How complex are your stories?

[AG31]

a) How complex do you think you stories are? In what ways are they complex?
b) Have you ever consciously tried to move from writing simple stories to more complex ones? Or visa versa?

I have only written simple stories. That's the kind I prefer to read on Literotica, as well, partly because that's how I prefer my erotica and partly because I can't abide reading long things on the computer or (heaven forbid!!) a phone.

Otherwise, I'm a voracious reader of complex stories. Stories from the library that I can hold in my hand.

 

[SimonDoom]

Most of my stories are not complex. I write what I like to read. Outside of erotica, I enjoy long, complex novels. But with erotica, I tend to like it fairly simple and focused. Reading an erotic story, to me, is akin to a sexual experience. I like some buildup and tease, but I want to get to the main course before too long.

 

[AchtungNight]

All sex stories are simple at their core. Your lead characters meet, they’re attracted to each other, and then they fuck. Of course, getting to the fucking can be complicated sometimes. A few examples of this from my works-

Fear, Lust, and Vanity- Scarlett is attracted to the two women she’s posing nude alongside, but coming on to them is really unprofessional and she’ll probably get rejected. Can she do it anyway and achieve good results?

The Rendezvous- Keri is attracted to her new costars Alicia, Evan, and Erika. But she has a slutty past that drives her crazy sometimes. Meanwhile Alicia is an alcoholic with anger issues in denial of her bisexuality, Evan is barely a legal adult and a heterosexual virgin, and Erika is often unfairly targeted as an insane follower of a weird religion by people who don’t know her that well yet. How can these people become friends, let alone lovers?

God of War: Love & Strength- Freya is attracted to Kratos, but she is still getting over an abusive relationship that ended badly, doesn’t want to mess up their friendship, and oh yeah, Kratos killed her son to save both their lives! Is sex with him really a good salve for her emotions?

Leap of Faith- Boris and Elena are on their first date, both are very attracted to each other, but they both have issues getting close to people and dealing with bisexuality. Can they find common ground and bond?

Many other variations exist but these were the hardest to overcome for me as a writer.

 

[NotWise]

Complex compared to what? My stories are not as complex as real life, but most are too complex for casual reading.

My plots are usually straightforward. But for a few instances, there's no antagonist.

My characters aren't simple, but I don't usually layer my characters. I need to work on that.

The telling is probably the most complex aspect of my stories.

 

[AG31]

All sex stories are simple at their core.

I agree. And if it's not "a sex story," but just "a story with sex," it's not erotica.

Your lead characters meet, they’re attracted to each other, and then they fuck.

You're ignoring a whole raft of stories that don't involve two people being attracted to one another.

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

Definitely not complex.
Mine start with a short intro of the characters, followed by sex acts....
The end.

 

[alexandra_secret]

All sex stories are simple at their core.

I would disagree with that.

Although it is certainly true for most sex stories here or elsewhere, I believe it is possible to combine sex with a complicated story, in a way that the sex is not gratuitous but is necessary to the story.

It is something that I rarely see outside of erotica, I guess because of censorship, but there is something to be done here.
But I'm an amateur writer, so don't expect me to produce such a story

 

[AchtungNight]

I agree. And if it's not "a sex story," but just "a story with sex," it's not erotica.

You're ignoring a whole raft of stories that don't involve two people being attracted to one another.

In my experience if two people aren’t attracted to each other, they generally won’t have satisfying sex. Or at least I don’t write my stories with that premise. Maybe it’s a personal preference.

 

[yowser]

I am not particularly interested in complexity per se. Depending on how you want to envision complexity, I am more and more attracted to nuance. I am happy doing a simple story (although there should be some aspect of it that's unique or different) but it must be three-dimensional, and the best way to do that (for me as a writer, and as a reader) are characters with layers. Simple can get complicated (and more interesting) easily, and as a reader I enjoy writers who are perceptive enough to divulge their characters the way real life does: in dribs and drabs, with intriguing emotional textures and complexities.

If you want to call that complex, I am all in, but labyrinthine plots don't do much for me unless they are exquisitely done.

 

[ChuckWolf]

None of my erotic stories are complex, at all.

Sometimes, I think I can get into the weeds with how much time is spent physically describing appearances of my female characters.

 

[SimonDoom]

Generally speaking, this is how I write an erotic story, and how I keep it simple:

I start with an idea that turns me on, OR that I know turns some people on, and that I want to explore.

Like, say, voyeurism. Watching a woman undress, under circumstances where that might be forbidden, or immoral, or even illegal.

I create characters and a situation around that theme. I create a main character who spends a lot of his time (I briefly explain why after coming up with the backstory) in an apartment, and he notices a woman who undresses in front of the window in a nearby apartment.

Conflict and tension exist because he's not supposed to spy on his neighbors. He might get caught, and embarrassed, or even arrested. But there's a hint that maybe she wants to be spied on. Then I add a mean-looking boyfriend, who creates an additional layer of danger to the voyeurism. I add a wrinkle: the woman starts deliberately flashing the main character, even when her boyfriend is in the apartment. It's obvious she's not entirely happy with the boyfriend, who is jealous and controlling.

Then I have to figure out how to get the two characters together, because I generally like my erotic stories to have a successful climax. It doesn't necessarily have to be intercourse, but I like to have my characters achieve orgasm. In this case, maybe they eventually have a mutual masturbation session, with each watching the other through their windows. Maybe while the boyfriend is asleep in the adjacent bedroom, adding to the danger.

There doesn't have to be much more to it than that. That, to me, is the outline of a satisfying erotic story.

The key for me is sticking to the theme. I don't add stuff about the woman across the way having threesomes, or having an anal fetish. It's more erotically appealing to me to focus on one key erotic theme. When I want to move on to another theme I just start a whole new story.

 

[8letters]

a) How complex do you think you stories are? In what ways are they complex?

Very complex. The top end of complexity in the I/T category.

In most I/T stories, the two family members are on the verge of starting a relationship. Some little spark happens, and they are fucking like bunnies. In my stories, the two family members start not very close. This happens and that happens, and they are slowly drawn together. There are problems and conflicts that have to be resolved, but eventually they decide they love each other too much to not be together.

Example story, My Sister Set Me Up on a Blind Date:
* Story starts with a cop pulling the MMC Narrator over for speeding
* Eventually, the MMC tells the cop that the cop smells alcohol because his little sister who is in the car got drunk at a party and he's taking her home
* The MMC and the cop go to the cop's car. The cop tells the MMC he's a good person for getting his little sister safely out of the party
* When they get home, the MMC talks to the parents to distract them so the FMC can slip in and go to her bedroom without talking to them
* We learn that the MMC and FMC fought constantly growing up, the MMC hasn't seen much of the FMC since he went off to college, and now they aren't fighting, but they feel very awkward around each other
* The FMC tells the MMC how the prior night she went on a date that was very good at first, then they went to the party. Someone spiked her drink, and she was almost date-raped
* The MMC tells the FMC that his girlfriend was given a surprise summer vacation in Europe by her parents, and she left without them discussing the ramifications of it. He's not sure if they've broken up for the summer or not
* Days later, as a thank you for rescuing her, the FMC arranges a blind date for the MMC. It's in a town an hour away
* The MMC shows up for the blind date, and it's the FMC. He's angry at her for pulling his chain
* The FMC says that she's never had a good date, that the MMC is the type of guy she wants to date, and that she wants to go on a practice date with him
* The MMC reluctantly agrees
* They have a pleasant dinner and then go miniature golfing. As they date, the MMC teaches the FMC about positive consent. He and his girlfriend had hand signals for asking consent for every step
* They are having a good time when the FMC says something that triggers the MMC to remember all the fights they had and the troubles the FMC got him in with their parents. He dumps on her all his anger that has built up over the years

And that's not even all of the first half of the story.

Beach House Weekend with My Sisters is a mystery with the MMC narrator gathering clues, interrogating suspects, and working out theories. The story has a long reveal where the MMC pulls all the clues together to provide a sensible solution to the difficult mystery. The mystery is which sister had sex with him each night during the beach house weekend.

b) Have you ever consciously tried to move from writing simple stories to more complex ones? Or visa versa?

No. I just get plot ideas that are very complex.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh i say.

Sigh. I wish @EmilyMiller were here for the incipient maths puns.

Continuously so smooth, if not very discrete. While this isn’t an outright Lie, and even has a ring of truth, I see manifold problems in this field - a bundle in fact - which you clearly haven’t vectored in as yet. I think there is space in your original text to loop back and make some compact, but complete, comments to cover this. I believe this would be the normal path forward. Simple, right?

 

[TheRedLantern]

Continuously so smooth, if not very discrete. While this isn’t an outright Lie, and even has a ring of truth, I see manifold problems in this field - a bundle in fact - which you clearly haven’t vectored in as yet. I think there is space in your original text to loop back and make some compact, but complete, comments to cover this. I believe this would be the normal path forward. Simple, right?

Math jokes are hot

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I write simple stories because I'm a simple person with simple tastes. Or to put it in writer terms: I'm crap at plotting.

So, I'm hearing you say it's too cold (not) to plot.

 

[StillStunned]

So, I'm hearing you say it's too cold (not) to plot.

Sal does all the plotting. She's much better at it than I am.

 

[Writer61]

I would say 'medium': recurring characters, interlocking series, minor plot twists.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

A cautionary tale in AWESOME, lol

Don't get me wrong, I love Sanderson. I think he's one of the greatest authors in the genre of all time. I also think the complexity of some of his worldbuilding and plotting is way over the top, and it makes it nearly impossible to keep track of all the factions and their agendas, unless you are the geekiest of the geeks who frequent fan forums and discuss theories and have read Sanderson's work a dozen times.
And I'm saying all of this as someone who likes complexity.

 

[Comshaw]

Complexity is something that has often been on my mind as I've developed as a writer, even when I've not outright struggled with it. A beta-reader of mine one descrived a draft of mine as an exquisite Faberge egg of a plot, unfortunatley he also found a massive crack running down one side. Obviously, and according to the AH mantra, every story is different and every story will be best served by an appropriate level of complexity. But I thought it might be interesting to ask the AHs...

a) How complex do you think you stories are? In what ways are they complex?
b) Have you ever consciously tried to move from writing simple stories to more complex ones? Or visa versa?

To show what I mean by complex, I'll give the example of my most recent story.

It starts with the simple premise of a long term couple trying to fulfill their already agreed desire for a MFF threesome. Things get more complicated because...

Different opinions - the male MC does not like the 'unicorn' the female MC has chosen.
Backstory - the male MC knows the unicorn and has an opinion of her shaped by significant events dating back years.
Growth - the unicorn is, from the start, clealy not the same person the male MC used to know.
Options - a second potential unicorn is introduced to the story, who is more to the male MCs liking but less acceptable to the female MC. At the midpoint it is intentionally not clear if the story will end with a foursome, one of two possible threesomes, or with the MC couple going home mad with each other.
Differing Sexualities - The characters are not omnisexual and their desires for the evening don't always line up.
Secrets and Revelations - The female MC knows more about unicorn 1 than she lets on at the start and that information is revealed at several moments during the story.
Tricks - similarly, but crucially different because the reader is in on it, the male MC attmpts to trick others to get what he wants.
Imperfect Sex - the sex scene when it arrives isn't just wall-to-wall orgasms and is a novel but not completely enjoyable experince for the male MC.
Twist Ending - the story ends with a neat little bow.
Optional Kinks - the couple have a whole bunch of BDSM toys in their car that may or may not get used.

I'm happy with how this story turned out but it had a difficult birth with me completely rewriting more than 50% of the text. Beta readers often suggested losing this or that aspect of the story. I've kind.of decided that complexity is a hallmark of that particular series and that I'm going to embrace there. I am thinking carefully about how complex I make other stories.

a) How complex do you think you stories are? In what ways are they complex?

Since I limit myself (most of the time) to one-off short stories, in terms of plot complexity, I don't think mine are particularly intricate. I do try to build emotional complexity into my characters, and I think I succeed at that some of the time. The only stories I've done that might be considered complex in plot are "Homecoming" and the series "A Common Man".

I think to have a very complex tale, it needs to be long, novella or novel length. In that light, limiting my works to short stories kinda' puts the quash on making them very complex.

b) Have you ever consciously tried to move from writing simple stories to more complex ones? Or visa versa?

Nope. When a story idea hits me I just run with it and see where my brain leads me. But this has got me to thinking about trying to write a long, complicated tale. I might just work on that.


Comshaw

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I usually have some degree of complexity in many of my stories. However, I occasionally do something that's more straightforward than usual and I get comments like "IMHO a little bit too predictable" or something similar to "Too straightforward."

Therefore, I keep trying to find the right mix for me and for the readers.

 

[FrancesScott]

How complex are your stories?

Given I’ve published just short stories here so far (longest is 9k words), not so very complicated. Though all have plots which can twist and turn even in so few words.

 

[onehitwanda]

Continuously so smooth, if not very discrete. While this isn’t an outright Lie, and even has a ring of truth, I see manifold problems in this field - a bundle in fact - which you clearly haven’t vectored in as yet. I think there is space in your original text to loop back and make some compact, but complete, comments to cover this. I believe this would be the normal path forward. Simple, right?

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Don't get me wrong, I love Sanderson. I think he's one of the greatest authors in the genre of all time. I also think the complexity of some of his worldbuilding and plotting is way over the top, and it makes it nearly impossible to keep track of all the factions and their agendas, unless you are the geekiest of the geeks who frequent fan forums and discuss theories and have read Sanderson's work a dozen times.
And I'm saying all of this as someone who likes complexity.

Oh, I agree with that, but I find that a feature, not a bug. Thank God for the folks at the Coppermind wiki page for helping remind me of all the stuff I forget between books.

 

[Areala-chan]

I'd like to think I write simple stories with complex characters. I can't think of anything I've done, or even tried to do, here that isn't fairly straightforward. There's often a twist, and I love to play a reader's expectations against themselves, but I don't consider that particularly complex.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

My plots are not terribly complex at all. What I aspire to do is describe things very thoroughly, so it's conceivable that my descriptions could be considered complex.