A few questions from a new author

[BobbyBrandt]

Welcome.

1. How should I handle the naming? I have an overall series title picked out that seems not to have been used on Lit yet. I'm leaning towards something like "Series Title: Chapter Title." But what about the first entry: should it just be "Series Title?" "Series Title: The Beginning" or something else equally obvious for new readers to find once there are multiple entries (or can I trust people to just get it from the publication dates)?

On my story page, I have three different examples that you might want to consider. The first would be the stand-alone stories in the "Before They Were Stars" group. The titles depict the theme of the celebrities' activities before they became famous, followed by the name of the specific celebrity. All are posted in the same category.

I have two multi-chapter stories that were submitted in "parts" where two or more chapters were submitted in each part. This was done as a sort of compromise to readers who asked for longer stories to be broken up and readers who didn't want to wait days for the next part of the story to get posted (I never submit any part of a story until the entire story is complete). These are long stories (novel length) and the category fits the crime.

I have two stories that were submitted as individual chapters, but again, nothing was submitted until the entire story was complete. The most consistent comments from readers were related to their impatience from having to wait a day or two for the system to process the next chapter submission.

So, to answer your question, consider something that starts with a verb, such as "Exploring". Follow that with a noun that relates to either the main character, a location, or other key plot components. For example: "Exploring: Paris Hostel". Your description could further set the tone and allow for a better definition of the category.

I can't argue with the advice of other writers when they suggest that you start with something not too epic, although I didn't follow that advice myself. (My first story here was over 100K words and is still doing well.) If you have the story in your head, you might want to search for other stories of a similar type to see how those writers answered the same questions you are asking. Good luck.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Hello all!

Although it's apparently been over four years since I meant to try my hand at writing erotica, judging from the account creation date, I'm now finally getting started. And yes, I've read through the various FAQs and new writer tips, which were helpful. However, I could still use some help figuring out a few things about my first story ideas.

Right now I'm planning on starting out with a multipart story, basically following the main character through a series of experiences as she learns about/explores sex. However, it's not really intended to necessarily be something that everyone reads all of; it won't be plot-heavy enough to be an issue if, say, chapter 4 is about lesbian sex and a reader would rather skip to chapter 5 for anal (or whatever they end up being). Each "chapter" (I'd rather call the individual bits stories, but then what do I call the whole?) will hopefully be able to stand more or less alone, without cliffhangers or the like. I figured this would be a nice starting point because it's flexible enough that I'll be able to explore a variety of topics while I get my toes wet, but I also won't have to necessarily commit to a long project if/when it stops being interesting to me or when life next explodes. It does leave me with a few dilemmas, though.

1. How should I handle the naming? I have an overall series title picked out that seems not to have been used on Lit yet. I'm leaning towards something like "Series Title: Chapter Title." But what about the first entry: should it just be "Series Title?" "Series Title: The Beginning" or something else equally obvious for new readers to find once there are multiple entries (or can I trust people to just get it from the publication dates)?

2. Should the chapters be numbered? On the one hand, it's a nice obvious reading order. On the other hand, it feels like having Series Title, Chapter Title, and a number all in the title is clunky and overdoing it. I'd rather not give up the chapter titles. And since the order shouldn't matter too much, and anyone looking at my author profile can see them all listed with the publication dates (you know, once they exist...), the numbers feel a bit superfluous? I guess I'm assuming that readers will either have started with the first one and kept reading as they come out, or they'll start at whatever the most recent chapter posted is, see that it's a series (I'll include a note to that effect, I think, at the beginning of subsequent chapters), and then if interested go to the author profile. But I have no idea how accurate that assumption is.

3. Categories: wtf? Sorry, that's not a very specific question. Here's my concern. On the one hand, while I'm sure at least some of the chapters would be generic Erotic Couplings material, a lot of them will be more specifically targeted: her first time, her first experience with another woman, her first threesome, etc. Is it a problem for a series to be spread out over multiple categories, or would it be best to keep the entire series together in Erotic Couplings? I can see arguments and advantages for both. I'm especially concerned about what to do with the first chapter. Yes, there's generic two-person cishet sex; however, the main character is only watching from a hiding place, so it seems like it would best fit in Exhibitionism/Voyeur. On the other hand, it's done primarily with the intent of educating the main character, not specifically for the "voyeur experience" or whatever you call it, so I don't know if it really fits in that category. I'm also concerned about limiting the readership by putting the first chapter in a category that gets (I would imagine) significantly less traffic/fewer readers than Erotic Couplings does, or about raising expectations by people who expect the whole series to be E/V stuff because that's how the first chapter is categorized.

I realize I'm probably overthinking the hell out of all of this. I usually do, and even more so when jumping into a new area. Thanks in advance for your help!

I don’t know if this has been covered or not but I’d be tempted to get it all down rather than do it in dribs and drabs.

I am a pain for thinking of something I want to do then realising I didn’t mention it earlier.

If you’ve got it all down, you’ve covered most of your bases.

Also have fun with your own dark fantasies/perversions/kinks. Ain’t no-one judging you here. Also when you are getting this down let your characters tell you what to do, I find that once you’ve made space in your head for characters they will move the plot forward in new and interesting ways.

 

[Duleigh]

Should the chapters be numbered

I wrote a long, complicated, heartbreaking story that's broken down into numbered chapters and it gets VERY few page views. After that I started writing stories where rather than breaking them down into numbered chapters I write them into multiple separate stories. Each story is completed and meets all requirements to be considered a story but they also tell an overall story arc. Then I give the titles that work like this Story: Second Title

The Story: is short as possible, then the Second Titles are named in Alphabetical order, that way the reader can grab any episode they want in any order they want and read a complete story, but your exposition should lead them to read other episodes.

 

[Gatoulis]

Going wildly off topic, do you know that, in Greek mythology, the first honeybee was named Melissa?

Melissa is the greek word for honeybee.It just sounds different when we say it.Punctuation goes to the E not the I.

 

[Duleigh]

Melissa is the greek word for honeybee.It just sounds different when we say it.Punctuation goes to the E not the I.

Cool - "May-leesa"
I love etymology