I have to stick it in somewhere

[davidwatts]

A question.

I have a story that I was going to put in Loving Wives just for the hell of it and because they are a fun group to write for. The story concerns a guy who gets lured over to a co-workers house on the pretense of watching a race and when he gets there it turns out the guy wants him to hump his wife, which he doesn't do. One page with some sex observed on film.

One of the few writing strengths I may have is injecting humor into a story. I lack the confidence to post anything under humor/satire because that seems like a lot more pressure. I'd rather have somebody laugh when they weren't necessarily expecting to rather than have people reading something that they expect to be funny. This story doesn't seem to fit any category. I don't think it's funny enough to claim that it is, but it's not really loving wives either (although I know that a lot of readers there will enjoy it).

So the question is... I would like to know author's experiences in writing in the humor/satire category and the expectations of the readers that go there.

Thanks.

 

[gauchecritic]

If you take a look at the humour category you will find ever so many of them depend on one joke or the punchline at the very end and in that way I don't find them funny at all. If you want to be disillusioned about how funny something ought to be read anything in that category by Subjoe.

What I'd say is, if you read it and it's funny to you (not because of some in-joke that you and two other people know about) then put it there.

Alternatively send it to me and I'll tell you if I think it's funny. However, if you do that you would only have my opinion.

Tell you what. Read one of my humorous stories and then decide if you want to send me yours. If I laugh I'll tell you it's funny. If I smile, I'll tell you it's humorous. If I am left with a sense of pleasant afterglow I'll tell you it was amusing.

You will find all those types in the humour category.

 

[davidwatts]

Thanks for your help

If you take a look at the humour category you will find ever so many of them depend on one joke or the punchline at the very end and in that way I don't find them funny at all. If you want to be disillusioned about how funny something ought to be read anything in that category by Subjoe.

What I'd say is, if you read it and it's funny to you (not because of some in-joke that you and two other people know about) then put it there.

Alternatively send it to me and I'll tell you if I think it's funny. However, if you do that you would only have my opinion.

Tell you what. Read one of my humorous stories and then decide if you want to send me yours. If I laugh I'll tell you it's funny. If I smile, I'll tell you it's humorous. If I am left with a sense of pleasant afterglow I'll tell you it was amusing.

You will find all those types in the humour category.

I will follow your suggestion. Much obliged.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I wrote a detective parody that was pretty funny, or intended to be, and I posted it in BDSM, because it also had bondage sex in it. It was supposed to be a hot story in a humorous setting, and because it was intended to make people hot first and amused second, I didn't post it as humor.

I have one piece in humor, and, as Gauche said, it's a little throw-away one-trick pony, based on the conceit that science has discovered the one true human aphrodisiac: cash. There was nothing sexy about it, so I posted it to humor, where it got about the rating it deserved.

My point is, if it's a sex story with humorous elements, keep it with the sex stories. If its primary purpose is to make people laugh, go ahead and try humor. But things are pretty dismal over there.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I've got to agree with Doc and Gauche. Humor is incredibly subjective and personal. That makes writing a short story that's supposed to be funny a bitch. Anyone who manages to write a humorous novel that enjoys some success should automatically qualify for a special Pulitzer.

The good ones are few and far between (No Time for Sargeants, anything by P.G. Wodehouse) and, in many cases, satires or black humor (Catch-22, Candy)

Rumple Foreskin

 

[davidwatts]

Thanks Dr. and Rumple and Gauche

Appreciate the input. Humor/Satire does seem to be a pretty much ignored area around here, and I guess I can understand why.

This story really doesn't fit well anywhere. I think it's an semi- amusing look at the bizarre cuckold lifestyle from the viewpoint of an innocent bystander, but then again I love Green Acres. Rightfully it probably should go to Humor but it just doesn't seem like things get read over there.

Better read than dead say I, so I think I'll pitch it into Loving Wives and dig a trench for myself. The anti-cuckold faction will cheer and the rest will send me some witty feedback reminding me how much I suck.

Thanks to all.

 

[thebullet]

The problem with humor is: everyone looks at it differently. What one person finds humorous, another finds appalling.

Sarahh posted a story called My Loving Husband the other day. The mix of public responses is quite amusing. Half the respondees consider the story to be a disgusting cockold/wimp story that makes them sick to the very core and proves that Sarahh should be drawn and quartered. The other half of the respondees see the story as an 'over-the-top' lampoon of cuckold/wimp stories. (I personally am in group 2.)

I have never posted a story under the 'Humor/Satire' section because of this very reason. One person's humor is another person's vitriol.

I will, however, give myself a bit of a plug along those lines. One of my stories (Death by Fucking) won the 2004 Golden Clitorides Award for Humor story of the year. The story is posted under Romance on Literotica.

Go figure.

 

[Guest]

 

[thebullet]

lilredjammies buries himself/herself in the cultural morass of humor/satire while David is willing to place himself in the crosshairs of Loving Wives. It all depends on what you are going for: score or views.

When I began posting on Literotica a couple of years ago I didn't take the time to analyze the various categories based upon readership and level of controversy. That's my fault, since I'm a systems analyst and should have known better.

Looking back on my various postings (I have 35 so far), my best work has the least amount of readership. Stuff I threw together and put out there has the most readership.

My non-consent rape fantasy has over 140,000 views. My erotic couplings stroke story has almost 75,000 views. Two of my Loving Wives stories garnered about 40,000 views apiece.

But my good stuff, award-winning stuff, barely warrants a glance (it's in the Romance category). 23 chapters of one story: the chapter with the max views is about 27,000; many of the chapters with under 10,000 views (after 2 years!).

And I didn't have to put it in Romance. I coulda put it a bunch of places. Maybe I'll resubmit it under Loving Wives: get lower scores but at least people will read it.

 

[Guest]

 

[davidwatts]

lilredjammies buries himself/herself in the cultural morass of humor/satire while David is willing to place himself in the crosshairs of Loving Wives. It all depends on what you are going for: score or views.

When I began posting on Literotica a couple of years ago I didn't take the time to analyze the various categories based upon readership and level of controversy. That's my fault, since I'm a systems analyst and should have known better.

Looking back on my various postings (I have 35 so far), my best work has the least amount of readership. Stuff I threw together and put out there has the most readership.

My non-consent rape fantasy has over 140,000 views. My erotic couplings stroke story has almost 75,000 views. Two of my Loving Wives stories garnered about 40,000 views apiece.

But my good stuff, award-winning stuff, barely warrants a glance (it's in the Romance category). 23 chapters of one story: the chapter with the max views is about 27,000; many of the chapters with under 10,000 views (after 2 years!).

And I didn't have to put it in Romance. I coulda put it a bunch of places. Maybe I'll resubmit it under Loving Wives: get lower scores but at least people will read it.

I won't pretend that the score doesn't matter at all to me, but there's nothing worse than putting your heart and soul into something and have it sit there unread. Loving Wives gets read, and there's a price you have to pay for that, but it's kinda fun to get people agitated too.

The only other story I ever put in Loving Wives (Yesterday's Gone) was something I pounded out in two hours, and it created an incredible furor and got 50,000 views and 40 comments really quickly and remains a marginal H in voting. They're cruel but fair, if that makes any sense. Romance readers are very kind in voting, I've found, but are fewer in number. My "Remembering Becky" nine part Romance scored fantastically, but probably can't match the other's views and votes with all of them combined, and writing that tore me apart emotionally.

That's the choice we have to make. In my story in question, I added a note to it that told Lit to feel free and put it in Humor if they thought it more appropriate. That way, if it ends up there, I'll know that at least one person found it amusing.

 

[thebullet]

David W. said:
Romance readers are very kind in voting,

You said it. Back in 2004, before these Divas of Romance started writing, my stories comprised like 25% of the top 100 Romance stories. No joke.

All you have to do with a Romance series is hook a group of people once. Your scores will increase with every episode or chapter you post, since after the first one or two chapters, only the true believers will read it. They are predisposed to give you a '5'.

If you check the toplists Romance section, you will note that only 4 of the top 20 stories are singletons. All of the rest are chapters later than #1 of a series.

Interestingly, Romance has far and away the most # of scores of 4.9 and higher. The top 57 Romance stories are 4.9 or higher. The Novels and Novellas section has like 37 scores of 4.9 or higher, and this confirms my analysis, because these are all upper chapters of series.

But Loving Wives' highest score is 4.81. Most categories have at most 3 or 4 stories at 4.9 or higher, and many categories have no stories scored that high.

On the other hand, if you want readers, post to Incest or Loving Wives. The top 12 most read stories on Lit are incest stories.

That leaves me out. I don't do incest.

 

[davidwatts]

On the other hand, if you want readers, post to Incest or Loving Wives. The top 12 most read stories on Lit are incest stories.

That leaves me out. I don't do incest.

I did it once (writing about it) and that will likely be the last time too. It made me feel very uncomfortable writing about it even in a fictional way.

 

[thebullet]

davidwatts said:
I did it once (writing about it)

Thanks for clarifying that for us, David.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I've got to agree with Doc and Gauche. Humor is incredibly subjective and personal. That makes writing a short story that's supposed to be funny a bitch. Anyone who manages to write a humorous novel that enjoys some success should automatically qualify for a special Pulitzer.

The good ones are few and far between (No Time for Sargeants, anything by P.G. Wodehouse) and, in many cases, satires or black humor (Catch-22, Candy)

Rumple Foreskin

Agree with your selections, but would want to add:

Tom Sharpe - white Soth African who wrote wicked satires of SA police and then moved to UK - try Wilt or Porterhouse Blue.

Oscar Wilde - the deconstruction of formal society is to die for.

Noel Coward - even funnier than Carson S.

Comedy is one of the greatest talents.