Why so few stories?

[JesusA (imported)]

It might seem like there are quite a few stories being posted of late, but most of these are old, salvaged “wrecks” that Bella has worked hard to recover. They are not new stories. Of course we are glad to have them back, but it should be pointed out that they are not new stories.

Once upon a time, and in a certain place, there were multiple new stories per day posted on the Eunuch Archive. Today, there are relatively few. Why? One important reason might be the lack of support or reward for our authors. When you read and like any story, it’s absolutely anonymous to click on the star ratings. That’s a small reward for authors, but one I know that they appreciate. Better yet is to write a brief comment together with your star-rating. The comments are also as anonymous as your Archive name when you registered/logged in.

I was talking on the phone with Paolo a while ago and he commented that he was completing his story “Now You’re Getting It” for the eight people who were reading it. I decided to do a quick check. The first chapter of “Now You’re Getting It” was posted on December 27th and that chapter now has 16 star-ratings. That was a good day for posting and there are several other stories to compare it with posted on the same day. They received from ZERO to seven star-ratings. That’s not much reward for the work needed to produce a good story.

There are several authors, who were once quite prolific, who have stopped posting works to The Eunuch Archive. This is a shame, and the main reason cited by those that Paolo has kept in touch with is the lack of apparent interest from Archive readers.

If you want more and better stories, REWARD THE AUTHORS! You can do it with a simple click or, better, with just a few anonymous words.

[bella (imported)]

A new one from Nathan just come in, will be posting it shortly.

[gellyfregy (imported)]

Isn't there a functionality that makes a simple count of how many times a story has been opened? I thought it might be the very last line at the bottom of the page, but I just looked at Nathan's new story, which has two star ratings, but the line I thought was a counter still reads '0 - 02/27/2022'. How could those two ratings have been entered unless at least two different people had opened the story? If it worked better, it would offer authors a bit more feedback, e.g. that someone thought well enough of the title in the announcement thread, at least, to want to log in to the other site and look at the story ... (Or maybe authors have access to different statistics than we mere mortals?)

I tend to be too critical, so I encourage authors by NOT commenting. Likewise the star-rating. I'd rather reserve five stars to stories that are really really good, with good plotting, good characterization, good technical standards; easy to read; and full of interesting ideas or characters. But it seems authors think that 4 stars or lower means I judge their story to be garbage. Maybe there could be some guidance as to how to apply stars? If everyone else applies 5 stars to every story they finish, maybe that's the standard the rest of us should use too, even if five stars would mean something else on another site?

[Paolo]

Talula has tried to get hit counters functioning for the stories, and it just won't work. It's a great mystery as to why, but it doesn't. Everything that's been tried just remains at 0, no matter what you do.

[Valery_V (imported)]

I've always admired the EA library.

This is a unique collection of wonderful works of unique authors!

Each work published in the archive is without a doubt, regardless of literary merits, certainly a masterpiece!

It is very important that the authors invest their personal experiences, their deepest and most intimate feelings!

I am not aware of any other publishing house that allows the publication of such works, which so resonate with our souls.

[mandler1 (imported)]

Hi all, as an author I feel I ought to add my two cents worth. First of all Nathan is one of my all-time favourite authors and I always perk up when I see a new posting by him.

Regarding stories, first of all, writing is actually a lot of work, and very often takes a lot of time and inspiration. If you have one, you usually don't have the other.

I've generally written for my own "amusement" shall we say. But I agree it is always nice to see the star ratings and receive comments. Even the negative ones, as I at least know people have read the story and been moved enough to comment on it.

One thing I have noticed is that the vast majority of the comments and ratings are received in the first few days after a story has been posted. Once a story drops down lower on the new story list, the fewer the comments received.

It is always nice to see new authors posting. Keep up the good work guys!

[sakebigoe (imported)]

Not sure if I can really consider myself as an author considering I've only written one story on the archives but I'd like to echo what Mandler is saying. I wrote that story more or less purely for the joy of writing it, I was happy to see it was well received but what's ultimately been preventing me from writing more is a lack of inspiration. Even a very short story like mine is challenging to put together and as much as I've tried none of the new stories I've started spoke to me enough to finish them which can be frustrating. I'm legitimately impressed by any author who writes regularly, It isn't easy.

[attistoC (imported)]

It takes time to create, but also peace of mind. In a troubled world, a world of war, muses listen.

The era of beat, rock, hippies was the last to create art from subculture. There is nothing new in classical music either, no new Ginsbergs are born in literature ...

The world has become flat. Then if this world has survived its own decadence, then it will be reborn. We live in a decadence of legacy eras. In the declining Eastern Roman Empire, the emperor built pagan temples of wood, not marble (Iustinus). They did not believe in their gods, tax revenues waned ...

But I hope the EA Archiv doesn’t follow that. The world of curiosity, desire, fetish is an inner mover. Maybe real eunuchs, post-operative prostate survivors, and their life partners, spouses could publish more about their experiences, their worldview, their changed lives ... And of course, the publications of women, uncastrated men, would mean a lot to the eunuchs about their identity. in terms of strengthening and inspiring them as well. If there is a lot of imagination, there is little real life and little action.

I read from a cancer-surviving eunuch that the biggest change in his life without his testicles was that his thoughts and emotions became one. "You're thinking with feelings, darling," his wife told him. You could have told him, "Write about this in the Arcivum, darling"!

I read stories in any category with interest. But due to language difficulties, I do not undertake writing.

[boingboing (imported)]

I have the germ of a story idea, but I'm going to need to think it through some more before I can properly write it. Has anyone heard from Atreyu69 recently?

[Paolo]

He was banned from this site.