I’m writing this story and now that I’m thinking about all the ideas I want to put into it, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll make my story private. Do you guys read private stories or does it take the fun out of the story. Or am I making this into a bigger deal then it needs to be and it doesn’t matter if it’s private or not?
If I'm just looking to read sure. Private stories have the advantage that with one author, the plot can develop better. Now back when I was looking for somewhere to write (and was too chicken to start my own), I mostly cruised the public stories. To be honest, if a story sounds interesting enough I don't even look at the mode.
I have never checked if a story was public or private before starting to read it. Usually I prefer private stories for their more consistent quality and style.
I got trough a similiar mindset like you. Wanted to make my story public first, but got too attached and ended up with private. I see nothing wrong with it and i don't think your average reader cares.
Essentially, yes. It depends on your preferences. The more public a story, the more others will add to it (obviously), the more attention it will receive, and the more readers you will have. The more private a story, the less others will add to it, the more control you will maintain, and the more alike your vision it will be. Some are satisfied by a smaller readership (on average) in exchange for something that's completely theirs; others are willing to creatively compromise for a greater audience. You sound like someone in the former group. I also think private stories are better for honing your personal writing skills, if you care about that. The quality of your writing has a lessened effect on the attention you receive in public stories, positive or negative, since many of your readers will be attracted (or deterred) by the work of others. For better or for worse, you're sharing the limelight with others. The only metric that is definitely and inherently boosted by writing to public stories is follower count. If you own a public story with several authors, you are automatically a known member of the community to many, even if you're not very active.
If the story and the threads interest me I don't really mind if I can't add to the story myself. However nonetheless I have found myself gravitating towards public, moderated, private stories in that order. Thinking why that is, personally for this site, I like the CHOYA aspect of stories rather than a single plotted story thread (even if it is actually a good story). Based on experience as a reader I do mentally flag that there are probably going to be less choices to make in a private story vs public or moderated. That said these days I generally do a quick scan of the story map anyway. The other thing I've noticed is that individual Chapter lengths end up being a lot longer in private story. I'm more inclined to read Chapters in chunks rather than a wall of text. So mode doesn't matter as such but they do tend to corrolate towards different presentation meaning I often prefer public. However as a reader I'm approaching this site from the point of view of wanting erotica/porn (with a bit of a story) and lots of variety. Plenty of members are looking for well structured, written and coherent stories. Private probably lends itself better to that (There's a reason there are few novels that have more than one author).
I basically only read, so it doesn't matter much (if at all) to me. Public stories are fun, tho. I love the mishmash and chaos that it can spawn. Unfortunately most branches end up too short.
