What does it take...? Genres

[LargoKitt]

Looking over some of my stories that don't get high votes I realize they probably don't tick all the boxes of the genre. Perhaps this thread has been spun before, but who wants to tick off all the 'must have' elements for each Lit genre? And what one or two features makes that story a 'Yeah, that really gets it" tale. One could post prime examples of the genre if one wanted. This is a good topic for a How to.

 

[NotWise]

This has been posted over and over. Tx_Tall_Tales' Lover Your Readers: Categories is the go-to guide.

I wouldn't use this document as a guide to the Romance category, but aside from that I think it's good.

 

[CalBishForNow]

@NotWise beat me to posting the Love Your Readers link. It's not exactly what you're asking for, a direct category-by-category summary popular tropes and links, but it's pretty close and has other valuable stuff too. How to Break the Literotica Toplist is even more like what you're asking for, with the problem that it's even older.

The problem with posting prime examples of the genre, besides the fact that we talk about high ratings enough around here, is that almost all of them are dominated by Chapter 23 of 30 or something like that of some series no one outside the category has ever read. Anyone could post their own favorites list, but it wouldn't be very meaningful to most people.

 

[SimonDoom]

From my experience, Love Your Readers is a pretty solid overview of the categories and what readers expect.

Lovecraft's How To Write Incest Like A Motherfucker is a good guide for incest stories.

Of course, there's no one-size-fits-all formula for any category, but there are general principles that are helpful.

Almost half my stories have been incest. Some principles that I think hold in that category:

1. It's surprisingly romantic. Many readers like to see the romantic angle of the incestuous relationship played up.
2. Emphasize the taboo aspect of the relationship. It increases dramatic and erotic tension, which makes the consummation of the relationship that much more satisfying.
3. Try to make it at least a little bit plausible.
4. Take time with the buildup.
5. Many incest readers don't like to mix incest with elements of other categories. I've had readers who were hunky-dory with mom and son getting it on but god forbid mom should touch her anus while playing with herself. "No self respecting mother would do that." Seriously.
6. Many incest readers want the incestuous relationship to be exclusive. This ties in with the romantic preference I mentioned above.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The problem with posting prime examples of the genre, besides the fact that we talk about high ratings enough around here, is that almost all of them are dominated by Chapter 23 of 30 or something like that of some series no one outside the category has ever read. Anyone could post their own favorites list, but it wouldn't be very meaningful to most people.

I've been very tempted to post "Death of the Author 9 of 10: Redeemed".

If anyone asks where parts 1-8 are, I explain that I'm not writing them in order, and Part 6 is next.

It would be an interesting challenge for me.

 

[THBGato]

We did have a thread about this a while back, but more the reverse - I think EmilyM put up one about the hand-grenades of certain categories.

Anyway, I could probably do this for Lesbian Sex. Basically, if you can write:

1. a slow-burn that is
2. one of the women's first time with an other woman and they are
3. friends or colleagues to lovers, plus you include
4. some cute coming out moments and with
5. sex that is focused on the emotions more so than the physical actions, and you offer the hope of
6. a happily ever after (doesn't need to be concrete, just a likely outcome)

You will do well. For bonus points:
- make one/both of the women very lonely/shy/overcoming a bereavement
- have sweetly supportive friends/colleagues/family members
- introduce a 'rescue' element and/or
- an emotional reunion.

That accounts for all nine of my stories that have had a spell at number 1 of the LS top-list plus many others I could think of.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

We did have a thread about this a while back, but more the reverse - I think EmilyM put up one about the hand-grenades of certain categories.

Anyway, I could probably do this for Lesbian Sex. Basically, if you can write:

1. a slow-burn that is
2. one of the women's first time with an other woman and they are
3. friends or colleagues to lovers, plus you include
4. some cute coming out moments and with
5. sex that is focused on the emotions more so than the physical actions, and you offer the hope of
6. a happily ever after (doesn't need to be concrete, just a likely outcome)

You will do well. For bonus points:
- make one/both of the women very lonely/shy/overcoming a bereavement
- have sweetly supportive friends/colleagues/family members
- introduce a 'rescue' element and/or
- an emotional reunion.

That accounts for all nine of my stories that have had a spell at number 1 of the LS top-list plus many others I could think of.

So, "Rocco of the Writing Group" has a 1/3 or so complete story about a woman who is desperately attracted to a beautiful older customer of the store she works at. Neither has any f/f experience. Both are pretty lonely, the store clerk isolated from her family and friend group by distance, the love object by a husband who works a lot while she's home with their kid. The heroine is also shy, partly because of being on the spectrum. Supportive friends are a huge element. (She makes the friends during the story, she's pretty isolated a week before it starts.)

So this story apparently hits the key points, without any intention. The story was originally much less sweet, but it came of the keyboard this way.

 

[THBGato]

Yeah sounds like that would be popular, especially if the husband is a real jerk (and, preferably leaves her before anything happens between the two women). I can only think of one story that has hit the top list involving cheating on the husband, but he was a real jerk so none of the readers cared.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Yeah sounds like that would be popular, especially if the husband is a real jerk (and, preferably leaves her before anything happens between the two women). I can only think of one story that has hit the top list involving cheating on the husband, but he was a real jerk so none of the readers cared.

The husband is so distant he hasn't even appeared in the story yet, so I dunno.

 

[FrancesScott]

That accounts for all nine of my stories that have had a spell at number 1 of the LS top-list plus many others I could think of.

This seems strangely familar.

 

[NoTalentHack]

*laughs in Loving Wives*

 

[LargoKitt]

Thanks. Useful responses. Maybe a couple of ‘must have’ points for a genre. For instance, I wrote my “Santa Comes…” story about a ‘size queen’ who gives herself a size vacation. One commenter was looking for the Loving Wives payoff of humiliation of the wife. Others might want to see the husband see the wife cheat. Not my story. But the reader felt cheated.

 

[RetroFan]

You'll never keep everyone in every category happy 100 percent of the time, so long as you get close enough that's all you could do.

For example if you post a story about cheating in-laws who like to keep things in the family so to speak in Incest-Taboo, there will be screams from fans there that it is not proper IT as they are not blood relatives. Post it in Loving Wives the readers there will scream that it belongs in Incest-Taboo.

I've posted stories in the IT category about kissing cousins (well they do much more than kiss) and had readers go to the trouble of looking up the laws in this area about first cousin marriage and then post reminding me of this and how my story is therefore not IT. In Loving Wives I copped furious backlash for a story where the husband and wife are already separated, and another reader told me in flat terms that historical fiction does not belong in LW. They tend to be more polite in Romance, but you can ruffle some feathers if readers feel a story doesn't fit the parameters of the category. One example with me was one where a character was revealed to be dead all along, and I got one response telling me that supernatural and ghost stories are not welcome in Romance. However it is ambiguous as to whether the character is really a ghost or if she just exists in the subconscious of the male main character like an imaginary friend, so it didn't move the story into the supernatural depending on which way you view it.