Storyline vs Sex: The Right Balance?

[MelissaBaby]

Yeah, this. It's impossible to please everybody, and the sooner we make peace with that the happier we'll be. But in my experience, author enthusiasm goes a long way.

There are authors here who write high-sex stories and are immensely successful. I suspect that's because these authors really love writing those sex scenes and that enthusiasm is infectious.

If I tried to copy that "formula" by adding filler sex to my stories to meet some ratio of sex to plot... I'd expect to fall flat. If it doesn't excite me, if I'm just phoning it in to meet my performance targets, why would I expect readers to enjoy it? Even if they did, how much would that mean to me, getting 5* votes on something that I only wrote out of obligation.

When I started here, I was worried that my stories might not have enough sex in them for the Literotica crowd. But overwhelmingly, I heard from people who appreciated what I was trying to do with them. I know I'm not the only author here who writes relatively low-sex stories and still gets positive feedback for them.

All of this.

 

[PaxNurgle]

wow...okay, so anyway; thanks for the advice guys (and my next story won't have any mathematical theories in it, but it will have gambling. No other spoilers beyond that though!)

I think saying, "You should want your characters to have sex..." is really helpful. Again, thank you guys.

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

Those nutty ensigns in the transporter room...

Many high-rated LIT stories don't follow that ratio whilst many low-rated tales do. Sigh.

That's fine. Exciting, even. And probably a challenge to pull off. All one stretched orgasm, or a flurry of cums, spread over time and space? Try near-infinite regression: MC is cumming and recalling previous cums where they recalled prior cums going back to the beginning. Or a Groundhog Day scenario where they compare the current orgasm with groaners from the endless past. Or maybe a time warp.

Or trekkie fan fiction based on Episode 4 Season 6 of Next Gen, where LeVar Burton notices that the transporters of a wrecked starship are linked together in a perpetual feedback loop preserving their pattern allowing James Doohan to guest on Patrick Stuart's show.

Stardate 2525.5 (and we're still alive)...

Those nutty ensigns having sex in the transporter room. Timing it so they come together. At that point their compadre pushes the lever forward and voila, perpetual orgasm...

To boldly go where no man and woman has gone before...

Love and Kisses

Lisa Ann

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

...Does an act of copulation told from a sperm or ova's POV violate the 18 rule?

Sperm can "live" 60 hours, so I imagine an 18 hour old sperm is an adult. Eggs only 'live' 12 or so so they should certainly be 'adults' at 3 hours or so.

But the question becomes complex after that...

If it's a 3 hour old egg and a 50 hour old sperm is it a MATURE May-December story?

There are 40,000 sperm and one egg GROUP.

39,999 are not going to make it: Sci Fi and FANTASY.

And did the egg get to choose? Or was it just the fastest? Maybe it's NON-CON.

Love and Kisses

Lisa Ann

 

[SyleusSnow]

If your goal is true "erotica", whatever it takes to build the tension.

Sure, many Lit readers just want quick porn, but in my limited experience many more enjoy stories with some character development, plot and, most of all, build up before the inevitable sex scenes. Open with a titillating hook and establish characters and complications early on, especially if the story is long or overly literary.

 

[PaxNurgle]

Well, I posed the question because one of my stories published last fall, didn't do as well as I expected. One of the comments read simply "Dissapointing- enough said" (but they didn't say specifically what was disappointing about it!) and the other said, basically, too much story, too much description, not enough fucking. So I started wondering, what was I doing wrong?

I posted the story under "Group Sex" because it focused on, well, a woman cheating on her husband at a sex club where she discovers the joy of having multiple partners at once. And I wanted it to be a story, with a plot, suspense build up, real characters, and so on- the brief synopsis being that her husband (who I created as a not very sympathetic, heartless cutthroat real-estate tycoon) gradually discovers her affair and storms into the sex club to stop it.

So maybe, it is possible that it was simply a matter of the category it was posted under. People might have expected a "Group sex" story to focus more on, well, "Group Sex." I suppose, I could have posted that story under "Loving Wives" instead, but I'm not sure it would have done any better there as readers of that category are pretty strict about what they expect in a story.

Like many of you said, I like having stories that are interesting and engaging beyond just stimulating tales of gratuitous sex- if the sex belongs in the story I include it of course, but I like having more than just that.

 

[KeithD]

It's a crap shoot on what readers/voters/commenters you get for any specific story. It can settle down when/if you establish a fan base of readers who keep coming back, but even then any random mix of thousands of readers could (or could not) read your specific story. The comparable patterns writers would like to think will be there aren't reliably there.

 

[Hypoxia]

Well, I posed the question because one of my stories published last fall, didn't do as well as I expected.

Has this never occurred before?

Sometimes my pandering just fails. In Incest I throw in a hot motherfucking, and blah. In Group I have a believable high-school harem, and blah. In SciFi, not even a Yeti by a time machine can save me. Damn those inconstant readers! Where's my fan club (both of them) when needed?

I wonder why I suddenly have a headache.

Lay off the sangria.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Well, I posed the question because one of my stories published last fall, didn't do as well as I expected. One of the comments read simply "Dissapointing- enough said" (but they didn't say specifically what was disappointing about it!) and the other said, basically, too much story, too much description, not enough fucking. So I started wondering, what was I doing wrong?

Doing wrong? Nothing, I'd say; except possibly doubting yourself based on what two knuckle-heads might say. Perhaps your story really was about characterisation more than straight fucking, and they didn't get that.

My last story cycle was posted to Group, and effectively tanked. I won't go there again in a hurry. Those category readers don't vote, don't comment, don't react much at all.

 

[KeithD]

Lay off the sangria.

Naw. Skipping over the silliness worked.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Why is that?

Most of the readership comes to this site specifically for sex stories, so sex should be the biggest part of your story.

If you want to write and post on this site, a western, sci-fi or other genre story with minimal or no sex, you're free to do so, but I just think those efforts would be more appreciated on a non-erotic story site.

 

[NotWise]

Perhaps you get more readers when writing in Incest and Taboo, but that doesn't mean there is no interest in other stories.

Even in I/T you can get quite a few happy readers for good stories that are a little light on sex.

Readers come to Lit to entertain themselves, and a story with a big load of explicit sex isn't the only content they might find entertaining. That said, there are readers who skim a story to find the juicy bits. They may ignore anything but sex, and if the sex is too hard to find, then some will down-vote the story.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Most of the readership comes to this site specifically for sex stories, so sex should be the biggest part of your story.

If you want to write and post on this site, a western, sci-fi or other genre story with minimal or no sex, you're free to do so, but I just think those efforts would be more appreciated on a non-erotic story site.

Even if that is true, who died and put you in charge of what defines a "sex story"?

There's a lot more to sex than just the old in-out.

It seems like as long as I've been here, somebody or other has been telling me that my stories don't belong. My readers don't seem to agree.

 

[Javahead]

If your goal is true "erotica", whatever it takes to build the tension.

Sure, many Lit readers just want quick porn, but in my limited experience many more enjoy stories with some character development, plot and, most of all, build up before the inevitable sex scenes. Open with a titillating hook and establish characters and complications early on, especially if the story is long or overly literary.

I would agree. But then, I like the build up, and the characters, and seldom read or write stories without both.

And it needs to be balanced, or it can lead you astray. Two cases in point:

I had several stories que’d for submission that were both plot-heavy.

This morning, one of them - “Confronting Lies”, https://www.literotica.com/s/confronting-lies, posted, but it had the lowest out-the-gate score of anything I’ve posted so far (currently 3/5). No written feedback yet, but I suspect that even though it was posted in “non-erotic”, it still didn’t have enough sex for the critics.

The other was rejected - and, probably, rightfully so, when I review the guidelines. “Party Girl” was intended to be an unsettling psychological horror piece, and it crossed over the line by having the female lead drunk and nearly unconscious. By current standards of consent, unequivocally rape (as Bill Cosby found out). I can see how to rework the storyline to achieve what I was shooting for within the guidelines, but I wouldn’t need to if I hadn’t followed the original path of character development so uncritically.

 

[SimonDoom]

Most of the readership comes to this site specifically for sex stories, so sex should be the biggest part of your story.

If you want to write and post on this site, a western, sci-fi or other genre story with minimal or no sex, you're free to do so, but I just think those efforts would be more appreciated on a non-erotic story site.

Even if this is true, and I don't think it is, there is no reason whatsoever to write for "most of the readership." The readership of this site is so big that one can target the minority and still have a substantial number of readers.

There's no need to get into a pointless debate about numbers and proportions, but it's beyond dispute to anyone who reads stories here that many readers like long stories with lengthy buildup and a focus on character and plot beyond sex. Those stories often get many readers and high scores. If that's what you want to write, by all means go for it.

 

[Javahead]

I can assure you that Non-Erotic stories without any sex at all can be very well received. However, Non-Erotic is a slow category; not too many readers, but views/votes and views/comments wise, I have the best response coming from Non-Erotic stories.

We’ll see. It really does seem to be the slowest category - so far, it’s accumulated only a small fraction of the views my other stories did in the same time frame. And, honestly, if I were writing it today I think I could do a better job. Even so, I’m not too displeased with it, and think it deserves a better reception.

 

[NotWise]

We’ll see. It really does seem to be the slowest category - so far, it’s accumulated only a small fraction of the views my other stories did in the same time frame. And, honestly, if I were writing it today I think I could do a better job. Even so, I’m not too displeased with it, and think it deserves a better reception.

If it has only five votes then don't worry about it. That isn't enough to give a representative reaction. Other stories nearby in the Nonerotic hub have more votes, so yours will probably catch up.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Even if that is true, who died and put you in charge of what defines a "sex story"?

There's a lot more to sex than just the old in-out.

Highlighting this. A story which focuses on desire can be erotic without a single graphic scene.

 

[yukonnights]

Most of the readership comes to this site specifically for sex stories, so sex should be the biggest part of your story.

If you want to write and post on this site, a western, sci-fi or other genre story with minimal or no sex, you're free to do so, but I just think those efforts would be more appreciated on a non-erotic story site.

I don't want to appear to be pilling on Chuck. I'll just add my voice to whats already been said; My most successful stories are also my longest...and most of that length increase is void of explicit sex.

I think there are two "main camps" in both actual sex and erotic reading. On the one hand are those who actually want a purely physical no-strings-attached bang. One the other extreme are those who absolutely must have an emotional connection before sex is of any interest at all. This is obviously overly simplistic as there is a spectrum that connects the two polarities. That same spectrum holds for erotic readers.

To use KeithD's phrase; The universal reader does not exist.

 

[ChuckWolf]

There are many different readers on this website, there's even a non-erotic category which is, I can assure you, well visited, so I think your assumptions are wrong.

Perhaps, but most of the people coming to this site are looking for erotic stories because it is a website for erotic stories.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Even if that is true, who died and put you in charge of what defines a "sex story"?

Just voicing my opinion related to the OP's original question.

It seems like as long as I've been here, somebody or other has been telling me that my stories don't belong. My readers don't seem to agree.

Good for you.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Perhaps, but most of the people coming to this site are looking for erotic stories because it is a website for erotic stories.

Probably so. But that particular group is already well served. There is a glut of high-sex stroke stories on this site. Unless you have some very specific tastes, you can find a lifetime's worth of material in what's already been written here. As a writer, you're adding hay to a haystack that already has tonnes of it.

Readers who are looking for slower-moving stories... they may be a minority, but they're still a pretty large group, in my experience, and there aren't so many stories which cater to their tastes. Which means more demand for the authors who are writing that kind of material.

There might not be as many puffins as penguins out there, but the puffins really value the stuff that's written for them.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There might not be as many puffins as penguins out there, but the puffins really value the stuff that's written for them.

Don't forget the shag on a rock .

 

[AlinaX]

It always irritates me when people make a distinction between erotica and porn, because where is line drawn, and why should it be drawn at all?

If two friends are bored and decide to fuck to kill time, is that porn? If two strangers fuck in a nightclub cubicle, is that porn?

Or is porn nothing to do with who does what, and is simply about how it is written? In which case, is labelling something as porn simply a criticism of the author for not dreaming up a more sensual encounter?

Which comes back to the first point again.

It's awfully like saying that whole chapters detailing sex between main characters in romance novels is somehow acceptable, i.e., erotica rather than porn - because, you know, romance, foreplay, true love, etc.

Or is it that porn is about fucking, and erotica is about making love?

Ultimately it's only about whether the characters and story are believable, and whether the sex is explicit.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Don't forget the shag on a rock .

The barnacles get uncomfortable.