Straight guys writing gay male stories

[SimonDoom]

I don't recall seeing a thread on this before so I'm going to take the plunge. I'm a straight guy, with no experience with gay activity (and no closeted gay desires), but I'm intrigued by the challenge of writing a story about a straight guy who is seduced by and has a sexual encounter with another man. I'm always attracted to stories that push sexual and erotic boundaries, and this is one of the more obvious ones to push.

So I have a few questions:

1. Are there other straight male authors who've written gay male stories, and if so what was your experience? Did it go well? Was your story well received? Were you satisfied with it?

2. For those of you with experience writing these stories, do you have any tips or advice that you think a straight male writing such a story should consider? There have been threads before about men writing from the perspective of women, with many different viewpoints expressed on that subject. I don't know if gay authors have similar thoughts about straight authors trying to write from a gay perspective. Any thoughts, tips, ideas? Are there stereotypes to avoid (or to indulge in)?

I'm genuinely curious what people think about this.

 

[KeithD]

Why don't you write it from the straight guy's perspective? I'm bi and write GM, so I do it from the "anything goes/sex is sex is sex" perspective. If you can step into that mode, enabled perhaps by a scenario of the (supposedly--I think everyone is basically bi) straight guy opened to possibilities by drink or tension or relief or whatever, write it from your perspective of discovery, not from the declared gay guy's.

 

[SimonDoom]

Why don't you write it from the straight guy's perspective? I'm bi and write GM, so I do it from the "anything goes/sex is sex is sex" perspective. If you can step into that mode, enabled perhaps by a scenario of the (supposedly--I think everyone is basically bi) straight guy opened to possibilities by drink or tension or relief or whatever, write it from your perspective of discovery, not from the declared gay guy's.

That's exactly what I would do. But I want to do it in a way that has some semblance of realism. I haven't experienced that, but I imagine some gay authors recall the first time they had an encounter with another man. I've had gay friends who came out at a relatively late age after they previously had identified as hetero.

I can imagine writing the story easily enough. I'm just curious if those with experience writing such stories have any ideas or thoughts about what to do/to avoid.

 

[PG564E]

Hi

I don't recall seeing a thread on this before so I'm going to take the plunge. I'm a straight guy, with no experience with gay activity (and no closeted gay desires), but I'm intrigued by the challenge of writing a story about a straight guy who is seduced by and has a sexual encounter with another man. I'm always attracted to stories that push sexual and erotic boundaries, and this is one of the more obvious ones to push.

So I have a few questions:

1. Are there other straight male authors who've written gay male stories, and if so what was your experience? Did it go well? Was your story well received? Were you satisfied with it?

2. For those of you with experience writing these stories, do you have any tips or advice that you think a straight male writing such a story should consider? There have been threads before about men writing from the perspective of women, with many different viewpoints expressed on that subject. I don't know if gay authors have similar thoughts about straight authors trying to write from a gay perspective. Any thoughts, tips, ideas? Are there stereotypes to avoid (or to indulge in)?

I'm genuinely curious what people think about this.

Is it alright if I send you a Private message to answer some of your questions? I've also got some idea's on how your writing can approach gay sex.

 

[KeithD]

That's exactly what I would do. But I want to do it in a way that has some semblance of realism. I haven't experienced that, but I imagine some gay authors recall the first time they had an encounter with another man. I've had gay friends who came out at a relatively late age after they previously had identified as hetero.

I can imagine writing the story easily enough. I'm just curious if those with experience writing such stories have any ideas or thoughts about what to do/to avoid.

I didn't know I was anything but straight until I was twenty-seven. I pretty much wrote about the first time here (https://www.literotica.com/s/egyptian-initiation). If your "straight" character can't get it up with another man under a chosen scenario, you don't have a story (unless you're fine with just the emotions of connection and maybe a bit of unrealized desire--which would be fine for story). If he can get it up with another man, he's not purely straight, and what you have is a story of discovery. That's the point to start using your imagination if you don't have actual experience. It's not that hard. Sex is sex is sex whether with a woman or a man. The emotions are the same, except if you are thinking "I'm straight and doing this" you can throw in a bit more angst about doing it. You'd have extra angst, and more or less the same angst in effect, too if it was your sister or your brother's wife.

But I'm of the school of thought not to try to force someone to write about something they feel uncomfortable with or not up to. Maybe that's where you are and should rethink why you would write this at all.

 

[SimonDoom]

Is it alright if I send you a Private message to answer some of your questions? I've also got some idea's on how your writing can approach gay sex.

Of course. Click on my name and it will take you to my profile page. My PM link is there.

 

[SimonDoom]

I consider myself pretty straight; I'm not physically attracted to men, but sometimes I do feel drawn on a mental/emotional level to men.

I've written two stories in Gay Male; Fool and A Halloween Carol

The first story was submitted for April Fools Day and was well received; the second was submitted for Halloween, got some strong hits in the beginning, and, after the sweep, I ended up with only 11 votes and a score of 4.18.

In my opinion, the first story was a normal 'Romance' story with the only "exception" that it ended with two ~18 year old boys/men finally coming together. I think it was a sweet story, and I'm pleased with it. I wished I could have submitted it for Romance.

The second one was written in a rush, and I haven't read it back; I thought it was okayish, but not great. "Meh." might have been the proper summary. 'Scrooch' was portrayed as a gay-hating old man, and the ghosts stirred up the memories he had of his friend as a child, and how he looked away when this friend needed him when they grew up.

I didn't include a lot of sex in my stories; for Fool, it was only a bit of lip-service and fingerwork in the end; for the Halloween Carol, it was only slightly more graphical, and I might have included some cliches like aggressive, dominant/submissive, receiving sex; not sure if that was a good thing, but no-one called it out on me; not many comments anyway.

I didn't do much different than in other stories; I just wrote them the way I always write characters.

If I get around to writing it, I want to go all the way, so to speak. Lots of hot, sweaty full-on sex.

It would have to include giving a blow job, because that's the one thing that's least familiar to a straight man. I've been pegged by a woman and had plenty of anal sex, but I've never had anything to do with another man's cock. That would be the most novel part of the experience, I would think.

 

[SimonDoom]

I didn't know I was anything but straight until I was twenty-seven. I pretty much wrote about the first time here (https://www.literotica.com/s/egyptian-initiation). If your "straight" character can't get it up with another man under a chosen scenario, you don't have a story (unless you're fine with just the emotions of connection and maybe a bit of unrealized desire--which would be fine for story). If he can get it up with another man, he's not purely straight, and what you have is a story of discovery. That's the point to start using your imagination if you don't have actual experience. It's not that hard. Sex is sex is sex whether with a woman or a man. The emotions are the same, except if you are thinking "I'm straight and doing this" you can throw in a bit more angst about doing it. You'd have extra angst, and more or less the same angst in effect, too if it was your sister or your brother's wife.

But I'm of the school of thought not to try to force someone to write about something they feel uncomfortable with or not up to. Maybe that's where you are and should rethink why you would write this at all.

I don't think so. It's not a matter of discomfort. I've been around plenty of gay friends not to find it uncomfortable. But it's going to require moving outside my normal zone of what I find erotic and stretching my imagination. That's appealing to me. It's not the first time I've done it. I write mom-son incest stories, and to be honest it's easier for me to imagine having sex with a good looking man my age than having sex with my mom. That's just -- I don't even want to go there. But I write stories about it.

I agree with what I think is your perspective that sexuality is not naturally binary. We're on a sliding scale, and most of us are closer to the middle than we probably would like to admit.

And yes, absolutely, it would be a story of discovery.

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

... I write mom-son incest stories, and to be honest it's easier for me to imagine having sex with a good looking man my age than having sex with my mom...

Really? You were inside of her once.

(PS the word "cute" was mom's euphemism for "smart ass")

Lisa Ann

 

[yukonnights]

I don't think so. It's not a matter of discomfort. I've been around plenty of gay friends not to find it uncomfortable. But it's going to require moving outside my normal zone of what I find erotic and stretching my imagination. That's appealing to me. It's not the first time I've done it. I write mom-son incest stories, and to be honest it's easier for me to imagine having sex with a good looking man my age than having sex with my mom. That's just -- I don't even want to go there. But I write stories about it.

I agree with what I think is your perspective that sexuality is not naturally binary. We're on a sliding scale, and most of us are closer to the middle than we probably would like to admit.

And yes, absolutely, it would be a story of discovery.

I liked what KiethD said about the basic similarities of emotion/physical desire between men and women, etc. I've had the same discussion with a female writer who was working on a male/male story. She was experienced with female/female and as we corresponded it became clear to us both that the basic feelings and emotions were not all that dissimilar. The actual physical aspects of male/male are pretty basic...it's the emotions, thoughts, etc that are intriguing.

I would suggest you consider writing it (or starting it) then have someone like KiethD beta read it. Actually, I doubt you'll make a lot of mistakes, but that would help eliminate anything that was too far off base.

One interesting aspect of many same-sex pairing is the D/s dynamic. The top vs bottom thing. Not so much in the physical aspects (again, pretty basic) but in the emotional aspect. The "first time" is a wonderful place to explore all those unexpected feelings, taboo/naughty delights, past misconceptions, etc.

I encourage you to just dive in...

PS: I share you conundrum in regard to how anyone could find Mom appealing as a sex partner

 

[redzinger]

I did a MMM bear story at the request of a follower. It''s one of my least-commented on stories. Not sure if it was the bear thing or other.

 

[saintcero]

Straight writing gay

I wrote the story below while using a different profile name. I think it falls within the subject of this thread. It was my first written work and was a test to see if I could write successfully or maybe semi successfully. I had no editor. For better or worse it is all me. I had no M2M history at the time I wrote it but since have had one M2M episode. I simply wrote what I wanted with no plan other than to tell a story.

https://www.literotica.com/s/my-yearly-physical-1

 

[ElectricBlue]

I wrote my first GM piece
https://www.literotica.com/s/david-and-annie-ch-01
as a role-play sort of a thing, as a gift for a couple I know on-line. I knew their individual fantasies and they'd shared some of their role plays. Because I'm lazy, and had written several of my Floating World stories with Adam as my leading man, it was easy enough to drop him into the mix as one of the players. This was a MMF story, so I suppose I gave myself options, and it was mostly their script so I just fitted the action to the roles.

On the basis of that story, my next was a collaboration with Jason Clearwater
https://www.literotica.com/s/the-floating-world-pt-04-1,
where we each took an established character from our own story lines (his Jesse, my Adam) and put them together (Beta readers, by the way, when they discuss things behind your back, come up with some alarming plans ).

No plotting, no planning, no handover notes, we each wrote about a thousand words and handed it back, writing wherever it went; turn and turn about. That was a pretty powerful experience - I'm an unabashed straight guy, he's bi - and it's safe to say we explored a few dynamics which surprised us both. As Yukon notes, the D/s dynamic got an airing and became the central theme.

Did it work? Well, we received this comment:

Feedback received by email
I loved part four. So beautiful. So sad. Regretful. Nostalgic. Sweet. So vulnerable. Thank you for writing it. I think I will be returning to it again. And again. and again.

so I guess for one person at least...

Since then, it's become an in-joke with Jason as to who can write the best head - and he got himself a cameo chapter in my Arthurian thing. As a writer's challenge it's easy enough to do, if one has an imagination, understands human biology, and can write with empathy about people. Appendages are neither here nor there, it's what's behind the eyes that count.

But here's the very sad thing - wherever you put the story, by comparison with your other body of work, the homophobes on Lit will find it, pull it down. The collaboration with Jason peaked with a 4.72 after a couple of months, it's now a 4.50. It's the only story of mine that's going backwards in rating, even after two years. I have one or two other stories, not in GM, where there's a man-on-man scene as a secondary episode - readers aka category police are constantly on the watch for such things, and the scores reflect their disapproval.

PS: Simon's mom is hot, we've just not told him yet...

 

[SimonDoom]

I wrote my first GM piece
https://www.literotica.com/s/david-and-annie-ch-01
But here's the very sad thing - wherever you put the story, by comparison with your other body of work, the homophobes on Lit will find it, pull it down. The collaboration with Jason peaked with a 4.72 after a couple of months, it's now a 4.50. It's the only story of mine that's going backwards in rating, even after two years. I have one or two other stories, not in GM, where there's a man-on-man scene as a secondary episode - readers aka category police are constantly on the watch for such things, and the scores reflect their disapproval.

.

The obvious "problem" with your story, score-wise, is that you plopped a gay male chapter smack dab into the middle of a story series that up to that point wasn't gay male. So it's no wonder you got some negative scores from surprised and squicked readers. I'm not sure that would be a problem with a standalone story published in the gay male category. There are some gay male stories with very high scores.

It seems like an interesting artistic challenge to me. I don't have a clear story idea yet but I'm going to work on it. Of course it's well back in my expanding queue of unfinished stories, but that's another story.

 

[blozo]

I wrote a trans/gay male story that got good reviews (4.53 currently) but very few people have read it. I don't think my descriptions of gay sex were terribly accurate, so I tried to make it a little on the lighthearted side to cover it.
It took me quite a while to get one page out. (Props to Kantarii for checking it for me)
I've written a straight story, also well reviewed, from the female perspective. I faced a similar struggle, taking almost two weeks to finish a page and a half story.
I feel good about both stories, and I'm glad I tried something different. But it's so much easier to write what you know.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The obvious "problem" with your story, score-wise, is that you plopped a gay male chapter smack dab into the middle of a story series that up to that point wasn't gay male. So it's no wonder you got some negative scores from surprised and squicked readers. I'm not sure that would be a problem with a standalone story published in the gay male category. There are some gay male stories with very high scores.

If people can't clearly see the category - Gay Male - they need to apply eyes first and furious rage not at all. But it was fine for two years, a good rating, but more recently copped the back end of troll attacks on Jason's whole story file - he's been subjected to orchestrated attacks, unfortunately. Jerks exist.

 

[SimonDoom]

If people can't clearly see the category - Gay Male - they need to apply eyes first and furious rage not at all. But it was fine for two years, a good rating, but more recently copped the back end of troll attacks on Jason's whole story file - he's been subjected to orchestrated attacks, unfortunately. Jerks exist.

Well, that sucks. Understand, I don't excuse or justify it, I'm just pointing out it's the way it is here. Readers who love one sort of kink can get medieval on your ass if you offer them a kink they don't like.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

How about a straight female trying to write gay male stories?

Alright I might have some bi tendencies, but have never really been with a woman even though most of last year I had a girlfriend, and yeah we may have kissed...

Anyway, I started a gay male story but stopped right at the sex scene. They messed around, there was some handjobs and dick sucking going on, but I have no clue if those scenes are believable or not so I was afraid to go any further.

I also had some POV issues maybe. It was being told first person present tense, but it was the girlfriend of one of the guys and she wasn't in the story much so then the POV was switched to the two guys and told in clunky third person present tense.

I think it's a good story though and hope to get back to it one day.

 

[KeithD]

How about a straight female trying to write gay male stories?

As far as I can determine, most writers of gay male stories, including in the marketplace, are women. Don't know how straight they are, but I have a little trouble visualizing lesbians enjoying writing about the clashing of men's bodies.

A side note: my best-selling books in the mainstream are a series featuring a lesbian amateur detective couple. (And my best-rated account on Literotica is under a female name, writing both straight and lesbian.) So, tit for tat? (and paid to the occasional poster here who claims only to be able to read "female authors.")

 

[yukonnights]

How about a straight female trying to write gay male stories?

Alright I might have some bi tendencies, but have never really been with a woman even though most of last year I had a girlfriend, and yeah we may have kissed...

Anyway, I started a gay male story but stopped right at the sex scene. They messed around, there was some handjobs and dick sucking going on, but I have no clue if those scenes are believable or not so I was afraid to go any further.

I also had some POV issues maybe. It was being told first person present tense, but it was the girlfriend of one of the guys and she wasn't in the story much so then the POV was switched to the two guys and told in clunky third person present tense.

I think it's a good story though and hope to get back to it one day.

I mentioned above that I had worked with a female (recently divorced - lesbian/bi curious). Once she realized the emotions of sex (or love) are very similar for all genders and sexual orientations, she was off to the races, so to speak. In your situation, I can see how it must have been near impossible to use a 1st pov narrator who wasn't involved in the "action". That may, in fact, have been your real problem...more so that the lack of being a "bi/gay male"

As I suggested to Simon; perhaps a "consultant" would be helpful. Someone with LGBTQ experience to spot anything that doesn't come across right, etc. Personally, I'm encouraged that more people are experimenting in the LGBTQ category because it implies to me that acceptance of human diversity is moving forward.

 

[ElectricBlue]

As far as I can determine, most writers of gay male stories, including in the marketplace, are women. Don't know how straight they are, but I have a little trouble visualizing lesbians enjoying writing about the clashing of men's bodies.

I've chatted about that with some female writers as well as female readers of my few GM pieces (so a micro-sample if ever one existed) and they were all straight. One of the main attractions, I gather, is men showing a more sensitive side to their nature with other men - as if that was some rare thing with hetero men (which it very possibly is, on the whole). I'm guessing that leather macho scenes might not fit that theory quite so well, but then I wouldn't have a clue what to write there.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Thanks! Gives me hope that one say I can finish it and post it here.

I was six chapters in and decided, I honestly don't know how dicks work. I mean I have some idea about them, I had 8 kids so I've had sex but I can't ever know how sex feels from a male point of view.

Like last night I was browsing some fetish stories, trying to decide if my One Night In XXX needs to go in fetish, but anyway I was browsing some fetish stories and skimmed one where this woman was being punished by wearing these special panties that had two plugs, one went up her butt and the other in her vagina so she had to ask permission to have them removed for any bathroom needs.
I kept thinking, Does this author think women pee out of their vagina? That's not how it works. Honestly it made me wonder if it was a male writer at first but then I realized a lot of women think they pee out of their vagina, sadly.

I guess one day when I have more written I can seek out a male willing to read over it to let me know hey dicks don't work like that or that's not what it feels when you have a dick in your ass the first time.

But thanks everyone for taking the time to comment to me, I really appreciate it.

 

[SimonDoom]

'

I was six chapters in and decided, I honestly don't know how dicks work. I mean I have some idea about them, I had 8 kids so I've had sex but I can't ever know how sex feels from a male point of view.

Like last night I was browsing some fetish stories, trying to decide if my One Night In XXX needs to go in fetish, but anyway I was browsing some fetish stories and skimmed one where this woman was being punished by wearing these special panties that had two plugs, one went up her butt and the other in her vagina so she had to ask permission to have them removed for any bathroom needs.
I kept thinking, Does this author think women pee out of their vagina? That's not how it works. Honestly it made me wonder if it was a male writer at first but then I realized a lot of women think they pee out of their vagina, sadly.

.

That author might simply have meant that the panties would have to be removed or she'd be peeing through her panties. Or it could be they were just using vagina as a synonym for vulva. That's a common usage.


As far as dicks are concerned, they're not that complicated. I bet you'd be able to write a convincing dick scene if you gave it a go.

 

[Pocketshaver]

the real question is why do gay people think they can write about straight people having sex with straight people...

 

[KeithD]

the real question is why do gay people think they can write about straight people having sex with straight people...

Because some of them can.