confusion - lost my way

[jeninflorida]

I'm torn about a novella as I want to open it up with a bang and include a threesome, but part of me is telling me to scale it back and just have it be a man and a woman...not a threesome in the opening.

However, this story is about an adult game that people partake, kind of like match.com but for sexual encounters.

It seems that menage is so common in most books that I should and feel that the story needs it but something is holding me back. not sure why or what.

For those that write erotica, would you include a threesome in chapter 1? or wait....

 

[sr71plt]

I have a whole anthology of menage (that's the title too). It's an old listing, but it did great in the first two years, hit the anthology best-seller list at Allromanceebooks.com, and is still selling a bit. Although it includes stories, a lot of what I put in there were scenes from various other works. The reviewers seemed to think it worked just fine.

If you are going to do menage, I think it's probably best not to hide that element, so putting it right up front should be fine. (My publisher declared my anthology as MMF right on the cover.)


http://www.allromanceebooks.com/thumbnailImages/16729.jpg

 

[PennLady]

jen, if you don't mind me saying so, I think you worry -- as do many of us -- too much about what you "should" do in a story. If you want to open a story with a menage a trois (or quatre or whatever), then do so if that's what works for your story, or if that's the story you want to tell. Some will like it and some won't, but you can't tell who or how many, and that happens with all of us.

I know I started a whole thread on reactions to my one story, so it might seem weird coming from me. On the other hand, I'm not going to change anything about the story because of what other people thought I "should" do. I wrote it knowing that certain things would not be to the satisfaction of some readers -- it was more the sheer vehemence of the reaction that took me back.

So if your idea starts with, or hinges on, a menage, then go for it.

P.S. - nice cover on the Menage book, SR.

 

[sr71plt]

P.S. - nice cover on the Menage book, SR.

Thanks. Here are a couple more in that series (both are ARE anthology best-sellers). Bet you can figure out what story topics they cover.


http://www.allromanceebooks.com/thumbnailImages/449507.jpg

Although launched two years ago, as of today’s listing, Fetish Galore is my second highest ARE best-seller (in that pen name).


http://www.allromanceebooks.com/thumbnailImages/364941.jpg


So, jen, like PennLady, I'm suggesting that you write what you want and be bold with it up front. If you can get it published (meaning if publishers will take it that bold), you'll connect with an audience for it.

 

[SydneyBlake]

I'm with PennLady. Just write your story the way it begs to be written, and screw 'em if they don't like it.

 

[lovecraft68]

If the story is about an adult game, then your best bet is to open up with bang, draw people in right away.

Also go with your gut.

I see a lot of threads where people seem to know what they want to do, yet doubt themselves.

He who hesitates is lost, let it rip!

 

[PennLady]

I'm with PennLady. Just write your story the way it begs to be written, and screw 'em if they don't like it.

Or, perhaps even better, they'll get to screw if they do.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm with PennLady. Just write your story the way it begs to be written, and screw 'em if they don't like it.

Oh, look a Syd sighting!

Decide to come slumming?

 

[SydneyBlake]

Or, perhaps even better, they'll get to screw if they do.

Penn, you naughty girl, you!

 

[SydneyBlake]

Oh, look a Syd sighting!

Decide to come slumming?

I just missed you.

 

[PennLady]

Penn, you naughty girl, you!

every once in a while.

 

[lovecraft68]

every once in a while.

Is that when Mr. Penn gives you two minutes in the Penalty box for roughing?

There's a high sticking joke in there somewhere as well.

 

[PennLady]

Is that when Mr. Penn gives you two minutes in the Penalty box for roughing?

There's a high sticking joke in there somewhere as well.

Occasionally I'm tempted to give him two minutes for delay of game.

And it might be less high-sticking than spearing.

 

[Edward Teach]

I'm torn about a novella as I want to open it up with a bang and include a threesome, but part of me is telling me to scale it back and just have it be a man and a woman...not a threesome in the opening.

However, this story is about an adult game that people partake, kind of like match.com but for sexual encounters.

It seems that menage is so common in most books that I should and feel that the story needs it but something is holding me back. not sure why or what.

For those that write erotica, would you include a threesome in chapter 1? or wait....

Write the threesome, wait a day, read it and you'll know if it needs changing. But give it a shot.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

First: Whether you go with it or not, write it. Worst case, you cut the piece out and use it again later.

At a glance, I'd say starting with the menage is fine as long as the story also ends on some high point -- either an even steamier menage, or something that's at least as hot (if not hotter) for whatever other reason.

As far as feeling like it's been done before: I've seen a bajillion fistfights in film & television, but I still want to see more good ones, because the context is always different. Why would sex be any different? It's physical activity between two (or more) people. Same with sex scenes, both visually and in writing. Doesn't matter if that menage is MMF or FFM; it will have its own context and you'll bring your own style to it, and that'll make it original.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Most writers fuckup with all the spontaneous scribbling they do. The better writing books make fun of the practice. Your miles ahead when you know your tale's start, finish, and complications, at the gitgo.

 

[sr71plt]

Your miles ahead when you know your tale's start, finish, and complications, at the gitgo.

Agree. My problem is usually with the middle.