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I have noticed that the stories being written in The Home That Love Built universe are receiving considerably fewer hits and comments than I feel they deserve. Are they not exciting enough? Are they TOO full of emotion? Do they perhaps, strike too close to home for most of you? Am I expecting too much?
Please understand, I am not complaining. I never dreamed that the quality of stories written for my fledgling universe, my dream, would nearly as good as it is. To me, they embody exactly what I hoped for, very real, very emotional, very very professionally written and marvelous studies in what is, not what we wish it to be.
I understand if they are TOO real for many and if that's the reason for the low hit totals, I can deal with that easily. What saddens me is that the stories are wonderfully written, with engaging characters and have remained true to what I asked of the talented authors who, so graciously and skillfully, have portrayed the stark reality of the world we live in, yet are almost consistently in the lower hit totals.
I am NOT begging for more hits. I am merely wondering why this is so and if there is anything I can do, or ask from the authors, to improve their counts. I feel responsible since I am the one who came up with the idea for the universe and asked for others to join me in my dream of a place for T-girls and T-guys who have become homeless or have lost everything, where they could rest, recover, learn, grow, and put their lives back together in an atmosphere of love and understanding. Speaking of reality, we have one of our own facing just such a situation of being made homeless, Jengirl.
I want to, again, thank from my heart, the authors who took up the challenge of writing something real... sometimes frighteningly real. I know that most of TG fiction is wish fulfillment and fantasy, and maybe the thought of facing what is, instead of reading something that offers a sweeter or better view of being TG is the answer to my question. Certainly life has been unkind to say the least, to many of us and we might prefer our reading materiel be more entertaining or less scary.
I also thank those who HAVE read, commented and, until recently, voted for, the stories. My aim in starting The Home That Love Built universe was two-fold. First, to bring to fictional life a dream of mine, and many others, of a place like it. My second purpose was to, hopefully, implant the idea of such a place, in the mind of one of us who might be fortunate enough to win a big lottery, or who might have the financial and other resources that would make such a place, real. I know that might seem very Pollyanna-ish, but I know of no other way it could happen.
Thanks for reading this blog entry, and I do seriously want your responses, good or bad. Should the universe continue? Or should it just quietly go away? Can the stories be improved to have more interest in them? Should they be improved? CAN they be improved? I've done very little in my life to really make a difference and maybe my hopes that this universe will make any difference at all in real life are silly and unrealistic.
Hugs and love,
Catherine Linda Michel
Comments
Sure the Universe should continue Catherine!
Huggles Catherine
Angel
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"
I've said this before, but it bears repeating
...it has and continues to be a supreme privilege to add my contributions to your universe. Any number of factors could explain the 'low' hit count. From my perspective, if even ten percent of the folks that have read our stories connect with what you are trying to accomplish, we will have succeeded. These stories, as grim and sad as they can be at times, also demonstrate that there is hope and joy as well. The universe in which our Home resides is one of tentative renewal and restoration...one heart at a time, as someone wrote recently. Yes, the stories contain death and loss and grief, but they also contain new birth and romance and love as well.
To hope to make a difference is neither silly or unrealistic; it is the fiber of our beings...the core of our existence. To say that you've done very little in your life to make a difference is belied by the profound impact that your vision has had on my life. I am a better person for having known you, and that is making a difference indeed. Thank you.
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Con grande amore e di affetto, Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Reality
Dealing with reality is probably not an issue. Some of the topics I touch on and the way I deal with them have never effected the number of people who read my stories. If anything, I have received a fair number of thanks from veterans and others who had friends or relatives who endured the cruelties of war, expressing their appreciation for the way I portrayed it. It is the way that reality is weaved into the story line that makes all the difference, for gratuitous violence or graphic descriptions just for the sake of getting a rise out of the reader is useless. When gut wrenching reality is introduced into a story line, it must be done for a purpose and with a deft hand, otherwise the description can easily overwhelm its intent.
As to contributing to "The House that Love Built," I had once suggested to Persephone while we were working together that we add a story that related to our joint project. She didn't think it would be a good idea since the working title I came up with was;
Somehow she didn't think it was what you had in mind.
That being said, I wish you and all those who contribute luck in your endeavor. It is an excellent exercise, especially for those who are just starting out writing and need a theme upon which to build.
Nancy Cole
www.nancycole.org
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
lol
OMG.
Kim
"The House that Love Build, but Alfhildr Sacked"
Um... yeah... you're probably right Nancy. That title probably wouldn't fit within the framework of what I was really after, but it is an interesting title... uh... well...
Cathilynn
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
I enjoy this series immensely
You sound awfully down. I hope everybody that reads your series takes the time to comment and encourage you. I find myself feeling more hopeful whenever I read one of the stories. I especially like Theide's stories, but they're all pretty encouraging. Thank you and I hope to see more authors contribute as well. Belle
I love this series
even though its a tough read sometimes, its always worth it. I wish i could contribute, but my brain tends toward magic/sci fi stories, and I dont know if I could write a real world story worthy of the universe you have created.
The stark reminder upon which escape is based
Catherine,
Might I offer a simple thought? 'The House that Love Built' has been one of the inspirations of why I have chosen to write fantasy tales like 'The Frozen Balance'. Only in knowing the brutal reality can we honestly offer the escape of fantasy. Without 'The House that Love Built' we would all be the poorer.
Persephone
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Yeah, for me
Yeah, for me it is hard to read them. I have had too many people die when I was with them since 1965, and I do not deal well with it anymore. Some of them seemed resigned to it and others actively fought to live to no avail, others were in such pain that they looked forward to the peace of death. And of course, I couldn't help them other than being by their side, and that feeling of powerlessness is wearing. Then there is an element of unreality in that often there is some sort of sweet reapproachment in the stories that I have not seen happen in real life, rather the passing without family caring or in some cases even knowing. In some other cases, the death of the individual caused the split of the family, as blame was assigned, often unfairly from this outsider's view. I guess I wish that RL was more like the fiction but it is hard to see the fiction in light of past experience.
CaroL
CaroL
Bill Shakespeare was not only a brilliant writer...
...he was a brilliant writer who knew how to sell his work. That's the reason we know his name, rather than the countless other brilliant writers since whose work died with their name. So if you can't sell your work to others, it doesn't matter how good it is, it's not going to be read.
Quite simply, if you're not getting enough hits, it's nothing to do with quality or excitement or emotion, it's to do with presentation.
I have just searched on your universe and scanned down the list of titles, pictures and synopsis. I invite you to do the same and ask yourself what there is which screams out, "READ ME!"
To be frank, many of the titles such as "Sara's Story Chapter 1 - A Home That Love Built Story" are quite bland and do nothing to excite me. In particular, including the universe in the title make it appear I have to have prior knowledge of the universe before attempting to read the story. So essentially, you are limiting readers to those few who have already read a previous story in the universe. If you want to expand your readership, you need to make each story complete in itself - then you can remove the universe name from the title and open it up to all. Make your stories inclusive, not exclusive!
Many of the synopses tell me nothing or simply put me off. I feel that, for far too many stories on BC, the synopsis is something dashed out whilst inputting the story to the site - the most important few words of the story knocked out in five minutes! I bet Shakespeare didn't do that!
The titles by Angelina Marie Abruzzi have exquisite artwork, which must have taken many hours to produce, and which speak of incredible anguish. But I have to say that a story about anguish does not attract me. Is there really no hope or happiness in the story which could be portrayed?
If what I see is NOT an accurate representation of the stories, then that is the problem which is giving you low hits - a problem which is easy to address.
On the other hand, if you feel it is an accurate representation, that you want to make your stories exclusive rather than inclusive, that the stories are all about anguish, then I think you have to accept you are writing for a minority audience. There's nothing wrong in that, and nowadays, that's what most "quality" authors seem to do. But there is no point in becoming frustrated by not achieving the same huge hit counts as are obtained by authors who choose popular subjects.
I hope these comments are useful and not too blunt.
It's Not the Steak You Sell, but the Sizzle
If you would like to see how to write a synopsis that will sell your story, read the those Erin writes for hers.
Also, you might want to go over the first five hundred words of each of your stories. Are you asking a blunt story question that will make the reader want to stick around to find out the answer? Are you hooking the reader by appealing to all the senses?
I have no idea what appeals to the TG masses. Recently I read a "story" on FM, because of a comment the author made on the message board. The story was posted in 2004. It is complete garbage that has no plot, zero character development, offered nothing in the way of motivation explanation, and lacked in anything approaching believability. Yet - it garnered 53 comments - some appropriately negative, but others very positive..
I had stories on FM that didn't get even one comment. Of course, my stories weren't written to be read one-handed. Maybe I do know what it takes to be successful writing TG stories.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Does It Matter?
This is a form of vanity press. No one is getting paid to do it. It's for you, for the pleasure of doing it, for the pleasure of seeing your work exist after your act of creation. If this is something you want to write, then you should do it. You are the beneficiary. Would you sacrifice this to do something you didn't truly want to do, only to please others? If so, that would be foolish, imho.
"To thine own self be true."
I could talk about my own feelings about the series, but seriously, who cares? Do what you gotta do, Hon!
It matters
But Pippa, you've missed out probably the most important reason for publishing on this site: so that other like-minded people can enjoy your work. I spent many years simply writing for myself, and I now feel a much greater sense of achievement knowing that others enjoy my writing.
So does it matter whether anyone reads and enjoys your work? You bet it matters.
I can't add much to the advice others have given, except to say that I rarely read a "universe" story simply because of the learning curve needed to start reading. Some have suggested that my Seacombe stories are a universe, but I always try to ensure that every story is complete in itself. As such, it doesn't need to be a universe.