Soliciting help with story categories

[Javahead]

After fiddling with it for over a year (and probably three times the final word count of edits, false starts, and additions/deletions to the main storyline) I've finally got a version of my latest story I'm happy to post. It's been a right pain - I can usually work on several stories simultaneously, but this one seemed to soak up all my creative energy.

The problem is, I'm not sure how the classify the darn thing!

It had started out as my take on something like eroticstoryspinner's "Penal Slaves" stories, if you're familiar with them - by definition, pretty non-con. Then, somehow along the way, the story mutated into what I think is (mostly) a really weird love story.

It's still got elements of non-con, Loving Wives, mother-daughter lesbian incest (I know these are "trump" categories but they're relatively minor, if significant, parts of the story), prostitution, toys and masturbation, BSDM, interracial love, pregnancy, exhibitionism and voyeur, mature, probably others.

I still think of it as (primarily) a romance, but I don't want to squick the readers. On the other hand, I suspect the "Lesbian Sex" and "Incest" readers would be pretty disappointed at the relatively small amount of their preferred kink. The story runs a touch over 77K words, ~22 Lit pages, and you need to read nearly halfway through before either comes to light.

Quite honestly, I'm still inclined to post the thing in "Romance", or maybe "Novels and Novellas" with the appropriate tags, but I thought I'd see what the group thinks before putting it up.

BTW - wrapping it up did a great job of unjamming the creative flow. I'm about a third of the way through a follow-on story that's closer to the original vision, and have been working on bits and pieces of a couple others.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'm no expert, but sounds like a novella to me.

At 22 pages and no clear cut category, that sounds like your best bet.

Putting it in any singular category would just lose you readers and possibly hurt your ratings when they realize the story doesn't focus exclusively on their favorite sex subject.

Just my two cents.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

"Novels and Novellas" seems like the least difficult choice. If you're the sort of person who uses a preface to serve as a squick notice to potential readers (I am, many authors aren't), you could go into detail there (including how much there is of each, like 'non-con but romantic; incest and lesbian, but not too much').

 

[PennameWombat]

"Novels and Novellas" seems like the least difficult choice. If you're the sort of person who uses a preface to serve as a squick notice to potential readers (I am, many authors aren't), you could go into detail there (including how much there is of each, like 'non-con but romantic; incest and lesbian, but not too much').

I’ll second (third?) this. Given that you do hit plenty of hot buttons you might want a bit more detailed a preface than simply the tags, per this recommendation.

 

[jsmiam]

Half to 38.75 percent tongue in cheek, You could probably say “it’s 77,000 words long” in your authors note and achieve very similar results: only a dedicated reader is going to proceed.

I do tend to try to warn also of cross topic content in author’s notes too, but I vote for super brevity to increase the likelihood of a scan type speed reader noticing.

 

[lovecraft68]

Novels and novellas.

Saying that because you say the trump category kinks aren't strong enough to carry an entire chapter to just have each chapter be in a different category

Downside is not a lot of readers there, good news you shouldn't deal with as much flaming if you put it elsewhere

 

[sirhugs]

Might I also suggest splitting it into chapters? Maybe 4?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

N&N seems logical, but don’t feel pressured.

Romance can flourish anywhere. One of the greatest romance stories ever told is that of Heloise and Abelard from the 12th century. She in disgrace with pregnancy, he castrated and the two physically separated, their correspondence lives on as one of the most enduring love stories in history. That doesn’t mean any of that was good, but it does show that love can triumph anywhere.

If you put it in Romance, I would definitely put a warning up front for those expecting roses and violins. So far as length, every story has a word count on the first page.

 

[NotWise]

As you describe it, Noncon sounds like a dominant theme. If that's true, then you might be able to post it in Noncon. I only have one story in the category, and it is a romance -- I just felt like it was too violent for the Romance category. The Noncon readers don't seem to like the romance aspect all that much.

Otherwise, I think you've been given good advice.

 

[SimonDoom]

I would put it in N&N ONLY if you can't think of a popular category in which it will likely do better. N&N does not have a huge readership, but it might be the right default if your story is novel-length and covers widely disparate sexual kinks and activities.

Romance, on average, does a little better than N&N, I believe, so if you can plausibly fit it there it would be even better.

Non-con is an even more popular category than either of those two, so if the story has an overall non-con vibe and maintains some non-con elements throughout I would personally put it there even if it touched on other categories.

 

[KeithD]

Without seeing the actual content no one can really determine for you which category predominates. I agree that N&N is a last resort, because the readership is smaller than most other categories, but it may be the best choice if no other category dominates (and overshadows the other possibilities).

 

[lovecraft68]

As you describe it, Noncon sounds like a dominant theme. If that's true, then you might be able to post it in Noncon. I only have one story in the category, and it is a romance -- I just felt like it was too violent for the Romance category. The Noncon readers don't seem to like the romance aspect all that much.

Otherwise, I think you've been given good advice.

I would imagine a romantic non con story would be a bit of a unicorn, at least as far as readers accepting it goes, those categories mix like oil and water.

 

[NotWise]

I would imagine a romantic non con story would be a bit of a unicorn, at least as far as readers accepting it goes, those categories mix like oil and water.

Looks like it, despite the fact that the site requires the victim to get something out of it before the end.

The other problem with NC is that Laurel consistently publishes NC stories at the bottom of the new list, minimizing the number of views while still publishing them.

 

[Lifestyle66]

...The other problem with NC is that Laurel consistently publishes NC stories at the bottom of the new list, minimizing the number of views while still publishing them.

The order they publish the stories in the New list does promote or detract from a story's audience. I noticed my last story published on Lit New list page 3 that day has been a very slow crawl in reads.

But today's New list has two NC stories as the first two. So, maybe that's a misconception, and it's just whatever order they receive them.

 

[NotWise]

The order they publish the stories in the New list does promote or detract from a story's audience. I noticed my last story published on Lit New list page 3 that day has been a very slow crawl in reads.

But today's New list has two NC stories as the first two. So, maybe that's a misconception, and it's just whatever order they receive them.

No misconception. The two NC stories at the top of the list are holiday contest stories #118 and #119. Contest stories are always at the top of the list. Scroll to the bottom of today's new list and you'll find the rest of the NC stories.

 

[Javahead]

I would imagine a romantic non con story would be a bit of a unicorn, at least as far as readers accepting it goes, those categories mix like oil and water.

That's another good point, one of many I've received so far on this thread. The advice so far has helped me clarify my thinking quite a bit. Hitting the high points.

1) I'd gone back and forth on posting the story in several 3 or 4-page sections.

Unfortunately, it's not readily severable into standalone chunks that can be read by themselves - at the least, every separate part would need an extensive "what went before section."

Though it's tempting to break it up into 5 or 6 distinct parts (inflating my story count in the process) at this point I'm leaning on posting it as one complete-in-itself story.

2) The suggestion that I give a longer, more complete preface going over the various tags and potential squicks is a good one. I'll definitely do that - once you get beyond the out-and-out trolls I've always suspected that blindsided and unhappily surprised readers are more likely to vote, and vote negatively.

3) Much as I see this as an oddball Romance, it probably doesn't belong in that official category.

Yes, the protagonist does end up in a happy loving relationship. A three-way relationship with his former fiancé and her mother, both happily pregnant by him after he bought their indentures from the government brothels where they'd been serving out their prison sentences. And this is the Cliff's Notes version...

So, no. N & N it is. In one piece. I'll admit I'm curious to see how readership and acceptance compares to my 'Plum Blossoms' story, posted in multiple parts to LW (and subjected to the usual LW bipolor voting patterns - voters seemed to either really love it or really hate it, with little in the way of middle ground).

As advised, I'll lead off with a preface to set expectations, covering the major points without, hopefully, spoiling the story. Whether I can do that as well as Chloe Tzang manages for her longer stories remains to be seen.

 

[Lifestyle66]

No misconception. The two NC stories at the top of the list are holiday contest stories #118 and #119. Contest stories are always at the top of the list. Scroll to the bottom of today's new list and you'll find the rest of the NC stories.

Possibly, because there are several at the end of today's list. But there's still one halfway down page one, and another two-thirds down page two, but with several other stories separating it from those at the end.

I'm not trying to be a Know-it-all and negative toward you comment. I am seriously trying to find that secret formula among all of the factors which seems to work for some and not for others here. And just "write more and better stories" isn't it. I recently spent time reading a VERY poorly written story by any objective standard, only to see it rated 4.5!

 

[NotWise]

Possibly, because there are several at the end of today's list. But there's still one halfway down page one, and another two-thirds down page two, but with several other stories separating it from those at the end.

I'm not trying to be a Know-it-all and negative toward you comment. I am seriously trying to find that secret formula among all of the factors which seems to work for some and not for others here. And just "write more and better stories" isn't it. I recently spent time reading a VERY poorly written story by any objective standard, only to see it rated 4.5!

The score isn't about how well-written the story is. The score is about whether people enjoyed the story.

 

[KeithD]

The score is about whether people enjoyed the story.

Or how they feel about the story's author. Or how the story fits in some sort of competition of interest to the voter.

 

[astushkin]

I'm anticipating a similar dilemma with the story I'm currently working on, which I anticipate will be over 100K. I intend to submit it as several chapters and am torn between N&N and Romance. The sexual content is a slow-burn romance. The only other element would be a smaller paranormal motif that might raise the possibility of Erotic Horror or Mind Control.

I was planning to include an intro to the effect of "the entire story is X words, divided into X chapters approximately the length of this one" so that people know what they would be getting into. I would of course prefer to put it in a category with more readers, but have some questions for those with more savvy and experience:

1. Do male readers avoid the romance board? If I can judge from readers' profiles, my past stories have been enjoyed by all genders. I don't want to miss out on their eyes.

2. The romance in my ongoing story would NOT be characterized as "flowers and candlelight", but as raunchy and passionate. Do romance readers tolerate extensive explicit sex scenes including anal and oral? I recall seeing on one story posted there, a reader comment praising the tasteful minimization of explicit descriptions. Is that representative of this group of readers?

This may be a moot point because my intro paragraph may prompt Laurel to place it in N&N anyway. My very first series that I (naïvely) placed in EC, was after a certain number of chapters moved to N&N by admin.

 

[Javahead]

Again, thanks for all the input. I just hit "submit" on "Palau Palsu: Love for Sale," prefaced by the recommended author's note. I'll be interested to see how it does.