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Story Tags - Additional Tips

Dear Writers:

Yes, I agree - there are already How-To-Guides written about Story Tags and they're really great with plenty of examples (advice here -- you should definitely read them in the FAQ section).

So why another one?

There are two important things missing or that have not been highlighted enough, which you should also keep in mind when choosing the tags for your new story.

1. Do NOT create new tags if similar ones already exist.

2. Do not OMIT important tags / DEFINE your target audience using the tags.

Why does it matter?

Because, as an avid reader myself for many months, I can tell you from my own experience what happened more than once & drove me mad:

I've invested a lot of time finding and reading a story that would fit my criteria, my current mood and which was a longer series, if possible.

(Although I like short steamy stories for the same reasons men do. I guess the only difference is that the result of my "focused reading" lands on the chair beneath me rather than on the keyboard in front of me.)

Much too often the only result of my avid reading was a frustrated grunt somewhere in the middle of the story (or worse -- a whole series), instead of gratification.

Reason?

Missing & misleading tags.

I'm sure that this is not primarily the writer's intention. If they'd only paid attention to the Story Tags fields while submitting their stories...

How to avoid this?

Let's review my initial recommendations in more detail.

***

1. Do NOT create new tags if similar ones already exist.

Let's have a look at tags visible on the Story Tags Main page (tags.literotica.com) for one Category

e.g. BDSM

(Not everyone's favorite, but bear with me -- it's just an example and I'm aware that not everyone enjoys the kinky stuff.)

On the right side of the Main page, in the "Filter by Category" section, click on the word "BDSM".

What do you see now on the left side of your screen? Many similar looking tag names?

  1. "blindfold", blindfolded", "blindfolds"

  2. "dominant female", "female dominant", "dominatrix", "female domination", "fdom", etc.

  3. "dominant male", "male domination", "maledom", "male dom", etc.

  4. "cuffs", "handcuffs"

  5. "strap on", "strap-on", "strapon"

Hm -- looks like all the words in each line have the same meaning, right? YES!

(There are more of these repeating patterns, but five examples should be enough. And it's really annoying especially in the line e), because it's not even three different words, but one, only written in three different ways).

You should consider, when choosing tags for your story, using tags which currently exists and not create a new tag.

Example:

Your story is about a dominant female using handcuffs.

Correct tags:

A combination of any of the tags mentioned in line b) and line d) -- preferably "female dominant" and "handcuffs"

Wrong tags:

Creating an additional one like "female dom" or "hand cuffs".

Why?

Creating new story tags on your own or leaving the fields "Story Tags" empty during Story Submission can really backfire on you and you might end up with a story, which many people won't find on the Site.

You might not reach the targeted audience if you're submitting your story listed under completely new tags instead of using the already existing, tried and true ones. Many of the readers will be looking for hot stories on the site by just clicking on one of the existing/predefined tags rather than typing some detailed descriptions in the Search field.

And while doing so, they'll most probably click on those words written with nice big letters -- check out the Main page to see the difference in sizes. Therefore in the above mentioned example I'd tend to submit the story under: "female dominant" and "handcuffs".

***

2. Do not OMIT important tags / DEFINE your target audience using the tags.

You really have only ten Story tags available when submitting your story -- so use them wisely!

Especially if your story has a lot of different scenarios in it, you should not waste the tags on unimportant details. Focus on the main characters and events.

Example:

Husband and wife meet another couple on a rainy day to celebrate the wife's birthday. There's a lot of action going on between all four of them, because all of them are bisexual. One of the couples is in a D/s relationship and also acts like this during the foursome. Later a few of their friends visit them and join the action, some of them preferring anal, others just want to watch...

The possible scenarios here in our example are almost endless now for tagging your story: m/f, f/f, m/m, mmf, ffm, gangbang, double penetration, domination, orgy, anal, voyeurism, etc.

So if you miss tagging one of these important activities in your story -- I would even have a problem squeezing all the above-mentioned endless possibilities into just ten commonly used tags -- and you would rather waste one of the tags on highlighting that it was a "rainy day" or that they celebrated a "birthday", then you're simply robbing yourself of the chance to reach a very wide audience.

Hand in hand with the above mentioned -- don't forget to tag what is usually the most important bit for every reader:

Who are the protagonists - heterosexual man/woman, gay man, lesbian woman, bisexual male/female or any other(-worldly) beings?

In other words what kind of sexual activities will be performed in your story.

Sounds like nothing new to the writers on this Site? Isn't it already in those other How-To-Guides?

Yes, it is. Unfortunately, to my great disappointment I've realized, that many people are still writing their stories in blissful ignorance of the primary facts about human sexuality.

Therefore it might be a good idea to print out the following list and keep it somewhere near your computer, or memorize and repeat it often, especially when writing erotic stories:

  1. Heterosexual man: This man loves pussies, not cocks!

So no, it is not okay if in your story this guy suddenly happily offers a blowjob (or even something more) to another guy.

  1. Heterosexual women (speaking for myself now as well): We love cocks, not pussies!

So no, it is not okay when your female protagonist suddenly happily licks another woman's pussy.

  1. Gay man: This guy loves cocks, not pussies!

So no, it is not okay when this guy suddenly happily licks and fucks a woman's pussy.

  1. Lesbian woman: This girl loves pussies, not cocks!

So no, it is not okay when this girl in your story suddenly rides a man's cock.

  1. Bisexual male: This guy loves both cocks and pussies!

So yes -- you can put your character into this category if you want to write erotic scenes for a man including activities with both genders.

  1. Bisexual female: This girl loves both cocks and pussies!

So yes -- you can put your character into this category if you want to write erotic scenes for a woman including activities with both genders.

  1. Other(-worldly) beings: Now we're talking about pure fiction and in this case:

Yes -- you can create this character however you wish and make him/her/it do whatever they wish with both genders, with whatever protrusions or cavities they may have.

Author's note: There are of course other options as well, but let's focus on the most common ones.

Hence, if you intend to write a story where a guy sooner or later has sex with both men and women, you have to clearly state, that he's bisexual and TAG your story with the respective tags.

The same -- and I cannot say this often enough -- is true for women. If you intend to write a story where the girl will sooner or later have sex with both men and women, you have to clearly state, that she's bisexual and TAG your story with the respective tags.

***

Dear Writers,

Please remember that if you constantly break these simple facts about human sexuality in your stories and do not make your audience aware of that by providing the appropriate tag, you're not creating turn-ONs, but turn-OFFs for many of your readers.

Think about who is your intended audience -- the readers -- and which tags will help them find your story quickly and easily.

Think about who your characters are and what they will do (or have done -- if you've already finished your story by now) in terms of sexual activities.

Think about how long your story will be (or is). -- Are there more chapters? Great! You can tag each one differently and adjust the tags according to the contents of each chapter!

Just don't forget to use all the correct tags -- your readers will be happy and satisfied, able to enjoy your stories completely, in full length and find them easily anytime they want.

Hope this was at least a little bit helpful & Thank you!

***

Many thanks to my editor HMauthor for the great help and all suggestions -- much appreciated!

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