Is this a game changer for you?

[SimonDoom]

The reality bar has not been set high at this site. Readers have their quirks about what they will and will not accept as plausible, but, in general, they are willing to put up with a lot of implausible, contrived sex. And that's fine with me. I'm one of those readers.

Personally, I don't require a high degree of realism. I assume most stories on this site have fantasy elements. I look for a few things in a story: 1) that I not be asked to suspend disbelief too many times, about too many things, 2) that, once the fantasy elements are set in place, the story works reasonably well and consistently within the fantasy, and 3) that the author throw in some details here and there that help give the fantasy the appearance or "feel" of reality. Before mom jumps her randy 18-year-old son's bones after getting into the back seat of the car with him, I want to know a little about her -- not a lot, just a little -- to make it feel like she's somewhere in the neighborhood of being a real person. A few realistic details, even in a story that's fantastic, go a long way toward heightening the eroticism of a story for me.

 

[CyranoJ]

I have read some good and some no so good stories on Literotica. I have also read some that were based on an implausible or unrealistic set of circumstances. Some of these were otherwise well written and entertaining but not believable so I lost interest. Is this type of thing a game changer for you. I won't be specific because I don't want to step on anyone's toes.

A little verve goes a long way. If there's some vitality to the storytelling, whether it's crude or sophisticated, realistic or fantastical, I can get into it.

 

[CyranoJ]

Also, I'm with ogg about internal consistency. So for example:

My personal pet peeve was Superman 3, when he froze the entire surface of a lake, and carried the ice over a fire, to save Jimmy Olsen.

Even worse for me was Returns -- where a whole storyline about Superman being shanked with Kryptonite and then left to die on an island of Kryptonite ends with him lifting the whole island of Kyrptonite. Is the stuff his weakness or isn't it? Pick one.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Even worse for me was Returns -- where a whole storyline about Superman being shanked with Kryptonite and then left to die on an island of Kryptonite ends with him lifting the whole island of Kyrptonite. Is the stuff his weakness or isn't it? Pick one.

Uhhh... Superman has always rated 0 on the reality scale. And low on the consistency scale. The physics doesn't work, the story lines contradict... it's always been for 7-10 year old boys to be super-impressed with super-strength and super-masculinity and never intended to make a lick of sense.

Comic books never did work for me.

Slightly amusing though: http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html (Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex)

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

I'd agree with you there - you rightly pointed out earlier, just coz a reader hasn't done it, doesn't mean it hasn't been done.

Our stories are true. Of course much of the words spoken by others is a guess. Hell I may forget the exact words you just told me.

Pretty much everything that happens in my stories happened (to a greater or lesser extent) to me or to people I know or knew. It's not my fault that some of the readers ran with a different crowd.

This also hits the nail on the head about us and our stories. Even we question doing some of the things I wrote long ago. If a person doesn't get out they may never have the opportunity for a once in a life time kinky adventure.
What we did in our stories took many years and many boring weekends.
At our age we are simply trying to share things in hope that a few others try similar versions. With so many hidden cameras much of it is no longer possible. Also people seemed different back then. Not so much hate or worry about AIDS, etc.

 

[SimonDoom]

Uhhh... Superman has always rated 0 on the reality scale. And low on the consistency scale. The physics doesn't work, the story lines contradict... it's always been for 7-10 year old boys to be super-impressed with super-strength and super-masculinity and never intended to make a lick of sense.

Comic books never did work for me.

Slightly amusing though: http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html (Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex)

The thing that bugs me is the superhero "universe" movies. A universe with multiple superheroes, all with different powers, is a universe where the laws of physics have been thrown out the window and anything goes. In that universe nothing really can be "super". Those movies can be good for giggles, like Guardians of the Galaxy, or Deadpool, but that's about it.

 

[CyranoJ]

Uhhh... Superman has always rated 0 on the reality scale. And low on the consistency scale.

No doubt. But even for Supes it was an extreme example. (Of course it's still nothing on all the wacky stuff that happened in Silver Age Supes comics.)

The thing that bugs me is the superhero "universe" movies. A universe with multiple superheroes, all with different powers, is a universe where the laws of physics have been thrown out the window and anything goes.

Something that's usually true of tights-and-capes content in general. But the Marvel movies are particulrly bad for it. There's no sense of threat in any of the "action" because there's no sense of rules, no underling weight to any of it. It's like watching an incredibly expensive Eighties cartoon.

 

[Handley_Page]

Uhhh... Superman has always rated 0 on the reality scale. And low on the consistency scale. The physics doesn't work, the story lines contradict... it's always been for 7-10 year old boys to be super-impressed with super-strength and super-masculinity and never intended to make a lick of sense.

Comic books never did work for me.

I always reckoned that the Batman was better. Superb ( ! ) athlete, ,
skilled engineer and even an inventor, his comic world was usually quite "real".
I went off Superman in about 1958, after "Super x x x" comics were followed by "Superdog", "Jimmy Olsen" [Superman's Friend] , and then (Heaven help me) "Supergirl" (the original song wasn't bad, though).
Talk about a rip-off !

 

[GoldenCojones]

I'm always grossed out when characters in a story have sex with no protection or without discussing their status. It's funny because it's such a not sexy thing to write about but if it's not discussed I spend the whole story wondering when they'll find out they got an STI.

Um, you do realize that characters in a story are not real, right? They only way they get an STD or an unwanted pregnancy is if the writer writes it. And, unless it is part of the plot, most writers won't do that and even if they do, these characters are not contagious to real people.

Oh, well. Hey we all have our little weird kinks, so rock on man. Rock on.

 

[GoldenCojones]

True, but I reiterate that, even on "real world" categories, complaining readers are wrong about what is plausible/believable for that story scenario far more often than they think they are.

Funny thing is, you are right. I got a comment on one of my stories that said something like, "This story was completely unbelievable. No one cheats on their spouse."

I about laughed my ass off. How naive can a person really be?

 

[TriadWriter]

I have read some good and some no so good stories on Literotica. I have also read some that were based on an implausible or unrealistic set of circumstances. Some of these were otherwise well written and entertaining but not believable so I lost interest. Is this type of thing a game changer for you. I won't be specific because I don't want to step on anyone's toes.

As with any literature, erotic or otherwise, I don't look for realism in fantasy. Doing so would be (to me) no different than looking for truth in fiction. When it comes to fantasy, the story can take whatever shape the writer wants it to. For example: In a fictional story, a woman might become pregnant from an act, much sooner than they actually would in real life. Using that particular example, I can tell you why that could occur: As a plot device (one that's not used because of readers wanting a more realistic story, again, despite that it's total fiction), as a joke in-story, as a cliffhanger to bring readers back for part two, or as any combo of the three, or maybe the subject wasn't impregnated by the guy she fucked at all (which nobody ever considers), maybe it was another guy.

The point is, I don't take a fantasy story and expect realism. Don't get me wrong, realism does help in a lot of circumstances, but to hold fantasy to such a limited thing as what could happen in real life (realism), is to hold the genre to unrealistic expectations. If we, as readers, were to expect realistic scenarios in every story, then writers would either give up, or even worse adapt a perfectly good story to suit the needs or wants of the readers, and that's not really what writing is about. Writing is self-expression of both idea, and thought, an extension of the writer's self, including their imagination (which doesn't follow realism either).

Obviously, everyone can hold whatever interests they want, and I'm not trying to say otherwise, but a writer cannot please everyone, realism or not, and I think that's definitely something to consider as a reader when asking one-self the question: "Is this a deal breaker?"
Of course, as mentioned before, everyone will have a different answer to that question, and that's perfectly ok, no-where does any rule book say that every story should satisfy everyone, nor does it say everyone should have the same taste in literature.

In any case, that's my opinion on the matter, long winded as it may be.

 

[Hypoxia]

My reality fetish flavors but does not control my writing. I try to make the 'real' stuff as real as possible. The rest is more-or-less fabulous horseshit, especially the Incest and Group tales and every stroker. This isn't objective journalism. I try to evoke psycho-sexual reactions. Reality only carries a story so far.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You can lose your audience pretty quickly if you write something that defies logic and is totally unrealistic. I have to be especially careful as I specialize in writing erotic fiction set in the past, and can destroy my story if I make a glaring anachronism.

For example, it is perfectly good to write a story set on the Titanic. But don't write a Titanic story that involves a group of passengers swinging, engaging in group sex and hardcore BDSM, the females in the group having completely shaved away all their pubic hair. People simply did not behave like that in 1912, so no matter how well the erotic scenes are written, this story will not ring true with readers as it is too unrealistic.

OMG. You are SO evil. Now I can't get that out of my head. I am SO going to have to try that (the Titanic thing except it might not be on the Titanic) and see what I can do to make that one plausible.

I'm thinking out loud here.

French colonial on his way back to France from Saigon on a british passenger ship, circa 1912, with his wife and his beautiful young vietnamese mistress (shaved of course) - his charming wife takes a liking to a handsome young american on the ship (morphs into swinging circa 1912...), French colonial delights in shocking the staid english colonials with tales of Saigon tail - brings in his vietnamese mistress to demonstrate (those victorian englishmen weren't all so staid) .... all related by the vietnamese girl. I can do this!!!! And we all know the victorian english were into their little kinks like bdsm... or we can make it plausible that some were... some of those victorians...

Plausibility? You can make almost anything plausible with the right story and the right words. Incremental steps, a little at a time, gradually suspending disbelief until the reader is so hooked that they WANT to believe, no matter how implausible. I'm going to try this one.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm willing to bet there were sex partiers, gang bangers, swingers, and BDSM aficionados on board the Titantic doing their thing before it hit that iceberg. We don't tend to think our ancestors had a good ole time with their sex, but guess what.

 

[oggbashan]

1912? The Edwardian Era?

BDSM? Yes.
Hardcore BDSM? Yes.
Group sex? Yes.
Swinging? Yes.
Shaved pubic hair? Possible but usually after a pubic lice infestation.

What went on at Country House parties was not known at the time.

Now? We know that King Edward had several concurrent mistresses. We know that casual sex at Country Houses was normal behaviour even if married couples were both doing it. Aristocratic marriages were still dynastic. Playing around was acceptable.

BDSM and very sadistic practices were continuing from Victorian times when there were prostitutes who specialised in whipping, correction and bondage. It was usually the men who were tied up and whipped, not the women, but whipping was known as "The English Vice".

First Class Passengers on the Titanic could have behaved as they did at Country House parties. They didn't care what the servants (or cabin crew) knew as long as they didn't talk - and they wouldn't because they might get a larger gratuity for being discreet.

Second Class and Steerage Passengers would have been horrified at the sexual behaviour of First Class Passengers - if they had known about it.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Swinging is generally a bunch of people who openly embrace (pun not really intended) sex crossing the usual relationship lines.

In Victorian times - in all times - plenty of sex crossed relationship lines. But it wasn't openly accepted. Gentlemen kept it quiet, sometimes discussing it with other gentlemen, if at all. Women didn't discuss it. The silence was (at best) less shame than a desire to protect the woman from societal rejection, which could get intense if things became public. (Men actually got dissed for it too, but it didn't often affect their economic prospects, which definitely wasn't true for women.)

They were cheaters, not swingers.

The Bohemian movement in Paris showed up towards the end of the Victorian era and into the Edwardian. They were shocking and romantic but the relationships still tended to be one-at-a-time, if short and dramatic.

Oddly, the current social scene in the US at least looks very Bohemian. It's as if we've jumped back 100 years. Relationships tend to be monogamous, but short lived, looking something like serial marriage, lasting a semester or year; there's a sort of disdain for the idea of real marriage (the disdain rarely lasts deep into the 20s), and shaking off old cultural norms (except monogamy, which rarely goes out of style with at least females) is important. Anything with anyone as long as it's sincere and genuine is the mantra, now as then. The more I think about it, the more identical it all looks.

I don't like conflating swinging with cheating. In swinging, everyone is presumably signing up for the activities and the only rules being broken are society's, not those of individual loyalties. Chloe's proposed tale is bohemian, not so much victorian, and yeah, 1912 could work. But if I wrote it, the vietnamese girl would paint her recollections in melancholy, even while she understated the wrongs done to her dignity. I'd make readers mad at themselves for finding what was happening in the story so hot. Pulling it off is a little out of my reach though.

 

[TriadWriter]

I'm willing to bet there were sex partiers, gang bangers, swingers, and BDSM aficionados on board the Titantic doing their thing before it hit that iceberg. We don't tend to think our ancestors had a good ole time with their sex, but guess what.

I've always found the assumption funny, to be honest. People, for some reason, think that human tendency that's more public today, was invented more recently, but as stated, it's human tendency, and a common one at that, so I guarantee it's existed far longer than anyone realizes, whether or not it was public knowledge, that's another thing entirely.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

We're not here to make readers believe in fairy tales. We joined to share some games we kept hidden for years. It was either burn them or post them someplace while I still can.
Yes burn them has been suggested.

Over 2000 years ago people were doing all the things others were doing 2 minutes ago. Great leaders had 200 wives and tossed virgins into fire. There were no vibrators but dildos have been around since caveman learned to cut rocks. Ben Wa Balls didn't need batteries.
The Titanic sunk because everyone was swapping and fucking doggie style on the Port side.

Strangely our last stories are getting more good comments about things readers have also done similar. The sad part is Lit members are shy and comment via emails.
So we are getting more believers. I haven't even gotten to the good TRUE stories yet. It took a hundred vacations to make one game happen and that wasn't always the way I'd pictured it.

 

[RetroFan]

There's a significant difference between writing pure fantasy stories and stories with a real world setting that feature events that make them implausible. Real world stories should feature events that could actually happen. Are the events unlikely? Possibly, but that's what makes them interesting. But could they happen? Yes.

For example, in one of my stories set in Australia an ordinary young guy meets a very pretty up and coming soap opera actress and they have sex. Is this likely to happen? Probably not. But it could happen, and I wrote the story so they have a plausible reason for meeting, they find common ground and like each other and put two good-looking 19-year-olds who share mutual attraction with each other and something interesting might just happen.

In another of my stories set in London, a young woman's carelessness leads to an encounter with a ghost in her flat that turns into the man of her dreams and they have sex. This story is pure fantasy, but the reader knows this and can enjoy the story despite knowing these events can never happen in real life.

But writing stories with real world settings where the events are too outlandish to be believable is where the problems arise. For example, a real-world story set in an office - an ordinary corporate office like many others - where all the female staff attend work with bare feet for reasons never explained is a good example of this type of story.