Deviations from genre

[evolvingslowly]

If the overall genre of a story series is in one genre, take gay male for instance, but one of the chapters involves only MF or MMF sex does the story need to be submitted in another genre? I worry that my normal readership won't be able to find the chapter and the readers of a say Erotic Couplings genre wouldn't appreciate the gay meta-narrative. Then again I'm sure the gay audience won't be thrilled about a MF coupling... any suggestions?
The first in the series is Meeting Ian if anyone is interested. https://www.literotica.com/s/meeting-ian-ch-01 and the second chapter as it is biographical does involve a girl. Sorry for this ramble and thank you for your time.

 

[emap]

You know honestly that is the shortest ramble I have ever seen.

Short answer, yes and no.

Longer answer since I know you want to know, if not I'm doing it anyway so there.

Basically if the chapter, section, whatever the heck you want to call it, has something different than the previous chapters and so forth, then put it in a new section. There are two instances where you don't, if the chapters, sections, what have you, are posted to exhibition, humor, illustrated, novel, romance, sci fi, transexuals then don't bother to change the new whatever you call it.

Second option for not changing the genre is you don't want to. Granted if Laura decides you are a moron and changes it for you then you changed genre. If Laura doesn't care, and you don't bother to change it later, I ran into that with one of mine, then your new story is posted where you said.

Sidenote, mine was posted to nonconsent instead of novel where it was supposed to be. Laura didn't notice or didn't care and i screwed up on where I posted and haven't bothered to change it.

Let's see, where was I??? Oh yeah, there is no actual right answer to this question. Some are rather dumb and opinionated so demand that you do things like post the whole series fast, put the whole thing in one genre and only do the sex of that genre. Most however don't care and just read whatever they want to.

So if you post say a series in gay male and then put one part of said series in anything else, some will complain, some will go the story isn't good, and most will simply read it or not as they feel like it. In a sort of long and roundabout way I am saying that you should do whatever the hell you want since it is a free site and nobody pays for anything, unless they go to the webcam or video sections.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I had this issue with a long F/F story that had one chapter with no sex. Posted it in Lesbian alongside the others and didn't get any complaints.

 

[Hypoxia]

In the past I have put series chapters in different categories. I would not do so again. Episodes in a story cycle, where subsequent tales needn't depend on prior stuff, can live with the context shift. But from now on, my series pieces will stay in the dominant category so I don't lose too many eyeballs ignoring ch.05.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd say early on, like a second third chapter, it could be an issue. But ocne you get further along, say chapters 6+ you are pretty much down to a core audience invested in the series and they won't be too concerned with the content as much as the story and they'll let you off the hook.

A couple of my higher numbered SWB chapters don't have any incest and they went over fine.

 

[coldwater1]

Well, it looks like I've been 'deviated' whether I like it or not. I posted a sequel to Romance, where the original story resides, but I see that Laurel has just moved it to Sci Fi and Fantasy. I will see how that plays out. I'm not arguing, because I can see why it might be put there. I just would have preferred both stories in the same place.

Probably not a big deal, because it is a sequel, not a chapter. I did write it to stand alone and did put an author's note in the beginning identifying the title of the original.

 

[tnhardon]

My story series is in the "Celebrity" genre, but I have had a number of chapters in which the main character sleeps with only a non-celebrity for a particular chapter. I still keep that chapter under the "Celebrity" category, because the overarching theme of the story is sex with celebrities.

I feel like I can do this because it is still part of my story and plot. If for some reason your chapter is a major deviation from your overall story, but just includes the same characters, then you may want to evaluate putting it in a different category.

In summary, in most situations I would say keep your series all in the same category. This will allow fans of your work to easily find it and not get lost by a missing chapter that got thrown into another section. Just make sure that the category you choose at the beginning of your story is one that accurately represents the theme of your story.

 

[tnhardon]

I'd say early on, like a second third chapter, it could be an issue. But ocne you get further along, say chapters 6+ you are pretty much down to a core audience invested in the series and they won't be too concerned with the content as much as the story and they'll let you off the hook.

A couple of my higher numbered SWB chapters don't have any incest and they went over fine.

Agreed.