What category should my story go into?

[taytay4eva]

Anal - The butt, and nothing but. Self-explanatory.


Audio - Erotic audio stories, sexy sounds & more. Self-explanatory.


BDSM - Bondage, D/s, and other power games. Self-explanatory.


Chain Stories - Story collaborations between Literotica authors. Self-explanatory.


Crossdressing - Tales of gender exploration, drag, and the joy of dressing up. Exactly what it says on the tin. Erotic stories about trans folks has its OWN category.


Erotic Couplings - Wild one-on-one consensual sex. If you can't think of where else to put a story, put it here.


Erotic Horror - Bizarre, shocking, scary, and sometimes sexy. This is probably where your monster-fucking goes.


Exhibitionist & Voyeur - Watching, and being watched. Self-explanatory.


Fan Fiction & Celebrities - Parodies & erotic fan fiction about famous people. Self-explanatory.


Fetish - Feet, panties, food, and other kinky things. Self-explanatory.


First Time - Memories & stories of people's first times. Self-explanatory.


Gay Male - Men loving men. Self-explanatory.


Group Sex - Orgies, swingers, and others. Self-explanatory.


How To - Advice and suggestions from our readers/authors. I genuinely didn't know that this was a category until I started making this post, since I usually go to the Forums for this kind of help and advice.


Humor & Satire - A humorous take on all things sex. Self-explanatory.


Illustrated - Erotica with accompanying original visual artwork. Self-explanatory.


Interracial Love - It's all black & white, and white & Asian, and... Self-explanatory, but this category DOES feel a little race-fetishy.


Lesbian Sex - Women who love other women. Self-explanatory.


Letters & Transcripts - Fictional erotic correspondence. Self-explanatory. An erotic take on Dracula could go here as well, though, since it was written as a series of letters and stuff. Fun fact!


Loving Wives - Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more. I'm genuinely not sure about this one. Is it about swinging? Is it about cheaters? Is it about heartbreak? Do they need to be married, or could they just be partners? Could it be about a person who's TEMPTED to cheat but doesn't? This is the category that inspired me to make this post, since I have no idea what this category is supposed to mean.


Mature - May / December lust & love affairs. Self-explanatory, although I don't know how big the age-gap needs to be to be considered an age-gap.
Mind Control - Erotic hypnosis and mind control. Self-explanatory.


Non-English - Erotic stories in other languages. Self-explanatory.


Non-Erotic - Fiction without a sexual focus. Self-explanatory.
NonHuman - Aliens, ghosts, androids, and more. I still don't know the difference between this one and sci-fi/fantasy.


Novels and Novellas - Erotic fiction with a broader scope. This ISN'T where you post multiple chapters, this is where you post a single long story.


Reluctance/NonConsent - Fantasies of control. This is where your CNC and Rape stories should probably go.


Reviews & Essays - Your take on art, films, & all things sexual. Self-explanatory.


Romance - Drama, love, risk, and happily-ever-afters. It doesn't NEED to have sex to go here, it just has to be a romance. ALSO: While every romance will have a moment in the middle where the characters realize that they are a EMOTIONALLY / PHYSICALLY compatible as well as a moment at the end where they realize they are SPIRITUALLY / RELATIONALLY compatible, those two moments DON'T need to be about sex. They are about how the characters CONNECT. ALSO ALSO ALSO never forget that a romance MUST have a Happily Ever After or A Happy For Now ending or it ISN'T A ROMANCE.


Sci-Fi & Fantasy - Erotic tales set in futuristic or fantastic worlds. Self-explanatory.


Taboo/Incest - Keeping it in the family. Self-explanatory.
Toys & Masturbation - Battery-operated vegetables, etc. Self-explanatory.


Transgender - Trans love, lust, sex & self discovery. Self-explanatory.

+++++

And there you have it! I tend to try to post in the category that I think matches the essential heart of the story best. If I ever wrote an erotic story about a superhero, I'd probably put it in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy category rather than the Erotic Coupling category, since the Superhero thing is more important than the Erotic Coupling part. Likewise, I'm trying to get a story about Anal sex moved into the Anal sex category from the Erotic Coupling category (because I'd not realized that Anal was thing unto itself), even though one of the characters is LITERALL a Christmas Elf, because the focus of the story is about Anal. One story I wrote was a pure romance, so I posted in the romance category, even though it was a non-erotic story, because the Romance was the most important part of it.

But that's just me. If anyone else wanted to chime in and clarify, please feel free!

 

[knowhergne]

I always looked at "loving wives" as hotwife/cuckold stories. That's generally what I read from that section, but it definitely could be broken up into multiple categories since a lot of stories on there differ in content

 

[Writer61]

Well, that's self-explanatory.

 

[WittyUserName]

Anal - The butt, and nothing but. Self-explanatory.


Audio - Erotic audio stories, sexy sounds & more. Self-explanatory.


BDSM - Bondage, D/s, and other power games. Self-explanatory.


Chain Stories - Story collaborations between Literotica authors. Self-explanatory.


Crossdressing - Tales of gender exploration, drag, and the joy of dressing up. Exactly what it says on the tin. Erotic stories about trans folks has its OWN category.


Erotic Couplings - Wild one-on-one consensual sex. If you can't think of where else to put a story, put it here.


Erotic Horror - Bizarre, shocking, scary, and sometimes sexy. This is probably where your monster-fucking goes.


Exhibitionist & Voyeur - Watching, and being watched. Self-explanatory.


Fan Fiction & Celebrities - Parodies & erotic fan fiction about famous people. Self-explanatory.


Fetish - Feet, panties, food, and other kinky things. Self-explanatory.


First Time - Memories & stories of people's first times. Self-explanatory.


Gay Male - Men loving men. Self-explanatory.


Group Sex - Orgies, swingers, and others. Self-explanatory.


How To - Advice and suggestions from our readers/authors. I genuinely didn't know that this was a category until I started making this post, since I usually go to the Forums for this kind of help and advice.


Humor & Satire - A humorous take on all things sex. Self-explanatory.


Illustrated - Erotica with accompanying original visual artwork. Self-explanatory.


Interracial Love - It's all black & white, and white & Asian, and... Self-explanatory, but this category DOES feel a little race-fetishy.


Lesbian Sex - Women who love other women. Self-explanatory.


Letters & Transcripts - Fictional erotic correspondence. Self-explanatory. An erotic take on Dracula could go here as well, though, since it was written as a series of letters and stuff. Fun fact!


Loving Wives - Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more. I'm genuinely not sure about this one. Is it about swinging? Is it about cheaters? Is it about heartbreak? Do they need to be married, or could they just be partners? Could it be about a person who's TEMPTED to cheat but doesn't? This is the category that inspired me to make this post, since I have no idea what this category is supposed to mean.


Mature - May / December lust & love affairs. Self-explanatory, although I don't know how big the age-gap needs to be to be considered an age-gap.
Mind Control - Erotic hypnosis and mind control. Self-explanatory.


Non-English - Erotic stories in other languages. Self-explanatory.


Non-Erotic - Fiction without a sexual focus. Self-explanatory.
NonHuman - Aliens, ghosts, androids, and more. I still don't know the difference between this one and sci-fi/fantasy.


Novels and Novellas - Erotic fiction with a broader scope. This ISN'T where you post multiple chapters, this is where you post a single long story.


Reluctance/NonConsent - Fantasies of control. This is where your CNC and Rape stories should probably go.


Reviews & Essays - Your take on art, films, & all things sexual. Self-explanatory.


Romance - Drama, love, risk, and happily-ever-afters. It doesn't NEED to have sex to go here, it just has to be a romance. ALSO: While every romance will have a moment in the middle where the characters realize that they are a EMOTIONALLY / PHYSICALLY compatible as well as a moment at the end where they realize they are SPIRITUALLY / RELATIONALLY compatible, those two moments DON'T need to be about sex. They are about how the characters CONNECT. ALSO ALSO ALSO never forget that a romance MUST have a Happily Ever After or A Happy For Now ending or it ISN'T A ROMANCE.


Sci-Fi & Fantasy - Erotic tales set in futuristic or fantastic worlds. Self-explanatory.


Taboo/Incest - Keeping it in the family. Self-explanatory.
Toys & Masturbation - Battery-operated vegetables, etc. Self-explanatory.


Transgender - Trans love, lust, sex & self discovery. Self-explanatory.

+++++

And there you have it! I tend to try to post in the category that I think matches the essential heart of the story best. If I ever wrote an erotic story about a superhero, I'd probably put it in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy category rather than the Erotic Coupling category, since the Superhero thing is more important than the Erotic Coupling part. Likewise, I'm trying to get a story about Anal sex moved into the Anal sex category from the Erotic Coupling category (because I'd not realized that Anal was thing unto itself), even though one of the characters is LITERALL a Christmas Elf, because the focus of the story is about Anal. One story I wrote was a pure romance, so I posted in the romance category, even though it was a non-erotic story, because the Romance was the most important part of it.

But that's just me. If anyone else wanted to chime in and clarify, please feel free!

I would add mentioning how many stories can fall into multiple categories, and you can definitely get negative comments if readers are unhappy with your choice. I had a lesbian romance story that I posted in romance because it also included straight sex. Multiple comments said the story was mislabeled.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Gay Male - Men loving men. Self-explanatory.

You're also more likely to find bisexual man stories here, as they tend to have a better reception in this category.

Mature - May / December lust & love affairs. Self-explanatory, although I don't know how big the age-gap needs to be to be considered an age-gap.

Stories about older couples without an age gape are also received well in this category.

NonHuman - Aliens, ghosts, androids, and more. I still don't know the difference between this one and sci-fi/fantasy.

Sci-fi/Fantasy are usually about fantastical elements, or worlds. Most Non-Human stories are set in something like an urban setting with a non-human as one of the people getting involved in the sexy times.

To be honest, there is quite a bit of overlap between the two. I wrote a ghost story once that was a bit more urban than I usually put in Sci-fi/Fantasy, but the ghost wasn't a participant so it did not belong in Non-Human.

 

[iwatchus]

Lots of things in N&N are posted as chapters (or groups of chapters)

I think a lot of Monster fucking (and MF adjacent) stories go in non-human. At least the ones from the two authors I follow (@NuclearFairy and @PennyThompson) post there.

There was a long thread recently about what goes in Erotic Horror.

 

[taytay4eva]

I would add mentioning how many stories can fall into multiple categories, and you can definitely get negative comments if readers are unhappy with your choice. I had a lesbian romance story that I posted in romance because it also included straight sex. Multiple comments said the story was mislabeled.

See, that's part of why I made this post, because that would not have been obvious to me. I would also have thought that a story where the romance was the essential part should go in the romance category, not into the lesbian category.

I actually tend to stay away from Sci-fi/Fantasy because they seem to mostly be about robots and dragons and such, which isn't my jam.

 

[knowhergne]

I would add mentioning how many stories can fall into multiple categories, and you can definitely get negative comments if readers are unhappy with your choice. I had a lesbian romance story that I posted in romance because it also included straight sex. Multiple comments said the story was mislabeled.

Damn, that sucks...I feel like a lot of stories could (and probably should) fall under multiple categories

 

[taytay4eva]

Damn, that sucks...I feel like a lot of stories could (and probably should) fall under multiple categories

I really wish that switching categories for a story was easier. Like, if you realize later that a story shouldn't go in a certain category or would do better in another one, it shouldn't be hard to change it.

Like, for me, I'm writing a story where a guy flirts pretty hard with a girl who's in a relationship. He's an asshole, and a dick, but he's hot and she's a little furious with herself about how into him she is even though she's in a relationship. Yes, she talks with her partner about it, and yes, her partner is able to put on the persona of "aggressive hot dom who orders her to be a subby sub" and that scratches her itch, but still, until (now, honestly), I've been trying to figure out where it should go. Loving Wives and Non-Con both seem wrong, since she doesn't actually cheat, but BDSM is a category I don't know enough about.

 

[TheLobster]

Erotic Horror - Bizarre, shocking, scary, and sometimes sexy. This is probably where your monster-fucking goes.

As others mentioned, monsterfucking goes primarily into NonHuman, or SF&F if there are enough fantastical elements to constitute a feature of the story on its own merits.
EH itself is a weird category that barely anyone reads, at least in my experience.

Fetish - Feet, panties, food, and other kinky things. Self-explanatory.

Tags are super important here. Also, you can post cuckolding stories there if you're afraid of getting savaged by LW commenters (a reasonable apprehension, as many would attest).

First Time - Memories & stories of people's first times. Self-explanatory.

In theory this might include any kind of first time, but it's more common to put e.g. first time anal into Anal.

Lesbian Sex - Women who love other women. Self-explanatory.

With the caveat that this is closer to Lesbian Romance than Lesbian Erotic Couplings. Slow burns are appreciated there.

Loving Wives - Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more. I'm genuinely not sure about this one. Is it about swinging? Is it about cheaters? Is it about heartbreak? Do they need to be married, or could they just be partners? Could it be about a person who's TEMPTED to cheat but doesn't? This is the category that inspired me to make this post, since I have no idea what this category is supposed to mean.

As far as I know, LW is pretty much all that. But it is the most idiosyncratic category on Lit, and I don't have experience in it to comment any further. I'm sure others can offer more insight (and warnings).

Mature - May / December lust & love affairs. Self-explanatory, although I don't know how big the age-gap needs to be to be considered an age-gap.

It's not so much about numbers but about characters being in different stages of life. A generational gap is really what the category is about.

Non-English - Erotic stories in other languages. Self-explanatory.

This is a legacy / dead category. Use the language feature to post stories in languages other than English.

Novels and Novellas - Erotic fiction with a broader scope. This ISN'T where you post multiple chapters, this is where you post a single long story.

No, you can post your novel(la) in multiple chapters as separate submissions. It should still be a single, standalone work, however.
In practice, this category is basically "EC but for longer works." Anything which fits squarely into a topical category should rather be posted there.

Transgender - Trans love, lust, sex & self discovery. Self-explanatory.

This category was originally described as "Tales of gender-bending fun", before the Crossdressing part got split off earlier this year. I believe it still retains the flavor of its predecessor, meaning that any story which features non-standard character genders can go here (e.g. futanari stories, if they don't feature fantastical elements too heavily).

If I ever wrote an erotic story about a superhero, I'd probably put it in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy category rather than the Erotic Coupling category, since the Superhero thing is more important than the Erotic Coupling part. Likewise, I'm trying to get a story about Anal sex moved into the Anal sex category from the Erotic Coupling category (because I'd not realized that Anal was thing unto itself), even though one of the characters is LITERALL a Christmas Elf, because the focus of the story is about Anal. One story I wrote was a pure romance, so I posted in the romance category, even though it was a non-erotic story, because the Romance was the most important part of it.

This all sounds right to me. I also posted a non-erotic Romance recently, and it hasn't been completely reamed even though its HEA is extremely understated at best.

 

[taytay4eva]

I am learning so much here

 

[knowhergne]

I really wish that switching categories for a story was easier. Like, if you realize later that a story shouldn't go in a certain category or would do better in another one, it shouldn't be hard to change it.

Like, for me, I'm writing a story where a guy flirts pretty hard with a girl who's in a relationship. He's an asshole, and a dick, but he's hot and she's a little furious with herself about how into him she is even though she's in a relationship. Yes, she talks with her partner about it, and yes, her partner is able to put on the persona of "aggressive hot dom who orders her to be a subby sub" and that scratches her itch, but still, until (now, honestly), I've been trying to figure out where it should go. Loving Wives and Non-Con both seem wrong, since she doesn't actually cheat, but BDSM is a category I don't know enough about.

I see your dilemma for sure. Loving Wives doesn't seem to fit since while the gf is flirting, she's not actually cheating, but it does work as a sub category since that content is in there lol. I haven't read enough BDSM stories to know if the "dom/sub" part would be enough for it to fit there either. Erotic Couplings could work kinda, but also doesn't seem to fully fit. Definitely curious about the story though, sounds pretty interesting

 

[RocketGrunt]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy is the category for stories with fantasy or science fiction world building. So Low Fantasy (that is, fantasy that takes place on "Earth") is only Sci-Fi/Fantasy if your fantastical elements have some world building behind them.

So if you have a vampire in your story set in London, then it goes in Non-Human or Erotic Horror.
If you have an Anne Rice inspired vampire underworld with vampire houses and secret histories and shit, then it's Sci-Fi Fantasy.

It's not actually that difficult of a concept.

 

[taytay4eva]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy is the category for stories with fantasy or science fiction world building. So Low Fantasy (that is, fantasy that takes place on "Earth") is only Sci-Fi/Fantasy if your fantastical elements have some world building behind them.

So if you have a vampire in your story set in London, then it goes in Non-Human or Erotic Horror.
If you have an Anne Rice inspired vampire underworld with vampire houses and secret histories and shit, then it's Sci-Fi Fantasy.

It's not actually that difficult of a concept.

I mean, it is different, though, they are different things, and the difference to me was pretty fuzzy, so it was a kind of difficult concept. That's why I made this post: to suss out those differences.

 

[taytay4eva]

I see your dilemma for sure. Loving Wives doesn't seem to fit since while the gf is flirting, she's not actually cheating, but it does work as a sub category since that content is in there lol. I haven't read enough BDSM stories to know if the "dom/sub" part would be enough for it to fit there either. Erotic Couplings could work kinda, but also doesn't seem to fully fit. Definitely curious about the story though, sounds pretty interesting

She doesn't flirt back, but the story is told from her point if view, so you know that she's really turned on by him, even if she's verbally rejecting him.

But yeah, that's why I don't know where it should go.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy is the category for stories with fantasy or science fiction world building. So Low Fantasy (that is, fantasy that takes place on "Earth") is only Sci-Fi/Fantasy if your fantastical elements have some world building behind them.

So if you have a vampire in your story set in London, then it goes in Non-Human or Erotic Horror.
If you have an Anne Rice inspired vampire underworld with vampire houses and secret histories and shit, then it's Sci-Fi Fantasy.

It's not actually that difficult of a concept.

In practice, that's not really how they break down. It's kinda... can your characters order a pizza? If they can order a pizza, it's fine to put in NonHuman. There are plenty of NonHuman stories with elaborate worldbuilding and secret societies out the wazoo. I mean, hell, the entire toplist is the personal property of a writer telling stories about a guy who inherits a place in a cosmic competition where he collects hot monster girls, despite opposition from a secret society of warlocks, a secret society of counter-warlock knights and mages, and the other entities in the competition, who include an evil ghost and a freaky genetic experimenter. It's a NonHuman story because Mr. Mike can and does order pizza.

Sci-fi/fantasy stories don't necessarily have to fail the pizza test, but usually they do. They're in worlds that are very much not ours. Isekai stories are popular there, as are space operas and ragtag-band-of-sexy-space-misfits stories.

 

[NuclearFairy]

In practice, that's not really how they break down. It's kinda... can your characters order a pizza? If they can order a pizza, it's fine to put in NonHuman. There are plenty of NonHuman stories with elaborate worldbuilding and secret societies out the wazoo. I mean, hell, the entire toplist is the personal property of a writer telling stories about a guy who inherits a place in a cosmic competition where he collects hot monster girls, despite opposition from a secret society of warlocks, a secret society of counter-warlock knights and mages, and the other entities in the competition, who include an evil ghost and a freaky genetic experimenter. It's a NonHuman story because Mr. Mike can and does order pizza.

Sci-fi/fantasy stories don't necessarily have to fail the pizza test, but usually they do. They're in worlds that are very much not ours. Isekai stories are popular there, as are space operas and ragtag-band-of-sexy-space-misfits stories.

It also boils down to which audience you want to cater to. Sci-fi/Fantasy expects that world building, and while they'll be okay with a short story they're more likely to want to know why an anthro squirrel was delivering your pizza than Non-Human will.

Whereas readers in non-human are okay if you want to get into the nitty gritty of building their world up, the less you have to do so the happier they'll be and they seem to like those short stories a bit more than Sci-fi/Fantasy.

However, if the anthro squirrel is not directly involved in the sexy times then it really should just go in Sci-fi/Fantasy no matter how little you explain the fantastical elements.

So it really boils down to, Non-Human having sex? If no, Sci-fi/Fantasy. If yes, How fantastical is the setting? If barely, Non-Human. If very, Flip a coin.

 

[IWroteThis]

Loving Wives - Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more. I'm genuinely not sure about this one. Is it about swinging? Is it about cheaters? Is it about heartbreak? Do they need to be married, or could they just be partners? Could it be about a person who's TEMPTED to cheat but doesn't? This is the category that inspired me to make this post, since I have no idea what this category is supposed to mean.

Don't feel too bad about struggling with this one. Even the people who read the category religiously can't agree on what should be in it.

The main problem with the category is that it's basically a combination of all the other categories, just with a wedding ring involved. Then they backed off and allowed engagement rings too. Now, it includes any bf/gf and casual hookup that lasted longer than a one-night stand, and I'm not 100% sure on the exclusion of ONS as a qualifying relationship. So, we've ended up with a dumping ground that doesn't have a clear purpose.

If you think about it logically, what should set it off from the other categories is where the marriage(/engagement/relationship) itself is a key element in the story. For example, a swinger story where both spouses are on-board should go in Group Sex. A swingers story where only one spouse wants it and, whether it happens or not, it creates marital drama between them belongs in Loving Wives.

To summarize, rather than run through a zillion other examples, the existence of the Loving Wives category really only makes sense if it's the marital drama category. Otherwise, there's a more specific category that's a better choice. Also, there really isn't another category dedicated to marital drama stemming from erotic events.

But, that's just my interpretation. As I said, the one thing everybody seems to agree about is to disagree.

Novels and Novellas - Erotic fiction with a broader scope. This ISN'T where you post multiple chapters, this is where you post a single long story.

To jump on the bandwagon, this is the perfect category for posting individual chapters of a story that category hops like a rabbit on meth.

Posting each chapter in a different category and posting the off-topic chapters in the original category are both disliked by large swaths of readers.

 

[TheLobster]

I mean, it is different, though, they are different things, and the difference to me was pretty fuzzy, so it was a kind of difficult concept. That's why I made this post: to suss out those differences.

It's a sliding scale, and the boundary isn't completely clear and tends to be subjective.

If it helps you, I have a comparative example of two stories that deal with the same topic (succubi) which, I think, demonstrate the difference between NH and SF&F. Disclaimer: one of them is mine

• This one is in NonHuman (and the first part, too), because there is no explanation why the succubi live on Earth and seemingly belong to the society. It focuses solely on the characters, with little to no worldbuilding.
• This one is in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, because there's plenty of the latter and it does take place in another plane of existence with different rules (pizza test definitely failed)

Like I said, it's not an exact science, and in my experience a story you intend to go into NH often grows a worldbuilding tumor and needs to land in SF&F instead

 

[iwatchus]

See, that's part of why I made this post, because that would not have been obvious to me. I would also have thought that a story where the romance was the essential part should go in the romance category, not into the lesbian category.

I actually tend to stay away from Sci-fi/Fantasy because they seem to mostly be about robots and dragons and such, which isn't my jam.

I feel like I've been promoting this series too much recently, but try my Fantasia series for something is SF&F that you might like. It's certainly not robots or dragons. (But stay away from my SF&F novel in progress.) You might even like Dolls, which is technically about robots, but I not in the way you're thinking. They're all very short, by my standards at least.

 

[YmaOHyd]

If you think about it logically, what should set it off from the other categories is where the marriage(/engagement/relationship) itself is a key element in the story. For example, a swinger story where both spouses are on-board should go in Group Sex. A swingers story where only one spouse wants it and, whether it happens or not, it creates marital drama between them belongs in Loving Wives.

Yes and -- part of the reason a two-party-consent swinging story goes into Group Sex is that it doesn't belong in Loving Wives anymore. It used to, 25 years ago. But the focus of the category, if you were going to sum it up on a postcard, is female marital infidelity kink. That expresses itself as cucking, it expresses itself in elaborate revenge fantasies, and it expresses itself through reconciliation fantasies, all of which are mutually exclusive but share the same root and have pretty similar numbers of supporters. That's part of why it's so contentious.

 

[taytay4eva]

Yes and -- part of the reason a two-party-consent swinging story goes into Group Sex is that it doesn't belong in Loving Wives anymore. It used to, 25 years ago. But the focus of the category, if you were going to sum it up on a postcard, is female marital infidelity kink. That expresses itself as cucking, it expresses itself in elaborate revenge fantasies, and it expresses itself through reconciliation fantasies, all of which are mutually exclusive but share the same root and have pretty similar numbers of supporters. That's part of why it's so contentious.

That's a good baseline summary!

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

In practice, that's not really how they break down. It's kinda... can your characters order a pizza? If they can order a pizza, it's fine to put in NonHuman. There are plenty of NonHuman stories with elaborate worldbuilding and secret societies out the wazoo. I mean, hell, the entire toplist is the personal property of a writer telling stories about a guy who inherits a place in a cosmic competition where he collects hot monster girls, despite opposition from a secret society of warlocks, a secret society of counter-warlock knights and mages, and the other entities in the competition, who include an evil ghost and a freaky genetic experimenter. It's a NonHuman story because Mr. Mike can and does order pizza.

Sci-fi/fantasy stories don't necessarily have to fail the pizza test, but usually they do. They're in worlds that are very much not ours. Isekai stories are popular there, as are space operas and ragtag-band-of-sexy-space-misfits stories.

It also boils down to which audience you want to cater to. Sci-fi/Fantasy expects that world building, and while they'll be okay with a short story they're more likely to want to know why an anthro squirrel was delivering your pizza than Non-Human will.

Whereas readers in non-human are okay if you want to get into the nitty gritty of building their world up, the less you have to do so the happier they'll be and they seem to like those short stories a bit more than Sci-fi/Fantasy.

However, if the anthro squirrel is not directly involved in the sexy times then it really should just go in Sci-fi/Fantasy no matter how little you explain the fantastical elements.

So it really boils down to, Non-Human having sex? If no, Sci-fi/Fantasy. If yes, How fantastical is the setting? If barely, Non-Human. If very, Flip a coin.

This is really interesting. I'm in the trenches developing what I hope will be my first longer series and the co-lead of the story will be a succubus. That to me screams fantasy so I was probably going to lean SF/F but it will be set very much in our modern world. There could be occasional visits to other realms though, not sure yet. Too early to say yet whether there will be other nonhuman characters involved in the sexual elements of the story either. Sounds like I haven't developed it at all actually

This thread has definitely given me something to think about. Thankfully this story will probably just never get written like 75% of the others stories I plan so it's a question that I may never need to answer. What a relief!

 

[taytay4eva]

This is really interesting. I'm in the trenches developing what I hope will be my first longer series and the co-lead of the story will be a succubus. That to me screams fantasy so I was probably going to lean SF/F but it will be set very much in our modern world. There could be occasional visits to other realms though, not sure yet. Too early to say yet whether there will be other nonhuman characters involved in the sexual elements of the story either. Sounds like I haven't developed it at all actually

This thread has definitely given me something to think about. Thankfully this story will probably just never get written like 75% of the others stories I plan so it's a question that I may never need to answer. What a relief!

So I have a character, Sammi Elf, who's a Christmas Elf. She has a human boyfriend. The story takes place in a world where the Veil between magic and the mundane just collapsed. Like, partway into Sammi Elf Gets Her Stocking Stuffed, her first story, is when the Veil comes down. I posted it in "First Time", because it was about her first time having sex, not the magic or the world building.

The second story with Sammi Elf, Sammi Elf Sweetens Her Sugarplum, I'm trying to get moved into Anal because it's about her having anal sex with her human bestfriend-turned-boyfriend.

A related story, A Mid-Winter Night's Dream, features a newly-divorced 76 year old woman and her 55 year old boss walking up the same newly magical world in the bodies of their twenty-something selves. In this new world, though, they are in a relationship, so since the story is, at heart, about their relationship, I posted it in the Romance section.

Meanwhile, if someone had sex with someone they just met because the Veil came down when they wouldn't have otherwise, it would be a sci-fi / fantasy, since the Veil coming down is what the story would revolve around.

Or, to give another example, two lesbian superheroes who fall in love while investigating a space monster would be more of a Lesbian story than a sci-fi one, since it's about their falling in love, so it would go into the Lesbian category.

So, all that said, I'd say post it to the category that the heart of the story revolves around.

 

[Britva415]

If you can't think of where else to put a story, put it here

Or if you write a story which truly doesn't go in any of the other categories.

It's not always (or even usually) a matter of "hmm... can't think of where... "