I feel like whenever I put down a chapter hoping it'll inspire someone or even just let them give some feedback, all I get are likes and favorites. Which is fine, but doesn't really add anything. What's a good way to get people to actually add something to a story?
Hey there Piltheser. In my experience, the best way to get comments is to simply ask for comments. It doesn't have to be particularly obtrusive, just maybe a little message at the bottom of your introduction, or even a comment on your chapter asking for more comments. Besides that, I have found that if you regularly update your story, over time you'll begin to develop a community of regular readers, and they will be more inclined to discuss your story than new readers. Proof of point, I didn't get my first comment until several weeks after my story went up, and I was updating it every day back then. As for getting people to add to a story, that will also come with time. Once again, in my experience, people respond to activity. If your story is well-maintained, and they see you actively engaging with your readers, they are far more likely to approach you about writing for your story. Hope that helps.
Real feedback outside of vague "Likes" and "Favorites" are pretty rare. As "bastardlydastard" said, it's when you develop regular readers that you might get some more in-depth criticism or opinions. If you find that every time you add a chapter, one of your fans keeps giving it a thumbs up, maybe you should try messaging them. They may even have creative suggestions you can use for future works! For other authors adding, you could try collaborating with others that have similar interest. LiteraryLover is a great author and he contacted me and several others to help on a free-use story that he wanted to create. Most of them didn't respond, but I was honored and it's something we're still working on. A bit of a joint side project that we contribute to when we have time. You may even try "trading" chapters, where you write a chapter for one person's story and they write one for you. I've never done a trade (since all my stories are private), but I'd imagine it works best if the two of you have very similar interests.
Interact supportively with writers of chapters for other stories. Start a forum thread in "Story Feedback" for your story, talk about what you like and you're interested in. Comment on stories you like. If you like the author's work, invite them to check your story out. Add chapters to stories you like. Comment on your own chapters with ideas for directions to go. Comments are rare. You will need a roaring readership like one of Duskford or Hematoma's top stories to generate much feedback. Comments on a "Story Ideas" forum thread seem to be more frequent -- folks are more engaged. (You can move a forum thread from "Story Ideas" to "Story Feedback" if you like, after publishing the story, by using "Report Thread" and asking a moderator to move it over). Good luck and happy writing! It takes a while to build engagement. Even a prolific veteran writer might not get much. -Z.
And a note of sympathy. I see your only story commenter seems to be a longtime contributor who has made it his business to be pointedly negative.
Or, you could fill your story with a bunch of uber-obscure references, that only a few people will get, but which will make them instantly sympathetic to you. Case in point, Luka32 earned my readership and undying loyalty by referencing Legend of the Galactic Heroes in The Statue of Jocasta ( https://chyoa.com/story/The-Statue-of-Jocasta.11165 ) It´s cheap as fuck, but it works lol
Very rare, even with a lot of readers, it seems that I have to post like 10 chapters to get a comment other than 'nice', 'cool' or something similar. It's difficult to say what makes a reader decide to drop a comment; nowadays it seems I only get comments when I make a really long chapter with a really long sex scene, or when there's a really big event in the chapter, or even when I do something so bad that the reader feels compelled to comment just to point it out. To attract contributors it's even harder. I guess your story has to have a combination of compelling characters, the right setting and a LOT of open-ended threads and possibilities to make writers want to jump in (the first two go hand-in-hand together; for example, I had a lot of contributions and feedback on my story "At the Cabin", but stories with the same group of characters in different places didn't generate too much interest). You basically have to create an attractive sandbox for others to play with the toys you created and give them freedom to do whatever they want with them. Other than that, you can start a quest story, then you're guaranteed to get a few comments.
As somebody who EXCLUSIVELY adds i might be able to shine some light on this. Keep in mind that i am just one person though. The things that i keep my eyes out are threefold: Setting: Does this have something i want to contribute too? Is the world interesting? What are the tools the author defined? What can I do with these tools? What is the base and how would I add my own spin to it? Writing Style: Is the kind of story the authors has told so far in a direction i want to go as well? Would I derail a Sci-Fi BDSM Story with a sudden turn of Criminal Romance for instance. What is the narrator used? What are the guidelines he has set for additions? Author: Is the main author active? Can I turn to him for clarification? Does he read my submissions or simply click Yes/No? Is there communication that can be established? At least one of these has to really work out for me to be even interested in adding to story. If not, i turn elsewher. Settings are not unique and neither are characters. Everything is bendable. At the same time if an author doesn't tell me where my story leaves the realm of his creative framework i become disappointed. I hope this makes some sense. Best tip i can give for people that are adding: Keep in contact with them. Discuss their latest chapters from time to time. Not much, unless their ask for it, but show them that there are certain things you don't think is okay in your narrative. Boundaries are important. Might just be me though.
As a person who adds at least as much as he creates, I have a few tips too: 1: make it clear, right off, that adding is OK! I cannot remember all the times that I have gone to add to a story, gotten to the page where you write the new chapter, realized that there are no contribution guidelines and said "... on second thought, maybe not..." Similarly, the number of times I have waffled about even looking at a story, so much as opening the first page then noticed a little aside from the author in title or subtitles such as (Adders Encouraged!) and thus chosen to look, knowing that should I be moved to contribute, it would be welcome, I cannot give a proper account of. 2: Do not rely on others to develop your story. If your story is not inspired and inspiring enough to keep your own interest, it certainly will not be for anyone else. There are a handful of 'Angel Writers' such as myself who pick up tired and neglected stories and breathe fresh life into them, but we are a rare breed, and fickle. We may add for a day, a week, a month even, but if the story doesn't gain an audience and take off, we tire, the muse leaves us, and we abandon the work to fall asleep once more, waiting for the next person to find their inspiration in it. The only person who can and will keep your story strong and vibrant is you. Be prepared to add to it for a long time, several chapters a day at least: keep it visible, keep it on the front page: and do so LONG after it has ceaced to be a "New Story"... 3: Expect to have to refuse chapters. If you are an author, or even editor, on this site people WILL insist on submitting chapters that: A: don't make sense in English (and, I would infer, in Hotchduitch, Francas, Espanol, Nihongo, Guoyu, or Russkiy,) B: Are of such low quality that they should be embarrassed to have written it, C: violate the T.o.U. or D: are in contravention of your stories submission guidelines. You MUST, at that point, refuse to allow this in your story. If you allow yourself to be swayed into publishing that kind of garbage by pity or a misguided sense of obligation you will lose all credibility and no serious authors will write for you thereafter. Hope that helps!
I think It´d also be kind of interesting to know when the busiest time on the site is, so that we can decide to publish a chapter when it´s most likely to be seen by as many people as possible or least likely to be swamped by a whole bunch of other new content. Y´know, just so we can metagame a bit
I did a totally scientific analysis this weekend, by writing and publishing a few chapters, and checking from time to time how long the related story would stay on the front page. So i can now say with absolute certainty: The last sunday evening (CET - central european time) appeared pretty busy. At times the stories wouldn't stay on the front page for even two hours. Stories updated Sunday morning stayed on the front page far into the afternoon, like 5 - 8 hours sometimes.
This means the activity of writers. To determinate when the most people would see the story it would also be necessary to know when readers are most active.
I find one thing that can encourage or discourage someone to add to your story is the ending question. If you say. Does he jack off? Then there are only two choices and no one is going to add the don't jack off branch for you. If you leave the finishing question like. Keep watching, jack off, enter the room, walk away. Then it opens up a whole bunch of branches. The more options at the end of a thread the more likely someone might add to it not to mention the more it branches out. This is a really rough guess but most of the readership and viewership from what I can tell depends mostly after work hours picking up after four eastern time and dropping off around twelve with the peek periods around eight to ten. right now a little after noon the stories are being updated hours apart. If I post a thread around midnight I will usually wake up the next day to see it got a ton of hits from those west coasters or early birds.
