If You Half-Ass a Story, Can It Still Come Out Well?

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I just wanted to show off my profile pic look at it! Look at it! I’m just playing, on to the topic.

I feel like a lot of the stories that I’ve read on trending or whatever are half-assed, but are they well-done and are they even half-assed in the first place? If they are half-assed, why do people try to pass it as well done or as revolutionizing when I’ve seen this plot at least a billion times with the same kind of characters and storytelling! I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do whatever you want, but at least put some passion and creativity into it. Yeah, they might be popular (this isn’t me complaining about my reads I’m just observing, I don’t beg for attention or reads), but isn’t the point of popularity to use it to give powerful, compelling messages? Do you think a story someone doesn’t put any effort in can still be good because the author is just that good? Or do you think that not putting any effort just won’t cut it for you? Do you think anything else? Don’t come at me, I just want to hear(read) your thoughts. Oh and take chill pills, people, this is civilized or something.

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Haha- Love the way you presented this. I agree I see the same “Bad boy” plots over and over with the same kind of characters. I wish more stories that have a new fresh Idea with a good message would be promoted and looked at.

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Thank you and I agree with your point too. The bad boy idea is always used over and over (even I’ve used it).

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Yeah I have done the same in some of my unfinished stories. :sweat_smile:

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I think personally that stories involving gangs, pregnancy, bad boys are over used my stories are yes a cleche gang/mafia story but it’s different in a sense that he’s a Mafia King and she’s a Mafia princess.

It’s slightly different and it’s a family each member has there own story.

The first story is released in July and the second in August

Cleche gang/mafia story with a twist

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I understand, but some stories just don’t have messages at all. Everyone does what they want, but people sometimes don’t care about their work to the point they don’t actually want to write it, but just want some kind of security found in Episode out of all things.

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Yeah, they come out pretty quickly sometimes.

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Personally I think that authors with a big/popular following should help small authors who can’t get anywhere

A small author with a bad boy/gang story should get noticed rather than always the popular authors

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I mean yeah I agree to a certain extent, but no one is ever obligated to do anything. I don’t know who should and shouldn’t get noticed, but I’d love it if small authors did have more exposure. I also think that a good story is a good story no matter the popularity of who wrote it.

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Ok.

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I don’t mention much because I don’t want to be bullied

But

Definitely stories that are all the same should be put into a category

I.e

Gang
Bad boy
Fantasy

Ect…

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Hmm… I don’t know about that, I’ve never thought of it that way. You mean like genre wise?

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I mean instead of

Romance
Drama
Fantasy

It should be

Gang
Bad boy
Bad girl

Something to some ip the major story because they are all romance and drama

If a story is bad boy and gang, you are only going to find the first 3 popular stories

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I noticed your PP straight away lol

I half agree with your point. I feel like the trending section is very divided. It’s either stories that are beautifully directed and pay attention to detail or it’s just absolute garbage that uses sex and violence to get more readers. I feel like occasionally there is a story that stands out for having a unique plot…? But eh, it’s kind of rare.

If you half-ass a story, of course it can still come out “well”… in terms of getting reads or getting a higher rank. I think having content that you know people already like (like gangs and teacherxstudent romances), even if the story is riddled with spelling mistakes or directing errors, will still beat out any stories that attempt to “send a message”. But if people half ass a story, I promise that come 6 months to a year later, they look back and hate it. It’s not something they’re going to be proud of. If they claim it is, then they’re an idiot. Not up for debate, that’s a fact.

On to your questions… Which I love by the way, coz I have been thinking about this a lot lately too.

Unfortunately, no. That’s not the point of popularity, but I hope a lot of people feel that they should do something like that with their popularity. It’s kinda sad to see how many people waste their platform to spread the wrong message and feel like they have no obligation to their readers. I think the power of some authors is severely underestimated.

I guess this is where the “half-assed” thing comes in. Because I think you need to have half a good story to still be “good”. I think an author can have a good story line with basic directing and still be “good”. I think it can work the other way too, but the definition of what I think a bad story line is and what most readers think is probably different. See I think with good directing and a bad story line that promotes gang life, for example, it would still be considered “good” inmost people’s eyes and would still get reads. What most readers on the app would consider a bad story line (one without any romance at all for example), would probably not get reads, even if it has the most amazing directing.

Like, for me specifically, yeah I’d like to see some effort. I’d more so like to see more people care about the messages they send above anything else. I know author’s don’t have any responsibility to start putting messages into their stories. I’m not expecting people to change their entire plots either. But something to show they care about how their story is being perceived would be nice. Even if their story is about kidnapping or something, a disclaimer to remind readers that this shouldn’t be something to fantasize about would do

Well, look. I have a lot of thoughts hahahaha, I’ll leave it there for now though :laughing:

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Episode is entertainment for many people. You don’t really have to look for a meaning behind a story. Most stories don’t have a meaning, yes, like 99% of them. Trending or not.

And they don’t have to have a meaning, as long as guidelines are followed, we cannot dictate what people write. I cannot force people to write horror nor can anyone force me to read romance.

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Lol. I love your way of articulating your thoughts in this post.

I think you can half ass a story depending in your own individual talent AND the audience’s expectations. ^^

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@amberose (thank you!) I agree with you, and @Mehasels point on things being subjective/everyone writing the way they want to write.

Is this so smaller author’s stories could be more noticeable?

Yeah, some stories are just a fun ride or are written just to be written.

Well said and thank you so much <3. Yeah, sometimes people can make art in their sleep and the meaning does heavily depend on the audience.

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You got any to share? :eyes:

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Nah, I’m pretty oblivious, so I’m pretty chill until I realize what’s actually happening in the environment. I don’t need them (unless I’m with my freaking family), so I don’t have any. What do you think about half-assing stories or half-assed stories or meaning in stories in general, Queen? I’ll get you some chill pills if you get out of hand.

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It’s hard to say who is half assing their stories because one person’s best might seem novice compared to another’s best efforts …

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