A writerly question...opinions?

[Lady_Guenivere]

How important is it for you, as a reader, to engage with the characters of an erotic story? How important is character development and a "back story"? Do you want to care about them or is it simply about the action/activity? Is it imperative for you, as a reader to care about the character in order to be aroused?

Other writers...what is your ultimate goal when writing an erotic story?

 

[cloudy]

I need to identify with a character to truly get involved in a story - perhaps that's why most of my protagonists contain more than a little of me.

Hope that helps.

 

[Guest]

This may be odd, coming from a guy, but i care more about the stories than I do about the sex. I don't write that way, of course, because my writing is the transcription of a fantasy and I am not very good (yet)

But when reading, I need a good story. The characters are, to me, what make a good story. There is another thread floating about regarding internal and external character conflicts. I think that these threads should be linked together, as their topics are related.

Internal and external conflicts help character development (in my opinion) and character development is (to me) central to a story.

No story, no erotica.

That being said, I do like reading the occasional spank story and just 'getting off'. But I keep a personal collection of stories I like and every one has good character development in it and a decent plot. I don't keep spank stories. They are like internet videos, readily available and easily replaceable.

ETA: Hi cloudy.

 

[cloudy]

ETA: Hi cloudy.

[threadjack] hi, darlin' :Kiss: [/threadjack]

 

[bronzeage]

How important is it for you, as a reader, to engage with the characters of an erotic story? How important is character development and a "back story"? Do you want to care about them or is it simply about the action/activity? Is it imperative for you, as a reader to care about the character in order to be aroused?

Other writers...what is your ultimate goal when writing an erotic story?

It depends on your audience.

A back story makes it easier for the reader to be in the place of one of the characters. It's common wisdom that women readers prefer character development and plot, but there are plenty of women who find all that stuff a waste of the words.

I like to drive character driven stories. The reader knows what the character is feeling and wants. The requires a certain amount of back story. Too much can bog down the story. It's a delicate balance.

 

[Handley_Page]

In my case, I ask: "if the sex is taken out, does the story still stand up?"
If the answer is Yes, it's good.
And
If it's a real baddie, I wanna share in his/her downfall.

 

[oggbashan]

In my case, I ask: "if the sex is taken out, does the story still stand up?"
If the answer is Yes, it's good.
...

If I ask that question, and the answer isn't No, then the sex is irrelevant and therefore it is a bad story for Literotica.

Og

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yep, I need to connect with the character. Not the physical aspects of the character but the mindset that the character shows to us in the story. If all your after is slam, bam, thank you ma'am then that's not really a story, it's a description of the sex act.

If the characters have no substance, no mind, no character, no foibles what's the point of the story...to describe sex between two people? How interesting can that be? Why are these people having sex? Why are these people together? Why are the together wherever they are at? That's what would make them having sex interesting. A 750 word essay on two people coupling for no reason what-so-ever is boring and worthless.

 

[Stella_Omega]

In my case, I ask: "if the sex is taken out, does the story still stand up?"
If the answer is Yes, it's good.
And
If it's a real baddie, I wanna share in his/her downfall.

If I ask that question, and the answer isn't No, then the sex is irrelevant and therefore it is a bad story for Literotica.

Og

Yep, I need to connect with the character. Not the physical aspects of the character but the mindset that the character shows to us in the story. If all your after is slam, bam, thank you ma'am then that's not really a story, it's a description of the sex act.

If the characters have no substance, no mind, no character, no foibles what's the point of the story...to describe sex between two people? How interesting can that be? Why are these people having sex? Why are these people together? Why are the together wherever they are at? That's what would make them having sex interesting. A 750 word essay on two people coupling for no reason what-so-ever is boring and worthless.

Yes, yes, and yes-- unless of course it hits me in a fetish button. And then who cares about why?

 

[sr71plt]

Be engaged with the character? Yes. Identified with? Not necessary. Sympathetic characters are not a requirement for a good story, erotic or otherwise.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

I need to be intrigued by the character. If I can see them in my head and think "I'd like to hang out with that person" it makes for a better story. The rough part though is making a person who has that attraction and showing it off soon enough without feeling like its rushing.

 

[sunandshadow]

To me the psychology and emotions are what makes a situation or activity erotic, not the actual bodies or movements or whatever. From what I've heard that's pretty typical of female erotica readers, not so much male ones.

When I write erotica it's erotic romance, so my writing goals are mostly about creating a romance, along with some reason in the characters' psychology and/or the worldbuilding for the sex to be unusual and thus erotic.

 

[jomar]

As a reader it depends on my goal for clicking on a story. If I'm in a certain mood I could care less about character development...I'll make up my own if it becomes an issue in the course of things, if you know what I'm saying. If I'm out for a stroll I do like some char dev and backstory sprinkled in...it depend on the type of story how much, of course.

As an accomplished writer, I think it's totally important to provide a sense of depth to the character, a nuanced arch of an eyebrow segueing to a past moment, a brief glimpse that momentarily clears the shadows, snaps the light on then off and along with other such moments throughout the story fleshes out the character so the reader can identify or have empathy or even hate but understand. It is especially effective when such moments occur during orgasm. It's a fact.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yes, yes, and yes-- unless of course it hits me in a fetish button. And then who cares about why?

I'm afraid to report not me, even if it pressing my number one fetish button. If there is no character development it's a back click. I like substance with my fetish.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm afraid to report not me, even if it pressing my number one fetish button. If there is no character development it's a back click. I like substance with my fetish.

You have a substance fetish

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You have a substance fetish

I feel the same way when I write, I try and give my characters substance. They have fetishes, likes, dislikes. They love and cherish they even fuck. But that's not all they do. They sometimes have to get the kids out of the way first. Or clean the house. Or they might even have to plan that night out. Nothing in real life is all that spontaneous as it can be in fiction. I try to make my stories as real life as possible.

I also try to draw the imagination of the read into the story by hardly ever describing my characters except in the vaguest possible way. I want the ready to imagine their dream woman or man in place of that character I write about.

I want to be able to do that when I read a story. I don't want the author to force me into imagining a skinny woman with 40DDDDD knocker just because that his dream girl. Nor would I want a woman to imagine one of my male characters with a 11" prick unless that's her thing, so I don't give physical attributes to my characters, just a generalized description -

Her hair cascaded down her back outlining her beautiful face. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she walked toward me on her slender, athletic legs. Her breasts, bouncing behind the thin fabric of her blouse. Her smile warmed my heart, as her piercing gaze drew me in. Her hand came up to caress my face then pulled back and slapped my cheek leaving a red outline of her hand.

Not one mention of size of any parts of her body. But I can picture in my mind the exact woman that is being described.

 

[R. Richard]

It appears to me that there's an assumption that the sex and the character development in a story are separate. That may be, but the sex (and the aftermath) can also develop the character. Such sex driven character development should, IMHO, be a reasonable change or revealing of hidden qualities in the character, not some sort of imediate, life-changing event.

 

[Boxlicker101]

How important is it for you, as a reader, to engage with the characters of an erotic story? How important is character development and a "back story"? Do you want to care about them or is it simply about the action/activity? Is it imperative for you, as a reader to care about the character in order to be aroused?

Other writers...what is your ultimate goal when writing an erotic story?

What's character development? I think I know what back story is. Isn't that the few sentences near the start of a story that explains why the characters are going to be doing the nasty? I usually include those, but not enough to get in the way of the good stuff, or delay it too much.

BTW, judging by feedback, I do fairly well with female readers.

 

[ExoMani]

How important is it for you, as a reader, to engage with the characters of an erotic story? How important is character development and a "back story"? Do you want to care about them or is it simply about the action/activity? Is it imperative for you, as a reader to care about the character in order to be aroused?

Other writers...what is your ultimate goal when writing an erotic story?

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by ‘engage with the characters of an erotic story’. If you mean ‘identify with’, then my answer is a definite no. Characters that I can in no way identify with can be extremely erotic.

‘Character development’ and a ‘back story’ are not particularly important either. But, I do expect the characters and ‘back story’ to be believable. A short story with virtually no character development, or back story, can be very erotic.

I don’t really need to care about the characters in an erotic story, as long as their activities are erotic to me. The emphasis is on the word ‘erotic’, not the word ‘care’.

Again, it is not imperative for me, as a reader, ‘to care about the character in order to be aroused’. Again, the emphasis is on the word ‘aroused’, not the word ‘care’.

All that being said, that is not the way I try to write my own erotic stories. What is important to me as a writer is not as important to me as a reader.

‘What is MY ultimate goal when writing an erotic story?’ Well, I try to write a believable story, even if it’s in the science fiction genre, and make it highly erotic. As the writer, I identify with, at least, one of the characters in my stories. (Whether, or not, a reader will identify with any of my characters is really up to the individual reader.) Lastly, I try to put one of my own little fantasies down on paper to the best of my ability.

 

[Guest]

It seems that something not being discussed along with character development is story length. when you say that you don't need character development to find something erotic, how long is the story that we are talking about? If it is confined to, say, three LIT pages, then I compeltely understand. But some of these stories are nine LIT pages per chapter and there are three or four chapters.

I need character development in a story like that, or it gets stale very quickly.

 

[Lady_Guenivere]

It seems that something not being discussed along with character development is story length. when you say that you don't need character development to find something erotic, how long is the story that we are talking about? If it is confined to, say, three LIT pages, then I compeltely understand. But some of these stories are nine LIT pages per chapter and there are three or four chapters.

I need character development in a story like that, or it gets stale very quickly.

Good point. I guess I am referring to a one or two page short story....most of my erotic stories are a moment or a scene descibing an event. I try to create interesting characters but I do not delve too much into "who" they are...I leave it open to interpretation. I just wonder how much the reader needs to know about a character in a short little erotic story in order to feel a connection.

 

[sunandshadow]

I encountered an example of character development failure in a bit of erotica yesterday, and it's a problem I've seen in other stories too. Basically, something was being done to a character that I personally wouldn't like done to me, which would have been fine if the story would have explained why the character it was being done to liked it. But with no explanation of why this was supposed to be hot, and not even much of a statement that it was in fact hot, I was left wondering whether the character was getting mad at having this done to them, whether the character doing it was a villain, or what.

 

[Stella_Omega]

...which would have been fine if the story would have explained why the character it was being done to liked it...

OH YEAH.
One of my alltime best reviews came from someone who said that she didn't like hardcore BDSM, but my story made her understand why some people do.Even when something is happening that you do like-- I want to know that the character likes it. (or, you know, not.)

Many beginning writers simply forget that the reader can't read their minds, IMO. And of course here we get a lot of stuff that was written for one person alone, who decided to put his jo material on the interwebs.

 

[laurafairlie]

I prefer character-driven material regardless of the genre I'm reading. I am perfectly fine with reading vignettes without a lot of character development, but as a rule, I enjoy getting to know the people I'm reading about and understanding what makes them feel and do what they do.

 

[ExoMani]

It seems that something not being discussed along with character development is story length. when you say that you don't need character development to find something erotic, how long is the story that we are talking about? If it is confined to, say, three LIT pages, then I compeltely understand. But some of these stories are nine LIT pages per chapter and there are three or four chapters.

I need character development in a story like that, or it gets stale very quickly.

I agree.

I’ve read a number of highly erotic, one page literotica stories that contained little, or no, character development. (I, at least, thought those stories were highly erotic.)

However, once I’ve read much beyond one literotica page, I expect to learn something more about the characters. In particular, I would like to know their motivations. That is, are the characters simply horny, or are there other reasons they’re doing what they’re doing.

I’m all right with a story’s characters engaging in sexually explicit acts simply because they’re horny. But, after reading much beyond one literotica page, I do start to get curious about who the characters are in their everyday lives.