Story Structure Question - How to Approach This on Lit?

[CyranoJ]

I have a couple of old stories I'm looking at uploading to Lit -- never really "published" anywhere online save for an old defunct free site I had a few years back -- and I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to approach the material.

The stories themselves are erotic Star Trek parodies, "bikini girls in spaaaaace" on a luxury pleasure liner among the stars, more action- and tease-oriented and less built around explicit fucking (though there's certainly some of that). They're written basically to mimic episodes of the old Sixties show, right down to the four-act structure used in the showrunner's bible, and they're fairly long, around 25,000 words each. Adapting these to post on the site should not be too much of a challenge in itself, there are just a couple of stylistic updates to do and some errors to correct that I didn't notice at the time.

Where it gets complicated is that I also did supplementary pieces to each of these "episodes." They're written as "mission debriefings" by the ship's "Chief Erotic Officer" which revisit some of the erotic episodes that could only be hinted at in the main action of the stories, and to put it frankly deliver a bit of stroke material (and some character development along the way), for the more... motivated reader. Originally the plan was to link to them on the site as supplements to the main story.

I have no idea how to accomplish something like that on Lit, or if it's even worth trying. I know it's theoretically possible to link from one story to another, but as far as I can see I'd have to get the stories approved first, then get the supplements approved, then add links to the supplements into the stories and get the edits approved. Which starts to seem... a little bit daunting, but it could be done.

Alternatively I could include the supplements as an appendix in each story itself, which would swell them to about 32,000 or 33,000 words apiece.

Which of these options would be more attractive to you as a reader? Am I missing any possibilities or misunderstanding anything about how linking works on Lit?

 

[TxRad]

I have a couple of old stories I'm looking at uploading to Lit -- never really "published" anywhere online save for an old defunct free site I had a few years back -- and I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to approach the material.

The stories themselves are erotic Star Trek parodies, "bikini girls in spaaaaace" on a luxury pleasure liner among the stars, more action- and tease-oriented and less built around explicit fucking (though there's certainly some of that). They're written basically to mimic episodes of the old Sixties show, right down to the four-act structure used in the showrunner's bible, and they're fairly long, around 25,000 words each. Adapting these to post on the site should not be too much of a challenge in itself, there are just a couple of stylistic updates to do and some errors to correct that I didn't notice at the time.

Where it gets complicated is that I also did supplementary pieces to each of these "episodes." They're written as "mission debriefings" by the ship's "Chief Erotic Officer" which revisit some of the erotic episodes that could only be hinted at in the main action of the stories, and to put it frankly deliver a bit of stroke material (and some character development along the way), for the more... motivated reader. Originally the plan was to link to them on the site as supplements to the main story.

I have no idea how to accomplish something like that on Lit, or if it's even worth trying. I know it's theoretically possible to link from one story to another, but as far as I can see I'd have to get the stories approved first, then get the supplements approved, then add links to the supplements into the stories and get the edits approved. Which starts to seem... a little bit daunting, but it could be done.

Alternatively I could include the supplements as an appendix in each story itself, which would swell them to about 32,000 or 33,000 words apiece.

Which of these options would be more attractive to you as a reader? Am I missing any possibilities or misunderstanding anything about how linking works on Lit?

Any stories you link to from a Lit story must be on Lit. So that kind of narrows the options down.

My Star Trek parody is here: Star Trek, The Literotica Episode

It's tongue in cheek to the max.

 

[CyranoJ]

So... option B, then?

(Read your Trek parody earlier, it's funny. )

 

[Katiecat]

Hi Cyrano, I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but I think when you say "linking" the stories, you just mean identifying them as a single body of work, not actually posting links to them...correct?

If you are looking to post, say, 2 4-act stories, each about 25,000 words long, and a supplement/appendix that would add another 8000-10000 words, you might consider posting a 6-part series (or two 3-part series):
Act 1 and 2 (approx 12,500 words),
Act 3 and 4 (approx 12,500 words),
and the Erotic Officer's debriefing for that "episode" (approximately 8000-100000 words).
That would make the debriefing a shorter read than the other two sections, but still a significant length -- and it would tie them all together as one multi-part story. With the main story already being in 4 acts, that should make it easy to cleanly split into 2 sections.

Hope that makes sense

 

[CyranoJ]

Thanks Katiecat. To clarify, by links I am indeed talking about actual hyperlinks to the content, not in any more abstract sense.

Your suggestion about breaking them down is interesting, though...

 

[Katiecat]

Thanks Katiecat. To clarify, by links I am indeed talking about actual hyperlinks to the content, not in any more abstract sense.

Your suggestion about breaking them down is interesting, though...

Oh, okay. If you post them here on Lit, though, would you really need to hyperlink? Especially if you posted them as Bikini Girls in Space Part 1, Bikini Girls in Space Part 2, and Bikini Girls in Space Part 3: Mission Debriefing. I sort of envision the split between Act 1-2 and Act 3-4 like a movie or theater intermission.

 

[slyc_willie]

My initial suggestion would be to submit the supplemental material first, wait for them to post, then link them to the "real" chapters in the body of the stories. You might want to include an author's note in the supplemental parts that explains what they are and the stories to which they refer. You can always submit an edited version of the original supplemental works to include a hyperlink to the appropriate Lit story. Eventually, it would all pan out.

But I'd make sure every part of every story is ready to go before you post anything.

 

[slyc_willie]

Oh, okay. If you post them here on Lit, though, would you really need to hyperlink? Especially if you posted them as Bikini Girls in Space Part 1, Bikini Girls in Space Part 2, and Bikini Girls in Space Part 3: Mission Debriefing. I sort of envision the split between Act 1-2 and Act 3-4 like a movie or theater intermission.

I think CJ's talking about two different series. One would be "Bikini Girls in Space Ch. 01, 02, 03," etc. And the other would be "Chief Erotica Officer's Log Ch. 01, 02, 03" and so on. The second "series" would tie in to the first, but not necessarily be part of it. Sort of an outside view looking in sort of thing. Linking the stories in the first series from the second would supply additional information -- and titillation -- to the reader, but wouldn't be ultimately necessary for enjoyment of the initial series.

It's sort of like linking parts of the Silmarillon at the end of the chapters of The Lord of the Rings, for those nit-picky geeks who want "the whole picture."

. . . or so I think . . . .

 

[CyranoJ]

It's sort of like linking parts of the Silmarillon at the end of the chapters of The Lord of the Rings, for those nit-picky geeks who want "the whole picture."

. . . or so I think . . . .

Right. If The Silmarillion was all about fucking.

Yeah, the various constituent pieces are all pretty much ready to go with some tweaking. Posting the supplements first is an interesting idea, thanks, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[slyc_willie]

Right. If The Silmarillion was all about fucking.

Yeah, the various constituent pieces are all pretty much ready to go with some tweaking. Posting the supplements first is an interesting idea, thanks, I hadn't thought of that.

Doing so gives you the links to embed in the main story itself.

At one time, several years ago, I thought about doing a huge multi-part "choose your own sex adventure" kind of thing . . .

. . . and then I smacked myself in the head.

 

[RejectReality]

It makes more sense to me to have the supplements post after the main storyline and link back to it. The main story is already there, so you can put the link in at submission. The supplements are supplements. They're not necessity -- they're color.

Readers of the main series are going to catch onto those releases and have no trouble finding them. People who notice the supplements without having caught the main story posting will be more perplexed without direction.

 

[CyranoJ]

Readers of the main series are going to catch onto those releases and have no trouble finding them. People who notice the supplements without having caught the main story posting will be more perplexed without direction.

A good point. And it makes me wonder if I shouldn't just cut to the chase and post it all together in one go.

 

[slyc_willie]

It makes more sense to me to have the supplements post after the main storyline and link back to it. The main story is already there, so you can put the link in at submission. The supplements are supplements. They're not necessity -- they're color.

Readers of the main series are going to catch onto those releases and have no trouble finding them. People who notice the supplements without having caught the main story posting will be more perplexed without direction.

But if you put the supplements in first, it makes it easier for the author to include the hyperlinks to the supplements.

I suppose, though, if CJ submits edits to whatever stories, it wouldn't make much difference which came first. From my point of view, I'd rather have the supplements suffer in ratings than the actual story itself.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hey CJ

when you post a story with chapters, Literotica automatically provides links to the chapters in a sidebar on the right at the end of the chapter.

Maybe if you can figure out a way to make clear that these are all parts of the story, they will get listed like that. (I'm not sure if you have to explicitly name them as Ch. 01, Ch. 02 in order to do this.)

 

[Katiecat]

At one time, several years ago, I thought about doing a huge multi-part "choose your own sex adventure" kind of thing . . .

. . . and then I smacked myself in the head.

Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you, for exercising self-restraint and refraining from doing this.

Unless, of course, you wanted to write "Them There Hills, or, The Big Pussy in the Woods" in that format. Which, of course, would be perfection.

 

[CyranoJ]

The Choose Your Own Erotica bug bit me at one time, too. I was swiftly cured when I tried to map out what actually doing it would involve.

As for these stories I think I'll just bite the bullet and rewrite them with the more graphic stuff integrated. It doesn't really make sense to be posting erotic stories on an erotic website and trying to squirrel all the sex away as "bonus content." Thanks for the input, everyone.

 

[slyc_willie]

Unless, of course, you wanted to write "Them There Hills, or, The Big Pussy in the Woods" in that format. Which, of course, would be perfection.

*Groan*

Is it too late to go back to that other thread and delete my post?

 

[CyranoJ]

Bite your tongue, sir! That post was magic.

 

[slyc_willie]

Bite your tongue, sir! That post was magic.

So, you're saying I should add it to my sig line, then?

 

[Laurel]

I think CJ's talking about two different series. One would be "Bikini Girls in Space Ch. 01, 02, 03," etc. And the other would be "Chief Erotica Officer's Log Ch. 01, 02, 03" and so on. The second "series" would tie in to the first, but not necessarily be part of it.

You could theoretically submit, say, "Bikini Girls in Space Ch. 01" AND "Chief Erotica Officer's Log Ch. 01" at the same time, with a note in the NOTES box of both stories explaining that you want a link from one to the other, along with a notation in the text (at the end of the beginning?) to which we can link. Then do the same with both Ch. 02s, and so on.

Right. If The Silmarillion was all about fucking.

It's not?

 

[slyc_willie]

You could theoretically submit, say, "Bikini Girls in Space Ch. 01" AND "Chief Erotica Officer's Log Ch. 01" at the same time, with a note in the NOTES box of both stories explaining that you want a link from one to the other, along with a notation in the text (at the end of the beginning?) to which we can link. Then do the same with both Ch. 02s, and so on.

Well, there you go. Thanks, Laurel.

So, you would insert the hyperlink into the stories, then? I always thought that was something we as authors would have to do.

 

[Laurel]

Well, there you go. Thanks, Laurel.

So, you would insert the hyperlink into the stories, then? I always thought that was something we as authors would have to do.

If you're linking to an existing story, we rather that you provide the link so that it ends up correctly linked. In this case, we'd approve the linkee story first so that we have a link for the linker story.

We can do all sorts of special request stuff, but please do make sure you note any special linking/formatting/special stuff in the NOTES field of the submitted story!

 

[slyc_willie]

If you're linking to an existing story, we rather that you provide the link so that it ends up correctly linked. In this case, we'd approve the linkee story first so that we have a link for the linker story.

We can do all sorts of special request stuff, but please do make sure you note any special linking/formatting/special stuff in the NOTES field of the submitted story!

Gotcha. Thanks again for the info.

How's that, CJ? Straight from the, eh . . . kitty mama's mouth.

 

[slyc_willie]

Damn double post . . . .

 

[CyranoJ]

So, you're saying I should add it to my sig line, then?

You have to admit it'd be a conversation piece.

You could theoretically submit, say, "Bikini Girls in Space Ch. 01" AND "Chief Erotica Officer's Log Ch. 01" at the same time, with a note in the NOTES box of both stories explaining that you want a link from one to the other, along with a notation in the text (at the end of the beginning?) to which we can link. Then do the same with both Ch. 02s, and so on.

Thanks, I'll do that if I have a similar idea in the future (where said idea makes sense).

It's not?

I confess I never did read enough of the Silmarillion to find out...