Changing genres in a series

[Reshbod]

I am currently working on a third part to the two stories that I get the most comments on and requests to continue the story. Each story involves the wife giving into her lust and cheating on her husband.

As I write the third part the fourth has started forming in my head. It involves the wife going on a search for the first man she had extramarital sex with. She never got his name but wants to find out what happened to him and maybe sleep with him again.

Rather than being a cheating wife sex story it becomes a detective story possibly without any sex scenes.

I love the idea of pulling the rug out from people. I really enjoy stories like Psycho, where you think it's going one direction, then it takes a sharp turn and goes in a completely different direction.

There's not enough of that type of story telling out there, in my opinion.

 

[NotWise]

I am currently working on a third part to the two stories that I get the most comments on and requests to continue the story. Each story involves the wife giving into her lust and cheating on her husband.

As I write the third part the fourth has started forming in my head. It involves the wife going on a search for the first man she had extramarital sex with. She never got his name but wants to find out what happened to him and maybe sleep with him again.

Rather than being a cheating wife sex story it becomes a detective story possibly without any sex scenes.

I love the idea of pulling the rug out from people. I really enjoy stories like Psycho, where you think it's going one direction, then it takes a sharp turn and goes in a completely different direction.

There's not enough of that type of story telling out there, in my opinion.

You lost me. Do you want to change genres? There isn't a "detective story" genre on Lit. What are you thinking of doing? Did you have a question?

FWIW, the story I'm almost done with starts as a mom/son story and (hopefully) ends as a thriller. It all goes into I/T. Why wouldn't your story all go into LW?

 

[Reshbod]

You lost me. Do you want to change genres?

Yes, I think it'd be interesting to switch genres and see what happens.

There isn't a "detective story" genre on Lit. What are you thinking of doing?

Not sure exactly. Perhaps it would go under non-erotic.

Did you have a question?

Not really, just thinking and rambling after a few beers.

By the way seeing the title of my post along with your username was perfect.

 

[NotWise]

By the way seeing the title of my post along with your username was perfect.

Then that's easy.

Even it the story deviates from the original concept, I'd keep it where I had readers and the readers could find it. Up to a point, anyway.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't suggest publishing your story to non-erotic unless you want it to disappear and not be read. Keep publishing in LW.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

I don't suggest publishing your story to non-erotic unless you want it to disappear and not be read. Keep publishing in LW.

Ditto.

Don’t make the mistake that I, and countless others, have made in changing genres midway through the story (and especially of changing the genre to non-erotic).

Best of luck with your story!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes, I think it'd be interesting to switch genres and see what happens.

You'll get more drop off than usual, because those who have been reading (but aren't followers) won't know the latest chapter is published, and readers in the new category will see it as chapter four, know they've not read the earlier parts, and won't bother opening it up.

If it's a straight continuation of the plot-line, best to leave it where it is, I reckon.

Category jumping only works if each chapter is to all intents and purposes self-contained.

 

[Heartsongs]

I have a series that has switched categories. Simply because the next chapter (and different title) fits the category. I've tried to right each part as if they were each independent of the other, but if the reader really wants to gain insight into the characters, I give them the other titles in an author's note at the beginning or end of the story. I find that annoying and wish there was a way to link a series across multiple genres. But there isn't. (I suppose you could use the same title and chapter numbers. I'm not sure how that works across multiple categories). Some stories do far better because of the category.

I've always thought Literotica expected the author to find the best category which suits the story. So if the next chapter jumps categories, there's really no link except for those that follow the author. Expect to get varied response and feedback for doing so.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've tried to right each part as if they were each independent of the other, but if the reader really wants to gain insight into the characters, I give them the other titles in an author's note at the beginning or end of the story. I find that annoying and wish there was a way to link a series across multiple genres. But there isn't. (I suppose you could use the same title and chapter numbers. I'm not sure how that works across multiple categories). Some stories do far better because of the category.

.

If you publish each chapter this way:

My Smut Story Ch. 01
My Smut Story Ch. 02

Then they will all be linked as an ongoing series, regardless what category each chapter is published in.

My observation of other authors' series is that when you switch to a new category you will experience a big dropoff in readers, UNLESS you are switching from a relatively less-viewed category to a relatively more-viewed category, like going from erotic couplings to loving wives, for example. But you'll still lose some readers because readers here tend to congregate around kink categories that they like and are familiar with.

My question to authors who want to do this is: why do you want to do this? If you are so interested in completely changing the nature of the story, then why not just start a new story with new characters? Is it because you are attached to your characters and you want to keep writing about them?

My attitude is not to get attached to my characters. I get requests to continue a story, but I ignore them. I move on, leave the old characters behind, and come up with new ones to tell my new story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My question to authors who want to do this is: why do you want to do this? If you are so interested in completely changing the nature of the story, then why not just start a new story with new characters? Is it because you are attached to your characters and you want to keep writing about them?

My attitude is not to get attached to my characters. I get requests to continue a story, but I ignore them. I move on, leave the old characters behind, and come up with new ones to tell my new story.

"That's me done then," said Adam. "And me," said the younger version, Alex.

"And can you imagine the world without Suzie?" asked Suzie. She was meeting Alex for the first time, and moved closer. He was younger than Adam, but goodness me, so many mannerisms were the same. She felt comfortable already, and wriggled deliciously closer.

EB looked on at his creations with a smile.

You've said it yourself, Simon. Your focus is more on plot and idea, less on character. In my case, I'm the other way around, and also because I'm a lazy bastard - writing my males basically as nostalgic or wishful thinking me makes writing them easier.

I kick into a form of short hand that readers are immediately familiar with, I think, and they know what they're going to get. So far, I've not been accused of repetition, and I know of at least one confirmed Adam groupie. So far, she's had one or two cameos, but if she's licentiousness enough, might get her own story. I think she'd quite like that .

 

[gordo12]

I suspect if my reaction is anything like most people's the chapter will vanish unread or low readership.

I see this frequently on multi-chapter stories.

Ch 1 is in A genre
Ch 2 is in B genre

I like reading A. I do not like reading B.

Therefore I won't WASTE TIME reading Ch 1 in A because I won't see the end of the story. If I've read Ch 1 in A and the next chapter shows up in genre B, I will abandon the story.

I've always considered it a real mistake for authors to do that.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

I suspect if my reaction is anything like most people's the chapter will vanish unread or low readership.

I see this frequently on multi-chapter stories.

Ch 1 is in A genre
Ch 2 is in B genre

I like reading A. I do not like reading B.

Therefore I won't WASTE TIME reading Ch 1 in A because I won't see the end of the story. If I've read Ch 1 in A and the next chapter shows up in genre B I will abandon the story.

I've always considered it a real mistake for authors to do that.

I’d imagine that many—possibly, most—readers have a similar approach. Anecdotally, when I’ve done the Ch.01/A genre Ch.02/B genre, the views/reads did all but vanish.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I think this is it! This one series I keep continuing is, as one of my readers put it, an epic relationship between the characters. And I've only continued it because I haven't ignored the request to do so. That was probably my first mistake. After the first story, i had no idea I would write four more, and currently a fifth in the works, until the feedback came in. I crossed categories with different titles and trying to keep the series together started. After each story, I think it's over. Then something new will pop into my head, and it continues. Other than going back and renaming each story (to fit an unplanned series), only my followers are probably picking up on the sagas of the characters that myself and some of my followers probably became attached to. I keep telling myself -it's all fiction. -Write something else. - But I don't. My fictional characters are alive now. (lol)

This is a case where I say fuck the readers, it's your story and it's done when you say it's done, keep trying to give the people what they want and you'll be writing an illiad... no matter how much your story is loved, nobody is reading something breaching the length of a dictionary.

 

[gordo12]

This is a case where I say fuck the readers, it's your story and it's done when you say it's done, keep trying to give the people what they want and you'll be writing an illiad... no matter how much your story is loved, nobody is reading something breaching the length of a dictionary.

Hmm the old battle between my art and my eating. Hint: Eating always wins.

You can write as pure art and fuck the readers as long as your livelihood doesn't depend on it. But if you ever want mass acceptance for your stories/books, art has to compromise with market realities. Thus you eat.

I have to wonder how many "artists" have lost their art entirely because they couldn't find that compromise in life.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I don't like to posts series unless I've completed them. That's just me. And I only have a couple chapter stories posted because I wind up putting the longest stories into the Novel/Novella category. Many times my characters cross categories, much like I have done in real life, too.