When you rate a story, is it subject matter, literary quality or both?

Quote by Stormdog


That could be the "Yes, but you can do better" syndrome. Like when you were a kid in school and the teacher wouldn't let you skate by with less than your best effort while others got to take shortcuts, it could be that the moderator recognized that your story was solid, well-written, and had great potential, but certain errors would distract from the effort if not fixed. On another story - one of those plotless, shallow, here a fuck, there a fuck, everywhere a fuckfuck type of stories- a few mistakes don't distract as much because the typical reader's eyes are bouncing around or rolling back in their head while they jerk off anyway.

Don't get me wrong - those have a place because some readers are just looking for quick all-sex stories, and even on those we won't let them get too sloppy or careless - but if you've worked on creating characters, plot, a story arc, scene-setting, etc, why mess it up with a handful of careless, unnecessary errors? Just a thought...

For me, I definitely tend to gravitate to certain categories and story types, and to some extent, certain authors. Still, as moderators we read everything under the sun while we work on verifying stories, and I'm often surprised at how much I've enjoyed a story in a category I'd normally never read. The quality and care and thought and effort given to the story by the author make a world of difference for me.

Quote by sdsioux


You bring up an excellent point I never thought of before. Force you to comment and not respond.

Quote by Dancewithme
I enjoy non-formulaic, original content, made more manifest with painstakingly perfect form. I don't think the two can be separated. When that fusion of matter and form (to use an old description) event, they can deliver a potent impression. But when both are superlative, they can transcend by "leaping off the page, and embedding themselves into the memory. That is what I hope will happen when I begin reading a piece. The famous stories I have read here, have something about them that stays with me. I believe only those who have such "talent" to deliver that now and then in their work can know the humility and very, very hard work and practice it took to deliver work like that!! I applaud them as best I can as a token of thanks for such beautiful gifts. Great work humbles me.

I particularly appreciate original concepts and ideas, not just the bog standard 'boss fucks employee'/ 'uncle fucks niece' tropes. I saw one a while back which I loved written from the POV of an actual fly on the wall!

I guess firstly, I'll judge a story by the category/title. If it doesn't seem like something that will appeal, I'll give it a pass. Next, I'll check out the word count. Generally (this is just my preference) if an author can't string together at least 2K words, it's not likely to engage me. That's just to get me to click on a story.

As I start reading, an author who has absolutely no grasp on the basics of grammar and style will get me to immediately back out the way I came in. Then I look for narrative voice - does the narrator sound like someone I want to spend time with? Crafting a compelling narrative voice (i.e. the way you tell a story) matters a lot to me. Great authors spend a lot of time developing their own unique voice. Novice authors often shamelessly imitate others (look, we all started here at one point or another, so I can't really throw too much shade. Just hope they grow out of it eventually), and really shitty ones don't think about it at all. But keep in mind that the narrator is just as much a character you need to build as any other character in the story.

Speaking of which, characters need to be believable and engaging. I look for some sense of motivation behind their words and actions - why are they saying and doing these things. Do they possess a depth and interiority or is it all surface NPC behavior? Has the author been lazy in reducing motivation to basic impulses or character traits - e.g. "They were horny, so they fucked" or "He was stupid, so he fell for her tricks." - or have they worked to develop a richer and more nuanced psychology tracing the path from cause to effect (or its reverse)?

Likewise, I look for some sense of circumstances (i.e. plot) that both explain and create a sense of momentum towards the conclusion. There needs to be a clear and necessary through-line that can be drawn from the start of a story to the climax. When the conclusion seems disjointed from the rest of the plot (e.g. a story that has been about saving the whales takes a random left turn into a sex-scene without warning or explanation), it feels very jarring. Some stories just start inexplicably with sex, but it feels like an unearned reward for characters I know or care little about. And there are others that wind and meander through irrelevant details and episodes that contributed nothing to the conclusion and could have been safely cut from the final draft except the author's ego got in the way. Worst of both worlds are those that waste the readers time before making a random left turn into unearned sex. In short, I'm looking for some sort of conflict or challenge that characters need to work through to get what they want.

If a writer can do all that AND I enjoy their story (all of the above was about ways to guarantee I won't like it, but still no guarantee that I will), they may get a 'like' or comment from me.

Once the scenario, dialogue and characters are fun, I'm good. I can enjoy an academy award nominated level story or a summer blockbuster 🤷‍♂️.

That said, laundry lists make me run for the hills.

You can't disentangle the elements like this. Story IS subject matter IS literary merit. They all bleed into each other. It's ALL about story.

There’s no formula, and it depends on the quality of writing, the familiarity with the author, the depth of emotional involvement and certainly the hotness of the buildup and the sex.

And yet it is simple. Do I like the story?

A Like is certainly more likely from me in certain genres or situations that tend to appeal to me anyway, in which I may be more willing to overlook a few flaws if I find myself getting turned on. It’s also more likely if it’s a familiar author whose works I have Liked in the past.

It’s less likely in genres that tend to be active turnoffs for me (dom/sub, ), and yet I have Liked quite a number of stories with subject matter that tends to repel me, because they were very well-written. In other words, I still like the story despite the subject matter.

The biggest deal-killer for me in terms of Liking a story is poor quality writing with significant grammatical errors (such as writing “discrete” when you mean “discreet,” a current pet peeve), repeating the same thought multiple times or using the same word for something over and over again when plenty of synonyms are available. That makes a story much harder for me to Like, though not impossible if it’s incredibly hot otherwise.