Is writing for the category audience a trend at Literotica?

[MelissaBaby]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the single-category-per-story system...

I don't like the idea of any writer feeling the need to modify their work to make it fit into a category. Luckily, I tend to write long pieces, so I often submit in Novels and Novellas. I'm willing to reach a smaller (though generally appreciative) audience if it allows me to maintain the integrity of my story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the single-category-per-story system...

It can be a hassle, but generally speaking, don't most stories have a predominant kink? The tag system then acts as a slightly finer focus as to what else is in the story.

Unless of course you write smorgasbord stories - where authors pile on as much as they can into the same on-going shaggy dog yarn. In which case, separate stories are probably best, coz the likelihood that a whole bunch of readers are going to have the exact same kink set as you is pretty remote.

The single category system is a constraint, sure, but a bit of authorial discipline can be good too, writing within it.

The best solution, I've found, is to write more stories and spread yourself around the categories. You won't get the same huge following as you would if you become a single category writer, but you'll probably get more satisfaction, mixing up your tropes.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

Unless it's incest/taboo, the category I publish in is one of the last things I consider. I posted a separate thread, but usually my stories could work for multiple categories. I know that's not unique, but it feels like others have a better sense of the category flow chart in terms of deciding where to put things.

Generally I write "for myself," in that a story idea will appear and I'll attack it in a way that feels natural and satisfying to me. I'll incorporate "fan service" in terms of explicit descriptions that I assume readers will like, and obviously I hope people like what I wrote, but otherwise I'm not writing for an audience.

We publish stuff here for free. Likes, ratings and comments are a form of currency, maybe, but at the end of the day, if you're publishing for free, you've got to want to like what you're writing first.

 

[RocketGrunt]

The categories are logically incoherent. Sci-Fi/Fantasy is a category based on world building, Non-Human is a category based on the characters. Anal is a category based on the hole used. Reluctance/Nonconsent is a category based on the consent of the characters involved. Mind Control

So if you have a story that is set in an Urban Fantasy world and the story itself is about a vampire fucking someone in the butt against their will until they become a vampire thrall, that is logically SF/F, and NH, and Anal, and R/NC, and MC, right? It is all of those things. All the boxes have been checked. If the vampire was the brother of the new thrall you could add Incest/Taboo. If the thrall was tied up and beaten before the sodomy, you could add BDSM. If the new thrall was also a dude, it could be Gay. And so on.

What decides the category therefore isn't the logic of whether a story fits the technical definition of the category. What decides the category is the culture of the category. It goes where it's a best fit for the audience.

The Sci-Fi/Fantasy people like long series and full novels with extensive world building. If you want to put it in SF/F you better be willing to write some more chapters where the different bloodlines of vampires have their political intrigues and different power sets. The new butt slave will interact with other people who have been anally enslaved by other vampires and so on. Maybe there's even some vampires who use other holes. You'll have to figure that out, because the SF/F bord wants continuations, development, and backstory.

On the other hand, the Non-Human board wants their monster girls monstrous. So it's not OK for our vampire butt-fucker to just be a guy with retractable fangs and an opera cape, he has to be a full bestial nosferatu with chiropteran wings and fur in strange places.

On the other other hand, the Mind Control board wants you to go deep on the psychological aspects. The before, the during, the after of the vampiric enslavement.

And like, the Anal section genuinely doesn't want any of that stuff. They are really just there for people getting fucked in the butt and mostly don't want vampiric mind control to feature in it at all.

Finding out what the people of any particular board want is the only way to find out where your story actually goes. And doing that research will not only get your story reviewed better, it's the absolute minimum effort to show respect for your readers.

 

[lovecraft68]

No one writes a song they hope no one will listen to.
No one scripts or directs a movie in the hope no one comes to see it.
No one creates a podcast with the intent no one will listen to it
No one makes You Tube videos and doesn't want anyone to subscribe to their channel.

So what is this ridiculous theory that if you write stories that appeal to most readers, it's something to be ashamed of or you're less of a writer.

Never mind, I know the answer.

Its one of the tiresome double standards of a certain crowd here, and we've always had people like this through the years, it's nothing new, and it's never been anything positive.

This group likes to think they're above everyone else, that they're some kind of edgelord whose writing is of such quality and so different, so theirs and theirs alone, that the readership of lit, all uneducated unwashed masses according to them who just don't understand quality, can't fathom so they don't read them. Only the most erudite of writers-like their friends here-are worthy of reading these stories. While they pen these incredible works of art they denigrate any story and author who is popular, because popular means you are pandering, with the definition of pandering being having the nerve to write stories the readers actually like, and many authors began as, and still are, readers so they're writing what they liked. But that's selling out in the eyes of these superior authors.

Yet this group are also the ones who cry the most over their ratings, few comments, low vote totals, lack of top list stories and whatever other stat one can be obsessed with. They want to insult the readers and other authors, then wonder why their stories don't get the big reaction.

And still, they double down on it. They never stop and think, hmm, maybe its me, no, we get back to the "people here don't like quality, I'm too good for here, I am underappreciated! Only me and my small amount of forum friends know good stories when they see them. Screw these people and all the authors that pander to them! But at the same time, please, please, please, read my story!

That's the truth of the matter, ego, superiority complex and the green-eyed monster of jealousy.

But they call it 'writing for myself"

Everyone on this site writes for themselves, difference is many are happy to write in ways that appeal to the masses because the point here is to have people want to read and enjoy your work. Those are the writers most come here for.

Its important for people to write whatever they want. Its also important not to judge and shame and act like you're better than another author, but more than a few here obviously don't believe that.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

No one writes a song they hope no one will listen to.
No one scripts or directs a movie in the hope no one comes to see it.
No one creates a podcast with the intent no one will listen to it
No one makes You Tube videos and doesn't want anyone to subscribe to their channel.

So what is this ridiculous theory that if you write stories that appeal to most readers, it's something to be ashamed of or you're less of a writer.

Never mind, I know the answer.

Its one of the tiresome double standards of a certain crowd here, and we've always had people like this through the years, it's nothing new, and it's never been anything positive.

This group likes to think they're above everyone else, that they're some kind of edgelord whose writing is of such quality and so different, so theirs and theirs alone, that the readership of lit, all uneducated unwashed masses according to them who just don't understand quality, can't fathom so they don't read them. Only the most erudite of writers-like their friends here-are worthy of reading these stories. While they pen these incredible works of art they denigrate any story and author who is popular, because popular means you are pandering, with the definition of pandering being having the nerve to write stories the readers actually like, and many authors began as, and still are, readers so they're writing what they liked. But that's selling out in the eyes of these superior authors.

Yet this group are also the ones who cry the most over their ratings, few comments, low vote totals, lack of top list stories and whatever other stat one can be obsessed with. They want to insult the readers and other authors, then wonder why their stories don't get the big reaction.

And still, they double down on it. They never stop and think, hmm, maybe its me, no, we get back to the "people here don't like quality, I'm too good for here, I am underappreciated! Only me and my small amount of forum friends know good stories when they see them. Screw these people and all the authors that pander to them! But at the same time, please, please, please, read my story!

That's the truth of the matter, ego, superiority complex and the green-eyed monster of jealousy.

But they call it 'writing for myself"

Everyone on this site writes for themselves, difference is many are happy to write in ways that appeal to the masses because the point here is to have people want to read and enjoy your work. Those are the writers most come here for.

Its important for people to write whatever they want. Its also important not to judge and shame and act like you're better than another author, but more than a few here obviously don't believe that.

Seems like every art form has its snobby "you just don't understand my art" elitists. I'm sure we all have a particular image in our heads of the quintessential, stereotypical 'misunderstood artist'.

I had a conversation with a friend at some point about art, and how all art is inherently communication. Communicating well is the responsibility of the speaker to make themselves understood, not the responsibility of the listener to receive a poorly presented message as intended. If the people one wants understanding their art aren't getting it, that's on the artist for not communicating it well, not on the people for not getting it.

Now, certainly one can intentionally communicate in obscure and esoteric ways that only a select group of people will understand, and if that's their intended audience, great, more power to them, but it's hardly fair to whine about the people outside of that group not getting it. One can certainly make art that is ambiguous and widely open to interpretation, but then they don't really get to complain about people interpreting it differently than intended.



And it's certainly possible to create art that is communicated very clearly, and still have people not like it. That's why it's important to be upfront about what someone should expect from your art, so that if it's something they won't like, they can steer clear. I wholly support people only following artists and consuming art they will enjoy. I wouldn't want 100,000 followers if 99,999 of them aren't going to like what I create. I'd much rather just have the one single follower who will.

So in short, I agree with you. If someone wants more than just that one follower, they need to balance 'writing solely and completely for themselves' with 'including some stuff they know will appeal to their audience'. As long as it's not solely, or even mostly, fan service, then combining a bit of the expected with the new and unique value an artist is adding themselves seems reasonable.

I personally struggle a lot with that balance and how much of the unexpected to sacrifice in the name of broader appeal. Seems like everyone has a different spot where they draw that line, and that's okay by me.