Anyone tried to go non-erotic?

I've kicked the idea around to write a non erotic story. The closest I came was My Brother's Ghost, but it wasn't PG13 rated..... haha - more like rated R with the rape scene towards the end. The only issue I had with the story( a murder mystery) is some readers assumed the title suggested it was an incest story. Other than that, I'd love to write a purely non erotic story.
Kant

For me, personally, the idea of writing and submitting a nonerotic story on this site seems like ordering a peanut butter sandwich at a deli; it would never occur to me to do it, but it wouldn't bother me if someone else did.

That said, there are some good nonerotic stories that have been written here, and I can see how it would be useful for a writer to work on entertaining and exciting his/her readers without relying on the promise or description of sex. I doubt I will do it, mostly because my backlog of unwritten/unfinished erotic stories is so long.

So I posted my non erotic story on wattpad and wow only 15 people have read it. And I think some of those views are from my daughter, LOL!!!
Nothing like the views here.

As of yet, I've only gone the other way with stories--taking nonerotic stories I've written and folding in the graphic sex.

sr71plt said:

As of yet, I've only gone the other way with stories--taking nonerotic stories I've written and folding in the graphic sex.

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That's an intriguing application of origami, Pilot, two sides of the same piece of paper. Very ukiyo.

SimonDoom said:

For me, personally, the idea of writing and submitting a nonerotic story on this site seems like ordering a peanut butter sandwich at a deli; it would never occur to me to do it, but it wouldn't bother me if someone else did.

That said, there are some good nonerotic stories that have been written here, and I can see how it would be useful for a writer to work on entertaining and exciting his/her readers without relying on the promise or description of sex. I doubt I will do it, mostly because my backlog of unwritten/unfinished erotic stories is so long.

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This quote pretty much sums up my thinking on the exercise!

For me, it's less about the ability to post here at Literotica and more about getting better as a writer. I enjoy writing, and I think, like many people, I would like to get to the point that I'm good enough to make a living out of it. Kind of that whole idea of find something you love in life and then find a way to get people to pay you to do it.

That mean's getting better! I post to Literotica not as something that I NEED to do. The storyline I'm working on now has a lot of sex as a part of the story, but most of my fleshed out plots do not. For me, posting here is about two things. The first was to prove to myself that I could write something that had the length and interest of a novel, and that first good idea that I could commit myself to happened to be something very erotic, so this was a good home for that.

The second reason is, porn readers are picky! They give you feedback and are not scared to blast you when you have your head up you ass. I wanted to write something and have someone besides my wife, who hopefully loves me and supports me no matter how stupid I am, read it and let me know whether or not I'm fooling myself.

I'll probably always post here as I like the community of people. Even stuff I choose to publish for revenue down the road will most likely end up here without me caring whether or not people pay for it or come and get it for free. I like the number of views and votes I get, but at the end of the day, I'm more interested in telling people a good, entertaining story than I am in getting ratings and/or votes!

LukasGrey said:

Has anyone ever tried taking a story that you've written as an erotic one and tried to pull the sex out and PG-13 it up?

Were you happy with it? Do you think it's a good exercise?

I'm kind of toying with the idea that if a story can't be told without relying on sex is it worth being told?

Thoughts?

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Fuck, dude, You have nailed it. If your fucking story doesn't rock without the sex shit then it is jack off xhamster-shit quality porno. End of story.

All the best erotic fiction can stand alone without the "explicit" details, because the story, the plot and the telling of the tale gets you hot. It has nothing to do with big tits and lots of cock milage.

You can't fake this shit. You got to have it in you. But it is also not something you are born with. You got to invent yourself. It takes a whole lot of work. You got to really want it. I doubt most people really, really want it. That's why there are so few good writers. But if you persist and you are good, which is the only reason why you should persist in the first place, you will succeed. If you are lucky.

Life isn't fair.

Let's face it, most erotic fiction is written by jerk offs jacking off while they write. Do not do that!

It's like a verbiage fucking dildo people are ramming into their private Freudian fantasies. Back and forth, back and forth, pumping in and out until they come. Who gives a fuck? You came, so what?

It's not erotic or literotic or just plain good writing. It's just jacking off.

Make art. If it is horny, you and we will know.

LukasGrey said:

Has anyone ever tried taking a story that you've written as an erotic one and tried to pull the sex out and PG-13 it up?

Were you happy with it? Do you think it's a good exercise?

I'm kind of toying with the idea that if a story can't be told without relying on sex is it worth being told?

Thoughts?

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I've written hundreds of Non-Erotic as well as Review and Essay stories from gun control to political injustices to every day observations, we're lucky to have this online story board to vent our anger and rage.

I know that many of the readers here would disagree with me but sometimes, life is so much more than just sex.

So, to update here, I have been working on taking my first really good story and going back with the red pen and slashing things out. I have to say, I don't like it.

It's not that I feel the story HAS to have sex to be good, but I like the tone, the atmosphere and particularly the characters and the way they react to each other in the context of the sex scenes. In some scenes, I felt they were really improved by making things a lot less explicit, but in others, I found I was sacrificing characters for the sake of changing the story, which I did not like!

I'll probably still finish the re-edit but I think the main lesson I'm learning is to not doubt my first instinct while writing stuff!

How many others feel they suffer from that? They read back through what they wrote and the doubt weasel starts chewing at your brain?

At the moment I'm writing about an asexual man, so sex will be hard to fit in, but something tells me by the end of the novel he will evolve in a male slut

SimonDoom said:

For me, personally, the idea of writing and submitting a nonerotic story on this site seems like ordering a peanut butter sandwich at a deli; it would never occur to me to do it, but it wouldn't bother me if someone else did.

That said, there are some good nonerotic stories that have been written here, and I can see how it would be useful for a writer to work on entertaining and exciting his/her readers without relying on the promise or description of sex. I doubt I will do it, mostly because my backlog of unwritten/unfinished erotic stories is so long.

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Lit has a non-erotic category . . . why not use it? Some of my highest scores are from non-erotic stories. They didn't start out with sex and don't promise sex, either, but the readers haven't complained.

_Lynn_ said:

Lit has a non-erotic category . . . why not use it? Some of my highest scores are from non-erotic stories. They didn't start out with sex and don't promise sex, either, but the readers haven't complained.

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Absolutely agree. My highest-rated story is in Non-Erotic. It's also the story with the highest views-to-ratings ratio in my admittedly small portfolio.

It's also the story with the lowest total views, so if you're looking to engage hundreds of thousands of readers this is probably not the category for you. On the other hand, those you DO engage with are clearly there for the story and not the sex, which means they're more likely to rate, comment, and/or favorite instead of just having a wank and going on with their lives.

lustatopia said:

Let's face it, most erotic fiction is written by jerk offs jacking off while they write. Do not do that!

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I doubt it very much.
A Good erotic story should be crafted with care, intimating this and suggesting that until we get to the 'Tab A in Slot B parts'; and even that needs careful handling.

To my mind a really good story will stand well - even if the descriptive sex is removed.