Genres You Would Struggle To Write

[RetroFan]

While it can be challenging and even fun to write a story outside of your general interests or comfort zone, are there any genres that you would really struggle to write a story in?

To clarify, I don't mean Literotica story classifications like Incest/Taboo, Loving Wives, Erotic Horror, Lesbian Sex and the like, but different genres in fiction in general.

With me, I have written stories set in many different times and places with many different plots, but although I like writing stories set in the past I would really struggle to write a story set in the Old American West, as I have never liked Westerns and have no interest in them. Having said that in my story 'The Starlet Seduces the Stagehand' set in California in the 1930s they are filming a Western movie and in another a woman's weird husband gets his rocks off going to a brothel where he dresses up as a cowboy.

But writing an actual Western would be too great a challenge for me. What are some of your experiences?

 

[NotWise]

Westerns wouldn't be a problem for me. I'm not very familiar with the weapons, but I could probably reel off "single-action 44" pretty easily.

If I were to write a war story it would probably need to be in a Sci-Fi or Fantasy context. The reality doesn't seem like something I could write.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

Gay Male, Loving Wives, BDSM, probably hardcore NC.

Steampunk, since I only know it by tropes. I'd end up with yellow citrine crystals EVERYWHERE.

Not sure I could pull off Noir.

Poetry. No talent for it, except as parody.

I'm sure there are others. I'm not a one-trick pony, but I don't have that many tricks...

 

[PennameWombat]

I'll agree on the Westerns. I'd want to write based on reality (e.g., did you know how many Black and Native American 'cowboys' were around?) So... no gunfights. So it'd likely end up more polemic than entertainment.

Romance, almost any setting. The tropes just... annoy me mostly. Not talking about HFN/HEA, but about the 'path' to get there.

Anything that's... ah, what to call it. 'Realistic?' In other words, a tale about a 20th or 21st century suburban (or rural or urban) family dealing with... ah, life. Throw in secret aliens and... we have something to work with. Throw in... a bully? An unexpected illness? Um, no. Not interested.

Exceedingly hard military would be difficult. I know enough to be dangerous but still get called out by the truly hard core.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Me: things that take too much research. Historical and military are the tough ones there, since there are so many folk out there who will catch the tiniest inaccuracy and call you on it.

(Foreign cultures are hard too, but I make a bit more effort on those because that feels important to me.)

Romance, almost any setting. The tropes just... annoy me mostly. Not talking about HFN/HEA, but about the 'path' to get there.

Aside from HFN/HEA, which is an almost ironcast requirement, the tropes are largely negotiable. Pick any trope you like, you can probably find a romance author gleefully trampling on it or outright inverting it.

One romance that I read recently had a heroine really hoping that the inn will have Only One Bed, because then she'll just HAVE to share with her sweetheart. But then they get there and the inn has plenty of beds, so she gives up waiting for fate to intervene and takes matters into her own hands.

 

[gordo12]

I'll agree on the Westerns. I'd want to write based on reality (e.g., did you know how many Black and Native American 'cowboys' were around?)

.

Yep, approx 25% (1/4) of all the cowboys were of other races. Not so many Native Americans but after the emancipation cowboying was about the only work slaves could find besides sharecropping. And what most don't know is sharecropping was an extension of slavery. Except now about 2/3 of all sharecroppers were poor white families. It died out around 1940.

One of these days I will publish my "Sharecropper" story if I could figure out a category here for it.

Other than that I've written many westerns. Not all published here.

For me the most difficult would be gay, BDSM, lesbian, mind control & trans. I'm not hot on anal or celebrity but I could do them.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have no particular technical/engineering/scientific nor military background, so a hardware-heavy military like a Tom Clancy novel would be a tough one. I could write science fiction that's light on the science, but wouldn't want to do the research that would be needed for something like The Martian.

 

[Dingo_Triplesix]

Standard Erotics.

True: I just can´t imagine writing about an attractive, mysterious billionaire who meets a shy, young, inexperienced girl and teaches her some laughable light BDSM stuff. She loves him like mad, and finally she gets through his armor and he develops real feelings for her. HEA.

Aaargh!!

 

[TadOverdon]

Humor.

OTOH, I may try writing erotic romance. People have pointed out some features of my stuff that lean in that direction.

I don't know that I can do "Happily ever after," though. Far too many of the best love stories end with separation.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Romance and Crime/Thrillers.

I'm okay with action scenes and world-building, but I can't stand the Romance tropes of two adults having to struggle through stupid shit which could easily be solved by just talking with each other. And if my last story was any indication, I'd have to spend weeks in research to get the details for any decent crime story sorted. Nah, I'll stick to my sexy Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories where I make up all the rules. Mwahahaha!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I write a lot of Sci-fi as I find that you really don't have to do any research at all if you don't want to. You just have to make up things that could be. Kind of like the Marvel comic stuff.

Military stuff is easy also as I was in it.

Westerns are easy also as I grew up watching them and read them. I have written some that would be considered Westerns but they are set in today.

Erotica MF FF MFM FMF FFM not to hard, read about that stuff in Dad's Penthouse mags. MM never did interest me and still doesn't to this day.

Poetry never was any good at that.

Mystery type stuff, I can do it but it turns out more of an action/adventure thing.

Incest I tried it and it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. And it seemed I had a knack for it. Mother/Son Brother/Sister. I have only written one Father/Daughter story and I struggled with that.

Romance - All I know about those type of books is that a girlfriend used to read them a lot while she was at work and things were slow. When I picked her up you could feel the heat come out from under her skirt. I always knew I was in for a good time later that night. Have never tried to write one.

BSDM - I do have one story up. Haven't thought about adding any others.

Soap Opera type stories, aren't they just erotic novels just with the sex?

Anything else probably doesn't interest me.

 

[TadOverdon]

Romance is definitely chick porn. And it's usually a bit of porn porn.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Romance is definitely chick porn. And it's usually a bit of porn porn.

But to get to the good bits you have to slog through two hundred pages of "I'm mad 'cause you looked at another girl!"
"She's my sister, how many times do I have to tell you?"
"You're a liar and I don't believe a word you say!" *storms from the room, jumps in her car and drives away with a tear-streaked scowl*

Me at this point: "Why exactly did you jump through all those hoops? Is fucking her really worth all that trouble? Can you imagine living 24/7 with this hysterical harpy?"

 

[TadOverdon]

.....

 

[Rustyoznail]

BDSM. I just don't know enough to do it justice.

 

[Bramblethorn]

But to get to the good bits you have to slog through two hundred pages of "I'm mad 'cause you looked at another girl!"
"She's my sister, how many times do I have to tell you?"
"You're a liar and I don't believe a word you say!" *storms from the room, jumps in her car and drives away with a tear-streaked scowl*

Me at this point: "Why exactly did you jump through all those hoops? Is fucking her really worth all that trouble? Can you imagine living 24/7 with this hysterical harpy?"

I feel your pain. Last time I watched a supposedly feel-good rom-com, I ended up almost yelling "what the hell are you doing, dump her and don't look back!" I don't have a lot of patience for stupid head games or people who make massive assumptions when they could just use their words and have a conversation.

But I promise it's not all like that. It's hard to write a story without conflict, but the central conflict doesn't have to be between the two lovers.

The one I'm currently listening through ("When The Devil Comes Calling"): he and she are grown adults who are each struggling with their own family-related shit. They meet up when he hires her to work on a technical problem for him, and as their relationship develops they help one another deal with their family baggage. There are some toxic people in the story, but the relationship between the two main characters is supportive and healthy. The only major communication issue between them is him having to tell her "don't tell me you're fine when you're not", which comes from her growing up with a mother-figure who expected her to submerge her own feelings, smile, and shut up.

 

[TxRad]

I wrote three novels about stock car racing. A short non-erotic story here on Lit put my name in front of a publisher who wanted a book on the subject. No problems there as i spent a lot of time in and around race cars.

My next three novels were fantasy and all that takes is a good imagination, I found out.

A short outtake from the last of the above led me to writing Young adult stories. I never even thought about that until my editor read what became of the story. Thirteen novels later....

I've got one western under construction. The first chapter is posted here because a certain author thought there weren't enough westerns on Lit. It's in non-erotic. I've hit a few snags along the way and got sidetracked by other writing but I promise that I'll finish it one day.

Historical novels don't interest me.

Noir, I tried one here for another writers challenge. It's in non-erotic. It's not my cup of tea but I think it's a good story with a brilliant twist. To me anyway.

Horror isn't for me. That is why I pretty much always pass on Halloween stories.

I've tried scifi but after all that I read years and years ago, I can't tell what is my ideas and someone else's idea.

I have a Vietnam was story started but I get too close to the action sometimes, which puts it on the back burner for a while. It is slow going.

Romance? I've passed on it more or less in mainstream.

Writing is writing as long as you feel what you are writing. YMMV.

 

[oggbashan]

I would have trouble with Interracial and the Taboo part of Incest/Taboo.

Interracial? I don't see any conflict there. People are people. It could be interesting to explore a clash of cultures but that doesn't have to involve race.

Taboo? Apart from the fact that most people reading this category want incest between close relations and wouldn't appreciate Taboo - what is Taboo?


Sex between consenting adults shouldn't recognise any Taboos - the usual one s 'Not in front of the servants and don't frighten the horses'.


As for illustrated? I can't draw. I don't have access to a stash of appropriate pictures that I have the copyright for.

 

[Lifestyle66]

But to get to the good bits you have to slog through two hundred pages of "I'm mad 'cause you looked at another girl!"
...
Me at this point: "Why exactly did you jump through all those hoops? Is fucking her really worth all that trouble? Can you imagine living 24/7 with this hysterical harpy?"

I decided to write my own "romance" series because of exactly this point.

My wife used to accuse me of being "hard to read", or as she would sometimes say "I don't know what you want?" So, my response is "It's aways the same, I'm a very simple guy. Just give me a blowjob and tell me what you want me to do next."

In my stories, the geek couple moves through life occasionally fighting, but mostly ignoring the bumps or getting over it quickly BECAUSE at the end of the evening fucking each other is worth it. Otherwise, ALL other genres are tough for me to write.

 

[TadOverdon]

I like romantic comedies, as well as many "women's romance" novels. The movies in particular are no more formulaic or superficial than Marvel comics movies (faint praise) and the stories are usually required to make more sense than most blockbusters.

I'm sour on that shit right now, I guess, as the spouse made me sit through a couple of Star Trek movies over the weekend. The new kids are less dreary than long-in-the-tooth William Shatner but the plots just keep getting dumber. And they never were setting a high bar.

There's also more humor that lands in most rom-coms. Ryan Reynolds is a funny dude and a charmer, but most of the leads in action movies are just challenged to deliver a line much less a punchline. There are women attracted to Vin Diesel? Seriously? The Rock, I can kind of see. He has some wit.

Things I'd find hard to write: tried IR twice, because at least in the U.S. it's an extremely popular subgenre of porn. Never found an angle on it that I was comfortable with as a writer (and I'll confess to having read quite a bit of it, here and there). I wound up writing around it. When you break down the "hot button" stuff that appears to turn the fans on, it's pretty destructive IMHO.

Is that "kink shaming?" So be it.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I would have trouble with Interracial and the Taboo part of Incest/Taboo.
...
Sex between consenting adults shouldn't recognise any Taboos - the usual ones 'Not in front of the servants and don't frighten the horses'.
...

Look at the Loving Wives cesspool of haters reacting to any guy who doesn't retaliate when the wife/GF has sex with someone else.

I once heard that a good story tries to get the reader emotionally involved, for good or bad. Consider the popularity of horror movies, showing scenes that any sane person would think everyone would want to avoid.

IMO, the Interracial and other Taboo writings are an "In your face!" extreme slap at those LW-type haters where the writer is saying: "See! She's enjoying sex with some who is DEFINITELY not you!" The writer is seeking that extreme emotional reaction from those they know will hate it even more.

 

[Wifetheif]

I can handle non-fiction. I've also dated women of different races so I can handle IR. Military? I'm writing a sequel to a novel set in a military academy so military light,
I have no interest in westerns and would probably turn in utter crap if I tried to write them.
I love to read mysteries but I don't think I could pen one.
Probably couldn't do chick-lit.
A mainstream romance would be difficult.
Have done historical fiction but the research!

 

[BiscuitHammer]

Hmmmmm. Add interracial to my list. Not that I have any issue with people of different ethnic groups having sex, but I have zero clue how I'd fetishize that. I suppose you could have a really repressed southern white woman have a torrid affair with a PoC, and maybe I could write that, but I'm not sure I could stay in the white woman's headspace sufficiently to make it seem sexy.

It'd be ever harder to do it from a man's pov, because men are decidedly less discriminating/more indiscriminate about what haplogroup they'll do it with. One again, possible, but there would end up being a rather misogynistic aspect to it.

Yeah, more power to you if you can write that to tittilate for people, I don't think I would be good at it. My circumstances and framework would be so damned specific.

'She's not just Egyptian, she an ancient Egyptian slave girl living in the modern world and she's the only true-blooded Egyptian on the planet. Fucking her is exotic.'

Oh, wait... I did that. I guess I COULD write it under very specific circumstances.

Kidding aside, I wouldn't do it justice.

 

[Trionyx]

Interracial? I don't see any conflict there. People are people. It could be interesting to explore a clash of cultures but that doesn't have to involve race.

Sex between consenting adults shouldn't recognise any Taboos - the usual one s 'Not in front of the servants and don't frighten the horses'.

I agree. I don't write in the 'interracial' category specifically because I don't think there's anything necessarily exciting, erotic or sexy about interracial interactions. These are just interactions between people who happen to have different skin color. Fetishizing interracial relations is not something I care to do.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I agree. I don't write in the 'interracial' category specifically because I don't think there's anything necessarily exciting, erotic or sexy about interracial interactions. These are just interactions between people who happen to have different skin color. Fetishizing interracial relations is not something I care to do.

From comments on friends' stories, I've noticed there's a significant contingent of readers who really like interracial content as long as it's only skin deep. Give them sultry accents, chocolate/caramel skin, a few easily translated non-English words, they'll lap that up. But don't dare acknowledge any way that race has affected those characters' lives, or those readers start grumbling.