Dichotomies in fiction (and life)

[EmilyMiller]

I suppose I’m thinking about this because I’ve been writing a new Angels & Demons story featuring my she-demon, Emma, and disgraced angel, Lily. It’s an obvious dichotomy. Good vs bad. Sweet and innocent vs dirty and corrupted.

Save of course that Emma can be sweet and Lily filthy.

But even these words had me wondering. We do say of people that they are sweet or dirty. She’s a sweet girl. She’s a dirty slut. Not both.

I know a lot of fiction deals in black and whites. But do you have characters who are simultaneously sweet and dirty?

Em

 

[Bamagan]

I would hope that all, or at least most, of the principal characters in my one main work would be seen that way. As a reader, I would definitely say I encounter those types of characters often, but that might simply be a result of me losing interest in tales where the characters veer too far one way or the other.

 

[Altissimus]

100%. Demure and wicked. Dominant and tender. Nuanced. Imperfect. Surely sweet 'n' dirty is the best flavour?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I would hope that all, or at least most, of the principal characters in my one main work would be seen that way. As a reader, I would definitely say I encounter those types of characters often, but that might simply be a result of me losing interest in tales where the characters veer too far one way or the other.

Can you give us an example?

Em

 

[Bamagan]

100%. Demure and wicked. Dominant and tender. Nuanced. Imperfect. Surely sweet 'n' dirty is the best flavour?

Salt & Vinegar is also good, in small quantities anyway

 

[djrip]

 

[NoTalentHack]

Emily in After the Future is Gone is both, I think. She's a sweet, loving, loyal girlfriend and later wife that's also super kinky, into DD/lg, breeding fetish, rough sex, D/s, etc. Cassandra in Reassessing My Life arguably is, too, as is Sam in A Very Long Engagement.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

As you've said, many people cling to some cliches and axioms in erotic stories. I love breaking them. I had some readers pointing out how my characters aren't behaving in the proper dom/sub way, that the dynamics between them don't make sense, and so on. People love their cliches and tropes and that isn't a bad thing by default. But I also don't like any impediments to my imagination. My point is, if some character makes sense to you, then that is all that matters. There will be those who will point out that something doesn't make sense, but there are those who will appreciate the fresh approach and your imagination. If there is some compliment that comes up in many of the readers' comments to my stories, that is definitely the one about my imagination.

 

[Euphony]

I know a lot of fiction deals in black and whites. But do you have characters who are simultaneously sweet and dirty?

Complicated characters are the only ones motivating enough to write for me.

As your statement suggests, most people are reductive. It's bad in RL but almost surgical when reading fiction. (to compartmentalize saves brain RAM) I get why readers do it. I can't imagine how all they miss out on ultimately benefits them.

Some of the best stories here require you to breakdown your own ideas of what is X (sweet/dirty/etc.) and if you don't hold at least a sliver of the traits within yourself in some capacity and, if your situation or history were different, if you might have explored your limits to a wholly different understanding of yourself.

 

[Bamagan]

Can you give us an example?

Em

I would rather not talk in detail about my own stuff, but Ashley Finds Out would be an example of something in the same vein I have been aiming for.
Edit: As a summary, it's about girlfriends whose relationship gets arguably more interesting when one of them accidentally discovers the other has a hypno-fetish and they find ways to explore it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Emily in After the Future is Gone is both, I think. She's a sweet, loving, loyal girlfriend and later wife that's also super kinky, into DD/lg, breeding fetish, rough sex, D/s, etc. Cassandra in Reassessing My Life arguably is, too, as is Sam in A Very Long Engagement.

It’s the name, right ?

Em

 

[Rob_Royale]

My latest story features such a woman. She wants to be good, tries to be good, but bad feels so good.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, sweet and dirty are in the perception of those receiving the treatment and what is sweet or dirty to them. It is possible for a person to enjoy pain, so by treating them cruelly you are making their life so much sweeter. Don't you think?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well, sweet and dirty are in the perception of those receiving the treatment and what is sweet or dirty to them. It is possible for a person to enjoy pain, so by treating them cruelly you are making their life so much sweeter. Don't you think?

I might well agree with that .

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

Smacking my crop into my hand, "Yeah, thought you might."

I might well agree with that .

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Smacking my crop into my hand, "Yeah, thought you might."

I miss lesbian BDSM .

Em

 

[Rob_Royale]

I miss lesbian BDSM .

Em

Oh, there's a mental picture that will stick with me today.

 

[Bamagan]

I miss lesbian BDSM .

Em

Maybe the board will approve a kickstarter campaign or similar

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh, there's a mental picture that will stick with me today.

Me too, hun. Me too.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Maybe the board will approve a kickstarter campaign or similar

It’s not a money issue, hun.

Em

 

[Bamagan]

It’s not a money issue, hun.

Em

It is if we have to find your price for letting us record it

 

[ElectricBlue]

Usually always. My women are often fallen angels or devils rising, and I can never tell which is which.

Ruby wears a red dress, then appears in white. In my Arthurian mythos, I went more absolute in the contrasts, with Nymue with white hair, Morgaynne's long and black.

I gone further in a couple of stories, with mirrors, doppelgangers, and anima/animus - male/female internalisation. Constant dualities. They're a given, in my stories.

 

[Djmac1031]

I wrote a story awhile back about a sweet, caring young nun who worked dillegently to help the homeless and gave of herself willingly to save others.

She also really liked to be tied up, fisted, and anal sex.

Perhaps I've mentioned this story to you before...?

 

[EmilyMiller]

It is if we have to find your price for letting us record it

It’s a monogamy thing. And my husband to be isn’t awfully girly.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I wrote a story awhile back about a sweet, caring young nun who worked dillegently to help the homeless and gave of herself willingly to save others.

She also really liked to be tied up, fisted, and anal sex.

Perhaps I've mentioned this story to you before...?

It vaguely rings a bell. She was called Sister Gertrude, right? No, wait, sister Mary Joseph. That was it.

Em