Do you have a preferred social class/sphere to write about?

[Carnal_Flower]

Just curious.

For example, almost all my stories are about rich, powerful families or people. Politicians, lawyers, CEOs, Old Money, Hollywood.

I really have no idea why, except it plants it in a slightly fantastic setting. Heightens the fantasy aspect. Also I really like the contrast between people who have everything, but are lacking love or sex. Or where there's more to lose or risk in admitting what they really want. I have very little experience in these realms; it's all made up. But that's what I like to write.

Do you prefer ordinary people? A mix? Are you more comfortable writing about people you know/see everyday, or do you prefer a more fantastic/unknown realm?

 

[EverLux]

In the few stories I've written so far, all the characters have been middle class. The one exception would be a porn mogul father.

At this stage, I'm writing what I know, because I want to focus on learning how to actually compose a story. At some point, I would like to challenge myself by thinking outside my personal-experience box.

Most of the books I read, though, are like what you described. I love when the differences between the love interests' situations in life are extreme. It creates delicious tension.

 

[sr71plt]

I try for variety, but, as I don't do dialects well, I shy away from categories where dialect is important.

 

[SamScribble]

Good question. I tend to write about people I 'know' - which doesn't mean that I really know them; just that I have rubbed up against them. I guess most of my characters are upper-middle - or heading there.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I generally write what I know, or at least informed by what I know. Is there a genre known as "erotic nostalgia", I wonder, which is a lot of my stuff. Or wishful thinking, which is the rest of it....

As a consequence, it's middle class Australia mostly. Rural small city Australia is out of bounds for Lit, given that is where I spent my teenage years.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I default to middle-class, university-educated characters, because that's what I know. About half the adults in my family answer to Doctor or Professor, and most of the rest have a bachelor's degree.

 

[TxRad]

Most of my stuff here is set in the country mostly because that's where I'm from and where I live. Being in the oil fields for 40 years, most of the towns I visited for work are small and out of the way places. Good and interesting people in the country and not too many write about them here on Lit.

 

[RetroFan]

I like to write stories that involve characters of different, contrasting social backgrounds, although in most cases the female character has been from the wealthier background. I think these make for interesting scenarios, and I wouldn't be adverse to inversing this.

For example, a story set in England about a wealthy young man who falls for a girl from a council estate could make for good reading.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

The late Paul Fussell called Tampa the Proletariat Capital of America. Fussell was a sociology perfesser who studied social class and defined it better than anyone. Proletariat are wage slaves, and they stick to their social script. But here's the thing: Most people are wages slaves, a small number are self emplioyed middle-class, and one-centers are the elites. If you collect a paycheck youre proletariat. Obama is proletariat, the top dog in the army is proletariat. Perfessers are proletariat. A call girl is middle class. Farmers are middle-class. The middle class are the self-employed. Elites don't toil.

I question whether anyone knows how the elites live. I've known some really rich people, and theyre indistinguishable from homeless bums, and drive ratty-ass old pickups with no air conditioning. And I've never known one who didn't carry a roll of hundred dollar bills you could wrap your lips around. That bulge in his pants aint cock.

But who I know are boys and girls who do anything for a dollar or an itch.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

In general I'm very interested in those elements which repeat in your writing, especially when you haven't planned it. The things you "find yourself" drawn to without realizing it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Here I write mostly middle class with some poor and struggling tossed in.

Pay market I have a series that revolves around a group of wealthy doms, but try to paint them as regular people due to the issues they all have. That stereotype of money can't buy you happiness.

 

[jomar]

I probably lean toward middle-upper middle, though don't really get into details all that much. Having said that, I've written from wealthy to trailer trash and toyed with dialects and different writing voices/styles...been fun.

 

[sr71plt]

I didn't notice the "sphere" part of this question. In most cases my GM stories are written in a dimension in which homosexuality and/or bisexuality are the norm and aren't questioned. Sex is mostly accepted as natural social interaction. It doesn't supplant the "other" world; it just coexists with it and my story is set in the gay or bi-dominated world. This allows me to get right into stories without needing to set up acceptance of being in that world.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

I try to vary.

I do have a fascination with people of extremes, however.

 

[TamLin01]

Huh. That's actually a really good question, but not one I've ever thought about before. At first blush, I'd say that I'd like to write about working class people, but it doesn't seem as if I do very often. This might bear more intense scrutiny.

 

[legerdemer]

The late Paul Fussell called Tampa the Proletariat Capital of America. Fussell was a sociology perfesser who studied social class and defined it better than anyone. Proletariat are wage slaves, and they stick to their social script. But here's the thing: Most people are wages slaves, a small number are self emplioyed middle-class, and one-centers are the elites. If you collect a paycheck youre proletariat. Obama is proletariat, the top dog in the army is proletariat. Perfessers are proletariat. A call girl is middle class. Farmers are middle-class. The middle class are the self-employed. Elites don't toil.

I question whether anyone knows how the elites live. I've known some really rich people, and theyre indistinguishable from homeless bums, and drive ratty-ass old pickups with no air conditioning. And I've never known one who didn't carry a roll of hundred dollar bills you could wrap your lips around. That bulge in his pants aint cock.

But who I know are boys and girls who do anything for a dollar or an itch.

Perhaps "old money" elites don't toil, but Steve Jobs toiled to the end of his days, and Bill Gates, if he stopped "toiling," probably was only a few years ago. Warren Buffet still toils. Depends how you define these classes.


To the OP: I couldn't begin to realistically describe how a billionaire goes through his or her day, as I've never met one in person, to my knowledge, and don't really know them. And if all I want to describe is how they fuck, then I can do it better if I'm closer to home...

While I try to push myself into complete fiction, I haven't wandered very far from my home base yet.

 

[EverLux]

In general I'm very interested in those elements which repeat in your writing, especially when you haven't planned it. The things you "find yourself" drawn to without realizing it.

First off, like others have said, these are really excellent questions. Thanks for asking them.

After thinking back on the handful of stories I've written, nothing sticks out as something I'm drawn to. It did occur to me, though, that there's something I completely avoid in my writing--athletics.

I don't run and I don't go to the gym. My dad raised me on the Iggles (Philly speak for Eagles), but I don't follow any sports on my own. I played volleyball for two years in middle school, but I don't think that counts. I have no frame of reference here, and I have no clue what that rush of endorphins feels like, so how can I possibly describe it?

I did start one story in which the guy played soccer, but I had to give it up, because I had no clue what I was talking about. Damn shame, too, because pro athletes are really sexy to read about

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Well you don't have that many stories posted, yet.

Once you start writing a lot, you'll see those repetitions and preferences.

Did LC know he was going to explore the porn industry beforehand? idk, probably not. But the porn setting works for him. It's his thing.

Everybody eventually finds what they're most comfortable with.

My default character is a straightlaced, conservative lawyer. Why??? I've worked in a few law firms, true, but idk that world that well. I just like the premise.

Your chosen fictional world may/may not be closely based on your reality. Just ask people in Sci Fi.

First off, like others have said, these are really excellent questions. Thanks for asking them.

After thinking back on the handful of stories I've written, nothing sticks out as something I'm drawn to. It did occur to me, though, that there's something I completely avoid in my writing--athletics.

I don't run and I don't go to the gym. My dad raised me on the Iggles (Philly speak for Eagles), but I don't follow any sports on my own. I played volleyball for two years in middle school, but I don't think that counts. I have no frame of reference here, and I have no clue what that rush of endorphins feels like, so how can I possibly describe it?

I did start one story in which the guy played soccer, but I had to give it up, because I had no clue what I was talking about. Damn shame, too, because pro athletes are really sexy to read about

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I write bright people. Sometimes crazy, but always bright. Stupid people, almost regardless of how they're shaped, get me walking in the other direction, and that bleeds over into my fiction.

So far I've had one story in which rich male characters were the love interest, and another where the richest guys were the most vile I could invent. My best portrayal of a submissive woman had her from a poor background. My next best was a social climber who started poor. I don't have any overtly rich women, and I expect that's because in real life the ones I've known have been bitches. All my villains are male, but except for a couple of absolutely demonic jerks, they tend towards rascally bad boys of the sort women fantasize about, even if they prefer not to meet any.

Overall, in my stuff, 'rich' is sometimes but not always a code word for wicked or spoiled. Wealthy doesn't have the same connotation.

My characters come from every continent except Africa. (A very minor character came from Haiti). I have a clear preference for white or asian females and it's present in my writing.

One of my female characters has significant incurable mental damage, but she was a major hero of the story (and she has no sexual scenes or romantic interest.) Another got badly hurt emotionally and went a little mad but recovered. Another female character is just ... I don't know what her issue is yet but she's in a bad place mentally and her sexuality is very much a hot mess as a result. Not sure yet how that turns out. One of my males turns evil and insane, and two others are nearly cardboard villains mostly in the background, but the others are no worse than megalomaniacs or jerks of the sort that generally raise female readers' pulses.

None of my major characters are over 35; female love interests are all under 30, most under 25. None of course are under 18, but I'd probably go as low as 16, at least once, if that were permitted. I could do a nice spin on Romeo and Juliet. Over 40, males already know too many answers to make for a good story (I write about people who learn things), and women over 40 are too complex for me to write well.

Height and weight for females isn't often specified. No one is fat (or "curvy", which as far as I can tell always means fat.) I do both tall and short in my descriptions of females. I don't write short men. Hair colors for girls generally skip red; I have no idea why because it can be cute. I have one blond male that I remember.

All my males are relentlessly straight; females are straight or occasionally bi, but I've never written an extended girl-on-girl scene, though I would if I thought I could pull it off.

 

[ColetteJulie]

I love writing historical characters, that's my interest in archeology and history showing, none of my characters are poor, I once did a story about wealthy people and the readers said they couldn't relate to that kind of life. Now I tend to leave any monetary issues out of my stories. I think I'll struggle most to write poor people, and I'm not being bitchy or anything, there are levels of poor. What I thought of as poor when I grew up, wasn't really poor. I also don't write characters of other races, I have no idea of the mindset or culture. Strangely, most of my stories are set in the US although I live across the pond. What I clearly see is that I write characters my age or within a decade of it. I really have to focus to write like an 18yr old or like a 60yr old.

 

[tomlitilia]

I write bright people. Sometimes crazy, but always bright. Stupid people, almost regardless of how they're shaped, get me walking in the other direction, and that bleeds over into my fiction.

I agree with that. Idiots don't get to fuck in my stories either.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Perhaps "old money" elites don't toil, but Steve Jobs toiled to the end of his days, and Bill Gates, if he stopped "toiling," probably was only a few years ago. Warren Buffet still toils. Depends how you define these classes.


To the OP: I couldn't begin to realistically describe how a billionaire goes through his or her day, as I've never met one in person, to my knowledge, and don't really know them. And if all I want to describe is how they fuck, then I can do it better if I'm closer to home...

While I try to push myself into complete fiction, I haven't wandered very far from my home base yet.

Fussell defined the classes not me, and he said elites don't work. Think Queen Elizabeth and Prince Whazzhizzface. Gates and Jobs were self-employed, therefore middle-class.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

Damn, Hands. I have in the past, directed a few people toward your stories because you create a certain brand of erotica that some have a defined taste for. But I never realized until now just how specific it was. That's a laundry list of limitation.

Also, I used to feel the same way about preferring intelligent people as subjects, and maybe I still do, to some extent. But one of my best discoveries as a writer was that less intelligent characters are no less complex or compelling than clever ones.

 

[Privates1stClass]

Do you have a preferred social class/sphere to write about?

I hadn't considered that question before, but looking at my stories, it's not so much about social class, but about age groups. My characters seem to be college aged, romantic, with sex at the top of their interest list. I suppose I'm just nostalgic.

I'd find it difficult to write about millionaires who spend $20,000 on a meal and a bottle of champagne. I'll just stick to the middle class for my writing.

 

[EverLux]

I'd find it difficult to write about millionaires who spend $20,000 on a meal and a bottle of champagne. I'll just stick to the middle class for my writing.

For one story, I had to google "most expensive SUV." If (or, more than likely, when) I write about the ridiculously wealthy, I'll be googling "most expensive" pretty much everything.

Researching exactly how the 1% lives has the potential to get depressing.