What do I do with my mail?

I've requested that people write to me and tell me what they think, and the response has been excellent. I've gotten over 500 emails on Growing; small compared to the number of people that read it, but still quite an acceptable response rate.

As for what I do, first, I respond to each mail that is not anonymous, even if it's just a thank you. If you took the time to write, it's the least that I can do. Second, I learn from the criticisms. There are quite a few people in my audience who have excellent insights into the stories that I write, and by listening to them I make my future stories better. In fact, I am now reviewing my next completed medium length story with the suggestions in mind, and I'll probably be doing extensive modification.

Now I also get people who tell me not to cave to everyone's demands. I am not doing that. I get a lot of mail saying that it was great but it needs more 'my favorite kink here'. Sorry. These are my stories, and my favorite kinks. If they happen to overlap yours, great! The comments that I take seriously are the ones that I look at and go, 'Hey, he's right!' (Not to be politically incorrect, but 98% of the people who write to me are men).

It's all about growing, and thanks to everyone who helps me grow.
M.

Another Amy Jameson story and an update on my next long story

I'm posting the next story in the Amy Jameson universe. The same disclaimers apply to this as did to the last story. These are much shorter, and a different style (and written in British English), so let me know what you think of them.

As for my next long story, I was getting ready to start posting, but there were a number of people who volunteered (or were coerced) into reading my stories to give me critical input, and I sent the story to them. This may mean some significant reworking of the story, so it will be delayed somewhat. You will get it later, but it should be of far better quality.

M.

The Poor Amy Series

I have begun a new series of short stories that I call the Poor Amy stories. This series features our protagonist, Amy Jameson, in various and sundry situations, all of which end up with Amy getting used and abused in an assortment of ways.

For those of you that have read my stories before, this may come as an unpleasant departure for you. I have been thinking of ways to stretch myself as a writer, and I am going to be trying various new genres and techniques, using Amy as a character that I can return to over and over.

The Poor Amy stories are not connected in any way other than the fact that the protagonist and some of her friends remain the same. The story idea came from a reader, and at least the first few stories are 'harder' than I usually write, with very little compassion or love, and in some cases are non-consensual. If that's not your cup of tea, then please, go on to something else. I'll be posting something more in line with my normal writing pretty soon.

I've also opened the Poor Amy universe up, so anyone who want to take a crack at Amy with the same general themes, feel free. My first three stories about Amy, Nurse, Training and Diary will be posted shortly. Others will come as inspiration hits.

So please, join me in welcoming Ms. Amy Jameson; I hope you get to know and love her as I do.
M.

A Summary of Comments

I've received quite an outpouring of love in the last day. In fact, I've received over 300 messages in a day, most of them complimentary. There were definitely some recurring themes.

• Write more about these people - I've certainly heard a lot about that! My answer is that I will, just not right away. Believe me, I want to know what they do next even more than you do!
• The last chapters were rushed - It's true, they were. I was trying to end the story, and I didn't put as much effort into coming up with details that I could have. I'll have to work on that as I write more stories.
• Write another chapter - See above.
• It wasn't quite believable - Well, I warned you! I think it worked within the universe that I built, and tell me you don't wish that you lived in that universe!
• Write about the college years - See answer 1 & 3.
• What's going to happen with Helen? - I'll let you know in the next act. See answer 1, 3 & 5.
  

I am reading all the messages that I got as fast as I can, and I am answering all the ones that are not anonymous. I'd love to answer some of the questions that the anonymous people asked, but I can't reach them! There were also some people that gave me email addresses that didn't work - I don't know if it was intentional or typo, but if you were expecting a response and didn't get one within a couple of days, try again.

I'm definitely going to take the numerous constructive criticisms to heart, and try to improve in my next stories. Till then, thanks for the notes!
M.

Ask, And Ye Shall Receive

I asked people to send me their comments, and wow did I get a lot. Literally hundreds and still pouring in, which will take me a few days to read and respond to. It is very gratifying to hear both the praise and the advice. Thanks to all the people who mailed anonymously, to whom I can't reply directly.

Now I have to finish up the two stories I'm in the middle of!

The End of Growing Up a Master

Well, here it is, the end of the postings for Growing Up a Master. I'm actually sort of sad. Every morning I've been looking forward to posting the next chapter, and the inevitable comments that I get, especially from the hard core fans that tell me what they think of each chapter. I sort of regret speeding it up to two a day, though your opinion may differ on that.

For those of you who have reached the end, but have not taken the time to let me know what you think, please do so now. If you've made it, I sort of assume that you've liked it pretty well. As with my other stories, it's a pretty heavy investment of time to make on something that you didn't like. So let me know what you liked. The plot? The sex? A particular character? A scene that touched you deeply? A scene that made it so that you were forced to take matters in hand, so to speak?

I think the general consensus of the mails I've gotten to date is that people want to see more of these characters. Well, so do I. As with Tired and Favor, I've fallen in love with these characters, and I think that they have so much more to say. People certainly want to know what is to become of Helen. Most of the suggestions that I've gotten about where to take her have been far off base, but at least one reader nailed it on the head. She will definitely figure prominently in any follow up that I do. But I'm not going to put a timeframe on it, and don't expect it quickly. There are a few other stories that will come first.

After the experience posting once a day, and all the letters of gratitude about how people liked that I posted on a regular, short interval, I think I will maintain my method of finishing a story before I begin to post. However, I still miss the audience participation, so I'm going to take another reader suggestion (you might notice that I do that a lot), and set up a small subset of people who can read the chapters as I write them, and give me suggestions for the direction that the story should take. These chapters will come much further apart, and may actually be out of order in some cases, and reading it might diffuse the enjoyment that you get reading them in sequence as they are posted.

There are some requirements for getting on the list.
1) You have to tell me how you liked it
2) You have to tell me what you liked and didn't like about it
3) You have to tell me which parts spoke to you
4) You have to tell me how they spoke to you
5) You have to tell me where you think that it should go
6) You have to correct any errors you see
7) You have to respond in a timely fashion

As you can imagine, this means a bit of work on your part. You get early access, but you have to provide feedback in exchange. If you are interested, please drop me a note. This won't start until I start my next long story, though that may be relatively soon.

Finally, I just want to thank everyone who stuck through and read it. I was thinking of trying to sell my work online instead of posting it for all to see, but the enjoyment that I get out of affirmatively knowing that so many people have read and enjoyed it far outweighs any monetary gains that I would make selling it. Thanks for giving me that enjoyment!

M.

Kari's Prom Dress

The design of Kari's prom dress was my own, but it was all in my head. I'd love to see the dress that I created, so if there are any artists out there that would be willing to take a whack at drawing it, I'd appreciate it. Please post it as a comment. The best one (if I receive more than one) will be posted with the story and I'll credit you for it. Thanks!
M.

Less than 10 chapters left

Its not that I want to disappoint you, but I want to prepare you. As I'm now posting into the thirties, you should know that the story will end early next week. As with some of my other longer stories, I really like these characters - I think of them like good friends - and I hope to revisit them soon. I hope that you're enjoying reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

My memory is a funny thing. Some things, usually trivia, stick in my brain forever. Other things don't stick that well. Stories that I read are like that, which in some respects is a good thing, because I can re-read a story after a few months and enjoy it almost as much as the first time. Even my own stories, when re-read, sometimes come as a surprise. As I read the chapters that I post, I fell in love with these characters again, so I also hope that you're enjoying reading them as much as I'm enjoying reading them.

Sorry for the rambling. It's late at night and I'm tired, but I think I'll write another chapter in my new Amy series before hitting the sack. Have fun reading!
M.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

One of the most interesting things that I find from the comments that I receive is how many people expect every person that one of my protagonists come across to turn out to be a closet submissive. I hate to disappoint people, but as I've said, there are people all across the spectrum, and sometimes one of the characters that seems to be a bit more dominant will end up remaining a bit more dominant. I think that's the way it is in real life, and I think in a fantasy world, there is nothing wrong with that.

While I love the concept of the undiscovered sub as much as anyone (as you might be able to tell :) ), I also believe that there can be interesting interactions between two dominant personalities. Sure, sometimes they will clash, but they can also find some very interesting common ground.

You can read into this whatever you'd like.
M.

The most common request

Can you guess what the most common request that I get is? It's to post chapters more quickly.

I'm not a cruel man, well, not more cruel than is deserved, and I also believe in rewarding good behavior. I've asked for comments, and I've gotten a lot of them, so because you are all so good, some better than others, I'll partially grant this request.

From now on, I will post two chapters a day. Just don't complain when it's over more quickly. Remember, you asked for this!

M.

My block, your gain

I've had a bit of a block on the story I've been writing, so I've decided to take a bit of time off of that story. While I was idle, two quick stories have popped into my mind, Haircut and Instructions. Have fun.
M.

A little snack

While you're digesting Growing, I've put another little treat up. I was having a bit of writer's block, and a reader mentioned that she was a stylist. It got me thinking of a fantasy I've had since the first time I sat in a salon chair and had a woman cut my hair. The story evolved a little since then, but for a quick break, I think you'll like it.

Thanks to BanditIRA for the fast turnaround on the editing (I wrote this late last night).

M.

I need your imagination

I'm working on another story, and I don't want to give too much away, but it's a mind control story. The main characters 'grants' people wishes, by that I mean he finds people with reasonably similar interests, usually outside the mainstream, and nudges them together, tagging along for the ride.

The story, as most of mine are, is more consensual and light rather than real heavy, so what I'm looking for are ideas for good fantasies to fulfil. Any thoughts? Send me a note.

M.

Thematic or Repetitious

As I get more and more stories under my belt, I worry that I am getting repetative. Clearly, there are some central themes that you see over and over in my works, but I am concerned that each story will become too close to others. I have read other people's work that is very good to start with, but after a dozen chapters, or two or three stories, I realize that I'm just reading the same thing with a different name, or in some cases, it's completely the same.

In published fiction I've found the same thing. I've read series that became very repetitive, or even worse, an author who wrote three different series, which I really enjoyed, but whose scenes were practically interchangeable.

As a good author (which I strive to be), its my job to make sure that I keep each story different enough. It's often a challenge, because as I've said before, many of my stories write themselves, and even when I planned to go a particular way, I surprise myself by heading back to the familar. At first, this was a good thing; I think it gave the story a more natural flow. Now I think I'm going to have to be careful when I do this, and try to stick to the original themes that I thought were the ones that made a good new story.

M.