Nonlinear Erotic Stories - Are they just Spoilers?

[feather1892]

One, increasingly common, literary devise I see being used on this site is a nonlinear narrative. Indeed, many of the most well written stories from the best writers take this approach - but for erotic writing, in my view, it merely acts as an unwanted spoiler.

Specifically; a story will open with an explicit act of lovemaking, two people in the throes of passion, with hints that there may be something unusual happening. Then the bombshell - the author reveals that the lover is their secretary/neighbour/sibling/parent, and the narrative reverts to the linear beginning to explain how did we get here.

It is the literary equivalent of the movie record scratch - freeze frame, a perfectly valid (if a bit cheesy) devise but, for me, it ruins the best part of these stories - the build up.

Film often employs the devise, but one genre that you never see using it, for good reason, is the Rom-Com. The whole will they/won’t they element of a Rom-Com would be immediately ruined if you got a preview of the happy ever after. Same applies to the erotic story. Of course we all know where the story is going, but the excitement of the build up is ruined if we see the result.

I know many will feel there is much more to their stories than a will they/won’t they build up, but you cannot deny it is a key element for the majority.

Does anybody agree or am I just an old man shouting at a cloud?

 

[nice90sguy]

Depends how much you like mystery.

 

[AlinaX]

I hate stories that do that. It's lazy story-telling. It's also a lot like TV shows that start each episode with clips of what's to come. They don't trust the narrative and try desperately catch people's interest with flashes of content without context.

However. For some stories I find non-linearity can work well. I use it in Castle Slave Ch. 05, for example, interspersing a rather dark narrative with erotic scenes from an earlier time.

I've read books that interweave two stories and you only find out at the end how the stories fit together. Season 1 of Westworld did that beautifully. So non-linearity can be used to great effect...

... but if it's just a cheap trick to lure in the reader, that's just dishonest and gives me no confidence about the rest of the story.

And you're right, of course. If you're writing a romance, you don't start with the reveal. If you start the story with a reveal, then the story must be about something else entirely. If you start a story with two people fucking, maybe the story should be about why their fucking would be disastrous.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have seen the technique used by popular mainstream authors, such as Lee Child, but I agree that it is overused by some here.

I suspect that some will claim that starting with a sex scene draws in readers interested in a quick wank, who once they calm down, will read the rest of the story.

If it works for some, who are we to criticize it?

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't generally take this approach because I enjoy stories that are slower burning and have some conflict or taboo in them(not talking just incest, but there's a reason the couple getting together could be seen as wrong)

But when you consider that lit has categories, opening like that maybe isn't the spoiler it is in a movie or novel because if you post a story in incest and the characters are a brother and sister, well.. you're not going to be surprised when they have sex. It would be like acting shocked if there were interracial sex in the interracial category.

I have tried the non linear in a story where I start out with a taboo encounter, then drift back to to the moment it started. I didn't see much of a difference in score or comments that told me it was a put off.

Like most else here it comes down to what you prefer and there's a readership for everything.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have seen the technique used by popular mainstream authors, such as Lee Child, but I agree that it is overused by some here.

I suspect that some will claim that starting with a sex scene draws in readers interested in a quick wank, who once they calm down, will read the rest of the story.

If it works for some, who are we to criticize it?

If you want to be linear but start with sex, you can use the device of the encounter turning out to be a dream. a waking day dream, from one of the characters(over used in its own right) you can also open with a sex scene with one of the characters with someone other than the one they'll be with at the end.

I opened a taboo story with a guy having sex with his girlfriend while thinking of his sister. I had one scene like that turn into a train wreck because he kept asking his GF to wear a blonde wig during sex, and she was getting suspicious because he wanted it all the time and it turns into an argument and of course come to find out mom is blonde...

Over the years you end up trying a lot of things, the trick is not to lock into the same thing all the time.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Over the years you end up trying a lot of things, the trick is not to lock into the same thing all the time.

Some of the best advice offered in the history of the AH threads

 

[SimonDoom]

I think the key is you need a good reason to do it in a nonlinear way. Suppose you have a story about two people who meet and end up having sex. The story starts with the sex scene, but the mystery is how they met, and there is a surprise in how they met. Then you can end the story with the beginning, which has the surprise.

 

[lovecraft68]

I think the key is you need a good reason to do it in a nonlinear way. Suppose you have a story about two people who meet and end up having sex. The story starts with the sex scene, but the mystery is how they met, and there is a surprise in how they met. Then you can end the story with the beginning, which has the surprise.

Or they don't really know each other, met at a club/bar, few drinks said why not and spent the night. Now you could take it in the direction of it being a start to an attempted relationship, then you get to find out all their dirty secrets as they're revealed or uncovered. Possibilities are endless

 

[Kumquatqueen]

If a movie or story is sold as a romance or rom-com, you're spoilered already because the couple always get together. If it's an erotic story, someone's going to have sex, so the same - either both are spoilers or neither is.

 

[lovecraft68]

If a movie or story is sold as a romance or rom-com, you're spoilered already because the couple always get together. If it's an erotic story, someone's going to have sex, so the same - either both are spoilers or neither is.

I'm going to make a guilty confession here and only because it is one of the rare examples that refutes your point on rom coms.
No surprise I don't watch that type of movie, however, on a lost bet with the wife i agreed to watch My Best Friend's Wedding with her, and admit to thinking it was great, funny as hell "George" steals the movie

But in the end? Roberts walked away and didn't try to get her ex back. Nice twist.

Just remember, there will be dancing.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I don’t use it often, but I think it can be useful if done judiciously.

 

[Priscilla_June]

I feel like erotica is one bug spoiler, you know its gonna happen somewhere, its the how. So I’m ok with the flashback device so long as its not over the top

 

[Demiurging]

I think I read some study a while back that people actually enjoy things better when they've been spoiled beforehand. I'll try to search that up since that's about all I can remember.

[edit] Found it pretty much immediately here. Something about having to focus less to follow the story, only gave it a short lookover to make sure it was the thing I remembered.

 

[alohadave]

Is it really a spoiler for a porn story to have sex scenes in it?

I think I read some study a while back that people actually enjoy things better when they've been spoiled beforehand. I'll try to search that up since that's about all I can remember.

[edit] Found it pretty much immediately here. Something about having to focus less to follow the story, only gave it a short lookover to make sure it was the thing I remembered.

This is why trailers have all the plot points laid out in them.

 

[PennameWombat]

Not all stories here are "how are we going to get this couple into bed?" As mentioned, I agree that an opening sex scene, whether it's linear or not, may be to introduce us to one character and show something of their life, personality, etc., but only hinting at the ultimate characters in the story. There's no reason for it to be a spoiler.

I'm not a big user of non-linear, but I've tried it a couple of times. The most notable was to show my FMC in an encounter that fit mid-story, narrative-wise. It was intended to give you an impression of her. Then, it jumped back in time to show what led to that encounter, with a man she'd never see (nor care about seeing) again, despite it being an key encounter for her. Then it moved forward to the real resolution.

 

[KeithD]

There isn't just one way to write a story or one reader to satisfy.

The End.

 

[Bramblethorn]

One, increasingly common, literary devise I see being used on this site is a nonlinear narrative. Indeed, many of the most well written stories from the best writers take this approach - but for erotic writing, in my view, it merely acts as an unwanted spoiler.

Specifically; a story will open with an explicit act of lovemaking, two people in the throes of passion, with hints that there may be something unusual happening. Then the bombshell - the author reveals that the lover is their secretary/neighbour/sibling/parent, and the narrative reverts to the linear beginning to explain how did we get here.

It is the literary equivalent of the movie record scratch - freeze frame, a perfectly valid (if a bit cheesy) devise but, for me, it ruins the best part of these stories - the build up.

Surprise has its place in storytelling, but it's not everything. How many times have you re-watched your favourite movie or re-read your favourite book, even after you knew exactly how it was going to end? How many people saw Titanic despite knowing that the ship's going to hit an iceberg and sink?

There's a line from Roger Ebert's review of Battlefield Earth that I love: "the director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why." That applies both to nonlinear narratives and to twist endings: they're great when used appropriately, and bad when used just because the author thinks they get Clever Writer Points for using a Technique.

With a story that requires a fair bit of exposition before getting to the fun bits, non-linear storytelling can be helpful in reassuring readers that there are good bits on their way. One of mine starts with two people meeting as teacher and (teenage) student, but years pass and the former student becomes an adult long before their relationship takes a sexual turn. If I'd just told it in order, the initial situation would probably have led many readers to believe I was going to tell some sort of "teacher takes advantage of pupil" story. Many of them would've noped out at that point, and then the ones who stayed would've been mad at me when they read through several sexless pages only to find they're not getting the teacher-student story they stayed for.

So I started that one with a conversation between them as adults, shortly before their relationship becomes sexual, before cutting back to their first meeting. That lets me set expectations for the readers, so they know what kind of story they're getting.

It can also be helpful in getting the non-fun bits out of the way early, if the story needs that. One of mine is a romance that goes through to the death of one of the lovers. "They fell in love, but she died" is a pretty depressing story arc, especially for readers who are probably hoping for a happy-ever-after. Starting at the funeral lets me tell that as "she's going to die, but they love one another and they still find a way to make something lasting and meaningful". I thought that would be a more satisfying experience for the readers, bittersweet instead of just bitter, and as far as I can tell it worked.

It can give a kind of "the eels don't eat her" reassurance, for readers who might be worrying that the story's going somewhere they don't want to go.

It can even be helpful in creating surprise: present a story that creates one impression, then flash back and let the reader discover how the same events feel different when seen in the light of new information.

And yes, it can also destroy tension if it's used clumsily, but it doesn't have to be.

 

[satisweet]

One, increasingly common, literary devise I see being used on this site is a nonlinear narrative. Indeed, many of the most well written stories from the best writers take this approach - but for erotic writing, in my view, it merely acts as an unwanted spoiler.

Specifically; a story will open with an explicit act of lovemaking, two people in the throes of passion, with hints that there may be something unusual happening. Then the bombshell - the author reveals that the lover is their secretary/neighbour/sibling/parent, and the narrative reverts to the linear beginning to explain how did we get here.

It is the literary equivalent of the movie record scratch - freeze frame, a perfectly valid (if a bit cheesy) devise but, for me, it ruins the best part of these stories - the build up.

Film often employs the devise, but one genre that you never see using it, for good reason, is the Rom-Com. The whole will they/won’t they element of a Rom-Com would be immediately ruined if you got a preview of the happy ever after. Same applies to the erotic story. Of course we all know where the story is going, but the excitement of the build up is ruined if we see the result.

I know many will feel there is much more to their stories than a will they/won’t they build up, but you cannot deny it is a key element for the majority.

Does anybody agree or am I just an old man shouting at a cloud?

Perhaps the author/writer has taken a break, and has come back to the story with a fresh perspective; that could be possible. At the end of the pandemic I think we all feel older, and somehow changed from the way we were. We are all older and all shouting into clouds!

 

[Euphony]

It can even be helpful in creating surprise: present a story that creates one impression, then flash back and let the reader discover how the same events feel different when seen in the light of new information.

And yes, it can also destroy tension if it's used clumsily, but it doesn't have to be.

This.

I'm ok with the device with the huge caveat that there needs to be a strong signal early that "will they/won't they" is not the defacto theme or you're otherwise relying on it heavily.

Further supporting this is showing some complexity in the writing so I can trust you aren't a standard author here who's writing to standard narratives/tropes around here. I LOVE authors who go for it but free erotica site isn't vetted like published, major house works so I have less default trust "pool" to pull from. Signaling is important to shepherd me through the bends and corners you want me to navigate.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I do it sometimes, but rarely very far into the story. More as a hook; if it is pretty far into the story, it’s typically misdirection.

 

[SimonDoom]

Surprise has its place in storytelling, but it's not everything. How many times have you re-watched your favourite movie or re-read your favourite book, even after you knew exactly how it was going to end? How many people saw Titanic despite knowing that the ship's going to hit an iceberg and sink?

Titanic is a good example, because as fascinating as the sinking is, everyone knows it happened, and there's no dramatic surprise. So Cameron framed the story of its sinking (pretty well, I thought) with a modern story that added its own mysteries and surprises: one, finding Titanic itself and what's on board, two, what happened to the Heart of the Ocean diamond, and third, who is Rose, what is her story, and is it true? And fourth, what happened to Jack? None of these mysteries are resolved until the end of the movie. But it takes the telling of Rose and Jack's romance and the sinking of Titanic to make one care about the mysteries in the present.

This could be a good technique to use in an erotic story that took place in the past during a famous historical event, where everyone knows the outcome. For instance, a romance that took place during the fall of South Vietnam, or the war in Iraq, or a political scandal, where perhaps the erotic protagonists were on opposite political sides. The "present" portion of the story can involve some kind of satisfying erotic resolution of events that began in the past, perhaps where the lovers come together after a long time apart, or where one finally learns something important about the other.

An example of a famous novel that does something like this is Wuthering Heights, where the contemporary story is told along with the doomed romance of Heathcliff and Catherine 30 years earlier.

Another good example is Stegner's book Angle of Repose, which tells the story of an aging writer and historian in the present day who researches and tries to piece together the story of his grandmother long, long ago, who he believed had a doomed affair. Most of the story is the recreation of the affair but it is framed from time to time by the current story (I read it a long time ago -- that's how I recall it).