erotic horror or just plain not erotic?

[caleb35]

Looking for folks' input/opinions on something and I apologize in advance for yet another thread on trying to navigate Literotica's posting categories. I have a complete first draft of a new story, set circa 1348 in England right at the onset of the Black Death. The first half of the story includes sex scenes and can be classified as erotic. The ending of the story is absolutely not erotic. I'd thought of putting it in erotic horror but, again, nothing really erotic about the horror in this story -- this is not vampires, werewolves, and/or humans hooking up. I'm increasingly thinking it has to go in Non-Erotic, even if that does mean no one reads it on this site Anyway, if anyone has thoughts or advice on this, do please share. Thanks.

 

[THBGato]

How long is it? Is there a reason for publishing it in two parts?

I've published three pieces in non-erotic and been happy with the response. Never tried EH.

 

[caleb35]

How long is it? Is there a reason for publishing it in two parts?

I've published three pieces in non-erotic and been happy with the response. Never tried EH.

I've only posted one work in Non-Erotic before and got few viewers compared to my average It is just long enough (~7,100 words) that I could split it into two but I'd prefer not to do that for a few different reasons (one being that one part would be in one category and the other in another category -- I think it all needs to be in the same category; that's just my preference).

 

[THBGato]

Sorry, I thought from your initial post that you did want to split it.

Don't put it in Non Erotic if there are sex scenes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've only posted one work in Non-Erotic before and got few viewers compared to my average. It is just long enough (~7,100 words) that I could split it into two but I'd prefer not to do that for a few different reasons (one being that one part would be in one category and the other in another category -- I think it all needs to be in the same category; that's just my preference).

That's too short to split, especially not into different categories. Sticking it in EH would give it as much traction as it would get elsewhere, given that, I assume, your lovers are going to succumb to the plague, and the second section is trying to make pustules and body fluids look sexy.

 

[caleb35]

Sorry, I thought from your initial post that you did want to split it.

Don't put it in Non Erotic if there are sex scenes.

And that's fine, I can submit it to EH. I just suspect/worry that a lot of readers will prefer more erotica with a touch of horror, which is not what my story will be Thanks for weighing in.

 

[caleb35]

That's too short to split, especially not into different categories. Sticking it in EH would give it as much traction as it would get elsewhere, given that, I assume, your lovers are going to succumb to the plague, and the second section is trying to make pustules and body fluids look sexy.

I concur; I think that I could split it but not that it'd be a good idea to I'm less concerned about traction (though that is a slight concern) than with reactions from readers who may have expectations based on what other types of stories typically get posted to a certain category.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Can you give a little bit more detail on what exactly the horror element is? Is it just the horror of disease? Or is there something more, uh, horrorific about it? (Given I wouldn't really count dying of Black Death horror so much as tragic)

 

[caleb35]

Can you give a little bit more detail on what exactly the horror element is? Is it just the horror of disease? Or is there something more, uh, horrorific about it? (Given I wouldn't really count dying of Black Death horror so much as tragic)

Admittedly, it's just a small group of people dying suddenly from the disease, and the rest reacting as each of them die one by one. I hint at some supernatural elements but only hint (and not even much of a hint). There's also some speculation on the absence of God, you know, good old sacrilege Oh, and the main character straight up murders her lover. To me, this would be Erotic Horror or Non-Erotic. If @THBGato is accurate that any story with sex scenes should not go in Non-Erotic, and if others don't feel that this is horror, I'd be hard pressed to decide what character it goes in I do feel, though, that it's horror -- maybe not that gory or spine-tingling, but horror nonetheless IMO.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Admittedly, it's just a small group of people dying suddenly from the disease, and the rest reacting as each of them die one by one. I hint at some supernatural elements but only hint (and not even much of a hint). There's also some speculation on the absence of God, you know, good old sacrilege Oh, and the main character straight up murders her lover. To me, this would be Erotic Horror or Non-Erotic. If @THBGato is accurate that any story with sex scenes should not go in Non-Erotic, and if others don't feel that this is horror, I'd be hard pressed to decide what character it goes in I do feel, though, that it's horror -- maybe not that gory or spine-tingling, but horror nonetheless IMO.

Yeah, I see your dilemma. Doesn't really fit neatly in EH, slow death by disease isn't really horror by the how most people in EH view these types of stories (my opnion as both a long-time writer of horror and reader of EH; others who read EH may disagree with that assessment), murder maybe, but... eh. Agree that it doesn't belong in Non-Erotic, either.

That said, the horror element depends primarily how you write it. Most things can be horrifying, even banal things, if you write it correctly. Disease progression, written with a horror lens in mind, could be a type of horror — body horror.

If you are writing it as horror, even if the erotic elements aren't horror-based, I think EH is probably your best bet. If for no other reason than having disturbing elements doesn't really play well with the other major categories, unless you put in an author's note stating as such, and you have the sex elements fitting in someting like Group/First Time/Anal/Mature/What-Have-You.

Edit: Without explicit supernatural elements, it wouldn't go in SF&F either. If only we had a Historical Fiction section...

 

[caleb35]

Yeah, I see your dilemma. Doesn't really fit neatly in EH, slow death by disease isn't really horror by the how most people in EH view these types of stories (my opnion as both a long-time writer of horror and reader of EH; others who read EH may disagree with that assessment), murder maybe, but... eh. Agree that it doesn't belong in Non-Erotic, either.

That said, the horror element depends primarily how you write it. Most things can be horrifying, even banal things, if you write it correctly. Disease progression, written with a horror lens in mind, could be a type of horror — body horror.

If you are writing it as horror, even if the erotic elements aren't horror-based, I think EH is probably your best bet. If for no other reason than having disturbing elements doesn't really play well with the other major categories, unless you put in an author's note stating as such, and you have the sex elements fitting in someting like Group/First Time/Anal/Mature/What-Have-You.

Edit: Without explicit supernatural elements, it wouldn't go in SF&F either. If only we had a Historical Fiction section...

Thank you for your comments and insight. For lack of a better alternative, I'll likely submit to EH (and let the chips fall where they may, as the cliche goes).

Having a Historical Fiction category is a GREAT idea; hadn't thought about it before but now that you brought it up I don't know why it hasn't been done before. I see there's a NonHuman category, which doesn't make sense to me, as that would be Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Lastly, maybe I can argue it could go in First Times, depending on how flexible we are with what the "first time" actually references

 

[anthrodisiac]

I see there's a NonHuman category, which doesn't make sense to me, as that would be Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

...............

*dies from sheer offense*

*re-animates and composes self*

*mumbles* It's okay, it's okay, caleb doesn't know better... Breathe...



Anthy's lesson of the day: Differences between Science-Fiction & Fantasy and Non-Human Literotica categories

It's pretty simple: SF&F is when the focus is on, you know, sci-fi and fantasy elements. When those are most prevalent, you would put your story in SF&F. D&D, aliens, magic, doo-dads, cyborgs, demons, what you have, those tend (note the word "tend") to fall under SF&F.

Non-human is when the elements are primarily the fact that the sexual partner(s) is/are not human (or that the main themes of the story are focused on the non-humans, doesn't have to be erotic necessarily).

Certainly, there are stories that would make sense in both categories — aliens, demons, magical worlds with monsters, what have you. But there are plenty of stories that have no real place in SF&F, because they contain neither science-fiction nor fantasy elements.

Say you have a story that's basically our world, modern day. You wouldn't call that sci-fi in this current moment unless you threw in new tech or modified it in some way, right? But let's just say, for pure random example apropos of nothing, that this world also happens to be populated by anthropomorphic animals. No magic, no wacky tech, just a fact of life, humans and anthros living side by side. Calling something like that science-ficiton or fantasy is like saying Zootopia is a science-fiction or a fantasy piece. The stories primarily are about the non-human elements and interactions, and anyone stumbling on them in SF&F would be imminently confused at the lack of, you know, science-fiction or fantasy.

For random example, no idea how I came up with it, totally, absolutely random.



Edit: In case it wasn't clear, I'm not actually offended. I'm on-fended.*

*And a sarcastic fringehead.

 

[Statius]

For what it's worth, if the tension is high enough and the reactions of the other characters is terrifying enough- hopelessly watching people you care about die from a disease no one understood in those days would have probably been terrifying, since no one knew where it came from or how it spread, religious and spiritual beliefs would have increased that horror, there should be no issue putting this in EH.

 

[caleb35]

Thanks again to those who weighed in on this, I appreciate the feedback. Over the last few days I've had some further thoughts on this -- and I suspect the solution to my problem is to NOT post it to Literotica but instead post it elsewhere. I hate to pass on Literotica as I get my highest views on this website. However, while the work includes sex scenes, it is not erotic. I'd label it as horror (although some would disagree with that, based on their own definition of horror), but I don't think I can claim that it is Erotic Horror. Mostly it's just disturbing Again, while I'd like to post it here, I think I just have to accept that Literotica is not the best place for it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks again to those who weighed in on this, I appreciate the feedback. Over the last few days I've had some further thoughts on this -- and I suspect the solution to my problem is to NOT post it to Literotica but instead post it elsewhere. I hate to pass on Literotica as I get my highest views on this website. However, while the work includes sex scenes, it is not erotic. I'd label it as horror (although some would disagree with that, based on their own definition of horror), but I don't think I can claim that it is Erotic Horror. Mostly it's just disturbing Again, while I'd like to post it here, I think I just have to accept that Literotica is not the best place for it.

I reckon you're sweating on this too much, being too literal as to category definitions.

I can't see why you can't drop it in Erotic Horror, get the Lit audience numbers (are you going to get those elsewhere?).

Put a note at the top if you're really worried about it. The subject matter sounds pretty niche anyway, so I don't see why you'd limit your audience further, by going off Lit.