Landmines you should avoid in a category

[MelissaBaby]

I don't see where the degree of "smut" should have a connection with whether something is a successful Romance or not. I think as long as it has plot, a connection between the primary characters is achieved, and there's a happy ending, it can be successful no matter how graphic the sex becomes. (I don't even require a happy ending to consider it in the Romance category, but I concede that most readers of Romance probably do). I just don't think it needs to be devoid or mostly lacking in graphic sex to be successful on Literotica.

Generally agree, but from my experience, an emotionally satisfying bittersweet ending is acceptable.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'll start with the (in)famous one: Loving Wives

Based on personal experience, things to avoid are:

Loving Wives

1. Cheating within a lesbian deviant marriage
2. Lesbian deviant BDSM
3. The FMC being a married sex worker

Non-con / Reluctance

1. Femdom restrained anal training of a male rape porn author - it was meant to be satire (and a 1984 homage), some took it literally
2. A woman who does things she’d rather not due to abysmal self-esteem and an abused mindset

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

After reading this, it makes me want to stick to E&V. It seems like you can get away with anything in there, so long as at least one character is at some point seen naked by someone they're not having sex with.

Seriously, it seems like the closest thing we have to "Misc".

@Djmac1031 clued me into this - and they seem a friendly crowd.

My first E/V played it pretty straight, but my second (featuring the same FMC) included, lesbian, corporal punishment, uniform fetish, a threesome, and more lesbian. No one batted an eyelid.

Emily

 

[Djmac1031]

After reading this, it makes me want to stick to E&V. It seems like you can get away with anything in there, so long as at least one character is at some point seen naked by someone they're not having sex with.

Seriously, it seems like the closest thing we have to "Misc".

@Djmac1031 clued me into this - and they seem a friendly crowd.

My first E/V played it pretty straight, but my second (featuring the same FMC) included, lesbian, corporal punishment, uniform fetish, a threesome, and more lesbian. No one batted an eyelid.

Emily

We just love to watch.

 

[8letters]

I'm finishing my first incest story here, but it's about a step-parent. It's got some of the mom-son tropes, however, but not anal. Anyway, some people are going to say it's not incest since it's about non-biological relatives. I guess I should ponder that issue a bit.

In my experience, what's important in I/T is that the two characters want each other but know that it's wrong to want each other, so there's an emotional struggle that is finally resolved by them fucking like bunnies. The characters can be steps, half-siblings, in-laws, etc.

Conversely, if the day after the MMC meets his stepmom, his dad takes a business trip and she wants them to fuck the whole time the dad is gone, your story isn't going to do well.

My story My Mom Competes with my Stepmom is mostly about the stepmom the character gets to know at the beginning of the story. 4.84 rating. The story Moving to San Diego is about a guy who decides to seduce his stepmom, who he hardly knows at the beginning. 4.62 rating for the first chapter.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I suppose that there are no women writing gay male for other women.

I suspect there are many women who write GM for women. It's very popular, I believe.

 

[KeithD]

I suspect there are many women who write GM for women. It's very popular, I believe.

I agree, although they might not realize that it's both women writing and reading the GM.

 

[intim8]

My first E/V played it pretty straight, but my second (featuring the same FMC) included, lesbian, corporal punishment, uniform fetish, a threesome, and more lesbian. No one batted an eyelid.

Emily

There's tons of lesbian on there, as well as groups, incest, NC/R/Obligatory, mild BDSM, things like your uniform fetish, and even the occasional gay male (usually as just a scene, not the main theme, often as collateral damage in a group scene). And those are just the stories I've read (I only read stories 4.0 or higher rated).

I put my whole Aces series in it, just because the first chapter, there's women getting naked outside to entice the Ace out of his compound and two of the three sex scenes happend semi-publicly (behind a building on campus, and in an olutdoor swimming pool).

Several of the chapters have nothing E&V about them. My highest rated story is one of them, nothing public, but there is an MFFF foursome and six in a tub.

 

[EmilyMiller]

There's tons of lesbian on there, as well as groups, incest, NC/R/Obligatory, mild BDSM, things like your uniform fetish, and even the occasional gay male (usually as just a scene, not the main theme, often as collateral damage in a group scene). And those are just the stories I've read (I only read stories 4.0 or higher rated).

I put my whole Aces series in it, just because the first chapter, there's women getting naked outside to entice the Ace out of his compound and two of the three sex scenes happend semi-publicly (behind a building on campus, and in an olutdoor swimming pool).

Several of the chapters have nothing E&V about them. My highest rated story is one of them, nothing public, but there is an MFFF foursome and six in a tub.

I had an element of E/V is all six stories I have there. The other fetishes came and went a chapter at a time.

I’ve got a new E/V series semi-thought out with the same FMC (I love Eden) was going to have a different kink feature in each chapter, but always at least her being observed by one or more people.

Emily

 

[gunhilltrain]

In my experience, what's important in I/T is that the two characters want each other but know that it's wrong to want each other, so there's an emotional struggle that is finally resolved by them fucking like bunnies. The characters can be steps, half-siblings, in-laws, etc.

Conversely, if the day after the MMC meets his stepmom, his dad takes a business trip and she wants them to fuck the whole time the dad is gone, your story isn't going to do well.

My story My Mom Competes with my Stepmom is mostly about the stepmom the character gets to know at the beginning of the story. 4.84 rating. The story Moving to San Diego is about a guy who decides to seduce his stepmom, who he hardly knows at the beginning. 4.62 rating for the first chapter.

She has been interested in him for about a year before she makes her move. He has little or no idea of what she's been thinking until the day of the event. If I may give a teaser, that takes place in the middle of Nevada.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I had some luck placing such a story (detailing a romantic build-up w/sexy time, followed by a collapse of the relationship and a bittersweet ending) in Novels and Novellas, which--the longer I am on this site--feels like more and more of a "catch-all" category.

I guess the end of all relationships are bittersweet. (Unless they are hateful, which does happen too.) But, yes, the one I'm talking about does follow that plot line. It could have been a novella if I hadn't broken it into series of shorter chapters.

The irony is that the two votes were a one and five, and a sweep removed both of them. "Mr. Blutarsky... zero... point... zero." I did know a guy who was in college for seven years. Another one was there for eight.

 

[FifthEstate]

Story title: Mom's Poophole Loophole

I actually did laugh out loud when I read that! And mark me down for a presale story favorite if you ever write it!

 

[Bramblethorn]

I suppose that there are no women writing gay male for other women.

Truckloads of them, at least in fanfic circles!

 

[JGittes]

I mostly agree, but this is lit so...here's a story for this.

Last year I took something previously published elsewhere and put it here in a contest. In the original, there is an anal scene at the end. In this one, I cut that part out and had the story end with the softer scene. However, at one point earlier in the story the mother made a comment about anal sex...once, and not even in reference to the son.

Sure enough I get a comment "wish you'd delivered on the anal."

Understand, it is nigh impossible to completely win with anything here.

I have two mom/son incest stories, one with anal and one without. I'm also OCD about collecting story data, so I have a detailed vote history.

Across all my stories, the majority of votes (96%) are 4* and 5* (which is something I've noticed with any free-access internet-based voting system.) With 100 votes, a score of 4.8x is 90-5* votes, 10-4* votes, and a couple each of 1* and 2* votes. A score of 4.7x is 80-5* votes, 20-4* votes, and a couple each of 1* and 2* votes.

My incest story with anal is 0.10 lower than the story without anal, which I interpret as ten more voters out of 100 who score the story a 4* rather than a 5*. 'Readers' don't hate anal in the story, but some readers (as few as 10 out of 100) would rather not have anal in the story. This assumes all other aspects of the stories were similar, which is, of course, not the case.

There have been several AH threads over the past couple of years asking how popular anal sex is and how its popularity may have changed over time (more popular now than in the past.) The questions asked about actual experience/feeling and scene writing craft that fulfills the author's perceived reader reception. I can't recall any authors enthusiastically supporting anal sex. A few responses said they employed anal as an occasional bit of variety (either in real life or scene writing,) but I don't recall anyone saying it was something they actively sought out above P-V sex. To me, this correlates well with the slight shift in votes when anal is introduced in a story.

 

[AchtungNight]

My biggest landmine is my own opinion. A few anonymous reviewers have rated my latest work low for its abundance of drama. I felt the drama made sense for the characters in the story and that opinion was more important than the reviews that called it unnecessary.

My point- write what you want if you can make it work for you. Good luck.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'm finishing my first incest story here, but it's about a step-parent. It's got some of the mom-son tropes, however, but not anal. Anyway, some people are going to say it's not incest since it's about non-biological relatives. I guess I should ponder that issue a bit.

True incest versus pseudo incest will always be debated in I/T, but remember that you also have the "taboo" aspect that can buy you tolerance.

My "Uncle Sugar Daddy" series involves characters who are not biologically related but exist within the familial relationship that makes sexual activities between them taboo. All the stories have done just fine.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

I'm finishing my first incest story here, but it's about a step-parent. It's got some of the mom-son tropes, however, but not anal. Anyway, some people are going to say it's not incest since it's about non-biological relatives. I guess I should ponder that issue a bit.

That's technically pseudo-incest, but I think it counts.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's technically pseudo-incest, but I think it counts.

Pseudo-incest - yet another category Lit is lacking. Should I contact Laurel and ask her to add it?

 

[Omenainen]

Stories with women pegging men - do they go to Anal or Fetish? Or something else?

My pegging story was the best Anal story of 2022 and is currently at #22 at Anal all time top list, so that’s definitely a good category for them.

 

[AG31]

I agree, although they might not realize that it's both women writing and reading the GM.

I've written a couple (I being female). And I write for me. So I guess that's an example of women writing for women.

 

[RetroFan]

After reading this, it makes me want to stick to E&V. It seems like you can get away with anything in there, so long as at least one character is at some point seen naked by someone they're not having sex with.

Seriously, it seems like the closest thing we have to "Misc".

I tried a story in E & V once, and the readers didn't go for it at all. Called 'Betty the All American Cock-Tease' and set in the late 1940s, it is narrated by Betty who is 18 and likes to tease the Mama's Boy next door (also 18), undressing and changing her clothes with the curtains open, leaving the bathroom window open when she showers or sits on the toilet and hangs her panties and bras out on the line to dry, knowing the young man is hiding inside watching her. I'm not sure why it was a flop, but the readers didn't seem to like it very much.

 

[RetroFan]

I'm finishing my first incest story here, but it's about a step-parent. It's got some of the mom-son tropes, however, but not anal. Anyway, some people are going to say it's not incest since it's about non-biological relatives. I guess I should ponder that issue a bit.

There's always lots of negative comments about step-family stories, as well as in-laws and others less commonly seen, like adopted and foster siblings that they aren't proper IT stories, even where it is clearly stated in the title and/or description. I wrote a half-sibling story once where the brother is a 40-year-old ne'er do well and the sister (and narrator) is a responsible 18-year-old university student. Half sibling stories don't come up very often, but while the IT readers didn't seem overly impressed by the story, they didn't say anything about the half-sibling scenario.

I've also seen the aunt/uncle/niece/nephew/cousin type stories getting negative feedback, readers saying they are like the diet/non-alcoholic versions of mother/father/son/daughter/brother/sister stories, others going so far as to research the area where the story is set and advise that marriages between first cousins are legal in this jurisdiction.

 

[gunhilltrain]

There's always lots of negative comments about step-family stories, as well as in-laws and others less commonly seen, like adopted and foster siblings that they aren't proper IT stories, even where it is clearly stated in the title and/or description. I wrote a half-sibling story once where the brother is a 40-year-old ne'er do well and the sister (and narrator) is a responsible 18-year-old university student. Half sibling stories don't come up very often, but while the IT readers didn't seem overly impressed by the story, they didn't say anything about the half-sibling scenario.

I've also seen the aunt/uncle/niece/nephew/cousin type stories getting negative feedback, readers saying they are like the diet/non-alcoholic versions of mother/father/son/daughter/brother/sister stories, others going so far as to research the area where the story is set and advise that marriages between first cousins are legal in this jurisdiction.

I do like that analogy of the non-alcoholic drinks - beer is the one I'm most familiar with. I had forgotten that O'Douls is made by Anheuser Busch. That kind of 0.2 alcohol beer was legal during Prohibition and was often called "near beer" by Americans.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Pseudo-incest - yet another category Lit is lacking. Should I contact Laurel and ask her to add it?

Neither Laurel nor Manu ever respond to messages, even when it's a bug or other urgent issue, so don't expect a reply.

More seriously though, pseudo-incest is still taboo so it fits perfectly well within Incest/Taboo. There's a much greater need for a separate Cuckolding category. The only other place for cuckolding (besides the vague category of Fetish) is Loving Wives, and they do NOT like hard cuckolding. I found that out the hard way.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Neither Laurel nor Manu ever respond to messages, even when it's a bug or other urgent issue, so don't expect a reply.

More seriously though, pseudo-incest is still taboo so it fits perfectly well within Incest/Taboo. There's a much greater need for a separate Cuckolding category. The only other place for cuckolding (besides the vague category of Fetish) is Loving Wives, and they do NOT like hard cuckolding. I found that out the hard way.

Hah, I was being tongue-in-cheek. I was kidding about contacting Laurel. They haven't changed the categories in years, and I doubt that they ever will. Or we're you being tongue-in-cheek too?

How about calling it "Incest Lite" instead of "Pseudo-Incest?" I'm not serious about that either. of course.