Story introductions - yes or no?

[Voboy]

You didn't really read my post very well, you only saw a front that you wanted to see. I suppose that I should have put an intro on my post to explain to you how to read it.

And could you repeat that but about 'your audience's please? I couldn't hear it very well through the loud noise of your ego.

Lol.

The point is that you don't like intros, but this thread attests to the fact that many people have no real problem with them. I mention my readers to suggest that my intros don't seem to be an impediment to their story choices.

I'm sure plenty of others have come on over to my story list, clicked on something, seen a few italicized sentences, and noped right out. That's fine. As I've always said, there are stories here for everyone. Even people who aren't bound to their own ideas about how stories ought to be posted.

 

[KeithD]

I'm neutral about introductions and use them sometimes myself. What I don't like is being defensive about what the author has written right off the top of the story. So, if the introduction is used to warn the reader they might get the vapors from reading the story, I don't like that sort of introduction.

 

[Britva415]

At first, I followed the Lit concept of telling readers 'all characters are over 18 blah blah'

Ah, yeah, I'm reminded of those author's notes which are really messages to the approver. Those are unnecessary. No reader needs to see those. There's a field for that when you submit.

Just goes to show - there are a lot of different things people are calling "introductions" in this thread.

 

[BobbyLaker]

I'm neutral about introductions and use them sometimes myself. What I don't like is being defensive about what the author has written right off the top of the story. So, if the introduction is used to warn the reader they might get the vapors from reading the story, I don't like that sort of introduction.

Echos my own sentiments.

 

[BobbyLaker]

...

Just goes to show - there are a lot of different things people are calling "introductions" in this thread.

True, hence my clarification in:
https://forum.literotica.com/threads/story-introductions-yes-or-no.1592572/post-97345954

Having said that, I've found the wider discussion of interest.

 

[AlinaX]

I'm no expert, but if you're struggling with the standard, "let your story reveal the background naturally" advice, then a basic hack's trick is:

1. Write your story, starting with a punchy opening scene of course.
2. Then write your intro filling in all the background you worried you hadn't conveyed in the story and stick it at the top (after all its so much easier to write a mini-encyclopaedia entry than it is to deftly weave it in to narrative).
3. Then cut the start of the punchy opening scene out and paste it above your intro.
4. Write a simple segue from that into the background intro ("How did I get here, knee deep in aligators getting sucked off by my best friend's elderly solicitor, you ask?")
5. Then after the intro-dump is done you leap back into the bulk of the action.

Hackery is under-rated. Its much faster to write.

This is literally the worst advice ever. Nothing makes me lose interest in a story faster than this clumsy trick.

But you can write that opening scene properly, and make the next scene expository with a natural flow. Action does not need to be linear, but breaking the fourth wall should not be done without deliberate intent.

 

[Bazzle]

To me the introduction is a way of minimizing the down voting.
This story contains this sort of stuff. If you don't like it click back not down to the voting section!

B

 

[Bamagan]

It's kind of amusing to slap a warning label on something to trigger the people who get triggered at the reminder that other people have triggers (and who seem to often express the opinion that triggers are a sign of weakness of character or something).

 

[pink_silk_glove]

To me the introduction is a way of minimizing the down voting.
This story contains this sort of stuff. If you don't like it click back not down to the voting section!

Nothing smacks of ego more than this. God, it's so pretentious.

 

[AchtungNight]

To me the introduction is a way of minimizing the down voting.
This story contains this sort of stuff. If you don't like it click back not down to the voting section!

B

I honestly don’t know how many people down vote stories based on triggers, how the voting gets scrubbed, whether people go looking for stories to bomb based on their triggers… it’s all just ugh. I will say that I put tags in my introductions for the same reasons you do, that I write certain kinks because I want to see if I can do it and I think the character would be into them, but I am not necessarily into them myself. This is a rough thing to admit in any forum. I hope writers and readers can understand the feeling behind it.

 

[KeithD]

I honestly don’t know how many people down vote stories based on triggers, how the voting gets scrubbed, whether people go looking for stories to bomb based on their triggers… it’s all just ugh. I will say that I put tags in my introductions for the same reasons you do, that I write certain kinks because I want to see if I can do it and I think the character would be into them, but I am not necessarily into them myself. This is a rough thing to admit in any forum. I hope writers and readers can understand the feeling behind it.

Yes, I too write kinks that are beyond anything I would have done (when I was doing stuff). That's what serious writers do--they push the boundaries of what they'll write about and what writing techniques they employ. And there will be a receptive audience here for any edgy kink. But a confident writer won't make apologies or excuses at the top of the story. This is an adult site. Writers have a right to expect that readers will take responsibility for themselves and just back out of something they don't want to read when it has been correctly categorized and tagged.

I always provide an introductory blurb for series--assuring readers the series is finished and will all be completing posting by X date. I also like it when writers provide background on the writing and inspiration for their stories. I'd put that at the end of the story, though, not up front, especially if it includes spoilers.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

But a confident writer won't make apologies or excuses at the top of the story

Yes, that's exactly what it is. It's a disclaimer to say that there might be something subpar in this piece but dammit don't hold it against me. How pretentious is that?

 

[AchtungNight]

Yes, I too write kinks that are beyond anything I would have done (when I was doing stuff). That's what serious writers do--they push the boundaries of what they'll write about and what writing techniques they employ. And there will be a receptive audience here for any edgy kink. But a confident writer won't make apologies or excuses at the top of the story. This is an adult site. Writers have a right to expect that readers will take responsibility for themselves and just back out of something they don't want to read when it has been correctly categorized and tagged.

I always provide an introductory blurb for series--assuring readers the series is finished and will all be completing posting by X date. I also like it when writers provide background on the writing and inspiration for their stories. I'd put that at the end of the story, though, not up front, especially if it includes spoilers.

I will add to this that it is sometimes hard to get confident as a writer. You deal with certain kinks, certain issues, and worry sometimes about whether your readers will be into what you write and whether you might get shamed for it. Certain mental disorders can make the problem worse (bipolar is one of mine). My advice? Do whatever you need to do to get confident in your story, put it out if you’re comfortable with it and scrap it if you’re not. Plenty of entertainment on the web either way.

 

[viscachable]

Thank you to everybody who's posting on this thread! It's giving me a lot to think about as I work on my first story, because I've been wondering if I need one. I've read a lot of stories here that contain various kinds of extra-narrative text at the beginning, and FWIW, it doesn't bother me so much. In general, I suppose I prefer to have more information, rather than less. If I read an introduction that seems unnecessary or a little silly, I think I usually just forget about it and move on to the story itself. In some cases the introduction definitely strikes me as more of an affectation than anything else, but it's the style and content of the story itself that I'm going to enjoy, or not. But that's just me, and I'm new here, and maybe after reading a few hundred more stories, I'll have less patience!

 

[alohadave]

Yes, that's exactly what it is. It's a disclaimer to say that there might be something subpar in this piece but dammit don't hold it against me. How pretentious is that?

Warning readers that there are kinks in the story that they may want to avoid is not "something subpar".

You've mocked others for what they do throughout this thread. You don't have to do it, and no one in this thread has suggested that you do.

 

[Mogrem]

This is literally the worst advice ever. Nothing makes me lose interest in a story faster than this clumsy trick.

Well, OK. It was written partly in jest and most definitely an exaggeration. Specifically that awful example I gave was very much in jest. Also I was talking about writing in general; not having been on Literotica long I don't really know what works specifically for erotica, or this site's audience in particular. Nonetheless clearly you hate it.

However --- regardless of someone hating it as a technique --- it is not literally the worst advice ever. Its better than turning in a real clunker where you just can't integrate the background into the story at all and the opener is just a straightforward info dump. Its a start for sorting the structure out.

The point I was trying to make is how to tie your piece together after you've written various parts of it. How much work to put in to make it flow, after adding that structure, is up to the author.

For an example of a book that follows almost exactly the formula, try anything by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman at the Charge starts, "The moment after Lew Nolan wheeled his horse away and disappeared over the edge of the escarpment with Raglan's message tucked under his gauntlet, I knew I was for it." Goes on for just two more sentences before, "And I remember thinking, as I waited trembling for the order [...] this, I reflected bitterly, is what comes from hanging about pool halls and toad-eating with Prince Albert. [Exposition exposition exposition ...]"

See also Arthur C Clarke's short stories. Opening like of No Morning After: "'But this is terrible', said the supreme scientist. 'Surely there is something we can do!'" Then after three inches of "oh no!" dialogue we get, "Across the abyss, across the gulf which light itself took half a thousand years to span, the questing intellects of the planet Thar [exposition exposition exposition ...]"

I also seem to remember various Pratchett titles starting that way.

Maybe they would be better done some other way, but its a functional technique.

But you can write that opening scene properly, and make the next scene expository with a natural flow. Action does not need to be linear, but breaking the fourth wall should not be done without deliberate intent.

Its the same trick; it just comes down to how good the writing is.

--------

I shall try not to sound so serious. Obviously you cannot structure your way out of bad writing that doesn't flow at all.

 

[KeithD]

Warning readers that there are kinks in the story that they may want to avoid is not "something subpar".

You've mocked others for what they do throughout this thread. You don't have to do it, and no one in this thread has suggested that you do.

It's knee-jerk defensive. So, I guess one would have to consider whether being knee-jerk defensive would be less than par.

 

[dmallord]

It's kind of amusing to slap a warning label on something to trigger the people who get triggered at the reminder that other people have triggers (and who seem to often express the opinion that triggers are a sign of weakness of character or something).

That's a humorous response right there, but true!

I believe it's also a medical condition called - 'trig-ger-itus.' I've had that all my life. It started out in high school math classes during Algebra I, II, and III ... and I was severely infected with it by the time I got to Trig; nearly died by the time I bailed out of Calculus III in college. During the past sixty-five years or so the rash has gone away - at most these days it triggers a brief itch when I use arithmetic and some Pythagorean theory on occasion. BTW this has nothing to do with Trigger, Roy Roger's horse, though the horse was pretty good at tricks.

 

[John_Vandermeer]

It's kind of amusing to slap a warning label on something to trigger the people who get triggered at the reminder that other people have triggers (and who seem to often express the opinion that triggers are a sign of weakness of character or something).

But having triggers IS MOST DEFINITELY a sign of weakness of character...

Seriously though, there are plenty of kinks which are not my kinks. But I don't down vote or nasty comment for them. I simply back click and move on. I do not feel remotely qualified to express an opinion. Many... do not feel that way. And it is not without consequence. Enough downvotes from squick retaliatory strikes and people who would like your story do not even click on it, because there is no way to tell a low score from a poor story and a low score because a story ended up being read by the wrong audience.

 

[AlinaX]

Well, OK. It was written partly in jest and most definitely an exaggeration. ...
Its the same trick; it just comes down to how good the writing is.

The number of stories where there's literally just a paragraph or two of some hot sex scene that is neither introduced properly nor resolved in any way, and the author interrupts with, "But let me tell you how I got here," or some variant thereof...

It's a clumsy technique, overused and definitely abused, and my point stands. If you're going to open with a sex scene, that's fine, but the scene needs to be coherent, otherwise it's like an amateur film director with delusions of being the next Quentin Tarantino and wondering why no one has a clue what's supposed to be going on.

 

[KeithD]

I often start with a sex scene and more often start with action that can be confusing. The latter engages the intelligent reader. I just then have to bring the scene together into something coherent fast enough not to squander the initial hold on the reader.

 

[Bazzle]

Nothing smacks of ego more than this. God, it's so pretentious.

I was not trying be pretentious!
There is certainly no ego. More of an attempt to warn readers I'm dealing with fetishes, and which ones?
Fetish is such a broad spectrum, there are literally thousands? I tell the reader which ones I'm writing about?
That's not pretentious...it's helpful?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Warning readers that there are kinks in the story that they may want to avoid is not "something subpar".

You've mocked others for what they do throughout this thread. You don't have to do it, and no one in this thread has suggested that you do.

You're still not reading what I'm writing here. You just decided to find the front that you're looking for regardless of it's there or not. Seek and ye shall find, so there ya go. I'm an inkblot that could be fluffy clouds or anything else but you choose to see bloody rage. That's on you, so there's no point in engaging you any deeper than that.

 

[Bazzle]

I will add, my friend Mericalovess has written a fairly personal story about how she lost her virginity. She has not put on any notes...but all the criticism is about her young innocence and that she was smoking.
Someone has the cheek to suggest that she is a man. (I would suggest they check out her videos on the various video sites and then get their eyes tested).
As I helped her edit the story I feel guilty that we didn't warn peeps of the content...as that is what they have complained about. Not the plot, not her personal struggle but content of what she personally went through with her husband.
So I think in some stories there does need to be a heads up to the reader what they are going to encounter. If they are comfortable, then buckle up. If not get out and don't complain about the driving or the destination.
B

 

[alohadave]

You're still not reading what I'm writing here. You just decided to find the front that you're looking for regardless of it's there or not. Seek and ye shall find, so there ya go. I'm an inkblot that could be fluffy clouds or anything else but you choose to see bloody rage. That's on you, so there's no point in engaging you any deeper than that.

That's at least the second time that you've said that someone is reading incorrectly into what you are posting.

Guess what? If multiple people are 'misreading' you, maybe you are the not communicating clearly, or your performative art posting style is too obscure.

Either way, I don't really care.