What are your guilty writing habits?

[Kasumi_Lee]

Hi everyone! I'm Kasumi Lee. StealthBreeder is a penname I used to use years ago and now I can't change it.

A couple of months ago, I published my first ever Incest/Taboo story under the title A Mother's Lust. It's a first-person POV story told entirely from the perspective of (no prizes for guessing) the mother. The reception to my first foray into Incest/Taboo was shockingly positive (to me, at least), but there's one comment from a certain @doorknob22 that got me thinking:

"My son", "My son", "My son". Jesus Christ, he hasn't got a name?!

If Literotica's comments section had a reply function (petition to add this feature?), I would have explained to doorknob22 that his full legal name is in fact "My Son and Firstborn Fruit of My Feminine Loins Smith Jr.", but the rest of the family just calls him "My Son" for short.

In all seriousness, however, the truth is I just couldn't be bothered to give the characters names. Why should I? They're all family members of the MC/narrator, so from her perspective, they really are "my son", "my husband", "my older daughter", "my younger daughter", etc., and that's all the reader needs to know.

This example technically doesn't count under the title of this thread because I don't actually feel guilty about it, and it's also not something I habitually do when I write, but it is something that will get mixed responses from readers, and it's also something I'll be tempted to do again with future stories for the same reason.

I don't want to set this up as a discussion about the relative merits of naming or not naming characters (not that I'll be able to stop it if that happens), but what are your guilty or not-so-guilty habits when you craft your own stories?

Best,

Kasumi Lee

 

[NoTalentHack]

Fuck your punctuation and grammar rules if they don't fit. "Oh, my God?" No, there's no fucking pause there. "Oh my God!" The only reason I'd even qualify this as "guilty" is because of all the squiggly lines that Word, Docs, Grammerly, or whoever puts under my "errors."

 

[samhasstories]

I don't feel particularly guilty about it either, but I love run-on sentences. Sometimes I use commas; sometimes I don't. (And I'm a big semicolon fan.)

I think I also reuse a lot of descriptors, particularly in erotica, particularly when it comes to orgasms. I write a lot of those, and I'm sure if you set them next to each other you'd see some definite patterns. But hell, if it ain't broke, right? The moment I come up with a few better synonyms I'll toss them into the mix, but in the meantime I've got the toolbox I've got, and no one seems to mind (at least out loud).

 

[Elayne_Hawke]

Putting to much detail in a story, drawing it out lol. I'm not regretting it with my Hawke and Princess story because it's a literal romance story and I love my two characters. Their an extension of me.
But I'm working on one story right now and I know it's become more than I had originally planned, a wham bam thank you ma'am kind of story, yeah not so much anymore. It still is but of course I still have to add details and draw it out longer lol.
I just write differently than a lot of people. I can't do fast and simple, that's not me. I don't know if its a good thing or not but it's how I write.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Fuck your punctuation and grammar rules if they don't fit. "Oh, my God?" No, there's no fucking pause there. "Oh my God!" The only reason I'd even qualify this as "guilty" is because of all the squiggly lines that Word, Docs, Grammerly, or whoever puts under my "errors."

I personally do want my stories to be as grammatically correct as possible. Sometimes I worry if that makes my writing look stilted, and Word's spellchecker flags as many false errors as it misses genuine ones, but I'd say that's another (somewhat) guilty writing habit of mine.

 

[lustychimera]

Fuck your punctuation and grammar rules if they don't fit. "Oh, my God?" No, there's no fucking pause there. "Oh my God!" The only reason I'd even qualify this as "guilty" is because of all the squiggly lines that Word, Docs, Grammerly, or whoever puts under my "errors."

Lo-fi writing. I'm all about it. Something's lost on the squeaky clean polish.

 

[TheLobster]

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I am, in fact, okay with that.

 

[MrPixel]

Guilty writing habits? Oh yeah. Writing when I should be doing chores. Like right now - there's a lawn to be mowed before it rains again.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Guilty writing habits? Oh yeah. Writing when I should be doing chores. Like right now - there's a lawn to be mowed before it rains again.

Sometimes, on the days when I work from home, I pull out my personal laptop and do the same thing.

 

[samhasstories]

Sometimes, on the days when I work from home, I pull out my personal laptop and do the same thing.

I have the bad habit often of having my personal laptop open just next to my work one. One of these is more fun than the other...

 

[THBGato]

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I am, in fact, okay with that.

(And I'm a big semicolon fan.)

My editor tells me off for using too many colons: maybe the three of us should get together and form a band?

Col. Comma and the Semis?

 

[samhasstories]

My editor tells me off for using too many colons: maybe the three of us should get together and form a band?

Col. Comma and the Semis?

Sold.

 

[Boobytrap73]

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I am, in fact, okay with that.

There are only two types of writers: Those who use too many commas and those who don't use enough. The question for me is whether a comma makes what I'm trying to say more understandable or less understandable.

 

[MetaBob]

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I am, in fact, okay with that.

For a sentence like this, when I sense there are too many clauses joined by commas, I look to simplify. Ex:

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I'm okay with that.
I'm definitely using too many commas, but I'm okay with that.
I'm using too many commas, but I'm okay with that.
I use too many commas, but I'm okay with that.

The problem with correct grammar in this forum is that many people think they know what is correct and what isn't, and won't hesitate to let you know when they think you're wrong.

IMO, if you understand grammar, feel free to paint outside the lines when you think it works. Your voice is your own; don't let "correct" grammar get in its way, or in the way of your story. I personally think that painting outside the lines in my earlier stories here helped me become a better writer, to better appreciate how much painting outside the lines feels right and how too much can start to feel wrong.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Hi everyone! I'm Kasumi Lee. StealthBreeder is a penname I used to use years ago and now I can't change it.

Sure you can. https://www.literotica.com/faq/membership/account-change-username

 

[Rob_Royale]

My guilty writing habit is probably not putting as much effort into sex scenes as I could. I don't do marathon sessions very often. Detail is low. I go for sexy and titillating but I'm not trying to get anyone off.

 

[Bodington]

I would have explained to doorknob22 that his full legal name is in fact "My Son and Firstborn Fruit of My Feminine Loins Smith Jr.", but the rest of the family just calls him "My Son" for short.

Your wry unstated rejoinder reminds me of a passage I wrote in one of my stories:

" My date's name was, I kid you not, Jack Ripper. His parents especially his mother should be burned in oil for burdening him with such an obvious first name that invited taunts. During the date Jack acknowledged to me that he was fed up by a common reaction when he introduced himself. A lot of people would try for humor by suggesting that his middle name must be 'The'. Jack suggested he was seriously considering to officially change his middle name to 'The' so he could flourish say a driver's license and retort 'Yes it is- congratulations on a lucky guess'.

By the way you are allowed to submit a rebuttal comment in your own published stories on lit. You should do it as I find it very appropriate.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Sure you can. https://www.literotica.com/faq/membership/account-change-username

THANK YOU!!!

 

[NoTalentHack]

Okay, I have a real one this time: if I plot the whole story out in my head, it becomes MUCH harder to actually finish it.

The problem is that, if I know how the story goes, I'm much less excited about writing it down. Like, I know how it finishes, so I've got to get myself excited about telling a story I already know the end of. In addition, I've played the best bits in my head over and over again, sometimes tweaking them slightly and sometimes leaving them the same. It's like trying to get excited about watching Frozen when I had a four year old in the house: yeah, great movie, but I've seen it enough to quote it verbatim. I have the same problem at the end of the writing process when it's time to edit it; I'm trying to get better about leaving the story alone for a few days before going through the final edits, but that's tough, too.

Another one: I wouldn't say I get too attached to my characters, but I do have trouble giving characters the ending they "deserve." Even the worst of them have a reason for being awful, and, unless that reason is "they're a sociopath," it feels cruel to punish them for the circumstances that created them. Yes, yes, they're just fictional beings, but people empathize with fictional beings all the time.

I'm writing a story right now where I'm running into this problem. A character attempts to do something heinous, but it's after he's been betrayed by his best friend, confirms the rest of his circle of friends basically only tolerated him because of that best friend, and, oh yeah, it's the end of the world and almost everyone is acting kind of shitty. He's the most villainous character in the piece, but he's also kind of a pathetic character when viewed through the right lens. He's still going to end up dead or imprisoned (haven;t decided which yet), but I also have to make him seem sympathetic enough that these people would have stayed friends with him for almost a decade, too, which means he has to feel like a person who at least used to be worth being around. And he thinks he's justified in his actions, or at least he feels that way when he's drunk, despondent, and scared, so...

 

[intim8]

I'm definitely using way too many commas, but I am, in fact, okay with that.

Me too. Like somehow, in my head, my narrator is always William Shatner.

 

[intim8]

By the way you are allowed to submit a rebuttal comment in your own published stories on lit. You should do it as I find it very appropriate.

Huh? Please elaborate.

 

[Bodington]

Huh? Please elaborate.

Stealthbreeder in her initial posting indicated she would have liked to have replied directly with an excellent witty not too snarky rebuttal to someone who commented on her story. You can't do that like you can in thus forum, but what you can do is simply submit an independent comment of your own. And if the commentator is not anonymous you can also send a private message alerting that user of your rebuttal.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Interrabangs.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Interrabangs.

Shit, I had to look that up and then find out how to do one on MSWord. Thanks.

 

[onehitwanda]

The Oxford comma makes me wet but proper typographic ornamentation in text gives me multiple orgasms.

It's a pity it's so hit and miss in Lit's submission process.