Fantasy/Horror not popular?

[velocette65]

I've noticed that my Horror fantasy stories are not read as often as my others. They are the ones I prefer to write. I've also noticed that later chapters get more readers than the beginning of the story.

I wonder if any fellow authors might like to comment on this, or have found this the case with their own work.

I just assumed that an interest in erotica went hand in hand with an interest in fantasy.

 

[Weird Harold]

I've noticed that my Horror fantasy stories are not read as often as my others. They are the ones I prefer to write. I've also noticed that later chapters get more readers than the beginning of the story.

One a personal note, I'm not interested in "Horror" or "Gothic" strories in general and have trouble invisioning they could be compatible with "erotic." I suspect I'm not the only one who has trouble making that connection between "Horror" and "Erotic."

I think another contributing factor to lower readership for the SciFi & Fantasy category is the relative numbers of people looking for a "story" and those looking for "erotic" -- SciFi & Fantasy tend to be more "story" oriented works instead of short "stroke" vignettes.

I don't mean to imply that you shouldn't write "Erotic Horror Fantasies." I'm simply observing that those stories appeal to a smaller audience than other genres of erotic fiction and speculating on possible reasons why that audience is smaller.


The increased readership on later chapters has it's roots in the tendency to avoid "Ch. 1" until there is a demonstrated committment to further chapters. There are hundreds of stories here at Lit labeled "chapter one" that have no following chapters. (Many end with, "if I get good feedback, I'll write more.")

I think many people don't go back and pick up chapter one on the assumption that it's primarily set-up and introductions with minimal sex involved.

 

[MechaBlade]

You have to remember that Lit is generally an "Erotic Coupling" place. Also Incest stories are well read at every erotica site I've been to. As a man who has written a horror erotic story (and sees the two as easily connected) I will read your story "Nadia Queen of Blood Ch1," (which I have open right now) when I get the time today.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Weird Harold
Many end with, "if I get good feedback, I'll write more.")
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He's right about that and how it vexes me. Which is why I usually don't read "chaptered" stories, and when I write them, I try to make sure they can stand alone.

 

[Madame Manga]

In my so far limited experience on Lit...

Yeah, I know what you mean about some genres having a small fan base. I have posted one chaptered story, which I put in Novels/Novellas, and one short story in Group Sex.

That short story got about 18,000 views and 30 votes in the six days it's been up. The most-read chapter of the novel has 7 votes and about 1300 views, and that's three weeks worth. The novel is definitely gothic horror/erotica, so I guess it has two strikes against it! However, its aggregate vote score is higher than that of the short story.

I'd have to agree with the Lit reader assessment so far, since the short story is mostly fluff, IMO--not that it wasn't fun to write, but I ripped it out in a couple of days. There's nothing in it that would creep out anyone who would click on Group Sex in the first place. The novel took something like two months, and it's much more personal (and maybe weird).

It can get a little frustrating to look at the numbers when I think about the relative amount of work and heart that went into each. So I remind myself that a few really interested readers are worth much more than a whole lot of casual ones. I've gotten feedback notes on the novel, but none at all on the short story, despite the over 10x greater number of views! Go figure.

Here are the URLs in case anyone wants to check them out:

"Ball in the Rough"
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=63249

"Deathbed" (first chapter)
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=60635

Member page, with all the chapters...
http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=146334

MM

 

[MechaBlade]

"Nadia, Queen of Blood Ch.1" (added a comma there) was great. It was kinda difficult to stay hard during the bloody parts, but they were few and the sex (especially with the anal fingering) was good.

 

[TheEarl]

Genres often have limited fanbases. Celebrities is another one where it's a bastard to get your reads up.

Harold: It's actually been proven that the chemicals released when watching a scary film or reading a scary book are the same that are released when the body is preparing for sex (presumably the flight, fight or shag reflex), which explains why a lot of people get involuntarily aroused at horror films. If it's done well I'm sure it could be a very good genre, although it doesn't interest me personally.

The Earl

 

[Svenskaflicka]

"Flight, fight or shag" - good one, Earl!

 

[Weird Harold]

which explains why a lot of people get involuntarily aroused at horror films.

Yes, I know that adrenaline plays apart in fear, arousal, and anger. There may be other hormones, enzymes, and assorted bodily fluids involved as well.

I suppose this could also explain why people either love or hate Stephen King.

My point wsn't that Horror Stories can't be erotic, only that I have trouble believing they would be so they never get the chance to scare me into an orgasm.

 

[medjay]

I submitted a fantasy story that was not widely read and recieved some negative feedback from readers who were expecting something else. No big deal, really. It was still a good story and the people who liked it wrote me and praised it highly. Since then I haven't payed much attention to votes or number of views (I also haven't submitted any more stories; I plan to get back to it though).

 

[VeraGem]

Actually, erotica and gothic horror have often walked hand-in-hand. The most notable example is Stoker's "Dracula." The scene in which Mina drinks the good Count's blood from his bare chest was considered very racy for it's time. If I'm not mistaken it almost got the book banned in more than one community. The Victorian Age was rife with sex and sexual innuendo - it was simply more veiled than it is nowadays.

As far as Sci-fi, my favorite for erotica, if not plot, has to be "Image of The Beast" by Philip Jose Farmer. This one has more than a bit of the gothic feel wound into it - unusual for the mid 1960s. I found it in my grandmother's book collection, of all places. Another great one for Sci-fi/erotica, if not graphic sex, is Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land." The list of success in this area goes on and on.

I think there is a huge audience for this stuff out there. It isn't such a stretch at all.

**********

Harold - "Scare me into an orgasm" almost had me cleaning coffee off the monitor...

 

[Cooksie]

Your right, VeraGem, about Horror & SF being closely linked to erotica (though I think most of the erotic SF tends toward the horror genre) - and I think it's more than simply crossing wires with fear. That no doubt plays a part, but I also think the sexual arousal is quite intentionally evoked. It's a genre that lends itself well to exploring sexual themes, especially taboo sex such as BDSM and homosexuality. Have you ever noticed that the women in the SF/Horror flicks of the '50s often have 'male' names like Steve (for Stephanie in Them), or heck, go back to Dale in Flash Gordon; and there's a good deal of gender role reversals in general.

Anyhow, apart from being somewhat of a fringe genre to start with, I think part of the problem people may have with explicit erotica in Horror is that so much of the appeal and power of the genre is tied up in the sexual energy of its innuendo - so when that's all made explicit, you tend to weaken one of the basic aspects of the genre, like Christmas morning just isn't as much fun when none of the presents are wrapped.

 

[Sabledrake]

I greatly enjoy horror/erotica combos. Got lots of anthologies on the ol' shelf: the entire Hot Blood series, the Shudder at Your Touch books, Dark Seductions, and so on.

Fear & sex go well together because they include the same physiobiolgical reactions and because so much of early sexual experiences are often tied to fear (of being caught, of being rejected, of being laughed at, of failure), so there's an association factor. Sex is scary, fear is sexy.

Not in every case, to be sure. But enough that it's nearly archetypal. Vampires and repressed Victorian sexuality, witches and the male dread of female sexuality, werewolves and the fear of losing control of one's baser physical urges, etc.

Sabledrake

 

[Saracen]

My two cents, American, for what that may get you these days ... not much.

I write SF/F/techno horror with a high sex content. I submitted "Beggars and Choosers" to Literotica because the sex was so over the top.

Yes, its SF, but the sex is gay male, with a very strong BDSM current. So I put it where I thought people who'd enjoy it most, would see it ... gay male. If the BDSM thread were stronger, I would have put it there. If it had been critical that these charas were not human, I would have put it in alien. Or the fact this is set in our future, SF/F. (actually I probably would have posted it with my other posted Master & Servant stories.)

Don't know about horror and erotica, as so much of that is cliche'd, although I do adore Poppy Z. Bright's dealing with it. I may have to try it sometime, although it will probably end up on 'extreme'. Don't think Literotica is the place for blood sports. (Yeah, I'll write anything, ok? Its just bits.)

I think perhaps most readers also go by these assumptions. If they want to get off, they're gonna go looking at whatever gets 'em off, not SF, Horror, Fantasty, Westerns, whatever. They're not looking for a story, they're looking for a stroke. I don't like writing just stroke, so I wrap a story around it and hopefully hook the reader hard enough in the first para they stick around for the sex.

And I guess I'm not doing so bad. 2 votes, 1 letter, almost 500 views in under 12 hours. Ask me in a few weeks how its coming.

 

[TheEarl]

I have to say, although I consider myself to be straight, one of the most erotic scenes I've ever seen in a film was in Interview with a Vampire, where Tom Cruise drinks Brad Pitt's blood.

The Earl

 

[Sillyman]

Fantasy and horror tend to require greater suspension of disbelief. It would not be impossible for a beautiful large breasted female cop to pull me over and ask for an assfuck in exchange for tearing up my speeding ticket, although it would be astronomically improbable.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Well, I think for me, the issue with the fantasy/scifi category is that when I wrote something I presumed to be scifi (startrek fanfic) it ended up in celeb b/c of the subject matter. also with that story, chapter 4 has had significantly less views or votes than chapter 1. I think this is due to several issues...first is that it takes dedication to read a story that's many chapters long (btw, although my story is only like cumlitively 7 pages on lit its around 50 on word...interesting). Secondly, someone may not go back and look for future chapters after reading the first few when the future chapters aren't out. And of course, someone might not like your (or my) writing style and opt out. Plus there's always the quirky reasons that people have that no one understands.

Honestly, I thinks it's easier to write other types of erotica. Fantasy and sci-fi require a more delicate touch if you aren't going to revert to stereotype (vamp whatever).

imho

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Delicious, I'm eagerly waiting for Weasley 5!!!

 

[Quasimodem]

Just two words for the people who say that
Horror and Erotica do not belong together:

Incubus & Succubus!

 

[Mad_Jack_Rabbit]

I don't believe that horror/sci-fi/fantasy and erotica are incompatable. I have read some good erotic short horror/sci-fi fiction.

What is most important is not letting the sex get in the way of the story and vice versa.

I've seen some porn films with so much story that the sex gets in the way of the plot and others with so little set up, it's just 2 or more people having sex.

My personal preference is for the erotica in short form. In the victorian era, a number of underground periodicals serialised erotic 'novels' but they were written in a style that made them less novels and more like a series of shorts with familair recurring characters.

The use of a mainstream setting does help to make the story more accessable to the readers and easier for them to suvstitue themselves in for one of the characters.

I read a lot of Sci-fi, but not much Sci-fi, horror fantasy erotica. I find it requires a little bit more work to say 'that could be me getting my brains fucked out' than the mainstream.