Just a couple of questions from a new author

[JulieBlueBelle]

I've been reading erotic literature and magazines for over 10 years. I've also always liked to write, and for the last several months, I've had an idea for a story I want to write (that I've actually already started on and submitted the first segment). However, since being on this site, I've come up with a few more ideas that I want to get started on before I lose the flow of the story in my mind (it's been known to happen).

So my first question is-- would you recommend working more than one story line simultaneously? (i.e. submitting the first chapter of another story before I get back to the one I've already started) I think that would also keep me from getting bored with my characters.

I also know that as long as everything is legal (adult, no bestiality, etc.), there are pretty much no restrictions on what is acceptable here. I also know that majority preference plays into what does well, and I don't want to write something that will not be well-liked by my readers. That said, I'm a mostly stay-at-home mom with an eighteen month old. I watch children's shows all day. You and I both know that the main actors on those shows are adults.

So my second question is-- Even if the actors I fantasize about are adults (mainly Joe from Blue's clues, who happens to be the same age as my husband), do you think many people would be put off that they come from children's shows?

I would appreciate input of any kind. Thanks.

 

[kromen]

As far as your first question, write only what you can handle. I was working on five stories at once and spread myself really thin, not putting as much substance as I wanted to with each tale. I put a few on the back burner and ended up completing them to my satisfaction.
Pertaining to the second question, as long as everyone is of age, it shouldn't be a problem. I remember the story arc on HBO's Oz when the inmates would gather around the television to watch a children's show because the host has large breasts. Have fun.

 

[CWatson]

So my first question is-- would you recommend working more than one story line simultaneously? (i.e. submitting the first chapter of another story before I get back to the one I've already started) I think that would also keep me from getting bored with my characters.

I personally wouldn't, but I find it hard to multi-task. Your mileage may vary. Experiment and see what best suits you. Every writer is different.

I don't want to write something that will not be well-liked by my readers.

With all due respect, what readers? You have one submission up, and it's been available for less than 48 hours. You start to have "readers" when somebody reads what you've written and says, "This is good, let me read something else she's done," and they, you know, can.

This is not meant to be disparaging. I wish you a long and happy life as a writer and hope you have an entire continent's worth of readers. But the point is that you don't really have any yet, and won't for a bit. Furthermore, "your" readers are your readers: they like what you write. They like your particular combination of plot, character development, genre and (in our case) hot sex. So you probably can't (for instance) trade readers with me, or with bluedragon, or with brightlyiburn, or with ChicagoBob, because each of us has a different angle, a different style, a different focus--to use the modern buzzword, a different "demographic."

Every writer has a demographic built into them. Bluedragon has an exotic viewpoint; he has experience being both inside and outside American culture, and that perspective underlies everything he writes. BIB is also an outsider because she is deeply passionate, with a penchant for drama; her characters are similar, and tend to have rather outlandish names (she could make a fortune writing romance novels). I'm somewhere in between them; I know what it's like to be an outsider, and I write with a strong emphasis on character development and romance, with less on sex. That's just how I'm wired--how the three of us are wired. And people have complained to all three of us, saying, "Why can't you be more mainstream," and we have always answered, "I don't want to: this is what I was born to write."

And even more than that, going more "mainstream" is the same as "pandering". Or, to use the modern buzzword, "selling out."

So here's the point I've been so ponderously laboring towards: your original pre-conception, that you need to go to the readers, is backwards. Do not go to them. In fact, forget them entirely. Seriously, do not court them, do not try to attract them, do not try to please them. If you do, you'll be driven mad, because this one wants anal, this one hates anal but loves incest, this one hates incest but loves bondage, and some guys just like science-fiction and wish you'd stop wasting time with sex. You can't please them. So don't try. Instead, please yourself. Write what you want, when you want it, because you want it. Write well and genuinely. Do this, and the readers will come. They will come to you. And that's how you get readers: not because you want them, but because they want you.

Or, to summarize: you can't write something that will not be liked by your readers. If they don't like it, they just stopped being your reader.

So my second question is-- Even if the actors I fantasize about are adults (mainly Joe from Blue's clues, who happens to be the same age as my husband), do you think many people would be put off that they come from children's shows?

How will The Reader know? So the fellow has brown hair and a nice smile. That could be anyone. Now, if you mention that the fellow is seven feet tall and is a huge bird with yellow feathers, that might be a tip-off, but I'm assuming that you aren't going with that angle.

 

[JulieBlueBelle]

My thanks to you both. You're absolutely right. My style is my style, and my fantasy is my fantasy whether others like it or not, and I never write about anyone underage, so that's not a problem. You will see more from me soon, and I would like your input as to how they turn out.

Thanks very much.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

So my first question is-- would you recommend working more than one story line simultaneously? (i.e. submitting the first chapter of another story before I get back to the one I've already started) I think that would also keep me from getting bored with my characters..

I find it difficult to work on more than one at a time, but as has been pointed out, not everyone does.

When I get an idea for a story while I'm working on another, I write out enough hints to myself that I'll be able to recall it for later expansion. It doesn't take long, and the mechanics of writing reminders to yourself aren't nearly as difficult as the mechanics of writing something that other people are going to see.

 

[Etaski]

Really good advice on the readers of your stories, so I shall cede the floor there.

I sometimes cycle between two or three stories when a) I need a break from a story, b) a new idea grabs hold and throttles me

The important bit, though, is that I sit on them. I have, in the past elsewhere, posted each bit as I got it done, but then would be working on something else before it was finished.

This proved a mistake for me. Flow, mood, and continuity were issues that shouldn't have taken so long to work on but did because I didn't focus. But the bigger issue was actually that I "boxed myself in" by letting readers read the chapters before the story was done.

I found I hated that, and it left me unable to complete one or two longer stories. If I get a new, better idea for an ending or direction (it has happened more than once), I need to go back to those earlier chapters and modify a few things. It's almost pointless to do so if you've already posted it because near 100% of readers are NOT going to go back and look for those subtle changes that are important to the resolution of the story.

Working on multiple stories is a good way to keep things fresher and not to lose the flow of new ideas. But if there are "parts" or "chapters" involved that *need* to be read in order, maybe consider sitting on the stories until you're sure of how you want it to end. If you can be patient, even finish the story completely before you start posting parts at all.

Just my experience.