Chapters, and Categorization

[bohemianyuppie]

I hope this hasn't been asked before -- I did see some related questions, but not quite what I'm asking (though I stopped digging through search results after a while) -- but I am hoping for some advice on how to categorize an upcoming story I'm working on.

In a nutshell, the situation is this: The story is about a young lady who's becoming more and more consumed by sex, with a surprise twist at the end that hypnosis will have been involved. I think the "right" thing to do would probably be to put all of the chapters under the non-con/reluctant category, but I'm worried about ruining the surprise. I haven't thought of a perfect answer, though; for example:

• Put the stories under the "erotic coupling" category, which will please everyone until the end, when people who aren't into hypnosis will (justifiably) be upset.
• Put all of the stories under the "erotic coupling" category until the last story, and put it under the non-con/reluct category, which means that some won't find it, and those who do will have the same problem of being surprised by a topic they don't like.
• Put all of the chapters under the non-con/reluct category (explaining to the editors why I've done so on every chapter), and have people who are interested in non-con/reluct and/or hypnosis wondering for the first X # of chapters why they're wasting their time and/or complaining that the category is wrong.

As you can see, none of these options really thrill me. But what do others think? Especially folks who've been on Literotica longer than I have? Is there another option I haven't thought of?

There's no hurry on this answer, as I'm still working on the story. I won't be attempting to post it any time soon.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think the first question to ask is why post it as a series of chapters rather than as a single story. If the reader has to wait to the end of the story to get to the "meat" of the whole story, then the logical thing to do is to post it as a single story. Lit readers are tolerant of long stories. I don't know how long that would make it, and I don't know if it's going to take you a long time to finish and you would prefer to start posting the beginning before you're done with the end. But, given the way you've described the story, if you can post it as one story rather than many stories, it sounds like you should.

It's difficult to answer your question in the abstract, without really knowing how the story goes. If, say, you have 5 chapters, and the first 4 have no hint of hypnosis or non-con, it makes no sense to publish it in non-con. You'll have lots of frustrated readers who will give up on your story.

The better option is to publish the first chapters in whatever category best applies, and then publish the last one in non-con. Ideally, you will foreshadow the ending and prepare your readership so it doesn't come as a total surprise.

But the best option, from the way you've described it, is to publish it as a single story.

 

[bohemianyuppie]

Yeah, I hear you SimonDoom. I've thought about that (publishing as single story) as well. It would be long, but knowing that the readers here are tolerant of long stories is good context; it makes it more of an option.

You're right that it's hard for you or anyone to answer in the abstract. In this case, based on the arc of the story, it feels like it should be multiple chapters, leading up to the surprise at the end -- except that, the whole reason I'm thinking this through is that the "surprise" in this case will be an unwelcome one for many. (I'm assuming some will love it, otherwise I wouldn't be bothering with all of this -- but we all have different tastes.)

As mentioned, I've still got time to think about it, so I don't have to make a decision right away...

 

[MelissaBaby]

I hope this hasn't been asked before -- I did see some related questions, but not quite what I'm asking (though I stopped digging through search results after a while) -- but I am hoping for some advice on how to categorize an upcoming story I'm working on.

In a nutshell, the situation is this: The story is about a young lady who's becoming more and more consumed by sex, with a surprise twist at the end that hypnosis will have been involved. I think the "right" thing to do would probably be to put all of the chapters under the non-con/reluctant category, but I'm worried about ruining the surprise. I haven't thought of a perfect answer, though; for example:

• Put the stories under the "erotic coupling" category, which will please everyone until the end, when people who aren't into hypnosis will (justifiably) be upset.
• Put all of the stories under the "erotic coupling" category until the last story, and put it under the non-con/reluct category, which means that some won't find it, and those who do will have the same problem of being surprised by a topic they don't like.
• Put all of the chapters under the non-con/reluct category (explaining to the editors why I've done so on every chapter), and have people who are interested in non-con/reluct and/or hypnosis wondering for the first X # of chapters why they're wasting their time and/or complaining that the category is wrong.

As you can see, none of these options really thrill me. But what do others think? Especially folks who've been on Literotica longer than I have? Is there another option I haven't thought of?

There's no hurry on this answer, as I'm still working on the story. I won't be attempting to post it any time soon.

There is the option of putting it in Novels and Novellas, which, since it's based on form and not subject, can accommodate pretty much anything. You will get a smaller readership, though.

 

[bohemianyuppie]

Oh, another good point, MelissaBaby! At the moment, though it feels long to be a single story, it feels short to be a novella. That being said, I'm still writing it (and I'm long-winded! lol), so who knows, maybe it will "feel" more novella-like by the time I'm done with it.

Either way, another good suggestion for me to think on! Thanks!

 

[bohemianyuppie]

Incidentally (and off topic from this thread), at the moment it says "virgin" under my name, which is very appropriate, so thanks for the warm reception and friendly advice. My introduction to Literotica -- both here and for the first two stories I've submitted -- has been very pleasant. If only everyone could lose their "cherry" in such a good way.

(Having said that, knowing my luck, suddenly this thread will get filled with people calling me names, but you take the good with the bad... lol)

 

[Handley_Page]

To my mind, the first question is "how long is each 'chapter' ?
At about 3700 words per Lit page, how many is that ?

 

[Oblimo]

It deserves to be repeated and stressed: foreshadow the living fuck out of your twist. You could simply hint things may not be what they seem, or go for broke and toss in cyphers and symbology. The goal is the reader’s pleasant surprise, which typically isn’t 100% surprise.

 

[SimonDoom]

It deserves to be repeated and stressed: foreshadow the living fuck out of your twist. You could simply hint things may not be what they seem, or go for broke and toss in cyphers and symbology. The goal is the reader’s pleasant surprise, which typically isn’t 100% surprise.

Agree with this. It's generally not a good idea to spring a surprise on the reader at the end that turns the story into something completely unexpected and different.

 

[bohemianyuppie]

I probably don't need to keep saying "good point" after every message, but... good points!

Handley Page: these are good numbers to keep in mind, especially when trying to make that chapters vs. one story vs. novella decision.

Oblimo / SimonDoom: Yeah, agreed, that's typically the best way to do something like this. As the story is coming out, the character is actually evolving and progressing in a way that I like (if I do say so myself), but at some point, when I go back through this thing, there are things like this that will have to come out more and more. (Again, all the more in this particular case, where kinks and fetishes are involved, to avoid the aspects of boredom and unpleasant surprise that have already been mentioned.) But the fact that I still have to go back through and tease out themes shows that this is still a ways off.