Yep, that's usually the biggest irritant I find in others' work (aside from one thing* I'll address in a moment) -- the reason most internet readers won't read more than 2 to 3 pages of any given writer's characters is that, sorry guys, most internet writers' characters are cardboard cutouts.

Every "good guy" has to have one very bad thing, or several moderately bad things -- that get fixed by the end of the story. Every "bad guy" has to have at least one mildly redeeming quality, be it a witty sense of humor, a weaker character he protects loyally, or whatever. At the very least, give the bad guy a reason to think he's the good guy. Make your readers make friends with your characters, put their new friends into some interesting circumstances, and the readers will stay to see how their new friends make out.

*The one thing, the single biggest problem with internet writers, is that most of them are simply inept when it comes to the basics: spelling, punctuation and grammar. Yes, I am a spelling and grammar nazi. I make no bones about it and no apologies. Every writer who takes his or her work seriously is one -- period. If you've got even one single excuse for not presenting yourself and your work with professionalism, why bother presenting it at all?

Agreed!

Does that mean I've been writing, somehow, incorrectly all this time?!

Nice thread.  I'd like to touch on two points:

1) 'Story' vs. 'Extended Scene'
This is clearly a personal preference.  My preference is for structure, but that's because I have a specific goal.  My preferred stories include the growth of multiple characters through multiple stages.  This allows for both a diversity of experience and a story that allows characters to obtain an ever increasing amount of power, parceled out in pieces.  To do this coherently, you need a structure which allows for those multiple events to be bound.  An extended scene doesn't allow for that.

2) Endings
Endings are hard.  In all writing.  It's not specific to fetish writing.  Professional writers have an incentive to creating an ending, since they're getting paid for a finished product.  But it appears to me that most writers are much more comfortable writing the story then concluding it.  And this really shouldn't be surprising.  The joy of writing is in the creation of events.  Resolution means you're bringing your writing experience to an end, and who wants that?

I almost never critique fetish stories.  I don't understand the point of it.  I like stories that satisfy my particular wants.  So why should I be critical if someone generates a story that doesn't line up with my desires?  As for "good writing", how am I to critique that?  Should I use this forum as a platform for educating people how to "write better"?  I hardly think I'm qualified to attempt that.

I find writing to be very difficult.  My own attempt took me a number of years to complete.  I have other ideas partially plotted, but I have difficultly being creative enough to construct a plot that I find satisfactory.  Which is another reason why I'm extremely hesitant to criticize anyone else's writing.  I know how hard in can be, and in this little fetish corner of my Universe, I appreciate anyone who makes an attempt, and I simply privately filter out the stories that I personally find unappealing.

Let me get this out of the way -- yes, you do have every right to critique -- in fact, as a fellow writer, you have a duty to judge, and harshly (but still constructively, bear in mind.)

Writing is a science, bare minimum. Done well, writing is an art. If you have a technique that will enable your fellow craftsman to improve his product, how selfish is it to spare his feelings at the expense of his art?