Could ABDL Literature Become Mainstream?

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kik91

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Hey guys.

So, as you know, we have our own Stories forum where we all post our ABDL stories. There are dozens and dozens of sites with ABDL stories where people of our community post their writings. And since the start of self-publishing, there are several stories on sale on Amazon. Like, seriously, there are like 200 ABDL ebooks for sale on the Kindle store.

But I've been thinking... could ABDL literature become mainstream? I am a published writer, and I have two publishing houses backing me. Of course, an ABDL story published by a known publisher sounds farfetched... but... is it?

Like, years ago no one would have published BDSM stories for the general population, and now we have the Fifty Shades trilogy, which not only was published widely, but developed into three movies!!

So, if we take out some of the more explicit ABDL content, could an ABDL story become a full-fledged publication?

And if that were to happen, how would you react?
 
If it ever happened I'd be completely for it.

If an AB/DL centric story became mainstream or a hit, it would probably get people educating themselves more about the community. I think any positive depictions we can get in media, written or otherwise, is a good thing. I also think that if an AB/DL centric story became a hit, it would likely become a hit for the right reasons; by being a wholesome and nuanced, character and relationship driven story that not just AB/DL's could relate to, but that the vanilla masses could relate to or at least find accessible. Think about it, it could be done. As you said, if you avoid the stuff that many AB/DL's tend to frown upon, it could work. At the end of the day though, the story better work as a story first and foremost and it should offer people more to latch onto than just an AB/DL fantasy or AB/DL content.

In all honesty though, while I have some optimism and I do think it could happen, I still believe that even a consummately well-made AB/DL story would struggle to find footing within the mainstream. I think any success it could find would be moderate or niche. I have a feeling that the minute diapers came up, the public would probably just put the book down. AB/DL simply is not an exceedingly common or well known fetish/lifestyle outside of the community and for some reason, ABDL is a fetish/lifestyle some people really struggle to understand.

One of the reasons why the Fifty Shades franchise was successful wasn't because it depicted a proper BDSM relationship, they weren't even well-written books, they were a success because for whatever reason, BDSM has become commonplace to some extent. I have many vanilla friends who have indulged in BDSM activities on a whim, you even see BDSM profiles on vanilla dating sites from time to time. For some reason, BDSM just seems to have more traction in the public conscious, it seems more socially acceptable, that and I'm sure it is probably one of the most common alternative fantasies one can have or stumble upon.

What I think could be a real possibility, is that a well-written story that happens to make mention of AB/DL becomes a success, a story that perhaps features a multitude of characters and one of them happens to be an AB/DL, a story that contains an AB/DL subplot that really gets to the roots of what it means to be an AB/DL. I think a book or a story that features AB/DL content as an aside, could go over well because then the AB/DL content isn't the driving force of the narrative, it's just a small part of it, there would be more for your average reader to grab onto.
 
Poofybutt said:
If it ever happened I'd be completely for it.

If an AB/DL centric story became mainstream or a hit, it would probably get people educating themselves more about the community. I think any positive depictions we can get in media, written or otherwise, is a good thing. I also think that if an AB/DL centric story became a hit, it would likely become a hit for the right reasons; by being a wholesome and nuanced, character and relationship driven story that not just AB/DL's could relate to, but that the vanilla masses could relate to or at least find accessible. Think about it, it could be done. As you said, if you avoid the stuff that many AB/DL's tend to frown upon, it could work. At the end of the day though, the story better work as a story first and foremost and it should offer people more to latch onto than just an AB/DL fantasy or AB/DL content.

In all honesty though, while I have some optimism and I do think it could happen, I still believe that even a consummately well-made AB/DL story would struggle to find footing within the mainstream. I think any success it could find would be moderate or niche. I have a feeling that the minute diapers came up, the public would probably just put the book down. AB/DL simply is not an exceedingly common or well known fetish/lifestyle outside of the community and for some reason, ABDL is a fetish/lifestyle some people really struggle to understand.

One of the reasons why the Fifty Shades franchise was successful wasn't because it depicted a proper BDSM relationship, they weren't even well-written books, they were a success because for whatever reason, BDSM has become commonplace to some extent. I have many vanilla friends who have indulged in BDSM activities on a whim, you even see BDSM profiles on vanilla dating sites from time to time. For whatever reason BDSM just seems to have more traction in the public conscious, it seems more socially acceptable, that and I'm sure it is probably one of the most common alternative fantasies one can have or stumble upon.

What I think could be a real possibility is that a well-written story that happens to make mention of AB/DL off hand becomes a success, a story that perhaps features a multitude of characters and one of them happens to be an AB/DL, a story that contains an AB/DL subplot that really gets to the roots of what it means to be an AB/DL. I think a book or a story that features AB/DL content, maybe as an aside, could go over well because then the AB/DL content isn't the driving force of the narrative, it's just a small part of it, there would be more for your average reader to grab onto.

Thanks Poofybutt.

I understand your point. You're super correct. I've just been thinking about an ABDL story I am writing and I keep thinking that it may have the power to become house published. Maybe it is wishful thinking. And yes, I know ABDL is still a very hard to understand topic, which is why it would struggle. However, I think that a story written correctly could be good. Like, even an ABDL driven story could be published like that if it tackles the characters and story right. I guess it all depends on which author feels confident enough to look for an agent and then a house and it is accepted.

And yes, Fifty Shades is not a good story. Like, I've never read the book but the movies suck. But the point still stands. It's a BDSM story and it became a hit. I have hopes ABDL stories can have such exposure too. Yes, I wouldn't expect it to be made into movies or be a huge bestseller. Yes, the success could be moderate. But if it happens, I think it would be a good step to a right direction!
 
I think there is some validity to it, however I would keep it to more of a DD/LG or MM/LB concept as mentioned above, the introduction of diapers will cause the general public to in immediately put it down. Wile ddlg/mmlb dynamic isn’t abdl but it is a part of the abdl dynamic. I believe there will be good grounds for it. If it is well received, another story could be about a person that has the medical condition then incorporate the ddlg/mmlb dynamic. Just a thought.
 
kik91 said:
Thanks Poofybutt.

I understand your point. You're super correct. I've just been thinking about an ABDL story I am writing and I keep thinking that it may have the power to become house published. Maybe it is wishful thinking. And yes, I know ABDL is still a very hard to understand topic, which is why it would struggle. However, I think that a story written correctly could be good. Like, even an ABDL driven story could be published like that if it tackles the characters and story right. I guess it all depends on which author feels confident enough to look for an agent and then a house and it is accepted.

And yes, Fifty Shades is not a good story. Like, I've never read the book but the movies suck. But the point still stands. It's a BDSM story and it became a hit. I have hopes ABDL stories can have such exposure too. Yes, I wouldn't expect it to be made into movies or be a huge bestseller. Yes, the success could be moderate. But if it happens, I think it would be a good step to a right direction!

Thanks :)

Yeah, you're getting it. I think a story could be a success if it has AB/DL content either as the main focus or as an aside, just make sure the story and the characters work in spite of that content, then you give your average readers more incentive to finish the book.

As I said, anything is possible, if you want to use Fifty Shades as the measure of success, then yeah, I suppose a very well-written AB/DL story could find such success as well. I still maintain that Fifty Shades was successful because even before those books were released, BDSM was fetish and a lifestyle choice that was largely public knowledge, it may not have been super mainstream, but it was more mainstream and common from the get go than AB/DL.

In any event, good luck with your story. If you got an AB/DL story published by a major publishing house that would be quite the achievement and it would likely get our community some positive attention :)
 
I think it's possible, but the story would have to be about something a lot bigger than just diapers. Most good stories are. Mine are very different from the average diaper story. They tend to be more about the person than the diaper. Part of the reason for that is because we are a PG-13 story site, but a large part is because I read good books, even Pulitzer prize winning books, and I try to emulate what real writers do. For a diaper story to go mainstream, it would have to be of serious quality.
 
I think a better way to approach it might be to figure out how BDSM came out of the shadows and see about plotting a similar path for ABDL. One thing that I think helps us is the increasing visibility, prevalence, and acceptance of the so called "kidults." I would bet the first few "mainstream" works that feature explicitly ABDL themes or tones in a positive light will do so more as asides than any sort of focus.
 
Yeah, I think I should do a extensive research on how BDSM became so known so fast. As I said, the book could be about ABDL at it's core. Like, the main focus could be that, but it would also have to take out many of the "off-putting" elements or soften then and also have extremely well developed characters and writing!
 
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