Authors writing one story over and over

[SimonDoom]

I understand what the OP is saying, but it makes perfect sense to me, and I find it neither negative nor particularly frustrating. This is genre fiction. Most stories are written for a particular purpose: sexually arousing and pleasing the reader. It makes sense that many authors stick to themes they personally find to be fun and arousing. I don't see why it's frustrating. If I'm familiar with 30 different authors that each write stories with distinctive but consistent brands and themes, then I can be an informed consumer and know what I'm getting while I still have a great deal of variety of choice. If I want a different type of story, I go to a different author rather than continue reading Author A's stories and wondering with frustration why he doesn't change his brand.

I do some of this, guilt-free. My mom-son incest stories make up close to half of my body of work here, and I consider them very much to be "genre" stories that repeat many of the same themes, over and over, with some variation. They're fun to write and they get far more reader response than any other type of story I write. But the other half of my stories are quirkier and stranger and they scratch a different creative itch.

 

[SimonDoom]

and another piece of evidence that the category doesn’t fulfill its function.

You can't say this is true. If it works, then it fulfills its function, and the example THBGato gave was of a story that performed well and therefore was evidence that readers were satisfied with it. Think of categories as stars around which a vast and odd assortment of bodies rotate rather than parcels of land neatly fenced in. That's the best the site can do. It would be a pain in the ass to have twice as many more neatly defined categories.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm more referring to audience reception to certain types of stories that are more literary and less pornographic.

I think I got that you were referring more to the audience. I would probably agree, but I have said that Lit is a form of "mass media" with tens of thousands of readers. Some people have referred to it as specifically as a "porn site" and that's what their expectations may be based on.

Since that is likely inevitable, we have said a number of times that the only thing to do is to write for yourself and hope that some group will find you. You did have 165 followers and I think I have about 194 after six years. Followers is not that important as a metric but I accept that as fine for me.

 

[gunhilltrain]

You can't say this is true. If it works, then it fulfills its function, and the example THBGato gave was of a story that performed well and therefore was evidence that readers were satisfied with it. Think of categories as stars around which a vast and odd assortment of bodies rotate rather than parcels of land neatly fenced in. That's the best the site can do. It would be a pain in the ass to have twice as many more neatly defined categories.

There is a site that has at least twice a many categories and it is nice to have more flexibility. The downside is that it is a much smaller site and 1,000 to 2,000 views is common, not an aberration.

 

[dadadadiox]

My most popular and best rated stories have no graphic sex in them.

This was a revelation for me a while back. It set me free. I spent too much time fretting over my mediocre sex scenes when all I wanted to do is write a damn story. Having sexy scenes but not full on graphic erotica is more than enough for many readers.

 

[Escierto]

I write the same story over and over. Well, not quite. It has the same characters and a lot of the same sexual activities because it is just that, a chronicle of my own experiences filtered through my memory. I think different authors have different motivations here. I have written a novel but it is not erotic nor appropriate for Lit.

 

[SimonDoom]

There is a site that has at least twice a many categories and it is nice to have more flexibility. The downside is that it is a much smaller site and 1,000 to 2,000 views is common, not an aberration.

But that's revealing, isn't it? Readers like Literotica more. This is a better medium through which to connect one's story with the highest number of appreciative readers. There are reasons Literotica stories get more views. Readers like the platform. It works.

 

[TheLobster]

It would be a pain in the ass to have twice as many more neatly defined categories.

The remedy for overly broad categories (provided they are actually broad; buckets like Anal or Interracial beg to differ) is not to divvy them up into many fractured subsections, leading to combinatorial explosion. It's to decouple the distinct aspect of the subgenres they represent and allow the authors to mix & match those as they see fit.

In other words, replace the categories with a more polished tag system.

 

[Duke567]

Here's your assignment. I want you to write 15 stories, and I want each one of them to all be very different from one another.

Come back when you're done.

I love when readers on a free site that offers 10's of thousands of stories complain about the content.

No kidding! Imagine complaining about an author when you have contributed exactly nothing.

 

[SimonDoom]

The remedy for overly broad categories (provided they are actually broad; buckets like Anal or Interracial beg to differ) is not to divvy them up into many fractured subsections, leading to combinatorial explosion. It's to decouple the distinct aspect of the subgenres they represent and allow the authors to mix & match those as they see fit.

In other words, replace the categories with a more polished tag system.

I agree with that. I think that's the future. I'm not sure about the Site's ability to roll it out any time soon.

 

[SimonDoom]

The remedy for overly broad categories (provided they are actually broad; buckets like Anal or Interracial beg to differ) is not to divvy them up into many fractured subsections, leading to combinatorial explosion. It's to decouple the distinct aspect of the subgenres they represent and allow the authors to mix & match those as they see fit.

In other words, replace the categories with a more polished tag system.

I don't know if we'll ever get there but I think the ideal future would be offering a custom home page for every Lit user that would include tailored story feeds based upon user-selected tags and categories to suit the users' needs. The Site would aggregate the choices made by readers and feed the data back to authors so authors could then choose categories and tags to maximize their ability to reach the appropriate reader groups.

 

[OrbitalCruiser]

Does anyone else notice how some authors fall into the trap of essentially writing one story over and over?

I get that one of the golden rules here is to write what satisfies you, but at a certain point it gets lazy. I've noticed that for several authors, 90% of their stories follow the same general theme and/or storyline and the characters share several identifiable elements with one another, even if names and backgrounds change.

In some cases, this can be done well. For authors like thatboi21 and komrad1156, even though their stories are generally very good, you know what's gonna happen before even reading them. In the former's stories, an older woman will cheat on her husband with a teenager (and in most of his stories, the physical descriptions and characterizations of both male and female characters largely remain unchanged) and in the latter's, an older woman will fall in love with a younger man (there's usually some sort of military background for at least one of the characters). Occasionally komrad writes stories with the inverse dynamic (older woman/younger man) as well, but even those follow the same general structure. Even though both are amazing authors, it can get frustrating to see their stories get so derivative of one another from time to time.

This is even more frustrating when the author's stories aren't good. For example, I've run into some authors whose stories are all about their bully fucking their mom, and going further all the stories were similarly written and a similar length, to the point where their stories were all basically carbon copies of one another. Not surprisingly, his stories are generally seen as terrible (averaging about 3.5 stars per story). Another author whose name I don't remember has written about 100 stories, all of which see some accomplished, beautiful woman in her late 40s/early 50s inexplicably fall in love and pursue a relationship with some 18 year old wimp. His stories don't get much better reviews.

In conclusion, I get why people do this and it can even be done well. But it's frustrating to see people write what's in essence one story again and again.

I don’t get why this is “frustrating” for you. Authors here are posting the stories they want to write, in the styles they want to write them in, using the writing skills they possess.
Why you would seek to criticize this, or be frustrated by it is beyond me.
If you don’t like the author, or find their stories repetitive, move on.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

But that's revealing, isn't it? Readers like Literotica more.

Maybe. Or maybe lit is just more visible, higher up on the search engine list for whatever reason, and with more ad banners on more porn sites. Who knows?

 

[TheRedChamber]

I don't know if we'll ever get there but I think the ideal future would be offering a custom home page for every Lit user that would include tailored story feeds based upon user-selected tags and categories to suit the users' needs. The Site would aggregate the choices made by readers and feed the data back to authors so authors could then choose categories and tags to maximize their ability to reach the appropriate reader groups.

Oh, please no. There's about 200 new stories a day and 30 odd categories. I'm not saying don't rejig, but it's easy enough to scroll down the list and see what's been published recently, either by looking at all new stories and quickly scanning the categories or by looking for the 7-day lists of stories in the, say, three or four categoires that most interest you. If you are looking for something older and particular niche a keyword search will probably do to the trick.

 

[gunhilltrain]

But that's revealing, isn't it? Readers like Literotica more. This is a better medium through which to connect one's story with the highest number of appreciative readers. There are reasons Literotica stories get more views. Readers like the platform. It works.

It could be too that Lit is probably the oldest such site (started in 1998?). The market for these stories is not unlimited. But most businesses have a life cycle. Ford dominated their market for about two decades until the late 1920s. Then General Motors was on top for years but they were replaced by foreign-based manufacturers eventually. But I'm old enough that I'm probably not going to see the eventual outcome in the erotic fiction "industry."

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I am not a professional writer by no means, however I have over 20 short stories here. on Lit.
I have in the past written DDbg and found that though I changed it a bit, they were beginning to merge in style..

Recently, I've focused on changing that. I have been writing in different categories, totally different themes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh, please no. There's about 200 new stories a day and 30 odd categories. I'm not saying don't rejig, but it's easy enough to scroll down the list and see what's been published recently, either by looking at all new stories and quickly scanning the categories or by looking for the 7-day lists of stories in the, say, three or four categoires that most interest you. If you are looking for something older and particular niche a keyword search will probably do to the trick.

It helps that I haven't read much else on this site in years, so I don't worry about how to find anything of interest. Sorry guys, but I'd rather write my own stuff. The reading I do online is mostly not on Lit or any other similar site.

P.S.: I thought it was only about 300 new stories per week. That's pretty amazing anyway.

 

[Bazzle]

I've got 73 of them

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This was a revelation for me a while back. It set me free. I spent too much time fretting over my mediocre sex scenes when all I wanted to do is write a damn story. Having sexy scenes but not full on graphic erotica is more than enough for many readers.

Non-sex stories certainly don't get the views of sex stories, but there is a large audience for them here. Placing them in the right category is critical.

Many of my followers express disdain and disappointment when they see me publish a story with more graphic sex in it. They may not embrace every story of mine, but I like to try different techniques and tropes from time to time. I think it broadens my reader base and provides me with a challenge that I wouldn't have sticking with the same old things.

 

[StillStunned]

Here's your assignment. I want you to write 15 stories, and I want each one of them to all be very different from one another.

Come back when you're done.

I love when readers on a free site that offers 10's of thousands of stories complain about the content.

I thought I'd take that challenge. I like to think I have a fairly varied portfolio, but fifteen very different stories? But apart from mostly being written in a similar style (because I'm lazy that way), it wasn't difficult to get to fifteen stories that I could say, "Yes, this is quite a distinct premise." (I even made a list, but then the page went wonky and now I can't be arsed to copy all the links again.)

But it was an interesting exercise to consider my stories for distinctness, and to think about the similarities of themes, plot points and character dynamics. For instance, I'd say Pas de Trois (woman spies on three dancers having sex) is essentially the same story as The Sightless Watcher (blind priestess encounters two temple robbers). Closeness (married couple have to maintain distance and put on a show for each other) is, sex-wise, the same as By Voice and By Candle (a woman comes to grips with a voyeur ghost). Flesh for a Third Fantasy (man is distracted from his work by the sight of his girlfriend and her massage therapist) can be reduced to the same basic elements as The Rivals Ch. 04: The Black Tomb (woman has to fight off an attacker while her lover seduces a ghost).

I might be a writing nerd, but this is fun.

 

[alohadave]

I don't know if we'll ever get there but I think the ideal future would be offering a custom home page for every Lit user that would include tailored story feeds based upon user-selected tags and categories to suit the users' needs. The Site would aggregate the choices made by readers and feed the data back to authors so authors could then choose categories and tags to maximize their ability to reach the appropriate reader groups.

I don't like this idea. It would turn Lit into social media with what you see subject to the Algorithm.

If you don't write something popular, no one ever sees it because it's not fed to reader's feeds.

It's plenty easy to find stories now.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't like this idea. It would turn Lit into social media with what you see subject to the Algorithm.

If you don't write something popular, no one ever sees it because it's not fed to reader's feeds.

It's plenty easy to find stories now.

Copy this. I never want to write what everyone else is writing. That's anathema to me.

 

[alohadave]

Here's your assignment. I want you to write 15 stories, and I want each one of them to all be very different from one another.

Come back when you're done.

I love when readers on a free site that offers 10's of thousands of stories complain about the content.

Stop gatekeeping.

How many stories a reader has written has no bearing on their right to complain about the content here.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't like this idea. It would turn Lit into social media with what you see subject to the Algorithm.

If you don't write something popular, no one ever sees it because it's not fed to reader's feeds.

It's plenty easy to find stories now.

If I had it my way, all the main feed story lists and categories would still exist, but readers could also have the option of customizing what they see to get what they want. You could opt out of it if you wanted to. It would add to what we have now, not detract from it.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I respect all opinions, and am just speaking personally here. I write on Literotica to turn myself on, and hopefully to get a few readers off too in the process.

My kinks are very specific and well defined to me, and if that means my stories are a bit "samey", well, so be it. Sure, I try to make my stories arousing and entertaining (mainly to me), but I don't post here in an attempt to be a "great writer"...I don't post here to "improve"...I do that elsewhere, where my work is a little less anonymous.

I know there are many arguments around this, but the readers are getting this shit for free, so making complaints along the lines that some material here is not "great literature" is a little unfair, and also perhaps inaccurate when it comes to the skills and motivations of the many writers who contribute to the site.

I think the bulk of the material here is very much driven by the erotic interests and predilections of its writers, who will often return to the same creative well for inspiration and enjoyment.

Okay, back to writing more CFNM...just the way I like it!!!!