why does incest do so well?

[gotwood49]

Just wondering why my first-ever Incest story took off like a rocket, and my (also first-ever) BDSM story, which I considered much hotter, died on the vine...
Maybe I don't really know what's hot. I don't write for the raves, but it's interesting that some of my Erotic Couplings stories have done well, and some not. Everyone kind of knows that Romance is a death sentence, Anal always gets lots of reads...but Incest really seems to be popular.
Please read my BDSM story (http://english.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=203522, and let me know what you think. I, like all authors, need some incentive once in awhile.
Thanks..... Woody

 

[Bacteriophage68]

Re:

I can tell you're a good writer!
(highlight)

 

[gotwood49]

I can tell you're a good writer!
(highlight)

I appreciate the complement, but I guess I want to try to zero in on what people really like...
Of course, then, I'll just go ahead and write what I like anyway...

 

[Bacteriophage68]

Re:

Yeah, just write what you like! It's no fun writing for someone else, right?

 

[gotwood49]

Yeah, just write what you like! It's no fun writing for someone else, right?

ABSOLUTELY!! I've written a lot of stories that I didn't like that much after they were down in print, and rather than try to fix them........

*DELETE*

Hey, there's plenty more where they came from (maybe too much more!)

 

[Bacteriophage68]

Re:

Yep! I've never really written any stories, myself...but if I did want to write one it would have to be about something I enjoy.
I've drawn pictures for other people, though...since I love drawing...and sometimes it was fun...but it depends if the character is interesting and stuff...otherwise it's boring. One picture I had the most fun drawing was a raptor who had a skeleton bonded to her body.

 

[Goldeniangel]

I"ve just started writing for myself lately because I dont understand at all the way the reviews work. some stories that i've really been proud of never get that cute littel "H" and others that i was kinda "eh" about got nominated for the monthly stuff! i dont understand at all, it really just depends on WHO ends up reading it i think. I have noticed that incest def gets a lot of reads though; that non-consent and Loving Wives always seem to get the most reads. Oh, and mature. I was really surprised to see the diff between how many people read my stories in those categories and how many people read them in the erotic couplings category! my e.c. stories NEVER get as many reads.

people are interesting =D
*hugs*
angel

 

[gotwood49]

I"ve just started writing for myself lately because I dont understand at all the way the reviews work. some stories that i've really been proud of never get that cute littel "H" and others that i was kinda "eh" about got nominated for the monthly stuff! i dont understand at all, it really just depends on WHO ends up reading it i think. I have noticed that incest def gets a lot of reads though; that non-consent and Loving Wives always seem to get the most reads. Oh, and mature. I was really surprised to see the diff between how many people read my stories in those categories and how many people read them in the erotic couplings category! my e.c. stories NEVER get as many reads.

people are interesting =D
*hugs*
angel

Interesting. So Mature gets a lot of reads? Go figure...

Since I'm 'mature' I guess I hadn't thought about that one too much!

I'm thinking of writing a story with about 7 different categories in it...can I then submit it under each? That would be fun to watch...

 

[JamesSD]

Oooh

Might I direct you to This thread ? I took a look at "Hot percentages" of the different categories over a couple of weeks and made comparisons.
I'm not sure what you mean about Romance being a "death sentence". Generally speaking romance stories do well as long as the grammar is decent.

Taken as a whole, Lit readers love their incest. I have a story with 3 chapters where only the third is listed as incest, and it has far more reads than the two previous chapter, which is pretty unusual.
Loving Wives is a mine field. A lot of strongly opinioned readers who aren't afraid to 1 bomb.
Vote wise Erotic Couplings is tough because the readership is so broad, and it's harder to be formulaic. That's a category where the higher the "kink" factor, the greater the reads.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I was just asking the same question a couple of days ago...

I submitted my first story to the Incest/Taboo category (Montana Summer) late last week. In 3 days it has over 40,000 hits, and over 400 votes, and that's more votes than the rest of my stories combined. I was absolutely astounded at its success.

I disagree with the Romance Category being the kiss of death, my only submission there (Notes of the Heart) has done well, and I usually receive one or two emails a week about it. It has over 10,000 hits now, and over 100 votes, so I would have to categorize that as being a successful story, and it came in 3rd in the March contest.

I no longer try to write to please others, I write what I like, and what I hope a few friends will like. If other people like it, then that's just a bonus.

 

[windstormy]

For myself, I never delete anything, no matter how bad I hate it. I keep a scrapbook file. And I have been known to go back and cut and paste exerpts of it into other chapters I'm working on. It just depends on what I'm writing at the moment. And there is some of it that I haven't even touched since I put it in that file. I may not use it at all. But I know it's there if I think I can use it somewhere else. I guess I'm just paranoid about that. lol

 

[wishfulthinking]

I want to try to zero in on what people really like

When you find out, please share!

I have to disagree with romance being the deathnell - if I wanted to win the monthly prize, I'd write romance story after romance story! I think a lot more females read that cat, and vote higher and PM and feedback more than other category, even if it doesn't get as many reads or votes.

 

[Lustin Kink]

I also wondered why incest does so well on this site. I never had a flair for that so I can plan on not garnering any accolades for an incest/taboo piece.

Now the mature catagory, I am a huge fan of. In my younger years I was always drawn to women who were 10-15 years my senior. Why? Because older women, in general, know exactly what they want and aren't afraid to tell you or to do it. Also, I've found that older women are more willing to try new experiences. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in this. You'll see most of my stories fall into that catagory. There's just so much more flexibility in what an older woman will do vs. what a younger woman would do. Don't get me wrong. I know there are exceptions to that rule and if you are the exception, a thousand pardons.

In the end, write what you like and what you know. Screw the ratings but be proud of your work. I don't think any one catagory is the kiss of death. I believe if your story lacks realism and quality then that's when a whistling 1 bomb could head your way.

~Lustin Kink

 

[DJHyrrikhayne]

I think that, at least for people like me, the allure of Incest is the forbidden aspect of it. It's something that most people (myself included) would never indulge in in real life, so erotica is kind of like an outlet for their fantasies. I have an incest story posted that did fairly well the first few days it was up, then cooled off as all my work seems to do. But, I don't write for the benefit of people on here, although I do aprreciate constructive feedback whenever I can find it.

 

[gotwood49]

When you find out, please share!

wishfulthinking, it looks like YOU are the one to ask, after seeing and reading your list of stories...with that many "H"s, I believe you've either figured it out, or are just one excellent writer!

(Gonna go with the latter, after reading quite a few of them...you're truly good!)

 

[Sabledrake]

I agree, the incest category just traditionally does well. Perhaps because it's so taboo. The sort of thing that seems just even dirtier to read/write about.

-- Sabledrake

 

[Munachi]

It is interesting indeed... Personally I don't really find incest in itself all that interesting, but a lot of people here seem to be into it... What I also find interesting though is that for example voting-vice (and not the votes with the comments) a story that I have both in the English and the German section of Lit is doing quite differently... Maybe the tastes are different in different countries?

 

[Private_Label]

I think that, at least for people like me, the allure of Incest is the forbidden aspect of it. It's something that most people (myself included) would never indulge in in real life, so erotica is kind of like an outlet for their fantasies.

I guess I read it partly for the taboo nature of it, but I also found myself reading it because the relationships between the characters are more loving/playful than the other genres. I started reading incest stories because I got tired of seeing every consentual non-reletive story turing into orgies by the end of them (not here at Lit, but in on usenet). I was looking for something where the relationships weren't just descriptions of the physical encounters with no descriptions of the emotional state of the characters. The incest stories usually were better written than the others as well. SO I guess I like them for a number of reasons.


But I like just about any well written story that doesn't involve a lot of pain and suffering.

 

[gotwood49]

thanks!

Thank you, one and all: Bacteriophage68, Goldeniangel, drksideofthemoon, windstormy, wishfulthinking, Lustin Kink, DJHyrrikhayne, Sabledrake, Munachi, Private_Label, and especially JamesSD, for his link to his own 'semi-scientific' study concerning ratings and categories.

This won't affect the way I write, the topics I write about, or, I'm sure, the ratings I get, but it was fun, and interesting, to get other's veiwpoints. One of my goals is still to write at least one story that I consider 'decently good' in each category, excluding a few that don't appeal to me anyway.

Once this is achieved, who knows? Maybe I'll just fade away.....

Woody

 

[Escalante]

Why does incest do so well? Because, my friend, even to this day, it's the only type of sexual relationship among humans that continues to carry a stigma and is rarely reported to the authorities. For people like myself who grew up in a traditional household with two loving parents, incest conjures up mystery, intrigue and shrouded emotions. I never even knew what it meant until my early 20s and then never gave it much thought until I was introduced to Literotica.com last year. I've heard that father-daughter situations are much more common (and usually abusive in nature) than mother-son or sister-brother incest. For reasons I really don't understand, I was immediately drawn to the father-daughter stories, but only those where the relationship was consensual, extremely loving, with a bit of whimsy and humor. Just to rattle off a few of my favorites: A Daughter's Love, by Unholy1; Cady, by skyewriter; Sex & Candy, by velvetpie; The Dance, by Moondrift; My Past in Colorado by JTMalone; and Sandi's Birthday Trip, by Libertine9452. In all these stories, the father and daughter were totally devoted to each other. There was no forced sex, degradation, or "sharing" of the daughter. You might say these were simply old-fashioned romances with a twist. So I suppose I'm just an old-fashioned gal.

 

[elsol]

What people like

a) A story
b) A FUCK of a lot of sex
c) A sense of the illicit


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[DavePA]

An excellent father-daughter romance story

One of the very best I've ever read is "Sarah", by extar@hotmail.com. It's an extremely well-written love story about a widower and his only child, his daughter. The author is a very talented writer. The story, a pretty long one-almost a novelette, has very well-developed characters and plot. I found it one of those hard-to-put-down reads. Two thumbs up!

It's available at the alt.sex.stories.moderated archive site. Their search page is at http://assm.asstr.org/search.html.

 

[gotwood49]

One of the very best I've ever read is "Sarah", by extar@hotmail.com. It's an extremely well-written love story about a widower and his only child, his daughter. The author is a very talented writer. The story, a pretty long one-almost a novelette, has very well-developed characters and plot. I found it one of those hard-to-put-down reads. Two thumbs up!

It's available at the alt.sex.stories.moderated archive site. Their search page is at http://assm.asstr.org/search.html.

Great! Thanks for the link, Dave. They've got some cool stuff...



Woody

 

[geronimo_appleby]

I think it's the taboo, unspoken element of the category. My best score to date (but who bothers about votes? , well... maybe a little) is an incest story. People just seem to love 'em.
Loving Wives? Well, now ther's a different kettle of fish entirely - but I won't flog that horse to death again, it's a sore point for me.
I just enjoy the improvement I hope I'm making. Some of my stuff makes me cringe, well most of it in fact, but I'm slowly creeping forward, plus it's fun and I suppose it's harmless too.
Enjoy the ride.

 

[susurrus]

I also think the reason incest seems so popular is because of the taboo part of it. Who out there, at some time in their lives, hasn't really been attracted to a cousin, their mom, their brother, etc? It's a perfectly natural thing to have deeper feelings for someone you're so much closer to and *already* have feelings of some type for. It's just that, for the greatest majority of people out in the world, most never act on it. The taboo, I think, stems from the fact that nature prefers genes that are more diverse coming together than immediate family. The more "same" the genes are, the more likelihood that there will be problems with offspring. Therefore, nature itself seems to frown on incest, from the standpoint that it tends not to produce strong progeny.

I've written a couple incest stories, and I originally got into at least one of them because I'd been reading a lot of stories - in various categories - and finding myself often going, "I can do better than this." I found that, at the time, the shakiest stories I was reading were in the incest and BDSM categories. So I set out to write one that used both those elements. Thus, my "Stephanie" stories were born. In it, I decided to pack as much kink in it as possible, and cross as many categories as I possibly could. I put it in "incest" because that's the cat that I figured the most people would take exception to, if I failed to mention it. I posted that one around four years ago, and I still get the occasional feedback on it.

As far as categories that are virtual land mines... Loving Wives tends to be a catch-all. There is the odd story that happens to actually be a "loving wife" story, but for the most part, a lot of the LW stuff is actually "Cheating Wife" stories. It's a limitation of the category header that it tends to be vague.