A story set completely in the dark

[LittleGreene]

I’ve been toying with expanding a series of stories I’ve written about an organised Dinner Party swinging club. The pretext of a couple going to a more traditional dinner party but at some point it descending into group sex and swapping.

But the next chapter I want to put the setting in total darkness.

If anyone’s seen the 2013 film About Time, the meet cute is set in a restaurant that’s pitch black. They ‘fall in love’ via the other senses, in this case only hearing each others voices.

With my story obviously there would be the other senses, touch, taste, smell as well as sound.

Am I setting the expectations for my writing too high by not being able to use visual descriptions? Do you even think this is a good idea for a story?

 

[LouiseSuffolk]

I think it could lead to a very sensual story

 

[LittleGreene]

I think it could lead to a very sensual story

Me too. I’m just not sure if my writing is up to it

 

[LouiseSuffolk]

Only one way to find out!

 

[LittleGreene]

Only one way to find out!

Ha ha. True.

 

[Medicalman13152]

I’ve been toying with expanding a series of stories I’ve written about an organised Dinner Party swinging club. The pretext of a couple going to a more traditional dinner party but at some point it descending into groups SW1X and swapping.

But the next chapter I want to put the setting in total darkness.

If anyone’s seen the 2013 film About Time, the meet cute is set in a restaurant that’s pitch black. They ‘fall in love’ via the other senses, in this case only hearing each others voices.

With my story obviously there would be the other senses, touch, taste, smell as well as sound.

Am I setting the expectations for my writing too high by not being able to use visual descriptions? Do you even think this is a good idea for a story?

I suggest you try it, and see how you progress with it. You may find it to be your best ever writing.

 

[tugger1987]

Sounds like it would be really interesting. Would deffo be worth playing with and sure it would be fun describing it!

The thing I love about reading things here is the picture it creates in your mind, to me it would be fascinating reading from the perspective of being in a dark room, especially exploring someone you don’t know.

 

[SandP]

Me too. I’m just not sure if my writing is up to it

Of course it is! You're one of the best writers on here. Clever, articulate and perceptive.

 

[LittleGreene]

Of course it is! You're one of the best writers on here.

Now that’s so much flattery it borders deceit

 

[Rob_Royale]

I think it could be quite sexy. I would start out describing the house and the guests. After dinner the lights go out and couples are led to different rooms by a non-participant. No one knows what couples are in what rooms except the guides. After the guides leave the evening begins. Some people go and seek out in the darkness, others stay and wait to be found.

Some couple up and spend the evening secluded with just a few partners but many all head to the main living room for a orgy of epic proportions.

I'm imagining the house from the movie, Clue.

 

[sexfest2016]

Me too. I’m just not sure if my writing is up to it

Definitely give it a go. Even if you decide not to publish, it would be an interesting exercise to stretch yourself. Your descriptive abilities are excellent, so I’d think you’d pull it off well.

 

[LittleGreene]

I think it could be quite sexy. I would start out describing the house and the guests. After dinner the lights go out and couples are led to different rooms by a non-participant. No one knows what couples are in what rooms except the guides. After the wires leave the evening begins. Some people go and seek out in the darkness, others stay and wait to be found.

Some couple up and spend the evening secluded with just a few partners but many all head to the main living room for a orgy of epic proportions.

I'm imagining the house from the movie, Clue.

Not seen the film Clue but I like the set up.

 

[Brandnewbuddy]

I really like the idea! I always feel smells are hard to fully convey through words and make sexy but touch and taste are easier. I think it would be really hot to read descriptions of the feel of a dress being bunched up in their hands as they pull it up or a pair of stocking covered thighs pressing against their head as they go down on someone

 

[CalBishForNow]

I've got an 11-part series about a woman with a kink for sex with mysterious partners while she's blindfolded. Almost everyone is identified with her eyes uncovered at some point, but not entirely, and not right away. For a lot of the action, she's navigating by sound, smell, and feel. It was hard to keep track of sometimes, but I enjoyed it and may still have follow-ups someday.

 

[LittleGreene]

I've got an 11-part series about a woman with a kink for sex with mysterious partners while she's blindfolded. Almost everyone is identified with her eyes uncovered at some point, but not entirely, and not right away. For a lot of the action, she's navigating by sound, smell, and feel. It was hard to keep track of sometimes, but I enjoyed it and may still have follow-ups someday.

Are they on Lit?

 

[CalBishForNow]

Are they on Lit?

Here's the series page: It Could Have Been Anyone. I didn't discover tags until after I started another series, but I can tell you now that every part has blindfold use from Part 3 to Part 11.

 

[sirhugs]

some of us spend most of our time in the dark...without the sex

 

[SteelPoint]

I think it could lead to a very sensual story

Total darkness?? Sounds to me more like a scenario for broken noses and ribs...

 

[Brandnewbuddy]

As long as everyone moves slowly, and communicates they should be fine.

It could even heighten things. Like a guy is desperate to get laid and is used to going to parties and ravishing a willing partner or two. Now he has to crawl around on all fours, a raging erection out trying to find someone who is better about moving around in the dark, slipping away right before he can touch them

 

[Reenigam]

Total darkness?? Sounds to me more like a scenario for broken noses and ribs...

I'd tend to go with that. Half lighting is far more erotic than the chaos that would be caused by the total absence of illumination.

 

[Cultivateddesires]

I love the idea. Especially if everyone has seen everyone before darkness descends, queue lots of guessing at who it might be.

 

[hugh_jarce69]

Sounds like a great idea. I was thinking the best way to write it would be first person-present tense but then the reader would only get the experience of the author, who would have no idea what happened to others they weren’t in contact with.
If you wrote it as a commentary then it might be fun to include instances where some feel more comfortable exploring their fantasies as there’s no one watching. Such as a man starts feeling a cock or kissing a guy when he would be nervous doing so with the lights on,

 

[KittyOfSteele]

The last story in Delta of Venus features something similar. I don't have the book with me at the moment, but IIRC it happened during a dance at a party, and then the lights went out for a minute. Then they came back on, and then they went out for five minutes. Then they came back on, and then they went out for ten, fifteen, and so on... Every single time the lights came back up, all people in there were blushing, gasping, exhausted... There's not much detail to what happen to everybody but the protagonists.

I believe this also happened in Quiet Days in Clichy, where Henry Miller was in the middle of a foursome with two other women and his fellow author Carl. I don't recall too many of the details, but I know he wasn't able to see either because he had his eyes closed, or it was dark. I do remember him touching Carl on accident and Carl telling him something among the lines of "hey dude, that's me!" and laughing my ass off of that.

Lily's route in Katawa Shoujo has the MMC blindfolded by her so that he can perceive the world the way she perceives it (context: she's blind). It wasn't until he took the blindfold off against her wishes that he noticed she was masturbating right before him. Before anyone comes bombarding me with the guidelines, I played this game very shortly after its release, and all featured characters are 18.

So no, you're not setting expectations way too high. Not only you can do this, it has been done. In fact, in erotica, hiding is be even more exciting than showing. This is anecdotal, but being blindfolded sharpens the rest of my senses, and due to ADHD hypersensitivity, I am far more susceptible to touch and sound. By removing the visual element you might turn it more titillating too.

If you're having doubts, practice the idea a little on a separate document.

 

[Carnevil9]

Everyone seems to be assuming it is an orgy or swing party with many participants, and that would be a great story. But I think it could also be a good story with a long-time couple just trying something new. Less focus on the mechanics and the obstacles, and just focus on the sex.

 

[Vitriolhack]

I’ve been toying with expanding a series of stories I’ve written about an organised Dinner Party swinging club. The pretext of a couple going to a more traditional dinner party but at some point it descending into group sex and swapping.

But the next chapter I want to put the setting in total darkness.

If anyone’s seen the 2013 film About Time, the meet cute is set in a restaurant that’s pitch black. They ‘fall in love’ via the other senses, in this case only hearing each others voices.

With my story obviously there would be the other senses, touch, taste, smell as well as sound.

Am I setting the expectations for my writing too high by not being able to use visual descriptions? Do you even think this is a good idea for a story?

A challenge for sure, but, why not try? You never know, it could be a lot of fun.