Writing Advice about genres and their specifications

[Melver]

Hello!

I'm new to this platform as well as writing web novels. Therefore, there's this thing that's been bothering me since getting into this field.

I'm sure I must not have been the first one to ask, so if there's a thread available, please link it for me. Otherwise, I would like someone with some experience to explain simply what each genre, at least on this website, requires for it to be fitting with the actual story. For example: What's the difference between ecchi and smut? What counts as mature and adult? Should I label it comedy even though I'm not sure it's actually funny? And what is considered action?

These are mere newbie worries, I don't think specifying genres has to be that important as long as you have a main genre, however, as a reader myself, in order to get hooked on something, I want to at least think I know what I'm getting myself into. If I'm being unclear, please say so and I'll try to explain it better.
I'm not going to consider comments like "choose whatever you think will fit" or "it depends on the story" to be valid as that is not what I'm asking for.

I would like a generalized summary of the genres that can be chosen when creating a series, their specifications as the minimum, and perhaps what experienced writers and readers think about the importance of genre labeling and what usually works best.

Thank you for taking your time, and I hope I'm not being too roundabout with my question as I'm unsure how to formulate the question properly.

 

[Corty]

Welcome!

Others may come and give you some details; anyway, here is one thread for some tips, albeit it hasn't got the answers you are looking for here for now.

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But seeing your question, I will add them; the only catch is that I can only do that tomorrow as I am unable to do so now. If you are still looking for an answer, check back 24 hours later, it should have a section added to it with a short description of every available main genre you can choose from. I'll put it in the reader's section. Just a heads up.

 

[KrakenRiderEmma]

Smut has depictions of sex and genitalia, with or without fetish/niche content. Ecchi generally does not have that kind of explicit stuff, buti instead has softcore sexual content, "playful" lewd behavior such as a character tripping and falling face-first into a woman's cleavage, peeking into the other side of a gender-divided hot spring, pervs getting slapped, swimsuit reveals, having lewd fantasies that aren't super explicit, etc.

Adult, as far as I've seen, tends to be the genre equivalent of the R-18 tag: content that's considered too graphic or unsuitable for minors including explicit sex, gore, extreme violence anything that would get kids kicked out of a movie. Mature means the story has themes which deal with mature topics that might be difficult for immature readers (of whatever age) to enjoy or understand, maybe because they're too dark, too dry, or just from grown-up land somehow. Kids wouldn't get kicked out of a "Mature" movie unless it was also "Adult," but most kids would be bored or irritated by a "Mature" movie.

The difference between Smut and Adult is the most tricky, because Smut is specifically about sex while Adult encompasses sex and more. In theory, Smut is for stories that are predominantly sex, while Adult is a more suitable category for "occasional sex." However, a lot of authors seem to tag Smut on stories that dip into extended sex scenes every so often, as opposed to only fading to black or including some R-18 details of sex. In other words, it doesn't have to be 100% Smut to be in the smut genre, as long as it has some significant Smut sections? Others may disagree.

The other genre tags are way more self-defined IMO. Do you think you're writing an Action story? Are there scenes of action, heart-pounding physical thrills of combat, life-or-death sport competition, swinging from ropes across a cliff, jumping out of an airplane, etc? Sure, it's Action. If you're aiming to be funny, then it's probably in the Comedy genre. Not everything in a genre is a good or successful example of that genre, after all.

 

[avaseofpeonies]

There is a definition of each genre on its listing page, but it's hidden in a dropdown next to the genre title, and no one ever reads them. Everyone just makes up whatever they think the definition should be.

As an example, here is the definition for smut: Erotic work of fiction that’s mainly targeted toward females. Smut stories often gives heavy focus on love and relationships between the main characters.

This is how the word is used as a literary term to define a particular fiction genre. It comes from the tradition of referring to women's romance novels like those published by Harlequin Romance, etc. as "smutty romance novels". It was also picked up back in the day by female fanfic wirters to describe their own fics.

I think @Empyrea , @RavenRunes and I are the only people on this site who use it this way. Lately I've given in and adopted a when in Rome mentality about it myself. One of my stories exactly fits that genre definition, but I took the label off upon realizing that my story does not have enough sex in it to meet the expectations people have upon disregarding the genre's actual definition.

I'm still disgruntled about it, though.

 

[Melver]

Welcome!

Others may come and give you some details; anyway, here is one thread for some tips, albeit it hasn't got the answers you are looking for here for now.

[Tutorial] For new users of Scribble Hub!

This tutorial is constantly maintained by yours truly and encompasses the basics for readers and writers. Check Section-C for finding more writing tutorials and a helping hand in developing your story by other ScribbleHub users! To navigate more easily ctrl+f the titles in the table of contents...

forum.scribblehub.com

But seeing your question, I will add them; the only catch is that I can only do that tomorrow as I am unable to do so now. If you are still looking for an answer, check back 24 hours later, it should have a section added to it with a short description of every available main genre you can choose from. I'll put it in the reader's section. Just a heads up.

Thank you! I appreciate it a lot

 

[Melver]

Smut has depictions of sex and genitalia, with or without fetish/niche content. Ecchi generally does not have that kind of explicit stuff, buti instead has softcore sexual content, "playful" lewd behavior such as a character tripping and falling face-first into a woman's cleavage, peeking into the other side of a gender-divided hot spring, pervs getting slapped, swimsuit reveals, having lewd fantasies that aren't super explicit, etc.

Adult, as far as I've seen, tends to be the genre equivalent of the R-18 tag: content that's considered too graphic or unsuitable for minors including explicit sex, gore, extreme violence anything that would get kids kicked out of a movie. Mature means the story has themes which deal with mature topics that might be difficult for immature readers (of whatever age) to enjoy or understand, maybe because they're too dark, too dry, or just from grown-up land somehow. Kids wouldn't get kicked out of a "Mature" movie unless it was also "Adult," but most kids would be bored or irritated by a "Mature" movie.

The difference between Smut and Adult is the most tricky, because Smut is specifically about sex while Adult encompasses sex and more. In theory, Smut is for stories that are predominantly sex, while Adult is a more suitable category for "occasional sex." However, a lot of authors seem to tag Smut on stories that dip into extended sex scenes every so often, as opposed to only fading to black or including some R-18 details of sex. In other words, it doesn't have to be 100% Smut to be in the smut genre, as long as it has some significant Smut sections? Others may disagree.

The other genre tags are way more self-defined IMO. Do you think you're writing an Action story? Are there scenes of action, heart-pounding physical thrills of combat, life-or-death sport competition, swinging from ropes across a cliff, jumping out of an airplane, etc? Sure, it's Action. If you're aiming to be funny, then it's probably in the Comedy genre. Not everything in a genre is a good or successful example of that genre, after all.

Thank you very much, it was very informative. I have a question about the Adult genre where you mention that in comparison to Smut, which is more centered on sex, the Adult genre is more of "Here's a story with plot and character growth but I'll throw in some sex that's necessary that's detailed because it's important to the story". Am I correct to assume that that's what you meant?

There is a definition of each genre on its listing page, but it's hidden in a dropdown next to the genre title, and no one ever reads them. Everyone just makes up whatever they think the definition should be.

As an example, here is the definition for smut: Erotic work of fiction that’s mainly targeted toward females. Smut stories often gives heavy focus on love and relationships between the main characters.

This is how the word is used as a literary term to define a particular fiction genre. It comes from the tradition of referring to women's romance novels like those published by Harlequin Romance, etc. as "smutty romance novels". It was also picked up back in the day by female fanfic wirters to describe their own fics.

I think @Empyrea , @RavenRunes and I are the only people on this site who use it this way. Lately I've given in and adopted a when in Rome mentality about it myself. One of my stories exactly fits that genre definition, but I took the label off upon realizing that my story does not have enough sex in it to meet the expectations people have upon disregarding the genre's actual definition.

I'm still disgruntled about it, though.

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm more worried about labeling my story and it doesn't meet the expectations but I suppose it happens more often than I think, and I can always change it later. I suppose it's my perfectionism that's hung up on making sure everything is "right" haha

 

[Corty]

@Melver

Sike. Instead of going to sleep, I went ahead and added the section. You can read it now. Hope this helps... now... off to bed!

[Tutorial] For new users of Scribble Hub!

This tutorial is constantly maintained by yours truly and encompasses the basics for readers and writers. Check Section-C for finding more writing tutorials and a helping hand in developing your story by other ScribbleHub users! To navigate more easily ctrl+f the titles in the table of contents...

forum.scribblehub.com

ctrl + f for: Short Description of the main Genres

or just scroll down, and you'll see it

 

[Melver]

@Melver

Sike. Instead of going to sleep, I went ahead and added the section. You can read it now. Hope this helps... now... off to bed!

[Tutorial] For new users of Scribble Hub!

This tutorial is constantly maintained by yours truly and encompasses the basics for readers and writers. Check Section-C for finding more writing tutorials and a helping hand in developing your story by other ScribbleHub users! To navigate more easily ctrl+f the titles in the table of contents...

forum.scribblehub.com

ctrl + f for: Short Description of the main Genres

or just scroll down, and you'll see it

Amazing! Thank you so much, I think this will be handy for many others! Have a good night ^^

 

[avaseofpeonies]

So, as you can see from answers you've gotten today, including in Corty's additon to his guide, everyone has their own ideas of what a genre label means that often differ from the official definitions. My advice to you in choosing your labels is to pick what feels right to you, and if you think you might be misunderstood, give some explanations of the labels and tags you've chosen in your description or in a forward. That's what I've done.

 

[Melver]

So, as you can see from answers you've gotten today, including in Corty's additon to his guide, everyone has their own ideas of what a genre label means that often differ from the official definitions. My advice to you in choosing your labels is to pick what feels right to you, and if you think you might be misunderstood, give some explanations of the labels and tags you've chosen in your description or in a forward. That's what I've done.

That's a good idea, I want to try to avoid having to define the way I use genres so the reader doesn't have to waste time on something "obvious" but I suppose if there's a lot of confusion it'll help with writing an explanation.

 

[KrakenRiderEmma]

Thank you very much, it was very informative. I have a question about the Adult genre where you mention that in comparison to Smut, which is more centered on sex, the Adult genre is more of "Here's a story with plot and character growth but I'll throw in some sex that's necessary that's detailed because it's important to the story". Am I correct to assume that that's what you meant?

Yep!

 

[RavenRunes]

I want to keep kids off my shit. I may only include 2-3 scenes of explicit sex or gore but if they're in there, I tag it. I also use strong language so again, it's tagged Adult.
I also add a Mature tag to keep the kids off, mainly. And to use up my tag quota. As I don't know what half of them are.

 

[Corty]

@Melver

Also, an addition I am going to also write in the guide:

Look at them in pairs. You can identify what the author means when you look at the tags relative to each other. (if we are talking about someone who gives two cents about his/her story)

Example:

Mature, Psychological, Horror -- A story that most probably depicts gore and graphic horror.
Mature, Slice of Life, Drama -- A story where heavy issues may be the focus of the story. But if it's not drama but comedy, then it can be kinky fun or dark humor.
LitRPG, Sci-fi, Smut -- this probably has fucking robots and leveling up their peepees and boobies.

So on and so on.

@avaseofpeonies Definitions of the genres change over time because they adapt to what the majority assigns them as definitions. I tried to approach it from the angle of what the general, unspoken consensus is towards them. Not looking at their dictionary-based definition as 99% of people just go along with what he/she heard and what it means from somewhere from who knows when.

 

[avaseofpeonies]

@avaseofpeonies Definitions of the genres change over time because they adapt to what the majority assigns them as definitions. I tried to approach it from the angle of what the general, unspoken consensus is towards them. Not looking at their dictionary-based definition as 99% of people just go along with what he/she heard and what it means from somewhere from who knows when.

Yeah, I get that. Language is an ever-evolving organism. My main issue is that, aside from having one of my most accurate genre labels rendered unusable to me, straight-up pornography is technically not allowed here according to the content guidelines, so I don't know why we'd have a whole genre label dedicated to it. It would be my personal preference to correct the misconception rather than reinforce it.