My First Lit Story - Any Ideas???

[Winterscumming]

Hey there! I am new to Lit - well new to the forums. I have visited the story site ALOT over the years. I have submitted a bunch of stories on another site, but I find the content here more... Freeing. Over the last few days since I officially joined Lit I have been trying to write something for my first posting here, but I have been completely blocked. So I figured I'd see if I could get any good suggestions and take off from there.

As a note, I love SciFi but I don't know that I have the skills to write it, especially erotically. So no SciFi suggestions!

All help is appreciated.

-JayLynn

 

[lovecraft68]

Well, to get yourself started you could take one of your previously published pieces and tweak it, maybe add a little to it and post it here. Might get you kick started to write new stuff.

 

[Ewobbit]

Hey there! I am new to Lit - well new to the forums. I have visited the story site ALOT over the years. I have submitted a bunch of stories on another site, but I find the content here more... Freeing. Over the last few days since I officially joined Lit I have been trying to write something for my first posting here, but I have been completely blocked. So I figured I'd see if I could get any good suggestions and take off from there.

As a note, I love SciFi but I don't know that I have the skills to write it, especially erotically. So no SciFi suggestions!

All help is appreciated.

-JayLynn

Hello, JayLynn. And welcome to the nut house.

My first piece of advice if you want to write; don't come to the forums. You'll spend all your writing time reading and posting.

Oops. Too late. Well, then... at least don't click any links. They may end up keeping you entertained for hours.

In all seriousness, I have to admit that I'm a little puzzled by your post. First, you say this site is more freeing. Then you say you are blocked.

Serious question... Is it that you don't know what to write, what to write first, or that you are worried about making that first sentence damn good?

In reverse order;

1) Stop sweating the first sentence until you've gotten something down.
2) Pick something and stick with it.
3) What? You don't close your eyes and daydream about something while masturbating?

If you're still stuck, there's a "story ideas" forum where people too lazy to write offer up suggestions on what they would like to see. I, myself, don't go in much anymore 'cause it seems like the majority want something that Laurel isn't going to let me hang on the wall. And, honestly, because I have more ideas in one hot shower than I'll ever live long enough to get written out in any submittable form.

But, stick with it! And welcome!

 

[MagicaPractica]

First, write for yourself. As Ewobbit suggested, look to your own fantasies. What do you think about when you masturbate? Remember that the first draft is just for you, then you can edit it into something you want to share. You can't be writing while you're looking over your shoulder, wondering what others will think of it.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny-------<-------that's me!

My first piece of advice if you want to write; don't come to the forums. You'll spend all your writing time reading and posting.


That's not true.................................... ooops, yes it is. We've wasted all afternoon on the forums.

JayLynn run as fast as you can and start writing. Forums bad!

 

[GoldenCojones]

Hey there! I am new to Lit - well new to the forums. I have visited the story site ALOT over the years. I have submitted a bunch of stories on another site, but I find the content here more... Freeing. Over the last few days since I officially joined Lit I have been trying to write something for my first posting here, but I have been completely blocked. So I figured I'd see if I could get any good suggestions and take off from there.

As a note, I love SciFi but I don't know that I have the skills to write it, especially erotically. So no SciFi suggestions!

All help is appreciated.

-JayLynn

My advice may sound trite, but I'm completely serious. Think of a story you'd like to read and then write it.

No one but you can tell you what turns your crank but if it's a story you want to read, then others will want to read it too.

Don't limit yourself. You can't grow if you stay in your comfort zone. Stretch it out (pun intended), get out of your comfort zone and write that one story you most want to read.

 

[Winterscumming]

I guess a better way to put it is that Lit offers more categories to write in so it seems more freeing. My problem begins when I sit down to write. Usually about a paragraph into it I decide it's a
little too tame or the story arc is a bit bland. Maybe I am over thinking it or trying to go too big the first time out.

I might take lovecraft68's suggestion and update/tweak one of my older ones and see if that will get me started!

 

[JackLuis]

I guess a better way to put it is that Lit offers more categories to write in so it seems more freeing. My problem begins when I sit down to write. Usually about a paragraph into it I decide it's a
little too tame or the story arc is a bit bland. Maybe I am over thinking it or trying to go too big the first time out.

I might take lovecraft68's suggestion and update/tweak one of my older ones and see if that will get me started!

Write a title, as crazy as you can think of.

Write a Slug, to tip the readers off on the story.

Write the opening line/paragraph.

Drink a beer and read it?

Don't like the image?

Delete and repeat.

Like the image, but not the title, don't sweat it until you finish the story, then change it. Publish and go on, again and again, never darkening the Door of the AH until you have a red H!

Seriously the forums can take up all your writing time.

 

[Ewobbit]

I guess a better way to put it is that Lit offers more categories to write in so it seems more freeing. My problem begins when I sit down to write. Usually about a paragraph into it I decide it's a
little too tame or the story arc is a bit bland. Maybe I am over thinking it or trying to go too big the first time out.

I might take lovecraft68's suggestion and update/tweak one of my older ones and see if that will get me started!

Statistically speaking, probably yes.

Go with it. The important thing is to start writing. Then keep writing. Then keep writing. Then keep writing. Then keep writing to a finish. Then edit. Then suck it up and submit and be damned (and praised) with the rest of us.

 

[Delilah_Night]

Start by writing the sexual f fantasy you think of most often.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I guess a better way to put it is that Lit offers more categories to write in so it seems more freeing. My problem begins when I sit down to write. Usually about a paragraph into it I decide it's a
little too tame or the story arc is a bit bland. Maybe I am over thinking it or trying to go too big the first time out.

I might take lovecraft68's suggestion and update/tweak one of my older ones and see if that will get me started!

Ah, you are falling prey to the most common of all writing blocks. Just keep writing. Allow your words to be crap, it's very freeing. Then you can edit them into what you want them to be. I know that's not everyone's writing process but it gets a hell of a lot more words on the page then trying to get it right the first time.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

LIT is about as useless as WRITERS DIGEST; few know squat, and fewer profit from good advice.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Ah, you are falling prey to the most common of all writing blocks. Just keep writing. Allow your words to be crap, it's very freeing. Then you can edit them into what you want them to be. I know that's not everyone's writing process but it gets a hell of a lot more words on the page then trying to get it right the first time.

I doubt there's a writing formula that's common to many people here, so take any advice with a grain of salt.

That said... What Magica said. Nobody gets it right the first time. Write stuff. I like to start with dialogue, two people talking. Go as far as you can and then step away from it for a few days. Come back and reread.

You might find some of it is ok, but there will be sections where you'll wonder what you were thinking, and you'll instantly "hear" problems in tone, wording, or just see ideas that won't work. Man up and delete the crap. Never be afraid of the delete key.

Keep "trying on" words until you get the ones that fit.

I don't sew but I've watched people make clothing freehand (no patterns). They aren't afraid of either the scissors or the seam ripper. Over time they learn where to embellish, where it should flow, where to keep it tight, and where you don't need any cloth at all. But they get that skill by looking at other people's clothing, and then by trial and error. Lucky you, you aren't paying for fabric. Words are free, so read and type a lot of them.

You're writing erotica. A story isn't done until you can't finish a reread without needing an orgasm *right now*. If it's not making you glow from head to toe, it's probably not raw and exposed enough to get other people interested. Write the smoking dialog and describe the touching, or the mindgames, or whatever is it, that makes you ache and/or throb; you probably aren't alone in your interests and if it gets to you it will likely get to others.

Don't assume anyone will like your first story. Don't even assume a lot of people will find it and read it. There are people who prowl the new story list, but they are looking for their favorite fetish and are likely to skim until they find it. It can take awhile to get a following and get useful feedback (Literotica is NOT a place to get useful feedback; you're lucky if one reader in 100 ever comments.)

If you're absolutely stuck... imagine a person who's horny and upset.

Why is s/he upset? If you're writing a female, consider these:

Maybe she didn't get promoted. and maybe she has an unacknowledged thing for her boss she hasn't come to grips with yet.

Maybe she caught her boyfriend cheating. Maybe she's just furious and needs to find another guy right NOW, or maybe to her horror, it turned her on and now she's questioning if she's bi or something.

Maybe her best friend "borrowed" a large sum and then left town unexpectedly. She's not just hurt; she really needs her life savings back. She decides to meet with a private investigator... sparks fly.

Any good story has some amount of personal conflict. All my characters are (or get) upset about something. Sometimes, they figure out that they are their own problem, like Gladgrind in Why I Love My Job. Maybe they're jealous of someone and questioning their own life choices, like Classy in Why I Hate My Roommate. Maybe they've been kidnapped (Becoming Marie, The Captured Princess) and need to come to terms with or triumph over their new situation. It's always some damn thing.

Good luck, and welcome to the asylum.

 

[lovecraft68]

You could always wander over to the Story ideas forum, people post ideas for things they would like to see written so you could get some inspiration there.

 

[Ewobbit]

LIT is about as useless as WRITERS DIGEST; few know squat, and fewer profit from good advice.

As a former subscriber to "Writer's Digest" and "Writer" both (as well as "Story", "Poet", and lots of other "professional journals for the wannabes", I'd just like to say that I resemble that remark. I resemble the hell out of it.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

As a former subscriber to "Writer's Digest" and "Writer" both (as well as "Story", "Poet", and lots of other "professional journals for the wannabes", I'd just like to say that I resemble that remark. I resemble the hell out of it.

I feel your pain.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Heh, thanks for the inspiration. I took my own advice and wrote out a twelve page story this morning that will never see the light of day, here or anywhere else, but at least I got it out of my head.

 

[lovecraft68]

As a former subscriber to "Writer's Digest" and "Writer" both (as well as "Story", "Poet", and lots of other "professional journals for the wannabes", I'd just like to say that I resemble that remark. I resemble the hell out of it.

I've never picked up or licked at any type of writing magazine, book, or anything beyond a link to Stephen Kings top 20 things about writing and many of those weren't about how to write, but more like the mind set and other things.

Now this is where everyone says, yes LC we can tell you've never sought any help or instruction for your writing

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I've never picked up or licked at any type of writing magazine, book, or anything beyond a link to Stephen Kings top 20 things about writing and many of those weren't about how to write, but more like the mind set and other things.

Now this is where everyone says, yes LC we can tell you've never sought any help or instruction for your writing

I wont say it. You've come a long way....however it happened.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wont say it. You've come a long way....however it happened.

The fake it until you make it strategy. That and my sister's corny line from when she was a kid "Nothing to it, but to do it."

 

[Winterscumming]

Finally Did It

Update...

I was about to transfer over a story from my other site, when I got a very interesting PM from a guy in one of the forums. I didn't really fit his particular request, but it made me giggle and so I decided to try and write it out.

It was interesting because while I stopped in the section/genre (Incest) I've never fantasizes about it or written from that perspective, at all. I once wrote a story from the perspective of the male and while it got great reviews I was told several times that the characters voice was definitely female and I over feminized him. The recent story was from the femal perspective, but I wonder if unfamiliar left me at a disadvantage at all...

Anyway, it should be up in 3 days (I think that's what it said). I'm glad I was able to get something newly original done and submitted. Though I have to admit I've read a lot about the trolls around here so, I'm a little Leary now that I'm on the bridge.

 

[lovecraft68]

Good luck with it, when it posts start a thread in the feedback forum and put a link to it so people can check it out and tell you what they think.

 

[OliviaM]

"I am married.
I do not do skype, video, or pic swap.
I will chat (google, kik,yahoo) and swap emails... oh, and of course trade Lit PMs.
Forgive me if I vanish intermittently, sometimes it becomes a bit overwhelming."

Are you me??? I think I might steal some phrasing of that entire sig.

As for what to do when you're feeling blocked, think of your favorite/typical fantasy and go the opposite way. If I'm on a kick about helpless damsels and ravishing bad boys, but it's not doing it for me, I might switch it around.

Also, a really weird tip, but you can use tarot cards as writing prompts. I don't believe in woo -- it just sometimes help you unlock your subconscious thinking. There are online tarot card readings and apps if you don't own a deck.

I am also taking all the advice to stay the hell off the forums. It's like having a new toy.

 

[lovecraft68]

If I'm on a kick about helpless damsels and ravishing bad boys, but it's not doing it for me, I might switch it around.

Hmm, helpless bad boys and ravishing damsels....that's a new one, could work.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I am also taking all the advice to stay the hell off the forums. It's like having a new toy.

These forums, especially AH, lose their toy-like appeal fairly quickly.