I think I have a Problem.

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Maybe not really a problem, but a strange fixation. Whenever I'm writing a story I find, while the story itself is important, I am often more obsessed with trying to play with the readers emotions. I'll rewrite scenes because they were sad, but not enough to make someone cry. I aim to make readers angry on the characters behalf, I strive to keep them emotionally keyed, let them down just a little, then play it back up.

I'm wondering if it's strange. I know all writers have different motivation. Some do it because that story just needs to be writen. Some do it for entertainment. Some do it thinking it'll make them rich. I do it because I want to make people feel something.

Not to say I don't have the drive to write. It's there, and I know I wouldn't be happy if it wasn't such a big part of my life. I didn't even know how important what people were feeling was until I realized there was a pattern to the questions I asked my test group. No matter how excited they got about the fast pace, the action, the romance and everything in between, nothing made me happier then hearing them say 'God I hate that character! I want to kill her!" or "I had tears in my eyes when I read that scene."

I also noticed I'm starting to sound like a damn psychologist when I do my inquiry. Kinda twisted.

 

[Freefall_mc]

Are you kidding? With intent of the work being to move the reader, stir some emotion, make them crave more....you're doing what you're supposed to; unless you plan on writing for the "Scientific Journal" or something.
As in music, that's the first thing I would critique on. It just shows good character and story development.

Considering the audience, I was myself wondering how nonerotic pieces are viewed here. With a few well reviewed submissions from other people, it looks as if those are appreciated as well, by many.

I'm a novice...but that's my opinion. As far as the psychologically based questions...I wouldn't know unless I saw your questions. Care to invite me to your couch?

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Are you kidding? With intent of the work being to move the reader, stir some emotion, make them crave more....you're doing what you're supposed to; unless you plan on writing for the "Scientific Journal" or something.
As in music, that's the first thing I would critique on. It just shows good character and story development.

Considering the audience, I was myself wondering how nonerotic pieces are viewed here. With a few well reviewed submissions from other people, it looks as if those are appreciated as well, by many.

I'm a novice...but that's my opinion. As far as the psychologically based questions...I wouldn't know unless I saw your questions. Care to invite me to your couch?

LOL. I'll think about it.

The only reason I question it is because in most of the conversations I get in with writers it's all about sheer entertainment, and has nothing to do with anything deeper. I don't think I would be happy with a story that was amazing, but didn't lodge itself into someones heart.

I don't want people to like my characters. If they just like them, I feel I haven't done my part. They need to love or hate them (unless it's that innocent bystander that gets blown up. Him they can feel nothing for )

 

[sr71plt]

Maybe not really a problem, but a strange fixation. Whenever I'm writing a story I find, while the story itself is important, I am often more obsessed with trying to play with the readers emotions.

And you think this might be bad because . . . ?

 

[Freefall_mc]

For pure action oriented erotic fiction...ok...they have a representative point.
But again, arousal, for some, is based partially on anticipation, the unveiling, that hinted character flaw, secondary motivation, etc.

This is something I as well will need to watch; not getting carried away with anything too deep and thoughtful. Most likely, there are readers that are not analyzing for an epiphany within the first thirty minutes after a read.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

And you think this might be bad because . . . ?

Honestly, most likely because it seems a lot of proffesional writers just don't seem to care. Strangely enough I've noticed more writers on Lit that seem to be interested in the readers reactions, but I'm not sure how many people write with it as a focus.

I can't help it. When I'm around other writers I tend to try and find out if (corny as it sounds) I'm among kindred souls. Sometimes it seems there must be something wrong with me to be so attached to what I write. When my friends complain that I don't call or hang out and I say I'm in the middle of a book they don't get it. I have a habit of getting so wrapped up in a project that nothing else matters, and it takes a lot to put it aside and rejoin the 'real world'.

Call me what you will, but it's the truth. Thankfully I've developed thick skin digging into the industry so I can deal with whatever's thrown my way. So far anyway. Being so concerned about readers reactions is sure to have drawbacks along the way. I hope I'm ready for it.

Hell, I guess any reaction is better then nothing. Feel free to join the umpteen amount of people that tell me I need to get a life.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

For pure action oriented erotic fiction...ok...they have a representative point.
But again, arousal, for some, is based partially on anticipation, the unveiling, that hinted character flaw, secondary motivation, etc.

This is something I as well will need to watch; not getting carried away with anything too deep and thoughtful. Most likely, there are readers that are not analyzing for an epiphany within the first thirty minutes after a read.

It's good to know I'm not the only one. I think stroke fiction will be a problem in that aspect. How much do people really care that you have well developed characters? The question is, can you get them off?

(I know I can. I write good sex scenes. However it's gonna take some discipline to accept 'god that made me wet' as a compliment.)

Jesus, now I know why one of my rejections read 'This is too literary for our lists.' Maybe I'm taking things too serious.

 

[slyc_willie]

One of the best comments I've ever received was one that said, "OMG! He must die!" That was on Shock Radio, my Halloween story from a couple years ago. In a nutshell, the main character is a shock jock who barters with the devil to take the lives of his wife and daughter instead of his.

If you invoke a reaction from your readers -- fear, anger, sympathy, hope, whatever -- then you're doing something right. If you do it on purpose, even better.

 

[sr71plt]

It's good to know I'm not the only one. I think stroke fiction will be a problem in that aspect. How much do people really care that you have well developed characters? The question is, can you get them off?

(I know I can. I write good sex scenes. However it's gonna take some discipline to accept 'god that made me wet' as a compliment.)

Jesus, now I know why one of my rejections read 'This is too literary for our lists.' Maybe I'm taking things too serious.

What's wrong with doing both?

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

One of the best comments I've ever received was one that said, "OMG! He must die!" That was on Shock Radio, my Halloween story from a couple years ago. In a nutshell, the main character is a shock jock who barters with the devil to take the lives of his wife and daughter instead of his.

If you invoke a reaction from your readers -- fear, anger, sympathy, hope, whatever -- then you're doing something right. If you do it on purpose, even better.

Thank you. That makes me feel a little more normal, as far as normal goes when you're a writer. So much for saying humans want to be individuals.

Congrads on the reaction. To me there's no greater compliment then an extreme reaction.

 

[slyc_willie]

Thank you. That makes me feel a little more normal, as far as normal goes when you're a writer. So much for saying humans want to be individuals.

Congrads on the reaction. To me there's no greater compliment then an extreme reaction.

Yep. I get 'em all. "I hate him!" "This FRIGGIN made me cry." "This made me think about what's important in life."

It's cool enough when someone tells you a story turned them on. But when they tell you it helped them find closure with a departed loved one, or accept their kinky sexuality, or remind them that things can always get worse, that's the real reward. Better than a paycheck.

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

What's wrong with doing both?

Good question. I guess you could answer that better then me. I turned to erotica about three months ago, after writing urban fantasy and finally accepting the market was flooded. I got enough personal feedback from editors to know it wasn't my writing, more that the subject was a little...too edgy.

Can you write a good, emotion driven, erotica, and still reach people? I can't...and won't...dumb down my stories. I respect my audience, whether on Lit or elsewhere, and I strive to give them the best I can. Does that work even in this genre?

 

[Freefall_mc]

What's wrong with doing both?

Both would be ideal.
But come on now SR...haven't you ever just wanted a quickie? hmmm?

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

Yep. I get 'em all. "I hate him!" "This FRIGGIN made me cry." "This made me think about what's important in life."

It's cool enough when someone tells you a story turned them on. But when they tell you it helped them find closure with a departed loved one, or accept their kinky sexuality, or remind them that things can always get worse, that's the real reward. Better than a paycheck.

Slyc that is the best thing I've heard in awhile. I've had people tell me "OMG, you are gonna make so much money off of this!" and I feel nothing. One, I'm a realist. I know getting rich off writing is a long shot. Two, even if I did get rich, I know it wouldn't make me happy. How? I've been through the seduction of "I'm rich, fuck me and your life will be perfect." Doesn't sway me. If my writing makes me rich, swell, all the better. But to my mind I better have earned it.

 

[slyc_willie]

Can you write a good, emotion driven, erotica, and still reach people? I can't...and won't...dumb down my stories. I respect my audience, whether on Lit or elsewhere, and I strive to give them the best I can. Does that work even in this genre?

I think you're asking a question you already know the answer to, you just want to hear it from someone else. So . . .

The answer is "yes."

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

I think you're asking a question you already know the answer to, you just want to hear it from someone else. So . . .

The answer is "yes."

Great. Now I sound like an attention seeker. That's not what I wanted. Seriously I want to believe it, but it's easier as a reader, not a writer, to judge. I want my readers to be happy, no matter what genre I'm writing in. I'm in the middle of a book while I'm asking this, and I keep wondering if it will seem too self gratificating if I'm spending to much time developing when I should just get to the point.

If that makes any sense.

 

[Freefall_mc]

I have no idea what the copy write laws are here, but honestly...

Would you submit what you thought was your most provocative piece here, or would you include it as a scene within your book?

enhance the book, reasonably
Tolkien always was a bit wordy on the setting, even for fantasy.

 

[slyc_willie]

Great. Now I sound like an attention seeker. That's not what I wanted. Seriously I want to believe it, but it's easier as a reader, not a writer, to judge. I want my readers to be happy, no matter what genre I'm writing in. I'm in the middle of a book while I'm asking this, and I keep wondering if it will seem too self gratificating if I'm spending to much time developing when I should just get to the point.

If that makes any sense.

Hey, we're all attention-seekers in one way or another. It takes at least some nerve to publish anything, even if it's to a free site like Lit.

But you're right. It's easier to judge as a reader, not a writer. So stay the writer and publish what you want. If you get a following, great. But you've already said you don't want to change your style, so what's the worry?

 

[TE999]

I always enjoy comments on my stories such as: "Poor-----,where's a love for her? "Are they going to get married?" "He/she deserved to die." "She's a cheating slut."

That tells me the reader's are involved with the characters. I write for fun and if someone else enjoys what I have written, I feel my efforts are worthwhile.

 

[Darkniciad]

My best stuff has all been geared to tug at the heart-strings, or gnaw on your soul. Danica breaking Celes' curse still gets even me misty eyed every time I read back through it. Almost every comment on Ebon Genesis was a reader saying that I was evil for making them pity Zoraster -- my mad, utterly evil, manipulative and twisted bastard of an antagonist in Danica.

Nothing could have made me smile more

 

[slyc_willie]

My best stuff has all been geared to tug at the heart-strings, or gnaw on your soul. Danica breaking Celes' curse still gets even me misty eyed every time I read back through it. Almost every comment on Ebon Genesis was a reader saying that I was evil for making them pity Zoraster -- my mad, utterly evil, manipulative and twisted bastard of an antagonist in Danica.

Nothing could have made me smile more

I hear ya. I still get an occasional feedback on Chapter 12 of A Royal Sacrifice, in which Bagdemagus (a wizard) gives an unwitting boy a supposed "cure" for his mother's illness. In actuality, it's a poison which the son slowly feeds his mother throughout the night, until she dies in the morning, effectively killed by her own son.

The feedback is always something like, "I can't believe how evil he is!" "He made a little boy kill his own mother!" And of course, the obligatory "Yer a sick asshole 2 write somthing like that. U must B evil 2."

I'll admit, I took a sick pleasure in writing that little scene. If there was any doubt about my wizard's evil, it was banished after that.

 

[Darkniciad]

There are almost a mind-numbing series of black scenes in Danica, and I still managed to shock people with Zoraster's cruelty at times. I always knew when I got them, because the mail would just pour in, demanding the most horrific death possible for him.

Then I throw Ebon Genesis at them and totally twist them the other way. Ah -- so sweet

 

[jacks4u]

Bianca,

I tend to agree with all the above. The one story I have published here, though it had problems, and received poor to middling marks was a success in my book. oh, sure it could have been written better! but with comments like "That'll teach her!" and "What a fucking child that guy is" - almost every reader was left with a fairly strong emotion of one sort or another.

I'd like to point you towards a narrative style that's seldom seen here: the "Unreliable Witness" - Google it!- but in a nutshell, the narrator, or at least one of them, lies to the reader, and their lie is eventually revealed (to the attentive reader) either by the liar's own voice, or by another's description of the event. here, reader emotion can be tugged this way and that by intentional falsehood, and then yanked back when the truth is finally revealed.

I've never written in that style, but I'm on the lookout for a story that this could be used in.

In a first person/present story, I even considered the narrator offering the reader a beer, while he told the story...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There is a direct correlation between the number of readers you have and the variety of their responses to what you write. The Arabs say, THROW A ROCK INTO A PACK OF DOGS, AND THE ONE YOU HIT HOWLS. To hit a specific target, though, you have to know what stimuli they react to, or arent aware of.

To me the magic of writing is exposing feelings the reader is unaware of.

 

[poppy_cock]

Honestly, most likely because it seems a lot of proffesional writers just don't seem to care.

I suspect it simply doesn't occur to most professional writers to tell you that they agonise over their readers' reactions. Of course they do. There'd be no point in writing stuff for other people to read otherwise, would there? I guess there might be some writers who only write stuff because they want to hear how good they are, but most of us write because we have to. No choice in the matter, LOL. The muse comes calling and we have to start scribbling stuff down.

I have a habit of getting so wrapped up in a project that nothing else matters, and it takes a lot to put it aside and rejoin the 'real world'.

Yep, absolutely with you there. I don't find that strange at all.

Hell, I guess any reaction is better then nothing. Feel free to join the umpteen amount of people that tell me I need to get a life.

Wouldn't dream of it. Cos that would mean I'd have to get a life too, right?