Writing to popularity

[ColtonWrites]

I'm about to publish a Tony Stark/Steve Rogers fanfic over on AO3 - picking that pairing was what prompted this thread.

Fanfic doesnt do numbers here but its a main driver for ao3.

 

[Voboy]

Does anyone try to pick story topics based on what they think the audience will like?

Or do you write what comes to you and let the piece find its people?

I think this is a false dichotomy.

I read here for decades before I started writing, and I continue to read now. Meaning, my story ideas are shaped by my reading.

So, from the standpoint that "I am the audience," it stands to reason that the story ideas most likely to come to me, and certainly the ones most likely to actually get written, are necessarily ideas that are going to please the audience. Which, again, is... me.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I used to write what I was paid to write, so if you consider money to be the "audience", then I have done that in the past.

Here, I write exclusively for myself, with an occasional foray into a contest or challenge which may make the story more audience-centric in that regard, but it is incidental to the writing, not the purpose for it.

I attend a few writer conference each year, and lately, many of the agents and publishers at these have place Utopian and/or dystopian stories at the top of their wish lists. Nothing among my works in progress comes close and I don't see it happening. I no longer write for others, regardless of the financial benefits of doing so.

 

[MrHereWriting]

My stuff gets low views because it's got trans men. I've come to terms with that one - it's not a "coping mechanism", it's just that what I write isn't what most people want to read.

Is it read by what would be considered a large audience of trans men? If so, the views wouldn't be considered low.

 

[ColtonWrites]

Is it read by what would be considered a large audience of trans men? If so, the views wouldn't be considered low.

I get a decent response from trans men on Tumblr and AO3. LitE readers are quieter and a more mainstream demographic, in general. I *think* trans men here like reading it, but there arent many of us active.

I make a point of demonstrating a variety of types of trans men - tops, bottoms, pre-surgery, post-surgery, comfortable with being touched vs not, younger, older. So I hope it connects with a variety of people.

 

[deathlynx]

Whatever is stuck in my head and needs to get out.

 

[caleb35]

Does anyone try to pick story topics based on what they think the audience will like?

Or do you write what comes to you and let the piece find its people?

I'm usually in the second camp - I write the fantasies that appeal to me, and hope that other people will like them. And while it seems my work doesn't appeal to the majority of people, the ones who do like it, really like it.

But I know some people try to write what will make their audience happy. I don't try to do that on Lit because that means writing either Loving Wives (yeah, no) or Taboo/Incest content - and T/I is a cold shower for me. I don't even like it when someone calls a Dom "Daddy", which ruins a lot of otherwise very good BDSM content, I can tell you.

I don't for the most part but I'd be lying if I said it's not a consideration. I see that my Reluctant/NonCon stories get more readership and generally higher votes/favorites than in other categories (excepting Mind Control, which, let's be honest, is usually a form of Reluctant/NonCon) and that does provide some small incentive to focus on writing stories in that category. However, it's not the biggest concern. At the end of the day, I'm still mostly driven by whatever story has entered my head and is itching the fiercest to get out; I worry about categorizing it after it's written.

I do think there are some (maybe many) authors on this site who write entirely for the audience -- they see what people like, what tropes are popular, and they fashion their stories accordingly. I could do that, I suppose, but I don't. I write primarily for myself; I'm happy to post it for others, and I'm happy if they like it, but I don't write for them. I write for me. I'm biased towards other authors who do/feel the same. To me, writing as a form of expression is superior to writing as a means to gather praise, which I believe what writing for an audience ultimately comes down to.

 

[Ianus4]

Nowadays, what is popular? Romance? Anthro-fucking? Arena-style, teen survival game? A boy wizard? A superhero? Are navy SEALs still popular?

According to LFS, incest and cuckolding are the most popular genres nowadays. True romantic stories are, unfortunately, becoming increasingly rare (and many people publish works from entirely different genres under the “Romance” category), so such stories tend to appear more often in LS. In LW, marital dramas have become scarce lately (though there’s clearly a demand for them...) and even those are mostly btb stories; it’s been a very long time since there was a reconciliation story. Anthro has always been a niche genre on Lit, though its fanbase is very dedicated.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

I do like raking... I had some of that in Clutch Slut. I would've gone pinned down by sickle claw, but I couldn't make it work. Might save that for a follow-up if I ever do one

Is it just me, or do sickle claws look like a question mark? Something that is not only deadly but can double as punctuation.

 

[Britva415]

Does anyone try to pick story topics based on what they think the audience will like?

Or do you write what comes to you and let the piece find its people?

I'm usually in the second camp - I write the fantasies that appeal to me, and hope that other people will like them. And while it seems my work doesn't appeal to the majority of people, the ones who do like it, really like it.

But I know some people try to write what will make their audience happy. I don't try to do that on Lit because that means writing either Loving Wives (yeah, no) or Taboo/Incest content - and T/I is a cold shower for me. I don't even like it when someone calls a Dom "Daddy", which ruins a lot of otherwise very good BDSM content, I can tell you.

Second. 100%

 

[Britva415]

Is it just me, or do sickle claws look like a question mark? Something that is not only deadly but can double as punctuation.

"Alicesaurus punctuated her displeasure with extreme prejudice, then disengaged her rhetorical questionmark from Bobsaurus's deflating ribs with a practiced flick."

 

[anthrodisiac]

Is it just me, or do sickle claws look like a question mark? Something that is not only deadly but can double as punctuation.

Yeah, and that question is, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, care to repeat what you just said, punk?"

 

[MrHereWriting]

According to LFS, incest and cuckolding are the most popular genres nowadays. True romantic stories are, unfortunately, becoming increasingly rare (and many people publish works from entirely different genres under the “Romance” category), so such stories tend to appear more often in LS. In LW, marital dramas have become scarce lately (though there’s clearly a demand for them...) and even those are mostly btb stories; it’s been a very long time since there was a reconciliation story. Anthro has always been a niche genre on Lit, though its fanbase is very dedicated.

Yeah, but like I said, writing in a popular genre isn't the same as trying to write a popular story.

That's why I mentioned the anthro story Morning Glory Milking Farm. If people started writing similar stories to that in hopes of mimicking its popularity, that would be an example of "Does anyone try to pick story topics based on what they think the audience will like?"

 

[JFoxxo]

This isn't really something I've thought about when it comes to erotic fiction. I have niche kinks, and I'm only really interested in writing those kinks, so I'm well aware my reach is limited.

There are huge benefits to writing within smaller niches though. Less competition, and readers of those niches tend to be more loyal and active (given the lack of material).

 

[TheWritingGroup]

That's why I mentioned the anthro story Morning Glory Milking Farm. If people started writing similar stories to that in hopes of mimicking its popularity, that would be an example of "Does anyone try to pick story topics based on what they think the audience will like?"

I sort of jokingly hint at MGMF in "Both Sides Now," as an Easter egg, but nothing in there is meant to be "jacking off a billionaire minotaur." (Yes, that's the central plot device of MGMF.)

 

[MrHereWriting]

I sort of jokingly hint at MGMF in "Both Sides Now," as an Easter egg, but nothing in there is meant to be "jacking off a billionaire minotaur." (Yes, that's the central plot device of MGMF.)

I've never read it, but of course he'd be a billionaire.

 

[MajorRewrite]

I wrote my first story for this site purely to see if I could write something that would be popular. The challenge of it was my motivation.

A year later, I wrote my second story to see if I could write a popular Loving Wives story.

My later stories were just for my own amusement.

 

[Stanfield2025]

I wrote an age-gap lesbian sex story, then made it Taboo/Incest in order to garner viewers. It worked.