If the stuff is good, there is an immediate audience for it, they just need to be alerted to it.
I’ve just been writing this year, but I’ve been lurking for decades, since the NCMC. I agree, when I first found the NCMC and in the first few years of this site, I can remember some LEGENDARY masturbation sessions with a lot of this material, and that has fallen off a lot of late.
Some of it is certainly because the good material has become a bit more diluted with the volume of content these days, but I think more of it is very much the same as a gambling high, or a drugs high. It’s a chemical thing - and as your brain gets used to the dopamine hit, it takes a greater amount of stimulus to get you to the same heightened state. It’s just biology.
There are still good stories, and there are certainly a lot that aren’t so great. As for my output over the last year, it’s interesting - I feel like “An End To Global Warming” is objectively some good writing, but those chapters get trashed in the ratings much more than “The More Things Change,” which, while fun to write, isn’t really trying to say or do anything particularly interesting… well, yet, anyway. And I dashed off “The Word Game” in a day and a half, and that’s by far the most popular thing I’ve put on the site - but it’s just a formula piece.
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I just realize that transformation is categorize into mind control section.
Most stories on this site are horrible. Either they’re very short, with immediate discontinuation from the author, or just written/structured poorly. Unfortunate because I do enjoy the broad idea of the site, with the Scifi themed genres and categories. But the content itself is just, god awful.
Authors really need to edit and proofreading their working before publishing. Also possibly write more than one chapter before releasing your work??
How ironic that you reply to a three year old thread complaining about a lack of proofreading with a message filled with grammatical errors. Let’s do a quick edit, shall we?
When using the either/or construction, you should balance similar sentence structures; you did not do that here.
This is a sentence fragment and lacks a proper subject and verb to make it a complete sentence. In addition, “Scifi” is correctly abbreviated as “sc-fi.”
The comma after “just” is unnecessary; it messes up the flow of the sentence. The phrase “god awful” is correctly spelled as “god-awful.”
Here “proofreading” should be “proofread” to match the verb “edit.” You also should have used “work” instead of “working” since you’re referring to a singular piece of writing.
Again, this is a sentence fragment. It is also a statement phrased as a question and, as I’m sure you’re aware since you’re a grammar connoisseur, that we never use “??” in writing as it is not a standard writing convention.
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If I may, it’s also two different issues.
(Writing quality, and story continuation are vastly different things).
It is expected to have a mix of levels when dealing with a free publishing website. This is also true of music, Art, Drawing etc (go look at Furaffinity, Bandcamp or Deviant Art)
You can’t expect reems of 100% perfect work, perfectly edited for free; it would mean turning down 100’s of amateur creatives, which would defeat the purpose of the site.
Basically, you have unrealistic standards and entitlement. What’s poor for you might be another person’s favourite story, or, you may be reading a nervous, but cherished first publication from a tentative new writer, like a “my first story; it’s not perfect, but I love it.”
There is nothing to suggest that the average story on GKS is of lower standards then other free publication site, in fact, I’ve seen first hand that it is probably one of the better ones. (In terms of writing quality, and consistency.)
Not that I’m going out of my way to defend GKS here, just as an objective recount of observation, it seems to be on the upper slope of the bell curve 
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Have you considered being the change you want to see?
We always want more authors.
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From the feedback I got on my stories, most readers here are not actually looking for either multi-chapter stories or well written and structured stories, and so there’s little reward in doing either of that. The interest in the later chapters of my multi-chapters stories waned really fast, more so these days than before. And I polish my writing, reviewing and rewriting each line dozens of times, and take a lot of care in the overall structure, yet I often got writing ratings lower than 4 which enraged me beyond measure. The thing is, most readers here are just looking for a quick fix of their kink, and won’t mind the writing unless it’s really horrible. Write about the right kink and your prose will be perceived as exquisite. Popularity of certain kinks changed a lot through the years. Less people are interested in those I wrote about. Now it’s mostly transformation and muscle and pov-controlled. So if these aren’t your kinks and most stories here are about that, then you’ll see the site as having worse stories than before. Otherwise, what thedirtyspiders said applies as well, this is a free site, so adjust your expectations accordingly. No one owes you stories written in the way you’d want them.
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I tend to read a lot of the older stuff… in my experience a lot of the newer stories tend to be short and basically just a sex scene with mind control trappings or they wander into other kinks I’m not really into. I suppose I’m quite vanilla in that I get the greatest satisfaction from straightforward hypno/mind control/reality control stories. Also there is just so much literary output on the site, it can be hard to find what directly appeals to me amongst the duds or areas I’m not into. So I usually stick to the same 6 or 7 authors because I know I have a better chance of getting off with their stories. Which I suppose is a bit close minded of me and I should make more effort to read new stuff. Crazy though, there are still stories I go back to over and over again that were written over twenty years ago and I first read as a teenager…that still get my blood pumping and my juices flowing. Stories I will never get tired of reading and that even after a 100 viewings will never fail to get me hard.
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The thing is, most readers here are just looking for a quick fix of their kink
I write very long stories with characters, dialogue, and details before I even get to the sex. I enjoy reading stories like that, I feel like it’s almost like the foreplay to the actual hot shit. It’s like, “I know these dudes are gonna do something eventually, let’s see how it gets there!”
most readers here are not actually looking for either multi-chapter stories or well written and structured stories, and so there’s little reward in doing either of that.
And this is where I think it turns into market equilibrium. If the general message is “quick fix” and “get to the fucking”, then that’s what’s going to largely be produced. Which is fine if you’re into that, but as I like to joke, sometimes you gotta eat your meal before you get your dessert.
(Not to say that I also don’t enjoy short snappy stories, I certainly do.)
And I polish my writing, reviewing and rewriting each line dozens of times, and take a lot of care in the overall structure, yet I often got writing ratings lower than 4 which enraged me beyond measure.
And I can 100% certainly relate. I’ve written stories that (in my opinion) were very good and well-written, only to end up with minimal engagement. But on the other hand, I KNOW what I’m getting myself into, and I just write what I would like to read. 
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Bravo for this kind and even-toned response to a very nasty (in my opinion) question. Would that there were more of you and less of people like the questioner in this world.
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I wasn’t clear about my general message. it is certainly not to “get to the fucking”. I also wrote long stories, and like you, all that development served as foreplay. In fact, I lose interest when I get to the “actual fucking” as a reader. Writing stories we’d like to read is our only choice, in my opinion. My general message was about how subjective “good” or “bad” stories, “good”, or “bad” writing is. In my experience, it is very highly biased by our specific kinks. I talked with readers who saw not “getting to the fucking” as a major flaw, whereas I know those who enjoy my stories see spending time to develop setting and characters as a major asset. The range of kinks is so wide that the ratings categories become almost meaningless, there’s no such thing as an objectively “hot” story, or objectively “well written” story, it’s all perception affected by subjective kinks.
So write what you’d like to read everyone.
I stopped because I was shocked about how few people enjoyed my kinks and stories, and if I could still justify that time. But that’s personal to me. The great lesson I learned though is that the tepid reception was NOT due to the quality of my stories, it was only due to the lack of popularity of the kinks in them. So it’s at least a relief that it’s just something I have no control over.
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Very well said.
I have to agree with my fellow commenting authors.
If you don’t like a story, then don’t read it.
As thedirtyspiders correctly put it, the stories are free. No writer owes anything to anybody.
As for unfinished stories. I don’t think any person starts a story with the intent to leave it unfinished. Let’s try and keep in mind that real life has issues and priorities. Those take precedence over sitting down and spending hours composing an erotic story. It may also be the case of writer’s block.
I don’t think there’s any harm in reaching out to a writer to see if there’s going to be a continuation(I do it) ,it should be respectful and not demanding.
Side note to Mafisto…I love your stuff.
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Thanks so much. It means a lot coming from you. I also love your stuff, always have since I first read Bagging the Berets on mcstories so many years ago.
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I am an author who’s left a story hanging (I have written two chapters out of an envisioned novel ‘Doggerland’ (a barbarian-themed sex romp) but it’s been left to hang for about four months now.
I’ll finish it. Someday.
Truth be told, I work a full time job, I wash all the dishes for the intense foodie that lives my house (I tolerate it because he is also my loving & patient husband), I bike/swim, & so on. I wish I could write fulltime, truly. It’s just not financially viable except for a chosen few. Each story (and I’m sure this is the case for many authors on GSS) is a passion project. Until they develop a coin slot on the side of your laptop that GSS can pay me out of, this has to remain a hobby with some understanding / patience by the readers.
We’re lucky to have writers who can do commissions. I urge readers to utilize that option, if there’s a story you strongly want to see finished.
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This is an interesting and informative thread, but it also makes me sad. Like many of you, I got my start with one-handed literature on sites like mcstories and ncmc, and to a lesser extent, yahoo groups. I started off only being interested in hypnosis and mind control, but that interest seems to have shifted over the years.
Maybe I ruined it for myself with bad Hypno files where the tist’s voice distracted me or certain elements didn’t appeal to me, and I never once succeeded in experiencing a trance.
Over time, I suppose my tastes have grown to include a lot of transformation, though the mind control kink is still there. It’s just not the only focus any more. But now as someone who attempts to write kink fiction that doesn’t really fall into the MC category, I feel like I must be “part of the problem.”
I’ve never tried my hand at a true hypnosis story because I know my limitations as a writer and don’t know if I’m up to the challenge. But I think we all agree that we like a little plot development with our porn, and maybe that’s enough of a thread to hold us all together.
I can’t state strongly enough how much I appreciate the existence of this site and the community that exists here. And I want to say thank you to all the authors for sharing your hard work freely. I’ve discovered new kinks while reading here that I never knew would be a turn-on for me, but it’s comforting to know that all my old favorites are (mostly) still available when I want to revisit them.
Don’t let fickle readers get you down. And keep writing, because we need more good gay fiction in the world, not less.
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This is really well said! And I agree. Although I’m not a huge fan of physical transformations, anything written that includes some form of hypnosis or mind control belongs on this site even if it isn’t for everyone.
Theres a niche type of stories I like and some of the same authors I like to read stories from tended to like what I write too, so eventually you find a smaller community within the community. It’s really nice.
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It’s definitely complicated, and I say this as someone who doesn’t write hypnosis strictly but focuses more on pheromones and reality change, but I don’t think it’s problematic to not be writing classic hypnosis or mind control. The idea of loss of control goes hand in hand with either mental change or physical change, and I think there’s a reason all these stories about fantastical changes that are often partially or greatly against our protagonist’s will have gathered on this site.
It’s also the reason that when Corin expanded the site to Cupid, Collar, and Kinky, he did it on separate sites and not just on Spiral. I think this interface is great for anyone who wants to write smut. I personally am a little disappointed that the other sites haven’t gotten as much of their own readership, but… I’ll admit, I’m pretty enamoured with the MC-adjacent stuff I do at this point and wouldn’t have quite as much fun writing smut without it.
Ultimately, it’s impossible to reduce the concept of mind control to just a few specific kinks and I welcome a diversity of stories that involve the exchange of power by fantastical, not strictly consensual means. Your stories included. But I also understand there’s a nostalgia that persists through culture change. Think of yourself as expanding the space, adding your own mark to it, rather than causing problems for a space that’s only supposed to be focused on a few specific things.
(This post might be extremely rambly, sorry if it makes no fucking sense lmao)
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Good points.