A headscratcher

[Blind_Justice]

I have a somewhat peculiar question, but need a bit of a run-up.

I've checked the "recent activity" log on my submissions, and most, if not all people who chose to heart me or my stories have been males. (At least their Lit profiles said so, if they said anything at all).

Maybe this is a totally idiotic thought, but why only males? Is it my writing style or the subject matter? Or just the category in which I post? In the end it desn't matter too much, but the visible lack of any female readers really got me thinking. But then, there are people who care enough to fave my stuff at all, and that counts as a win in my book

 

[lovecraft68]

Well you said it yourself you think they are male. One never knows. A lot of readers think I am a woman.

You know maybe ten years ago I would say it was all male because it was sci fi, but that seems big with women now as well.

But I mightlean with material

The Tag lines for the Leo series sounds more appealing to men. To me anyway.

Lit is incredibly random and its hard to really put your finger on anything here.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Well you said it yourself you think they are male. One never knows. A lot of readers think I am a woman.

Lit is incredibly random and its hard to really put your finger on anything here.

You aren't a woman? NOOOOOO!

Looking at the votes, I can wholeheartedly agree to your last observation. Not that I have any reason to complain, but chapters without any sex get higher marks than those with *cough* elaborately crafted sex? Random indeed...

or I just suck at writing smut

 

[lovecraft68]

You aren't a woman? NOOOOOO!

Looking at the votes, I can wholeheartedly agree to your last observation. Not that I have any reason to complain, but chapters without any sex get higher marks than those with *cough* elaborately crafted sex? Random indeed...

or I just suck at writing smut

Sci fi is a story driven category so if smutless chapters are doing well then see it as you are writing a compelling story.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Thanks, LC, that last remark got me thinking. I may end up editing "Ghost..." quite a bit when I'm done with it. Some of the earlier chapters have sex for the sake of sex in them, more often than not to the detriment of tbe story. Gotta stop doing that.

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks, LC, that last remark got me thinking. I may end up editing "Ghost..." quite a bit when I'm done with it. Some of the earlier chapters have sex for the sake of sex in them, more often than not to the detriment of tbe story. Gotta stop doing that.

I empathize with that.

When I wrote SWB I stuck sex in every chapter until near the end and I am talking 50 chapters!

When I published a version of it I must have torn out two dozen sex scenes and shortened others, off and on it took better part of ten months.

But fact is this is an erotica site and that was what we fell into.

But what helped was near the end people were commenting they were addicted to the story

so if I ever do another series here I will not hesitate to focus more on the characters than "the deed"

 

[Blind_Justice]

You know, this exchange happens at an interesting moment. I've been fiddling with Ghost 15 for the last two weeks and I have tried my bloody best to shoehorn a sex scene into it. No matter how badly I twisted it, it wouldn't fit. Easy solution then. Out with it, reader satisfaction (or expectations?) be damned...

 

[lovecraft68]

You know, this exchange happens at an interesting moment. I've been fiddling with Ghost 15 for the last two weeks and I have tried my bloody best to shoehorn a sex scene into it. No matter how badly I twisted it, it wouldn't fit. Easy solution then. Out with it, reader satisfaction (or expectations?) be damned...

If you have to force it, it will probably suck anyway.

Besides by 15 they are invested in the people so it should work out well.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You know, this exchange happens at an interesting moment. I've been fiddling with Ghost 15 for the last two weeks and I have tried my bloody best to shoehorn a sex scene into it. No matter how badly I twisted it, it wouldn't fit. Easy solution then. Out with it, reader satisfaction (or expectations?) be damned...

Yep, I posted a no-sex chapter somewhere around part 12 of a long story and nobody seemed to mind.

 

[PennLady]

Yep, I posted a no-sex chapter somewhere around part 12 of a long story and nobody seemed to mind.

You can do that in genres like Romance and Nonhuman as well. In my current long romance, "Rhythm and the Blue Line," I don't think I get to a sex scene until chapter 5 (of 12) or so. In previous nonhuman stories I did the same thing. Not intentional, really, just took that long to get there with the characters.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You can do that in genres like Romance and Nonhuman as well. In my current long romance, "Rhythm and the Blue Line," I don't think I get to a sex scene until chapter 5 (of 12) or so. In previous nonhuman stories I did the same thing. Not intentional, really, just took that long to get there with the characters.

Yeah, this one was a romance, albeit categorised in LS. If I was writing that story again I probably would've had a few more chapters without sex, but I just wasn't sure how readers would react.

 

[Blind_Justice]

@PennLady: I've read your "Cost of Loyalty" recently. That one was very light on outright sex, but it was a wonderful read regardless. I'll take that as a baseline for minimum sex in a Lit submission and work my way from there. The easiest five stars I've given in a while

 

[PennLady]

@PennLady: I've read your "Cost of Loyalty" recently. That one was very light on outright sex, but it was a wonderful read regardless. I'll take that as a baseline for minimum sex in a Lit submission and work my way from there. The easiest five stars I've given in a while

Thank you very much. There are other Romance stories with even less sex. DGHear and woodmanone have a number of romances (and other genres) where the sex is even more minimal.

Also, with "Cost of Loyalty," as I think I say in a note, I wrote that story a LONG time ago. Like almost twenty years ago. I got it back out and felt obliged to put some sex in it when I read it over. I didn't want to rewrite the entire thing (which perhaps I should have), but I didn't feel it was entirely out of place. I'd do it a little differently perhaps if I did it now, but I'll leave it be.

 

[LadyCypris]

Looking at the votes, I can wholeheartedly agree to your last observation. Not that I have any reason to complain, but chapters without any sex get higher marks than those with *cough* elaborately crafted sex? Random indeed...

That's just a sign that your writing/worldbuilding is so compelling that the sex is no longer the primary pleasure they derive from your stories. Take it as the compliment it is!

In other news, I have a new fifteen-chapter story to read...

 

[Blind_Justice]

That's just a sign that your writing/worldbuilding is so compelling that the sex is no longer the primary pleasure they derive from your stories. Take it as the compliment it is!

In other news, I have a new fifteen-chapter story to read...

I'm curious on how far you'll get in the end. My guess is chapter 05, after that, my readership tapers off dramatically Just be so kind and let me know what you didn't like.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I have a somewhat peculiar question, but need a bit of a run-up.

I've checked the "recent activity" log on my submissions, and most, if not all people who chose to heart me or my stories have been males. (At least their Lit profiles said so, if they said anything at all).

Maybe this is a totally idiotic thought, but why only males? Is it my writing style or the subject matter? Or just the category in which I post? In the end it desn't matter too much, but the visible lack of any female readers really got me thinking. But then, there are people who care enough to fave my stuff at all, and that counts as a win in my book

I really don't have an answer for you, except to compare it with my own experience. I started writing stories 4 1/2 years ago with the intention of catering to a female audience. I don't know how many readers of either sex I actually attracted, but like you, the favorites were overwhelmingly male. Probably by a 4:1 ratio. I enlisted the aid of a female editor in an attempt to make my stories more female friendly, but I didn't notice any change in the statistics. After a while I just gave up and decided to write the best stories I could write, for whomever wanted to read them.

When I sent my last story off to my beta reader (who is not the previously mentioned editor), she predicted that it would generate a strong reaction from women. I didn't think much of her statement, since I had long ago given up on my attempts to court a particular audience. But she was right. Favorites for Deep Undercover gathered favorites skewing around 3:1, female to male. At the same time, readers favoriting me as an author were approximaely 1:1.

So what does this mean for you? I think category does matter. I think your writing also matters. I'm not sure if there is anything you can really do, however, short of pandering. My advice is to write just write the best story you can write, and don't worry about the gender of the audience. If you ever get to the point of selling your stories, money has no gender.

 

[Blind_Justice]

@soflabbwlvr: I'm not really looking to court a specific readership. I'm not yet good enough for that I was just curious why mainly males fave'd me. And yes, I'm trying to write my best. Writing for volume's sake? Not my cup of tea. Some people can pull it off, but I'm afraid I'd end up eventually recyclling story ideas.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

If you wanna collect female fans fuck over male characters or make female characters Wonder Woman.

 

[Blind_Justice]

If you wanna collect female fans fuck over male characters or make female characters Wonder Woman.

My wife told me yesterday she's missing a drool-worthy "tall, dark & handsame" guy in my stories. I thought that was the grandmother of tropes, so I've avoided that like the plague when I cooked up my male protags. One of the female protags is a tough woman, but no where near super hero stuff. Cyberpunk just doesn't work that way.

And I don't do humiliation for the sake of gratification. There is a serious case of "jerk gets what he deserves" in "Ghost... 05", but that's it.

 

[lovecraft68]

My wife told me yesterday she's missing a drool-worthy "tall, dark & handsame" guy in my stories. I thought that was the grandmother of tropes, so I've avoided that like the plague when I cooked up my male protags. One of the female protags is a tough woman, but no where near super hero stuff. Cyberpunk just doesn't work that way.

And I don't do humiliation for the sake of gratification. There is a serious case of "jerk gets what he deserves" in "Ghost... 07", but that's it.

I have a published work where the two leads are lesbian lovers. One is a former CTU agent turned personal bodyguard.

The second is a witch who was gang raped at 15 and at 18 caught up with the 5 attackers and her coven strung them up and she slaughtered them like hogs including slicing their cocks off while they were bleeding out into buckets for the ritual

Now that is how to lose male readers!

The CTU agent beats the shit out of a few guys as well and a man who was tried as a rapist gets raped by men as a punishment.

Good times in femdom land!

Lex Talionis mother fuckers.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My wife told me yesterday she's missing a drool-worthy "tall, dark & handsame" guy in my stories. I thought that was the grandmother of tropes, so I've avoided that like the plague when I cooked up my male protags. One of the female protags is a tough woman, but no where near super hero stuff. Cyberpunk just doesn't work that way.

And I don't do humiliation for the sake of gratification. There is a serious case of "jerk gets what he deserves" in "Ghost... 07", but that's it.

Do something with Nelle and Snidley Whiplash, but leave out Dudley Doright, and I guarantee a GREEN E will be yours.

 

[lovecraft68]

Do something with Nelle and Snidley Whiplash, but leave out Dudley Doright, and I guarantee a GREEN E will be yours.

But leave Mr Peabody out of it or you will get hit for bestiality!

 

[Blind_Justice]

So, we've reached the point where my command of the English language has reached its limits. Or rather my knowledge of American (?) culture

Who were you two talking about just now? Have mercy, I'm a foreigner!

 

[lovecraft68]

So, we've reached the point where my command of the English language has reached its limits. Or rather my knowledge of American (?) culture

Who were you two talking about just now? Have mercy, I'm a foreigner!

Cartoons. Here is Snides and with a BDSM flourish for effect Dudley shows up as always.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhC_JJwlep0

 

[Blind_Justice]

Alright, that was educational. I've seen my share of Tex Avery and Looney Tunes, but that truly was new. (for me at least)

Thanks, LC