Series vs Standalone stories in Incest category

[avatar_roku]

Hello everyone,

I have published some stories so far on Literotica under my pen name of Avatar Roku. I write mostly in the Incest category. Some of my stories are part of a series, others are standalone.

When it comes to incest, I personally prefer to read and write stories which focus on (or atleast have a good amount of) the mental/psychological conflicts that a character undergoes before getting involved in incest. I like to explore a character's inner thoughts and turmoil, the fight between mind and body, and how they're able to convince themselves to commit to that forbidden relationship. Most often I see incest stories where this inner conflict is either entirely missing or resolved very easily, which, to me, cheapens the entire experience.

With that in mind, I've written some of incest stories involving mother and son who have sex for the first time. There are four of them (links below) which I analysed recently. All of them have different characters and settings, but kind of have the same core structure. The son is already in incestuous love with his mom and tries to express it to her. The mom is also attracted towards her son but struggles with the moral, emotional, psychological and social implications of incest. She wrestles with her inner conflicts. Some stories have additional external conflicts as well, like being stuck in a war zone or facing the destruction of their village. These internal and external conflicts finally gets resolved. The mother accepts her son as a lover and they have sex towards the end of the story.

Now there are two points I want to discuss here. Firstly, as a writer, I want to explore about what happens after a couple gets incestuously involved. To do this, either I need to write a sequel to the any of the aforementioned stories. Or I can write a new story with new characters who are already incestuous lovers.

Secondly, I am not a prolific writer. I write sporadically which might not be ideal when it comes to writing a series or sequels. Previous readers might've forgotten the earlier chapter. New readers might be reluctant to read the previous chapters of a newly published story.

What are your thoughts on this? Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to write down my thoughts here. Hope this is the correct place for this thread. Thanks in advance!

Story links -
The King's Last Wish
Not without my son
Divine touch of the Yakshini
Wife's Incestuous Family Ritual ch4

 

[AlinaX]

Didn't you post this already?

 

[alohadave]

Secondly, I am not a prolific writer. I write sporadically which might not be ideal when it comes to writing a series or sequels. Previous readers might've forgotten the earlier chapter. New readers might be reluctant to read the previous chapters of a newly published story.

Views always fall off in subsequent chapters that are posted. This isn't a Lit thing, it's everywhere. The first chapter will get the most views, and each chapter after that you post will have fewer views until you hit the fan count who is reading through the series and it'll stabilize.

 

[LiverpoolMaster]

Most often I see incest stories where this inner conflict is either entirely missing or resolved very easily, which, to me, cheapens the entire experience.

I entirely agree, if only from the angle of realism/verisimilitude (which IMHO is actually the main thing lacking in the vast majority of Lit. writing), that it is important to give at least some airing to 'inner turmoil', in the same way that you would to proper description of character and setting.

On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that format may have a say in this. Let's face it: with War and Peace length epics, a writer has the time and space to be, well, lazy. He/she can indulge his/her each and every whim as regards what gets written about. Yes, there are traps in that too, but basically the world's become the writer's oyster.

In short story format, suddenly the writer is faced with a challenge to his/her skill... how to maintain, yes, maximum credibility but while getting the story across in a brisk and punchy way. The minutiae of the psychological conflict you mention may have to take their share of editing out... or perhaps be 'understood' in the writer's skilful manipulation of events within the story. It may even be that the 'acquiescence in the taboo' matter you describe is actually not the main focus of the writer's interest in the story, i.e. the incest may be part of the background rather than the climax of the plot.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I would say that my longer(unfinished) incest stories are doing better than the [basically] one-shot incest stories. There's a chance that readers more enjoy the buildup, than already established- but that would probably depend on how the already established is written. Either way it has to be somewhat believeable, even incest readers know that it's not humans nature- though some just don't give a fuck and most of that doesn't matter.

 

[Trionyx]

Your three standalone stories are less than 10,000 words each, on average. Seems to me you could easily make any future stories longer to include the denouements you want.