The rewards of writing.

[DesEsseintes]

'Writing is its own act, not its rewards: like the whale is the whale and not its metaphor'. Mary Lee Settle.

Few writers here, if anywhere, write for financial gain. But what are the rewards, for you? Is it purely for the pleasure of the act, or for positive comments, or the fulfilment of completion, or...?

 

[Aleiand]

I like this question.

I have a couple of answers and which one or combination applies depends on what is going on in my life.

I first began writing stories to excise the demons in my soul. Getting them out of my heart and mind and on to paper (electrons) seemed to make them easier to control.

My second reason is that I am really aroused and I need to take something that's in my imagination and write it down to make it more real and for some reason, when I'm done, I think it's worth sharing with the world. After all, if it was hot enough for me to enjoy it, I figure there might be someone else who would enjoy it to.

Third, I've found some stories are inside of you and they simply need to be told or the stay inside of you making rude noises and generally making fun of you. It's good to let them out to play with others.

I do love positive comments, especially constructive ones, but I've found I can't afford to write for them. All too often, stories are met with silence or at times by people who don't see what you see or don't find what you think is interesting as being quite so interesting. It's too easy to just stop writing when things like that happen. I think the story has to have worth to at least one person, yourself. You have to believe it's a story worth being told and a story you want to hear. You may never hear from them but if you think its worthy, chances are there is someone out there that agrees. That makes it worth writing.

Oh and yes, the unattainable dream. I sometimes imagine two young women discovering their sexuality together while reading one of my stories. Probably will never happen, but the thought that it might is sort of a carrot I hang out there in front of myself.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Often, writing doesn't feel like much of a choice to me. I have these stories in my head and getting them out feels better.

I like the quiet time. I enjoy considering the characters and their exploits. I enjoy thinking (hoping) that I'm taking the reader on a fun ride. I enjoy being lost in their world while constructing it.

Recognition for a story well told feels good, of course. But even when I wasn't posting anywhere, I still wrote.

 

[lovecraft68]

Like other will say at some point I write because I have to. Once I started a few years ago I can't stop.

On occasions where something is going on in work or home life that leaves me no real time to write the plot bunnies scream in my head and won't let me sleep until I start making them real.

I also quite simply get a big thrill out of knowing that there are thousands of people who have read and enjoyed something I created. To me that is still amazing

Even better in the paid market to know people have paid for something I created

And the feedback...among the "you're the best ever" and "Fuck off and die you sick pig" there are some great comments and none better then when someone tells me one my stories deeply affected them.

I've had many tell me over the years that some of my works have brought them to tears(and no, not because they were so bad...then again...) that's something that makes me happy

But as I said recently on another thread, there are two people here who have credited one of my stories (The same one) with inspiring them to start writing themselves.

To me, there can be no better accolade...

Even though one of them is now putting me to shame...

 

[DreamCloud]

I am an introvert. Writing allows me to experience extraversion without violating the central premise of my make up. I will never change, but I can create a world in which I have.

 

[oggbashan]

I write to get the stories out of my head, and the Muses off my back.

Once I have hit the submit button I can forget that story and move on to the next.

Stories that are part-completed roll around in my sub-conscious until I am ready to write the completion, but once finished I have more stories waiting and not enough time.

 

[Carnevil9]

I write because it's fun. I get to create people, places, things, situations, and play God with all of them! It's the world's most flexible sandbox, a never-ending bucket of Legos, an infinite Tinker-Toy set. (there, now I've gone and dated myself)

Comments from readers are nice, but it's the playing with my mental toys that is the real fun.

 

[LastLostIdols]

I write because I like to write but also because if I don't write, then I have these weird characters and voices continually telling me their story. And not telling their stories gives me a real bad case of anxiety, so telling these character's stories shuts them right up.

Till the next character comes along and starts babbling to me... As George R.R Martin says, Writing is very much like being psychotic.

 

[sr71plt]

If I don't write what my Muse delivers in the morning, I find that the storylines just pile up and I get the jitters. I prefer feeling the rush while I'm writing, so it's a no brainer to write.

 

[glynndah]

Yes. <-- {obligatory extra characters}

 

[edwalu2]

My first (and so far only) story on Literotica (link in my profile!) was written at the suggestion of a woman that my girlfriend and I were hoping to meet for an FFM threesome, so it was a way of communicating to her what we were like, the way we liked to play, and what she might expect from us and to happen to her if she joined us for a threesome.

It was successful in that regard, and we were both rewarded with an extremely hot threesome with her, both wilder and kinkier than the one the story describes.

We have also passed it on to other women we were interested in subsequently, and we have two more threesomes lined up with two different women who found it similarly exciting...so in that department it's been a little like the gift that keeps on giving. The rewards are far outpacing my expectations.

What I didn't give any thought to when I was writing it was how enjoyable I would find the process. I've always been someone who knows that they can write moderately well, but have hated the process. Now, I'm actually looking forward to sitting down and tackling my next story, because the reward is in the process of work itself. It's been a real eye opener, that's for sure.

 

[HeyAll]

Short answer:

It's a very strange feeling knowing I've written stuff that people enjoy sexually. That's always a motivating factor. Especially since I'm a fan of good erotica. So it's strange knowing that other people like my stuff. Authors always talk about the joys of receiving comments. But for me, the main joys are seeing he views/votes/favs. Comments I consider a bonus.

It's really fun writing a story. From thinking of the ideas, the characters, to writing it, and writing the dialogue, creating scenes, ect... It's fun getting to the computer and typing stuff.

Most of all, there's a sense of accomplishment throughout everything. After finishing a story, there's that feeling of relief, like I did something. Then when the story gets posted and it does well, there's a second feeling of accomplishment. So it feels like being rewarded twice.

It only feels like a chore when I have to edit the stories and read them slowly. I'll have 5 stories for the current contest, so it was a lot of editing and slow reading. Not very fun.

 

[sr71plt]

Plus you can make money from it.

 

[Hypoxia]

It's a matter of necessity. When I must write, I do. When I don't need to write, I don't. The voices in my head tell me what to write, when, I always listen to my voices. Necessity, the mother of writing. We do what we must and otherwise slack off. I've been slack lately. The voices will whip me into shape in their own time.

 

[sr71plt]

It's a matter of necessity. When I must write, I do. When I don't need to write, I don't. The voices in my head tell me what to write, when, I always listen to my voices. Necessity, the mother of writing. We do what we must and otherwise slack off. I've been slack lately. The voices will whip me into shape in their own time.

There's that. And I try not to obsess when I'm not writing. When it gets to be a chore or involves pressure, I'll no longer enjoy it and will move on to something else.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I'm obsessively creative, and writing lets me create whole worlds. It's not my only creative hobby, but it's one that many other people can understand and appreciate, unlike the more arcane things I do.

I would probably still write if no one read it; but the positive comments do make my day. (Stalkers don't, which is why I've taken to discouraging contact.) Having people write me and say "you expressed my innermost thoughts; I felt naked, reading your story" is huge to me.

Plus, well... how many hobbies are there where hundreds to thousands of women have orgasms as a result? There's a certain amusement in hitting Submit and thinking "that should have quite a few people shuddering through bedtime this week."

 

[Aleiand]

I write to get the stories out of my head, and the Muses off my back.

Once I have hit the submit button I can forget that story and move on to the next.

Stories that are part-completed roll around in my sub-conscious until I am ready to write the completion, but once finished I have more stories waiting and not enough time.

You mean ... you can complete stories??

*Pulls out the Big Book of Alei Storywriting*

OMG ... you're right, it is a theoretical possibility!!!

*thud*

Of course for me, the key word is "theorectical". *pout*

 

[oggbashan]

You mean ... you can complete stories??

*Pulls out the Big Book of Alei Storywriting*

OMG ... you're right, it is a theoretical possibility!!!

*thud*

Of course for me, the key word is "theorectical". *pout*

I have 235 posted stories and poems as oggbashan, and some more as jeanne_d_artois.

BUT my incomplete stories and poems outnumber those by three to one.

 

[Adre]

I wrote for money, it was a nice way to make a living and a comfortable alternative to manual labor.

 

[sr71plt]

I only wrote for money after having established a cushy annuity built on ass-breaking work. I never could totally rely on having to write to pay the bills. That would mess terribly with the fun of and inspiration needed to sustain writing. Writing now just pays for ocean cruises, which aren't necessities.

 

[SamScribble]

I started writing (for money) many, many years ago. It was an alternative to having to get a real job. I don’t think anyone would describe me as a great ‘imaginer’. But I’m generally recognised as a more-than-adequate craftsman. And, over the years, that’s what the paymasters have appreciated and paid for – sometimes handsomely. Writing stories for Lit is just an opportunity to try out some new ideas. Some work; some don’t. Either way, I usually learn something.

 

[Athalia]

. But what are the rewards, for you? Is it purely for the pleasure of the act, or for positive comments, or the fulfilment of completion, or...?

I write erotica for the same reason that I sing in the shower.

 

[sr71plt]

To get wet or to cleanse yourself?

 

[Saucyminx]

To get wet or to cleanse yourself?

Why not both?

 

[sr71plt]

Well, OK. To get wet and/or cleanse yourself?