Constructing a Story

[Ezrollin]

Where do you get your ideas for a story, something you've heard, read or experienced? There's one author on here that uses song titles, that had crossed my mind a few times when listening to certain music. For my last story it came from a newspaper article. Maybe you just dream up a scenario in your head and then put a title on it. If you would like to share with us, please do!!!

 

[SimonDoom]

My ideas come from all over the place, but for the most part they come from things I've read. I had been reading erotic stories online for about 15 years before I published my first story at Literotica in 2016. By the time I started I had a very good idea of what kinds of things I enjoyed and I'd read about innumerable erotic situations where I sometimes thought that I'd like to try a similar idea but do it my way. Many or most of my incest and exhibitionist stories started this way, because I had read many exhibitionist and incest stories by other authors. My hucow and mailgirl stories started this way.

Some stories just popped into my head, seemingly from nowhere. Like Teddy Bear.

I got the idea for my short erotic horror story Penis Fish when MelissaBaby posted something about a new story about a type of worm that looks like a human penis washing up on the beach in California.

Some of my stories have a sort of inductive origin. I start with a broad concept --"I want to write an anal story"-- and I work out the details about what I think would be a fun and outrageous anal story.

Some were attempts to try erotica in the prose style of a famous author, like BTB Incorporated and my Bullfighter story.

There's no single formula.

I don't know if this works for others, but it works for me: The best advice I can give if you want to write well and want to keep coming up with ideas about what to write, is to read a lot.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'm not a good fiction writer, and just recently (two years) trying to learn to write better stories.

My stories are all based around two main characters and involve their journey into a world of swingers. After writing a few stories, I developed the characters in my mind to know how they think and act.

I now get a germ of an idea such as the couple returning to their hometown for a high school reunion. Then I ask myself various questions to outline how it might play out (ie. wife's old nemesis tries to seduce the husband? or maybe wife meets an old boyfriend? what about visiting their parents and houses where they grew up?) Then based on my own impressions of my characters, I let the story take its own shape. That germ of an idea (after many other questions and attempts to start writing) became my "Lifestyle Ch. 11 - Demons Past", where the wife confronts a former lover, then she reminisces about her disturbed past, and the couple re-enacts one of their first dates. That story now has nothing to do with the original high school reunion, but it takes ideas from my past stories and expands on them in a different direction and with more detail.

My next story has just been approved from "pending" to "new" in my drafts, so it will publish as soon as the Halloween and Amorous Goods events allow. "Amorous Goods: The Anklet Pair" This one started out as the swinger husband giving his wife a "hot wife hall pass" to play alone during a business trip. Then when the Amorous Goods challenge caught my attention, I ran amok with more questions of "how could magic be involved?" After finalizing that story, I've left it open at the end to carry on with this as a new direction for these characters in a world of witches and magic.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

My imagination, I suppose. The influences of the books/stories/movies I consumed over the years is there undoubtedly, but I am trying to have an original idea, if that is even possible in these days

 

[Ezrollin]

I've read dozens of stories on Literotica but mainly from about four categories. I noticed that within each category there are many stories with the same basic story line, which stands to reason, being in the same category. But subtle differences, along with good grammar can make all the difference in the quality of the story. Some on here have taken a well used plot, applied their own magic and created an excellent story. I agree, the more stories you read, good or bad the more you can learn.

 

[NotWise]

My stories are mostly the result of more persperation than inspiration. They might be prompted by the a kernel of an idea, but more often I just set a goal to write, and I brainstorm ideas until they start to stick. The story I'm writing now started was some of both.

In real life, I was driving through the university area on my way to work. It was about eleven in the morning, and I saw a soft-bodies, university-aged girl with pink hair and glasses walking down the sidewalk with her head on a swivel. She was wearing a chiffon-like top and short shorts that left very little to the imagination, and she was looking to see who noticed.

Probably everyone noticed.

She was the starting point. I wanted to write a story about a nerdy young woman exploring sex for the first time. It took me a while to get the idea set in my mind and to get another distraction out of the way. Then I set up an opening scenario and wrote about five hundred words before I realized that the character didn't inspire me much at all.

Start over. I brainstormed a female character with enough substance to build a story around her, and a matching male character with goals and conflicts.

More distractions, then build enough of a plot to start writing. Get the opening scene started, introduce the characters, and let them start telling the tale.

The soft-bodied girl on the sidewalk became a librarian-turned-investigative reporter with enemies, and the guy became her short-term interest--an engineering student with a country club background. He quickly becomes a more long-term interest and her protector. They explore sex together, and they slowly put flesh on the skeleton of a plot.

Done some day.

 

[TxRad]

Where do stories come from? Everywhere if you like to watch people and look at pictures. Pictures are a big source of story ideas for me. A picture is worth a thousand words. Bullshit. I found well over twenty thousand in a single picture.

Plot bunnies are so plentiful it is hard to walk some of the time. A young black woman in Dairy Queen had white paint splatters on her arms. That led to my story, "White Paint on a Black Canvas." Due out soon.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have several based on porn clips I found interesting enough to build a story around the scene.

 

[NotWise]

I have several based on porn clips I found interesting enough to build a story around the scene.

I have one of those too, but I'd have to point out the similarities for anyone to notice.

For some reason, all the porn flicks I find inspiring are French. Maybe it's because I don't know much French, and I can imagine they're saying something more significant than, "Fuck me in the butt this time."

 

[MillieDynamite]

I tend to build my tales one word at a time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

People watching mostly, then imagination running on. Which is why so many of my stories have scenes set in cafés. Simple encounters, moments expanded; quick conversations waiting for coffee, taken all the way.

Or erotic nostalgia: someone from my past, reconjured into reminiscence or fantasy. It never takes much to get going, and then my stream of consciousness writing style kicks in.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

I have one of those too, but I'd have to point out the similarities for anyone to notice.

For some reason, all the porn flicks I find inspiring are French. Maybe it's because I don't know much French, and I can imagine they're saying something more significant than, "Fuck me in the butt this time."

Well, de Sade did have his characters sprouting all kinds of nihilistic philosphophery, so you might not be wrong.

 

[lovecraft68]

Well, de Sade did have his characters sprouting all kinds of nihilistic philosphophery, so you might not be wrong.

I read 120 Days of Sodom when I was 12-as much as I could understand-it explains a lot. I also made it through Salo a loose adaptation of it...and that explains the rest.

 

[8letters]

Some of my story ideas come to me while I'm doing nothing particular. A lot of ideas come from getting a story idea from someone and then say, "That won't work, but this would".

 

[Bubo_bubo]

I think the de Sade's philosophy, such as it is, is more clearly elaborated in "Justine" than in the "120 days of Sodom" (I think it's also a better literary work, such as it is).

 

[lovecraft68]

I think the de Sade's philosophy, such as it is, is more clearly elaborated in "Justine" than in the "120 days of Sodom" (I think it's also a better literary work, such as it is).

Sodom was for pure shock value, there was more thought put into Justine.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have one of those too, but I'd have to point out the similarities for anyone to notice.

For some reason, all the porn flicks I find inspiring are French. Maybe it's because I don't know much French, and I can imagine they're saying something more significant than, "Fuck me in the butt this time."

I turned this into a 6 page Bro/sis story that was the most well received of my porn scene based ideas.

That's right, I can turn 30 seconds in 20k words

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

Most of my inspiration for characters and sex comes from real life -- either my direct experiences, those of people I've known, or just my general social milieus. In terms of story, I'll sometimes have a germ of a scenario or conflict then tease it out from there. Other times, I'll just put my characters together and observe them.

As I said in another thread, for me it's kind of like sculpture -- whether I'm starting with character(s) or the spark of a story idea, I just start chiseling away until a shape begins to emerge, and work with the contours of the stone as I go.

 

[XerXesXu]

Where do you get your ideas for a story, something you've heard, read or experienced? There's one author on here that uses song titles, that had crossed my mind a few times when listening to certain music. For my last story it came from a newspaper article. Maybe you just dream up a scenario in your head and then put a title on it. If you would like to share with us, please do!!!

I read fiction voraciously ‘til I was about 15, then gave up because it became repetitious. I returned to fiction in my 50s, when I wanted to document something, but not in the dry, detached manner of an academic paper. I had a context, place and timeline. All I needed were some characters, I knew a few of those, plus an off-the-shelf story structure, I had that. It worked for me.

There're endless stories in real life, as well as in fantasy. I choose from what interests me in real life, often current events or cultural shifts, and then repeat the above. Like the comics say, ‘It’s the way you tell 'em.' It’s up to me to create and insert engaging characters into that old storyline and tell it with a fresh narrative voice. I quite enjoy trying.

 

[NotWise]

Mine was Histoires De Sexe(s) (imdb link), which follows two dinner parties, one attended by women and the other attended by men. Conversation at both parties turn to sex, and with each story there's a cut to a scene--each just a few seconds long--that shows what really happened.

The women mostly tell the truth, and the men mostly lie.

Once my story ("Finding the Fourth Girl," Group Sex) was done, the only things that were left from "Histoires De Sexe(s)" were three quick cut-away scenes to show what was going on "off-camera."

Edit: Oh yeah, there was also a hostess (Nadia) with a gently guiding hand, similar to Agathe in the movie.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Inspiration is not the problem, I get inspiration from just about anything. I mean, this site could give me inspiration (like Lovecraft68 hatefucking KeithD). Inspiration is just the spark, sparks are cheap. As I said elsewhere, once you have the spark you need kindling (talent) and a fair bit of firewood (effort) to get a fire going.

 

[lovecraft68]

The women mostly tell the truth, and the men mostly lie.

That's not a story, that's reality

 

[Ezrollin]

Lovecraft68 was one of the authors who's stories I first read on Literotica. They were all taboo / incest and were excellent stories. Then I found one of his in the non-con category which was excellent also, but alas he said non-con wasn't his thing...could have fooled me.

 

[KeithD]

Anything and everything can set off a story idea for me. I started one today that was inspired by the Amsterdam detective mystery on PBS last night. Yesterday I wrote one based on a photograph. The day before that I wrote one inspired by a key plot element in Miklos Banffy's The Remarkable Mrs Anderson.

The ideas float in from everywhere and usually are taken from some just fleeting element of something.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I tend to think about what I haven't seen done in a story, and if the notion interests me, I try to write it.