Choosing The Right Story Category and 'Happy Endings'

I welcome your feedback over my first couple of submissions, especially how you feel they fit the right category of story, and maybe if they are a bit too dark?

During last year I spent some time on the 'Dirty Pen Pals' section of Reddit and completed a few back and forth stories on there. It was good fun and the people I wrote with liked my style, so I decided to step up a gear and maybe post a submission on Literotica. I know the quality of writing here is very good, so I knew it would be a challenge for my writing skills, and hoped that I would not get chewed up and spat out by the anonymous voters and comment writers?

This was my first submission, Mind Your Bullying Business. The basic storyline is a young business woman called Holly who tries to prevent her stepbrother from being bullied, and as a result becomes the main target of the bullies herself.

https://www.literotica.com/s/mind-your-own-bullying-business

When I originally posted this, I received helpful feedback that it was not sexually explicit enough to justify being in the non-con section, and also that the ending was too final. So the version you see above is a subsequently edited one with a more open ended conclusion and poor Holly having an ultimately rougher time at the hands of the bullies.

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize was my second submission. This story involved a fame obsessed young woman Melissa replying to an advert to to appear on a TV gameshow, which has darker consequences than she could have imagined.

https://www.literotica.com/s/keep-your-eyes-on-the-prize-2

I tried to focus this story on Melissa's obsession with becoming famous, in that she ignored the danger signs of the situation until it was too late. I tried to not make her a totally two dimensional character and provided her with an extensive back story to help with this.

So far this submission has scored better than my first, but this time the feedback I have received has suggested that the BDSM category is not the best place for this story, but non-con is. Given my experiences with Mind Your Bullying Business I picked BDSM to submit my latest one into as the storyline I felt was more appropriate to this category.

Also, given that both submissions have hardly what can be described as having happy ever after endings in both cases, could this be the reason in part for the overall low voting scores? I'm already thinking about my next submission and hope that it will a more positive outcome for the main character.

Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated, so I certainly welcome your comments.

One of the annoying features of this site is that every story has to go in exactly one category.
My stories (some in my head, some half-written, none submitted yet) don't fit one category, they are a mix of say, lesbian, bdsm, non-con...
Also I have not been able to find a clear definition of what the categories mean exactly. But I think that BDSM is consensual, so your 2nd story about the game show should count as non-con.

I would advise you to write what you like and not pay too much attention to the comments or ratings.
There are a few people who seem to get off on making nasty sneery stupid comments regardless of the quality of the story. That game show story is quite good, it's different from most of the stuff here, but it doesn't have lots of explicit sex so it is not going to get a high rating here.

If this is your primary kink, you're going to have to go into each posting knowing that your scores aren't likely to be the best, and that you are likely to get some harsh feedback.

There's a core of folks in BDSM that will slaughter you for breaking rules -- some of which aren't consistent. Not everyone has the same definition of "Safe", "Sane", or even "Consensual".

The line on the last gets blurry in degradation, master/slave, or pet/owner scenarios, and I've seen people called out for non-con where I think the readers were just looking for a reason to bitch, or weren't reading very carefully. The core group has a very hard line on consent, and I've seen them jump the gun more than once, even though I only read that category when a comment catches my eye, and I want to see the context.

Non-Con and Reluctance splits along the lines of the category's title, and there's not much overlap between the two groups of readers, so you're typically going to get dragged down by the opposite camp as either "too soft" or "too rough".

Your best bet is that anything that's missing consent should go to Non-Con, and be ready for some to say it isn't rough enough or is too rough for them. Know it's coming and categorize it to the best of your ability. That's all you can do.

If you're in doubt about category, you can always put a note in the "notes" section of the submission asking Laurel to make a call, pay attention to how she slots them, and think accordingly when you're considering the next one.

Thank you for the comments so far. I think certainly asking the question of Lauren when making the submission is a good idea to ensure it ends up in the right place.

I've tried to come up with a kink and storyline that perhaps is a little different, but as suggested it maybe falls between the accepted categories and they have got a (perhaps justified) harsh response as a result?

That said, I've also received a reasonable quantity of positive comment over both stories (especially for Mind Your Bullying Business), which is always pleasant for any author to receive given the hard work that is put into creating the submission. Perhaps I should turn the voting rating off and live in blissful ignorance?

Even if the subject matter is not a huge turn-on, I hope my stories are at least easy to read and build a sound level of plot development and character. I've not been put off and hope to recommence work on future submissions soon.