Seeking advice on Erotic Horror

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I’ve written a story which turned out, to my surprise, to be a candidate for Erotic Horror. I’ve never posted there, and to be honest it’s not a sub-genre I’d read for my own entertainment. I’ve researched a little what’s included there in Lit, and I’ll do a bit more, but I’d welcome any input from you folks on the category, the content, and the readership. EH is one of the smaller categories in terms of total posted stories, but it’s not neglected (the 25 stories now on the hub have been posted in the past 19 days), and the stories there get some views.

The story is in something of a Lovecraft/Twilight Zone vein (or cliche). The main character hears a warning from another character about a terrible thing that happened, but even with the warning in mind, the main character realizes that he might not be able to turn away from the same terrible thing. It’s 3300 words, and ends with the main character on the brink of succumbing, and just before his fateful decision, whatever it is (yeah, another cliche, probably much older than the-lady-or-the-tiger). The warning includes a description of the terrible thing (which isn’t fatal, but destroys the warner’s view of himself), but for the main character the horror is psychological. I don’t want to be more specific, but there’s sex involved (duh), and the psych includes a challenge to what the characters think and believe about sex.

The story also employs something I find tiresome about conventional horror, erotic or otherwise: The terrible thing happens to people readers will dislike. (Some readers, anyway.) What I recall of Crypt-Keeper stuff almost always played up reader schadenfreude, with ghosts and suchlike taking down mean, nasty bankers and landlords, with a moral of Don’t Be Like That. I’m willing to try this once, anyway.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5116173&page=submissions

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm not clear what you're asking us.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My first encounter with the Category Police was in Erotic Horror, which came as a bit of a surprise. My proudest moment, my lowest score, is for one chapter in a very long, fairly silly shaggy dog story involving shape-shifters, time travel and general oddness. For some reason, folk can't seem to handle a bit of gay male incest where the son boffs his dad. Even with a squick warning I put in the comments of the previous chapter, nervous nellies still read on and get outraged .

 

[KeithD]

I’m willing to try this once, anyway.

Well, then, just do it. What do you think is going to happen if some folks don't like it? So what?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I haven’t done a lot of EH, or at least not posted much. That said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with schadenfreude. If your story makes you feel good, it will make somebody else feel good, too.

One point I would make is that 3,300 words is quite short, less than one full page here. That’s not a show-stopper, but you should be aware of it.

Good luck.

 

[RandyD1369]

Juan, an advantage of EH is that while it won't get zillions of reads, the readers there seem to value the quality of the story over its quantity. My first story at Lit, An idol Hour, in Erotic Horror barely gets onto a 2nd page, but was well received.

Run with it. The worst that can happen is readers will give it low scores--but, that won't hurt anything except your pride. It isn't as if there was money at stake.

RandyD1369

My Stories:https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5198496&page=submissions

 

[SimonDoom]

I recommend reviewing the category primer https://literotica.com/beta/s/love-your-readers-categories. It will familiarize you with how to handle categories if your EH story has elements of other categories.

EH is an "exempt" category as TxTallTales says, which means it can go there or it can go somewhere else if it has elements of another category.

But if your story has elements of a "Trump" category, you would generally put it in that Trump category. Trump categories include incest, nonconsent, fetish, gay male, BDSM. It may or may not make sense (especially, in my view, in the case of gay male) but it has to do with the way readers react.

I say give it a go. I think it's fun to test the waters of a category for the first time. You get a better idea of what the readers are looking for. I published a story in EH last December, a really weird story, for which I had no expectation of a decent reception, and it was decently received.

The only prerequisites are an element of horror and of the erotic. Don't publish a story about a witch there, for instance, if the witch is a happy witch who causes no one any ill.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Thanks to all, I’m okay with this thread ending. I’m already familiar with the TxTallTales primer. What I was looking for is experiences from writers who have posted in EH. I intend to submit the story, although I'll want it published after the On The Job event.

 

[NotWise]

Thanks to all, I’m okay with this thread ending. I’m already familiar with the TxTallTales primer. What I was looking for is experiences from writers who have posted in EH. I intend to submit the story, although I'll want it published after the On The Job event.

I hope it works for you.

I put one story in EH back in my first year here. It got and still gets very little attention from readers, but the score is OK.

In retrospect, my story is a ghost story and it should have gone to Nonhuman instead of EH, where it lives among the succubi and inccubi. I think it's one of my better stories, and readers in Nonhuman may have given it a little more attention.

 

[PennameWombat]

Thanks to all, I’m okay with this thread ending. I’m already familiar with the TxTallTales primer. What I was looking for is experiences from writers who have posted in EH. I intend to submit the story, although I'll want it published after the On The Job event.

Hope you don't mind me being late to the party. My two EH stories are decent scores (Nude Day and Halloween 2019 entries, links below, ~4.25, 4.40) but I have received a couple of positive comments for being very twisted and pushing boundaries. It's not horror on the scale of a Stephen King or Clive Barker. Negative comments weren't around the EH aspect but about storytelling (e.g., where I chose to end the Halloween story and such.)

I hope it works for you.

I put one story in EH back in my first year here. It got and still gets very little attention from readers, but the score is OK.

In retrospect, my story is a ghost story and it should have gone to Nonhuman instead of EH, where it lives among the succubi and inccubi. I think it's one of my better stories, and readers in Nonhuman may have given it a little more attention.

I've had a few stories fall either side of the Erotic Horror / NonHuman divide. My NonHuman stories have higher scores but they're less confronting than the EH ones. My EH aren't horrific in terms of blood and gore but more in personal terror. My NonHuman (Geek Pride 2019 series, link below) are a bit lighter in tone and score much higher. Of course, they have plenty of death too so who knows.

My EH stories could probably have gone into NonHuman but I don't think the reverse is true.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Thanks, NotWise and PennameWombat. Much appreciated.