Fujoshi Problems

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

So I've recently been enthralled by the characters of an untranslated Japanese webseries turned japan exclusive stage show that nobody has heard of. How I got to this point is unimportant, my real problem is once again, with literoticas category system.

There's this pervasive attitude on literotica that gay literature doesn't deserve genuine genre classification because straight male readership would rather castrate themselves than be normal about encountering a romance story in the romance category that happens to feature sex between men. It's just how things go around here, if it features gay men, it goes in the gay male category regardless of genre, lest it be bombed off the face of relevance. To be clear I don't expect straight men to read and engage with gay fiction. I just think it's ridiculous that grown adult men opon realizing they've stumbled into a work that isn't their fancy, feel the need to do anything but close the tab and move on with their lives.

My conundrum is this: if fanfiction must go in the fanfiction category, and gay shit gets bombarded by jerkwads when found outside the gay category, what miserable position am I, a humble Lesbian Fujo writing about men from Japanese stage shows, left in? Must I forever suffer through unsolicited heterosexual opinion as I wait for my dear wife AO3 to come back from the war?

At what point of english cultural irrelevance and departure from canon, can I call the work inspired by the stage play and put it in the gay male category instead of fanfiction? The stories stand on their own, no context of the show is required to understand it, but the setting and characters are unavoidably from a show that there is no translation for, and no way to watch in 2026 without knowing the right girl in japan.

There's something wrong with me, but let's pretend I'm normal for the function of this post.

 

[NotWise]

"Inspired by ... " a story, a play, a poem, is not the same thing as fan fiction, which uses a character, and often an actor, from someone else's work in a new story.

If your idea is inspired by the play and not using it's characters or actors, then you can probably put it in Gay Male without a problem. You can even put "Inspired by ..." in the author's note.

 

[TheRedChamber]

You can put gay works outside of the Gay Category, just make sure that the gayness is indicated in the title or description. That's probably the best thing to do with your story.

Some categories are more forgiving of this breaking confinement than others - BDSM, Fetish, First Time and (nat.) Anal are probably the friendliest. Incest, I believe, is okay with clear dad/son brother/brother markings.

You might (might!) end up with a lower score - the Gay category is one of the highest scoring and friendly places to be even before you've 'cruelly tricked' a straight guy into clicking on your clearly marked story. Just take the hit.

 

[ElectricBlue]

At what point of english cultural irrelevance and departure from canon, can I call the work inspired by the stage play and put it in the gay male category instead of fanfiction? The stories stand on their own, no context of the show is required to understand it, but the setting and characters are unavoidably from a show that there is no translation for, and no way to watch in 2026 without knowing the right girl in japan.

There's something wrong with me, but let's pretend I'm normal for the function of this post.

About now, I'd say. Don't treat it as Fan-fic, and it seems to me you'll do fine.

 

[Rob_Royale]

About now, I'd say. Don't treat it as Fan-fic, and it seems to me you'll do fine.

What he said.