Category issue

[Jimmythekinkygoat]

I have a question about which category my story should go in. I'm aware that there are things written about this in the How To section, but the potential categories for my story seem to make it nicely positioned to offend someone wherever I put it, and whatever the theories are about minimising offence there's no substitute for experience, which is what I hope you, wise people of Authors' Hangout, can offer.

OK so this story is transsexual mind-control incest and will also include anal, group, f/f and possibly m/m (it's going to be, like, super classy).

I don't want to upset the transsexual crowd by the inclusion of incest. And I don't want to upset the incest crowd by my inclusion of transsexuals (which seems like the biggest risk). I figure mind-control might offend some but probably not as much as the other main themes.

So I guess my question is: do I stick it in Transsexuals & Crossdressers with an incest and mind-control warning, or Incest with a transsexual and mind-control warning?

 

[uksnowy]

You're not the first to have this puzzling and confused situation. Totally bonkers if you ask me.

 

[sr71plt]

Transsexual, like GM, trumps other categories. Those reading in the Transsexual/Crossdressing category will generally accept material crossing other categories. A lot fewer readers in other categories will accept transsexual material in their category.

 

[acup]

I've always tried to lobby for a primary and secondary category. Especially with long multi parts stories. Yes it may be a SciFi, but it's also a novel / novella. Or a romance / interracial.

 

[RetroFan]

My advice is to think what the aim of your story is when there is some doubt.

Using my Lesbian story 'The PTA Queen Bee and the Teen Rebel' as an example, this could have gone into Erotic Couplings as there is some heterosexual sex in the story (and lesbian stories are far from unwelcome in that category), it could have gone into Humor and Satire as it was a black comedy and it could even have fitted into Supernatural as one of the themes in the story is the PTA Queen Bee character selling a reputedly haunted house as part of her job as a real estate broker.

However, as the climax of the story involves a married woman in her early 40s jumping into bed with a rebellious 18-year-old girl, the Lesbian category was the best fit for the story. Humor and satire gets few readers and the supernatural elements were limited to eerie happenings and stories of past troubling events at the house.

 

[hylas_]

I would post it in either Transsexual/Crossdressing or Incest, and make a big, fat disclaimer at the start.

 

[toetyper]

I have the same problem, my story is a fanfic which could go into the first time category

 

[sr71plt]

I have the same problem, my story is a fanfic which could go into the first time category

If it includes real celebrities, I'm pretty sure Laurel will put it in the celebrity category no matter what category you marked it for.

 

[rjordan]

OK so this story is transsexual mind-control incest and will also include anal, group, f/f and possibly m/m (it's going to be, like, super classy).

If you can put together a coherent story with all that going on and stay "super classy", you should be allowed to put the story where ever the fuck you want.

rj

 

[tomlitilia]

make a big, fat disclaimer at the start.

This is good advice. Warn people so they don't get unwelcome surprises six pages into the story. You can also motivate why you put it in the category you did.