To smut, or not to smut?

[Malonymous]

Suppose hypothetically that you had the crazy idea to try writing an ecchi/gender bender fantasy adventure with an outline that eventually builds up to GL/harem/smut. However, your readers seem to want those kinds of scenes sooner rather than later, and you're concerned about letting down their expectations.

What do you do? Asking for a friend.

 

[MrTiemos]

A lot of the early smut stories burn out quickly.
Personally I find that build-up with proper payoff makes for a better reading experience.

 

[Deleted member 25179]

There is no regret greater than when you've fulfilled the expectations of your readers, but have failed to fulfill your own. Write whatever you want to write; don't let anything else other than criticism influence you.

 

[CL]

Suppose hypothetically that you had the crazy idea to try writing an ecchi/gender bender fantasy adventure with an outline that eventually builds up to GL/harem/smut. However, your readers seem to want those kinds of scenes sooner rather than later, and you're concerned about letting down their expectations.

What do you do? Asking for a friend.

Okay, firstly, I'm not going to tell you what to do. I have no idea what it is your readers are asking for (not specifically anyways).

Instead, I've a suggestion: tease. Give them something that not just builds the plot up to that point, but builds up the interest too. Give them something that hints at more to come.

 

[Saileri]

I would still go with my initial plan of having it happen when I felt it was appropriate. Trying to forcefully quicken the arrival could bring more harm than good. People aren't that horny. They enjoy the story too. Unless no one would go through 50k words of prologue before any hot action happened in my novel

 

[CL]

People aren't that horny.

Remember the fact that there are a lot of traumatized and frustrated people still quarantined in their homes. Those experiences paired together can draw out some really unusual (and weirdly timed) instinctual "needs".

 

[Malonymous]

Okay, firstly, I'm not going to tell you what to do. I have no idea what it is your readers are asking for (not specifically anyways).

Instead, I've a suggestion: tease. Give them something that not just builds the plot up to that point, but builds up the interest too. Give them something that hints at more to come.

*tries to write psychological gender bender without smut*
first comment on latest chapter: "i kinda wanted some smut"
*dies*

But really though, I was getting the impression that people weren't liking where the story was going as much as I had hoped, like maybe I should be trying something different. The replies here have given me hope

 

[K5Rakitan]

Write the story you want to read.

 

[Saileri]

Write the story you want to read.

So far this worked for me.

 

[DarkGodEM]

Suppose hypothetically that you had the crazy idea to try writing an ecchi/gender bender fantasy adventure with an outline that eventually builds up to GL/harem/smut. However, your readers seem to want those kinds of scenes sooner rather than later, and you're concerned about letting down their expectations.

What do you do? Asking for a friend.

Hmmmm....
Ecchi/Gender Bender/Fantasy/GL/Harem/Smut....
Where have I seen those tags all together before....

Oh Right. My novel

L O L

I laughed my ass off at the coincidence though.
You should make stuff at its own pace but avoid putting the tags if you don't intend to make it happen in the first 50 or so chapters. that's just misleading

 

[SuperBort]

Is the story all about the smut, or is the smut just one element in the overall narrative? If there's an actual story then introduce the smut only when it fits the plot. If it is largely just a pile of smut, then first of all SH is the wrong site for that (SH is a place for stories that may contain smut. People are here for actual stories and plots, but it just so happens a lot of said stories posted here contain smut as part of said plot). You should indeed add smut earlier if that is the sole aim of your story.

 

[thedude3445]

Don't write the smut.

 

[Reisinling]

Well write what you want but man novels with smut seem to get more views. It's a good hook I guess, if you don't mind putting it every few dozen chapters or so.

 

[ConcubusBunny]

You could try smutting earlier if you planned to go wild any way, not something crazy just a simple sex scene between lovers should do just fine to satisfy their list full cravings.

 

[Ai-chan]

Suppose hypothetically that you had the crazy idea to try writing an ecchi/gender bender fantasy adventure with an outline that eventually builds up to GL/harem/smut. However, your readers seem to want those kinds of scenes sooner rather than later, and you're concerned about letting down their expectations.

What do you do? Asking for a friend.

When people ask Ai-chan whether to lewd or not to lewd. Ai-chan would say "Please lewd the looted lute."

The question you should ask is not whether or not you should, but whether or not you could.

Should you lewd the dragons? Yes.
Should you lewd the loli? Yes
Should you lewd the loli dragon? Yes.

 

[strayCat0]

When in doubt, write smut

 

[Novellover]

Keep Going by your outline because Fapping material don’t last enough for an Good story

 

[WasatchWind]

No smut. Write romance that doesn't need explicit fan service content to be good. Focus on actual chemistry between the people involved, rather than a flimsy relationship built only on passionate sexual encounters, that will ultimately fail when actually tested.

A relationship done with tact and done organically will be much more strong, much more beautiful, and much more interesting than anything smut can offer.