "style" if you could call it that is admittedly quirky, and everything I have written has been right from my heart. I have poured everything I had into those stories. Some have gotten pissy with me because some of my stories have included strong personal belief in a religion. I hate to break it to you, but most of the world's people believe in something, and the way I have written about belief was not preachy, it was simply part of the story. People would be surprised at what I actually believe, or don't.
I'll finish with this. My first published story, "Desert Princess" originally went to Storysite in 2001 and later I moved it over to BCTS in mid 2007. Looking over my approximately 2 dozen stories, they have been an indirect reflection of events in my own life. Of course "Katia" was simply an effort on my own part to see if violence would increase the Kudo count.
Rather than unpub, perhaps it is best to simply sign out and drag my pathetic, mediocre butt out of here, promising to not write again.
Comments
Every kudos is someone saying "Thank You"
I've always felt that if just one person enjoys a story enough to say "Thank You", it's worthwhile. Sure it's nice when you get lots and lots, but no way is 30 or 40 people saying thank you meaningless, which is what you seem to be suggesting.
There are lots of different writing styles and types of story. Some appeal to the masses, others to more specialist tastes. There are some writers on this site who no one else can compete against in Kudos points, but why does anyone have to?
If you enjoy writing, then write. If you like just a few people enjoying your stories, then publish them. But for heaven's sake, don't get carried away by thinking that a single Kudos is insignificant, or that you must have hundreds. Whatever your style, there is place for it here.
Best wishes and keep writing
Charlotte
PS
I've always thought that Kudos points should be confidential to the author only. That way, an author can compare one story against another, but we get out of the cycle of people feeling inadequate because they don't have as many Kudos as someone else.
*Agrees*
I would also add these thoughts.
A big question is "What do kudos mean?" or "How do people use them?"
Giving a Kudo mean different things to different people, for some it means any level of liking, for others they set the bar higher. Some will only give one if they find the story "one of the best things they have ever read" others have technical criteria they feel a story should meet, things like spelling and grammar, only giving them to what they consider polished professional works. My self I don't like to be so stingy with approval.
For me usually I will kudo if I enjoyed a story period. But even for those who have not kudoed a story it may not mean they found it worthless, did not enjoy it, or would see it gone. It just means they don't find it to be a cut above the rest. Some may simply have a fetish about not clicking "like" or similar on anything.
Personally this sometimes makes me feel I am some how slighting the few stories that I do find superbly outstanding since I am giving them the same level of praise. Yet those gems do not make me feel the other were not worth reading and I would miss them if they were gone. This may explain why some withhold kudos from stories they do actually enjoy.
Another thing to consider is "shy" readers who have not made an account, those who come here to read yet would not or at least not yet sign up for a site such as this.
No kudo from a reader does not necessarily mean they found it not worth reading.
~Hypatia >i< ..:::
PS. A few times upon rereading a story I was pretty sure I kudoed, I saw none. My mistake an error?
Kudos and new visitors who become regular visitors
The stories that capture the imagination of new visitors and attract them to keep coming back, are most crucial. They also are unlikely to gather kudos as they fulfill that purpose. Ironic, isn't it?
OK, so people don't love your work....
What of it? I doubt that you could find even one person who would classify themselves as a fan of my writing. I have seven of fifteen original stories that have less than fifty kudos, six with less than forty, five of them have thirty or less.
"Tight Money," has 8,994 hits and only 30 kudos, that makes the kudo to hit ration about 0.003 to 1. How much more miserable can it get? But given all that, I'm not going to unpub anything and I can't promise not to keep on writing and posting.
I don't see being an author on BCTS as any kind of competition. It's only an opportunity for me to share my imagination with a very small portion of those who frequent this site.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Kudos are wack
There's a bunch of stories here that have a lot of thought and care put into them. Reach upwards of 20k-40k words. Good dialogue, good narrative, good story. And they get less than 50 kudos, or literally take years to get to 100.
Then there are stories which are usually pure dialogue, less than 10k words, and spammed on the front page with daily episodes. Those get over 100 kudos before the next episode is even posted.
I'm not saying this to disgruntle anyone.
Instead I'm saying this to pose this question. Are you writing for someone to click a "thumbs up," or are you writing because you enjoy it?
If you're writing predominantly for the kudos, then the formula is right here in this post. Write short, fast-read, dialogue heavy material where everyone can spam the like button faster than the back button, or the comment button.
If you're writing because you enjoy it, then write whatever you feel like writing. Take your time with it. Enjoy the process. Relish in your characters' developments. Have fun with your story.
Yes, kudos can make you feel appreciated as an author, but I also find them kind of generic personally. They're very non-personal. I'd far rather get a private message or email from someone saying that my story touched them on an emotional level.
I would never consider "kudos" to be the end-all declaration on someone's proficiency as a writer.
~Taylor Ryan
My muse suffers from insomnia, and it keeps me up at night.
You must remember TG lit is a niche market in the truest sense
The person with 50 PUBLISHED books that are quite misogynistic suggests the creator of the GOR or is it the ZOR universe?
I once helped test read Aardvarks excellent twist on that whole women are sex playthings and nothing else universe.
He proved the opposite. That a women, even given a vile sex change/sex-slave transformation COULD still be their own person ... if they had the will and the right friends.
You must realize the sort of stories BC hosts are mostly non main stream lit.
As great as some here are -- and some here rival the best I have read in mass produced print -- they would likely never be best sellers in the wider market.
But that is not the point.
We are here because we appreciate this genera.
I LIKE your works, even your darker stuff.
I like the idea of imaging myself in those rolls.
It is sad some here have been so hurt for whatever reason they felt they must leave.
I wish they would all return but that is their right to decide.
Whether I agree or disagree with anyone here I hate to see them leave.
My two cents.
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. I am odd that way but I NEVER use the kudos button. I prefer to comment. Sorry.
John in Wauwatosa
Something
Something to keep in mind Gwen, especially if it's an older story, is that the crash of a few years ago lost any older Kudos. My first novel has like 12,000+ hits on the first entry page, but only 51 kudos. (That has actually gone up about 20 since I last looked). At one point I think there was like 130 or so before the crash too. Personally I'm more inclined to appreciate the comments and continuing hits on a story than the Kudos. Not that they're not appreciated as validation!
Hang in there, you've written a number of very good things!
Kudos count and older stories
Hi Gwen,
One thing to remember is that stories written more than two or three years ago will have very low (or non-existent) kudos counts.
Look at T. D. Aldoennettis stories. Most were well received but they have low kudos in relation to the acclaim they garnered.
As far as time on site goes, kudos as a means of measuring appreciation of a story is a relative newcomer.
Anesidora
So what if you don't get hundreds of kudos?
Say a story gets 40 kudos. That's forty distinct people who've read the story (or chapter) and liked it sufficiently to press the thumbs up button (or its predecessor text button). If you'd been reading it out in the street and forty people gathered round and applauded you, you'd feel pretty appreciated. Even more if one or two in the crowd said "I really liked that story" or a comment about the content.
So why should it be any different if you're publishing your story on the internet? Sure, there are regulars who stack up 80+ kudos for each installment, but there could be plenty of reasons for that - one is that their story appeals to a broader demographic (within the constraints of the demographic likely to be here!), one may be that they've published a lot so have name recognition (so people jump to their stories because they know exactly what to expect, and if they don't read it quickly, it'll drop off the front page and be replaced by one of the author's other stories).
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!