StoryMash Creative Storytelling Forum

There are plenty of ignored stories on this website...I bring this up cause many of my own stories have been ignored. Don't take it personally, most likely people who would normally comment on your stories are away delving within their day jobs. Either that or you have posted way too much at once (so lay back a little on the posting and work a little more on the revising). So if any of your stories are ignored try and get the word out perhaps tell some friends you have made on the website to give you some feed back...Good luck and have fun!

i agree with you rocklee. Sometimes, I'd really like to continue a story but I just don't have enough time. So, what I did was to leave a rating for every story I read. That way, the author knows that someone took the time to read their story. by the way, is your screen name derived from the character from Naruto?? I love that green-spandexed guy. :-)

Thanks, good to know! :)

Good advice!

I have several strategies I ue to get my stories read. After posting, I add a link to my MySpace blog so that interested friends and family have an easy way to find it. For those that don't have a MySpace, I send emails with a link, requesting they read my post when they have a chance and tell me what they think. I also try to come up with interesting titles...something eye catching....but entirely appropriate to the context...because I tend to read stories with interesting title, first. Yeah, you can't judge a book by its cover, but first impresions go a long way. These are all tried, but not neccessarily true. Not everyone I ask to read my works, does. From the ones who do, I get really insightful feedback and at the very least, it generates a new account that allows them to read other's works. I have also suggested to my daughter's school, that they may want to consider using thi site as a teaching tool for aspiring writers and to make writing fun for students. My daughter is just getting started writing on here and has pulled in some new recruits to do the same...and being 16, the ones who know me seem to want to see the twisted side of my kid's mom! lol
It's generated excitement at the high school and kids are sharing their pieces and are bringing more and more talent tothis site every day. I have also requested specific writers read and rate my work...those who's ideas and forthright comments I trust will give me fresh perspective and aren't afraid to tell me what they feel. Time permitting, I try to mash the stories I really love. I think this has helped me "get noticed" by a few heavy hitters on here and when I do get to post something new, they tend to read it, curious as to what I have created this time around. Honestly, though, other than TSNK, I probably have an average of 8-15 comments per chapter. Some critique I get by email. Some of my pieces have maybe 2 or 3 comments. Take heart and keep writing.

The way that I often choose which stories I will read is simply by reading the preview. If the preview catches my eye, I click on the story. If the writing is (and excuse me for saying this, but so often this is the case) unreadable, I leave and find a different one to read.

I posted a LOT in the last month, and I feel like that may be why my story has only been rated a few times. I know more people read them then rate, as the first one I posted was on the front page withing 8 hours. That made me really excited! I haven't had the time yet to read any other stories on the site. I'm often very busy. Everything I have posted has been pre-written, and I didn't even have time to check for typo errors.

I am going to start posting less frequently, as I have on the other writing site I post on, and hope that I get the same, better results.

Hello and welcome to the site!

I will say that people who post tons of chapters without even bothering to check for typo errors often do not get taken seriously on this site. Scaling back on the number of posts as well as taking the time to make sure that what you are posting is quality work will improve your likelihood of being read.

Also, if people don't know who you are, they're not going to be seeking out your stories. Introduce yourself on the forum (if you haven't already), but MUCH more importantly, start reading and commenting other work. Rating alone doesn't make you stand out because the writer can't tell who did the rating, but leaving a comment will always make a difference, especially if it's a well thought-out comment with helpful feedback (not just "Good job! Now come read my chapter!"). If you are giving of yourself, the writers you comment on will be more likely to go read your work and return the favor.

I hope this helps!

I think if you take the time to read a good story, it goes without saying that you will be more likely to comment. However, even the stories that are not so good deserve feedback. I can look over my beginner stories and see that I do not like them now, as I'm sure most of you can understand. Writing is about evolving and learning from mistakes you've made to improve your work. Whether I like a story or not, or the grammar is wrong, or it just doesn't flow... I make sure that I let the author know why I feel that way. And not done so as to hurt their feelings, but to give them perspective they do not have being so close to their writing. I have received incredible compliments, but they are not as useful to me as the ones that say - "this sucks, and here's why...." In short, if you have time to read it and time to rate it, then you have time to comment on those ignored stories. The author may just need a little tap on the back or kick in the rump to get their stuff up to par. So there's my two cents... now I'm broke,lol.

I don't like the idea of propagating my work on social networking sites, because then it is not getting known on its own merits, they are just mindlessly advertised. If your work is any good, it will get read, and a catchy title could help.

"If your work is any good, it will get read..."

I understand why you feel that way. In a way you are right. It will get read.

I have also found that marketing skills are as necessary as writing skills to produce money. This is what I am working on at the moment myself.

Good Marketing > Good Writing...at least in the publishing world. Just look at Stephenie Meyers...

Maybe in the short run, but in the long run it is the best that is remembered.

Twilight is a fad, it is a guilty pleasure, nothing more.

As much as I like knocking Stephanie Meyer as much as the next writer, let's be fair here. In the beginning, rock n' roll was considered a fad to last less than a decade, same with rap. It was said Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote mere pulp. The true test is time. An accurate judgement cannot be determined for at least another twenty years.

Yes, yes, and paper was thought to ruin generations when that first came out. Because there are good things that was considered bad by the close minded and stupid, does not mean you can apply this to all.

And no, I am not going to wait 20 years to say something is stupid and terrible, because it is, and time won't change that.

I do have one more thing to add.

The things you mention were a collective, general things, Twilight is specific, you can not compare the two in any setting.

You are entitled to your opinions--all I'm saying is that no one never know what is actually a "fad."

–noun
a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.

The group being small teenagers, who are dumb.

Small teenagers are not dumb. Those 'small teenagers' are the consumers that most authors market to. They are also the next generation of readers. Longevity is a factor in the success of an author, so you'd do well to remember that. And for the record, Stephenie Meyers did not only pen the Twilight series, but a few other novels as well. I am a fan of her writing, and I'm an adult. Those of you who think she can only write cheesy vampire love stories, I would suggest you look for her book 'Host' and give it a try. It might surprise you. As much as I respect your right to an opinion, HiddenCounter, I just don't understand your logic. If you want your work to be read, it has to be known. How do you expect people to find it if you do not market?

I read that book too, and it was equally as bad, and the only reason twilight is worse is because it is in main stream pop culture.

Yes, it is easy to market to young teenage girls, and middle aged women with a soft spot for cheese.

And I have no problem with marketing, it is spamming people I have a problem with.

I read the first book of twilight, and there was literally, no plot for most of the book, until she realized, oh yeah it is book. And you know what that plot was, the main character Bella, deciding if she wants to be with a guy or not. Her writing is extremely derivative, and most of the words she used appear as if she looked them up via the thesaurus.

You will seldom see a reader of twilight or any of her books out of the 11-35 ranger of girls, and that is because she exploits the emotions of these girls, not through good writing, but by marketing.

Exploiting the demographic is what they do, Justin Bieber,any boyband, and their fame died down, twilight will too.

Count on it.

"There is a difference between writing for a teenage audience, and writing like a teenager:

'I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It
wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the
anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.'
.
Meyer doesn't know when to end her sentences or describe Bella's emotions without making her seem like a little kid - for example, 'I began gathering up my things slowly' is fine, but then she doesn't know when to end the sentence and just shoves in more commas. There's nothing wrong with having an elaborate style, but Meyer isn't consistent with her sentences and it comes across as clumsy and awkward.

I used to write like this when I was thirteen, only WORSE:

'The knife was carved again and again into the walls. A dark blue curtain was drawn across the dimly lit room. Csar, Csar, Csar slashed a thousand times to spur his wrath. She had promised him never to leave this world!'"

Excerpt from a review that conveys the point I failed to get across.

Here is another review.

1. Meyer constantly uses cliched phrases like "red as tomatoes," which are a sign of lazy, immature writing.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/090…

2. Meyer is repetitive. She constantly describes Edward's "smoldering eyes" and "marble chest." The woman is also quite literally addicted to the word chagrin.

3. Purple prose is used all the time throughout the Twilight series, which is again, a sign of lazy writing. She piles on the unnecessary description, uses loads of adverbs, and thinks what she is doing is fine.

4. In Breaking Dawn, everything was too perfect; everyone received a happy ending. Bella got everything and everyone she wanted without even doing anything. Charlie, the Cullens, Edward, Jake, you name it. She didn't even have to go through the newborn vampire stage! Meyer couldn't even bear to kill anyone off considering she lives through her characters, and instead just killed off a minor character for good measure.

5. Plot holes. The Twilight series is stuffed full of them! Why were the vampires at high school in the first place, especially with Jasper's weakness to blood? They could have just as easily hid at home. Meyer told us vampires don't have bodily fluid outside of venom. So where did Edward's sperm come from?

Carlisle is so curious as a doctor that he actually checks Jake's DNA, yet he never took to the time to experiment with sperm? Don't you think Carlisle would have done everything he could have done to find out a vampire's body, especially since Esme wants children so badly?

And, in Breaking Dawn, during the pregnancy scene, there was so much blood, yet nobody went insane. Rosalie lost her focus, but that was it. Alice, Edward, Rosalie didn't even try to kill Bella. Yet they reacted so strongly to a paper cut?

6. Most of Meyer's characters are Mary-Sues that are so incredibly hard to relate to. Bella is so imperfect, yet every boy in school is attracted to her? Right.

Seriously, take the Mary-Sue Litmus test for Bella or Edward, and the results will be sky-high: http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysu…

7. Meyer isn't creative, despite what you think. Vampires? Forbidden love? Both have been done to DEATH.

Plus, Meyer is just plain immature. J.K. Rowling had many of her books leaked, but she never threw a hissy fit and decided not to publish them, as Meyer did with Midnight Sun.

Stephanie Meyers, just like JK Rowling have targeted a specific demographic, the younger, teenage fan base. I am 30 something ( keep your old fart comments to yourself lol) but as a wannabe writer who takes the craft somewhat serious, well ok, maybe not THAT serious, but let's just say PASSIONATELY, I have read the first two Twilight books and the first Harry Potter book for research purposes. Both cater to the youthful fantasy of escapism in us all. Both series are the perfect mixtures of a marketing and easy reading cocktail, much like ShadowPen eluded to. The marketing with these works is crucial, because without the buzz or word of mouth, they'd cease to exist, much like, yes Bieber Fever.

For me, growing up The Hardy Boys series exemplified much of the same things that these new stories convey. I was hooked and had to have them all. Each generation has their own touchstone, a fad or sensation that through marketing and word of mouth becomes something greater. With the success of these they will be around for long time, forever linked into the lexicon of this country's pulp appetites, bet on that. Much like Encyclopedia Brown, The A-Team, Dukes Of Hazard, Doogie Howser, take your pick, when something creates this much of a social awareness people take notice, but yet to this generation that embraces Bieber and Twilight, to the next generation after them the education process begins. It's the never ending cycle of LIFE. Out with the old in with the new. So the question is what will be the next big thing? And keep in mind whatever it is, the older generations will see similarities to previous creative projects and scoff at this newest thing...case in point...all the Justin Bieber hate, which before him was Britney Spears hate and before Britney, Vanilla Ice lol and so on...

As a 30 something guy these stories to me, while highly creative and well produced, aren't directed at my demographic. I mean what do I want to read a story about Vampire teenage love for? Call me grizzled or aging, but I really could careless about good looking blood suckers.

For my generation we have seen this before, (Anne Rice) in a trend as much in music as literature itself, while to the newer generations, it's like a shiny new present Christmas morning. I used to love Christmas, now I have grown to realize yes, it's for the kids and kids are a major consumer of highly buzz worthy crap.

Now we all have our sensibilities as writers, some will get it, others won't. You can't please all the people all the time, so when it comes to this craft we all love, it has to come from within us, it has to touch us before it can touch anyone else. And through hard work and dedication who knows, maybe someone here will write the next greatest fad!

Let me just say one more thing, as an old timer here lol ... I've written three novels, one of which was a true story, and if the life you so desire is to be a writer, hard work and a love are definite requisites, and if you're in it to be rich, let me just say that, you'd better put a video up on youtube instead, because its as much back breaking work, as working in a factory or laying brick and it definitely doesn't get any easier.

I guess my point is what ShadowPen eluded to earlier. Marketing and hard work can pay off! If you don't believe me check out all the Vampire spinoff books at Borders...lol...as for me I'll stick with the classics.

Well, Britney Spears sucks too, I don't hate things becayse they are new. In fact, I think most story telling, or movies have gotten better.

I am 31, and my mother is 52, and we both enjoy vampire stories. Always have. I suppose you can chalk it up to the old saying, to each their own. Immortality is appealing to a lot of people, myself included, and because you don't know my background, it is somewhat offensive to group all fans of Stephenie Meyer as dumb. I don't think she is a lazy writer, just that she is inexperienced. If you look at the earlier works of Stephen King, Anne Rice, Bentley Little, and others of this genre, you will see the similarities. I respect your opinion and I agree with some of what you are saying HiddenCounter. You've definitely noted some things that I had not really taken into consideration, but for myself, I think reading is for enjoyment. I truly enjoy her books and the horror/fantasy genre in general. If that is not your cup of tea, fine - but I will not label you as close-minded or dull or say you have a superiority complex.

Enjoying to Read =/= Good

And secondly, I don't care if it is offensive.

And as for the last sentence, I appreciate that, and I would not do that for you either, because you admitted some of my points were good.