Hey guys. I've been working on my Kami Kurabe story; in the latest route, for my first time ever, I wrote a futa character. It was something I felt fit the character and also an experiment I wanted to try... However, because this has primarily been an ENF genre story with no mention of futa until this route, I worry I may have betrayed the expectations of some of my readers. It's just one character, but I worry it could be viewed as I've turned my story into a "futa story" and it will alienate a lot of readers. What do you guys think? Do you ever have situations where you feel like you did something for your own sake that might piss off readers? If so, what are some ways you make it more palatable for them, or should I not be worrying about it?
Only way you can betray your readers is to betray your story and not write to the best of your ability. Whilst I try and pursue threads that are popular, I know deep down that if my heart's not in it, it's going to show in one way or the other. I accept that I won't make everyone happy, and just focus on having fun and writing as best as I can.
I don't get a lot of feedback from readers, so when I get a comment suggesting what they'd like to see next I do feel an obligation to try and work that angle. That being said, I also write a lot of chapters, so I don't mind going off on tangents. Sometimes they end up surprisingly popular.
Ha ha, I know that feeling. If I see a comment saying what the person wants, I think, "can't do it right away, don't wanna seem too desperate"... but then my mind starts thinking about it and soon enough, I'm doing it. Thanks all, in the end I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I just hope the other readers can enjoy it too.
That's the beauty of a choose your own adventure style of writing--it's possible to go off on tangents and then make a new branch if you want to give the readers something else. But I never worry about it, I'm only ever writing what I like and readers are along for the ride, for better or worse. I've had only one reader that ever told me he disliked some of my chapters for the routes I went, but I try to set up enough paths for what they would want to see. As I see it, I'm not writing to get paid (though some are), so I tend to go my own way with ideas and not think much about the reaction. If someone thinks I've not done a good job with a path in my story, they're totally free to add chapters to guide a new path where they want.
I used to have that problem. Now I just think about baseball. Audiences and writers often have very different opinions about what is good about their work. Look at Arthur Conan Doyle. HATED Sherlock Holmes, and wondered why nobody liked his awesome historical epics. Heinlein's later work is usually pretty loathed by many folks because he didn't have an editor, and IMHO didn't reread his own work. Like... more than once. Has a definite first draft quality, but it's the stuff he LOVED... So, when there isn't the financial incentive... no pressure to conform to audience expectations, and you can just have fun. The lower the budget, the more creative you have to be to be GOOD, after all. Of course, that's just my opinion. Only time I ever felt really BETRAYED by an author is when they anti-deus Ex Machina. (Have really shitty things happen to the characters right out of nowhere because it's "Realistic". No it isn't you're just saying that the author decided to smite the character at that point, because the story was getting to DULL for you... thus forcing drama. At least make it seem REASONABLE that the awful thing could have happened. No just... Rocks fall everyone dies. That's just as bad in my opinion as... and they lived happily ever after. Same ending just the opposite. Yes, I totally disagree with mainstream critics, so there.) And random queen, because why not? And it feels... appropriate for some reason.
Very good points... I'm not writing them as commissions so I should probably be happy as long as I'm having fun. Also I will take some random Flash Gordon.
