Story Categories

[Haroldx]

Hi All,

I'm new here, so maybe this has been addressed in another thread, but I didn't see it.

I'm curious about story categories. I put my first story on this site under BDSM, although it would have fit just as well in the exhibitionism/voyeurism category and might have fit under incest on a technicality. I chose BDSM because it seemed to have slightly more traffic than Exhibitionism judging from the number of stories posted.

It seems to me that most stories could probably fit in more than one category and I was wondering how everyone else went about making that decision and what your experiences have been.

I was also wondering if it's possible to move a story from one category to another. If that could be done after it's been up for a month or so, a story might find a whole new audience. The problem with the category I chose is that there are a large number of people who will never read it because of its category. On the other hand, had I posted it to exhibitionism, the bondage fans would never have read it.

Is it possible to post a link to a story in more than one category?

One other issue: The next two stories I posted were satires of John Norman's Gor novels and I categorized them as Humor/Satire, but when they were posted I was somewhat dismayed to find them in Celebrities. Although I was satirizing existing works, there were no celebrities involved--not even fictional ones. I created all my own characters.

Anyone else had this experience?

Harold

 

[KillerMuffin]

Actually, you wrote a derivative work when you penned a story using Norman's world. That is not satire, but might be considered parody. They put anything that's remotely derivative in the celebrities category because of the automatic disclaimer on each page. It's actually illegal to publish derivate works.

You can only post in one category. Generally, choose what fits your story the best, or the one where the "offensive" factor is greatest. Most people find incest offensive, so put it all incestuous sex into incest, even if it fits better in BDSM or non-consent. That sort of thing.

 

[flawed_ethics]

If people could check off those little boxes for multiple categories, it would be nice. But there will always be those who try to milk a system for everything it's worth, and I can imagine many a writer listing their story as a work involving all sorts of categories just to lure the most readers to them. Regardless of content. Keeping it at one category does give the reader the writer's insight as to which category they feel it best reflects. At least when you concede that the Erotic Couplings category is the overstuffed ubercategory it has become, and hence why many a story is shoo-ed away from it.

 

[Haroldx]

Thanks for the clarification, Killermuffin. You're correct. The Gor stories are parody rather than satire.

It would not have occurred to me to classify a story by its most objectionable qualities, i.e. those qualities most likely to offend. It's also interesting that incest, a category likely to be offensive to some, is also the most popular. If I could have honestly classified one of my stories as incest, I would certainly have done so.

One other question. I notice that the story submission form asks for keywords, but don't see any keyword search function on the site. Maybe I just don't know where it is. The form allows the entry of any word, rather than using a checklist. One could enter anything as a keyword, which doesn't strike me as particularly useful and could cause confusion due to variation in spelling and punctuation.

The keyword function would be an alternate means of entering a story in multiple categories.

To flawed_ethics, I agree that the use of multiple categories could be abused. However, the intent of my question was not so much to fool readers as to make more than one group of readers aware that a story contains elements that they might enjoy. Nevertheless, I see your point. If everyone entered their stories in every category, it might make it difficult for readers to pick and choose.

 

[flawed_ethics]

If I'm not mistaken, the Search Stories on the Stories Index page has the option to search by keywords. Not necessarily an end to a means, as authors who don't utilize it (properly) limit those who'd otherwise search for their stories. Interestingly, authors are limited to how many words (via characters) they're allowed to type in the keyword parameter.

I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[oggbashan]

If I'm not mistaken, the Search Stories on the Stories Index page has the option to search by keywords. Not necessarily an end to a means, as authors who don't utilize it (properly) limit those who'd otherwise search for their stories. Interestingly, authors are limited to how many words (via characters) they're allowed to type in the keyword parameter.

I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

You can search for keywords. I think that the search picks up words in the title and description as well as the keyword fields. So a very long title and description stuffed with loaded words should do well on the search. But how many people use the search facility?

I think the advice given in Author's Resources is probably more useful for getting stories read.

I have the same trouble with categories. Some of my stories are a series about the same group of characters but I've put them in "fetish", "novels and novellas" and the last one I've submitted which is not yet approved I have suggested should go in "Romance" but I'm happy with the Management's decision wherever they end up.

 

[Un-registered]

... Keeping it at one category does give the reader the writer's insight as to which category they feel it best reflects ...

*If* the management leave it in the requested category. There are enough complaints about changed categories to invalidate this insight.

 

[Haroldx]

Yes, the search function does search by keywords. I tried it. I apparently missed it in the fine print the first time I looked.

 

[Pookie]

You can search for keywords. I think that the search picks up words in the title and description as well as the keyword fields. So a very long title and description stuffed with loaded words should do well on the search. But how many people use the search facility?

When I just read stories here, I can't recall ever using the search feature. It's not very prominantly displayed where readers are likely to see it either.

Also, I don't think it searches on anything except the keywords. This is a same too, since you have only a small amount of space to put in keywords, not nearly the space needed for many stories.

I don't know if Laurel has looked into this, but I know many website can utilize google to seach their site. ASSTR does it. I know other sites like CNN do as well. I don't know if it would work here at Lit though. I think it would depend on how the stories are archieved.


Pookie

 

[KillerMuffin]

I'd like to see the keyword search tied into the story codes that various other archival sites use. Even though I find them frequently mistaken. Mf and Mf are two different things depending on who is submissive and who is a pedophile.

However, the database is like 15,000 stories huge. Coding these keywords is just absolutely daunting. The problem is that it grows by 20 to 100 stories a night, so putting it off is even worse.

Yuck.

 

[flawed_ethics]

*If* the management leave it in the requested category. There are enough complaints about changed categories to invalidate this insight.

True. But if you read my first post, I made note that many a story is moved from the Erotic Couplings category, because it's the 'doesn't really fit anywhere else' category. Granted, not the case 100% of the time, but probably for a signifcant amount.

That happened to my first story. It involves blindfolds, bondage and candlewax, but I really didn't (and in some way still don't) look at it as BDSM. So I filed it under EC. I was a dismayed to find it under BDSM when it was posted, but it was for the best.

They vote generously there.