Is Mecha BL Sci-fi not a thing?

[AstaVanderspeigle]

Hi! I'm so new here, and I'm posting a story for the first time. But I've been meaning to ask if Mecha BL is not something people are interested in reading? I wanted to post my story in Royal Road, but I read on Reddit that BL and smut are not welcome there, and I feel a bit on the edge because my story, even tho is BL and yes, there will be smut, it focuses a lot on the plot and the Mecha sci-fi part. I'm crossposting in Tapas, but as far as I've been checking the website, there is no tab for sci-fi, and I needed to put the story under the BL category. Where else can I share that people might be interested in it?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Unless they changed their policies again since December, you need to have one of the paid premium accounts (which were available as "invitation only" when they started them) to post any "adult" content (it was why I've never posted anything there; they looked ideal other than that)

 

[minacia]

The BL audience on scribblehub is small, but it does exist. The @BL_Palace might be a good resource! (SH page)

 

[AstaVanderspeigle]

Unless they changed their policies again since December, you need to have one of the paid premium accounts (which were available as "invitation only" when they started them) to post any "adult" content (it was why I've never posted anything there; they looked ideal other than that)

Wow, I did not know that it was even a thing to be a writer and have a premium account to be able to post adult content there? My research did not go that fas as it seems ?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Wow, I did not know that it was even a thing to be a writer and have a premium account to be able to post adult content there? My research did not go that fas as it seems ?

Unless I'm confusing them with another site - hit a lot of them October - November last year (and mostly stuck here and put one story up on HoneyFeed because I CAN write stuff without adult content, I just tend not to...)

 

[AstaVanderspeigle]

The BL audience on scribblehub is small, but it does exist. The @BL_Palace might be a good resource! (SH page)

Thank you! I checked it, and it looks super interesting. I don't have Discord, I may do one since I see they have a server.

Unless I'm confusing them with another site - hit a lot of them October - November last year (and mostly stuck here and put one story up on HoneyFeed because I CAN write stuff without adult content, I just tend not to...)

No worries! I will ask in their forum then (RR), but I'm a scary cat, and that forum looks intimidating. I discovered HoneyFeed recently, and they do accept NSFW stories, tho I don't know how their censorship is or if the stories get hidden somehow

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Thank you! I checked it, and it looks super interesting. I don't have Discord, I may do one since I see they have a server.

No worries! I will ask in their forum then (RR), but I'm a scary cat, and that forum looks intimidating. I discovered HoneyFeed recently, and they do accept NSFW stories, tho I don't know how their censorship is or if the stories get hidden somehow

RR (Royal Road) is weird. As often as I hear people getting in trouble for stuff there, I hear others saying they did very well with it (IIRC BL was a big one that went both ways).

Tapas is the one I THOUGHT had a special, invite only premium membership for adult content but I may be wrong.

Thought HoneyFeed had some strict rules, but it might have been the contest I took part in (and did not place in) and not the site itself.

 

[sbdrag]

RR doesn't require a premium account to post NSFW, but it can only be a small part of the overall story. I want to say 10% is the rule? Something like that.

 

[AstaVanderspeigle]

RR doesn't require a premium account to post NSFW, but it can only be a small part of the overall story. I want to say 10% is the rule? Something like that.

Thanks for the clarification! I think then I will stick with SH because I don't know how much NSFW will end up having the story since there will be a mating thing going on

 

[melchi]

Yeah past writers say they get in trouble for too much smut on royal road.

 

[Corty]

RR allows sexual content but their threshold is arbitrary at best. My story has sex in it but not a lot so I didn't hit their treshold to get them to complain.

Depending of how much smut you plan to include, you are safe to post there. Just make it 1:10 ratio to ensure you won’t get a visit from moderator John

 

[AstaVanderspeigle]

RR allows sexual content but their threshold is arbitrary at best. My story has sex in it but not a lot so I didn't hit their treshold to get them to complain.

Depending of how much smut you plan to include, you are safe to post there. Just make it 1:10 ratio to ensure you won’t get a visit from moderator John

I see. I'm also worried about the story being BL and the MCs being a gay couple. I read a thread in their forum that stories featuring gay characters get bomb rates. As for the moment, I'm not planning to go indie publishing where it might fit better the things I'm writing. I'll wait for a bit to keep writing the story and how much smut end up having, I know there will not be a lot, but the chapters can be 3-4k words long.

Yeah past writers say they get in trouble for too much smut on royal road.

That's scary; I don't want to be one

 

[OokamiOkuri]

Code Geass is a thing. Suzaku and Lelouch is a great couple.

 

[sbdrag]

I see. I'm also worried about the story being BL and the MCs being a gay couple. I read a thread in their forum that stories featuring gay characters get bomb rates. As for the moment, I'm not planning to go indie publishing where it might fit better the things I'm writing. I'll wait for a bit to keep writing the story and how much smut end up having, I know there will not be a lot, but the chapters can be 3-4k words long.


That's scary; I don't want to be one

Yeah its true you're likely to get rating bombed for queer content in general there, but to their credit they will remove hateful written reviews (at least a good amount of the time for the obvious ones). But they won't do anything about reviewless star bombs mostly, since you can't prove why they rated it that way.

I have my mlm story there and I haven't seen much of it, but I also don't put a lot of effort into gathering an audience lol so if you want to post lowkey you probably won't see a lot of it compared to people with more popular stories.

Also a lot of mecha anime have homoerotic undertones (and overtones), so it's not always explicit, but it's for sure a thing. (Bang Brave Bang Bravern is a recent one

 

[Corty]

Code Geass is a thing. Suzaku and Lelouch is a great couple.

As a CC x Lulu enjoyer, I want to throw a tomato at you.

 

[Erysion]

I read a thread in their forum that stories featuring gay characters get bomb rates.

It's that site. Every stories get bomb rates. Exposure is a bad thing there. Being active in the forum, posting or updating your story at the same time of popular stories, and getting into Rising Star (main or genres) give you reviewless star bombs. The environment is very competitive. Not recommended.

 

[Macha]

It's that site. Every stories get bomb rates. Exposure is a bad thing there. Being active in the forum, posting or updating your story at the same time of popular stories, and getting into Rising Star (main or genres) give you reviewless star bombs. The environment is very competitive. Not recommended.

Site is as bad as Webnovel.

 

[AstaVanderspeigle]

Code Geass is a thing.

I have never seen the anime, and I feel that I'm missing something. I should take my time and start finally watching it.

Also a lot of mecha anime have homoerotic undertones

OMg this si soo trueeee! I'm still thinking of posting in there but not getting any attention and staying away from the forums. I need to create social media to then do promos to the true audience, but everything is so confusing, and I will stick to just writing for the moment. I'm glad that you have not been targeted, that gave me a bit of hope, at least.

Being active in the forum

This is something if I ended up posting there to avoid. Just like Reddit, things can get heated, and it is a big nope for me. Is enough exposure for me to post a story online, and that's a lot for me

Site is as bad as Webnovel.

Crazy that the site is basically to post stories in a serialized format.

 

[minacia]

I have never seen the anime, and I feel that I'm missing something. I should take my time and start finally watching it.

Have you seen Aldnoah Zero? Inaho x slaine is beautifully angsty

 

[tiaf]

I see. I'm also worried about the story being BL and the MCs being a gay couple. I read a thread in their forum that stories featuring gay characters get bomb rates. As for the moment, I'm not planning to go indie publishing where it might fit better the things I'm writing. I'll wait for a bit to keep writing the story and how much smut end up having, I know there will not be a lot, but the chapters can be 3-4k words long.


That's scary; I don't want to be one

I remember there was this one popular story on RR that got shitstorm because the MC was bi and kissed a guy. The backlash was mainly because it the readers didn’t think there would be homosexual development. I don’t remember if the MC was tagged bi or not though.

But a RR user told me that as long as I explicitly state it’s BL most users will simply roll away do their business. No matter which site, you’ll always meet a troll/bigot who gives you a bad rating just because.

Also Mecha BL like Gundam or Code Geass doesn’t exist yet, I think? There are a lot of interstellar, but not all have the MC as a mecha pilot or it gets pushed to the background for romance development or the story focused on MC’s/ML’s Gary Stu constitution too much ?

I’m kinda interested in your world building though. I also have a Mecha/Ancient China Civilization/Interstellar travel BL idea (that hasn’t even a word written lmao)

Joining now would be perfect as we have BLwrimo event going on this Month. And Easter BL watch party.