How Much of Yourself Do You Put in Your Stories?

[CyranoJ]

As I come back to LitErotica after what I realize was a very specific four-year period away, I find myself idly curious about something, and I would be intrigued have other authors' input.

How much of yourself do you put into stories?

I've been re-reading my stories on here, which range from (mostly) five or six years old, and I can identify the parts of them that came from personal experience and how I recombined those tidbits into fiction.

For example, there are bits of (the otherwise spectacularly unrealistic) Running Riot that come from real life.

Was I ever a bad-ass boot boy? No. But the relationship of the protagonist, Lex, with "Connie Wilder" is based on a real-life relationship in which I was party to certain, shall we say, infidelities. Her dirty-talk is based on the IRL dirty-talk of a sexual partner. (The line "I don't wanna have dinner with you, man, I just wanna FUCK you" was actually spoken to me by someone who, IRL, I didn't have the guts to follow through with, and the conversation was actually about a potential coffee date; I recombined it with a sex scene that also comes directly from someone IRL that I DID have the guts to follow though with.)

Plenty of acts in the story come from memory, and my most direct inspiration for "Connie" and I very, very nearly did fuck in her daughter's bed as the story describes. And although I'm far from being the physical specimen and Absolute Unit that is Lex in that story (I'm more closely comparable to a character named "Monk" in the story "Making the Scene in Room 116" minus the Blood connections and precocious confidence), about... 35% of that story is based in IRL experience. The rest is fantasy, absurdly so, but also arousing enough for me that I can't bring myself to edit it to be more "realistic," as one reader (understandably) suggested.

So, I'm curious. How much does life play into the fantasies y'all post on here, and in what ways?

 

[KeithD]

A lot, initially, dredging up memories. Not so much after the stories written were piling up pretty deep.

 

[jaF0]

None. I don't exist.

 

[EddieTheMuse]

A lot! My MC is pretty much me glorified or personified or some sort of fied version of me.

 

[KeithD]

None. I don't exist.

Oooo, good answer.

 

[MColton84]

So, I'm curious. How much does life play into the fantasies y'all post on here, and in what ways?

About half of my stories come from my life experiences. Not word for word, but more of using parables to share my story. I of course, do embellish when it comes to the sexual encounters. A lot of what got me into writing fiction as opposed to my usual theological interpretation works, was a need to work through some real life issues. It's actually helped quite a bit more than I originally anticipated. It can sometimes be painful, but more often than not, I get a sense of relief from posting one such story. At least that's what works for me.

 

[SisterJezabel]

A lot of my stories come from experiences, often non-sexual experiences that I can then add a little sex to! Often there's not so much me in them, but friends and colleagues.

 

[CyranoJ]

About half of my stories come from my life experiences. Not word for word, but more of using parables to share my story. I of course, do embellish when it comes to the sexual encounters. A lot of what got me into writing fiction as opposed to my usual theological interpretation works, was a need to work through some real life issues. It's actually helped quite a bit more than I originally anticipated. It can sometimes be painful, but more often than not, I get a sense of relief from posting one such story. At least that's what works for me.

I feel this to at least some extent. Sometimes, the bits and pieces of real-life and myself inserted in my stories are about regretting the road not taken... and just as often, they're about gratitude for the road not taken. I'm not always sure which is which, and perhaps that's what makes them so compelling for me. Either way, it can be profoundly cathartic.

 

[CyranoJ]

A lot of my stories come from experiences, often non-sexual experiences that I can then add a little sex to! Often there's not so much me in them, but friends and colleagues.

Yeah. This too, for me, sometimes.

 

[SamScribble]

I suspect that it is very difficult, maybe impossible, for an author to avoid writing at least a little of themselves into a work of fiction. Write what you know, people say. And what do authors know? Mainly stuff they've seen, heard, smelled, tasted; stuff that the author has experienced and filtered. I think that most authors are a bit like whales eating krill. Lots and lots of tasty little morsels.

 

[CyranoJ]

I think that most authors are a bit like whales eating krill. Lots and lots of tasty little morsels.

LOL. Well put, Sam.

 

[CyranoJ]

In a story, I can make up situations and do research to make the settings believable. But when it comes to writing authentically about the inner drives of a character, I can only write what I know to be true.

Really interesting. I feel like this kind of thing is a major factor in what I, personally, fictionalize vs. what I just draw from actual experience. When the moment needs to be emotionally (or sometimes, sensually, or both) authentic, I do the latter.

 

[SimonDoom]

Not much. My stories certainly are not based on real life experiences. They are fantasies that in some cases are inspired by things I've done, but most are far afield from anything I've actually done and some concern things I would never want to do in real life.

I'm sure that the way I write characters is to some degree a projection of myself and my values, but it's more of a fantasy projection than an extension of things I've actually done.

 

[PennameWombat]

I’ve written characters who are studying computer science or work in the field because... well, that’s my background. A few play soccer because I was good enough to try out for the US Olympic team near to 40 years ago (didn’t make it for 1984 in LA.) So I can use those details for authenticity.

I sometimes use physical settings (times and places) I know. Again, use these to ground flights of fancy with firm details.

As a Uni undergrad I met a sorority girl who was a horrible tease and never, ever, put out. So one of my characters met a sorority girl who was a horrible tease... but the copying ends there. My character’s sorority girl eventually gave him a blow job in an art history class (and more) and mine wasn’t working for aliens and we weren’t kidnapped by those aliens.

Some characters have slight resemblance to friends or acquaintances but most would be hard-pressed (I hope) to ID themselves. Except maybe one.

And a nickname. One of my characters has one that was indeed mine.

A few other bits and pieces. But I don’t take real sexual experiences and use them (well, many of the sex acts are common because, well, no way around that, but not the scenarios.)

 

[jaF0]

Not much. My stories certainly are not based on real life experiences. They are fantasies that in some cases are inspired by things I've done, but most are far afield from anything I've actually done and some concern things I would never want to do in real life.

I'm sure that the way I write characters is to some degree a projection of myself and my values, but it's more of a fantasy projection than an extension of things I've actually done.

I wrote reality once.

Once.

Nobody believed it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

A fair chunk takes off from some truth based moment, the rest is fantasy (but still my own) and embellishment. I have not, however, been to Titan nor Arthurian Britain, but I have stories set in those places. Nearly all of the settings in the latter story are based on ancient sites and places I have walked within (eg: Stonehenge, when one could still walk within the henge itself).

 

[stickygirl]

A mix of close to real life, fantasy and researched locations. A few of my characters are taken from RL with my words put into their mouths in the manner that reflects their personality. A number of my stories rely on the location so I enjoy researching and making sure it is factually accurate, though it's a mistake to obsess over it and lose sight of the more-important story line.

Emotionally there's quite a bit of me, whether in the central character or the attributes of supporting ones. Likewise humour and dialogue - surely they must originate in the author's mind?

The sex scenes are seldom real. It's been widely acknowledged in other threads how tricky good sex is to describe and I expect everyone relies on vague memories, projection of ideas and porn.

 

[8letters]

Most of my stories are a version of me being in a situation that I was never in, that I made up from whole cloth.

 

[KeithD]

I wrote reality once.

Once.

Nobody believed it.

Amusingly true. I'll drop a bit of a real experience in a story and that's what a commenter picks out as unbelievable.

I get a little thrill, though, when folks on the discussion board pick out what is true in my background to rag on as "didn't happen"--especially when their personal attack has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

 

[KeithD]

Most of my stories are a version of me being in a situation that I was never in, that I made up from whole cloth.

Or a position one was in but turned out a whole lot less erotically than the story tells.

 

[VPKCC]

Deleted by author.

 

[mfan2112]

Or a position one was in but turned out a whole lot less erotically than the story tells.

That was the source of my first story (posted only on another site). An alternate ending to a chance encounter in a hotel hot tub on a business trip.

The real story is nothing happened. The story, well that was something else...

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Or a position one was in but turned out a whole lot less erotically than the story tells.

This has been the inspiration for a couple stories, wanting to write what 'should' have happened.

A few of my stories are completely true; a few have had sections added or changed or events merged to make a better story.

Some are realistic fiction - derived from tiny fragments of my truth and others' truths, all broken up and rearranged into a patchwork quilt of complete fiction.

 

[stickygirl]

Heart and soul.

Aww x

 

[ChloeTzang]

There's bits and pieces of me, or things that've happened to me or I've seen, in almost all my stories, but some a lot more than others. I like skydiving, and I've been skydiving since I was 17, and I wrote one story which was almost all about skydiving, with some sex worked in (because Literotica). And taekwondo

Not the vampires tho.