Welcome to The Fish Tank!

The Fish Tank was established to support the discussion of sex stories. It was also established for the purpose of encouraging writers, specifically, writers who employ sex in their stories. Some contributors need less encouragement than others, some have better credentials than others, but all the authors who submit are ultimately wondering the same thing: can their work be better?

The answer isn't always clear or easily agreed upon. We have a wide degree of opinions and expertise. There's no way that everyone will agree. That's the beauty of the Fish Tank - an author gets a chance to understand how his work is perceived by a variety of readers. Only the author knows his target audience; only the author knows if a particular suggestion will work for his piece; and only the author decides which, if any, suggestions he will use.

Authors who submit a story to the Fish Tank must understand that they are asking for honest feedback. And they will get it!

Contributors who decide to comment on a submission must understand they are responsible to give honest feedback, keeping in mind the goal of aiding the author.

Each post is prefaced with the guidelines:

2 positive comments
2 things to improve
Try not to repeat!

Giving two positives helps to encourage the writer. It's more than just saying, "I liked your story," it's saying, "I liked your story because...." Some authors don't care about the two positive comments. After all, if it's working, why address it? But the two positive comments are useful beyond simple encouragement - they also force the commentator to recognize what he thinks makes a story good, which is useful when the commentator turns his eye onto his own writing.

The two suggestions for improvement are not intended to be two *negatives*. Instead of thinking of it as, "what I don't like" think of it as, "what I would do differently, if it were me." It's important to be specific, and it's important to realize that different people will want a story to go different ways.

"Trying not to repeat" is useful to get a wide variety of suggestions. It also forces us to be better readers. And as a minor plus, it encourages us to post our comments quickly before the best suggestions are taken.

Sometimes things are worth repeating for emphasis. Sometimes there just isn't anything left to point out. That's OK, there's no penalty for skipping the suggestions. But sometimes, if your favorite suggestion has already been mentioned, it makes you dig deeper. Digging deeper teaches us there can be more to a story than just what is on the surface. Suggestions for improvement do not have a set value on them. Some little thing can be the trigger that sparks imagination - the author's or ours.

For organizational purposes, submissions are sent to me at Desdmona22@aol.com. I do not censor or make decisions about what is or is not an appropriate submission to the Fish Tank. However, because the Fish Tank's purpose is to help the author, the person submitting should be the author of the work. Also, I will not code a story - that responsibility is entirely up to the author.

Because the Fish Tank discussion takes place in a public forum, we rely on the participants to understand what types of comments are acceptable. However, anyone who attempts to use the Fish Tank to attack a particular author, commentator, or genre will receive an email directly from me.

Occasionally discussions will veer off-topic. When this happens, please take the opportunity to rename the thread, thus allowing further discussion to remain true to both topics.

And finally, any suggestions that might make the Fish Tank better while maintaining its integrity are always welcome.

Thanks for reading and for considering being a part of the FishTank.

Desdmona

Submitting to the FishTank:

We request that before authors submit their own work, they should take the time to comment on at least two previous submissions of other authors. We ask this as a simple courtesy. It is not mandatory.

Any work that the author deems sexual in nature is acceptable. Authors are responsible for explaining what their needs are for the submitted work. It does not have to be a complete story - it may be a work in progress or part of a series or serial - but it should be identified as such.

Authors should contact Desdmona22@aol.com if they want to submit a work. I will reply with an expected date for their submission.

Submissions are posted every Monday. The author should make every attempt to send their readied version to Desdmona on or before the Sunday before the Monday their work is to be posted.

Word count and coding are appreciated, but not mandatory.

The author should refrain from responding to posts about his or her work until the following Friday evening at midnight. (Time zone differences are not important.)