the 'paranormal' code

[Sterling]

"Paranormal" is in ordinary English usage a broad term covering just
about anything that isn't within the bounds of scientific
understanding. However, on the SOL coding sheet, it's defined as
"Ghosts, angels, spirits, poltergeists, etc "-- creatures. It's a full
section where that is one box to check and you can check others
within. Is there some special erotic-writing-specific meaning to
"paranormal"? Or just this site?

I had one reader who said he found a story because it was coded with
paranormal. My inclination is to recode my stories to check that box
for anything (including ESP or most SciFi) that meets the usual,
everyday definition.

I figure I can annoy only readers who (1) have this seemingly SOL-
specific idea of what "paranormal" means, (2) search for just
"paranormal" but don't specify a particular creature, and (3) don't
like that my story has no zombie or werewolf in it anywhere
(understanding that either a zombie or a werewolf would have fulfilled
my contractual obligations. :-).

[Crumbly Writer]

I guess you are looking for new and unusual ways to annoy your readers? If the story isn't directed at a suitable audience, how will anyone know to look for it?

[Yuri]

Hmm.... you know what, I don't really know! But I think SOL gives you
plenty of tags to appropriately tag your own stories. As a reader, I
get a feel for the story from the tags and descriptions. Also I think
authors sometimes make up their own meanings for tags, and use one
instead of the other.

For instance here's what I do when confronted with a choice of zombie
stories (out of my own preferences) :

Here's another tag - PostApoc ;) I might read a zombie story if it was
also PostApoc. If it was Paranormal / Zombie, I might do, but I'm more
likely to read the PostApoc story first :D That's not to say I
wouldn't read the one tagged Paranormal instead of PostApoc, because I
likely would if it was something like Indiana Jones or something. I
take Paranormal to mean things like God, mystical beings, magic, etc.

Sometimes it means I have to run several separate searches for
stories, mind you!

I do know Paranormal and Magic are two different tags, and some
authors use one or the other only.

[Deadly Ernest]

G'day,

If you check the codes, you'll find that there are already specific
codes for much of what else is in the general meaning of paranormal -
such as ESP, zombies, etc - thus what's left is down to ghosts and
similar.

Ernest

[Soronel Haetir]

Also, paranormal would tend to indicate that while there are ghosts,
telepathy or other such elements the story is mostly in the everyday
world. For instance typical fantasy stories might have any of those
elements but paranormal would not be appropriate because those
creatures and events are entirely within the experience of such
worlds. I suppose paranormal might be appropriate for a fantasy story
if the events are somehow entirely outside the depicted world's
understanding of reality.

So, for instance, in a fantasy where necromancy is an understood
though dark art encountering zombies would not be paranormal in the
slightest. I would say the same of most postapoc zombie stories
because there is generally some explanation for what is going on,
however thin. Only if something is completely unexplainable and the
rest of the world going on its merry way would I generally say
paranormal applies.

--
Soronel Haetir
soronel...@gmail.com

[Sterling]

I can see that within the hierarchy of SOL codes,
this makes internal sense. However, my guess is
that a lot of readers don't study them in detail.

There are two kinds of mistakes you can make:
(1) luring readers to your stories under false pretenses,
and (2) missing readers by omitting codes that in
their view appropriately describe the story.

My judgment was that an ordinary reader who says,
"gee, I like paranormal stuff" without carefully scanning
all the other alternative codes might like my SciFi stories,
while a reader who likes werewolf stories would zoom
in on the "werewolf" code, bypassing "paranormal".
If their tastes are broad enough that were-animal, zombies,
furry, non-anthro, and vampires are all of interest, they
wouldn't be offended if they accidentally got a story that
didn't have any of them, I'm betting.

> > my contractual obligations. :-).- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Yuri]

@Soronel, I didn't think of it in those words specifically but it
makes sense that paranormal is in the real world with things that are
beyond normal. I would add that paranormal is basically things not
easily explained away. It's beyond scientific understanding
(dictionary definition).

@Sterling, you're absolutely right. I think authors should use all the
tags that fit the story. I see quite a few stories that are just "MF"
and while there's nothing wrong with that, if more tags do apply then
they should be used to help differentiate. I think it could well
benefit you as an author to see your stories are tagged in the best
manner possible, as a) people would find your stories more easily on
an earlier search, and b) they won't read your story and feel misled,
leading to a lower voting score.

Tbh, I avoid zombie stories, but only if I don't feel there's
something else, because zombie sex doesn't do it for me, haha. That's
why I actually appreciate more tags, like paranormal, post-
apocalyptic, tear-jerker, military, slow, cheating, etc. It also helps
authors avoid getting bad scores if readers find something is not to
their liking. I avoid stories with incest, uncontested cuckolding, non-
straight sex, and some minor "niche" tags not to my liking if I can,
and I don't vote on those stories either.

On Sep 17, 3:35 pm, Soronel Haetir <soronel.hae...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Also, paranormal would tend to indicate that while there are ghosts,
> telepathy or other such elements the story is mostly in the everyday
> world.  For instance typical fantasy stories might have any of those
> elements but paranormal would not be appropriate because those
> creatures and events are entirely within the experience of such
> worlds.  I suppose paranormal might be appropriate for a fantasy story
> if the events are somehow entirely outside the depicted world's
> understanding of reality.
>
> So, for instance, in a fantasy where necromancy is an understood
> though dark art encountering zombies would not be paranormal in the
> slightest.  I would say the same of most postapoc zombie stories
> because there is generally some explanation for what is going on,
> however thin.  Only if something is completely unexplainable and the
> rest of the world going on its merry way would I generally say
> paranormal applies.
>

> soronel.hae...@gmail.com

[Yuri]

@Soronel, mind you, fantasy can also have two different meanings on a
site such as SOL ;)

It could be a magical world like Harry Potter, or it could be the
narrator having a fantasy.

Personally I believe Harry Potter is best tagged as 'fantasy' and
'magic', but on SOL, 'magic' has to do with consent. So maybe erotica
consumers have actually built up an expectation and SOL just matches
it ... or SOL set the definitions, and consumers match up to it. I
don't know :)

I am suspecting the latter because SOL has the category search the way
it is...

I'd expect Lazlo Zalezac's story Magic to be tagged 'magic', if I
didn't know how it was tagged, but it isn't.

I'd probably still search for 'magic' as a tag if I suspected the
author might not care and would still use 'magic' even if he/she
didn't mean for it to indicate consent.

It can get a bit complicated, and can require quite a few searches to
find a story, but I think changing the tags system is something best
done infrequently D:

On Sep 17, 3:35 pm, Soronel Haetir <soronel.hae...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Also, paranormal would tend to indicate that while there are ghosts,
> telepathy or other such elements the story is mostly in the everyday
> world.  For instance typical fantasy stories might have any of those
> elements but paranormal would not be appropriate because those
> creatures and events are entirely within the experience of such
> worlds.  I suppose paranormal might be appropriate for a fantasy story
> if the events are somehow entirely outside the depicted world's
> understanding of reality.
>
> So, for instance, in a fantasy where necromancy is an understood
> though dark art encountering zombies would not be paranormal in the
> slightest.  I would say the same of most postapoc zombie stories
> because there is generally some explanation for what is going on,
> however thin.  Only if something is completely unexplainable and the
> rest of the world going on its merry way would I generally say
> paranormal applies.
>

> soronel.hae...@gmail.com