Major twist in the story: how does it affect the category?

[rescatooor]

Sup boys and gals.

I have been toying with a story that has basically just one sex scene near the ending, with some flirtation and romantic conflict in the form of a love triangle.

The story will end in that love triangle turning into a sweet little threesome. This should come as a bit of a surprise to the MC and ideally also for the reader.

Would you still put a story like this under Group Sex anyway? Maybe it's not the destination but how you get there, so it wouldn't negatively impact the story? Or would you rather put something like this under romance, since one of these girls end up pairing up with the MC, while the other girl just really likes stirring up shit and having a good time? The MC is enticed by her but still turns down her advances to the best of his ability.

More generally speaking, have you been in a similar situation in regards to choosing the category, hoping not to spoil your story twist too much? What did you decide?

 

[MillieDynamite]

On a sight like Lit, twist of any kind have to be weighed by what they are and if they will receive a welcome reaction or put people off. I have a story, posted elsewhere, with a transgender in the story and it isn't revealed until the last moment, in the worst possible way, to the other MC in the story. I didn't warn them in the tags that she had a cock, but the title should have said something to them, Chicks a Dude. Still, I was hammered into dog shit on the votes and comments.

 

[Privates1stClass]

More generally speaking, have you been in a similar situation in regards to choosing the category, hoping not to spoil your story twist too much? What did you decide?

Choosing one category when your story could fit into multiple categories has been, and continues to be, a problem here. Then there's the option for Laurel to change the category to one you hadn't picked, particularly if there's a twist into a new category. Or, if you submit your story in chapters, you might change the category from chapter to chapter.

My suggestion is to pick the category which most of your story covers and submit it there. For a couple stories I'd written which might fit three or four categories, I punted and submitted them under the Novels and Novellas category.

Good luck!

 

[rescatooor]

On a sight like Lit, twist of any kind have to be weighed by what they are and if they will receive a welcome reaction or put people off. I have a story, posted elsewhere, with a transgender in the story and it isn't revealed until the last moment, in the worst possible way, to the other MC in the story. I didn't warn them in the tags that she had a cock, but the title should have said something to them, Chicks a Dude. Still, I was hammered into dog shit on the votes and comments.

There's a good chance that people came to drag it into mud based on the title alone. Nothing to do with the characters or the story being told. Maybe some people's reading comprehension skills would be to blame.

I've read a transtwist story once that was posted under Mature. It was one of those sweet short stories with no sex in them. The character described this transwoman in question so lovingly I thought it would have belonged in romance. But it was a well-hidden twist, and it seemed the story performed fine. Maybe in part because the category or description or title didn't attract any transphobes.

I have once tried avoiding the LW hatespam by posting the story in Interracial instead. (Perfectly appropriate, I thought, considering the couples racialized hate/passion for one another.) I still had to mention the cuckoldry in description. My second worst rated story to date.

 

[MillieDynamite]

There's a good chance that people came to drag it into mud based on the title alone. Nothing to do with the characters or the story being told. Maybe some people's reading comprehension skills would be to blame.

I've read a transtwist story once that was posted under Mature. It was one of those sweet short stories with no sex in them. The character described this transwoman in question so lovingly I thought it would have belonged in romance. But it was a well-hidden twist, and it seemed the story performed fine. Maybe in part because the category or description or title didn't attract any transphobes.

I have once tried avoiding the LW hatespam by posting the story in Interracial instead. (Perfectly appropriate, I thought, considering the couples racialized hate/passion for one another.) I still had to mention the cuckoldry in description. My second worst rated story to date.

One would think, Loving Wives, given the description of what a loving wife is on the site, was the place for a cuckold story. One would be wrong.

I don't know why Chicks a Dude was so poorly received. I may rework it, and try gain with it. I pulled it down from the other site, and may have deleted the thing from own files.

Just a Friendly drink has been well received. I plan several more stories about Brad/Brandy, now that she is Brandy (with just a little thing to keep her from being fully a woman). I have outlined a story I plan no working on as soon as things settle down in my RL and writing worlds. Just a Friendly Flirting is the title of the next one. Whenever, I can get to it. So many stories hanging around, so little time to work on them, and so much time wasted here having fun!

I'm a bad girl!

 

[dmallord]

It is a roll of the dice

Choosing one category when your story could fit into multiple categories has been, and continues to be, a problem here. Then there's the option for Laurel to change the category to one you hadn't picked, particularly if there's a twist into a new category. Or, if you submit your story in chapters, you might change the category from chapter to chapter.

My suggestion is to pick the category which most of your story covers and submit it there. For a couple stories I'd written which might fit three or four categories, I punted and submitted them under the Novels and Novellas category.

Good luck!

I would follow this line of logic as well.

I have mixed thoughts about some of my stories. Twice I put a note in the submission to Laurel asking for her to look at an appropriate category. One she changed and it worked well. The second she left as my first choice category. With thousands of submissions, I believe leaving it up to Laurel is probably not the best solution.

There is another thread here similar to your question about placement the I asked a few days ago. It might shed some light on the subject for you. Some guru level replies offered their good advice.

Regarding plot twists. I also found that readers can be negatively impacted by surprise endings. SPOILER ALERT ... I placed one story in I/T Life Is Measured in Milestones. The plot twice had a noir ending and really jarred the readers.Even though it was in the appropriate category, the twist dropped the ratings more so that the plot. I could tell by the better ratings for the first two chapters as compared to the last one.

Good luck .

 

[SimonDoom]

My suggestion would be to put the story in the category that best fits the note on which the story finishes. If it's romantic most of the through but it ends with group sex, put it in Group Sex.

You have to ask yourself, what is the predominant erotic appeal of this story? It seems to me that if it ends with a threesome that's the right call.

 

[NotWise]

Sup boys and gals.

I have been toying with a story that has basically just one sex scene near the ending, with some flirtation and romantic conflict in the form of a love triangle.

The story will end in that love triangle turning into a sweet little threesome. This should come as a bit of a surprise to the MC and ideally also for the reader.

Would you still put a story like this under Group Sex anyway? Maybe it's not the destination but how you get there, so it wouldn't negatively impact the story? Or would you rather put something like this under romance, since one of these girls end up pairing up with the MC, while the other girl just really likes stirring up shit and having a good time? The MC is enticed by her but still turns down her advances to the best of his ability.

More generally speaking, have you been in a similar situation in regards to choosing the category, hoping not to spoil your story twist too much? What did you decide?

I doubt Romance readers would appreciate a story that ended with a three-way. Ideally, stories in the Romance category should be Romances in the sense used in modern publishing. That is, girl meets boy, they discover a mutual interest, and struggle through barriers to build a relationship. A happily ever after ending is normally required.

Sentimental stories can go into about any category.

As described, your story has two female characters and a male MC, so it doesn't seem like a major twist in an erotic story if they get together in a threeway. If you put it in Group, then readers will probably assume that's going to happen, and it probably won't be very twisty at all. If the threeway takes a long time to develop, then they may complain about being teased too long.

My limited experience putting stories into Group isn't entirely positive, but I'd still put it there unless the story has some other kink that would put it into a different category.

 

[dmallord]

It is a roll of the dice

Choosing one category when your story could fit into multiple categories has been, and continues to be, a problem here. Then there's the option for Laurel to change the category to one you hadn't picked, particularly if there's a twist into a new category. Or, if you submit your story in chapters, you might change the category from chapter to chapter.

My suggestion is to pick the category which most of your story covers and submit it there. For a couple stories I'd written which might fit three or four categories, I punted and submitted them under the Novels and Novellas category.

Good luck!

I would follow this line of logic as well.

I have mixed thoughts about some of my stories. Twice I put a note in the submission to Laurel asking for her to look at an appropriate category. One she changed and it worked well. The second she left as my first choice category. With thousands of submissions, I believe leaving it up to Laurel is probably not the best solution.

There is another thread here similar to your question about placement the I asked a few days ago. It might shed some light on the subject for you. Some guru level replies offered their good advice.

Regarding plot twists. I also found that readers can be negatively impacted by surprise endings. SPOILER ALERT ... I placed one story in I/T Life Is Measured in Milestones. The plot twice had a noir ending and really jarred the readers.Even though it was in the appropriate category, the twist dropped the ratings more so that the plot. I could tell by the better ratings for the first two chapters as compared to the last one.

Good luck .

 

[rescatooor]

I'm starting to think I might put it in romance anyway.

While the major sex scene is a three-way, one of the girls is throughout presented as a potential obstacle for the budding relationship, although she never ends up being that. After she has had a good time fooling around with them both, she just moves onto other things and ventures, while the main couple stays together and become an item. It's all in all a happy ending in a story where there was no real villain. I feel most group sex stories desire certain casualness, when here the three-way is pivotal for all their relationships and the MC's development. I.e. it's perhaps too "meaningful" for group sex category.

 

[KeithD]

I'm starting to think I might put it in romance anyway.

While the major sex scene is a three-way, one of the girls is throughout presented as a potential obstacle for the budding relationship, although she never ends up being that. After she has had a good time fooling around with them both, she just moves onto other things and ventures, while the main couple stays together and become an item. It's all in all a happy ending in a story where there was no real villain. I feel most group sex stories desire certain casualness, when here the three-way is pivotal for all their relationships and the MC's development. I.e. it's perhaps too "meaningful" for group sex category.

This would seem to qualify it for the Romance category.

 

[Qubiquitous]

"Audiences know what they expect and that is all they are prepared to believe in."

Richard Dreyfuss as the Player King in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

 

[MelissaBaby]

You can do as I do- when in doubt, make it longer and put it in Novels and Novellas.

 

[NotWise]

This would seem to qualify it for the Romance category.

One of my early stories kinda fit that description. A woman seduced her married female friend, but after the affair the married couple reaffirmed their relationship and happily carried on. The Romance readers hated it. I went to the story feedback forum and found out that the story was essentially the opposite of a Romance, so I asked Laurel to move it to EC before the Romance readers blew a gasket.

I might have saved dozens of Romance readers from injuring themselves by pounding the 1* button over and over.

(OK, I exaggerate a little.)

 

[yowser]

I might have saved dozens of Romance readers from injuring themselves by pounding the 1* button over and over.

I've always admired your public service perspective here in the forum.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I'm starting to think I might put it in romance anyway.

While the major sex scene is a three-way, one of the girls is throughout presented as a potential obstacle for the budding relationship, although she never ends up being that. After she has had a good time fooling around with them both, she just moves onto other things and ventures, while the main couple stays together and become an item. It's all in all a happy ending in a story where there was no real villain. I feel most group sex stories desire certain casualness, when here the three-way is pivotal for all their relationships and the MC's development. I.e. it's perhaps too "meaningful" for group sex category.

My second story below is basically your plot and went in romance. Did quite well.

 

[NightPorter]

I've seen authors warn readers ahead of time if there's a major twist some of them might not like. You can prevent some of the 1 star votes by warning people before they invest time in a story that isn't their jam.

 

[RichardWark]

I put a threesome in "Mature" a few months ago ("Morning Beauty"), and really didn't get much flack for it, although I did get a couple of "harumphs" for not having my MC wash his dick after anal (which I had in the story originally but cut because I wanted to stick with the action. Next time everybody washes up between rounds!) The next part of "Grass Lake" will borrow from other categories as well.

I've asked for and received feedback here, but you ultimately have to do what your heart tells you.


Richard Wark
wark2002

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5430653&page=submissions

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I find readers take keywords from the story tagline, so posted a story in Anal described as two characters meet again and 'Unexpected threesome in Vegas.'

It did OK. I also posted the tags at the top of the story, which I find helps to steer away the people who wouldn't like a story (it's a mfm threesome not the mff that many readers would be looking for).

 

[rescatooor]

I might tag the story as having a threesome but I don't think I would mention it in the description because it is supposed to be a twist. From beginning on it's supposed to be a rather realistic course of events, a bit of a triangle drama that one wouldn't expect ending with them all getting it on together. You have a bit of an madonna-whore complex going on with the characters that gets inverted. On the "magical" midsummer night, all the three characters get it on. I don't want the readers to expect that.

I think it will go in romance since it's a slow burner anyway. I'll make sure to make it sound believable but wonderful so that I won't anger the readers.