Good plot or good writing?

Another story I've just read, a not-at-all short story this time, contains misused words, rather eccentric language and rambles on for far too long. Possibly the writer doesn't have English as a first language, maybe the work was simply not read through and edited. Whatever, it was very hard going to get to the end. Nonetheless, the plot was excellent.

Uhm... you have me confused here. "Far too many spankings"; what is that? Does such a thing exist?

That was a lame attempt to make a joke, but to follow the intention of the thread; I'd have to say a good plot. Not being a native English speaker, my language is somewhat crude and I tend to misuse words, or just don't get the flow right. I depend on the plots I think up. I do of course adore well written stories, but they also make me cry because sadly I know that I'll never be able to write like that.


Which would probably be a perfect example of my production. Fortunately, many readers here seem to enjoy my stories anyway, which I'm grateful for. This is my fifth year here, which hopefully means that I've improved at least somewhat since my earliest submissions.

Reading a story is kind of like driving...every grammatical error is like a pothole in the road. If there's too many of them, you can't see the scenery - you have to concentrate on navigating, and reading becomes a chore, so that you lose the enjoyment of whatever the author was trying to say, which may well have been pleasurable otherwise. Good grammar is just critically important - that's all!

andromena

Agreed! Good grammar rocks!

I just answered the post about whether I preferred shorter or longer stories and in it I arnswered that I preferred shorter than longer. I've read a couple stories in my time (not here) that as soon as you open the story, it starts out right away... SPANK! SPANK! SPANK! Ugh, I'm like "C'mon, give me a plot, a story, at least a REASON why this person is getting spanked!" I say that I like shorter stories, but I want some involvement, a draw. A previous poster mentioned a desire to be IN that story - YES! Those are things that I think make a good... or great story.

I'd prefer to see both. They don't have to be mutually exclusive.

At least one spanking on every page, often the same girl. She's being paddled in school several times every day, then spanked at home. How is that in any way credible? The background plot, though, is very good and quite moving.

One spanking a page does indeed sound as if there'd hardly be time or space to even move her from one setting to the other, and even less time to describe the spanking. I mean, many of my spankings tend to ramble on over pages before they are done. Too bad the author didn't take time to fill out with words around the idea. I don't mind if there is a problem with credibility as I often read for the sake of the spanking, but I do enjoy it properly described and with a decent build-up. Several paddlings a day sounds as if overdoing it, or it's the lamest paddler ever. I think I might have fallen in the same trap at times though, with multiple spankings at school during the same day in some of my stories.

Sometimes these multiple spanking stories can be enjoyable, if they're not meant to be taken seriously.
One of Juanoneone's stories - 'Bonnie loses her Pants' - has the title character receiving more than thirty spankings in a single day, with the promise of more to come. That would be grim reading if it was treated realistically, but the style of the writing makes it seem 'cartoonish', rather than child abuse.

It's tricky ... that story is definitely one where I liked the concept but not the execution. I do though think that being at school either bottomless or at least lacking trousers/skirt is a common fear/fantasy even for non-spankos, so is a good one to use.

I haven't written a full story for years, but have a couple of concepts I'm thinking about expanding. One is a dream set-up that would be a bit Alice in Wonderland but perhaps more Robin Hood. There would be multiple unfair spankings, but all with a certain roguish charm. The other is a "National Safe Spanking Day" tradition, which would mix some silly fun, e.g. baking cakes in the shapes of bottoms and paddles, with some actual disciplinary spanking - though I would imagine recipients getting two or three spaced through the day, not constant spanking for hours and hours.