Another - Which Category Should I choose?

[nooneanyone]

I'm sorry for posting one of these topics because as an author, albeit a new one, I am expected to know the answer, yet I don't want to offend readers by posting in the wrong place.

I have already read the "Love Your Reader" guide and many posts on these topics, but, still here I am.

I have several stories ready to post that share similar themes; so, before I make a mistake on one/all of them I wanted to seek the advice of the experienced authors here.

The primary theme of all of them is transformation, and the stories include the following:
(1) Magical transformation - usually using some sort of MacGuffin of a magic serum, magic curse, magic, or the characters' own actions
(2) Expansion or shrinking of particular body parts while gender remains unchanged
(3) Gender transformation and/or feminization
(4) Sexual contact between men and women, men and men, transgender and men or women
(5) Transformations may be unexpected by the person receiving them
(6) There may be sexual orientation change and/or exposure of underlying desires over the course of the story

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.

 

[Jorunn]

SCI-FI would work, but transgender would be better. This is erotica and your sex scenes would score better with those readers.

 

[Bamagan]

Fetish. Almost all of those are pretty niche but are somewhat common in that category. The one caveat would be, if the transformations result in some kind of animal features (an anthro, or a were-whatever), then Nonhuman is also a logical choice.

 

[Ianus4]

The primary theme of all of them is transformation, and the stories include the following:
(1) Magical transformation - usually using some sort of MacGuffin of a magic serum, magic curse, magic, or the characters' own actions
(2) Expansion or shrinking of particular body parts while gender remains unchanged
(3) Gender transformation and/or feminization
(4) Sexual contact between men and women, men and men, transgender and men or women
(5) Transformations may be unexpected by the person receiving them
(6) There may be sexual orientation change and/or exposure of underlying desires over the course of the story

If all of these appear in the stories at the same time, then it's Sci-Fi or Fetish indeed. If not, then it depends on which combination is involved.

 

[TheRedChamber]

My gut/opinion is that magical sex change stories fit best in Transgender even when the characters aren't trans by identity. The only issue is if you are swimming in the same-sex growing body parts fun pool for a good while first.

 

[dirk2024]

I've read a couple of gender transformation stories and they were posted in Transgender.

Your magical stories, if they don't involve gender transformations, I would expect - as a reader - to find them in SciFi/Fantasy.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The primary theme of all of them is transformation, and the stories include the following:
(1) Magical transformation - usually using some sort of MacGuffin of a magic serum, magic curse, magic, or the characters' own actions
(2) Expansion or shrinking of particular body parts while gender remains unchanged
(3) Gender transformation and/or feminization
(4) Sexual contact between men and women, men and men, transgender and men or women
(5) Transformations may be unexpected by the person receiving them
(6) There may be sexual orientation change and/or exposure of underlying desires over the course of the story

Based on this list, I'm seeing transformation as a key theme, and you've mentioned transgender several times. I reckon that's your answer.

 

[Britva415]

The primary theme of all of them is transformation, and the stories include the following:
(1) Magical transformation - usually using some sort of MacGuffin of a magic serum, magic curse, magic, or the characters' own actions
(2) Expansion or shrinking of particular body parts while gender remains unchanged
(3) Gender transformation and/or feminization
(4) Sexual contact between men and women, men and men, transgender and men or women
(5) Transformations may be unexpected by the person receiving them
(6) There may be sexual orientation change and/or exposure of underlying desires over the course of the story

I'm tending to lean toward the Trans category like others have said.

But the list above is a list of elements and themes your stories include. My question is, what would you say the primary turn-on is?

Is the sexual experience of transition important? Is the sexual thrill of someone being with one of these transitioned people it? If so, that reinforces the Trans categorization.

But readers of the Trans category might wonder what the big deal is, if the sex parts of the story don't lean in to the transness of the sex, and readers of SF/Fantasy probably won't make a big deal of the transitions if the sex is, like, "just sex" and doesn't lean into the transness of it.

 

[anthrodisiac]

As someone who reads a decent amount of gender-bender TF stories (and TF in general), you're best putting it in Transgender. It seems to be the go-to for these types of stories, especially feminization (not a lot of masculation stories by comparison), which accounts for a not-insigificant amount of stories in Transgender (along with futa).

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Sci-fi, Trans, Non-human, Fetish ...

 

[nooneanyone]

Thank you all for your responses - they have been very helpful.

To clarify - the story takes the path of cis-men and cis-women engaging in hetero or bisexual acts, with a focus on cis-gendered growth or shrinking before the story turns to increasing transformations, including transgender transformations.
So it takes some time before the transgender elements arrive - maybe even more than a couple chapters.

Based on the responses I am thinking this type of story may be best in Sci-fi with an author's note disclosing that transgender elements will appear later in the story.

 

[TheLobster]

FWIW, the Transgender & Crossdressing category used to have a tagline that went something like "Tales of gender bending fun." This description got lost during the last year's split, but it's unlikely that this resulted in substantial changes to audience expectations.

As such, the magical sex transformations, futa stories, etc. still fit there just fine.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I'm sorry for posting one of these topics because as an author, albeit a new one, I am expected to know the answer, yet I don't want to offend readers by posting in the wrong place.

I have already read the "Love Your Reader" guide and many posts on these topics, but, still here I am.

I have several stories ready to post that share similar themes; so, before I make a mistake on one/all of them I wanted to seek the advice of the experienced authors here.

The primary theme of all of them is transformation, and the stories include the following:
(1) Magical transformation - usually using some sort of MacGuffin of a magic serum, magic curse, magic, or the characters' own actions
(2) Expansion or shrinking of particular body parts while gender remains unchanged
(3) Gender transformation and/or feminization
(4) Sexual contact between men and women, men and men, transgender and men or women
(5) Transformations may be unexpected by the person receiving them
(6) There may be sexual orientation change and/or exposure of underlying desires over the course of the story

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.

If the characters are transitioning from MTF or FTM, the means and ciurcumstances don't matter much. I'd suggest Trangender

 

[Ianus4]

FWIW, the Transgender & Crossdressing category used to have a tagline that went something like "Tales of gender bending fun." This description got lost during the last year's split, but it's unlikely that this resulted in substantial changes to audience expectations.

As such, the magical sex transformations, futa stories, etc. still fit there just fine.

Yet how nice it would be if there were separate categories for stories that fetishize and those that do not...

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Yet how nice it would be if there were separate categories for stories that fetishize and those that do not...

I would love to see subcategories under Transgender for things like Futa, Sissy, Romance, and Forced Feminization.

 

[Ianus4]

I would love to see subcategories under Transgender for things like Futa, Sissy, Romance, and Forced Feminization.

Actually, there are also Futa/sissy, Futa/femboy, and Futa-on-male romantic stories. Perhaps the Romance category should be subdivided into Straight, GM, Trans, etc. subcategories.

 

[TheLobster]

*gestures indistinctly to the erotxt classification system*

 

[MillieDynamite]

Yet again, a discussion about changing categories with new subs. Yes, that'd be dandy, but won't happen.

Actually, there are also Futa/sissy, Futa/femboy, and Futa-on-male romantic stories. Perhaps the Romance category should be subdivided into Straight, GM, Trans, etc. subcategories.