Anyway, since @LiyahxWrites is not the only one who is bothered by this, I thought I would continue this discussion. It’s pretty annoying that every time I’m scrolling through the genre sections, all I see is romance. As the main plot. And because of this, looking for stories in different genres seems kind of pointless.
I actually wanted to make a feature request too, but I’m not sure how. So what I’ve been thinking about: now that Episode is reviewing basically everyone’s stories, maybe they could try to clean up this mess too and send out e-mails to athours if they think their stories are in the wrong genre. I obviously don’t want stories to get removed of this, but a kindly note like: “Hey, we noticed that your story is in Action, but we think it would better fit in Romance” wouldn’t hurt I guess?
To some extent, I agree, but to be fair a lot of stories can genuinely be more than one genre like rom-coms, so this is an understandable grey area. That being said, it is another thing entirely when the story itself doesn’t fit to its labelled genre at all, like you already mentioned.
Your idea is pretty interesting though
Yes, I certainly have no problem with any story in which romance is not the main focus, or it’s not the only main focus.
Since I used the action genre as example: I understand that some authors think that mafia romance might fit action, but this is not true if we don’t see any action at all after the kidnapping in the first chapter
I know it can be tricky to place stories when they could fit into multiple genres, so if it’s just that, it doesn’t bother me too much. What gets me though is when it’s obvious the main focus is romance (often a sexual one) and the author just places it in a different genre so it’ll trend higher - especially if they keep switching the genre of the story in portal lmao.
I considered switching my story between the romance and drama genres, mainly cause I couldn’t figure out which it fits in. There are two main storylines, one is a romance and the other the MC’s relationship with her family. They are both important plots so I started the story in romance then switched it to drama. Idk if it’s worth Episode looking into subgenres? E.g. romance and drama or romance and comedy?
Yeah, I noticed last month that all the romance stories had returned to where they belong: the comedy genre
I know when it comes to rom-coms, or fantasy-romances and even action-drama stories the lines can get blurry if your story is 50/50. Personally I’d want more genres to choose from but let’s be real, any genre is just going to get topped up with romance stories the same way horror and adventure do currently Maybe romance is the genre that needs multiple sub genres within their section on the app
This
Is there are feature request already for sub-genres? I think if Episode added sub-genres or added genre tags, organising stories might be easier. And it’d also narrow down the types of stories readers want to see (for example, they may specifically want to read rom-coms or fantasy-romance).
I’ve noticed a few stories on the forums being promoted as comedy romances, is this so they can write a romance story and put it in the comedy section?
Probably. I haven’t read many rom-coms in Episode, but I genuinely hope they fit the “comedy” section. If they aren’t comedic or funny at all, it may just be a ploy to advance in trending sections.
Oh yes! It’s obvious that the community produces much more romance stories than anything else, so I wouldn’t even mind if we had subgenres only for that genre. That would be still way better than seeing these stories in action, comedy, fantasy etc., and I’m pretty sure the authors would approve this solution as well.
This is a really good idea actually.
It’s the hardest genre to trend in as it is. If there were sub-genres in that section of the app, it would be easier to find stories and would also, by default, make it easier to find stories in genres like comedy, action and mystery where people like to throw their romance-focused stories lol
I agree. I know genres are subjective, and many stories, if not most of them, span more than one genre. But it’s up to the writer to pick one of the more dominant genres, and it’s really annoying when they pick a minor genre just to trend higher. Getting tired of seeing plots that focus entirely on romance being in another genre just because they can loosely fit (In the comedy section because it has 3 dick jokes, etcetera.)
I don’t know what could reasonably be implemented to fix this, though.
Stories being in the wrong genre drive me mad and you’re right if the reviewing team notices a mafia love story with like 99% romance and 1% of other genres in the action genre, they should let the author know asap; the comedy genre also had this problem the last time I checked. I think some authors do this for a higher rank which is so unfair
As someone who likes romance I’ve gotta say this would annoy me too. I think the main issue is people not realizing the difference between a main plot and subplots.
If a story is mainly about a romance but has some comedic relief to it it should still be in romance.
I think the only issue is sometimes stories can fall in two. The Dragon Bride is one I think could have worked in both Romance and Fantasy (though I do find it more fantasy based personally).
I agree with this too. For PA while I put it in romance because that’s what I consider it (and also I don’t want to be known as an author who mis-genres her own stories) it could have also possibly fit in drama in some cases. But since the main plot is ultimately a romance I kept it in that genre.
I do wonder though if this is more the case of the authors thinking there’s going to be more drama and action down the line and it just not developing? Or maybe I’m giving people too much credit.
I don’t get why people do this. I mean it might work for a bit, but how long until everyone figures out that the story so and so put in fantasy is actually 95% romantic.
I actually think this is a really good idea. Romance is definitely the hardest to get seen in and so sub-genres would be nice.
The sometimes bad part of episode is that it’s heavily romance based which means the chances of finding a story without at least a romantic subplot are pretty slim (at least from what I’ve noticed). It also doesn’t help that people notice it’s popular and so everyone seems to try and include it in writing.
I agree with this too! I think people should be told if their story is in the wrong genre. It’s one thing if a story is 50/50 on the romance and comedy and a completely different thing if it’s 95% romance and occasionally there’s some comedic relief.
The only time this isn’t an issue is usually rom-coms, I mean actual rom-coms, not just romance stories with funny scenes. It’s WAY better to put your rom-com in comedy, because most people in romance are looking for something… steamy… so obviously a rom-com would just not fit there.
Maybe romance is the genre that needs multiple sub genres within their section on the app 
