More side story or not?

[MiddleAgedMan]

I've gotten a few stories under my belt now, and I feel I have found my writing style, such as it is. I wonder, however, if my language comes across as a bit archaic. I'm not a native English-speaker, so I often feel that I over-complicate my language. At the same time, my stories have gotten very good feedback so far. I'm not too concerned about the language itself. But, and here's the main question: Should I add more to the stories? It feels a little like I'm jumping from one sex scene to the next, but I still use 20-25.000 words to tell the tale. Do my stories benefit from even more non-sexual padding?

I'm writing the next chapter in my series now, about Barcelona. I've been there a few times and know parts of the city well. Should I add to the story by describing more about the city to build the scene(s), or would it be better to bake it into the individual (sexual) encounters around the city?

The reason I ask is simple; one of the best stories I've read on this site, and highest scoring as well, Tristan's Tale, has very little sex and lots and lots of character and plot-building. Would my series benefit long-term by toning the sex down, relatively speaking, and spend more time building the story?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm writing the next chapter in my series now, about Barcelona. I've been there a few times and know parts of the city well. Should I add to the story by describing more about the city to build the scene(s), or would it be better to bake it into the individual (sexual) encounters around the city?

The reason I ask is simple; one of the best stories I've read on this site, and highest scoring as well, Tristan's Tale, has very little sex and lots and lots of character and plot-building. Would my series benefit long-term by toning the sex down, relatively speaking, and spend more time building the story?

There are readers for both high-sex and low-sex stories. You're not going to please everybody because tastes vary too greatly, but if you write the story that you'd like to read, chances are you'll find other readers who like that too.

Don't add side material just for the sake of padding it out, but don't be afraid to include non-sexual content that makes for an interesting story. I put a chicken soup recipe in one of mine

 

[NotWise]

I've gotten a few stories under my belt now, and I feel I have found my writing style, such as it is.

If you think you have your writing style down, then you probably shouldn't change it by adding things that are foreign to your style. That may be especially true if you view those added details as being "side stories" rather than an integral part of your story.