A question for those of you who are into plot and character.

[GrushaVashnadze]

Do those of you who put effort into good plots and developed characters think of your stories as the same as a novel or short story at Barnes and Noble (or wherever) with a lot of hot sex scenes? Or is there some quality that makes them "erotica," where that hot novel would not be so classified?

This relates to my distinction between 'fiction with sex' and 'fiction about sex.' To me, plot and character are aspects of any fiction I write. What interests me about 'fiction about sex' is that in most human experience, in most cultures, sex is rarely discussed openly, or in detail. Making sex the center of a story can give it an intriguing plot, and allow for development of characters in ways that might not arise in 'fiction with sex.'

I like to write what I call "novels" (or "novellas") because their length allows them to incorporate multiple arcs - some sexual, some to do with to character, plot, setting, and other themes. They can be both "fiction with sex" and "fiction about sex" simultaneously. Alison Goes to London is my favourite example, because it appears at first to be all about fucking (i.e., what some people here deride as "porn"), but then turns out to be an allegory about our society and how we choose to live in it and relate to each other. It is nice to write stories (and the structural possibilities of a novel allow this to happen) which the wankers like because they're filthy, but the thinkers like because they make them think. "Porn that makes you think" - now there's a question: can you be a wanker-thinker? or a thinker-wanker? i.e. can you jerk off and cogitate the meaning of life at the same time? (Try it and let me know how it goes... )

 

[SamBomb]

Which brings me to my question. Do those of you who put effort into good plots and developed characters think of your stories as the same as a novel or short story at Barnes and Noble (or wherever) with a lot of hot sex scenes? Or is there some quality that makes them "erotica," where that hot novel would not be so classified? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I'm just curious as to how you see yourselves and your stories.

tia
ag

I'm not that good, I just think it's way hotter if you know the character more. Sex without the story is boring reading to me.

 

[KeithD]

Do those of you who put effort into good plots and developed characters think of your stories as the same as a novel or short story at Barnes and Noble (or wherever) with a lot of hot sex scenes?

That's what I go for, yes. I don't put too much anguish into whether or not I've achieved it, though. I also don't go deeply into character development, usually concentrating on one challenge they have to deal with rather than a whole handbag of them tracing back to a childhood I analyze.

 

[CyranoJ]

Which brings me to my question. Do those of you who put effort into good plots and developed characters think of your stories as the same as a novel or short story at Barnes and Noble (or wherever) with a lot of hot sex scenes?

Fun fact: "anonymous" erotic fiction found at regular bookstores became the inspiration for my stories here. That includes sex scenes in specific "romance" novels. There isn't some absolute separation between books at bookstores and stories here, even less so in the era of Amazon.

 

[EmilyMiller]

[…] is there some quality that makes them "erotica," where that hot novel would not be so classified?

Not sure that many hot novels start with the FMC being anally pounded by another woman who has grown a cock.

Emily

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Not sure that many hot novels start with the FMC being anally pounded by another woman who has grown a cock.

Emily

Which is a bit of a tragedy when you think about it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Which is a bit of a tragedy when you think about it.

There is such an opening scene in Austen’s manuscripts, but she never finished the novel.

Emily

 

[Kelliezgirl]

There is such an opening scene in Austen’s manuscripts, but she never finished the novel.

Emily

Figures.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Figures.

Working title: Hos and Holeability

Emily

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Working title: Hos and Holeability

Emily

I was waiting for Prudes and Procreation.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I was waiting for Prudes and Procreation.

I have a 30% complete story in my drafts called Trussed & Trustability - it’s about a couple trying BDSM (out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it happened).

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

I have a 30% complete story in my drafts called Trussed & Trustability - it’s about a couple trying BDSM (out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it happened).

Emily

https://imgur.com/a/yD5We4S

 

[Kelliezgirl]

https://imgur.com/a/yD5We4S

Dang, that's a lot of drafts!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Some are just ideas - or a brief outline - or the first 1,000 words

 

[EmilyMiller]

Dang, that's a lot of drafts!

And the spelling of “guilding” is wholly intentional.

Emily

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

Not sure that many hot novels start with the FMC being anally pounded by another woman who has grown a cock.

You may be right. But then, why not? My Alison Goes to London begins with:

Rob fucked that asshole with more lust than he knew he had. He fucked it because it was hot and slimy as a cunt on heat. He fucked it because it sucked his dick better than any cunt or throat he had ever had fucked. He fucked it because this bitch's filthy talk drove him wild. He pulled Alison's ass down onto the berth and lay on top of her so that, dick still pounding her shithole, he could suck those big beautiful tits, their finely-rounded nipples now pinker and puffier than ever. He gazed in wonder at that pretty face, those keen brown eyes, those soft pink lips -- now unleashing a torrent of verbal filth at him: "You like fucking this dirty white bitch, Mister Daniels? You gonna squirt your cum into that asshole? Swill out her shit-cunt with that cock-cream of yours? Fill her brown hole with all your fucking dick-slime? Watch her eat your fucking cum from her shit-pit? 'Coz this pretty little white girl owns you. You come in here, boy, and bust up her fucking chifforobe, and she'll give you a fucking -- FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!"

and ends, 19 chapters later, with this exchange between the same two characters:

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea..." whispered Alison.
Rob completed the verse: "... even there, your right hand will hold me fast."
They looked into each other's eyes, and nodded. And then Rob said: "Now... we need to go."
"Now?" asked Alison.
"Now," replied Rob. "All the paperwork is ready for Chad and Eva, and they are ready to get back into the coffin. If we leave now, we can catch the last ferry from Fuckstone."
"In which case, Rob, I..."
"Yes, Alison?" said Rob.
Rob waited. Alison paused.
"Rob, please make love to me," said Alison, with just a touch of sheepishness in her voice.

This is precisely the sort of thing that can happen in a novel: transformation, development, journeys - porn to romance, filth to beauty, exploitation to love, Orwell to Austen. Harder in a shorter story - but the space and latitude afforded by the novel allow all sorts of fascinating juxtapositions and layerings to build.

 

[Wifetheif]

I started posting here to work on dialogue and plotting after a successful career in nonfiction where I could only transcribe actual, verified dialogue and tell the story as it happened. I shudder at how bad some of my early stories are in terms of spelling and grammar but they were just experiments to begin with, the fact that people liked them was just gravy. My view is that good erotica relies on plot. A stroke story is just enough for you to get hard and get off in the moment. They are fine but its the difference between anonymous sex with a half-glimpsed stranger and an evening on the town followed by a night of incandescent sex with that person you've ached for all year. Both are fun but one is a hell of a lot more memorable. I specialize in non-consent. I have to have a plot or I am writing rape fiction. I have to get my characters from, "Hell no you creep!" to "Well, ordinarily I would NEVER suck a strangers wang, BUT there is something about yours." in a natural progression -- and that REQUIRES plot!

 

[samhasstories]

Note: Please don't read this as any sort of negative opinion about plot and character in erotica. Though I haven't written any (well... maybe one), I've certainly enjoyed good stories with good plots and developed characters, both here and in mainstream outlets.

Which brings me to my question. Do those of you who put effort into good plots and developed characters think of your stories as the same as a novel or short story at Barnes and Noble (or wherever) with a lot of hot sex scenes? Or is there some quality that makes them "erotica," where that hot novel would not be so classified? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I'm just curious as to how you see yourselves and your stories.

tia
ag

For my own purposes, I think of erotica as primarily erotic. If I write a story focused on plot and characters that just happens to have some erotic tension or erotic scenes, I don't post it here. I keep it in my own name and share it with the people I share my non-erotic writing with, with the hope of potentially publishing it at some point if I'm happy with it. So, yeah, I suppose I would classify that with whatever else is at Barnes and Noble, etc.

The stuff I post here is all about the sex. That's why the characters are doing what they're doing; that's the payoff. There aren't any attempts at great insights, the characters don't really learn anything in the end (except perhaps what it's like to have an absurd amount of sex in a short amount of time, probably with an audience). They just cum. A lot.