First story (Exhibitionism & Voyeur) - would love some feedback!

[Liunae]

Hello all! I'm new to this community and happy to be here with you all.

I've just published my first story - well, first two stories really; parts one and two of a series that I intend to be five parts. I would love to get some feedback on the stories, as this is my first foray into erotic writing.

Writing Retreat Pt. 01: Forbidden Tryst

Writing Retreat Pt. 02: Grant's Office

Part three is being written now and will come soon!

Thanks in advance
Liunae

 

[LightningSeed]

Liunae,
I read the first story! Congrats on joining and thanks for sharing your work with us!
My initial response is you have a good voice and write very well. Great ear for dialogue, too. I really liked some of your short but smart sentences as well.
Where I might make a suggestion would be pacing. You have a good story in there, but it felt very rushed, especially early. We knew Adrien’s name - and destiny - before we even met the character. I’d be tempted to let it breathe, build the tension.
This goes for some of their early interactions, too. In particular the forwardness of their text exchange just seemed way too fast and way too unlikely.
On the other hand, I liked your twist that introduced another - potentially less likely - partner late in the story. That could make things very interesting moving forward!

Again, welcome and thanks for sharing!

 

[Liunae]

Liunae,
I read the first story! Congrats on joining and thanks for sharing your work with us!
My initial response is you have a good voice and write very well. Great ear for dialogue, too. I really liked some of your short but smart sentences as well.
Where I might make a suggestion would be pacing. You have a good story in there, but it felt very rushed, especially early. We knew Adrien’s name - and destiny - before we even met the character. I’d be tempted to let it breathe, build the tension.
This goes for some of their early interactions, too. In particular the forwardness of their text exchange just seemed way too fast and way too unlikely.
On the other hand, I liked your twist that introduced another - potentially less likely - partner late in the story. That could make things very interesting moving forward!

Again, welcome and thanks for sharing!

Hi! Thank you so much for reading, and for this feedback! It's really heartening to hear that overall, voice, dialogue, etc., feel good; I've always liked writing as a hobby but had no idea how that would transfer into this kind of writing.

I completely agree with you about pacing, especially where it concerns Adrien! To be honest, as I continue to write and wrap up the series, his character perhaps doesn't receive the attention from me that it deserves - my focus for this series has been more on the stuff around Mr. Grant, and I definitely think Adrien's character, the pacing there, etc. suffers as a result. This is something I'm definitely going to keep in mind for next time and I appreciate hearing that reflection from you.

I've got chapter three up now as well and tbh it's suffering a bit ratings-wise (I think it got a 1 star very soon after publishing) - not sure if that's just from people not liking the plot direction, or if it's just a troll, etc., but if anything happens to stick out to you in there that doesn't feel well-written, I'd love to hear it.

Regardless, thanks so much for your thoughts on the first part.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Ha, so I read the first part, and coming back to see what the title of the second part was really put a stupid grin on my face.

Before I begin: I tend to write walls of text and be real honest, especially when I get excited, but if you feel that this is more obtuse and discouraging than helpful, feel free to ignore my rant. Those are your first stories here, and you deserve a warm welcome and encouragement most of all, not least because those ARE good stories!

Also, take it all with a grain of salt - your stories are rated higher than mine, right off the bat, so it's not like I am any kind of authority in your regard. Those are just my honest thoughts as I read it.

On that note, my review is gonna be under the cut.

[SPOILER]
Now for the story itself, it's a bit tricky. The hard (har har) core of it is the protagonist's ravenous horniness that starts to congeal around the rulebreaking and the exposure, as the category demands. And I feel you did that really well. The moment when she cums with one specific naughty thought was both hilarious and really hot.

That however ties a bit into my other observations: Conflict.
You set it up in such a way that adults are in the weird situation of being in a boardingschool type situation, and worse then that, gender-segregated. So, that is a really smart move. Beautiful isolated setting, an excuse to be put together with strangers but also an obvious barrier that needs to be overcome by the power of lust.
Still, it felt as if could somehow stand to be a bit "edgier"? Maybe something that makes the protas values conflict more overtly with one another? You got some of that, but maybe it could be thrown more sharply into focus. Maybe the barriers are still a little too superficial. The risk of getting caught still feels relatively remote, the consequences unclear. One way around this might be to elaborate more on how she is disappointed that the danger wasn't greater, something you do hint at with the end of the first part. But that might include a bit more of my own preferences, I really like "naughty" characters.
In that spirit, I like her somewhat snarky side that you are also showing.

I took some more notes while reading, so here goes:

Relatable protagonist. Good characterization right off the bat with how naturally anxious she is. Might have been worth to draw a little bit more of a connection between that and her exhibitionism - how her anxiety fuels the excitement, and vice versa.

Sex? It's a little weird how quickly your protagonist not only gets horny, but thinks immediately about sex. The connection "there are hot men" = "I am going to have sex here" is not an obvious thought to have. She doesn't know she's on literotica! This gets even weirder when you later point out that she isn't someone who normally sleeps with a lot of people. So here, talking about a more diffuse, vague horniness might have been better. Or build it up a bit more - she gets hornier, hornier, suddenly thinks "hmmm am I maybe gonna have sex at this place - wait what am I thinking". You could have introduced the idea that she has been through a bit of a dry spell, making her both a bit out of shape and very eager for sexual opportunities, right when she should be focussing on something very different!

That actually ties back to what makes your story fun to me - just how beastly horny she is while trying to keep a civilized facade!

What I said earlier might come down to my own preference - I like it when it's a bit more crass and cartoony, like when characters are in deep, embarassing inner turmoil and actually live very dangerously. Of course, if the somewhat more "level-headed" road works better for you, stick with it.

The poetry bit - was that a quote from somewhere, or did you also write that yourself? If it's the later, I guess you're what they call a multiple threat, because that passage was real nice.

A few minor nitpicks. Personally, I'm no fan of describing characters so much you could essentially draw them, I find that more distracting than helpful, but I know many if not most people see it differently, so I won't dwell on that. That said, sometimes I found the expressions a bit "unnatural": When I see chubby people, I don't think "plus-sized"? When I get spanked, I don't think of it as "medium-hard"? I also rarely think about my own eye color. Maybe you could have put that more indirectly - make her wonder what Adrien might be seeing, and feeling, as he looks at her.

Rather than throw in musings about Adrien being a serial killer and then dismissing it with a somewhat flat "I can feel he is trustworthy", you could have used that to contrast her anxiety with her horniness - "he might be a serial killer, a really sexy lean sweet smelling serial killer, and that's scary, but fuck it".

When she first discovers Adrien, one, it's weird she didn't notice him the first day at all, two, it might have been a bit more elegant for her to FIRST spot the book, be surprised by the coincidence, and THEN notice oh crap it's attached to the sexiest man.

Anyway that's the gist of it, for now. Hope you can find something useful in there. Keep up the good work!
[/SPOILER]

Oh, one more thing:
If you don't mind, I also apreciate feedback for my feedback. I know I have myself received feedback for my stories that frustrated me a little - feeling that some of the critique were "nitpicks" I didn't understand, while being disappointed that there were big and important things in the story the reader seemed to have missed. So if you feel like that in any way, please tell me! Could be that I will get a better understanding of your story.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

I completely agree with you about pacing, especially where it concerns Adrien! To be honest, as I continue to write and wrap up the series, his character perhaps doesn't receive the attention from me that it deserves - my focus for this series has been more on the stuff around Mr. Grant, and I definitely think Adrien's character, the pacing there, etc. suffers as a result.

If I may, I haven't read the rest yet, but I feel this might depend on what you want to do here.

Yes, Adrien reads a bit like generic perfect sexyman - but maybe that is enough, for his role in the story?

Because where I see the center of gravity is the protagonists inner world and (conflicting) desires. In a way, Adrien is just a means to an end. Could in fact be an additional source of turmoil for her - the feeling that she is just using him without really appreciating him as a person. In that spirit, somewhat shallow characterization, at least at first, might be more feature than bug.

 

[Liunae]

If I may, I haven't read the rest yet, but I feel this might depend on what you want to do here.

Yes, Adrien reads a bit like generic perfect sexyman - but maybe that is enough, for his role in the story?

Because where I see the center of gravity is the protagonists inner world and (conflicting) desires. In a way, Adrien is just a means to an end. Could in fact be an additional source of turmoil for her - the feeling that she is just using him without really appreciating him as a person. In that spirit, somewhat shallow characterization, at least at first, might be more feature than bug.

Thank you for this, it's helping me to think more about the character's place in the story, too. "Generic perfect sexyman" sums it up quite well, and you're right that that's at least partially by design, because as you picked up on, the story overall is more about her inner conflict between what looks good on paper and... this other thing. That said, I think the beginning with Adrien could still stand to be less rushed, but I appreciate your feedback that sometimes the "generic perfect sexyman" is an ok means-to-an-end figure.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I'm not able to open the cut in your feedback post to read your full review! I've tried on mobile and desktop. I'd love to read it if possible, is there another way you could send it? I'd say feel free to post in full or to DM it to me.

 

[MissEmmEss]

Hello all! I'm new to this community and happy to be here with you all.

I've just published my first story - well, first two stories really; parts one and two of a series that I intend to be five parts. I would love to get some feedback on the stories, as this is my first foray into erotic writing.

Writing Retreat Pt. 01: Forbidden Tryst

Writing Retreat Pt. 02: Grant's Office

Part three is being written now and will come soon!

Thanks in advance
Liunae

Welcome, Liunae! I'll be happy to read it!

 

[WeShallUnclench]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I'm not able to open the cut in your feedback post to read your full review! I've tried on mobile and desktop. I'd love to read it if possible, is there another way you could send it? I'd say feel free to post in full or to DM it to me.

Yeah, I think there was a thing about spoilers not working properly. I tried again from desktop, and now the wall of text is just unhidden. Oh well. I'll see if I find out how to make this work.

 

[Liunae]

Welcome, Liunae! I'll be happy to read it!

Thank you!!

 

[Liunae]

Yeah, I think there was a thing about spoilers not working properly. I tried again from desktop, and now the wall of text is just unhidden. Oh well. I'll see if I find out how to make this work.

Thank you, I myself don't mind the wall of text and was happy I was able to read it!

I want to thank you so much for this feedback. A lot of it touches on things that I have been wondering how to approach as I make the move into this type of writing for the first time.

You are so right about Aura being weirdly horny right off the bat, lol. I think a lot of that first story suffers from the fact that I was eager to just get to the exhibitionism stuff and saw her wanting to get with Adrien as just a necessary step along the way. Were I to do it again, and in the future, I would definitely get more into character motivation there. I love the suggestions you have around ways to make her horniness seem more believable, and also drawing more of a line between her anxiety and her exhibitionism. I think her inner world is much more explored in subsequent parts of the story, but that might make it all the more strange that it wasn't there from the beginning, so that's great feedback for me.

When it comes to physical descriptions, etc., I really appreciate your take and your suggestions about letting those happen through what the character is seeing. I feel like that advice can also help to inform how I write about sex. I think I initially came to this type of writing with the idea that everything around character appearance and also the sex itself should be described in as much detail as possible so that the reader doesn't have to do much work to picture it, but now I'm remembering that that work is often the fun part... anyway, I'm trying to get a little less mechanically-descriptive in my sex writing, but I know that will take some work and time and experimenting since it's such a new area for me.

Anyway, I truly appreciate the feedback, I found it helpful and not too nit-picky. The fact that you were clear about these just being your opinions makes it easy to take the stuff that feels useful and not get too bent out of shape about anything that I don't necessarily agree with.

(Oh, and I did write the poem! I felt so cheesy writing it, lol, so I'm happy it landed!)

 

[LightningSeed]

She doesn't know she's on literotica!

This is one of my favorite lines about a story character in forum history.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

(Oh, and I did write the poem! I felt so cheesy writing it, lol, so I'm happy it landed!)

It does its job in the story really well!

 

[WeShallUnclench]

So I have now read part 2, and it did NOT disappoint

I think my favorite parts (sorry SPOILERS for everyone who might not have read it yet) were, first of all, how Aura tapped into her mean and mischievous streak, as she just shamelessly goes on the offense. Horny-mean, which is such a potent mix. Funny and hot. (Also mirrored by Grant's different kind of sadism.)

Second was all the ways Grant contrasted the events with his "hardass" character. I especially enjoyed the lines about it not being a "date" and "As you were". Perfect comedic timing, and complementing the erotic tension. But I generally feel humor, fear (or conflict) and sex mix very well, as it's all a matter of building and releasing tension.

Strangely wholesome outcome, too - they all learned something about one another, even if they're not exactly friends.

Other notes:

I still tend to agree with how you treat Adrien - he is a nice boy, dependable, and he's got the stuff to deliver. In part 2 we have him as a staunch ally of Aura, rather than a "Prince Charming" type. He isn't terribly fleshed out but that's a good thing in my book because he isn't stealing her thunder. Or rather, he seems to have some self-awareness of his supporting role, and he plays it well, and with conviction. We learn from his character than he is not just a charming, but a helpful and, in his own way, humble man. So maybe I'm not sure I would say he has no depth - I think we DO learn who he is, and in a subtle way that serves the story well. I also like that cute moment where it is clear that he is more lost in the situation than Aura is, stammering a bit as opposed to her getting into fighting position, and then flawlessly following her lead. They make a good team, is what I'm saying, and it serves the story well that he's the sexy sidekick.

The only headscratcher to me is the "mundane" parts, once again. In the action part, so many interesting things happen all at once! The story of course needs more calm, normal parts, put personally I'm not sure how much of it is needed here or not. For instance, mentioning the fact that Aura meditates seems a bit superfluous if it doesn't add much to the story or her character? Maybe that's the sort of thing you could either leave out or tie into something. At the top of my head, you could mention as a sidenote that it helps with her anxiety. Something like that. Same with all that refers to her routine - you might for instance thrown in an observation how she hopes a daily routine will help keep her grounded, with all those conflicting pulls of her desires and worries.

Either way, Part 2 was even better than Part 1. You delivered what you set out to do, and more.

 

[Liunae]

So I have now read part 2, and it did NOT disappoint

I think my favorite parts (sorry SPOILERS for everyone who might not have read it yet) were, first of all, how Aura tapped into her mean and mischievous streak, as she just shamelessly goes on the offense. Horny-mean, which is such a potent mix. Funny and hot. (Also mirrored by Grant's different kind of sadism.)

Second was all the ways Grant contrasted the events with his "hardass" character. I especially enjoyed the lines about it not being a "date" and "As you were". Perfect comedic timing, and complementing the erotic tension. But I generally feel humor, fear (or conflict) and sex mix very well, as it's all a matter of building and releasing tension.

Strangely wholesome outcome, too - they all learned something about one another, even if they're not exactly friends.

Other notes:

I still tend to agree with how you treat Adrien - he is a nice boy, dependable, and he's got the stuff to deliver. In part 2 we have him as a staunch ally of Aura, rather than a "Prince Charming" type. He isn't terribly fleshed out but that's a good thing in my book because he isn't stealing her thunder. Or rather, he seems to have some self-awareness of his supporting role, and he plays it well, and with conviction. We learn from his character than he is not just a charming, but a helpful and, in his own way, humble man. So maybe I'm not sure I would say he has no depth - I think we DO learn who he is, and in a subtle way that serves the story well. I also like that cute moment where it is clear that he is more lost in the situation than Aura is, stammering a bit as opposed to her getting into fighting position, and then flawlessly following her lead. They make a good team, is what I'm saying, and it serves the story well that he's the sexy sidekick.

The only headscratcher to me is the "mundane" parts, once again. In the action part, so many interesting things happen all at once! The story of course needs more calm, normal parts, put personally I'm not sure how much of it is needed here or not. For instance, mentioning the fact that Aura meditates seems a bit superfluous if it doesn't add much to the story or her character? Maybe that's the sort of thing you could either leave out or tie into something. At the top of my head, you could mention as a sidenote that it helps with her anxiety. Something like that. Same with all that refers to her routine - you might for instance thrown in an observation how she hopes a daily routine will help keep her grounded, with all those conflicting pulls of her desires and worries.

Either way, Part 2 was even better than Part 1. You delivered what you set out to do, and more.

Wow, thank you so much for this! This was really nice to read. Part 2 is my favourite, and I'm happy to hear it resonated. I like that Aura's horny-mean side comes out, too, and I like the way you categorized the Aura-Adrien relationship.

When it comes to the mundane parts, I think those are my attempt at world-building / character-building - I'm still finding my footing in terms of how much of that is helpful in this kind of writing! Definitely something to play with, and I appreciate your input on it, especially the bits about how those moments could be tied into her characterization more.

Thanks again for reading and for the feedback!!

 

[darwin1859]

@Liunae, not sure if I'm too late, but I've read part 1 and I thought it was extremely strong. You write well, add the right details to make a believable and likeable protagonist. I thought the build up was realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed your story.

If I had to reach for constructive critiques (and things I'd recommend continuing): I, personally, prefer more whitespace. I'd separate dialog and narration into their own paragraphs, even if that makes a lot of short paragraphs. I'd also look for ways to split your longer paragraphs.

I enjoyed the exhibitionism (or potential exhibitionism) and liked that she got completely naked, but I didn't see where she removed her shoes. I also loved the BDSM and sapiosexual touches. I thought using a shared book to bring them closer and a poem to "light the fire" was brilliant and hot.

About ratings, I think if you are enjoying the story, and you don't have any contrary feedback, I'd stay the course. But (not even sure this applies) make sure you post in the correct category. Some authors resist switching categories when they introduce a new kink, but I've seen a lot of this and I think the correct category matters a lot.

 

[Liunae]

@Liunae, not sure if I'm too late, but I've read part 1 and I thought it was extremely strong. You write well, add the right details to make a believable and likeable protagonist. I thought the build up was realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed your story.

If I had to reach for constructive critiques (and things I'd recommend continuing): I, personally, prefer more whitespace. I'd separate dialog and narration into their own paragraphs, even if that makes a lot of short paragraphs. I'd also look for ways to split your longer paragraphs.

I enjoyed the exhibitionism (or potential exhibitionism) and liked that she got completely naked, but I didn't see where she removed her shoes. I also loved the BDSM and sapiosexual touches. I thought using a shared book to bring them closer and a poem to "light the fire" was brilliant and hot.

About ratings, I think if you are enjoying the story, and you don't have any contrary feedback, I'd stay the course. But (not even sure this applies) make sure you post in the correct category. Some authors resist switching categories when they introduce a new kink, but I've seen a lot of this and I think the correct category matters a lot.

Thank you so much for this feedback! I really appreciate it. That is good to know about your whitespace preference! It's tough, I saw another review of someone else's work where they mentioned not liking that most paragraphs were no longer than two sentences, so I think I tried to make my paragraphs on the longer side lol. But, separating narration and dialogue into separate paragraphs as you suggest makes a lot of sense.

Really appreciate your take on the category thing, too! I do think as this series continues it's starting to verge more into BDSM territory, so maybe a category switch would be appropriate... anyway, thanks again for reading and commenting

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Thank you so much for this feedback! I really appreciate it. That is good to know about your whitespace preference! It's tough, I saw another review of someone else's work where they mentioned not liking that most paragraphs were no longer than two sentences, so I think I tried to make my paragraphs on the longer side lol. But, separating narration and dialogue into separate paragraphs as you suggest makes a lot of sense.

I have seen mixed takes on that as well. I wanna agree with @darwin1859 here, in case of doubt I prefer more paragraphs. I guess it's one of those "middle ground" things. What helps your reader make sense of your text, without taking them out of it. As a reader, I want at minimum be able to see at a glance what I might expect from a paragraph. Is it gonna be a description, is it characters talking, is it gonna be a sex scene? Personally I like to be able to say, okay I am not in mood for a lengthy description right now, I am gonna jump to the next cut and see if there is something for me in there. That in turn informs how I write...

Really appreciate your take on the category thing, too! I do think as this series continues it's starting to verge more into BDSM territory, so maybe a category switch would be appropriate...

Not to be too dramatic, but who am I kidding: ALERT, ALERT, ALERT:
BDSM is one of those categories that are VERY strict, at least in my experience. I started on Lit wanted to post almost exclusively on BDSM but was scared off real quick when those got the worst rating of all my stories.
Of course your experience could be very different. I speculate my problem was that I thought BDSM as a relatively open category for stories centered around power dynamics, like one character aggressively "taking charge" etc. BIG mistake on my part. My impression is that it's one of those crowds that have very specific expectations and scripts, up to an including "they MUST wear leather/latex", "someone HAS to kneel at some point", "they MUST use the right lingo of Doms and Subs and negotiated consent", etc. I might be exaggerating a little, but still.

If you DO switch to BDSM, would be nice if you keep us updated with your experience.

 

[darwin1859]

Thank you so much for this feedback! I really appreciate it. That is good to know about your whitespace preference! It's tough, I saw another review of someone else's work where they mentioned not liking that most paragraphs were no longer than two sentences, so I think I tried to make my paragraphs on the longer side lol. But, separating narration and dialogue into separate paragraphs as you suggest makes a lot of sense.

I'm sure preference for whitespace varies. There was a recent discussion about editing and whitespace was the first topic and that poster gives some rationales.

To be clear (and I repeat myself), you are hardly a "wall-of-text" writer. But your story (the first part) relies on a lot of narration (for back story, explaining the MC's thought, and then the sex). I think my preference for whitespace would be largely satisfied if you never intermixed dialog and narration (always have dialog start a new paragraph, only include narration after the dialog if it's very brief) and by finding ways to break up long paragraphs. I'd like to repeat that I think your writing is very good and you're not doing anything wrong with whitespace. If you decide that you like your whitespace just as it is, your writing is still strong.

Really appreciate your take on the category thing, too! I do think as this series continues it's starting to verge more into BDSM territory, so maybe a category switch would be appropriate... anyway, thanks again for reading and commenting

I am continually amazed that so many people are willing to spend so much time writing and sharing. I think everyone who contributes to making this community is a hero. Thanks for joining the justice league

That said, opinions can be sharp, and not everyone is here to help. And people's kinks vary so dramatically that it's always a good idea to try to get your story/part in front of an audience who is looking for the kink you're going to write about. I've seen many, many stories that are posted to category X and then a next part is in Y, etc. I think that's probably a good idea.

But I agree with @WeShallUnclench that knowing your audience is important (knowing exactly what kinds of stories are well-received in a category). My perception is that a hint of incest or queerness requires that you classify the story into a compatible category (but other people think that's ridiculous and unfair). But I think power dynamics are not like that (there are power dynamics stories in many categories). And stories in BDSM and Reluctant tend towards a more extreme take.

I've also seen author's notes at the top discussing the categorization briefly; something like: "The previous chapter was posted in exhibitionism, but the power dynamics of this part were stronger and more central, so I'm posting it here in BDSM. Let me know what you think." Sometimes Laurel adds a note, especially about incest. I think a note at the top probably helps if your story/part is hard to classify.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thank you so much for this feedback! I really appreciate it. That is good to know about your whitespace preference! It's tough, I saw another review of someone else's work where they mentioned not liking that most paragraphs were no longer than two sentences, so I think I tried to make my paragraphs on the longer side lol. But, separating narration and dialogue into separate paragraphs as you suggest makes a lot of sense.

My suggestion would be to cut your paragraph lengths roughly in half, to give readers on small devices more white space. Dialogue breaks, that kind of thing - it really does make reading easier. With your style, which has a lovely, if somewhat formal, flow, that would be icing on the cake.

That's what I loved about the first two chapters (will read chapter three later) - the mannered, slightly formal narrative sets up a perfect counterpoint to the hot sexy Aura. It makes total sense, she's bookish, she's a writer, she's on a retreat, but she's also goddamn sexy. The details of the sexy little bralette, then the switch to the black lingerie, all of those details were spot on.

Lots of folk say, leave that kind of detail up to the readers' imagination, but the thing I often find is that many readers don't have much imagination and are content with not much detail. I'm a very visual person, and one thing readers like about my content is exactly the kind of detail you're offering. So don't give that up, whatever you do. It's clearly a part of your style, and it's a winner. Your descriptions of Aura's clothes... I wanted to undress her myself!

Really appreciate your take on the category thing, too! I do think as this series continues it's starting to verge more into BDSM territory, so maybe a category switch would be appropriate... anyway, thanks again for reading and commenting

Since you're just starting out with erotica on Lit (you've clearly written before, if not erotica), my only other suggestion would be to resist turning this into a long smorgasbord series, where Aura has adventures in multiple categories. It's better, I think, to write separate stories in different categories, zoom in on the separate kinks, make each story nicely self-contained. Give yourself a wider range of characters too, or at least different foils for Aura.

Over time, you can extend your world wider, have side characters with stories of their own, and as the writer you'll know how it all joins up, but individual category readers, you'll find, can be very tribal. Don't limit yourself with their preconceptions. You're a good enough writer, you can go wherever you want.