Ending a story?

I've got lots of time for an author who builds up characters and plotlines although the modus operandi of this library stipulates that SOME spanking is expected somewhere along the line! So you can't expect to hide the dirty bits until page 339 or volume 17.

There's a difference between a spanking story and a story with spanking in it. It all has to do with set up, plot, characters, and how the story is crafted.

There is no bigger fan of Exchange Student than me. I think Maria's story was well told in, what was it, 22 chapters and reached a satisfying conclusion. The non-spanking spanking towards the end of the story of her 'sister' 'with her bikini bottoms down' is my favorite all-time paragraph from this library and I return to it often. Unfortunately with that particular chapter labeled 'talk only - no spanking' I'm sure many readers passed it over. The continuation of Maria's story was also good but for me it wasn't the same as when the narrative was about her own state-side 'family'. I say keep writing about her as long as you have a story to tell that keeps your interest. Timing can be everything and I think sometimes a story can be quickly lost as newer tales get the first page coverage. I don't think that comments and views is necessarily indicative of quality of story but has more to do with the preferences of a kinky audience. But if you don't write to please yourself - well you're probably not going to write at all and when you do you're not going to be a happy camper.

I have found this topic and the replies very interesting and informative.
The one point I would make is there are a number of sub genres in this library, ie consensual adult, domestic discipline, romantic, judicial, child and teen, M/F, F/M to name a few. It has to be remembered that some readers will not even open a genre that doesn't interest them.
All I can say is that on this site we write mainly for our own pleasure, but if lucky due to LSF publications, we may make a little welcome pocket money.
As to advice about ending stories, I wish I knew. Sometimes the mood strikes and I write like the wind, but frequently other life events intervene and stories are left unfinished-at least six. There is a temptation to push a story too far, but hey, to paraphrase an old sixties song-"It's my story and I'll write what I want", within the boundaries of acceptability of course.
So my advice is to enjoy your hobby and be guided by your own instincts, but be careful that you don't progress to absurdity.
I would largely ignore the number of reads and particularly comments, unless the reads become extremely few. Unfortunately commenting in particular seems to have changed. The nature of this Library has evolved greatly since its inception, and the old 'clubby' atmosphere has I regret largely disappeared.
If anybody can tell me how to finish some of my admittedly possibly too verbose stories I should be most grateful. A hew years ago I seemed to find the time while working to rattle through a story and end them easily, largely composed while walking my dogs. Now even in retirement is it just approaching senility and acute arthritis and family health worries and other hobbies that seem to prevent it?

I think once you write a number of stories you subconsciously start setting expectations for yourself. I'm well over 400 stories with the ones I haven't submitted yet. In the beginning it was just a sense of accomplishment to actually finish a story, regardless of how good or bad it was. Some of my early stories were creative, some were formulaic, and a few were cringe-worthy that I never would have submitted if I'd written them now. I've got a few that are well over a year old but will probably never appear on this site; I'm just a lot more selective now about what I actually submit.

But after you've run through multiple versions of every plot device you can think of, it's challenging to come up with that 'ta-da' finish to wow the audience with. Readers might be happy to just see anything new from you, but you get hung up with 'paralysis by analysis' trying to come up with the perfect ending. I've got 3 stories right now that are 95% written, but I'm hung up on their endings so I'd rather just work on something new and shiny instead of bucking down and coming to resolutions.

Thanks mj, you have described the situation exactly in your last paragraph.
However I am now determined to finish some of the better ones.