Does every story with guy-on-guy action belong in the "Gay" category?

[Britva415]

Is the gay sex primary to the story or is it incidental to the story?

That is to say, is all of it gay sex? Or is there a gay/bi scene or encounter among many other activities which aren't gay/bi? In what ways does it satisfy the genre/category you are choosing to post it to? Based on your writing, will readers recognize that or will they not see anything other than "whoa, wrong place!"? (Of course there can always be "that person" who gets off on nitpicking, and will do it no matter how appropriate to the category your story is, but fuck them if you really nailed the categorization. We don't have a "no gay shit" category.)

If you're in Erotic Couplings, is the story erotic or just explicit?

If you're in Romance, is the story romantic or just smutty?

If you're in BDSM, is there headspace apparent in the story or does it only have the veneer of kink?

If you're in Mature, are they just polar bears fucking or are they navigating the currents of later adulthood in the story?

I second what was proposed above tagging appropriately and about putting tags at the top of the story. People will click into a story and not look at the tags, which you can't even see until the bottom of the story's last page anyway, so, putting them right into the story in the intro area before the story starts is really doing a favor for your readers.

If they still act like you've pulled the rug out from under them, fuck'em.

 

[KeithD]

This is a gay-tolerant site, not a gay-friendly site. You couldn't have so little gay sex involved in a story that chances aren't good some reader will declare it's in the wrong category if not GM and will vote accordingly. By all means try it out, if you like, though.

 

[lc69hunter]

In threesomes, foursomes and moresomes, I do not believe in labels. You basically do what is in front of you. And, many women like male/male action and many fantasize about their husband taking a cock. I always look in the gay section for those stories, because they quite often end up there, even though I have no interest in one on one male sex.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to share your experiences and offer feedback. I really appreciate all of the support and validation. I'm leaning towards continuing to publish stories with queer characters and guy-on-guy action in categories outside of the "Gay" domain, if these other categories better describe the content. I'm not too worried about getting poor ratings, so that isn't a big factor in my decision-making process. I'll keep making it clear in my story descriptions that the characters are queer. I may also start adding a short "Author's Note" with a brief description as well. If certain readers want to criticize me for publishing in the "Exhibitionist and Voyeur" category when I feel its the best fit, I'm just not going to let it bother me.

On a side note, I wanted to say that it is cool to finally post on here after lurking. I've never viewed myself as being a talented enough writer to post on these forums. I guess I had it in my head that it was only for Literotica's top talent. Something to talk about with my therapist next week, lol. Getting all of your feedback has made me realize that, regardless of my experience or skill, it feels nice to be a more active part of this community since I enjoy the sense of connection. I'll stop blathering now. Hope you all have a good evening.

Good idea about the author's note... people can't complain (but they probably will anyway) if they are told upfront what the story involves. It's hard sometimes, but don't let the negative comments get you down. They're just opinions...

 

[tenyari]

Tags are a better indicater as to what is in the story than categories.

Yeah, that's why I search by tags when in 'reader mode'.

It's also why in my new stories I picked my tags after searching them to be they were in common use and meant what I thought they meant (save for one that I made specifically for my story series).

I'm lucky in that my main category is not a 'squick' to most people. Sexualities can be a squick to the people who have a different one... so stumbling onto the "wrong" one can be a turn off. If we have 'multi-tag filtering it'd be easy not just to avoid that problem, but also to more easily find one's kinks.

The site is an erotica site after all. Some people are here to get some 'fuel' for 'personal engagement'... and so they don't want something that flips their light switch the wrong way. And as a writer, I want to suck up all the readers who will like what I wrote, and leave the other ones in the pond for someone else.

If we were just on 'my amazing novel dot com' then I'd be open to 'let the reader get tossed in the wrong direction sometimes, they might like what they find.' But that doesn't work as well with our sexual turn ons and offs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

People will click into a story and not look at the tags, which you can't even see until the bottom of the story's last page anyway, so, putting them right into the story in the intro area before the story starts is really doing a favor for your readers.

Which story browser are you in? Tags are top left, front page of a story.

 

[KeithD]

Good idea about the author's note... people can't complain (but they probably will anyway) i

I don't think readers focus on authors' notes disclaimers beyond getting help in what's there they might complain about.

 

[Britva415]

Which story browser are you in? Tags are top left, front page of a story.

All I know is I'm not in the one you get when you agree to "Try the mobile-friendly Literotica site design right now. Click Here To Preview"

Is that what you're talking about?

Because there's so much wrong with that that having tags up front, if that's even a feature of "the mobile-friendly" version, it's not worth it to me.

I'm not on mobile either so I have less than zero motivation to use it. If it's as inadequate on mobile as it is on full-screen, yikes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

All I know is I'm not in the one you get when you agree to "Try the mobile-friendly Literotica site design right now. Click Here To Preview"

Is that what you're talking about?

Because there's so much wrong with that that having tags up front, if that's even a feature of "the mobile-friendly" version, it's not worth it to me.

I'm not on mobile either so I have less than zero motivation to use it. If it's as inadequate on mobile as it is on full-screen, yikes.

Not a phone version, no. I have no idea what that looks like. I'm talking about the beta format that can be read on PC and Android tablets, which is several years old, now. Literotica Modern, I think it's called, versus Literotica Classic, which is the old version.

 

[Britva415]

Not a phone version, no. I have no idea what that looks like. I'm talking about the beta format that can be read on PC and Android tablets, which is several years old, now. Literotica Modern, I think it's called, versus Literotica Classic, which is the old version.

My account is less than a year old so I'm going to take a wild guess that it defaulted to the modern beta design.

I wouldn't even know how to change it. I didn't find it in Options in my Control Panel, and I didn't find a goddamn thing about "site design" with a good search.

So I guess that's a flaw in the design I am on, whichever one it is - it seems like you can't easily know which it is and you can't easily change it either. As long as we're not talking about the mobile design, I'd like to try switching because tags would be so useful up front.

 

[Britva415]

Not a phone version, no. I have no idea what that looks like. I'm talking about the beta format that can be read on PC and Android tablets, which is several years old, now. Literotica Modern, I think it's called, versus Literotica Classic, which is the old version.

So I poked around a whole lot and I changed settings and changed them back and confirmed I'm on this "modern beta" design. Story tags are at the bottom right of the last page, they're not at the top left of the first page.

Both versions of the design are like this.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So I poked around a whole lot and I changed settings and changed them back and confirmed I'm on this "modern beta" design. Story tags are at the bottom right of the last page, they're not at the top left of the first page.

Both versions of the design are like this.

That's weird, coz on my Kindle, with Beta Lit Modern, they're top left of the first story page.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

On my Android phone, there's four grey symbols at the top left of stories. i is the standard info and start of a story. Then there's a kinda rectangle on a rectangle, then a Share symbol, then an italic A which lets you change the font and colour.

Took me a good couple years to figure that the rectangles are meant to resemble luggage tags...

 

[Britva415]

On my Android phone, there's four grey symbols at the top left of stories. i is the standard info and start of a story. Then there's a kinda rectangle on a rectangle, then a Share symbol, then an italic A which lets you change the font and colour.

Took me a good couple years to figure that the rectangles are meant to resemble luggage tags...

Oh, wouldya look at that.

Thanks!

Only it's on the right, not left, for me. But yeah, I had no idea tags were hidden behind the story-info box.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Oh, wouldya look at that.

Thanks!

Only it's on the right, not left, for me. But yeah, I had no idea tags were hidden behind the story-info box.

I would lay money 99% of readers don't, either. I'd guessed it opened the story in a separate window, in as much as I considered it at all.

AO3 may get a bit tedious with its long lists of whimsical tags, sometimes getting to the same length as a story, 'no beta reader we die like men' 'based mostly on this dream I had' 'xxx is the GOAT!!!' 'cat shenanigans' 'sorry not sorry' etc, but people can't complain they didn't see them, out there the same size as the title, for every story.

It adds extra info for whether you want to read a story by what is almost certainly an excited college-age author.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Does every story with guy-on-guy action belong in the "Gay" category?​

Not if it’s father and son

 

[MyBareTorso]

I don't think readers focus on authors' notes disclaimers beyond getting help in what's there they might complain about.

 

[KeithD]

Not if it’s father and son

Especially if it's father and son. I can't imagine anyone reading the Incest category that would be seeking (or tolerating) a father/son setup.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Especially if it's father and son. I can't imagine anyone reading the Incest category that would be seeking (or tolerating) a father/son setup.

But that’s sexist .

Em

 

[Britva415]

But that’s sexist .

Em

And gayist!

 

[Britva415]

Especially if it's father and son. I can't imagine anyone reading the Incest category that would be seeking (or tolerating) a father/son setup.

What if people looking in the Gay section wouldn't tolerate ew incest?

So the story goes, where, nowhere?

 

[EmilyMiller]

And gayist!

It’s so funny. For some (many) guys:

Girl on girl : so fucking hot

Guy on guy : it’s an abomination, let me tear out my eyes

Insecurity, much?

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

What if people looking in the Gay section wouldn't tolerate ew incest?

So the story goes, where, nowhere?

I’ve had this problem, or an analog of it (well you could drop the “og” )

Em

 

[KeithD]

What if people looking in the Gay section wouldn't tolerate ew incest?

So the story goes, where, nowhere?

So, what else is new?

 

[Britva415]

So, what else is new?

I meant it literally, not figuratively. Where should it go?