Authors’ Reading Habits

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

I’m wondering if writers here read a lot of stories on the site. If you do, are you usually paying attention to the story from an authorial perspective — looking at how you would’ve written it, or noting ideas you like? Essentially, do you read erotica for enjoyment?

Personally, I go through phases. In the main, when I do read stories on the site, it’s for leisure. Still, I often can’t help but notice things I curse myself for not doing in my own stories.

 

[Omenainen]

Yes, I read erotica and yes, it’s for enjoyment. No doubt I pick something up that later makes its way to my own stories, but my process is mostly subconscious (yes, pantser here) so I don’t worry about it and it’s not my goal while reading.

 

[SimonDoom]

An interesting thing I've noticed is that I read less erotica now than I did before I started writing erotica in 2016. I'm also a lot pickier about what I read. I click on a lot of stories, but if my attention isn't grabbed within the first 10 paragraphs I stop reading and click out. I probably finish no more than 10 percent of the stories I click on.

I read other authors' stories for pleasure, for inspiration, and for education. I learn by seeing how other authors do things. Many of my stories have been inspired by ideas raised in other authors' stories. I'll read a story and think, "Hmmm, I'd like to work on a similar idea but do it my own way." That's what got me started writing erotica in the first place.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

I go through phases where I read a lot on the site, then a period where I'm not reading, usually because I'm doing my own writing and don't want to be distracted. That happens to me if I start getting into an author or themes with stories.

Granted, I'm always happy to drop a project for a bit and read a new publication from one of my favourited authors, but that's to be expected, right?

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

I go through phases where I read a lot on the site, then a period where I'm not reading, usually because I'm doing my own writing and don't want to be distracted. That happens to me if I start getting into an author or themes with stories.

Granted, I'm always happy to drop a project for a bit and read a new publication from one of my favourited authors, but that's to be expected, right?

Admittedly, I get easily distracted. I discovered some of the most amazing stories in the lesbian category while writing an ongoing series. They were so good that I wanted to try my hand at matching their level, and found myself adding a ton of all-girl scenes into a story told from a male first-person perspective. Obviously, this led to some accusations of (gasp) the inclusion of cuckolding.

 

[Omenainen]

I have to say, spending so much time here on author’s hangout has affected my reading... once or twice I’ve stumbled upon a story that’s somehow confusing, or tries to juggle multiple themes and doesn’t quite pull it off, and then I find myself imagining SimonDoom, acting like a talent show judge, going “What is the erotic focus of this story?” No offense, but that isn’t an erotic image for me, so then I usually move away from the story... I try to read all I start, just to see if it’ll go somewhere after all, but it’s not a hard rule for me.

 

[TadOverdon]

Sometimes. While I write mostly long-form stories I'm more likely to read short pieces on Literotica. In truth I was only passingly aware of the site until recently because I'd found it frustrating to browse and infuriating to try to search using the old outdated interface. Less than a year ago I followed an author's name over here from Smashwords, and started making the effort to find work that appealed to me here. I used Google to search the site instead of the tools here, and still do.

It's the sexual components of the fiction here that appeal to me. In terms of reading to study style, characterization and so on I read a lot of other published genre fiction. Horror and Romance are good. Science fiction is not a favorite for me, but the more modern pieces can serve as examples of how to work in exposition and more deftly flesh out unusual background details.

None of which is meant to suggest that there aren't good writers posting erotica here that can't or don't serve as examples of how to write well in general, just that my reading habits have been set for a long time and I gravitated here first for that which I couldn't find elsewhere.

 

[lovecraft68]

I hardly read any these days, I think it messes with my ideas and I don't have a ton of time so my stuff is more important.

When I do check out a story its usually a brother sister story, and I look for ones that are more story than stroke.

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

It's the sexual components of the fiction here that appeal to me. In terms of reading to study style, characterization and so on I read a lot of other published genre fiction. Horror and Romance are good. Science fiction is not a favorite for me, but the more modern pieces can serve as examples of how to work in exposition and more deftly flesh out unusual background details.

None of which is meant to suggest that there aren't good writers posting erotica here that can't or don't serve as examples of how to write well in general, just that my reading habits have been set for a long time and I gravitated here first for that which I couldn't find elsewhere.

It’s been a bit of the inverse, for me. Reading mainstream fiction, I’m more likely to notice 'bad sex' or inappropriate sexual content. Thrillers are particularly guilty of this.

 

[XerXesXu]

Bedlam?

I’m wondering if writers here read a lot of stories on the site. If you do, are you usually paying attention to the story from an authorial perspective — looking at how you would’ve written it, or noting ideas you like? Essentially, do you read erotica for enjoyment?

Personally, I go through phases. In the main, when I do read stories on the site, it’s for leisure. Still, I often can’t help but notice things I curse myself for not doing in my own stories.

Currently, I'm trying to read a lot of stories. 90% that I start I don't read to the end. Some that I finish I find erotic, they're all reasonably accomplished as pieces of writing. If I finish I rate erotic or comic or clever 5, or 4 if it doesn't quite hit the spot. The truth is that eroticism is very personal. If I want an erotic experience, I write.

There's also a substantial element of freak show about Lit. It's a bit like Bedlam, when visitors were admitted to see the loonies loon as an entertainment. I find trying to understand other peoples fetishes/paraphilias possible dysfunctions, whatever, fascinating. I have mine, they have theirs, but where do they come from and why are they so different? Why is sex with your mother or sister more piquant than the same sex with the milf and her daughter next door? Why is having a small penis when your wife's being fucked by your boss more exciting than having a standard issue penis? Why is having sex with an alien more rewarding than having sex with an illegal immigrant? Very small differences, but so significant.

Feel like you're being stalked? Well I have no emotional or moral investment pro or con any "kink. If it feels good, fantasise, I'm cool. But, I'm curious, why is it rewarding? If I understood that, I could write across popular erotic genres.

 

[KeithD]

I read practically nothing on this site. One reason is that I don't want to inadvertently read something, absorb it, and use it myself, thinking it occurred to me independently. Another is that I'm writing so much myself that I concentrate on that. I do have two novels from the mainstream going in reads, though, and I volume edit a regional anthology, so I'm reading that material.

 

[lovecraft68]

Non lit I just reread Jack Ketchum's infamous Offseason to do a review on it. Very different take current me has on it, than old me had on it. Way to over the top, the book has a nasty reputation and has earned it.

 

[Euphony]

I read practically nothing on this site. One reason is that I don't want to inadvertently read something, absorb it, and use it myself, thinking it occurred to me independently. Another is that I'm writing so much myself that I concentrate on that. I do have two novels from the mainstream going in reads, though, and I volume edit a regional anthology, so I'm reading that material.

This.
I had to change my diet from lit to mainstream b/c I found my brain wanting to rehash with flourish rather than do the hard work of digging in and coming up with something on its own.

Started mining far more music, some books, and even less movies for the little sparks of humanity I can throw a little kindling on and eventually get some heat of that fire.

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

Off-lit, I am a voracious reader. Fantasy and contemporary romance, mostly, with a little non-fiction thrown in.

I read and digested so many Lit stories in the last ten years that I pretty much only scan the new stories any more, and in the categories I listed in my profile. On a given day, I might click on four or five and finish maybe two.

 

[NotWise]

I rarely read anything on Lit unless it's to give feedback, and I do that fairly often. Although I don't read for enjoyment, some of the stories are pretty enjoyable. MelissaBaby's "Drive-in Double Feature" was a nugget like that.

 

[SamScribble]

I read very little on Lit. (And most disappoints.) But when I do happen upon a piece of writing that I enjoy, I tend to just go along for the ride. Back in the days when I was driving around in squillion bhp GT sportscars, I didn't give too much thought to what was happening under the bonnet or how the wheels were attached. It's a bit similar with a well-written story.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I don't read much here, because it's very hard to find stories I like. It's why I started writing here, hoping that people who liked my stories would have also liked stories I would enjoy. It's worked quite well - I currently have a dozen authors to read, but most of the good ones have only written a couple stories before vanishing.

I analyse everything, as part of the enjoyment.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I read very little on Lit. (And most disappoints.) But when I do happen upon a piece of writing that I enjoy, I tend to just go along for the ride. Back in the days when I was driving around in squillion bhp GT sportscars, I didn't give too much thought to what was happening under the bonnet or how the wheels were attached. It's a bit similar with a well-written story.

I'm the same, I don't read much on Lit, but when I do, I seem to be lucky enough to find the gems. The first few paragraphs are enough to know whether the writing is competent enough to tell a good story, and if I last five hundred words I'll usually get to the end.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I rarely read anything on here. I don't think I've read anything from the regs either, but they probably haven't read my stuff either.

 

[Bramblethorn]

These days, my Lit reading is mostly feedback requests or people already on my favourite list. I just don't have the time, and my offline reading has also suffered.

 

[HappySpouse]

I don't read here as often as I used to do. I found this site as a teenage boy for the reasons teenage boys find sites like this. Now, like any writing, I tend to read a story how I feel it's meant to be read. If it is intellectual and allusive, then I'll expend brain power trying to take in all that the author is trying to convey and analyzing how they do it. If everything is either sex or a shortcut to sex, then I'll probably read it lying down. I suppose the best stories here have a bit of both.

 

[gordo12]

I’m wondering if writers here read a lot of stories on the site. If you do, are you usually paying attention to the story from an authorial perspective — looking at how you would’ve written it, or noting ideas you like? Essentially, do you read erotica for enjoyment?

Personally, I go through phases. In the main, when I do read stories on the site, it’s for leisure. Still, I often can’t help but notice things I curse myself for not doing in my own stories.

I used to be a voracious reader on this site. Since I've started writing, not so much. As I've tried to improve myself, I've become far more critical, and Simon's description below is pretty close to my reaction.

An interesting thing I've noticed is that I read less erotica now than I did before I started writing erotica in 2016. I'm also a lot pickier about what I read. I click on a lot of stories, but if my attention isn't grabbed within the first 10 paragraphs I stop reading and click out. I probably finish no more than 10 percent of the stories I click on.

I read other authors' stories for pleasure, for inspiration, and for education. I learn by seeing how other authors do things.

This!

 

[Rustyoznail]

My reading of all sorts has dropped off dramatically over the last ten years. I listen to audio books on a long drive, and that's about it.

What erotic reading I do is mostly editing or beta reading for others, and the occasional competition story.

 

[LexxRuthless]

I stumbled across this site sometime between 2000 and 2002. At the time, there were so few submissions every day that I read almost all of them, regardless of category. Like most readers on the site, I never bothered to make an account, never commented, and only voted twice over the course of six years or so. I really enjoyed reading most of the stories, and it was always somewhere in the back of my mind that I should try to write and submit something as a way of giving back to a site I'd loved so much for so long.

Once I started writing and submitting stories, I read less and less. However, over the past few years the sheer volume of new stories makes it almost impossible to keep like I used to.

What I did not expect was that my enjoyment of other people's work would be severely impacted by my own writing. I get into such a hyper-critical state when I am writing and editing my own work that I cannot get out of that "mode" and simply enjoy reading a story for fun anymore. Oh, I never down-vote anyone's work. Now more than ever I appreciate how difficult it is to do what we do. However, every time I read another story I find myself cringing at each minor error or poor word choice, or I find myself thinking, "How could I have worded that better?" or "I wouldn't have written it that way."

I can evaluate a story better than I could before, but I really struggle to simply enjoy reading for pleasure. It's sad, really, because reading for pleasure was what brought me to this site in the first place.

 

[TadOverdon]

I enjoy reading more when I'm writing, for whatever reason: fiction, non-fiction, any subject, but especially fiction.

To be completely honest, if I read erotic fiction it's to get myself off. It's useful to be reminded while I write that this is the reason that most people read about sex online and that it's what I should concentrate on in writing and revising. I wander off into the reeds with too much backstory and over-elaborated motivation and have to pare it back.