I'm not comfortable with something.

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've tried to hint at it before in a couple of other threads.

In life, relationships are generally two people with similar lifestyles and interests. How or where the two meet can vary wildly, but they rarely stray outside that couple. No matter who they are, or how they meet, they never involve family, almost never multiple people (without breaking up) or any number of things we see here. We'll leave out any discussion of fantasy characters or creatures for obvious reasons.

They people involved are never the perfect human specimens portrayed here. I've been around some really 'beautiful' people and they can be extremely difficult and downright unpleasant.

But why can't some of us reflect that in our writings? Why do we go to extremes in character descriptions (eg., impossibly perfect appearance and stamina) and situations that are not possible, likely illegal in most places and even if not, literally no one would engage in?

Yes, there are clubs, 'dungeons', groups, lifestyle resorts and what not, but what real percentage of humans participate? Stories here paint the picture that these things are the norm and almost all adults partake. In fact, the numbers are likely quite small. I get the fantasy and fiction/dream angle.

And yes, I know some strive to write stories more based on real life, even their own.



I'm not sure where I'm going here because my mind isn't well any more. It drifts uncontrollably. I may add more later.

 

[IsabellaSantiago]

I think it's because the appeal of reading is that there is an element of escapism in it. If you describe something so mundane and so ordinary, then that's exactly what it is.

All the stories I've written so far have been 'real' experiences, but there will be some exaggeration of some aspects and some details left out because I feel things work better in the narrative. Kind of like how you'd airbrush a photo to make someone look more beautiful or handsome. Everyone knows what normal everyday stuff looks and feels like, so of course they would look for interesting and extraordinary.

 

[Dodola]

I think it's partly because people get bored with normal, which is why they would seek out a site like this to begin with.
Also, I think the fact that it's mostly men looking for gratification who write and read here, plays a role in the physically perfect and often unusually open-minded characters, found in most stories.

 

[Voboy]

...these are fantasies, generally...

 

[sijopunk]

I am writing this from a dungeon right now.

@StillStunned put a bunch of us here and made us write fanfic. If we disobeyed he made us write it in 2nd person.

 

[Duil2]

Personally, I read and write to expose myself to things that I have never and will never do.

I love a murder mystery but I will never murder nor be a murder detective and I hate the thought of someone being murdered but the escapism (as mentioned) and the fantasy (also mentioned) of putting yourself into some life experience that is beyond your ordinary is not only entertaining but can open the mind to possibilities not previously conceived.

I've learned a lot about myself by exploring other people's existence and even lives that have probably never existed.
It broadens our horizons, I think in the safest way possible.

 

[TropicalTwist]

If I may posit where your drifting mind is going. You said you understood the fantasy angle, and that others work towards a more realistic tale. Is it then possible that the thing bothering you is more akin to a fantasy for fantasy's sake, rather than a journey to where these extremes are eventually acheived? Where these everyday people are driven and accomplish the "outlandish" things?

 

[Rob_Royale]

Luckily, I don't let other's opinions affect my writing or enjoyment thereof. YMMV.

 

[SimonDoom]

Others have said this. The stories here are mostly erotic escapist fantasy. Not all of them, but many or most of them. That's for the most part what I like to write.

That being the case, however, I challenge the OP's premise. Many stories here are NOT about perfect people. There are plenty of options for stories that have a more realistic feel. We have to be careful about generalizations about a site that features 150 or more new stories every day.

 

[deathlynx]

With my writing, it depends on the story in question. Some of the stories are pure fantasy, or use tropes that pretty much require relatively "perfect" people. The superhero stories are basically comic books so the characters are expected to be beautiful and fairly one dimensional. When you start to get outside of those types of tropes, I generally try to make more reasonable and believable characters.

A good deal of the time I tend to describe them physically as "average". Heck, in a recent one the term "Rubenesque" comes up. While most stories on lit do tend to be fantasies, with the relevant perfect people, it's certainly not all of them. If you stumble on an author that subverts the norm, then follow them and cherish those differences.

 

[RejectReality]

You're not going to get more down-to-earth couples engaging in stuff that isn't fantasy wish fulfillment, because it's not rewarded by the readership. Supply and demand. It's a niche market.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I assume the commonest fantasies involve beautiful people with big cocks/breasts who are permanently gagging for it.

Other fantasies and stories about people with personalities do get represented, but are harder to find here. For reference, don't bother looking for 'realistic' as a tag, because the stories that come up ain't.

Ironically, fanfic tends to have a wider range of looks etc despite the media it's based on. Possibly because the authors are using the shortcut of known characters so don't need to describe their looks, and can focus on ideas of how those people might act in various situations, given what is known in canon - so you end up with people mostly acting like real people, despite distractions like Omegaverses...

 

[Venerable58]

I've tried to hint at it before in a couple of other threads.

In life, relationships are generally two people with similar lifestyles and interests. How or where the two meet can vary wildly, but they rarely stray outside that couple. No matter who they are, or how they meet, they never involve family, almost never multiple people (without breaking up) or any number of things we see here. We'll leave out any discussion of fantasy characters or creatures for obvious reasons.

They people involved are never the perfect human specimens portrayed here. I've been around some really 'beautiful' people and they can be extremely difficult and downright unpleasant.

But why can't some of us reflect that in our writings? Why do we go to extremes in character descriptions (eg., impossibly perfect appearance and stamina) and situations that are not possible, likely illegal in most places and even if not, literally no one would engage in?

Yes, there are clubs, 'dungeons', groups, lifestyle resorts and what not, but what real percentage of humans participate? Stories here paint the picture that these things are the norm and almost all adults partake. In fact, the numbers are likely quite small. I get the fantasy and fiction/dream angle.

And yes, I know some strive to write stories more based on real life, even their own.



I'm not sure where I'm going here because my mind isn't well any more. It drifts uncontrollably. I may add more later.

Well said! There's something to be said for the 'lady (girl) next door' types. Presumably average but anything but average. And I presume the same could be said for the 'man next door'.

 

[sijopunk]

But why can't some of us reflect that in our writings? Why do we go to extremes in character descriptions (eg., impossibly perfect appearance and stamina) and situations that are not possible, likely illegal in most places and even if not, literally no one would engage in?

Yes, there are clubs, 'dungeons', groups, lifestyle resorts and what not, but what real percentage of humans participate? Stories here paint the picture that these things are the norm and almost all adults partake. In fact, the numbers are likely quite small. I get the fantasy and fiction/dream angle.

IMO, this is likely true in general but less likely true among authors that hang out on AH. My guess is this forum attracts the most dedicated craftspeople who are not doing much of what you're seeing, and when they do they've put their own fresh spin on it. And it's easy to abuse a trope when you're newer and don't know where the line between "trope" and "cliche" is (I'm guilty of this).

Still, I've been on a bit of a deep dive about tropes lately and I found a couple that I've been inadvertently overusing, so it's always worth looking at my work and seeing whether the patterns that emerge are "me leaning on a trope" or "my authorial voice". Personally, I found that I overuse the "short girl" trope and don't add any of my own insights or experiences as someone who isn't tall ... I just have a lot of short girls hooking up with taller guys and I can't explain it (well, I can explain it, I just don't ever explain it in my stories).

 

[Ianus4]

I've tried to hint at it before in a couple of other threads.

In life, relationships are generally two people with similar lifestyles and interests. How or where the two meet can vary wildly, but they rarely stray outside that couple. No matter who they are, or how they meet, they never involve family, almost never multiple people (without breaking up) or any number of things we see here. We'll leave out any discussion of fantasy characters or creatures for obvious reasons.

They people involved are never the perfect human specimens portrayed here. I've been around some really 'beautiful' people and they can be extremely difficult and downright unpleasant.

But why can't some of us reflect that in our writings? Why do we go to extremes in character descriptions (eg., impossibly perfect appearance and stamina) and situations that are not possible, likely illegal in most places and even if not, literally no one would engage in?

Yes, there are clubs, 'dungeons', groups, lifestyle resorts and what not, but what real percentage of humans participate? Stories here paint the picture that these things are the norm and almost all adults partake. In fact, the numbers are likely quite small. I get the fantasy and fiction/dream angle.

And yes, I know some strive to write stories more based on real life, even their own.



I'm not sure where I'm going here because my mind isn't well any more. It drifts uncontrollably. I may add more later.

I think I understand what you mean. @Arcadia wrote a wonderful short story about something similar, titled Sunny Afternoons.
.

 

[Writer61]

I consume a lot of fiction, mostly crime, spy/thrillers, and sci-fi/fantasy.

Taking the first category as an example, the murder rate is probably far higher than it is in reality in the UK, and on television, the series Midsomer Murders famously has a far higher murder rate (32 per million) than in the UK. The second category is probably overstated in fiction, and the third is definitely unrealistic.

In other words, much regular fiction is exaggerated, so why should erotica be 'holier than the pope'?

 

[Erozetta]

I aim to not make my characters perfect. Either in appearance or demeanor.

They fuck up. They don't like themselves usually. They cheat. They can be cruel. They aren't picture perfect models or tiny college girls or teenagers. The men aren't super muscular or well endowed, they don't have chiselled features. They are just people. Usually some amalgamation of people from my life.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Considering there has been at least four burglaries in my neighborhood (including me) in one single night, plus a lady selling drugs caught right across the street of me, I'd be putting at least three tablespoons of salt into the razor blade soup that I call my neon-noir stories before labeling them fantasies. There used to be nightly shootouts up to about ten to thirteen years ago, so...

But if I'm being fair, what I write is children's books compared to what I've witnessed. Fantasies are like warfare: all is fair. The more taboo they get, the people who resist those the most are the ones who fall for it the biggest.

 

[Soixenta]

One matter to consider about a character's perfect appearance is the narrator's perspective. Beautiful is different to everyone, and as soon as emotions, or sexual urges, become involved the matter is skewed even further.

 

[yowser]

Except for a couple deliberate parodic pieces, I'd have to go way back in my catalog to find a 2-D character. Even my demons have quirks.

Mostly they are folks who live too much in their heads, get confused easily, are puzzled by how and what arouses them, and still try like hell to get to the promised land.

Go figure.

 

[THBGato]

I've always thought that @Kumquatqueen does a great job of writing real, fallible people who are far from perfect.

Lesbian stories written by actual lesbians (and red garters) likewise are rarely concerned with their characters being perfect.

Perhaps you're just reading in the wrong places?

Hope your health improves soon!

 

[Britva415]

why can't some of us reflect that in our writings?

Find the ones who can.

 

[IWroteThis]

But why can't some of us reflect that in our writings?

I think a big problem is your word choice. It's not that they can't, it's that they choose not to, at least on this site.

Actually, there a lot of "slice of life" stories out that meet your criteria. They just are on sites like RoyalRoad (or ScribbleHub if a bit more spicy), where they can draw more attention and are easier to monetize on Amazon.

Personally, writing is an escape similar to reading. The main difference is that I have a bit more control over the path it follows. It really wouldn't be escapism if I just wrote the same stuff I'm looking to escape from…

 

[Britva415]

I think a big problem is your word choice. It's not that they can't, it's that they choose not to, at least on this site.

It's also kind of snobby. "Some of us" is just a euphemism for "tHeM"

 

[bbcbarry9033]

Personally, I read and write to expose myself to things that I have never and will never do.

I love a murder mystery but I will never murder nor be a murder detective and I hate the thought of someone being murdered but the escapism (as mentioned) and the fantasy (also mentioned) of putting yourself into some life experience that is beyond your ordinary is not only entertaining but can open the mind to possibilities not previously conceived.

I've learned a lot about myself by exploring other people's existence and even lives that have probably never existed.
It broadens our horizons, I think in the safest way possible.

Excellent point. Seems people generally don't have a problem with murder mysteries where people are killed, or watching a good shoot-em-up on TV.