All you proper writers have my undying respect

[EmilyMiller]

So I have 24 stories published here (plus one “cheat sheet”) but most of them have fallen into one of the following categories:

1. Semi-autobiographical - where it kinda writes itself and the most complex thing is deciding whether to combine different events into one and (if so) how to link them
2. Pure fantasy - sex romps, based on experience of course, but low on plot or character development
3. More serious, but simple, short stories - ones which are more character-driven and/or have some point to make, but which still involve just two main protagonists and focus only on their characters and typically a short slice of time

But now, I’m writing the sequel to Coleoidphilia. It still has two main (and one supporting) characters, but it’s longer (just topped 13k words and a lot to still write), has a non-sex element to the plot, and I’m spending (for me) an inordinate amount of time on:

1. Continuity
2. Character motivation - why did they do A / why did they behave like B
3. In-world consistency
4. Time - have enough days passed in-world for X to have happened (and what else happened in that time)?

I didn’t have to worry about much of that in my previous work. But I guess that’s what most of you guys grapple with all the time. I’m late to the party, I know. But kudos to you. This is hard .

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

So I have 24 stories published here (plus one “cheat sheet”) but most of them have fallen into one of the following categories:

1. Semi-autobiographical - where it kinda writes itself and the most complex thing is deciding whether to combine different events into one and (if so) how to link them
2. Pure fantasy - sex romps, based on experience of course, but low on plot or character development
3. More serious, but simple, short stories - ones which are more character-driven and/or have some point to make, but which still involve just two main protagonists and focus only on their characters and typically a short slice of time

But now, I’m writing the sequel to Coleoidphilia. It still has two main (and one supporting) characters, but it’s longer (just topped 13k words and a lot to still write), has a non-sex element to the plot, and I’m spending (for me) an inordinate amount of time on:

1. Continuity
2. Character motivation - why did they do A / why did they behave like B
3. In-world consistency
4. Time - have enough days passed in-world for X to have happened (and what else happened in that time)?

I didn’t have to worry about much of that in my previous work. But I guess that’s what most of you guys grapple with all the time. I’m late to the party, I know. But kudos to you. This is hard .

Em

Also, I keep having new ideas which lead me to retconning the whole piece. Maybe I should be more disciplined about that.

Em

 

[cuppatea]

Time is something that plagues my concerns. I’ve used phrases to state either a definite passage of time or used a “days passed” style sentence.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Time is something that plagues my concerns. I’ve used phrases to state either a definite passage of time or used a “days passed” style sentence.

I have some things (which unfortunately I only thought of after having written +10k words) which need a minimum number of days to happen. So I had it go back and make things take longer, or insert some other stuff - I’m such an amateur .

Em

 

[cuppatea]

The stories i’m working on at present are all set in the same location, but spread over time.

I think about it in terms of real life/place. You find out details over time, some details stick out as “fixed points” (to use a DW ref), those can be bones of contention with the more studious and careful reader. Internal consistency, that inside an individual story, is, to me, more important than being consistent over several stories. That said, if you’re writing an arc of stories and you know that certain events are fixed points, you can be ready for possible conflicts.

Interesting to know what “proper writer” means (tongue in cheek on that one)

 

[EmilyMiller]

Interesting to know what “proper writer” means (tongue in cheek on that one)

Someone who isn’t me .

Em

 

[Emilymcplugger]

So I have 24 stories published here (plus one “cheat sheet”) but most of them have fallen into one of the following categories:

1. Semi-autobiographical - where it kinda writes itself and the most complex thing is deciding whether to combine different events into one and (if so) how to link them
2. Pure fantasy - sex romps, based on experience of course, but low on plot or character development
3. More serious, but simple, short stories - ones which are more character-driven and/or have some point to make, but which still involve just two main protagonists and focus only on their characters and typically a short slice of time

But now, I’m writing the sequel to Coleoidphilia. It still has two main (and one supporting) characters, but it’s longer (just topped 13k words and a lot to still write), has a non-sex element to the plot, and I’m spending (for me) an inordinate amount of time on:

1. Continuity
2. Character motivation - why did they do A / why did they behave like B
3. In-world consistency
4. Time - have enough days passed in-world for X to have happened (and what else happened in that time)?

I didn’t have to worry about much of that in my previous work. But I guess that’s what most of you guys grapple with all the time. I’m late to the party, I know. But kudos to you. This is hard .

Em

The entire piece of HOT AND FUZZY takes place over 6 days.

ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE was around 100,000 words and from start to end was about 8 years, but with parts 2-5 largely occurring over one night, minus two flashbacks to those 8 years.

Time is great to play with because you can condense a number of years feelings into a few scenes to show that passage of time. Even now in HOT AND FUZZY I play around with time with flashbacks and other people’s experiences a day earlier.

Time is a great narrative tool that you’ll get used to using.

 

[HordHolm]

And then you find yourself pouring over train/plane timetables to ensure your character's journey from Rome to Reykjavik is plausible , or deep dive into the preferred planting for French style formal gardens - both things I've spent hours doing over the last year because, heaven forfend that someone, somewhere who knows better will call me out for my ignorance.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Time is a great narrative tool that you’ll get used to using.

My point - such as it is - is that I’ve not had to use any narrative tools to date

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

And then you find yourself pouring over train/plane timetables to ensure your character's journey from Rome to Reykjavik is plausible , or deep dive into the preferred planting for French style formal gardens - both things I've spent hours doing over the last year because, heaven forfend that someone, somewhere who knows better will call me out for my ignorance.

I think this is a very real danger for me .

I may disappear down a rabbit hole, never to be seen again.

Em

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have some things (which unfortunately I only thought of after having written +10k words) which need a minimum number of days to happen. So I had it go back and make things take longer, or insert some other stuff - I’m only human, still learning and am having minor issues like every other scribbler since Willy Shakespeare.

Em

Fixed that for you.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Fixed that for you.

Thanks, hun. You are so kind .

Em

 

[TarnishedPenny]

And then you find yourself pouring over train/plane timetables to ensure your character's journey from Rome to Reykjavik is plausible , or deep dive into the preferred planting for French style formal gardens - both things I've spent hours doing over the last year because, heaven forfend that someone, somewhere who knows better will call me out for my ignorance.

You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.

 

[HordHolm]

You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.

I've been known to keep people waiting while I suddenly need to discover the number of funiculars in Genoa...

 

[AwkwardlySet]

So I have 24 stories published here (plus one “cheat sheet”) but most of them have fallen into one of the following categories:

1. Semi-autobiographical - where it kinda writes itself and the most complex thing is deciding whether to combine different events into one and (if so) how to link them
2. Pure fantasy - sex romps, based on experience of course, but low on plot or character development
3. More serious, but simple, short stories - ones which are more character-driven and/or have some point to make, but which still involve just two main protagonists and focus only on their characters and typically a short slice of time

But now, I’m writing the sequel to Coleoidphilia. It still has two main (and one supporting) characters, but it’s longer (just topped 13k words and a lot to still write), has a non-sex element to the plot, and I’m spending (for me) an inordinate amount of time on:

1. Continuity
2. Character motivation - why did they do A / why did they behave like B
3. In-world consistency
4. Time - have enough days passed in-world for X to have happened (and what else happened in that time)?

I didn’t have to worry about much of that in my previous work. But I guess that’s what most of you guys grapple with all the time. I’m late to the party, I know. But kudos to you. This is hard .

Em

I might get called out for it, but welcome to the world of bigger stories, where science matters just as much as art. Science being the very things you described:
- Character development and consistency
- long term plot planning
- world building
- dropping hints in early story chapters that tie to things happening only much later, thus making your story a well thought out project that adds flavor and immersiveness (this kinda links to long term plot and character planning but it's worth pointing out)
- quite a few other things that I didn't think of right now, or I have no clue about, as it requires being in a whole different league as a writer

all of those things you don't really need to worry about in short stories.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I might get called out for it, but welcome to the world of bigger stories, where science matters just as much as art. Science being the very things you described:
- Character development and consistency
- long term plot planning
- world building
- dropping hints in early story chapters that tie to things happening only much later, thus making your story a well thought out project that adds flavor and immersiveness (this kinda links to long term plot and character planning but it's worth pointing out)
- quite a few other things that I didn't think of right now, or I have no clue about, as it requires being in a whole different league as a writer

all of those things you don't really need to worry about in short stories.

I’ve written 20k word stories (not that 20k words is long, I realize), but they have been where I know the plot as it already happened .

Em

 

[Zootonius]

But now, I’m writing the sequel to Coleoidphilia. It still has two main (and one supporting) characters, but it’s longer (just topped 13k words and a lot to still write), has a non-sex element to the plot, and I’m spending (for me) an inordinate amount of time on:

1. Continuity
2. Character motivation - why did they do A / why did they behave like B
3. In-world consistency
4. Time - have enough days passed in-world for X to have happened (and what else happened in that time)?

I didn’t have to worry about much of that in my previous work. But I guess that’s what most of you guys grapple with all the time. I’m late to the party, I know. But kudos to you. This is hard .

Em

If the movie skips a lot of detail, you can.

Continuity, as long as it's not something absurd.
Character motivation, keep in mind people have mixed motivations. Someone may be happy to share their lover one day, and hate it the next.
Time, I have a multi part story that takes place during a college semester. I keep a cheat sheet that tracks what week(s) the chapters happen in.

 

[ronde]

All classic erotica has always been about the journey of a character or characters through some period of their life and as such, requires some details to make the reader want to keep reading. Novels like, "Mystere D'amour" by Anne-Marie Villefrance, "The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher", the first volume of which is generally acknowledged to have been written by Felix Salten with authorship of the second volume still being in question, and "My Secret Life", by Unknown, are prime examples. While those are full-fledged novels, short stories need not be any different save for having fewer word and covering a shorter span of time. A short story should still have real characters, a real location, and a believable plot.

The first technique to doing that is the way the characters are introduced and described. It's important that the description be consistent throughout the work because real people don't suddenly change their personality on a whim. They do present a different personality to the world than the personality they hold inside. They may have secrets they don't tell anyone. Hinting at those secrets makes a reader want to find out just what those secrets are. It's important to develop each main character to be a real person, not some cardboard cutout that a reader will soon be bored with. Time spent developing main characters is well worth the effort. It makes readers able to identify with at least some of that character's personality and to anticipate how they will react to situations.

I do spend some time on locations and yes, on travel times by various means. That's important because real people may immediately develop feelings for another person, but it takes time before they act on those feelings. By knowing where the characters are, where they are going, and how long it will take to get there, it's easier to write the plot that forms the basis of the story. Selection of locations also can paint a picture of the setting without a lot of words. By saying the location is a lake in Canada, the writer doesn't really have to spend a lot of time describing the view. Many readers will already have that picture in their mind.

 

[EmilyMiller]

All classic erotica has always been about the journey of a character or characters through some period of their life and as such, requires some details to make the reader want to keep reading.

I think you may have mistaken me for someone else. I write porn, not erotica

Em

 

[gunhilltrain]

Am I a proper writer? I don't know, I try to do it the best that I can. I think Faulkner said, "Don't be a writer, just be writing." I think I get what he meant.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm not sure how well the term "proper" applies to distinguish people who write erotic stories. We're all writers, and if we keep our egos in check and our minds open we can all learn from one another.

 

[Zootonius]

I think you may have mistaken me for someone else. I write porn, not erotica

Em

Yeah, yeah, that's what all the writers of erotica say.

 

[Andrew1968]

My stories have certainly gotten longer over time. I get turned on by flirty, witty dialogue and I like describing what the characters are doing as they engage in their flirty, witty dialogue. I do like crudely whispered words between characters. There are lots of references to facial expressions and touching as the dialogue takes place. I like stories with lots of seduction. Writing those sorts of interactions takes me a lot of time, so that’s one reason why the stories have gotten longer. Describing a party and what happens at that party can take so long because I like getting in the detail. I think the details make it hot. I use people’s names a lot, as a way of making the characters more concrete and present.

If you add background detail about whom the people are, where they are and what they’re doing there in the first place then you have a whole lot more writing. I don’t usually include a huge amount of info about a character’s life story and their conflicts. If you do all that and the above, then you’re looking at a novel.

The sex scenes have also gotten longer because I try and make the scenes more detailed and more intimate. I like desire in characters. I don’t necessarily include sex scenes where the characters go through a dozen different positions, and everything is objective and mechanical. I think sex is more about the intensity, the facial expressions, the whispered words, hot fluid motions and the touches – that’s my experience, at least. There are some humiliation and denial references in the “Loving Wife” type stories I write. Those elements are there to turn the characters on and ramp up everyone's desire, including the person who is being the object of all the delicious denial, taunting and put-downs.

 

[JGittes]

My first story on Lit condensed 20 years of life-drawing modeling experiences into one wild, three-hour session. The original was 37k words, into which I threw everything I could think of, including the kitchen sink. I had no idea what I was doing and inadvertently promised a sequel.

In the six years since that story was originally published, I stripped out the backstory narrative and created two prequels totaling 60k words. I've also consistently worked on the sequel, which currently is 85k words and about halfway done. There are specific dates for the sequel, June 30 to July 14, and I was about 30k into it when I realized that the 4th of July occurred on a weekday and essential plot elements happened at the main character's workplace on that day. Oh shit. It's a real pain in the ass learning how to write a novel while you're in the middle of writing a novel.

 

[PapaRomantic]

We're all writers, and if we keep our egos in check and our minds open we can all learn from one another.

This. So important. I continue reading highly-rated stories because I enjoy them. But I also learn so much from the way other writers are writing, and I may "borrow" a few phrases or words or concepts to try to keep my writing fresh.

I hope that's a practice of "real" writers also!