So my general advice is going to come back to “Just Write”, but maybe you could do a few brainstorming exercises to see if a spark catches.
Do you have an ending in mind? Work backwards from there to see if you can develop the plot points you need to hit.
Look at the story from the perspective of a character that’s not the protagonist. Maybe there’s something you’re missing by looking too closely at one character.
Write 20 ideas for plot points, then eliminate until you have the best or most successful sounding. Do any of them relate to each other? Outline them into your story.
But really, Just Write! The more you write, the more you open up your brain to being creative. You might need to trash 3 chapters it takes you to get to the one good one, but that one chapter could be the inspiration for the conclusion of your story, or could completely change everything you had written before.
I recently finished the last chapter of a 96,000 word book, and the prize for that is that I get to start over from the beginning to write the real story that only developed in the last hundred pages or so. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t just sat down and written and looked for things to reveal themselves.
(And if I didn’t have amazing friends I could bounce ideas off of!)
2 years
Letters And Numbers:
Would a flagging/report system for obnoxious people work or would that just be abused?
Like if 5 differnt people flag someone for being a pest they get banned?
ILuvChubbyChix:
A voting/karma system like this with that kind of penalty would likely cause more problems than it causes. Imagine if there's a clique, and then someone gets on the "shitlist" of that clique for a petty reason.
One person could also try to open multiple accounts to try to game the voting system. You aren't supposed to open multiple accounts, and we crack down on this when discovered, but this isn't always right away.
That said, it does help when multiple users report the same troublemaker, and give as much detail as possible.
It's best if an administrator directly observes the behavior when it happens, though this isn't always possible.
We do wish to get rid of obvious troublemakers, trolls, and scammers. We also want to strongly discourage obvious, intent, disrespectful behavior. But we don't want to mistakenly remove someone because of petty, minor disagreements.
I agree with all of that, and I guess I’d never take moderator judgement out of the equation, but I’m sure that most of the most obnoxious (but not really breaking site rules) behavior takes place in DM, which (I hope) mods don’t have access to unless shown screen shots. A flagging system for people who aren’t specifically violating site rules but who could also be chasing away users (and the type of user who brings revenue to the site) and generally acting scummy might be useful?
2 years
Would a flagging/report system for obnoxious people work or would that just be abused?
Like if 5 differnt people flag someone for being a pest they get banned?
2 years
The formatting problem for story image/title is fixed now! Thanks!
2 years
Stevita:
Least favorite:
-Gaining accompanied by some truly extreme and implausible health conditions (I get that that's part of the thrill for some readers, but it really shows when somr writers simply have not done their research)
-Fat protagonist who hates their body until a thin person comes along wanting to date them
Both of these for me. If a story is going to be completely unrealistic, it might as well be magic or sci-fi or something that is fun or has a sense of humor (or a sense of horror? I like horror stories, too).
For me personally, I like a dynamic where there is a public side and a private side to the character who’s gaining, so you can have some public uneasiness or embarrassment but in private those emotions can be flipped and embraced. It sets up a character arc sometimes.
2 years
Munchies:
Well, that's when you go see a doctor.
This!
2 years
VonNeumann:
Speaking for myself, I really appreciate the well-written Bohemian Rhapsodies that scratch just the right itch. It has only recently occurred to me to actually, you know, *compliment* or pay for work that I’ve truly enjoyed.
It’s a conundrum— it’s hard to keep going as a creator with no feedback, doubly so when people have hang ups about their fetish / sexual preferences that work against reaching out!
I guess what I’m saying is that I’ll try to make a more active effort to say “hey, I like this, thank you for making it!”
+1
I always try to compliment authors when I like their stuff, especially when it’s high quality or high effort.
I just got a random compliment DM yesterday, actually, and it made my night!
2 years
Occamslaser:
I always kinda figured she just got fed up of writing fucking novels and getting less recognition on the site then wanky drek written by people who don't bother to use spell check.
That being said I also hope shes ok.
Reflection Of Perfection:
Pretty much I've learned that we're trying to write Bohemian Rhapsody when I Wanna Rock N Roll All Nite will do.
Yeah, frustrating, but that’s the game.
2 years
Is there any appetite here for a thread to get into more in-depth constructive criticism of some of the stories here? I was reading the comments of a story today that had a critique and it seemed to me that this might be a more organized format for technical criticism like that.
Could also just take a book club format where we all read one short story a week or longer story a month?
Any interest?
2 years
Quiver:
My partner is also very vanilla so I feel ya. I told him within the first month or two of when we started dating and I highly recommend that, because it only gets harder the longer you keep it a secret. And if they love you, that won’t put them off even if they don’t share it at all.
I try not to go on and on about it because I know he’ll never really get it, but he’s supportive and will indulge me in the little ways from time to time. (It is also always tempting to try to figure out what other kinks you do share in common). Regardless of whether they like any of your kinks, it’s just nice to feel accepted for who you are.
Munchies:
I feel so many people on here get laser focused on feedism that they forget to explore other ways their sexually compatible with their SOs. Or even explore certain dynamics of feedism that isn't explicitly about weight gain.
This doesn't only apply to feedist-non-feedist couples. This applies to feedist couples as well. Because no matter what flavor of feedism you indulge in, there will be times you have to put it on pause. And if your sex life is only about feedism, it'll suffer.
There's also something to be said about vanilla sex as well. Kinks are great, but there's something nice about just enjoying each other's bodies.
Wise words!
2 years
