How Much of Yourself Do You Put in Your Stories?

[Bramblethorn]

As I come back to LitErotica after what I realize was a very specific four-year period away, I find myself idly curious about something, and I would be intrigued have other authors' input.

How much of yourself do you put into stories?

A fair bit, but heavily remixed and shuffled in with stuff that happened to other people.

My current series isn't autobiographical, but it's as close as I've come here, and in parts I've used the fiction as a vehicle for working through real-life issues. Somebody who was familiar with my life would recognise a lot of the elements.

 

[Sarah_1964]

How much of yourself do you put into stories?

It is an interesting question.

I have had one 'story' published here so far, and it is entirely about me - as real a me as I could write. It is one of many I wrote down, in that case some time after the event - in my secret diary, to record the felings and memories. In those, I am me as far as one can be in writing.

More recently I have also written down fantasies. In those I think I am still 'me' but a me who is less constrained by a lifetime of self-control and meeting expectations: very obviously (if I ever submit any for publication here..) unrealistic - in some cases wily so - but I think still very recognisably myself.

But I don't at all consider myself 'a writer' - I simply wrote down things that were in my mind, for myself, and have joined this forum to share those writings: none are anywhere near as full nor as polsihed as those I have read here, but I selfishly just wanted to share what i had written, rather than write something for an audience - thus perhaps the egotistical focus on my being the main character...

 

[stickygirl]

It is an interesting question.

I have had one 'story' published here so far, and it is entirely about me - as real a me as I could write. It is one of many I wrote down, in that case some time after the event - in my secret diary, to record the feelings and memories. In those, I am me as far as one can be in writing.

~snip~

Your honesty is refreshing - you could put a link to the story in your profile.

We can all publish anonymously on Lit and so be free to share our inmost secrets without fear of being outed. It's by sharing, then gauging the reaction, that we can learn about ourselves.... maybe that's the egotistical narcissist in us all?... just a thought

 

[Blind_Justice]

A lot. I try to avoid writing straight-up self-insert characters, but considering the settings and characters are my own creations, many of the themes running through my stories are near to my heart.

 

[PoisonPen33]

When a longtime friend read "Come As You Are," the first thing she texted me was "Christ, you have unresolved high school issues."

I try to avoid blatant self-inserts, but to me writing is therapy. It just depends on how open I'm being during that chapter and how much of me ends up in my characters.

 

[46n2]

My preferred honest answer would be: None.

But thank you for asking this, Cyrano-de-nose-an-off? (wicked pic, mate)

Everything I’ve ever written has never been of my own experience. If you can be exacting about it. The whole thing started from a random phone call. I spent a few days randomly daydreaming what ought to have been the result of that ACCIDENT. Several years after that some chick said she liked the way I worded things (I was a musician at the time). She sent me to an ACLU board that was throwing shit up there for free that was crazy worth paying for. But no one cared about the paying for part.

I threw my hat in. “Go ahead, stomp all over it.”

They didn’t stomp all over it. They loved it.

During that initial story, which WAS based on an actual accident (that I hung up on rather early), while I was penning it out for shits and giggles… I HEARD from a character I had created. I HEARD her tell me something. It’s cracked, I know. I’m sure it’s just my own buried and subjective mind that made me hear it but… a character of my own creation spoke to me, said the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard (and yes I will qualify that’s completely pathetic).

And that altered everything.

After that I began gathering lots of more things I didn’t know (and the internet was relatively brand new; this place was relatively brand new). I could then know enough to throw myself into other stories that aren’t my own. There were endless choices. I could go anywhere with anything. It was a much larger fretboard than my own guitar. Far less limited.

And what I found myself writing was the shit I had limited to no understanding of at all. That’s why I’d write it. To get to the end. At which point I then might know. What I hadn’t before.

There were MANY helpful souls in that agreed upon interest. But far and away for the most part, I’m writing blind.

 

[loquere]

None. I don't exist.

I like this.

 

[46n2]

It is an interesting question.

I have had one 'story' published here so far, and it is entirely about me - as real a me as I could write. It is one of many I wrote down, in that case some time after the event - in my secret diary, to record the felings and memories. In those, I am me as far as one can be in writing.

More recently I have also written down fantasies. In those I think I am still 'me' but a me who is less constrained by a lifetime of self-control and meeting expectations: very obviously (if I ever submit any for publication here..) unrealistic - in some cases wily so - but I think still very recognisably myself.

But I don't at all consider myself 'a writer' - I simply wrote down things that were in my mind, for myself, and have joined this forum to share those writings: none are anywhere near as full nor as polsihed as those I have read here, but I selfishly just wanted to share what i had written, rather than write something for an audience - thus perhaps the egotistical focus on my being the main character...

*smile*

That's another thing that can come from "getting it down", eh? Most definitely.

If there's one thing that ought to be taken from this "space" it's that there is no right way. Rather, there are countless options other than.

I'm touched by what you said there, Sarah. It's the kind of thing I try to reach when I'm completely outside of myself and channeling. But none... no one... can really channel anything if not for bravery that's been told or exposed before it. There's nothing to latch onto, if not for people like yourself.

Establishing what is. From where you've been.

I thank you for your courage in vulnerability.

It would be more encouraging if others... could rock the truth.

 

[NoJo]

Walt says it nicely:

I am large, I contain multitudes

 

[SexyShel]

All of my stories are of true events except for one fantasy story. But even that story is just a "what if" of what might happen if I met my first lover again.

I have been trying to think of stories from scratch, if you like, but I'm finding it really hard to get a starting place for that.

 

[mrsjonnie]

Perhaps as I'm only just working on book 3 of my short stories, I put all of me, my feelings, body description etc into my work. Also, most of my stories are based in part or wholly on real life experiences. X

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Based on the title of this thread - lots of little parts of me sneak into my stories. For example, there's a reason why a character is a veteran, college student, knows a thing or two about computers, or that they often either work from home or travel for their job. At some point, I've done all those things. The same with I've driven a car across country. I know how to work a stick shift. I can cook a mean batch of pancakes . . .

So, I'm curious. How much does life play into the fantasies y'all post on here, and in what ways?

As for the sex part of things - it varies from "yeah, I've actually done this" to "well, that almost happened" to "okay, I've never done it, but I bet I can provide the reader with an accurate description of how it might go."

 

[CuttingEdge]

I am a real writer in real life, so this is a very scary proposition for me because real friends, family and neighbors read my books and stories, and not just online here.

The quick answer is, morsels and tidbits are sprinkled throughout of me for sure...

But my suggestion to everyone is to just be bold. I write so that readers can have a great reading experience, and after being timid in my first books, now I am more bold. If a character is like me, and it is something I would do...or something I like...it gets added because that is what the character would do in that situation.

And so what?

Yes, my readers (friends, family and neighbors) could deduce what my sexual likes are if they read enough of my sex scenes to piece it all together, but none confront me on it, because they have their own sexual likes. They just read it, enjoy it, and if they wonder, they do so appreciatively, but without conversation. So it really is okay.

Be bold my writing friends.

 

[VPKCC]

I would really like to post a story here, because this is the place that everyone seems to go to first when looking for erotic literature. My first offering -- one chapter of which is posted elsewhere where I think 12 people read it -- was never read by a human being here before being rejected by the bot.

It is based on truths from my life -- which I suspect is how all good writers* get the emotions and interpersonal interactions to feel real -- I altered things and inserted other things. Then I made the mistake of saying that it was based on a true story. Some combination of words triggered the bot, it was submitted in the huge Incest Taboo Category here.

*I'm not calling myself a good writer, just saying I'm trying to emulate them.

Now I don't think I should have to. But apparently I do have to stop here and say that the legal incestuous adult sibling relationship told in the story is a literary fabrication. There are 3,543,287,902 stories in the I - T category here, and not one of them says in a disclaimer: "in real life I did not marry my little sister."

Perhaps in Non Human the stories say: "I am not a Succubus," in a disclaimer.

There is a courtroom custody hearing scene in the story that deals with a two-year-old and a four-year-old. But the children are never actually present in the story. They are just the focal point of a discussion that demonstrates institutional idiocy, the duplicity of one main character, and how unethical people try to leverage situations. There is no discussion at all of underage contact. No allegations of abuse, just a groundless question of paternity and attendant marital fidelity in a divorce hearing.

I'm sure no human being would say the text as originally written violates any rule here. The bot said that it was underage and sent me a rejection letter. Two beta readers said that it may have triggered the bot because it contained words like 'child', 'two-year-old', 'four-year-old', 'incest', 'court ordered paternity test'. I modified the text to substitute years born for ages and forcing the reader to do the math.

Basically the scene the beta-readers thought was problematic was when the soon to be ex-husband of the female main character through his rode the short bus, socially promoted, idiot lawyer accuses the male main character of being the "true biological father" of their children (why is in the story). The court orders DNA testing and the soon to be ex's claim is disproven.

(The story based on my wife's divorce -- she helped me write the story -- we went to school together but we never dated back then. As an adult she worked in our family business. It is a tourist operation (we'll call it Ayre's Farm). 60% of the employees were actual family, the 40% who weren't were "adopted" and everyone's name tag read:

"XXX, Ayre
___son___"

"XXX, Ayre
_daughter_"

Ex was a laughable, controlling, anal retentive, Felix Unger. He wanted his wife to quit work after their second child was born. Things deteriorated and they ended up in divorce court where the world's dumbest lawyer claimed that I (son of the Ayre's Farm's owner) fathered their children. And -- get this -- part of the proof that we were siblings was our Ayre's Farm name tags. The court ordered all three of us to give blood for a paternity test.

Part of the claim that she was really my sister (daughter of the Ayre's Farm's owner) was that she was "too wealthy to deserve child support payments" from him. I'm not sure what authority the court really had to involve me in the proceedings. But once they did, I showed no mercy, and ripped him and his lawyer a great big bloody new one.

She and I laughed -- mostly at those two idiots but also at the court and the legal system in general. Then the dust settled and we dated and eventually married. In real life, we call each other "bro" and "sis" to this day and lie to people occasionally about being real siblings. Especially to his relatives who live in town. It's mean, but it's fun.)

 

[CyranoJ]

I don't have enough experience of the I-T category here to say much more than note that many of its most prominent adherents. fans and authors do NOT appear to have a problem with actual incest or some variant thereof appearing in stories. Not a few of them, including some authors here, are active defenders of (or deflectors of issues regarding) actual IRL incest. Never submitted to the category myself, though (traumatic) incest does turn up in one of my stories in NC/R. Best of luck ironing the issues out.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't have enough experience of the I-T category here to say much more than note that many of its most prominent adherents. fans and authors do NOT appear to have a problem with actual incest or some variant thereof appearing in stories. Not a few of them, including some authors here, are active defenders of (or deflectors of issues regarding) actual IRL incest. Never submitted to the category myself, though (traumatic) incest does turn up in one of my stories in NC/R. Best of luck ironing the issues out.

Maybe. Maybe not. I think many of the authors of incest stories see it as nothing more than a fantasy space in which to do some creative and fun exploration.

I don't endorse incest and have no personal experience with it, but I have no objection if consenting adults want to do whatever they want to do, whether it's incest or any other type of kinky behavior. And I have no objection to people writing or reading such stories if they give them pleasure, whether or not they want to engage in the behavior that's written about. The stories are fun. That's justification enough to write them and read them. I don't see any issues to iron out.

 

[CyranoJ]

Maybe. Maybe not.

Hey, man. If I ain't talking about you, I ain't talking about you. I have little doubt the people in question know exactly who they are. No need for you to feel seen.

 

[Trionyx]

Most every story I’ve written features an experience, event or location from my past. But I’ve just written one in which every single line had no basis in reality. So it can go either way.

 

[Athalia]

That's a hard question to answer. Most of my stories are the product of a very active fantasy, although the springboards for those fantasies come from real life and the people I've met over the years.

I liked that answer "I don't exist." Athalia doesn't exist, either. She's as much a part of my imagination as any of my characters. I create her, and she does the rest. She started out as a pen name, but as I write more stories, she became more of a persona... the person I put into my mental frame as I go about creating a story line and a character.

But there's a complication when people confuse Athalia, the person who creates the stories, with me, who created her. And it happens all the time, most often with women writers. I think it's because men are always on the prowl for the type of woman that my characters sometimes represent, and they erroneously conclude that I'd be as sexually liberated and desirable as my characters. Oh, would it were so! But I'm not.

I wasn't even her when I was young, although she was growing inside me all the time, trying to get out in one form or another. The only way I could appease her was to create a world inside my head, a mythical world where she might exist and be comfortable and try on personas like she'd try on dresses. And some of these personas end up as characters in her stories.

 

[galaxygoddess]

If it's awkward, it's probably me being realistic.

Elsewise, I have a VIVID imagination.

 

[jehoram]

The only way I could appease her was to create a world inside my head, a mythical world where she might exist and be comfortable and try on personas like she'd try on dresses. And some of these personas end up as characters in her stories.

That's an interesting way to describe the creative process. I'm thinking of Robert Heinlein's male MCs, which are almost interchangeable. It's like, as you say, they're wearing the same dress no matter which story they're in.

 

[BillyAndBetty]

..........

 

[Ian_Snow]

I find I'm more invested in writing sex if I find the scenario personally sexy, but I can't say as I do it a hundred percent of the time. By now, it's more like... maybe a fifth the time. But outside that, not very much. I like to explore different characters and backgrounds, so there's a wide spread of personalities that I can't say I relate to much.

 

[minoda]

I've leaned on my experience quite a bit

I re-read my older works recently and noticed the sex detail grew quite a lot. Not a coincidence that my sex experience has really increased as well. Of course I did get feedback from one woman I dated that said she needed longer sex scenes so she could get off to them and that has stuck with me as well.

I def work in quite a bit of fiction, but it's so enjoyable imagining the scenes when I have a character in real life I can imagine being involved. Feel like the scenes are more tangible.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I think that's the case with most fiction. It all comes from bits pieces we've got squirrelled away somewhere in our brain, that we might not have thought about in years. Then we're writing, and we realize that little memory that suddenly pops up out of nowhere, about something that happened or what someone said, would work perfectly in our story. A lot of what I write is usually something I've either experienced, or know someone who has, often without all the erotic bits, but not always.