Common Themes Across Your Stories

[Flybynite1892]

A while back, there was a post on here about writers basically writing the same story over and over again. While I hope I don't write the same thing constantly, it did get me thinking about common themes and archetypes across a lot of my stories. I don't think it's a good thing or a bad thing to have similarities in your stories, and realistically - this being erotica - I think it makes sense that people would kind of have a set of interest or kinks they'd stick to.

But I kind of even noticed certain techniques or plot twists I'd used, beyond the sex stuff. Again, I don't think it's good or bad, it's just interesting to look at. In looking at your writing here as a whole, do you have certain character types or turns of plot or specific phrases that you find yourself falling back on?

 

[Hypnobitch01]

Always a caring dom. I think I need to branch out a little

 

[MillieDynamite]

Strong women, often with lesbian or bisexual tendencies.

 

[MelissaBaby]

The most common theme in my stories is redemption and/or second chances.

 

[StillStunned]

Redheads, demons and sex. Not entirely a coincidence, I suspect.

And voyeurism.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Common themes in my writing... Let me see...
For the most part, I write about feisty, red-haired trans women finding love, support, and happy endings.

I just don't see a problem with that.

 

[NotWise]

I think redheads are probably a lot more common in Lit stories than they are in real life.

I realized while writing my holiday contest story that all of the sisters in my sibcest tales might -- except for physical characteristics -- be the same character. I think my female characters in other contexts are more diverse.

Aside from that, my male characters have almost always been lawyers, engineers or scientists. Write what you know, right? The women are more diverse, but the ones who are still alive are usually in control of their own lives.

Sex is usually pretty vanilla, and a relationship is involved.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I have a lot of black and white (interracial) in my stories as well—more than a smattering of prostitutes (including one gigolo).

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have a lot of black and white (interracial) in my stories as well—more than a smattering of prostitutes (including one gigolo).

Didn't have you down for David lee Roth FanFic...

 

[StillStunned]

Didn't have you down for David lee Roth FanFic...

I haven't played that CD in forever! Although my favourite song was "Hina".

 

[MillieDynamite]

LOL

Didn't have you down for David lee Roth FanFic...

 

[Bamagan]

I guess my writing has a theme in the same way a high school prom does. Tacky, poorly decorated, and the DJ/cover band doesn't quite realize how much they've let everyone down.

 

[THBGato]

Racism comes up a lot in mine. Friendship, and not just in the friends-to-lovers trope (though that too). Self-discovery. The power of music. Parent and child relationships (non-sexual!)

Those are probably my most common themes, present in just about all of my stories.

What was nice thinking about your question @Flybynite1892 was how there are total outliers amongst my stories. The Parting Glass deals with unrequited love, which none of the others do. Love is a Place has neuro-diversity at its core. Eating disorders are a feature of Thirty. So, while I am pretty much always writing Lesbian Romances, there is some variation.

 

[MrPixel]

Always a caring dom. I think I need to branch out a little

Strong women, often with lesbian or bisexual tendencies.

Yeah. Those. My usual dom is caring, loving, and creative, and surrounds himself with intelligent, confident, and pretty ladies with high libidos. They expend a lot of dialog matching wits and scheming-up naughty adventures.

 

[ElectricBlue]

do you have certain character types or turns of plot or specific phrases that you find yourself falling back on?

I generally write what I call erotic nostalgia. The man usually has a deep longing for intimacy, with echoes from a past that had it; and the woman (or women) have a confident sensuality that longs for intimacy too.

There's nearly always a city or suburban setting which might be contemporary, might not; streets, buses, trains, invariably a café. The man walks in, the woman looks up, a table napkin gets caught in gust of wind from the door. The weather often becomes a character, showers of rain and it's warm inside; high summer skies, the same colour as her eyes. There's rarely agony or angst - life's too short for all that. Slow moving vanilla, that's me.

Although someone died from a disembowelment in one story, and a deliberate overdose in another...

 

[Bramblethorn]

My main characters are almost always university-educated or something comparable, often neurodivergent or tending that way, both of which are cases of "write what you know".

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Tits and butts.
They are always there no matter what I write. It's a mystery.

 

[Erozetta]

Redheads, demons and sex. Not entirely a coincidence, I suspect.

And voyeurism.

... same...

 

[Erozetta]

My people are usually pretty fucked up. Traumatic past, bad relationships... They panic and back themselves into a corner by making rash decisions they wouldn't normally make if given much time to consider the options.

The dynamic is generally either friends or rivals/enemies. I think my personal favorite is one that included both friends and enemies in a single group romp, lol. Exhibitionism and/or voyeurism often play some role in the interaction. Dom/sub dynamics are prominent, as well.

Also, redheads, demons, and gratuitous sex feature pretty heavily.

Every single one of these probably fall under "write what you know" for me.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Strong women, even when they're subs. I find in my commission writing, though, women mostly ask for weak, vulnerable, dominated characters for their catharsis. I should note as well that the most common theme for my male clients is revenge. So I do write these two themes a lot, but they're not my choice.

 

[GlennJenko]

Interracial relationships where there is something out of the "ordinary" or taboo about the pairing. Characters stepping out of their comfort zones is something that comes up a lot and I guess goes hand-in-hand with the taboo side of things.

 

[SyleusSnow]

Often the theme is differences: "race", age gap, big vs small, rich vs poor, introvert vs extrovert, human vs moose...

 

[StillStunned]

human vs moose...

møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...

 

[AG31]

A man surrendering with dignity. Since this is LitEROTICA, they surrender to something sexual. But the theme persists in non-erotic stories. Nathan Hale was my favorite childhood hero.

My stories vary only in the gimmick that let's the man surrender.

@Flybynite1892, neat thread! Thanks!

 

[RetroFan]

Clowns and periods, but I swear I'm not Steven King! As proof, only one of my stories is set in Maine.

Clowns often feature in my stories for a number of reasons usually comedic, although none erotic. For example in my story 'Tonya, Tiffany & the Twins' the grumpy and long-suffering husband/father has to go to New York City for work and is having trouble catching a cab to the Twin Towers (story is set in 1989). He finally hails one, only for an angry and rude clown who is running late for a booking at a kids' party to steal it from him, pushing him out of the way and shouting and swearing in the street making a huge scene, the furious clown yelling at the equally furious businessman, "Don't give me any shit, you goddamned fucking asshole!' before the cab drives away with the clown in the back seat yelling orders at the taxi driver.

The themes with periods I found actually satisfied for some readers an unusual fetish about menstruation I wouldn't have thought still existed. in my stories set in the past I often mention outdated technology and things that don't exist any more as well as world events at the time to set the story to the time. And in some of my stories set prior to the mid 1970s, I've referenced the female characters wearing belted sanitary napkins when they are menstruating, which resulted in multiple positive comments from readers about how hot they found the old-fashioned belted sanitary pads. I'm not sure exactly how long ago people stopped using belted sanitary pads to manage their periods before they became obsolete, I would guess early 1980s at the very latest. So it seems a bit unusual that these would turn on readers so much. In other stories set in more recent decades or the present day I've referenced women using regular adhesive panty pads, tampons and even cloth napkins to manage their periods, but while I have gotten positive comments about this aspect of these stories, nobody has ever commented that they are specifically turned on by contemporary feminine hygiene products unlike the long-gone belted sanitary pads.