Writer's guide to SciFi & Fantasy

[NotWise]

I have a sci/fi fantasy story that I want to write and it seemed like SciFi & Fantasy is the obvious category to post in.

Stories by MSTarot and sheablue were my main exposure to the category but that left me with some questions about the category standards, so I went to see (among other things) how much sex was the norm for the category. Looking at what's there now left me disenchanted, so I have some questions.

How many views can I expect a story to get there? I'm starting to suspect that the traffic in the category might be pretty low.

Almost everything up right now is a chapter story. Is that normal?

My earlier reading and a quick skim of the current stories suggested that the category doesn't require lots of humping. Is that true?

What is the standard for "good" in that category? I was struck dumb by what I read.

If I have a tragic love story based in another time or place, is there someplace else to put it?

 

[LadyVer]

I have a sci/fi fantasy story that I want to write and it seemed like SciFi & Fantasy is the obvious category to post in.

Stories by MSTarot and sheablue were my main exposure to the category but that left me with some questions about the category standards, so I went to see (among other things) how much sex was the norm for the category. Looking at what's there now left me disenchanted, so I have some questions.

How many views can I expect a story to get there? I'm starting to suspect that the traffic in the category might be pretty low.

Almost everything up right now is a chapter story. Is that normal?

My earlier reading and a quick skim of the current stories suggested that the category doesn't require lots of humping. Is that true?

What is the standard for "good" in that category? I was struck dumb by what I read.

If I have a tragic love story based in another time or place, is there someplace else to put it?

Surprised you haven't had an answers to your questions yet, but it's the weekend.

Here's my take, keeping in mind I'm not a writer, but a VE who is interested in the category.

Chapters are common to SF/Fantasy on Lit.

SF/Fantasy readers are primarily interested in the story. It's story over everything else. Good writers can incorporate good sex scenes, but that is usually Fantasy over SF.

SF/Fantasy has a lot of different sub themes, just like any other genre. The thing is, on an erotica site, there are a lot of new writers who are learning.

Tragic love story: In another time or place, you're talking time travel/fantasy and or romance, which can work out really well if the writer understands the fantasy and romance genres and has read them both.

 

[Nezhul]

Almost everything up right now is a chapter story. Is that normal?

That's 'coz for sci-fi establishing the setting and plot is important. Or else it doesn't really differ at all from non-sci-fi. That's why the stories tend to be longer and span over several chapters for easier readability.

How many views can I expect a story to get there? I'm starting to suspect that the traffic in the category might be pretty low.

In my experience it's not. How many views? Well, that depends on how good your story actually IS. If it's good and gets a high ratings - many views and many fans.

My earlier reading and a quick skim of the current stories suggested that the category doesn't require lots of humping. Is that true?

No rules about that. You do as many sex scenes as you feel like doing.
I generally try to include 1 erotic scene per chapter, 3-5k words per chapter.

What is the standard for "good" in that category? I was struck dumb by what I read.

The same as with everything else. If you can't stop reading it - it's good. If you feel like it's stupid and want to go something else - it's bad.

If there was a formula for writing a good book every time, I'd be a bestselling author by now.

If I have a tragic love story based in another time or place, is there someplace else to put it?

If it's in the past, it may work in romance or any other category.

If it's in the future - then sci-fi is your best shot.

But in the end you should look at your story and think. What is the defining quality of your story? If the future setting is essential to the plot (for example some device or technology plays a huge part in the lives of the characters) - then it's sci-fi.
If it's all about romance and such stuff, and future is just a setting, if your story would play out just the same in our time - then you may have a choice between romance, drama and sci-fi.

Sometimes the story is very dark, with torture and despair all around. Saw-type of story. Regardless if it's about elves or robots or 1945 mafia wars - it will be erotic horror.

The genre is not something you can define with one category. Most stories fit several categories, what you need to decide is which one is the defining point of yours..

 

[Darkniciad]

I have a sci/fi fantasy story that I want to write and it seemed like SciFi & Fantasy is the obvious category to post in.

Stories by MSTarot and sheablue were my main exposure to the category but that left me with some questions about the category standards, so I went to see (among other things) how much sex was the norm for the category. Looking at what's there now left me disenchanted, so I have some questions.

How many views can I expect a story to get there? I'm starting to suspect that the traffic in the category might be pretty low.

It depends upon what your standard of "low" traffic is. I haven't done a track in a while, but here's the most recent one. Posting dates will give you an idea of how long it takes to accumulate that number of views.

http://darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_08_16.htm

You can also go backwards in time if you wish and see the quarterly changes via the links back to the main tracking page.

Almost everything up right now is a chapter story. Is that normal?

Almost everything in every category is a chapter story

The readership trends toward preferring long stories, but a good one shot will satisfy them as well. I've even had some reasonable success with short, nearly pure stroke pieces, which is far outside the boundaries of the readership's preference ( Sylph Esteem as Les, for example )

My earlier reading and a quick skim of the current stories suggested that the category doesn't require lots of humping. Is that true?

So long as your story is good, you can get away with zero sex. Comments from readers who skim the sex to get back to the story are extremely common. It's a very sex-lite friendly category.

 

[Darkniciad]

One thing I should definitely add is that the readership is highly engaged. The vote to view ratio is typically quite high. I've received more detailed feedback in emails from the category than any other.

 

[NotWise]

It depends upon what your standard of "low" traffic is. I haven't done a track in a while, but here's the most recent one. Posting dates will give you an idea of how long it takes to accumulate that number of views.

http://darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_08_16.htm

Wow. That took a lot of sustained effort. It's a little hard to interpret since few of your SciFi&Fantasy stories are recent. Otherwise the views looks close to what I might expect in EC.

Based on the input here I guess I'll just keep on keeping on. I don't think the story can really go to romance. The setting is unusual and while the story is romantic the ending is not HEA. I doubt I'll ever post anything to EH again -- it turned out to be something of a wasteland -- and the story isn't dark enough.

FWIW, the story was inspired by an American Indian folktale that explains the origin of the moon. I've placed the story in the future, in an agricultural community on a distant planet isolated by the collapse and decay of their once-advanced civilization.

 

[Darkniciad]

Yep, if you look at my EC stories, the results are reasonably comparable.

My most recent one ( which isn't on there ) is at 4.76 | 76 | 3985 Which is a vote for every 52 views or around 2%. The average percentage is probably around 0.50 to 0.75 across the site, so that's more than double.

It's another short, stroke-heavy one shot, which isn't exactly the readership's main cup-o-tea.

You can dig back a little to when things came out to see a better picture of what they looked like shortly after posting.

Lowborn, shortly after the series concluded

Lowborn Ch. 01 4.72 241 7915 3.04
Lowborn Ch. 02 4.69 239 4638 5.15
Lowborn Ch. 03 4.69 217 4243 5.11
Lowborn Ch. 04 4.70 173 4943 3.50
Lowborn Ch. 05 4.70 175 4671 3.75
Lowborn Ch. 06 4.76 173 3179 5.44
Lowborn Ch. 07 4.74 199 3463 5.75
Lowborn Ch. 08 4.75 150 2752 5.45
Lowborn Ch. 09 4.81 176 2525 6.97
Lowborn Ch. 10 4.81 191 2512 7.60

Vs. the most recent track

Lowborn Ch. 01 4.73 353 23004 1.53
Lowborn Ch. 02 4.71 347 13244 2.62
Lowborn Ch. 03 4.71 324 11785 2.75
Lowborn Ch. 04 4.72 273 13487 2.02
Lowborn Ch. 05 4.76 256 14958 1.71
Lowborn Ch. 06 4.75 264 9834 2.68
Lowborn Ch. 07 4.76 287 10335 2.78
Lowborn Ch. 08 4.75 241 8871 2.72
Lowborn Ch. 09 4.82 269 8712 3.09
Lowborn Ch. 10 4.84 344 9882 3.48

Even three years later, it hasn't dropped below 1.5% vote per view, and hit over 7.5%. That's the kind of engagement you can get in the category. I also hadn't posted anything in that pen name between the time it finished and the most recent track, so that's another sign of engagement. Close to half-again as many votes added without my name being "out there".

So far as raw numbers go, you're not likely to hit anything big unless it's a longer epic story. ( Which can be in a single submission, not necessarily chapters )

No happy ending will hurt the numbers, as it will in any category. Not as much as it would in romance, certainly.

The setting you describe is perfectly suited to the category. Really, it's about the only category it is suited to. When you start including elements such as that outside the fantasy categories ( including Non-Human, Horror, and to some extent, Mind Control ) it's always going to take a hit in readership.

Be careful not to accidentally channel "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" which also has a version of the Native American origin of the moon. You're going to get cross-over in the readership with those who have a bad taste in their mouth from that movie, so avoiding any flavor of that would be wise

Just go into it expecting that it isn't going to be a blockbuster, write it the way you want to, and it will find an audience there.

 

[NotWise]

Thanks for the detail. It looks like maybe initial views are fairly low, but there can be sustained interest.

Be careful not to accidentally channel "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" which also has a version of the Native American origin of the moon. You're going to get cross-over in the readership with those who have a bad taste in their mouth from that movie, so avoiding any flavor of that would be wise

Just go into it expecting that it isn't going to be a blockbuster, write it the way you want to, and it will find an audience there.

I haven't seen "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Thanks for the warning. I found the moon story from the movie -- at least part of it -- in a quotation on IMDB. It is a different story.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Quite a lot of my stuff is sci/fi in flavor; I use the sci/fi category for some but not all of it.

Story over sex, but lots of sex, is my mantra in most cases.

Look at my author's page to see the results. You can see that I struggle with the categories here, and sometimes chapters end up in different categories; so you can see what effect that has. These are the ones that are "really sci/fi" despite what I did with the Category choice, so look at how they rated and got viewed in their various categories,

Becoming Marie - sci/fi but really nonconsent but really romance. Lots of sex but also lots of story. My first story here; rates at 4.77 with 79293 views and 325 votes after 5 years here, which may tell you everything you want to know.

A Gift Of Lilles - straight fantasy. Short.

ToyMaker - sci/fi but really mind control but really nonconsent but really morality tale. (My worst story, but it leads into Angelwatch, which is one of my best).

AngelWatch - Psionics and aliens. Really. And it's still a good story. Very little sex and none of it is happy sex.

Drug Trial. Sci/fi. Written for the sex, and then there's some sex.

The Captured Princess. scfi but really nonconsent. Very rich background and complicated characters, lots of story. The Princess doesn't get an unmitigated victory in the end, so some of my more snowflakish readers got upset with it.

Chosen. Fantasy, but very grounded in the real world. My best creative writing here, ratings be damned. No sex per se, so it's in Non-Erotic. The last chapter has 3231 views after 1 year. Even Sci/fi gets more traffic than that.

Why I Love My Job. Something of a continuation of Drug Trial. The beginning put people off - the main character is a selfish bastard - but it's a good ride.

If you want views, write btb in LW or strokers in Incest. I'm not here for views, personally.

 

[StrangeTamer]

Everything I've written is in sci/fi, I don't have anything in any other category to compare with. All I can do is tell you the stats that I have.

Rebirth Ch. 01 posted on 7/20/16 has 9696 views and 48 votes
Rebirth Ch. 02 posted on 1/17/17 has 2518 views and 15 votes
Rebirth (Reworked) posted on 2/7/17 has 4654 views and 17 votes

As for sex, being new to writing I tried to put as much in them as I could and still keep a story going, Ch 1 has 8 sex scenes and Ch 2 only has 2. Write the story the way you want it, that's what matters.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Based on my single entry in the category so far:

How many views can I expect a story to get there? I'm starting to suspect that the traffic in the category might be pretty low.

Seconding others: low views but high engagement from those who do view.

Most of my stories are in Lesbian. They tend to get about one vote per 100 views, and one comment per 20 votes. My SFF story has one vote per 50 views and one comment per 6 votes; put another way, viewers are about 6x as likely to comment there.

Almost everything up right now is a chapter story. Is that normal?

My earlier reading and a quick skim of the current stories suggested that the category doesn't require lots of humping. Is that true?

I think chapter stories are common because it tends to attract people who want to world-build, but it's not compulsory. My story there is a 5-page one-shot; there's a fair bit of poetic flirtation but no sex until very near the end, and not a lot of detail in that. It still did quite well as my stories go.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My latest two, Walking the Dog and Warrior's Choice, one has no sex the other quite a bit.

Both have done well.

Walking the Dog is at 4.49 79 votes 5 comments 6297 views 6 favorites

Warrior's Choice is at 4.45 135 votes 1 comments 9274 views 13 favorites

The were done back at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015.

 

[Zodia195]

Yeah I am with everyone else here who has commented on why Sci-fi/Fantasy stories are mostly chapter stories. You're basically creating your own world and to do that you need to make sure the audience understands that. Also, for me personally, I love creating complex stories due to my own complex personality. I've tried writing short stuff, but I can't because I keep asking myself questions on how or why something happens.

2 of 3 of my stories are in the Sci-fi/Fantasy category. The other is in Non-Erotic. Thinking back now, I probably should have placed it in the Fantasy section, even though there's no sex there. That actually might be a good question for discussion.

 

[OmnislashXX]

I love writing fantasy stories. I think an escape from realism is what people look for in fiction. Where else can you write about clothes eating bugs and small horny gnomes? :b

 

[Zodia195]

I know right? It's interesting even though I normally do fantasy, I find I still do use well 'real life' stuff in it too. In my newest story (well it's about 2 years old concept wise), I decided to take all of the kingdoms and based them around different cultures. The trick was to get them to blend like they still came from the same world or universe. The hardest one to come up with was my more "American" out of them. In the end I made it work by making the kingdom all about Steampunk since that can incorporate elements of fantasy.

I definitely try to incorporate things that I know too. If not, I find out. Like I have a minor in Art History and I took full advantage of that when I come up with the settings of places. It helps that I love traveling too.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I have five Sci-Fi stories, and all have low numbers of views compared to most other categories. Some have a lot of sex and some have relatively little.