Not saying it should be a highlighted thing really on some levels doesn't matter, I enjoy writing in the past i did it more for me and my husband to enjoy, but to write for others enjoyment to dedicate the time and get little to No feedback just makes it feel like why bother, especially on stories that read or look like they were written while someone was running to the bathroom, no content .no build up and the details to make you feel like your watching it first hand get a review like it was war and peace, I know there are clicks and that is what prompts most feed back, but if you or the masses want more and better stories the least they can do is give a damn enough to say nice job or ask why something went a certain way just having us write cause they expect it is rude and doesn't deserve real effort, your 2 cents is appreciated and on some points we are in agreement, I was just comparing Xpacs sight to here cause there was a tighter more fun community where if someone did not pop in after 3 days every one asked if they heard from you, here all it is lurhkers and trilian chatters who use that cause yaho went to crap, if they come here and starea tthe chat room there is a good chance on trillian they will do the same thing and they do, which makes this topic even sadder cause there they can't read the stories lol
I give a great dedication to the craft, and I try my utmost to make stories unique, especially if they're for a commission, so I get where you're coming from. You might not remember this, but I did praise your work in the past, and also have encouraged you to stay as much as possible, yet of course, it's neither meant as an excuse or to validate myself. One thing has happened 3 decades ago, which could have been avoided, if the ones in charge had been honest and admitted, the soaring of the economy that established the titular dream has been fading away ever since others needed less of what they had to offer. In its stead came a "let's be everybody a contractor of self-employer of something and shower that with credit" and it expanded and deepened how commercialization can go. As such, trained smiles and niceties of the service industry have falsely equated that phenomenon with natural behavior, and so it was encouraged to want things unopposed that used to be only acquired by courtship or other human interactions which require effort.
The greatest danger of why bother is unfortunately never boredom, but the economy of lack. Before streaming was a thing that allowed binging, the big networks had to rely on sponsorship from patrons who greatly depended on deeply religious viewers and its counterpart, the lowest common denominator, that so frequently appears in Sandler movies. I do admit to hate-watching 2 CBS shows, one being Scorpion and the other Kevin can wait, two examples where no checks and balances existed between the creators thinking what entertains people and what the larger audience thinks of it.
The problem is not understanding what makes people to binge shows. I get this right out of way, Game of Thrones is a high budget torture and normal porn in a medieval setting, and yet it got so many fans hooked, UNESCO is on the verge of recalling the World Heritage Site title of the Dubrovnik Castle due to overcrowding tourism. Ergo there's need for smut, provided it's done the right way. Of course, the sex, dragons and ice zombies are just the hook to reel readers in, the story would make sense without them. Thus my best writers are the ones who create stories in the fetish genre, that would also be enjoyable if said fetish is taken out.
The reason I can't give up and don't plan to is that I oppose the idea, that fetish sites like these could only or mostly be frequented by testosterone-driven dudes, who'll shout everyone down who doesn't agree with them. Nothing says a work can't represent women to the point they can relate why they would fight a character, nor does it say, that non-majority characters can only appear as somebody to exploit. There's a ton that's yet to be written. Actually, on a different board, in a similar topic, I've also said that the chapter by chapter release of scientific romance (as sci-fi used to be called) or adventure novels were not considered high art. Still, where a lot of kids don't like mandatory literature, there aren't many who haven't heard about Tarzan, or Allan Quatermain, The Lost World and so forth. Heck, the stories of Professor Marston begun as straight up nothing more, but bondage stories, and yet Wonder Woman hasn't advertised as such anymore.
The way I see it, we have the same or similar fetishes, but beyond that, we're different people, so I cannot and will not let myself be defined by it. If I only wrote about how I experience it, I'd trap myself into writing characters mostly only a few can relate to. My foundation is the motive of a character, not how she looks. For example, Helen Mirren has constantly cursed her looks for being judged for that and not who she is on the inside. The so-called Holy Grail, the "touch" to cause a conflict to happen comes not just from understanding human nature, but other factors very much needed for that spark. Getting that right makes a lot of characters and situations relatable and in the process keeps readers interested. The current where we're headed is content produced exclusively for the VR, so the work is cut out, and dull it is not.
