advancing your stories.

[alltherage]

I am curious about how other authors advance their stories. I often find myself writing without a firm idea of what will happen next or how the story will end. There are times when i have a single idea from which to build. A setting or a character. I am writing something now which is driven thus far by the setting and by the personality of one character. I am stumped about how to advance the plot. Most of my anxiety revolves around finding an honest way to move the characters into the erotic encounter i want them to have. I guess my question is this. How important is it to you to have your stories develope in such a way as to have the reader accept them as being possible. I often read stories that are so beyond anything i know to be real that i loose interest in them. I get a bad case of the OH YEAH"S that could happen? I am just curious and would appreciate any feedback.

 

[Bob Peale]

I guess what I do is cheat a little. At any given time, I am working on 6 - 10 stories.

Basically, I write around a single instance or action, and when I start to write something that doesn't work, I place it in a new story. Then I may write there for awhile until I stumble across the next logical progression for the first.

By doing this, I never lose a story element, even if it's not appropriate for the story at hand. And I don't usually start a story - I just jot down an idea and see where it goes. I seldom have a defined end date in mind. Case in point - Rites of Spring grew out of Yard Work, although the stories themselves were published two years apart.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I usually know what's going to happen when I formulate the idea. I have a theme and a plan to put that theme through. Usually.

Absolution's theme is Guilt and the plot was how it was dealt with. In order to write the story, I had to know how it was going to end. A story is a transition, a change, or a learning experience for at least one character. If it doesn't have that, then it's just whack off. I wanted the main character to find some measure of relief for the guilt she felt, being punished by someone brought it to the fore, and being forgiven by that someone brought about the absolution.

You can write a story without a destination in mind, just like you can go on a road trip. Sometimes it can be good, usually it's not.

It's not an indepth outline, but a beginning, a destination, and a thought to how they get there. That gives my characters credible motivations for things and doesn't usually trap me in a situation where the characters are doing something they don't really have a reason to do.

Suspension of disbelief is pretty important in a story. You have leeway in porn because the expectation is that the characters will be doing something that's out of the ordinary. You don't always have to have a credible reason, but the characters should never act out of their norm.

 

[JUDO]

KISS

Here's some really basic stuff that should help:

You have an erotic situation that you want your character to get into.

1) How/Where do you start? (The setting. What's going on?)

2) What does your character want? (Yes, they have to want something or you have no story.)

3) How/Where does it end?

If you know these simple things, your character will do what they want.

 

[mlyn]

to: Bob Peale....

I had a hard time getting past the pic (avatar?) of yours. OH MY! I got flushed, and all fluttery... and gasp... what a stud muffin...

now... me too, about the writing. I have written about 120 stories, and have about 100 of them on my site. only about half, if that many, are completed in my opinion. And I am actively writing several. Only occasionally do I cross them up.

Well, that is it, cause I can't remember what else you wrote, I am still just seeing that pic. and getting flushed all over again... be still my silly victorian heart.

 

[Bob Peale]

Re: to: Bob Peale....

now... me too, about the writing. I have written about 120 stories, and have about 100 of them on my site. only about half, if that many, are completed in my opinion. And I am actively writing several. Only occasionally do I cross them up.

I agree ... not that your stories aren't finished, but that a story that's ended isn't necessarily done. I think any one of my stories could be continued - or even begun, for that matter. In most cases, they just represent a snapshot.

Somethimes, alltherage, you have to know when its time to walk away.

And thanks for the kind words about the AV, mlyn

 

[susurrus]

I've always worked on a single idea, or a small group of ideas, and then the trick is to find a way to get from one to the other. Often, I'll get started, only knowing for sure that I want to get something that lands somewhere in the middle of the story. Sometimes, I get there. Sometimes, the story takes on a life of its own and I never get there.

I'm something of a 'fly by the seat of my pants' writer. I figure I'll let the story tell itself. It's all there in my warped little brain, it'll come out when it's good and ready. I only hope it comes out when I need it.

Sometimes it just flows. Sometimes I get to a point and it stops. I've been stumped by tangents that I can't get myself out of.

Plausibility? That's a whole 'nother animal. I'm the author of the "Stephanie Tops Her Family" stories. I'm kind of surprised where chapter two ended up. My brain wanted to add a *whole bunch* more to the scene at the end, but I had to tone it down, because I found that, as implausible as the *whole thing* is, that last scene was just getting *way* over the top!

So, as far as a simple solution to "writer's block"? Doesn't exist. Greater authors and composers and the like have been fighting it for centuries. And little peons like us are no different. Sometimes you just hit the wall. And sometimes, the wall hits back.

 

[alltherage]

I do not often write short stories and i am finding that having a fixed point where the story should end helps greatly. I am working on a story now. I finish the introduction and now i am at a turning point. I have run through various senerios all of which seem to fit. I think what I lack with this particular story is the point. What is my dang point.

I have what i think is a longer form fiction piece which i work on in spurts. In this story the problem seems to be that it is scene driven. I have a very clear vision of the two main characters. It is so clear that i could write detailed biographys for both and tell you what they have eaten for the past week. I see them both clearly. In the scenes, and in two chases chapters, i have had a very clear idea of exactly what would happen. The dialogue was written without great stress. I just knew what they would say and do. The problem is connecting it all without writing War and Peace times 2. It is not a block so much as a quagmire.

Have you ever tried to write something and had difficulty deciding what to edit out? Or maybe fallen so in love with the characters that you feel you deny them their due buy cutting the story. My guess is that i have to remember that i am not writing solely for myself and if the story is to be told it needs to be in some managable form. The creative process is no bargain is it.

I remember once hearing that Michaelangelo would sit with a block of marble and wait for it to tell him what it wanted to be. Ideally, a blank page would speak to us in the same manner.

 

[susurrus]

Oh, without a doubt, editing your own work sucks. I mean, you've just spent all this time banging your fingers to the bone, and *now* you're expected to go back and *change* it? I never have the illusion that every word I write is gold, but god...

I know I have gone back while editing and found a passage that while I was writing it, it seemed like the perfect phrase or situation, just to come back to it later and have to go, "Well this doesn't work at all."

Even though so far my characters in Lit stories haven't been exactly deep, I usually try to write them so they at least *sound* like relatively real people. The problem there is, eventually they start to tell the story for you. And it isn't always the story you originally intended.

If you've read some of my stuff, you'll notice that I tend to "run off at the mouth" at times, so to speak, but I try to tell the story as it comes to me, and when the story says its time to end, I stop.

Like I've said before, I've been writing for years. Long enough to have developed a style of my own. I've gotten so I can tell when the story has told itself. I think if you just trust yourself and your characters, you'll be able to end the thing without much muss or fuss.

Also, if your characters are as clearly defined as you say, they should be able to dictate to you where to stop. Remember, most people's lives are maybe 90% boring routine, that nobody really cares about, and if they're lucky, 10% something another person would want to read a story about. There are only 24 hours in any given day (unless you are writing about alien planets, then all bets off) and just give thought to your own daily life, and think about the minute portions of it anybody else would give a crap to hear about. Besides, most folks like to take some time out of that day to sleep.

So, just remember, even if it takes twenty pages to describe the events of just two hours of a character's life, chances are - unless it's a *really* unusual day - that that's the most major excitement that's going to occur to that person. So, unless you're writing about a span of many years (War and Peace, Les Miserables) it shouldn't be too outrageously tough to keep from babbling on (like I do). Just remember: Your characters are only human.

Susurrus

Concerning Michelangelo. Have you seen any of his incomplete sculptures? I've seen pictures of some sculptures he was working on for a bigger piece. There are maybe three or four of them. They are of slaves. These characters appear to be almost struggling to get out of the bonds of the rock. It's amazing.

 

[alltherage]

Part of the problem with my longer form story is that it covers about 30 years. The two main characters are connected but for much of the time span are separated. Each character has a unique story yet both are necessary if the story is to have meaning.

I have not seen the sculptures you mentioned but they do sound amazing. Slaves encased in stone. What better way is there to express their lot in life?

 

[cellis]

You guys are making me feel bad.... I just sit down and write and the story always seems to have life of its own... I am, in essence, just the channel for it to come to life.... the characters just seem to grow and come life as I write... I never think about the story or where it is going until I am finished... Of course, these are the short stories I am talking about...

Like alltherage... if I am working on a longer story that covers a greater span of time... I can give you complete biographies on all the main characters in the plot....

I think that in short stories all of the extra stuff is unimportant... short of what is needed for character and story development....

 

[alltherage]

I love the feeling of "channeling" a story. That feeling is rare for me. When it happens I am thrilled and just write until there is no more to tell. It rarely happens that way for me. I do get inspired idea's. Sometimes the idea comes in the form of a sentence, or a situation, or even a name. The rest of the creation is all mine.

My original question had more to do with this form of writing than any other. I love fantasy and erotic stories. What I hate while reading them is the "ehem, yeah right moment." The one where your ability to suspend disbelief is shattered.

I guess we all have a point at which we stop pushing the envelope of believability. I was wondering where that was for people and also if there was such a limit for everyone. Perhaps I am too conservative.

 

[Guest]

Ah, yes, "Suspension of disbelief."

Um... Well... Do any of us really think that most *real* people have sex as much as is indicated in these stories?

Also, yes, there is a fine line between believable and unbelievable. While my "Stephanie" stories, even in my mind, push the envelope, I do find myself looking at the situation the characters are in and going, "Way too much."

I'm sure that limits for what is too much varies between people. The trick there is *how* believable your premise is in the first place. But even there, you need to determine the boundary for possibilty. Sometimes you don't know where that boundary is until you've crossed it - sometimes egregiously.

Let's face it, what we're all writing here is basically fantasy. Not necessarily with wizards and elves and the like, and not necessarily simply sexual fantasy, but the type where right from the start, the reader is asked to suspend disbelief, at least to a certain extent, and consider the possibility that people really act this way.

 

[susurrus]

forgive me, I forgot to log in. the above "unregistered" response was me.

S.

 

[alltherage]

Fantasy yes, but does fantasy need to be pyrotechnic?

 

[susurrus]

pyrotechnic, no. There is just an element of literary fantasy that requires the reader to, at least for the time it takes to read the story, believe that these characters could do the things the author says they do. It is therefore the responsibility of the author not to betray the trust the reader gives in that case, and not make the characters do impossible things. Suspension of disbelief, yes. Belief of perfectly inhuman acts, no.

 

[Tony88888]

Knowing and feeling the characters

I feel much like Cellis. Once I know the main sexual situation I want to have happen and for the characters to experience, then the characters that fit that situation follow. After that is established, I'm almost excited to visit the computer to see where they are going to lead me each day.

The chapters may be more structured to give the story direction but within each chapter I just visit them and follow them to see what mischief they are going to get into.

The main thing to me is that the story line doesn't wander off it's main path and that the characters stay true to themselves.

On the point of how far is 'too far' and believablity: Most of my stories are very believable so far, but I really don't care about that so much in stories that I read, as long as it makes a good Lusty Fantasy.

Sort of like a good adventure movie. As long as it 'pushes the right buttons' unreality can go a long way beyond belief.

 

[Hitchhiker]

where do idea's come from?

Gosh this is a biggy!

After traveling around this planet quite a bit. I have many years of real life to look for idea's.

See: "magic medicine"
"By a mountain Stream" and "A funny thing Happened"

So my Ann stories are pure fiction (Keep an eye out for the new one "Ann and the looking glass") but I have had plenty of experience and can cope with most situations. Also if I have a problem with a story eg. legs going which way. My darling wife will assist to see if its possible. 5 times a week is that normal???

Also your normal randy story reader isn't very interested in riding on a bus in 1947. They want sex and the hotter the better. So take the sex scene first and biuld the story around it. Better still get out there and get down to it! Then one can write.

Even been to Florence and viewed Michelangelos unfinished work. They are most probaly better being incomplete. Even so the statue of David at 14 ft plus is amazing to behold. How ever the paint job in that chapel is a bit OTT.

 

[NaughtyMike]

So much to do over fucking porno.

Sometimes I will write a rough outline first. I physically see where I want to start and where I want to go. I add in stuff that will get me there. I will make notes on specific lines that come to mind or some act/person I want to fit in. After I have finished writing a story, I wait a few days to submit it. I will think about the story and ask myself, "what did I forget?" I will go back after two days and re-read my story with a "new" set of eyes to see if I understand it as read. I knew what I meant when I wrote it, will everyone understand it as I meant it? I end up adding a paragraph or two this way, and make countless same corrections and minor word changes. For example I will see where I used the word "cock" three times in row and change the middle one to "dick". Instead of three guys all ramming a girl, one will poke, and the other thrust. Those kind of changes generally come when you re- read your story after you forget about it for a while.

I always work humor into my stories. Funny thoughts don't happen on cue. They come to me at infrequent intervals, so when they do, I will interject them back into a story I have already finished.

 

[Paolo Labico]

I disagree with the notion of just building out from the sex. I don't write all that often, but when I do it happens fast. I usually base a story on some plot twist, then flesh out the rest. I try to make the plot work even if the sex were whittled down to just a few lines. Maybe they are not hot enough because of this- you decide. They are good stories though, and I think that makes the sex more realistic. To me setting the mood is much more important than a Kama sutrian exposition

 

[The Sex Master]

I am curious about how other authors advance their stories. I often find myself writing without a firm idea of what will happen next or how the story will end. There are times when i have a single idea from which to build. A setting or a character. I am writing something now which is driven thus far by the setting and by the personality of one character. I am stumped about how to advance the plot. Most of my anxiety revolves around finding an honest way to move the characters into the erotic encounter i want them to have. I guess my question is this. How important is it to you to have your stories develope in such a way as to have the reader accept them as being possible. I often read stories that are so beyond anything i know to be real that i loose interest in them. I get a bad case of the OH YEAH"S that could happen? I am just curious and would appreciate any feedback.

MOST important to affect the TARGETED readership in a way they will be glad they read your story !