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The upgrade to our latest version of our Story Archive software is complete. This is a pretty big change under the hood on how we handle Genres. First thing first. Definitions. Primary Genre - This is the top level genre and consists mostly the old genres we used along with some new ones. Sub-Genre - These are more narrowly scoped genre under a primary genre. For example Comic Fantasy is a sub-genre of Comedy. Why the change? With the advent of epublishing, the number of genres and micro-genres has exploded since you are no longer tied to the physical space limitations of a bookstore. This means you can get pretty detailed in the space you write in. In the survey we ran earlier this year, there was a lot of questions that sounded something like "what's with all the werewolves?" The answer is that the market for ebooks is pretty hot for Paranormal Romance, especially shifters/werewolves. It's fine if this stuff is not your thing. Just click on the top level genres you are used to. The only big change there is that "Drama" is a sub-genre to "General Fiction". The Genre and Tags page has the full definition of all the genres and sub-genres. https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/genre-tag/ For right now, you'll see a lot of 0's in the sub-genres, as most authors haven't had a chance to do anything with the updates at the point in time this is posted. That will change as authors update things and staff make updates based on genres and tags on stories. Looking at a Genre, you'll see the definition of that Genre and any sub-genres that are under it. On the sub-genre, you'll see the Primary Genre and the Sub-genre definition will display: There are two changes to the Story Filters for Genre as well. You Select "Any genres selected", meaning if you select "Adventure" and "Comedy Modern" you will find stories with EITHER "Adventure" or " Comedy Modern" or both. Select "ALL genres selected", meaning if you select "Adventure" and "Comedy Modern" you will find stories that have at least "Adventure" AND "Comedy Modern". (they can have additional. You can add genres to the "Without" category. For example, if you have the above and put "Romance" in the Without filter, it will remove all stories that have any Romance genres tagged to them. This is very powerful in letting you drill down to exactly what you want. At least when authors/staff get all the stories updated fully to use more in-depth genres. For Authors, When you add new stories, Step 3 is still the same, you just have to select the sub-genres you want. There is a generic sub-genre in each major primary genre. (Drama is under General Fiction). There is a link on the story entry screen to the Genre and Tag page linked above to help you select which genre best fits your story. We recommend no more than 4 or 5 sub-genres at most for a story. If you have more than that, go to General Fiction and choose "Experimental" for your sub-genre. Genres are open for use. We are open to adding more and adding more definition as needed.

Genre Fatigue ::Giggles:: Really? Are people out there trying to make that a 'thing' again? It doesn't exist, you know? No, seriously...it's a business based illusion. Its not real. The idea that you cant write and release an awesome story because the 'idea' has been done to death and nobody wants to see it anymore…? Its all bullshit. Don't ever buy into that brainwashed mode of thinking about the stuff that you write. Your story is your own. Period. If there are 150 fantasy novels being released this Summer...so what? Make yours original, and there's a chance that you might surpass every last one of them. You just concentrate on telling the most potent and most exciting fantasy novel that you can. I mean...what…? What if you want to write a zombie story, or a romantic comedy, or a spy thriller? Who's to say that people have had enough of that kind of thing? Who's the judge of that sort of thing? I can guarantee you that its none of YOUR readers, if that happens to be the genre that you happen to love and feel the most comfortable with. There will be some stubborn folks out there who will dismiss your hard work just by looking at the genre alone, because they've seen it a bunch of times before in other writers fiction (And possibly done poorly), and they want to avoid your project like it's poison ivy or something because of their previous experiences with it. But you cant allow that to discourage you. Not if you really believe in what it is that you're writing. Building up writing confidence is soooo important in this game of being noticed and appreciated for your efforts! If you think you have something new and unique to offer, no matter WHAT genre you write in...then DO IT!!! I can't stress that enough! I know that a lot of people will tell you the same, and it may even be a conversation that you have with yourself from time to time...but let me speak up and tell you, definitely, that you really need to do it. Write what you feel, and do it the way YOU want to do it. If you're writing from the heart, then that means that you are going to have a slightly different take on a tried and true genre of writing? Go for it! There have been so many interpretations and variations on every kind of character, conflict, and story, that has ever been written for the sake of prosperity...that there simply can't be any reason why your own perspective shouldn't be included as a part of that human connection. No way! You've been given a voice. Use it. When you think about it...Christianity is the probably the BIGGEST widespread religion on the entire planet...and even THEY can't agree on any one way to believe or worship with anything. Christian, Evangelical, Baptist, Mormon, Catholic, Episcopalian...interpretations differ from person to person, and therefore...from group to group. So how can there be any 'fatigue' involved in any genre of storytelling? You go looking for what appeals to you on a personal level. And your readers will always remain loyal to whatever it is that you have to say with your work, no matter what. So please...PLEASE...don't fall for the smoke and mirrors trap of thinking that people will ever get bored with the stuff that you write and the way that you write it. Its a trick. And while I always encourage writers to broaden their perspectives and try writing in different genres from time to time...you don't have to leave your particular niche of writing in order to feel relevant or to chase the attention of the fanbase that you've gathered over time. You're not following them, ok? They're following you. Just do what you do, give it your all, and (popular genre be damned)...and you will succeed. Let's talk about the idea of genre fatigue today! Because its something that keeps popping up, time and time again...and I'm being serious when I say that it doesn't exist outside of what some big book publisher or movie studio can suck out of it while trying to make money. An awesome story is an awesome story...period. How do people not understand that? Now, I understand that the whole super hero movie genre thing is making billions and billions of dollars right now at the cinema. And there are people who keep saying that its all going to end and come crashing day 'any DAY now'! But...why would you wish for that to happen? Seriously. When I was a kid, comic books were everything! And the people who didn't like comic books...just didn't buy comic books. Done and done. WTF is the problem with them being popular? I grew up during the video game revolution, with mainstream rap music, with Stallone/Schwarzenegger action movies, with 'Magic: The Gathering' cards...and if you personally didnt like it...then fine. Why does it bother you so much that OTHER people like it? It seems so silly to me. I write gay teen erotica online. Thats my niche. That's what I'm most comfortable with. That is where I excel and where my fanbase comes looking for me. Is that supposed to get tiresome and repetitive to the point where nobody wants to read my stories anymore? Or at least have a sense of curiosity when it comes to how this 'new' story is going to be different from all the ones they've read before? Doubtful. Really...I highly doubt that this scenario will ever play out. Mind you, it is basically 'not-so-softcore' porn, and that will always have an audience no matter what. Hehehe! And Im well aware of that fact. But there's no fatigue involved for most of my diehard fans when I comes to the new or the continuing stories that I write online. Even the folks who holler and scream that it is...they are always right back here to complain about the next chapter within 48 hours of it being posted on the site. So….what happened to the fatigue? What happened to all of the stories being the same and having the same characters and the same plot? I thought they were tired of that stuff? Am I right? The system counts the number of views, you know? If there's a fatigue or some sort of limit set for any genre of writing, movie making, music, or any other creative endeavor...then chances are that I'm not going to live long enough to see it. Check out this short video, celebrating 75 YEARS of Superman! Comic books, TV shows, video games, movies….and you tell me if you wouldn't go out and see another Superman movie right NOW if they came out with one! Hehehe! That iconic music alone got me all emotional! Yeah...it's easy to forget, sometimes, that some of these characters and franchises have survive years and years and YEARS of changes and updates, successes and failures, fans and haters. But the KEY is to touch on something that is consistent and relatable to everybody watching and reading your work, and you keep soldiering on. Being able to plug in to this universal thread that is a part of all of us. If you can do that...then your story lives on, and can last for years and years, while still having a deep impact on whatever generation you might be able to talk to through your narrative. My personal expertise is young love. And whether my readers tap into that through their current experiences as teenagers, or through a strong sense of nostalgia as older readers...the feeling remains the same. And it NEVER gets old. It never gets stale. Not if you treat your stories the way they were meant to be treated. One genre of storytelling, whether it be erotica, horror, action, or science fiction...has a limitless variety of stories that can be told within it. New characters, new adventures, new motivations, new questions with new answers. No matter what you write...you're working with a blank canvas. Don't ever let somebody use broad strokes to classify your ideas and try to put you in a certain box or category. That's a mistake. You're a writer! The world is yours to create as you see fit. You can have a TON of different narratives existing in the same space, or within the same genre, without even breaking a sweat. And anyone who says otherwise? They simply haven't been open minded enough to have seen it done yet. Prove them wrong. Because every stroke of genius has been weighed down by the comments of people who said that it cant be done. I say, AWESOME! That means Ill be the first! Hehehe! There was a time when I never ever EVER thought that the comic books that I enjoyed as a kid would ever be made into movies that all crossover with one another! That was unfathomable to me! WTF??? But here we are...and its possible! And now they can deliver nearly THIRTY movies and TV shows to you in a row, with people still stomping their feet and hoping theyll fail, or that fatigue will set in and they'll just go away. But they DON'T go away. Is nearly fifteen years of quality material not enough? Psh...ok. Maybe you're not getting it. Hehehe! It's not up to you. It never was. Comics are where I discovered how to write stories and develop characters and crossover storylines...so maybe I'm messed up in the head too. But hey…I've been around for 25 years now. So what do I know? ::Shrugs:: Hehehe, we live in a time where there have been long running franchises that have lasted our entire lives. Why would they suddenly tire themselves out for no reason? Because this guy or that lady said they suck and don't want to be a part of the fandom? K. No sweat. More enjoyment for me. Good luck on finding something that makes you happy, instead of telling me why everything sucks all the time. What do YOU like? Have you ever asked them that? Where your personal creative touch as a writer comes into play is in your view of the situations and the characters involved. You want to write about love? Well...how many people over the countless centuries have written about love??? Forbidden love, jealousy, betrayal, romance, sacrifice? Was there ever a time where you thought you'd be the first? No, of course not. But where there have been a mind-blowing number of stories written about love since the beginning of time...your story still belongs there as one of those perspectives on the idea. This is what you have to understand before you let that weird 'crabs in a barrel' idea take a hold of you and intimidate you into thinking that you cant truly create something special from pouring your heart into a story or genre that seems saturated or over-hyped at the time. There's no fatigue on love stories. No fatigue on action. No fatigue on erotica. So why would your particular genre of choice be expected to be wearing itself out when the only reason it was so popular in the first place is because have gotten so EXCITED about looking for it online? They want to read more. And if you are confident in your abilities as a writer, then you can provide them with the goods that they've been screaming for while the 'posers' are out there are constantly trying to chase the next big thing. Hehehe, build a fortress and let it stand strong, you know? Fatigue? Psh! Do people have any idea how many stories and characters have continued on and on over decades and decades, touching and including one generation after another? Its not a 'surface appreciation' of a single part or a chapter. Its the idea and the theme and the deeper engagement that keeps people coming back for more and more. It doesn't matter if it was one movie, or a trilogy, or 25 movies! That's not what makes it work! And folks who are looking for box office numbers don't seem to be able to understand that for some reason. There's no big secret when it comes to having your stories having a sense of extended longevity during the run of your story, no matter how long it takes for them to read it all the way to the end. A huge part of that comes from getting your audience to be truly invested the main character and the other characters surrounding him or her on their journey. Even when telling a short story, Ive had readers tell me that they want more or that they hope I continue on beyond the point where I stopped. This is a good thing. That is the story beyond the story, and it creates a craving in your readers to peeking in and seeing what those characters are up to now, long after that particular story is finished and done with. What are they doing? What are they up to? Where do things go on from here? The world that you've built for your readers, as seen through the eyes of your protagonist, has become engaging enough for them to invest a piece of themselves into, where...even if it never continues...there's a tug on their heartstrings that will forever be searching for more from the story that you've written and the world that you've built around them. To accomplish that...ensures a long and successful shelflife for anything that you've shared online as a writer. Not only that, but it leaves the door open if you ever decide that there's more of a story to tell later on. It may not seem like it at the time, but you are the author of actual mythology with the stories you write. Take that in and absorb it for a moment. To this day...we are still well aware of the myths of old. Beliefs from a long forgotten era. Books that are thousands of years old, The Bible, The Greek Gods, American folk tales, Buddhist texts...they're still around. Did they 'fizzle out? Does any good story? Bottom line...write what you have in your heart, even if you have people grunting like, "UGH! Another vampire story!" Or "UGH! Another K-Pop Fanfic!" Whatever. Hehehe, do what you want to do, make it your own, and carve out your own space in the vast ocean of online mythology that we're all building each and every single day. Why hold it back? You may be the next big thing! If you have one of those idea that could possibly revolutionize the entire genre and flip it over on its head? Then SWEET!!! Do that! But if you just want to add your own take to something that's already well established in that genre of writing, hey...go for it. You're MORE than welcome to scratch out a place for yourself among the greats! You never know...you might be the stand out champion of it all. For me, personally...I always try to do something new with whatever genre I happen to be tackling at the time. Im constantly trying to find ways to bring something new to the table. But that's on a personal, writer to reader, basis. It has nothing to do with genre. Like I said...there are always an infinite amount of ideas that become possible once you get settled into a certain spot and decide to spread out. Now, I have gotten a lot of flak over the years for writing a vampire story for the Shack, especially during that whole "Twilight" phase of vampire lore...but I stuck with it, no matter what. And when the vampire genre was considered played out and overdone..."Gone From Daylight" still remained. There are sooooo many spinoffs and alternate stories surrounding that main story, that it would be difficult to keep up with them all! But that's exactly what I mean with this article...the genre never gets old or suffers from any sort of fatigue. No more than the typical 'boy meets boy' romance stories that I've written. But a change in the theme, the tone, the circumstances, the characters motivations, their history...the whole mood changes from story to story, and they will always come off as brand new and appealing to readers as long as I stay true to the ideas and the dedication that I had to the many many stories that came before them. Hehehe, anybody thinking that I could ever possibly run out of "GFD" themed stories and characters has obviously never read the stories on the "GFD: Worlds" section of the site! LOL! Yeah, they could very well go on forever. So if you're waiting for it to die off...don't hold your collective breaths! And now that my unasked for, amateur, advice is done (along with my shameless self promotion tag), I leave you all to hopefully use some of these tips to truly get into your readers bloodstream and live long and prosper throughout the rest of your writing endeavours! Remember, it's not just the story. Its not the characters. Its not your skill with words, metaphors, or symbolism. Its being able to discover and 'touch' those fundamental emotions and world views that exist within all of us. The flaws, the conflicts, the love, the anger, the sorrow. Strike those touchstones, and the masses will understand you on a level that you may not even understand yourself. Give it a shot! See what happens! Seezya soon with more! Take care! And happy writing!

Genre is one of those interesting pieces of meta data attached to stories. Back when we started Gay Authors in 2002, there were these boxy buildings called "Book Stores" that had shelves full of bound paper called books. To facilitate, somewhat, finding books, they broke them up into Genres. A few generic ones for the smaller shops and maybe more in the larger ones. You know you found the big store when there were separate Science Fiction and Fantasy collections instead of being clumped together or just outright missing. That's the setting for when we started the site and it wasn't too much different when we started the Story Archive and set our Genres that are used today. We added a few here and there over the years, but never stepped back and really looked at them and modernized. We are starting the journey to do that now. This will include some changes to the Story Archive system itself to accommodate a much larger selection of Genres through what is looking like Genres/Sub-genre set up. So read on and weigh in if you have thoughts on it. The explosion of Kindle and digital books into our lives has allowed for micro-targeting of genres. This has always been a thing back to pulp fiction (Cheap paperbacks) days. But the way Amazon does data-mining, you can get really specific these days (Space Western vs Western Sci-Fi; for example). And many people that don't put much thought into it. So first up, I want to clarify between Literary Fiction and Genre Fiction. Literary Fiction is primarily focused on 'exploring the human condition' and Genre Fiction is primarily focused on entertainment. The reading (and buying) public is vastly skewed towards Genre Fiction. Literary Fiction tends to be something you layout on the coffee table to pretend you've read it, versus actually reading it. (By the way, this is the current problem with Hollywood. Most people want Micheal Bay explosions and escape from reality. Instead, they get whatever the latest message of the day is preached at them. People pay primarily for entertainment, no so much to get yelled at for how horrible they are). That's not to say you can't mix deep message and entertainment, but it takes a skill set and finesse that is difficult to achieve and maintain. And probably not something you should expect to find in great quantities on a free gay story site. So genre fiction. There have been ongoing waves of trends. Dystopian, Zombies, Paranormal Romance, Shifters. All examples. And a large subset of our members just don't grok it. (congrats to those of you that have read Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" Sci-Fi Literature...). Over a dozen people commented on the Shifter/Werewolf trend wondering what it was all about. "Paranormal Romance" is a specific sub-genre that is getting a lot of attention (still) and has developed it's own tropes. There are lots of sites out there that take the time to explain the common tropes for a sub-genre. Some of them are so important, the trope itself is what defines the sub-genre. We will be adding resources to the site to help authors that wish to explore these and not step on landmines. For example Military Sci-Fi are fairly loose on science, but if you flub your Corporals and Privates, you'll probably lose the audience. For a subset of that audience if your writing anything about the Corporal's privates, you'll do the same, as Romance elements tend to be far lighter there too. Try ending a Romance in something other than the Happily Ever After or Happy For Now and see how the Romance audience likes you. Mess up your quantum mechanics and add Star Trek style technobabble to Hard Sci-Fi and see how fast that audience runs away from your stuff. What does all this mean for us and why am I bringing it up? Well, the system is changing. For authors, they'll be able to better focus the categorization of their stories so people that like that specific thing can find. Double-edged sword alert - If you drop it into a sub-genre that doesn't fit or worse, badly misses a trope, then you'll upset the audience. On the upside, if you specialize in Western Sci-Fi (like say Cowboys and Aliens), then we'll have a sub-genre for you and people that like that sub-genre will be able to find you a lot easier than the way it works now. Another upside for writers is you'll be able to "write to market". If you see a sub-genre that is empty or nearly so, you can stake your claim and challenge yourself. I'm picking on Western Sci-Fi here since it is so easy to visualize. Wild Wild West is another, though that is kind of Western Steampunk. We are still working out how far down the rabbit hole we're going to go. (Shout out to Lewis Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland Fantasy Literature) When we have the new sub-genres added to the system and we get new stories added using them, and older stories updated to use them, then we'll be able to measure more accurately the types of things people like reading. We know Romance is the biggest genre. But because it is biggest, it has a lot of very specific sub-genres, such as Regency Romance or Gothic Romance or Paranormal Romance. If you are the type of author that wants to try new things or new challenges or just wants to go where the most readers are, then it makes sense to understand that. We will share this reading data with authors on a regular basis as we get things going. Probably a monthly blog that corresponds with the monthly author email we are sending. (Set Profile setting Author News to Yes and Notification setting Newsletter to Yes to receive the email) What do you think?