How did you get started writing erotica?

[jodiross]

Hi,
I'm new here and was wondering how everyone got started writing erotica and how it evolved for you. Did you start out writing for places like Literotica and then move on to paid writing?

Also wondering if anyone here publishes on Kindle? That's what I'm hoping to do. I don't want to go through a publisher as they take forever to get your work out there.

Any and all comments would be really appreciated.

Jodi

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Back in 1971 I wrote a novel set in Spain. I sent the manuscript to Charles Scribners Sons and their editor sent me an encouraging letter requesting I send the manuscript in when I was done with the editing. The main character was a prostitute from Peru who lived in Zaragoza and had a child by an airman stationed there. It was common practice. Inflate the girl and leave. But my mother killed herself and I was unable to do anything creative for a long while, and never finished the project.

Before that I wrote and sold poems. And a few years ago I started selling horror stories, some I added sex to and posted lately to LIT with my literary alt.

 

[LaRascasse]

Read it for naughty thrills and had some free time in college. That's it really.

As a student of engineering, I often wonder if my literary and language skills are any good. Though I admit this isn't the site for extolling great literary virtues, many of my readers and fellow authors are well-versed with words. I have a high bar to aim at.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

My day job involves writing, but it's mostly very dry non-fiction. I'm a bit of an exhibitionist as well as a voyeur, which I indulged by reading supposedly true stories on another site. Eventually I began submitting my own. I got bored by the poor quality of writing on that other site and migrated to Lit. My first few stories were slightly fictionalized accounts of my own experiences. One day while reading stories I came across a piece that was so much better than anything I had written or planned to write. I realized I needed to expand my imagination and improve my skills to develop any kind of a following. I needed to completely change my style. Since then I have been practicing as time allows, with the ultimate goal of writing something worth publishing for $.

 

[glynndah]

Like any number of people, I stumbled in here, read a few stories and said "I can do that" so I did.

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

 

[lovecraft68]

My wife and I role play every Saturday night. One weekend she was in MD for a conference and I had a good idea and was bored and started jotting it down.

On a whim I named and described the characters then wrote out the scene. I read it over the phone and she loved it so I started writing dirty little snippets for her that eventually became stories.

She found lit before I did and after reading for a few weeks told me my stuff was as good if not better than most of what she was reading so why not try it?

 

[jomar]

An idea popped into my head, wouldn't go away and it took a turn and that was that.

 

[49greg]

Like any number of people, I stumbled in here, read a few stories and said "I can do that" so I did.

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

Pretty much the same for me, except for the kiss

 

[oggbashan]

In the late 1970s was stuck at home with a painful bad back and couldn't do much.

But I could sit in front of a computer and type. It was ancient technology running CP/M but did have a basic early version of WordStar.

I started writing a story set in the Balkans which were more like Antony Hope's Ruritania of The Prisoner of Zenda. The main characters were a weakly youth studying civil engineering and a BBW. Sex became inevitable. The story went through many versions before I finally abandoned it as unsalvable and went on to write more reasonable stories.

 

[sr71plt]

I was writing a scene for a mainstream novel and let it get away from me. Excised it from the novel and wrote it up separately. Then posted it to a Web site other than this one, and I was started with the erotica writing.

 

[jodiross]

Thanks for the answers, everybody. It's interesting to find out how others got into this genre of writing.

So how many of you make any decent money from your writing? And if you are doing so, are you self-publishing or going through a publishing house?

I'm really glad you all decided to share. I really appreciate that.

Jodi

 

[sr71plt]

I make good travel money. I use publishers.

 

[lovecraft68]

I publish my own stuff between writing and another on line business have been able to scale back my work hours.

I've never looked for a publisher, but always figured if one approached me I would take them up on it.

A couple of months ago someone contacted me and after playing 101 questions with them it seemed they were going to get a percentage to do everything I'm already doing so why bother?

But if you don't want to learn or spend time on cover designs and formatting and the headaches each selling platform can provide a publisher is the way to go.

 

[SamScribble]

In my late teens and early 20s I read most of the erotic classics. Some were fun; some were a little too esoteric for my taste; and many were just badly written.

And then one day I was driving past the home of a lawyer and occasional writer who I knew. Even though it was about 11 am on a week day, his car was parked in the driveway and so I decided to stop and say hello.

Rob answered the door in his bathrobe and announced that he was having a ‘duvet day’. He invited me in and led me through to the bedroom where Jo – not his wife, but the then managing editor of a well-known publishing house – was sitting in bed surrounded by books.

‘Jo and I are making it our mission to find some well-written erotica,’ Rob said. Given that neither of them was dressed, I made the assumption that there was probably a physical dimension as well as intellectual dimension to their test process.

Urbane, unflappable chap that I am, I sat on the edge of the bed and asked how the search was progressing. In reply, the bare-breasted Jo handed me a small stack of books – probably six or seven – which she said that I might find ‘worth a read’.

Not wanting to impede their research, a few minutes later I took the books and took my leave. And, as I was leaving, Jo said: ‘You know, you could probably write good smut – for an educated readership. You should give it a go.’ And so I did.

And in answer to the supplementary question: I make OK money from my other writing; the erotica is mainly for fun.

 

[DG Hear]

Like any number of people, I stumbled in here, read a few stories and said "I can do that" so I did.

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

I was pretty much the same. I read a few stories and really didn't like them all that much So I said to myself: "Self, you have ideas as good as what you are reading... and so it started."

I will admit it was harder than I thought. I had good ideas but wasn't a writer. My first two submissions were rejected. I found some great editors and my stories were pretty readable after that. I do have to thank the editors for all the great help. To this day, I'm still not that good and will always be an amature, but I am having fun.

 

[thelovingsadist]

Hi,
I'm new here and was wondering how everyone got started writing erotica and how it evolved for you. Did you start out writing for places like Literotica and then move on to paid writing?

Also wondering if anyone here publishes on Kindle? That's what I'm hoping to do. I don't want to go through a publisher as they take forever to get your work out there.

Any and all comments would be really appreciated.

Jodi

Pleasure.

 

[LizHaze]

I'd always wanted to write fiction, and I only really felt inspired to go through with it fairly recently after reading a bunch of Xarth's stories. I felt like I should just hunker down in a text editor and finish something. So I did. I hope I write broader scope fiction eventually.

 

[HeyAll]

I started reading erotic stories at around 18.

Some time later I discovered Lit, and I only registered to the forum so I could look at some of the nude pictures on here.

Years after I started having a few ideas of what I thought would make for good stories. I started writing ever since.

 

[oggbashan]

Instead of editing my post above, this is an addition.

I started looking through Yahoo Groups. My initial interest was 19th Century Ladies fashion and although there are several groups about that, the search results also included some Adult themes mainly Fetish - silk, satin, nylon etc.

I was intrigued but appalled by the general standard of the 'erotic' stories. There were a few diamonds among the steaming piles of shit, but very few. Like many of us I thought "I can do better than that", so I did. My stories were better than most but not up to the standard of the very best.

The more obscure the fetish, the better the response was to my postings. Encouraged by those who liked what I was writing for their fetish, I wrote more fetish stories.

The most responses, and the more intelligent ones, came from a now defunct Yahoo Adult Group about Unbirth that had a couple of hundred members. My story The Virgin Unbirth was written specifically for them and became a cooperation as the group's members asked for enhancements to the original shorter story. I couldn't met all their requests because some were contradictory, but many were included - including the recipe at the end.

I had started on a sequel when Yahoo abruptly closed the group apparently because of unresolved copyright issues on some of the pictures posted. That might or might not be true. I don't know because except for one member who briefly followed me to Literotica I lost all contact with the Group's members.

I had continued to write for obscure fetishes when I stopped lurking and actually joined Literotica in July 2002, posting a number of my then complete stories. Many of those posted with 2002 dates were written years before.

From time to time I still write for Yahoo Adult Groups, particularly fetish, but I have been stuck for years on one personal challenge - writing for a group specialising in South Indian Women's Hairy (and Sweaty) Armpits. I have started the story and tried several times to continue, but I can't generate the enthusiasm, real or faked, that would enable me to make that fetish part of a realistic story.

The response to my work posted on Literotica has been massively greater than on any Yahoo Adult Group. Most Groups don't even acknowledge my new postings. A few of my stories might get a "Thank You" from the Moderator, and one or two actually generate a post or two. But on Literotica I get votes, I get PCs, and I sometimes get feedback. Even if it is anonymous telling me I should have killed the stupid bitch, that means that I have generated some emotion in anonymous. That is better than a deep silence.

 

[andy_charles]

I became slightly hooked on softcore late night movies when I was a teenager,and it was around this time that I also discovered Lit. I never thought I'd ever write a story for it though. But like many others eventually I started to wonder if I could, so I tried. What excited me was the possibility of being able to use erotica in pretty much every genre.

I don't think I would ever use erotica for money, though never say never. The stuff I am writing at the present time is more mainstream - the stuff I write for Lit is for my own amusement and hopefully other people enjoy reading it too.

 

[TxRad]

About 20 years ago, I was working on a drilling rig that was having all kinds of problems. Since all I had to do for 12 hours a day was keep an eye on a gas detector, I was bored. This was also about the same time I got my first computer, an old 286 machine with 1meg of ram and a 50 meg hard drive.

We used the computer to make paperwork easier. Our program of choice was Works for windows. A cut down version of Office. I had always wanted to write as far back as high school. So being bored, I decided to write a short story about something that had happened to me 15 years earlier.

To make a long story shorter, a year later I ended up with a 287 page novel. Years later, I posted it to another site and it got rave reviews. Someone directed me here and the rest is history. The story has never been published and is not posted here.

I thought it was great at the time but now I cringe when I read it. Short choppy sentences are the least of the problems. I've learned so much over the time I've been here, it's not funny.

As for publishing, I ended up with a three book mainstream deal from a non-erotic short story posted here. Now there are 6 books. Nowhere near a fortune but I make a few dollars here and there. I'm working on two new books and have one sold.

Lit is now a home away from home and fun. A guilty pleasure because my publisher keeps trying to make me break all ties with Lit. Not going to happen. So I do have to keep a buffer between the two. Not that I personally really care. It's all fun.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I came, I saw, I did.

 

[Deb_Auchery]

they say to write about what you know. I grew up in a strange place to say the least. Although it was more sleazy than erotic it but the love and passion you find in such situations is incredible, albeit a step to the side.

But of course we all have our own ideas of eroticism.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Writer's Digest magazine started my erotica writing. Back in the late 70's & early 80's, there were a plethora of Penthouse Forum style magazines on well stocked newsstands. Printed more in a pamphlet format instead of a full-sized magazine format, there were dozens of them featuring first person, letter style stories. An article in Writer's Digest presented the market as a modern day equivalent of the pulps from the 30's (?).

Back then, getting published meant writing off for writer's guidelines, typed submissions (double spaced, of course), counting words by hand, and sending in your work with a SASE for return. (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope.) It's how I was first published on a national basis. Overtime, writing smut bought my first word processer, which was important because most publishers wouldn't touch a document printed with a dot-matrix printer.

It's probably why a lot of stuff is best qualified as "stroke" fiction. There were some weird rules then, too. One publisher printed a magazine Options: the BI Monthly, except your stories had to be either gay or lesbian and never an actual bisexual story. Also, at the time, a lot of publishers who published in Canada, too, wouldn't consider anal sex because it was against the law to publish an anal sex scene in Canada. (I don't know any more about that, but maybe one of our Canadian friends can share some details.)

I currently write for industry (employee manuals and similar). I've stepped away from radio and newspaper work. I've been published in several, very mainstream, national magazines which all paid substantially more than smut ever did.

I often wonder if getting "published" on Lit.com can give new voices the shot in the arm it takes to feel as if you really can write. I published for several years in the Forum style magazines until I reached the day when I knew I had out-grown my subscription to Writer's Digest.

I've had vanity blogs in the past where I posted my work, gave them up for a variety of different reasons and now toss my erotica on Lit for the same reasons I ever had a vanity blog: I like the people I meet, I enjoy the feedback, it keeps the creative wheels spinning, political reasons (my stories are almost always pro-alternative lifestyle and very much pro-sex), and because it gives me an outlet for exploring different kinds of writing (different voices, different POV, etc.).

 

[jodiross]

My day job involves writing, but it's mostly very dry non-fiction. I'm a bit of an exhibitionist as well as a voyeur, which I indulged by reading supposedly true stories on another site. Eventually I began submitting my own. I got bored by the poor quality of writing on that other site and migrated to Lit. My first few stories were slightly fictionalized accounts of my own experiences. One day while reading stories I came across a piece that was so much better than anything I had written or planned to write. I realized I needed to expand my imagination and improve my skills to develop any kind of a following. I needed to completely change my style. Since then I have been practicing as time allows, with the ultimate goal of writing something worth publishing for $.

I just read part of your story and it seems to me that you could publish that for $. It's well written, no grammatical errors and has a good story line. Have you ever considered publishing it?
Jodi