Are we all individuals or what?

[MaxSebastian]

Has anyone else noticed how the same stories keep coming up over and over again?

I'm probably guilty of exploiting similar fantasies in my stories that are in other stories, but sometime the 'new' list seems like the same stories being resubmitted with slightly different wording.

Are we all individuals or is there some kind of collective going on here? Why are there such large groups of writers who share very similar fantasies? Are we just inspired by the stories we've already read and seek to write similar stories ourselves?

I suppose there are some people out there that do nothing but read stories in which a high school student seduces her teacher - do people not get bored reading the same story over and over? Someone like that could just take a story and change the character names by finding-and-replacing the names in Word! Maybe that's not art, though.

Is there any way out? Are we individuals? Or are we just numbers?





I don't know...

 

[Mickie]

There's nothing new under the sun. Originality is something most writers strive to find, but its difficult to find something that someone else hasn't written about already. And, with sexual fantasies, it seems that there are a few standard scenarios that get re-written on a constant basis.

Then you can get into what is marketable to the general public. If more people request son-mother incest stories than cousin-cousin, you'll see a LOT of the same scenarios for mother-son pop up in the new lists, mainly those that are easy to write. Same with any other category.

Some of this is simply because the common scenarios are easy to begin and then get to the sex. If Ma sees son masturbate, doesn't it follow that they'll have sex in the future? So, we have a lot of Ma catches son in the shower, or walks in on him in his room, etc. It wouldn't be very feasible if woman sees man masturbate on the street and no one else notices, so she and man have sex on street. Part of it is the plausibility of certain scenarios. The suspension of disbelief goes only so far.

Mickie

 

[MaxSebastian]

It builds up the expectation, doesn't it? You click on a story that is described as a teacher being seduced by a student, and you fully expect to see the story start in the classroom with surreptitious glances at the handsome teacher by the pretty schoolgirl and then the teacher asks her to stay behind after class because she did badly in a test or something, and then they meet up after class and so on.

It's like there are rules being set-up through the constant additions on literotica in certain story types. It begins to be stories by numbers, I suppose. I wonder if that is just a by-product of the way that so many stories can be written an included.

I personally thing the colossal scale of Literotica's number of contributors may well have quite profound effect on the erotica genre in the future - there's never been anything really quite like it before, and the sheer democracy of the whole venture is going to have some really interesting effects, I think.

 

[Axeltheswede]

Are we individuals

Look at things from a different perspective. You can take a tired premise and put your individual stamp on it. In this forum you can see whether you succeeded or failed.

We all express ourselves as individuals. One hundred Literotica contributors can take the same shopworn fantasy and retell it a hundred different ways. The derivative stuff will fall to the bottom and some unique treatments will be recognized as the best. I agree with Max Sebastian, the sheer weight of our numbers writing erotica will change the genre for the future.

Every one of us, who has tried to sell freelance writing, knows the difficulty and frustration of trying to satisfy some editors view of what a piece of work should be. Here we have the freedom to put it out there, in the final form we like, and see if it flies. I think we are engaged in one of the most individual creative activities there is.

 

[MechaBlade]

This is why a lot of my stories emphasize wierd or interesting circumstances instead of the sex details. The how/why of the situation turns me on. But most of the time, people just haven't read the stories that sound like theirs, or seen it done before.

For example, I told my friend I wanted to write this story about incestual identical twin sisters (that happen to look like Rachel Leigh Cook). He said he'd seen it before in porn and it had been done. I have seen identical twins in porn only once in one small clip, but without a hint of lesbianism. I've never heard of it in erotica. But evidently, it's out there.

I still might write it, I don't know.

MechaBlade

 

[MaxSebastian]

Actually, I rose to the challenge a few times and wrote stories from the premise: this is a tired old concept, can I do it any better?

And the funny thing is, those particular stories of mine did far, far better in terms of voting and feedback than my other, much more original themes.

Since there are so many people here concerned about getting votes and (positive) feedback rather than purely writing, no wonder we'll be seeing those concepts turning up again and again. I guess people have certain fantasies and they like to read about them again and again with slightly different characters/locations.

C'est la vie.

 

[Ask For More]

I've found this problem as well; until the sci-fi category was in place I had stories which didn't really fit into any category, and as a result, not much exposure. And the stories that I wrote which basically followed the general exhibitionism fantasies are far more popular and gathered more votes (still ap itiful amount though: vote more people!)

But I'm determined to push the boundaries, so I'm gonna keep writing stuff that is different and a bit more thought provoking, in the vain hope that someone will notice one day....

Wish me luck

 

[MaxSebastian]

hooray! Good call!

Best of luck to you, AFM.



I myself will be doing similar, but every now and then, I do like to write something that's a bit more popular and mainstream because it does get you a little more liked in the world! And then you can actually wean some of the people who got caught in your popular-style story onto some more imaginative or challenging stuff.

Or maybe I'm just a whore for the votes sometimes

 

[Ask For More]

You slapper

I refuse to conform! I actually posted my personal favourite story out of all mine to eroticstories.com(sssh...don't tell anyone ) and received some really great feedback in response and much better response on votes; but then again it's much harder for a general web surfer to get onto it and be able to view the stories, that's the beauty of Lit; anyone can read and anyone can write.

But Lit's community rocks

Whenever you write a popular story I'm gonna send you a angry note. Remeber that

 

[MaxSebastian]

You send me an angry note, and I'll just post another popular story.

Na na ne na na!

 

[Ask For More]

Grrrr...

Slapper

 

[jon.hayworth]

I suppose Max the problem is that there are only so many plot lines. (I am sure you have heard all of this before) Some reductionists say only 3 or 7. Sitting on my reference bookshelf is a copy of George Polti's "Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations".

There is the germ of an academic essay here "The X Storylines and Y Characters of Erotic Situations" - What have you done to me Max am I going to sit in front of the screen analysing story after story.

Basically I guess it is inevitable that we like all writers are trapped within the confines of the dramatic situation.

jon

 

[peterpan]

There is something very comforting about knowing the plot sometimes. Its sort of like vegging out in front of TV.

I think that often people write not to provide others with a good story, but to solidify a fantacy of their own, and maybe hoping to hear from people that have the same fantasy.

I like stories that add nice ideas and twists but don't mess with the emotional story I am expecting, or suddenly ask me to question the myth behind that story. That sort of tale should contain a warning like "Thinking is hazadous to your ego if you really are a loser."

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Why are there so many rehashes of tired plot lines?
:
Well, one reason is that people read the porn. Then they
want to "contribute themselves." They contribute by
writing almost the same story that they have read.
:
In another locus, I challenged my fellow authors to write
a story about a couple who decide to start a baby. That is
a sexy situation which many -- perhaps most -- couples
involve themselves in at least once in the course of their
marriage.
I had some takers, but not anywhere near as many as I would
have imagined.
People don't follow the tracks because there are only so
possible plots. There are plenty of plots which are
underused. They follow the tracks because those tracks
pleased them at one time.

 

[MaxSebastian]

...In another locus, I challenged my fellow authors to write a story about a couple who decide to start a baby...

And just how do you start a baby? Is there a slot for you to put the key in? I'm going to have to find out these things one day, aren't I?

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

And just how do you start a baby? Is there a slot for you to put the key in? I'm going to have to find out these things one day, aren't I?

:
Well, there *IS* a slot, probably one you have used
previously.
Most modern couples "make a baby" by dicontinuing the
contraceptive method which they have used heretofore.
More to the point, they deliberately have sex.
:
Which makes it a fine situation for a story on Literotica.
So is: The replacement of one contraceptive method with
another, The celebration of the pregnancy, The kid's going off to
summer camp at last, Or going off on an overnight visit.
:
You could think of a dozen situations which supply a
married couple with an extra-erotic session of love making.

 

[Route66Girl]

Re: Same plots

After reading the stories here over the last couple months, I noticed the same plotlines being rehashed quite a bit, too. I have no problem with this persay, but I have to admit that when I see the one-liner description say something like, "Coach shows Cheerleading Squad some new moves for their routine!" I skip over the story. Yup- read that one already!

I think people could break the mould if they tried a little harder- c'mon folks! It's all for fun!

However, I can definitely see how someone would want to take a plotline like that and try to add their own flair, their own unique signature. I may try it myself sometime.

I'm writing the story I've got going now because, I think, it's the kind of story I would want to read, and I like to think it's got originality. It probably won't be much of a vote-getter- it's comparatively long, extremely romantic and florid, and may be a bit of a yawn to those who like their stories hot and fast.

No matter how it's recieved though, I'll try to stick to AFM's non-conformist views!

Let your freak flag fly!

 

[Whispersecret]

I'm with you, Route66Girl. I'm one of those rebels who will always look at what most people do and try to figure out a way to do it differently.

I hope you will NEVER see in one of my stories any of the following cliches:

1. A person catching another person masturbating and finding themselves overwhelmed with desire.

2. The application of sun block leading to sex.

3. One character finding another character's erotic stories, pix, history of cybering, and using that information to blackmail them into sex.

4. A father gazing at his nubile daughter swimming in the pool.

God, I'm sure there are more, but I just can't think of them right now.

I think another one of the reasons we see so many repeated plots or plot devices is because, if you remember your Bell curve, there just aren't going to be that many truly creative people. The average contributor here just doesn't have the imagination to reach beyond those obvious scenarios. Orson Scott Card, an award winning science fiction writer, has said that even he routinely comes up with cliches when he's plotting, and he has to force himself go past those initial ideas until he finds something good.

 

[MysteryWriter]

Me 2

I 2 am amazed at how few of us literary giants there are.

 

[wildsweetone]

a question for Uther_Pendragon

did anyone come up with IVF as a basis plot/story line for your starting a baby idea?