In Longer/Multipart Stories Do You Prefer Variety or Same Genre In Each Chapter

As the subject suggests, if you're reading/invested in a multipart story, do you prefer having the same genre in each section, or some variety. I could imagine both, in that if there's variety and the subject veers into a deal-breaker or turn off, then you lose out on some of the narrative, on the other hand, the same genre could get boring or repetitive.

Beyond that, how do you feel if some sections of a multipart story don't feature sex, just character or narrative development and set up?

I'm sketching out something that I'm having a ton of fun with, it's pretty early going and I need to make the decision.

Variety is the spice of life!

Just as long as it's not too much out of character, that is, like a virgin going straight into an orgy and performing like a seasoned porn star.

I don't mind chapters without sex. You could still include some sexiness or erotism without actual getting on it.

Quote by AvidlyCurious

Variety is the spice of life!

Just as long as it's not too much out of character, that is, like a virgin going straight into an orgy and performing like a seasoned porn star.

I don't mind chapters without sex. You could still include some sexiness or erotism without actual getting on it.

Funny you should say "variety is the spice of life" because they opening line of the first part of the story is "They say variety is the spice of life, but I've never had a taste for spice on anything" Line is subject to change.

I think that if you are doing multiple parts, there needs to be some kind of progression. Doesn't have to be sexual, of course. Could be more in the relationship. So in my series Angel of Love you have:

Heavenly Sinner - Random, anonymous hookup in the woods followed by a revelation about the female half of the couple

Afternoon in Eden - Couple covertly meets in the woods again. Sex is more romantic but also goes down some new roads (e.g. oral), development of the relationship.

Heaven in Her Arms - Their first night sleeping together leads to more exploration of both sex and the relationship.

All with the overarching theme of them trying to advance the relationship under the shadow of being members of a conservative Christian church where the woman's father is the pastor.

I have a tendency to write longer work (sometimes struggling to get under the 10K word limit), but mostly it's a unified piece. I don't usually do sequels because I generally feel they're too predictable and have a tendency to get repetitive. My philosophy is that if the reader can reasonably imagine what happens in a 'part 2', there's no point in me spelling it out for them. When I have done a series, I think it's important to maintain a consistency in tone and narrative, but I feel that many of the "genres" - as they're presented here - are just descriptive of featured elements of the story (e.g. "Straight sex," "spanking," "MILF" etc.) than actual genres in themselves. The genre on LS is erotica. Sometimes, it's in combination with other genres: erotic-thriller, erotic-comedy, erotic-romance. A story that starts in one genre should generally stick to that genre throughout, but the elements of the story can change - one episode dealing with an encounter with a MILF and the next, perhaps featuring more college sex, all under the genre umbrella of erotic-horror, for example.

Some of my recent series have had a chapter or two that are there to introduce the characters and ramp up the sexual tension, and don’t have any sex between them (though they might recall past sexual escapades or include anticipatory masturbation). But I usually keep every chapter of a series within the same category (which, in my case, is usually Bisexual).

Not that it’s absolutely necessary to stay within a category. I recently read an enjoyable four part series in which every chapter was in a different category. Maybe that’s a good strategy to pick up more readers. I guess I should eventually dream up a wide-ranging, category-spanning tour de force.