kraM said…
Can we have a writer challenge?
My proposal is that readers could submit basic ideas or scenes and then seek a writer to take up the challenge and create an erotic story along those lines. Better yet, maybe photos could be posted and writers asked to develop a story to accompany the photo. Also I think it would be a good idea to have a numbering system so we’d know which piece is being written for which challenge.
___________________________
Note from Juicy Secrets:
We like this concept. While we obviously can’t promise that every idea submitted will be turned into a story, it might be fun just to see what happens. If we do get enough replies to make it necessary, we can set up some kind of numbering system to keep track of everything. Okay, fire away!
___________________________
Second note from Juicy Secrets:
A table has been set up below, as you can see. We’ll continue to add ideas as you submit them. Okay, resume firing!
. . .
| No. | Contributor | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poppabear | Netball practice is after school, and shy 15yo’s Mum phones school to say she can’t pick up daughter as there’s a crisis at work. PE teacher tells Mum not to worry, she will take 15yo home with her and when Mum returns home she will bring 15yo back home. Fill this out and continue from here. |
| 2 | DH | Drama coach (32) and three girls (14?s) gather at the teacher’s home for the weekend to, ostensibly, rehearse for a play. The teacher has two daughters, 12 & 10. The school principal (45) drops by also. FF/fff/gg. |
| 3 | DH | Cheerleading team (28 y.o. coach and six 14 y.o.) van “breaks down” coming back from the state championship (team had lost). Whole gang has to bunk at a motel. Coach and three of the girls already had a mini-orgy a month earlier. They want to bring the other three into the fold. |
| 4 | Denham | A female counselor takes on a departing colleague’s client list and is drawn to a young girl who has been referred for counselling after being caught masturbating to lesbian porn by her shocked mother. The older woman finds herself falling for the girl and ends up teaching her all the ways of lesbian love. |
| 5 | Denham | A professional woman is contacted by the daughter she gave up for adoption years before, and they end up falling in love. |
| 6 | Denham | A young girl discovers lesbian erotica on her stepmother’s laptop. |
| 7 | Denham | A sexy CEO comes home from work early and finds the young daughter of her next door neighbour locked out of her house and standing on her porch sheltering from the rain. |
| 8 | kraM | Someone please write a scene for this pic (a pair of schoolgirls on a bed, one older, one younger, kissing and touching). Who are these two, and how did this come about? |
| 9 | Jennifer | I’d like to read a story about a teenage homeless hitchhiker and the sexy, lesbian businesswoman who picks that girl up. ? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: see “A Girl Named Charlie” |
| 10 | Annon | I found this short little story years ago and saw that it could be used as the base for a whole story universe of stories as it sets it up very well. |
| 11 | CroMom | 32 year old mom won the prize trip to Mexico for two. 14 year old Ivy joins mom. They enjoy every second and for the first time wearing bikinis in front of one another. |
| 12 | Denham | A sexually frustrated single lesbian lawyer is relaxing at home on a rare day off when an adorable little girl scout comes to her door selling cookies. |
| 13 | Michelle | I have a stimulating story idea about a shy bi-curious girl in her mid-teens who lives with her mom. The daughter befriends a lesbian girl from school who is a couple of years older and a more dominant personality… More here |
| 14 | Quinlan | Someone is caught in a sexually compromising situation: Mom catches young daughter masturbating alone or with a friend; young daughter catches Mom masturbating; young siblings caught having sex by Mom/aunt/older sister. Things like that are always entertaining. |
| 15 | saxed | A young mum, X, has to take the bus to school with her daughter as the car isn’t working. On the bus she sits next to another mother, Y, as the daughters who are friends sit on the seat in front. Mum X gets aroused by seeing a flash of panties of the other mother’s daughter. Mother Y notices this and… More here |
| 16 | Amanda Lynn | Young girl enters a contest and wins a day alone with her favorite celebrity — could be a singer, actress, or author.? CHALLENGE ACCIDENTALLY MET: see “Idol” |
Hi, this is Naughty Mommy. I just want to mention that I believe kraM’s challenge to writers is intended not only for the three main authors at Juicy Secrets, but to anyone who feels inspired by an idea that gets posted here. That might be one of us, or it might be one of our other fine authors, or it could be a reader, maybe even you!
32 year old mom won the prize trip to Mexico for two. 14 year old Ivy joins mom. They enjoy every second and for the first time wearing bikinis in front of one another.
I remember reading a story like that. I think it was an English couple.
One of them, can’t remember, needs to have a little adjustment work on her bikini to make it suitable for appearing in public.
Fingers, eyes, nose, lips in close proximity to nipples and pussies …
One of the “Stories by Pam Bennett”?
DH
I like the idea, kraM, and your development of it NM.
I’d like to try, when the ideas are posted, but, as a guy, I do prefer to have a male character in my attempts at erotic fiction.
However, JB does it so very well and maybe I can too.
As a gift to a lovely friend I met here earlier this year how about this as a starting point?
Netball practice is after school, and shy 15 yo’s Mum phones school to say she can’t pick up daughter as there’s a crisis at work.
PE teacher tells Mum not to worry, she will take 15yo home with her and when Mum returns home she will bring 15yo back home.
Fill this out and continue from here.
Another few suggestions …
1. Drama coach (32) and three girls (14’s) gather at the teach’s home for the weekend to, ostensibly, rehearse for a play. The teacher has two daughters, 12 & 10. The school principal (45) drops by also. FF/fff/gg.
2. Cheerleading team (28 y.o. coach and 6 14 y.o.) van “breaks” down coming back from the state championship (team had lost). Whole gang had to bunk at a motel. Coach and three of the girls already had a mini-orgy a month earlier. Want to bring the other three into the fold.
DH
Hey thanks for posting my idea. And yes I do mean anyone may take up the writing challenge. I imagine they all must fall within the genre here.
Pics are only by links correct? We’re not able to post them here.
Yes, links are the best way to offer pics as ideas.
1. A female counselor takes on a departing colleagues client list and is drawn to a young girl who has been referred for counselling after being caught masturbating to lesbian porn by her shocked mother. The older woman finds herself falling for the girl and ends up teaching her all the ways of lesbian love.
2. A professional woman is contacted by the daughter she gave up for adoption years before and they end up falling in love.
3. A young girl discovers lesbian erotica on her stepmother’s laptop.
4. A sexy CEO comes home from work early and finds the young daughter of her next door neighbours locked out of her house and standing on her porch sheltering from the rain.
Just some ideas of the top of my head.
Hi, Denham. It’s interesting that you would propose a story about a female counselor, because a couple of weeks ago I started working on a new story using a female therapist as one of the main characters. 😉 Also, your idea #4 (shown as #7 in the table above) is similar in some ways to a lovely story by cs.unwin called “Falling for Fiona.” Check it out!
Hello Naughty Mommy,
Thank you for the reply and for the tip about “Falling For Fiona”.I have indeed checked out this story already and it is great. If there was one inspiration for the story of the young neighbour girl it would be Jetboy’s wonderful “The Latch Key Girl”. As for later comments about others writing a story about the same idea I think that could only be a good thing. If ten people all wrote a story about a female counselor then they would all be totally unique. I can’t wait to read what people come up with!
Um, I think that what kraM is looking for is already at Sapphicshares.org. At least in regards to photo stories. They also have interactive stories so any wannabe authors could perhaps try and or practive the craft.
I like the concept of the challenge and hope to add my own fantasy scenario to the list of submissions… even take a stab at penning a tale out of one (or two) that caught my imagination — such as #4 on the list. And that brings up a few questions for you, Naughty Mommy (or any admin involved in this writing contest):
– Is it one concept-one author?
– Are we polling to see what idea has the most traction and then whoever wants can submit a story on that idea?
– Can multiple stories be written about the same idea, such as the Therapist fantasy that you and I share a common interest in?
– Lastly, is there a deadline for idea/story submissions, a specific timeline you are looking for or any format that needs to be followed?
I am not trying to overcomplicate things. My life is pretty busy these days and it simply takes me a while to finish writing. Fortunately, I’ve the perfect amount of time for reading 🙂
Thank you for your consistently superior efforts in maintaining this site.
Karen
Is it one concept-one author?
— No, we’d be happy to see multiple stories based on the same concept. That could be interesting!
Are we polling to see what idea has the most traction and then whoever wants can submit a story on that idea?
— Nope, nothing so formal. Anyone can take a crack at any idea.
Can multiple stories be written about the same idea, such as the Therapist fantasy that you and I share a common interest in?
— Yes, of course. Basically the same answer as your first question.
Lastly, is there a deadline for idea/story submissions, a specific timeline you are looking for or any format that needs to be followed?
— Nope, no deadline. This isn’t a contest or anything. Strictly for slippery fun.
Thank you for your consistently superior efforts in maintaining this site.
— You’re welcome!
Wonderful! I shall now get my juices — my creative storytelling juices — flowing.
As always,
Karen
If we get a new Karen Cypher story for Juicy Secrets, then this post will have been a roaring success for that alone.
These two, what’s going on, please write this scene out.
I´d like to read a story about a teenage homeless hitchhiker and the sexy, lesbian businesswoman that picks that girl up! =))
http://www.asstr.org/~leslita/stories/danseuse_de_blonde005.html
i found this short little story years ago and saw that it could be used as the base for a whole story universe of stories as it sets it up very well
Some nice ideas suggested, but I wonder who will be first with a completed story.
Ooooh! Can;t wait! So, hurry up, whoever it is.
You’d think, after all this time, I’d be capable of proof-reading my own comments. Duh!
My main idea was for writers to just write scenes based on pics or short stories based on suggestions. Simply a chapter or two. Perhaps this way there would be more willing to try as it’s less time consuming?
Another idea this time inspired by one of the pictures on this site:
A sexually frustrated single lesbian lawyer is relaxing at home on a rare day off when an adorable little girl scout comes to her door selling cookies.
I have a stimulating story idea about a shy bi-curious girl in her mid-teens who lives with her mom. The daughter befriends a lesbian girl from school who is a couple of years older and a more dominant personality.
The first time that the older girl meets the voluptuous mom she immediately develops a cougar crush on her. The older girl fawns over the mom in front of the daughter, who becomes a bit jealous.
One night, the older girl sleeps over and ends up offering a back rub to the mom after mom has been drinking wine. Mom accepts and the older girl proposes a tandem massage by both her and the daughter. The daughter is reluctant, knowing how her friend feels about her mom, but doesn’t want to let on and make anyone uncomfortable.
During the massage, the older girl pours it on thick, lauding the mom’s beauty, while she makes suggestive sexual gestures to the daughter, who starts to get worked up. The older girl leads the charge and unsuspecting mom ends up getting more than she ever bargained for.
I always enjoy stories where someone is caught in a sexually compromising situation. Mom catches young daughter masturbating alone or with a friend. Young daughter catches Mom masturbating. Young siblings caught having sex by Mom/aunt/older sister. Things like that are always entertaining.
Hi, I read a story sometime ago but can’t find it anywhere now, so if someone could pen it based as follows:
A young mum X has to take the bus to school with her daughter as the car isn’t working.
On the bus she sits next to another mother Y as the daughters who are friends sit on the seat in front.
Mum X gets aroused by seeing a flash of panties of the other mother’s daughter.
Mother Y notices this and starts to molest mother X and instructs her to touch mother Y’s daughter in front.
Mother Y then tells mother X that if she wants to cum then she has to make daughter X watch the action and calls her attention, daughter X is shocked but mother X gets bolder and goes into exhibitionist slut mode spreading her legs wide.
Including fisting and squirting and anything else.
Thank you if anyone can manage this.
Have you tried “Kristen’s archives” lesbian section? Look for a story of mom and daughter going to the movies together.
Without looking I’m not sure if this is duplication, but there is a similar story on one of the links on this page. Bottom right (well, way above this point) Erotica by J E Ashbourne has a similar mother-daughter story about going to the movies, and a sequel. Enjoy
hi, i checked these out, very good tip
thanks
Hi, saxed, glad you enjoyed JEA’s stories. There are some goodies there.
Here’s another tip to a good link.
Right at the end of that list is The World of Letoria.
The author is a good friend, but that is not why I am recommending theses stories to you. I am sure you will enjoy them.
Karen and Laci is a developing novel length story about a teen girl and a 40 something Mum (not the girl’s own) and Island Girls is about slow seduction.
I like the idea of a writing challenge. Reminds me of English class in high school when the teacher would give us a paragraph and we had to write a story from it.
I don’t know how many submissions you have received but a link on the homepage to all the submissions would be great. My story is in the works.
My suggestion for a story is: Young girl enters a contest and wins a day alone with her favorite celebrity. Could be a singer, actress, or author.
Uh… first time I see this challenge page, but this is exactly my new story. Odd.
Hmmm. Have you been reading my mind? 😛
…Maybe.
Are you a slow mind reader? My original post is over two years old.
Hey, it’s difficult, okay?
I check this page often to see if anyone has suggested a new challenge or accepted one but alas am disappointed.
When I first thought about contributing to JS, I wrote down some ideas and in the end ran with ‘Ripples’, not really believing I could write so many chapters and still keep coming up with storylines, and once Jetboy and I started collaborating on it … well, you know how that’s going.
In those early days, I thought I might churn out a handful of chapters for Ripples, so decided to jot down the plots for a couple of the challenges for when Ripples ended (which doesn’t look like being any time soon). In the end, I decided to draft story plans for two of the challenges, hence:
‘Thespian Web’ is based on challenge #2 and ‘Girl Scout Promise’ is based on challenge #12 in the writer challenge list.
The only problem now, is working out when I’ll be able to get round to them, but I’m determined to do so.
I just thought I’d put this out there t revive it in case anyone else feels like taking one on or suggesting some new and hopefully ‘different and original’ challenges.
Here’s a starter for ten – How about someone suggesting a new challenge for a short (one chapter) story that would lend itself to multiple versions by different writers. That way we’ll get to see how different writers interpret and approach the challenge.
Just a thought …
Sapphmore
Hmm story ideas I’d love to have explored… most of my fantasy comes from a crumb of reality. Some notions that have stuck with me for years are
1. I read an article about a trend in mothers taking their grade school girls for bikini waxing. I think it was written just for shock value but there had to be some truth in it to make it into a mainstream article. Someone please write something about this scenario.
2. I have always been outraged that guys get shamed for seeing little girls as sexual but no one says anything about textile manufacturers making things and sexy underwear for young girls. Talk about a double standard.
Any moms want to elaborate on the mixed feelings that come with the cross over from utility based under things to the sexual undertones that come with more provacative lingerie?
3. As a father I have pretend shaved my boys (face) long before they needed a shave. Maybe a pre teen girl wants to ‘shave like mommy’ and moms arousal gets sparked by pretend Shaving her daughters pussy after she insists from watching mom shave hers in the bath.
This is definitely going to offend some people, so your mileage may vary. It’s niche, and not even particularly my kink, but I think it has potential.
Set during an era before the internet, when plush shopping malls were common. An elegant woman, mid forties, takes a break to visit the powder room She spots a young girl of about 13 sitting on bench that faces the door to the powder room. The girl is disheveled, looking as if she might be homeless and hungry.
The woman hangs back and observes the girl staring intently. As each woman exists, the girl darts in for a few moments, then as quickly exits, looking somewhat dejected.
The woman rapidly concocts a plan to befriend the girl, offer her a meal at the food court, then seduce her. However, things take a bizarre turn when she discreetly follows the girl into the room. No one is inside, but the woman can hear some shuffling behind the door of a stall, followed by a strange sucking sound. Knocking on the door, “Honey, do you need help?” and the door flies open, the panicked girls mouth is bloody around the edges, and she runs out of the bathroom and hurries out of the mall.
Puzzled, the woman enters the stall and finds something under her shoe. It is a used tampon, evidently fished out of the disposal container mounted on the wall.
Long story short, the woman stalks out the bathroom for the next few days, and spies the girl again, confronts her. Turns out the girl is homeless, because she has become a vampire, but too weak and timid to kill. She’s been living off tampon blood, barely. The older woman happens to be on her period, and the desperate girl eagerly accepts when she sits on the toilet and opens her legs for the girl to lap and drink. She adopts the girl, and creates a circle of other women to regularly feed the girl.
Yuk!
I’d enjoy a scenario in which a woman seduces a very young and very naive girl to first fondle the woman, then the woman coaxes the girl to gradually get her entire hand inside. Grasping the forearm, the woman uses the girl like a dildo.
Also, a toy story….the woman gets a very young girl to use toys on her mature pussy: clit pump, urethra sounds.
Sigh. The Max Hardcore criminal case had some weird negative effects on porn. Every video bends over backwards with dialog reminding the viewer that the girl “is 18 now” and “I am your STEP mom” rather than actual mom.
Like to read some stories based on the video series Mother Daughter Exchange Club.
Or, a girl discovers that she is adopted, and suddenly can fulfill her desires for her mom.
Mother is planning a visit to her daughter, now a Freshman in college. It’s going to be a surprise, and she gets a nice hotel room near campus. She is a well paid executive, closeted lesbian, and horny that night. She browses an Escort site, and orders a young girl to come satisfy her. Naturally, this turns out to be her daughter, earning extra money.
As I mentioned above, I’ve been jotting down ideas for future stories to write as ideas pop into my head, ready for when Ripples ends (the end of which is in sight), most with a few lines but quite a few with a full very detailed synopsis. Last count was 200 potential stories.
I have two story plans covering the scenarios in your suggestion, one involving two mothers visiting their daughters who discover they are lesbians and … well, you’ll have to wait and see. The other covers the escort daughter, and I have some variants on that theme. Hopefully I’ll have time to start on all the stories soon.
In the gay community, there was/is a practice known as cruising, picking up casual sex partners, often in parks, rest stops, bathrooms.
I’ve no idea, but I guess the cell phone and things like Grindr have totally supplanted this.
Just wondering whether anything like cruising ever existed among women.
I think #16 on the table above was fulfilled with the story Idol and Idol2
Pretty much, but I don’t think No One was accepting the challenge when they wrote that story. I could be wrong though. 🙂
I agree with you. I don’t think it was based on the writing challenge either, and yet it hit the mark, though it so much went beyond that idea.
Yeah, it was a complete coincidence that my story matched Amanda’s idea. Great minds and all that, right? But if you want to state that the challenge was “accidentally accepted” or something, I don’t mind. 😉
I have aspirations to become a writer but I’m no good! Does anyone here have the time to coach or collab with me to write a story? I have ideas but no means of producing quality work. I’m no writer. I’d love some help before bothering JetBoy with my amateur nonsense first! Lol thank you so much to all the writers that work so hard to put out quality stories! My info is on the Stay In Touch forum
Love,
FinalFantasy7Fan
I’d suggest finding a creative writing course, say in an evening class, which many colleges provide at reasonable cost, well certainly in the UK. In the meantime, or alternatively if the cost is prohibitive, you are bound to find books to help in the library.
I used to be a news editor, and the one quality I looked for in a new reporter is the ability to organize information–extract the essence of a story, put the important information first, use quotations in a timely manner. These things, I discovered, cannot be taught. The rest is mechanics. I enjoy working with the writers here, but I don’t have the time or the inclination to mentor a beginner. I second Sapphmore’s recommendation — a creative writing class would be a good call.
Thank you all! I’ve enrolled in my first creative writing class at my local community center! They offer literature and writing classes for $15 a class! Thank you all for your honest feedback. The last thing I want to do is waste anyone’s time or talent on me. I’m gonna do my best to learn what I can and bring my best here.
With love,
FinalFantasy7Fan
Best of luck! I hope we get to read some of your efforts.
I second that, FFF! Always a pleasure to swap emails with anyone with the desire to write.
Here’s something I should have sent you earlier, but better late than never. It’s a few paragraphs of advice I gave to a JS reader who wanted to write. Not as useful as what you’ll get in a gen-you-wine class, I dare say… but it doesn’t cost fifteen smackers, either.
Jetboy’s (Very) Basic Starter’s Guide to Writing Erotica
First off, come up with an idea. Lay out the basics of what happens in the story, from start to finish. It’s generally best not to start a story until you know how it will end… otherwise, you can very easily write yourself into a corner, or take the story in a direction that doesn’t work.
Then decide how you want to tell the story: in first person (from the viewpoint of a particular character, as in, “I woke up one morning…”) or in third person (from an outside viewpoint, as in, “Jenny woke up one morning…”). There are other approaches, but these two are best for novice writers.
Once you’ve come up with a good story idea, the next step is to think about your characters. What are their personalities like? You can very easily base them on people you know, or actors from a movie or TV show. If you develop the characters thoroughly enough, they can practically write the story for you, because you’ll have a solid understanding of how they think, respond and behave in a given situation. Of course, having a character behave in a completely unexpected way can be a very strong choice at times!
It’s better if you let the characters reveal themselves, rather than describing them yourself. For example, if Debbie is selfish, don’t tell us “she was a selfish girl,” but have her, say, refuse to share a bag of cookies with her friends. A crucial writer’s rule: showing is better than telling. Stitch those words onto a sampler and hang it on the wall above your work space.
This is extremely important: use your senses when you write. You’ve got five of them to draw upon, and a huge part of erotic fiction is taking in what those senses have to say. Imagine that Debbie is experiencing lesbian sex for the first time, about to go down on her best friend Amy. Think of how much there is for her to take in – the scent of Amy’s arousal; the wetness and warmth of her pussy; the sight of the rosy, glistening flesh, the sharp taste of it on her lips and tongue and the moist sounds of mouth against cunt, accompanied by Amy’s moans. You can write an entire sex scene based on those five senses alone! And that’s only one part of Amy’s body – think of what you could write about her hair, her tummy, her breasts, her ass…
The absolute best way to learn how to write is to read a lot yourself. You’ll pick up interesting words and turns of phrase, along with ideas about how to create. Reading bad stuff is also useful, as it shows you the kind of things to avoid.
There are two books that will not only help you write better stories, they will also make your emails, letters and office memos seem more intelligent than those of nearly everyone you know. They are Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner, and Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, both available for chump change through Amazon. Both are charming, entertaining and very instructive reads that, if you learn and follow their advice, will make your writing flow as smoothly as buttermilk.
One final piece of advice… write every day, even if it’s only a single sentence. The more you write, the better you get at it.
P.S. Jacqueline Jillinghoff makes a solid point just below, one that shouldn’t be forgotten: breaking the so-called Rules of Writing is a big part of the author’s great adventure.
At one time or another, I have broken every single one of these rules.
I see two possibilities here.
You say, ‘I’m no good’ and ‘I’m no writer’. Either you underrate yourself and therefore could write but need to learn some of the techniques of storytelling.
Or, in truth, you cannot write. If the latter is true, then I see no point in trying.
It’s kind of like us two. My sister understands engines etc. She fixes most things that don’t require major workshop equipment. Me, I wouldn’t have a clue where to start. I might wish I did, but accept that I never will.
There are other sites that accept poorly written stories where JS would not. It’s where our early writings went. But, we learned from what the critics told us and we improved.
I suggest if you believe that you want to write … then write. Get it posted on one of the lesser sites and see what reaction you get. If you can’t do that, then you’re on a non-starter.
As others have indicated, writing is a skill you either possess or don’t. That perhaps sounds harsh, but the fact is, if you don’t have at least some degree of innate talent, you’ll probably never be a good writer. Although, as Jacqueline says, you can always improve on the mechanics of writing and get a little better that way. That said, some very bad writers *have* become very successful. Maybe that’s a testament to the fact that you can be a good *storyteller* but not necessarily a good *writer*.
In regards to talent, though, erotica is a strange genre. Many readers will forgive sloppy writing as long as they’re still able to get off to it.
When I started writing during one of the COVID lockdowns (see what a veteran writer I am?!), I purchased some books on grammar and punctuation, and that was quite helpful. I also made an effort to read more, because reading is absolutely essential to any writer. If you don’t read, you can’t expect to be a competent writer, simple as that. Beyond that, just write. Write lots.
You may in fact be a better writer than you give yourself credit for. Write something and submit it to Juicy Secrets. Dare I say it, but some of the material that arrives on JetBoy’s desk is not top shelf writing by any stretch of the imagination. The work he has to do to make some of those stories publishable goes way beyond the norm for an editor. The published draft is often quite different from the raw submission.
Being a relatively new writer myself, I’m not sure I have any business giving advice. But there it is anyway.
FFVII was one of my favourite games back in the day, by the way. These days, Baldur’s Gate III is my new obsession.
Or try this, it’s right here on this site.
https://www.juicysecrets.club/writing-advice/
go to the main page heading, move to blog and writing advice. I didn’t think I was much of a writer either.
Oh, yes, I’d forgotten there’s a whole blog on writing advice here. Good call, Purple.
As both BlueJean and Kinky_sis have put it, ‘writing’ has different elements. Telling a story is one thing, and that requires ideas and imagination, and it helps knowing what you like to read. An ability to organise and plan is also very useful, even if, as often happens, you veer off in a different direction when something just pops into your head. At the other end, there are the mechanics of grammar, punctuation, and not forgetting spelling. In the middle there is technique, and here is one area that new writers, even if they have a good story and are also competent in the mechanics, can fall. I found it was little things like how many ways you can describe a body part or actions without being repetitive, do the words I’m using actually fit with the age and character of the person saying them, and believeable enough.
I can’t claim to be an accomplished writer by any stretch of the imagination, having only had one story posted on JS. As I said in the preface to Ripples, I was used to writing reports, especially long project documents, risk assessments and the like, and am actually a bit of a stickler for the mechanics at work, but I found that fiction requires another level and I made so many errors in those early days (I’ve no doubt I do still make some mistakes, but Jetboy fixes them) but getting the constructive feedback was a great help. He once asked me to critique a submission and I think expected a shortish assessment, but it was so bad I got carried away highlighting every single facet that made it poor. Nowadays, I hope I have a much better handle on how to write well, but tha doesn’t mean I don’t still make those same errors, and there are many authors to JS who are in a different league, and I know I have a long way to go before I reach that level.
The bottom line is, do all the things we’ve suggested here, and you may find you have stories people would read, but need work honing the other skills, just like you do for any job or hobby. Each time something is wrong or doesn’t work, learn from it and work on it. Just remember to enjoy it.
Sorry I omitted mention of JJ, but I think it also demonstrates that attention to detail, a trait I’m supposedly very good at, is another of those techniques required and this aptly shows I can still make such errors.
I am devastated.