Naming sequels

[MayorReynolds]

Forgive me if this has been answered. I couldn't find it in the FAQ.

My muse has really taken off when it comes to Literotica, and I have a plump .txt file of planned titles and queued up ideas. Among these are follow-up installments to the two stories I currently have approved. I originally intended for "Summer's Warmth: A Winter Encounter" and "I'll Be Home for Spring Break" to be stand-alone stories, but now I'm seeing potential for expanding them and giving them new (or better) endings.

Thing is, I was originally going to call these sequels "Summer's Heat: A Winter Reunion," "A Midquel Encounter," "I'll Be Home for Summer Vacation," and "I'll Be Home for Thanksgiving" respectively, putting a disclaimer at the top of each saying they were followup installments. But when browsing author profiles, I've noticed they have all their series neatly organized by using 'Ch #' in their titles.

How does Lit determine when to group stuff on the author page? Should I change these upcoming sequel titles, just using the same names and calling them chapters?

 

[oggbashan]

You could have them as chapters with the identical first part of the title then numbered Chapter 01, 02 etc, or

You could name them as a Series: Mayor Tales: Beginning; Mayor Tales: Continued: Mayor Tales: Development...

But for them to appear in order the sub-titles would have to be alphabetical as I have suggested B, C, D...

It is easier to use numbers of Chapters, Parts, Tales but number from 01, not 1 because if you use 1,2,3 etc they might show like this:

1
11
12
2
3
4...

 

[lovecraft68]

Yes use chapters.

There are two benefits to this

One LIt will put the stories in order on your page (and it will also show up in the "series" section of lit)

Two, you want the readers to recognize it is a sequel to a story they have already read which will gain the stories a steady following as well as not leave someone who did not read the first one in the dark.

 

[MayorReynolds]

Yes use chapters.

There are two benefits to this

One LIt will put the stories in order on your page (and it will also show up in the "series" section of lit)

Two, you want the readers to recognize it is a sequel to a story they have already read which will gain the stories a steady following as well as not leave someone who did not read the first one in the dark.

I'll do that, thanks. Some of these stories will have to be placed in different categories, so yeah, giving them chapter numbers will avoid confusion since they'll be scattered all over the place otherwise.

 

[Darkniciad]

It sounds as if you might be planning a single follow-up for each story. If that's the case, and you have a good title thought up for it, you might consider going the route of the disclaimer at the top of the story. It's a pity to waste a good title just because Lit hasn't given us author-directed series grouping yet.

One story that points back to part 1 isn't a big deal. It's when a series of three or four stories require reading previous installments to have any idea what's going on that readers balk at bouncing around in your list.

You have to consider that once you put a Ch. # on something, readers here tend to infer that it's going to keep going for a while. An encore isn't really what they're expecting.

Adding that Ch. # will also hurt your readership - at least a little. It will probably improve the score of the second part ( because people who didn't like part 1 will never read part 2 ) but you'll likely lose a good chunk of eyes who might have otherwise checked out the follow-up.

Also, is it actually going to be necessary to read the first part to understand the second part? If you had a conclusion in part 1, and part 2 is going to deal with an entirely different set of conflicts, it may be entirely possible that part 2 can stand on its own two feet and simply be enhanced by reading the earlier story.

So, you want to think about whether this is just an encore, or whether it's the launch point for an ongoing series.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I agree with Darkniciad. If you are just planning to do a single follow up story and not a second part of an incomplete story, then put them out there as separate stories. You can put a note at the front referencing the predecessor, and a comment at the end referencing the sequel.

Ideally you would give them names that placed them sequentially in your author listing. This will also tip off readers that the pieces belong together and one is the sequel to the other.

E.g.,

Jack Bangs Jill

Jeff Bangs Jill's Mom

Here you have related stories, in order, that are not misleadingly presented as chapters to the same story.

Of course, if you already have the titles selected and they aren't sequential, then all you have to rely on is a note and a comment.

One more thing: If you list the titles as a phrase ending in a colon and then followed by a unique phrase (e.g Desperate Measures: The Fluffer, Desperate Measures: The Baller), the site will consider them parts of the same story and group them together. Learned that lesson the hard way.

 

[MayorReynolds]

I agree with Darkniciad. If you are just planning to do a single follow up story and not a second part of an incomplete story, then put them out there as separate stories. You can put a note at the front referencing the predecessor, and a comment at the end referencing the sequel.

Ideally you would give them names that placed them sequentially in your author listing. This will also tip off readers that the pieces belong together and one is the sequel to the other.

E.g.,

Jack Bangs Jill

Jeff Bangs Jill's Mom

Here you have related stories, in order, that are not misleadingly presented as chapters to the same story.

Of course, if you already have the titles selected and they aren't sequential, then all you have to rely on is a note and a comment.

One more thing: If you list the titles as a phrase ending in a colon and then followed by a unique phrase (e.g Desperate Measures: The Fluffer, Desperate Measures: The Baller), the site will consider them parts of the same story and group them together. Learned that lesson the hard way.

For "Summer's Warmth" I have two sequels planned. The first brings the story to an end. The second bridges the gap between 1 & 2.

For "I'll Be Home," also two. Installment # 3 concludes the story in this case.

So I'm thinking:

"Summer's Warmth: A Winter Encounter"
"Summer's Warmth: A Winter Reunion"
"Summer's Warmth: A Midquel Encounter"

"I'll Be Home For Spring Break"
"I'll Be Home Once More"
"I'll Be Home Soon" (or something like that, haven't quite thought that far ahead).

When I submitted "Summer's Warmth" last December it already had the colon in front of it (I had no idea grouping worked like that then) so I guess it still works out if Lit collects installments together like you said.

It makes sense that readers would be put off by chapters, since chapters would imply that there's more coming. I was also a bit concerned because "Summer's Warmth" would be spread across three different categories (# 1 "First Time," # 2 "NonHuman," and # 3 "Erotic Couplings"). "I'll Be Home" is all Incest/Taboo.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

For "Summer's Warmth" I have two sequels planned. The first brings the story to an end. The second bridges the gap between 1 & 2.

For "I'll Be Home," also two. Installment # 3 concludes the story in this case.

So I'm thinking:

"Summer's Warmth: A Winter Encounter"
"Summer's Warmth: A Winter Reunion"
"Summer's Warmth: A Midquel Encounter"

"I'll Be Home For Spring Break"
"I'll Be Home Once More"
"I'll Be Home Soon" (or something like that, haven't quite thought that far ahead).

When I submitted "Summer's Warmth" last December it already had the colon in front of it (I had no idea grouping worked like that then) so I guess it still works out if Lit collects installments together like you said.

It makes sense that readers would be put off by chapters, since chapters would imply that there's more coming. I was also a bit concerned because "Summer's Warmth" would be spread across three different categories (# 1 "First Time," # 2 "NonHuman," and # 3 "Erotic Couplings"). "I'll Be Home" is all Incest/Taboo.

Keep in mind, the stories will still list alphabetically, even when grouped. "A midquel encounter" will list first in this example.

 

[RejectReality]

You could get past that by putting a number after "Summer's Warmth"

Summer's Warmth 02: Subtitle Here

Just having the number without the "ch." seems to influence how people view it - especially when it's mid-title like that, but it serves the purpose of keeping the series listed in the proper order on your submissions page.

You do have to special request it in the "notes" section of the submission, though. If you don't, Laurel defaults to adding "ch." to any such number you add to a title.

 

[mikoli5763]

Use Chapters and sub-titles

I have written numerous multi-chaptered stories and like that they stay grouped when I do that. One of my stories had its own separate title and is not included in the grouping of stories it went with. It was when I'd first begun writing and getting approved and didn't know what I was doing (as if I know now). You can always include the original title you came up with as a sub-title.

 

[RejectReality]

The problem there is the title length restriction. Laurel will also fiddle with your description line sometimes when you have a long title in order to keep the combination of them to a manageable length.

 

[sr71plt]

Laurel will also fiddle with your description line sometimes when you have a long title in order to keep the combination of them to a manageable length.

That's weird. I never had that happen before and they are in different fields.

 

[RejectReality]

That's weird. I never had that happen before and they are in different fields.

It doesn't happen very often, and come to think of it, it's been years since she shortened one of my description lines. Of course, I try to keep either the title or the description short in deference to that.

They're displayed together on the new story page, and it stretches it out longer when the combination spreads out into that third line. Can't remember whether it was the FAQ, one of her posts, or just another poster who said that was the reason. It's been a long damn time.

 

[damppanties]

The problem there is the title length restriction. Laurel will also fiddle with your description line sometimes when you have a long title in order to keep the combination of them to a manageable length.

That's weird. I never had that happen before and they are in different fields.

It doesn't happen very often, and come to think of it, it's been years since she shortened one of my description lines. Of course, I try to keep either the title or the description short in deference to that.

They're displayed together on the new story page, and it stretches it out longer when the combination spreads out into that third line. Can't remember whether it was the FAQ, one of her posts, or just another poster who said that was the reason. It's been a long damn time.

Happened to me too... too many years ago for me to remember which story now. But yes, keeping that in mind, I also try to keep one or the other short-ish.