"Death of a Salesman", or Do You Ever Choose to Write an Erotic Tragedy?

[yowser]

An anonymous comment on Colrain:

Wow that ending was super sad. Realities of war for sure, but still caught me off guard. Damn.

 

[SavannaT]

I've done this twice.

My Aftermath story is about the marriage breaking apart, when the husband couldn't deal with the changed wife after her abduction and assault. And at the end of the story, it implies they died longing for each other.

love this kinda stuff.. ive inserted myself as the assaulted wife in my recent story, Tess Takes the Train where she’s assaulted on a train and it turns into a gangbang and its sequel Tess Takes to the Streets is basically her regressing after lots of therapy and it destroying her marriage as she falls in love with her attacker. The final chapter (for now) I’m finishing off and very much an erotic tragedy steeped in depravity.

 

[HordHolm]

My Pandaemonium story last year had a melancholy end, though there was a 'could have been worse' element to it. It clearly wasn't to everyone's taste, as the views, votes, everything about it is underwhelming. But I liked it. It's a Gay Male story: https://www.literotica.com/s/the-virgin-sharpy

I dithered between tragedy and HEA in my most recent effort, but went for HEA, purely because in a First World War story, most people would expect tragedy .

 

[LisaMayTurner]

I did Wuthering Heights with a farmer's gangbang on the windy moors in the old pub that was haunted by horny ghosts, but they all had to leave early to get the cows in for milking.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I've had enough real unhappy endings to wanna write them.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I have a couple of stories with sad endings but tomorrow's "Rock and a Hard Place" (being published 9/5/25) feels somewhat tragic. A young woman falls on hard times and makes a series of choices.

If readers like the main character, there may be a sequel or two where things could change, possibly for the better. Both are partially written but we'll see if they're ever completed.

 

[iwatchus]

Life can suck enough on its own. I want my fantasy life to always have HEA.

 

[AwkwardMD]

My stories are usually about growth, and more than a few of them get there through a difficult path. Lafayette Hills and Attack Decay Sustain Release in particular are hard and sad even if they ultimately lead to better places.

 

[DeMont]

I've done this twice.

My Aftermath story is about the marriage breaking apart, when the husband couldn't deal with the changed wife after her abduction and assault. And at the end of the story, it implies they died longing for each other.

In my latest "A Band of Sisters and Brothers", I could have ended the story with a "happily ever after" with the non-monogamous couple enjoying their group of "swinger" friends. I even considered embedding a statement before the Epilogue saying: "End here for the Happily Ever After".

But it seemed incomplete, and I knew it would draw out the trolls explaining how the couple will eventually get divorced or that the husband should burn the cheating slut. So, I wrote the epilogue and showed how the couple's marriage finally ends.

I've found I don't get as many hater comments on these stories, except for the ones who apparently don't bother to READ the story.

Just "food for thought" as these stories have rated just over 3, at 3.08 and 3.11 (lower than my usual crap average at 3.6.)

Do you ever deliberately write tragedies (other than a Burn the Bitch), something where the MC has a bad ending?

@Lifestyle66,
Good morning my dear colleague. I only wrote (read: rewrote) my first story with what you might call a tragic ending but all the way through the story there were hints of personal tragedy, psychoses and the like. It didn't rate very well at all but, as I've said often enough, write YOUR story, Your way and make it YOURS - hang the trolls and haters. It did receive one very strongly positive reception comment.

In my opinion, a story needs three things, a beginning, a middle and an end (the traditional story arc) I will admit I'm not one for "Tragic" endings per se but if the story demands it, so be it. Stories, for me, have a strange way of telling themselves, in their own way and in their own time - I am just the "tool" that is used by my Muse to produce the finished article. If the "Trolls and Haters" don't like my stories it's because they have missed the entire point of the story. I can say this, with some authority, after writing for decades in multiple genres, for publication, contests and anthologies.

As I am very fond of pointing out around her, write YOUR story, YOUR way and in YOUR time regardless of the ending there will be doting followers, haters, trolls and all things in between, that's showbiz around here.
Deepest Respects,
D

 

[sirhugs]

Cliffhanger is in First Time. Does marginally ok at 4.03, 10 comments (9 positive) and 54K reads. Can't recall why I wrote something so maudlin. I do notice from the date that it was the spring before my wife left, so there was perhaps a disturbance in the Force.

something a bit different? Elysium Island Adventures was written as part of a writer's challenge where I was given 3 or 5 words (forget exactly) that I had to work into the story- an interesting challenge. It lags a bit in terms of scores (3.88) but I enjoyed writing it, and still smile when I revisit. 10 comments ( a very mixed bag), 94K reads. One of my longest stories, early in my Lit writing "career" it was good experience at at writing something more than a stroker. I still don't care if it worked or not, I like it. Chuckle every time I visit it.

 

[Duleigh]

My "fan club" tells me that all my stories are tragedies

yes, I quite often write tragic events, but do not center an entire story on these events. My series, Stormwatch is going to climax on a severe tragedy, which is rare for me. I try to have pity on my readers and reward them with something lighter to read so most of my tragic events are resolved by the completion of the story/series. My tragedies generally revolve around what I personally find tragic - the horrible treatment our injured and homeless veterans are subject to. How veteran suicide is a plague on those that served our country and the plague goes ignored, the suffering that brings to their families.

 

[Lifestyle66]

My tragedies generally revolve around what I personally find tragic - the horrible treatment our injured and homeless veterans are subject to. How veteran suicide is a plague on those that served our country and the plague goes ignored, the suffering that brings to their families.

I started writing my last story before Memorial Day, for that same reason.

But it grew and I got carried away, not publishing it until July.

Now I'm expanding and refining it, trying to give the story attention I think it deserves.