fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3154 ]

[ SECRET POST #3154 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3154 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 050 secrets from Secret Submission Post #451.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Argurably the main draw of long, slow burn fics is the payoff - the release of the reader's own tension (emotional and/or sexual) when the characters they love finally get together after 50k of teasing, pining or what have you. Fade to black or lack of sex in a fic where a reader is desiring sexual contact between the characters can be extremely unsatisfying to the brain as it diminishes the cathartic release of that tension that's been building over 50k words.

Annoying as it is, if you are going for PG in a fandom that usually goes for NC-17, make sure your emotional payoff hits the same buttons that a sexual one would. You've gotta have a satisfying climax if there's not going a physical climax. Declarations of love, kissing at just the right moment, bodily contact in the form of cuddling, etc.

Still, people shouldn't be sending you messages about the lack of sex especially if the fic is clearly labeled PG. That sucks, OP.

I think that payoff in general is something that a lot of authors struggle with. Ending with sex is, in a sense, the most "obvious" payoff for a shippy fic, and it also falls in with audience expectations, so there's a high chance of people being pleased by it.
If you're not making it shippy, I think it demands a lot more careful buildup and drawing out the audience's feelings.

Then again, I've had too many fics where the payoff was supposed to be the sex, and it... really didn't work out. All other issues kind of just got swept away by sex, and that was it. I hate that.
I also hate when you've got this huge buildup of issues, and then some other character waltzes in and informs the two members of the pairing that they indeed love each other / how to fix everything/ whatever, and that's it. End of conflict.

I also hate when you've got this huge buildup of issues, and then some other character waltzes in and informs the two members of the pairing that they indeed love each other / how to fix everything/ whatever, and that's it. End of conflict.

Oh my god, yes. I hate smarmy, all knowing friends. Match-making is okay, but those all-knowing types are just annoying.

Then again, I've had too many fics where the payoff was supposed to be the sex, and it... really didn't work out. All other issues kind of just got swept away by sex, and that was it. I hate that.

I hate that, too. I enjoy sex as a payoff for the sexual tension, but the 1,600 nonsexual things that are wrong between two people are not going to be fixed by that.

All the yes for this thread.

Hits all explanations perfectly, thank you.

I guess I'm just much more invested in an emotional pay-off than I am in a sexual one so that's what I prefer writing (hugs, kisses, hand holding, etc. that all feel like they hold weight because the two characters haven't touched even once and things like that). I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I've been in the same fandom for years and have reached a point where it feels like I've read every sex scene it's possible to imagine and the idea of writing one is just...so dull.

My fandom is definitely VERY NC-17 oriented and most of the fics coming out these days seem to have characters having sex at every possible opportunity and I'm so burned out of the whole "emotional connection = they just want to bang 80 times in 24 hours". Sometimes I swear it just feels like everything is sexual tension without any of the emotional tension at all.

And I'm definitely not trying to say people SHOULDN'T like those things, and I totally understand wanting sexual gratification, I just hate when I think I've done a good job with my emotional build/resolution and see that someone's recced my fic with a little "**NO SEX! :(" warning, it's just very beyond me.

OP, you've got to tag your fic very clearly if there's 50k of romantic tension in your fic, your fandom is full of NC-17, you know your fandom is full of NC-17, and then you have no sex scene.

It's kind of like false advertising. No wonder some of your readers are frustrated!

You should be glad that rec was clear and warned for the lack of sex in your fic, as going by what you're saying, you're not doing a good job yourself of adequately spelling it out. That honest rec probably saved you yet more comments complaining about the disappointing ending of your fic.

Nowhere in my original secret or in this post have I said that I don't tag my fics accurately.

I tag my fics with the proper rating and I always spend way too long going through AO3 tags to make sure I've selected the proper genres and tropes. What do you want me to do, put "WARNING!! THIS FIC HAS NO SEX!! LOOK, IT'S RATED PG!! LOOK!! BEWARE!! DON'T CLICK!!" in every summary?

People aren't complaining for "false advertising", they're complaining because the romantic subplot doesn't suit their tastes and they're not content with a story where the characters don't have hot sex and, again, I don't mind that, but it sucks when you work hard on something and want people to love it for what it is and they have to literally warn people that it's rated PG/PG-13 as though that automatically makes it worth less.

Just because it's rated PG doesn't mean it will stay that way, and while it's not okay for them to message you complaining about it, why on earth would you think a PG rating for one part of the fic takes away any chance of rating increase for new content later?

I often rate my fics PG and then increase the rating later when the actual sexual content comes in (and so as not to get people's hopes up before then). I recall in days of yore people often wrote "rating will go up in later chapters" to let readers know this.

And yes, people are complaining that your fic didn't meet their tastes. It means to them, your romantic wrap-up was not good enough to mitigate the lack of physical intimacy. Sorry your writing wasn't as good as you thought it was.

stranger randomly in thread:

smh

0/10

If someone wants something specific from a story and the story doesn't have that, they're gonna be disappointed even if the writing is good. What an ass you are to say it means OP's writing isn't good enough.

Okay, so you think you've done a good job on the emotional build up...

do your readers think this? The ones not going "Aww, I wanted sex."

Unsolicited advice: if you have someone you trust to read your stories and critique them about the emotional build up, do it. You sound like you need it, badly.

It's not uncommon for authors to have a WIP rated PG or PG13 and not update the rating until they actually post the chapter with sex in it, so yeah, in addition to proper tagging, it's probably a good idea to put a note up somewhere that says that rating is never going to change.

Also: okay, you are interested in emotional resolution/catharsis. You may or may not be pulling this off. Some people wouldn't be satisfied regardless, especially in the fandom culture you described, but your description of emotional resolution here bored me to fucking tears. What about a massive romantic sacrifice? A heavily fraught show of trust? An exchange of hugely meaningful/personal tokens? A proposal/wedding/finding a fucking house/some other I Want To Spend The Rest Of My Life With You moment/sign/discussion.

Like. I'm not saying you couldn't write a scene with handholding and enough strong emotions and character impact to be satisfying after a 50K buildup, but just 'and then they were together and kissed, The End' is going to disappoint a lot of people, porn or no porn.

anon above you

I agree here. To me it's a, "I read 175 pages of my OTP for that? Meh." Sort of ending. Give me something to work with, some hope, some commitment. I probably wouldn't read anything else by that writer with so little payout.

I wish I could see the stories in question to actually know what is going on, is there more tension or what.

DA-- to me it depends on how shippy the fic is. I write gen adventures with a lot of family elements, and while a lot of people comment that they enjoy the pairing, I don't think I have ever gotten a complaint about the lack of sex onscreen. The tone of the stories seems to make it clear there won't be sex scenes, which I don't write well anyway, and the romantic pairings aren't the point of the stories. So maybe it's a tone thing, and there's something implied to readers and not delivered on?

Or maybe most other stories about that pairing include sex so readers expect it from all stories about them? That would be harder to work with.

I totally feel you. I prefer an emotional payoff and sex is just extra (if it's written well).

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