Writing for a niche audience

[geronimo_appleby]

Fool, I already know. LESTERSHEAR. My Brit pedigree is better than LIZ's...and yours, of course.

of course it is

 

[oggbashan]

With respect, I don't know what sort of comments they are making and a nuance detail would flip around what I say next...

It seems you are presuming they aren't interested in the fetish and thus when they get to the end, then they get bitchy. Which, wouldn't make sense, but what if it is a bad tagging issue or a bad search issue? or perhaps they thought it wasn't well written?

I've done searches for "sorority, hazing, F/f" and what do I get? Some dudes having a cock swordfight and nothing to do with college (just an example).

I ain't a blushing virgin and it doesn't phase me reading that thing, but I was expecting a sorority hazing. Hello?? At the end, I'd be upset enough to perhaps not vote that well and perhaps leave a comment voicing my frustration.

Writing relevant tags is an art, as is creating unique and interesting titles.

But the Literotica search facility isn't wonderful. There is a How-To on the way to use Google to search Literotica for stories. Even then, we will find a lot of dross before we find a pearl. Of course, what is dross and what is a pearl is our own opinion.

I have several unique titles e.g. Hedgehog Feud. I have several unique tags e.g. "Chairman Mao".

But I doubt whether I have used the tags that I should have done to make searching easier for potential readers. Using unique titles can also cause a problem because readers won't necessarily get what they expect.

Whatever we do, we will all suffer from unfortunate criticism in PCs and Feedback. Some is reasonable, appropriate, but not really relevant. Some is just crude abuse. But there are useful criticisms as well, and they are appreciated. They compensate for the abuse.

Some of us are so precious about our stories that even valid criticism is unwelcome. I know that I don't write perfect stories. The feedback has helped me to improve - sometimes.

 

[sr71plt]

No defensive, apologetic notes on top of a story from me. I write for adults who can take responsibility for themselves. Sure, others read and comment; that's their problem, not mine. I don't post stories here because I'm insecure about my writing and need petting.

 

[SecondCircle]

No defensive, apologetic notes on top of a story from me. I write for adults who can take responsibility for themselves. Sure, others read and comment; that's their problem, not mine. I don't post stories here because I'm insecure about my writing and need petting.

No hostility here, but then why tell them if your story is complete or not?

 

[sr71plt]

No hostility here, but then why tell them if your story is complete or not?

That's neither defensive nor apologetic. That's logistics. I've only started doing that--but that's because the great number of series started here and never finished. I don't do that. I have more respect for the readers than that.

 

[LaRascasse]

I posted one story chapter which stated up-front: "This is another slow-moving chapter with more talk than sex." No doubt some people got the message and moved on quietly, but one made it all the way to the bottom and then complained: "Boring, redundant and it would have been nice if you included the "This is another slow-moving chapter with more talk than sex." comment in the description." So clearly they'd read the warning and still waded through something that wasn't their thing.

Yeah. I get this one.

Then again, what sort of warning/disclaimer do you give for a tragedy?

 

[PennLady]

Yeah. I get this one.

Then again, what sort of warning/disclaimer do you give for a tragedy?

You could -- if you wanted -- just make a note to the effect: "Although this is in the [romance] category, it is not a traditional [romance]. There are elements of tragedy (or whatever) and it does end happily/like a traditional romance."

That said, you are never going to be able to clear out all the negatives. Despite that, some people who hate stories like that will read it and complain. But you have options, as others have noted -- you can disable feedback, disable anonymous feedback, disable voting, or just deal with it.

And I know I've said this before but you don't even have to depart that much from the "rules," especially in romance, to get people crying foul. Happened with the end of my story Rhythm & the Blue Line, even though the couple said they loved each other and agreed to move in together. But people complained that they should have been engaged or married, and other things. Tough for them; that was the way it ended.

 

[PennLady]

No hostility here, but then why tell them if your story is complete or not?

That I consider an objective courtesy, if you will, and I have put notes on a few of my stories to this effect. I've put up notes that said, for example, the story will be completed, or that the next installment will need extra time, etc. Then it's up to people to invest their time. Rarely do I "warn" about content.

Okay, once I did b/c I was annoyed. The story is currently down but the note was something like, "This is a romance involving a hockey player, and talks about hockey so if yo don't like that, you may not want to read."

But I haven't done that since.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yeah. I get this one.

Then again, what sort of warning/disclaimer do you give for a tragedy?

I think "Moulin Rouge" handled this well. It begins at the end, with Our Hero mourning the love of his life, and then the rest of the story is told as flashback.

OTOH, sometimes I don't warn. As you'd know, one of my recent story installments throws in an unexpected tragedy. I didn't just not-warn for that one, I went out of my way to distract readers with my other hand so they didn't see it coming. That was a deliberate choice, because I wanted the protagonists' shock to resonate with readers.

I think that was the right choice, but I don't expect all readers to like it.

 

[SecondCircle]

That I consider an objective courtesy, if you will, and I have put notes on a few of my stories to this effect. I've put up notes that said, for example, the story will be completed, or that the next installment will need extra time, etc. Then it's up to people to invest their time. Rarely do I "warn" about content.

Okay, once I did b/c I was annoyed. The story is currently down but the note was something like, "This is a romance involving a hockey player, and talks about hockey so if yo don't like that, you may not want to read."

But I haven't done that since.

I don't really have a problem with it either way. But I just think its all the same.

In a perfect world, I think that readers would just read the story and if they came to something they didn't like or had a problem with anything, they would just back click and find something they do like. Doesn't matter what the issue is. I mean, we've all said we do this to some level or another. Like you mentioned, I don't get warnings at the bookstore saying, "hey look out this has an incest or gay scene in it," or "my next book in this series will be along shortly, and I do plan to finish the series."

Just my opinion, but I don't need to be pampered like that when I read. I realize some readers might like that stuff, and I guess that's fine. For me? Just read the fuckin story and don't get butthurt when it don't go your way.

 

[PennLady]

I don't really have a problem with it either way. But I just think its all the same.

In a perfect world, I think that readers would just read the story and if they came to something they didn't like or had a problem with anything, they would just back click and find something they do like. Doesn't matter what the issue is. I mean, we've all said we do this to some level or another. Like you mentioned, I don't get warnings at the bookstore saying, "hey look out this has an incest or gay scene in it," or "my next book in this series will be along shortly, and I do plan to finish the series."

Just my opinion, but I don't need to be pampered like that when I read. I realize some readers might like that stuff, and I guess that's fine. For me? Just read the fuckin story and don't get butthurt when it don't go your way.

You're probably right on the first point, it's a matter of semantics I guess. And on the whole, I don't mind such notes at all. They don't put me off from reading a story in and of themselves. And I too completely agree that a reader should just deal with a story. If you like it, great, if not, fine, but I think maybe especially on a site devoted to sex stories, you can't be too upset about the content.