Building an erotic universe?

[Rob_Royale]

Building a fictional universe in printed media isn't a new idea. Comic books have been doing it for decades and Stephen King has been fairly successful with it as well. I'm sure there are more.

Has anyone tried it with erotica? I've decided to give it a go with all my characters living/working in the same geographic area, and crossing over from story to story. I'm not going to go at it hardcore and write nothing but that, but when the option avails itself I'm gonna use it. Sounds like fun.

 

[Bramblethorn]

There are minor connections between some of mine. Several are set in Melbourne, and occasionally a character or a fictional place from one story pops up in another, but I haven't integrated them closely. I know some of the other authors here do far more with recurring characters.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Most of my stories interconnect in one way another, with call backs to various characters who might be a lead in one story and a bit player in another. I also play pretty fast and loose with my story chronologies, shifting my lead characters through different eras (loosely based around my own life). My urban geography is essentially my current city, and Canberra features often as my "primal city", where I came into my sexuality.

 

[oneagainst]

Yep. Everything is interconnected. So, I'm up to about 120 characters so far, and by the time Only Consenting Adults wraps (which is the final installment) in November, it's going to have been north of 660k words, and about 160 installments.

It's the best fun you can have without including space ships too. One of the most fun parts is leaving easter eggs in the earlier stuff to lay the groundwork for later arcs. For example, there's a cafe siege that was first mentioned in No Such Thing As Free way back in Feb '22 that is finally going to be explained in a couple of weeks with Ch. 01 of The Light Between The Trees, which in turn answers some of the background in High Life and explains major plot elements in OCA.

I figured that it was something I was doing just for me, but then I got comments from readers that ref to a link from a scene two books ago and I realised that there are people who love the following along almost as much as the (ahem) more calorie-intensive aspects. It shows, and this keeps coming up in the AH threads, that it's as much about story for most readers as it is about the aforementioned calorie burning.

As for sharing a universe, the more the merrier. I know some writers on here have a hard limit on sharing characters, but we're not playing for sheep stations on Lit. Might as well have fun.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I’ve been sort of lazily doing it; not everything is connected, but a lot of it is. It’s more like the St. Elsewhere-verse than the MCU: side characters become main characters in other stories, or sometimes just recur as side characters.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I appear to have created a Kumquatverse, mostly out of laziness, because why think up an entirely new character when you have one lying about? Also because I sometimes wonder "what would happen if X met Y?" and the next thing you know, there's another story.

I end up skipping about a timeline of 90s to the present, mostly in London. Currently working on a short series because I realised that at some point Rachel and Richie must have met for the first time (we've seen them as PhD students and postdocs). Having written Rachel's first time with a woman with Laura, who happened to be Richie's best mate (and more) in college, she'd have heard about him...

 

[oneagainst]

I appear to have created a Kumquatverse

So, small and perfectly formed, but unexpectedly tart unless steeped in vodka first?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I appear to have created a Kumquatverse, mostly out of laziness, because why think up an entirely new character when you have one lying about? Also because I sometimes wonder "what would happen if X met Y?" and the next thing you know, there's another story.

I didn't mention laziness, but that's the fundamental reason behind my low number of male leads. They're so easy to write that I don't need to think about them much, which leaves the story space free for the women in my stories, who are the characters that interest me most (this being a fantasy oriented place).

 

[SimonDoom]

I've thought about doing this, but I haven't because I don't want to limit myself. It's the same reason why I don't write more series. I like to start fresh.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I've thought about doing this, but I haven't because I don't want to limit myself. It's the same reason why I don't write more series. I like to start fresh.

I’m the same way, but that’s why I’m not trying to make a grand unified Hackiverse. Instead, if there’s a character I like, I spin a story off with them. Meat Market exists because a character that had like six paragraphs of vital story interaction “deserved” a better end than sitting on a barstool alone, just so the MCs of After the Future is Gone could have their happy ending. And then her love interest in MM was the son of another supporting character in another story, which let me tie up the father’s story in a few sentences.

I’m not doing the MCU thing of constantly building a shared universe; instead, I’m dropping Easter eggs and leveraging the e siting thought I’ve put into smaller characters to help with reader engagement and shorten story planning time. And I don’t force it, either. Jane from MM was supposed to be Joan, but it just didn’t work; and now I have two compelling FMCs for future stories as a result.

 

[Northstar4695]

I’ve been doing this in a low key way. Several of my characters are associated in some way with a fictional Northeast college. No stories have crossover characters yet, but I will probably do that. I doubt I will make it overt or cross reference the other story. The association is mostly for my interest and benefit.

 

[Voboy]

It’s pretty common. I’ve been doing it for years; nearly all my stories are interconnected.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

So, small and perfectly formed, but unexpectedly tart unless steeped in vodka first?

Larger than you might think, bashed about a bit, thin-skinned, best when candied and oozing sweetness, contrasting with a tough core and a hint of bitterness... Vodka on the side, thanks.

 

[Euphony]

Understandable as media is certainly trending that way but not my cup of tea.

I find the most enrichment per hour invested by focusing deeply on a critical moment/period in a character's life, a crossroads moment.

Then I give them the tools to solve their problems or at least confidence to chose one particular direction rather than randomly pick or, worse, have it chosen for them.

Perhaps it's me but I enjoy helping them develop to the point they should be able to handle the slings and arrows that naturally come in the future (we don't see.)

It feels like denying them their autonomy/victory a bit by constant revisits or risking dumping reality breaking levels of catastrophes on them to keep them in conflict that also challenges their now highly developed abilities. (more challenge = more growth = greater level of conflict necessary for more growth. Like strength training.)

 

[SureWhyNot88]

This is a great idea. if i had planned out my stories better i would def do a universe with everyone in it.

 

[Djmac1031]

I definitely have found a way to connect several of my stories.

I've had characters from two different series cross over into each other's. Although I did it in a way that didn't require readers to have read both series to keep up.

And there's this bar named Sharkey's that keeps popping up in my stories lately.

It started as nothing more than I liked it as a bar name in one story, then mentioned it again in another. Then it became a setting in yet another story.

And now I have a fourth story where two characters meet at Sharkey's.

Is it the same place every story? I'm beginning to think it is.

Even has the same bartender, a guy named Lenny.

 

[Becky_Sapphire]

All my stories take place on Sapphire Lane, with cameos of characters between them and a lot planned for it. There shall be spinoffs and crossovers too, though I keep each series seperate enough to be enjoyed on its own.

 

[John_Vandermeer]

So far all my stories exist separately. Though I do have this idea that once I finish an in progress chapter novella (The Consanguine Honeytrap), the FMC from that story will cross paths with the FMC from an already concluded chapter novella (Do Not Try This Alone) a few years later and the two make fast frenemies. One, or a few, boy(s) get ripped to shreds as collateral damage from the formation of that binary star system.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I definitely have found a way to connect several of my stories.

I've had characters from two different series cross over into each other's. Although I did it in a way that didn't require readers to have read both series to keep up.

And there's this bar named Sharkey's that keeps popping up in my stories lately.

It started as nothing more than I liked it as a bar name in one story, then mentioned it again in another. Then it became a setting in yet another story.

And now I have a fourth story where two characters meet at Sharkey's.

Is it the same place every story? I'm beginning to think it is.

Even has the same bartender, a guy named Lenny.

That sounds like my cafés. Even when they're in different places, they're the same. They're partitions within the same universe, with walls and doors so you can move between them.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I’ve kicked around the idea of a series of stories, all connected by the characters being regulars in the same bar that my main character hung out in in my story One Night In Detroit. I hope to get around to it at some point.

I do occasionally throw in a connection here and there. For example, Sara, in the Ranger Ramona stories, once danced in the strip club from My Fall and Rise.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Building a fictional universe in printed media isn't a new idea. Comic books have been doing it for decades and Stephen King has been fairly successful with it as well. I'm sure there are more.

Has anyone tried it with erotica? I've decided to give it a go with all my characters living/working in the same geographic area, and crossing over from story to story. I'm not going to go at it hardcore and write nothing but that, but when the option avails itself I'm gonna use it. Sounds like fun.

One advantage of often writing quasi-autobiographical stories is that the “Universe” is already kinda consistent (except when you exercised some artistic license and promptly forgot about it ).

Em

 

[PennameWombat]

Building a fictional universe in printed media isn't a new idea. Comic books have been doing it for decades and Stephen King has been fairly successful with it as well. I'm sure there are more.

Has anyone tried it with erotica? I've decided to give it a go with all my characters living/working in the same geographic area, and crossing over from story to story. I'm not going to go at it hardcore and write nothing but that, but when the option avails itself I'm gonna use it. Sounds like fun.

Most of my stories are set in "Mel's Universe", which is a reimagined history of the last 60 years (mostly) centered in, but not limited to, a specific geographical location (that I leave up to the readers to name, if they care, and some have.) My biography on my author's page (see link just below) provides a reading order, which doesn't correlate to the publication order of all of the included stories.

I don't feel any major creative stricture setting new stories in the universe. If I'm doing a contest entry, which needs to be stand-alone, I might pull setting elements and have a mix of new characters and existing ones. There will usually be some 'easter eggs' for those who might've read more of my stuff (and, I have an odd comment here and there to indicate at least a few readers have done so.) But I make sure the story doesn't require the reader to have ingested widely.

It does give me a base location, time frame, characters and events to build from. Doesn't mean every story is set there, "Mel's Universe" has a defined through-line that I don't want to be limited to fitting into every time. But it's expansive enough I can write across multiple decades and refer to the alternate history.

I have other 'universes,' see my bio. Given that much of my work is SF&F (and related), it's a natural reflex.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

Building a fictional universe in printed media isn't a new idea.

Has anyone tried it with erotica?

My favourite universe is the one I invented for my novel Alison Goes to London: It is 2050, and under the "Enlightenment", Europe is ruled by Pleasure, wild anal fucking is the height of chic, love is eschewed, and "Undesirables" (religious objectors, ethnic minorities) are at risk of expulsion or culling. Alison Bates, butt-plug magnate's daughter, has come to London to study at the Royal Academy of Fucking under the tutelage of Professor Emma Jane Cuntslicker ("Cunts"). On the train on the way down she meets Rob, who is black...

Claire's Cunt Kitchen is my sequel, set in the same world, a year later.

And I am currently working on a prequel, entitled (of course) Young Cunts, about Emma Jane's youth.

 

[ChuckWolf]

All of my stories take place in the fictional city of Sierra Diabla, a town that is more Reno than Reno.

 

[oneagainst]

So... I have something for 2024 on this topic after everything is done. It's a simple premise... what if one of your most notorious characters got to rewrite the stories she was in? Letting them loose in the universe, making up their own rules? Cry havoc....