A question about story categories

[Bubo_bubo]

Hi there, new member here. I basically joined on a kind of whim to be able to post a not fully anonymous comment on a story.

But now I'm here, I might have a story, a loooooong story, that I might want to post on the site. It was written mainly as, well, self-gratification, but I invested time and, might I say, love into it. If I post it it would be of course in serial format with several series consisting of several chapters.

If I post it, I want to get the category right. It's a long story with character development, plot, and a cast of characters, so I'd guess the novels/novellas category would be one option. The other option would be sci-fi/fantasy since the setting is a fantasy setting and lots of world building takes place (there is a map).

But as I understand it from reading other posts on this forum, other categories can trump these categories, like for instance BDSM (which will feature heavily in many chapters but not all) or non-con (which will feature to some extent, the story skip-a-doo-da-daying all over the consent map) and other kinks might will come up.

Ideally I'd like to have the story chapters all in the same category, with the specific themes and kinks per chapter being handled with tags. (I'm of half a mind to add the interracial tag because there is elf on human sex, and it would probably piss off the people fetishising relationships between white and black people, like that between me and my wife).

Would this be possible, or would the overrides of sensitive themes (BDSM, non-con) override the more general categories of novels and fantasy?

Thank you for any feed back, and please be gentle with me.

 

[NotWise]

A long story in a fantasy setting begs to be put in SciFi/Fantasy. Readers there take a wide range of kinks in stride without blinking.

Novels and Novellas is also possible since it is specifically for stories with wide-ranging scopes.

Neither of those categories gets a lot of reads, but you'll probably get more out of SciFi/Fantasy then from Novels and Novellas.

It might be a mistake to split the story up into the more specific categories like BDSM and NonCon. Those readers can be hard to please even without jumping around on them.

 

[tenyari]

Put the story in 'SciFi/Fantasy' or 'Nonhuman' depending on whether or not major characters are fantasy creatures.

Then use tags that are the same as other fitting categories.

 

[Carnevil9]

I'm not disagreeing with the advice given above, but I do have an alternate take you might consider. If you put each installment in the category that it best fits, you will cover a range of categories, and therefore a range of readerships. You might get more people reading it, liking it, and going on to read the other chapters. Just a thought.

 

[RejectReality]

Notwise covered it reasonably well.

It sounds like you've already finished it? If that's the case, put an author's note at the beginning of chapter one saying it's already complete, how many chapters it will be, and how often you plan to release them. ( I'd suggest weekly or twice weekly, and try to submit them on about the same day each week so they come out about the same time... but never before the previous chapter has been approved )

 

[RejectReality]

I'm not disagreeing with the advice given above, but I do have an alternate take you might consider. If you put each installment in the category that it best fits, you will cover a range of categories, and therefore a range of readerships. You might get more people reading it, liking it, and going on to read the other chapters. Just a thought.

I've yet to hear anyone having significant success with that — especially with Sci-Fi&Fantasy themed stories, which typically generate eyerolls and back clicks outside their specific categories.

IMO that categorization tactic is only good for long stories that are heavily compartmentalized with regards to kinks, which don't venture into extremes such as non-con/incest, or BDSM with a lot of insider terminology, and can't be encompassed under some overarching theme. It's better than N&N, but that's not saying much.

Category hopping may expose the story to different sets of readers, but what I've seen suggests that it doesn't bring a lot of them along once you move away from their particular kink.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You've mentioned an elf and lots of world building, so that's Sci-Fi and Fantasy, by any primary definition. Your story is set in a fantasy world with fantasy characters, so that's a trump, I'd have thought.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Thanks to all for your (quite quick) reactions!

Just a little bit more information. It is a story about an exceptionally charming Elven Bard that brings together bit by bit a group of girls/young women that will be his adventuring companions, but outside adventures his harem of sexpets. So strong themes of male dom/female sub. And gradually they learn to give in to the perversions that being in his presence awakens in them. it's just that even with those theme predominant and extensively explored, there will be parts that will be quite light on the BDSM stuff and more heavy on story & adventure, with each of the sexpets also being a quite capable adventurer.

Also, while there is certainly a fair bit of SM stuff, a lot more of it is actually D/s stuff. And the influence of the MC on the girls will have the story explore a fair number of other fetishes (prostitution, watersports, erotic asphyxiation, pet play,...)

In view of the different reactions, I believe it's best to try to get it in Sci-Fantasy and then properly tag each episode.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Notwise covered it reasonably well.

It sounds like you've already finished it? If that's the case, put an author's note at the beginning of chapter one saying it's already complete, how many chapters it will be, and how often you plan to release them. ( I'd suggest weekly or twice weekly, and try to submit them on about the same day each week so they come out about the same time... but never before the previous chapter has been approved )

Not finished but I have some 500 000 words worth of story that needs to go through a thorough re-write.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not finished but I have some 500 000 words worth of story that needs to go through a thorough re-write.

Definitely Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Those guys like a long yarn.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Definitely Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Those guys like a long yarn.

It's called an epic;

 

[Duleigh]

It's called an epic;

No, really, yarn. We like a story we can read while we knit a sweater

 

[RejectReality]

Not finished but I have some 500 000 words worth of story that needs to go through a thorough re-write.

If you can hold out, finish it before you begin publishing. There's little worse than an unfinished story that you're passionate about hanging over your head. If you're the only one struggling with it, that's one thing. If you've already put it forward and you're not the only one anxious to see where it ends up, it's much worse.

Unfortunately, that's the voice of experience speaking. It's a mistake I'll never make again.

It's also tactically sound. Being able to tell people there's a regular schedule and sticking to it is extremely beneficial to maintaining readership. You also don't have issues with making something you've already published mesh with new ideas. A stroke of genius can be derailed by something that's already out there in black and white.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

If you can hold out, finish it before you begin publishing. There's little worse than an unfinished story that you're passionate about hanging over your head. If you're the only one struggling with it, that's one thing. If you've already put it forward and you're not the only one anxious to see where it ends up, it's much worse.

Unfortunately, that's the voice of experience speaking. It's a mistake I'll never make again.

It's also tactically sound. Being able to tell people there's a regular schedule and sticking to it is extremely beneficial to maintaining readership. You also don't have issues with making something you've already published mesh with new ideas. A stroke of genius can be derailed by something that's already out there in black and white.

That does seem like good advice
But I fear that later parts will occasionally veer into territory that I won't be able to publish here. My idea was to test the waters with about the first parts (first half more or less of what I have) that don't have that content. So I'll finish up at least those parts first before publishing. I see if I can handle the not so publishable scenes in the later parts by suggestion/omission/fade to black.

Again, thanks to all for your advice.

 

[Duleigh]

That does seem like good advice
But I fear that later parts will occasionally veer into territory that I won't be able to publish here. My idea was to test the waters with about the first parts (first half more or less of what I have) that don't have that content. So I'll finish up at least those parts first before publishing. I see if I can handle the not so publishable scenes in the later parts by suggestion/omission/fade to black.

Again, thanks to all for your advice.

You can do what I have done, go with your original plan, but then come back make a copy of that ending material and edit it SFL (Safe For Laurel) and post it here with the note "To see the REAL ending go to..." In my case when I sat back and looked at both stories, I enjoyed the SFL version better.

 

[FifthEstate]

I would recommend trying to find the best fitting category and using it throughout. My first story “UCLA To Big D” was 18 chapters and published in at least six different categories. I felt like every time it started to build momentum, the category change stifled it. Overall, it was still well received, but it had more critics than any of my other works. I would never do it again.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This

That does seem like good advice
But I fear that later parts will occasionally veer into territory that I won't be able to publish here. My idea was to test the waters with about the first parts (first half more or less of what I have) that don't have that content. So I'll finish up at least those parts first before publishing. I see if I can handle the not so publishable scenes in the later parts by suggestion/omission/fade to black.

Again, thanks to all for your advice.

That's frowned upon by the site - teasing readers here on Lit, but obliging them to go elsewhere to finish the story - especially if you've got a selling site (although from your post, I think content is more likely the issue).

 

[Bubo_bubo]

This

That's frowned upon by the site - teasing readers here on Lit, but obliging them to go elsewhere to finish the story - especially if you've got a selling site (although from your post, I think content is more likely the issue).

Thank you for your reaction, however belated. I understand how that could be not appreciated, though there could still be a fair amount of content that could be published here, I wouldn't call it exactly teasing since the we're still talking the good first two thirds of about 500 000 words in narrative.

But for the moment I've left that one on hold and I am now herding a fluffle of (related) plot bunnies into another story which should be less problematic in terms of content. I'm fairly advanced with that, and might send the first few chapters for publishing on site next month (shout out to Rustyoznail for being willing to beta-read those first few chapters).

(I find that of all the collective nouns I found for rabbits, fluffle goes best with bunnies)