New (to Literotica) Writer

AwkwardMD said:

That's ass backwards.

The author creates and the reader consumes. I'm not gonna go so far as to say the consumer should be thankful, but the consumer should not be the one deciding what is and isn't the most important part of a story. Frankly, I'm shocked that any writer would come here and argue against me on this. It's like (nearly) everyone has accepted that "this is the way it's always been done." Find your spines, people! Embrace the gay!!!

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You could turn that around and say that the author should be grateful that the reader reads the stories. As an author, you write a story and presumably include what you feel are the most important things to advance the characters, plot, etc. But just because you think they're important doesn't mean a reader will.

Once you put a story, painting, whatever, out for consumption, you have no control over how people interpret it.

PennLady said:

You could turn that around and say that the author should be grateful that the reader reads the stories. As an author, you write a story and presumably include what you feel are the most important things to advance the characters, plot, etc. But just because you think they're important doesn't mean a reader will.

Once you put a story, painting, whatever, out for consumption, you have no control over how people interpret it.

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Mmm, agreed. If the quality or content of writing were judged only by the authors, we'd have nothing but a bunch of crappy books by people who think they are good. Instead we have a market which weeds out the noxious crap so the beautiful has more room to grow.

I like the competitive nature of Literotica. I don't care if it's not always fair, although I'd prefer it that way. What's good generally rises to the top despite the cannon fodder which 1 stars other people's work in a futile attempt to elevate there own shit, thinking that will make it smell like a rose.

Forgive me if I rabbit trailed a bit there.

Not gonna jump in the fray, but back to the OP's original post, yes, I agree the story is non-con, not BDSM. I like a lot of BDSM stories -- nothing too harsh -- but definitely not into non-con. Obviously some readers are, since there's an entire category dedicated to it.

This discussion has made me wonder about stories that cross/span categories, though. Two of my stories are BDSM, fairly light, but neither could be described as consensual at first -- an unruly 18 year old student disciplined by a headmaster, and a naughty shoplifter disciplined by a store security officer. Although happy sexy times ensued, neither sub was willing at first, no safe word or discussion of limits was part of either story. Yet they are fun, fluffy pieces and would be seriously out of place in non-con. One of the stories has a female dominant, but I wouldn't categorize it as fetish or lesbian story (although I did another story with the same characters in the lesbian category). I wrote one story in non-human, but one of the comments suggested it would be better in Sci Fi/Fantasy. So...it seems categories aren't always obvious or definite.

AwkwardMD said:

That's ass backwards.

The author creates and the reader consumes. I'm not gonna go so far as to say the consumer should be thankful, but the consumer should not be the one deciding what is and isn't the most important part of a story. Frankly, I'm shocked that any writer would come here and argue against me on this.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEqqwnlaPpE

As a writer, I understand that categories aren't about me. I already know what kind of story it is that I've written; the categories are entirely for the readers' benefit, so readers' preferences should inform categorisation.

A high score is not the be-all end-all. Achieving that is awesome when it happens, but I write for different reasons than to boost my self-confidence.

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That's a healthy attitude for a writer to have. I try to approach writing the same way. But if I post my stuff on a public site, I'm inviting people to read it, and at that point there's value in making it easier for them to find the stories they like where they're expecting to find them. When those readers are saying "1 in this category, 5 in that category" that's a pretty strong hint that the categorisation should be improved.

See, to me, having to "turn off your ethical filters" translates as "I lie to myself about what I like". I know that's an oversimplification,

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I don't think it's accurate even as a simplification. I take this position because I'm honest with myself about what I enjoy and the circumstances in which I enjoy it. NC and BDSM require two different mindsets.

and I only say that because you're not the first person to try and rationalize categorization that way.

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When you hear the same thing repeatedly from different sources, perhaps worth stopping to think about whether there might be something to it?