Category Stereotypes

[ZoZa]

Reading these forums (especially this section) I often seem to come across people generalising about the readers of this or that category.

The idea that a good story might founder because the readers of Category X don't like some particular thing. Or the idea that comments in a category should be considered less valid than those in another because of the nature of the readers in each category.

These stereotypes seem to be common knowledge amongst experienced authors, bit it's hard to work out what these stereotpes actually are. They're referenced, but not described. So what are they?

What do experienced authors expect of the readers in particular categories in terms of taste and behaviour?

(Especially the Sci fi & Fantasy readers since that's where I'm posting.)

 

[oggbashan]

The easy way to find what is acceptable and what is not is to read the stories in the Top Lists of each category.

Loving Wives is the real minefield. Whatever you write for that category is likely to upset one sub-group of Anonymous.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree that writers--especially the beginning ones here--reach for a magic bullet that just ain't there on what to write for "the" mystical "reader"--in any category or for the file in general.

 

[3113]

What do experienced authors expect of the readers in particular categories in terms of taste and behaviour? (Especially the Sci fi & Fantasy readers since that's where I'm posting.)

Sci-Fi and Fantasy readers are among the most forgiving. If it's a sci-fi or fantasy story you can do just about anything that you'd do in any other category and no complains. BDSM? Go for it. LGBT? Fine with the sci-fi/fantasy readers. Etc. The reason for this is that people who like all the other categories go to Sci-fi/Fantasy for all those categories but with a sci-fi/fantasy tale/setting.

So nothing is off limits. The reader has to sift through the stories and find the one that has the sex they want, because in sci-fi/fantasy, the only requirement is that the story be sci-fi/fantasy.

Where you run into trouble is where readers tend to look for a particular erotic fantasy and you "ruin" it by bringing in something that upsets the fantasy. Like they go to incest for a good incest story and so far dad and brother are enjoying the sister there--but then dad and son start to go at it and the incest person, who only wants to fantasize about heterosexual incest gets weirded out. And mad at you because they believe any story with any male homosexual scenes should be in Gay Male.

Or you post a story in group, but that group is a family and it's really incest. Readers who want a particular erotic scene use the categories to find that. So you can understand that if something they expected to be there wasn't there, and something they didn't want was there--well, they could ignore everything else about the story but that it "lied" to them. It said it was X but really it was Y.

 

[MatthewVett]

I've found Transsexuals and Crossdressers to be my favorite audience so far. The stories I wrote for that category got, by far, the most amount of personal feedback. Incest is a close second, though.

Really, I recommend just writing and seeing what sort of audience you attract. Just because a category has a certain type of reader doesn't mean your stories specifically will get that same cross-section. Title and description can help a lot. With stories like, "You're My Cousin?!" I'm unlikely to get an incest reader who's pissed I had no father-daughter stuff, after all.

 

[lovecraft68]

There seems to be a lot of this lately. Writers trying to strive to hit or please a certain readership.

Its never going to happen.

I mean, yes you will find some that say "wow that hit all my sweet spots" but you're also going to get everyone else and get a mixed bag of results.

You may aim for a certain audience in say incest, but you're going to be read by all the incest "factions"

Just write the story you want, stick to your style and the readership will find you.

 

[sr71plt]

This message is hidden because lovecraft68 is on your ignore list.

 

[MSTarot]

Yea the Category verses Reader idea of what should be in the category doesn't always seem to hit the mark with what you have wrote.

I did a Cyberpunk story and put it in SCI-Fi & Fantasy and has several comments tell me it shouldn't be there. A few people told me it should be in either nonhuman or horror.

I have a story where a sister is made to give her brother a blowjob, was told it should be in Nonconsent/reluctance so many times I moved it.

Then there was the loving wives story i did. Wife cheating on husband with his best friend. They loved it. I have only two negative comments and they have to do with 'her' not the story.

I think I'm about where I've reached the point I'm going to do what I've seen posted. Write what I want and put it where I think it will match up best. Hopefully the reader will like it there, if not?

I'm sure they will let me know. Smile.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I have a story where a sister is made to give her brother a blowjob, was told it should be in Nonconsent/reluctance so many times I moved it.

There seems to be a convention that the incest relationship is PERFECT and the only possible way these characters can achieve romance. Pregnancy is a surefire crowd pleaser too. Non-con, which is far more probable IRL, would not be what they want to read.

Says something greasy and pitiful about the fans, if you ask me.

 

[lovecraft68]

There seems to be a convention that the incest relationship is PERFECT and the only possible way these characters can achieve romance. Pregnancy is a surefire crowd pleaser too. Non-con, which is far more probable IRL, would not be what they want to read.

Says something greasy and pitiful about the fans, if you ask me.

I think with "fantasy incest" which is what we have here, its romantic and fun and harmless, or just out right dirty stroke "wow look at sis, I'm going to do her!"

It is way off the beaten path of what real life incest would be, so much so it hardly resembles it.

I learned the hard way with SWB that people here like their incest in a fun vein. By having my "sibs" engage in hardcore rough bdsm sex I alienated a lot of the incest crowd.

My favorite e-mail to date was way back in one of the early chapters where a guy flamed me for the rough sex and finished with, "Sir, that is no way to treat your sister!"

Incest is an anomaly here in that it is very far from the reality of what it truly consists of. Whereas most other kinks(although exaggerated and full of porn cliches) are fairly true to reality.

 

[Darkniciad]

Overall, Sci-Fi & Fantasy readers prefer longer stories. They don't demand ( and sometimes will skip ) sex scenes in every chapter. When warned about especially edgy content ( MM, Incest, etc. ) they heed the warnings and don't bomb you unread because you dared to write something edgy.

It's also one of the smaller readerships on the site. Don't expect to break any records.

Unless something is truly awful, they tend to vote 4 or 5 or not vote at all. Just because something isn't their cup-o-tea, they don't punish you for writing it.

Off the top of my head, since you mentioned the category specifically.

 

[TE999]

As others have said, write for yourself, tell the stories you think should be told and you'll have a lot less frustration than trying to write to a reader's particular (peculiar?) tastes. We have the whole spectrum of a readership here from your garden variety wankers to some really, really sick fucks.

My Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories have been reasonably well received and it's a freewheeling cat that will encompass most any storyline including a brother and sister fucking in a space capsule that's losing orbital velocity around the death planet Zarg.

 

[ZoZa]

Overall, Sci-Fi & Fantasy readers prefer longer stories. They don't demand ( and sometimes will skip ) sex scenes in every chapter. When warned about especially edgy content ( MM, Incest, etc. ) they heed the warnings and don't bomb you unread because you dared to write something edgy.

It's also one of the smaller readerships on the site. Don't expect to break any records.

Unless something is truly awful, they tend to vote 4 or 5 or not vote at all. Just because something isn't their cup-o-tea, they don't punish you for writing it.

Off the top of my head, since you mentioned the category specifically.

This has been my experience. four seems to be the lowest rating I get, which shouldn't really be the case for a first-time author.

Only one comment, though. A rather unhelpful

More plz? Damn character limitations.

I did put a warning at the start of chapter one that there was watersports in the story, so I imagine that put a lot of people off and warned the rest.


What is a Good comment to view ratio in SF&F? Right now I'm around 1:3'600 for two chapters and I won't lie, it's dispiriting.

 

[Darkniciad]

My average comment ratio as Dark ( Primarily Sci-Fi & Fantasy or stories set in the same sort of world ) is 1 in 2166

You're also likely to have a higher vote/comment to view ratio in the category. The readers tend to be more engaged than a lot of other categories. It offsets the smaller numbers, to some extent.

For example, when you go to my stories as Les ( A mixture of Fantasy, Romance, Incest, Group, etc. ) It goes to 1 in 5420.

Go to my stories as RR ( Mostly Mature and Group with a few outliers, but most all centering on May-December dynamics ) it's one in 4762.

Here's my latest quarterly stat track:

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_11_03_12

There's a lot of obscured information for my third name as RR, because I'm only now deciding the anonymity experiment has picked up enough data and bringing him "into the fold".

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I write almost exclusively in GM, but one trend that I think extends to a lot of other categories is that wankers get very few comments.

A go-to favorite of mine, Kent100, writes very hot stories, but they are all about the sex. The characters are introduced only as they need to be. Only to be fucked. His stories have (on average) two to four comments each.

My stories are much more about the characters, and many of the chaptered ones have little to no sex in the earlier chapters. Yet, I tend to get 6-10 comments on my average story. On a few, I have gotten as many as 20-25.

Wankers get very little feedback, usually.

 

[TxRad]

Wankers give very little feedback, also.

Write the story you want to write and let the chips fall where they may. Ya can't please anyone but yourself in the long run.

 

[xelliebabex]

You may aim for a certain audience, but you're going to be read by all the"factions"

Just write the story you want, stick to your style and the readership will find you.

I really agree with the last sentence above. I am reasonably new to lit compared to other writers, posting my first story just over a year ago, but i have a very small but true fan base who seem to find my stories good and will email me through feedback if i dawdle or drag my feet publishing the next chapter or something new.

So to repeat the obvious...

"Just write the story you want, stick to your style and the readership will find you" as well as the rest of the literotica world and we have to take the good comments and votes with the bad.

 

[ZoZa]

Wankers give very little feedback, also.

Write the story you want to write and let the chips fall where they may. Ya can't please anyone but yourself in the long run.

That's all I ever set out to do. In fact I didn't even intend to show it to anyone.

I think everyone likes a little feedback, though. Everyone just wants to be patted on the head and told good girl, sometimes.

 

[TxRad]

That's all I ever set out to do. In fact I didn't even intend to show it to anyone.

I think everyone likes a little feedback, though. Everyone just wants to be patted on the head and told good girl, sometimes.

Feedback is weird. Sometimes it comes easily with a story and then next time there is next to nothing. It really depends on the story more so than the category. Some stories beg to be commented on and others not so much.

As for the pat on the head, most of the time the reader wants to pat something far more personal.