Losing track of characters and their activities

[MrPixel]

I write swinger stories, and one in the works - 4K words in - has me momentarily blocked because I’ve lost track of who’s with whom at the party, even after multiple re-reads. Not to worry, I’ll probably straighten it out by this evening. Nonetheless, this note to myself attempting to update the scoreboard hit me as a little funny:

[OK, I'm lost. Steve and Ellie are fucking in the tub. Tom and DeeDee are fucking in the spare bedroom. Rick is on the patio, still in refractory recovery, and standing by per DeeDee's request. Jackson and DeeDee are fucking in the tub. Cyan is in the tub snogging Toby. Emily and Claire are hanging out on the patio after their moments together.

Sandy? She was left in a lurch while Steve jumped out of her and the tub to answer the door. Where is she now?]

 

[StillStunned]

"The party became a confused frenzy of tangled limbs, of lips and tongues and cocks and moist slits, of grunts and groans and stifled moans. Sweaty bodies pressed against each other, naked flesh slapped on naked flesh. Partners moved from one to another, until..."

I've only written one Group Sex story. Does it show?

 

[MrPixel]

This one isn’t an orgy, although I have written orgy scenes. This is more of a typical swinger party where pairs or threesomes hookup either in the main gathering area (patio/hot tub in this case), or go off to separate rooms for semi-private sex on a bed. They know who they’re doing, usually who they’re going to do next, and whether they’re going home or staying over when the party is done.

The complication comes in avoiding pairing with their spouse. They can do that on their own time.

 

[Bamagan]

Take a page from the tabletop RPG crowd and use miniatures to keep track of who is where and with whom!
[Ooh, sorry Jane: Bob in the hot tub gets an attack of opportunity when you try to enter the sauna. His attack roll succeeds, so you get a stinging slap on the ass as you walk by. Make a BDSM saving throw to avoid moaning from the swat.]

 

[gunhilltrain]

I write swinger stories, and one in the works - 4K words in - has me momentarily blocked because I’ve lost track of who’s with whom at the party, even after multiple re-reads. Not to worry, I’ll probably straighten it out by this evening. Nonetheless, this note to myself attempting to update the scoreboard hit me as a little funny:

You have an issue I think because you have to characterize all of these people and make them individuals somehow. How many people are involved there, anyway?

I've never written such a scene. Updike handled it by limiting the "switching" to only four couples / eight people. All of these characters are either described earlier in the book or even in books published prior to Rabbit is Rich. Once they are matched up, the "new" couples go to their rooms at a resort and don't interact with each other until the next day. Rick Moody did it a little differently with the "key party" scene in The Ice Storm. That was set in 1973, while Rabbit is Rich is set in 1979.

There is explicit sex in those scenes, but they are also character studies I think. You might prefer to have lots of switching around with muiltiple characters; it's a different approach. By the way, Updike didn't depict homosexual activities until the last Rabbit novel (Rabbit at Rest, in 1989), and there it's mentioned by not actually shown.

I rambled a lot here. Hope this has been a bit helpful.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I write swinger stories, and one in the works - 4K words in - has me momentarily blocked because I’ve lost track of who’s with whom at the party, even after multiple re-reads. Not to worry, I’ll probably straighten it out by this evening. Nonetheless, this note to myself attempting to update the scoreboard hit me as a little funny:

I was going to ask a curiosity question (why do you need so many characters in a story?), but then I saw the answer - you write swinger stories. Duh.

Seems to me you've got the same problem as the writers who want to add every favourite kink into the one story - you've got yourself a smorgasbord. Problem is, you don't have a main course. Just a thought.

I never have more than three main characters in a story, and even then they're mostly pairing. Writing threesomes is hard enough - if I had multiple couples, they'd each get their own story.

 

[MrPixel]

Oh, they’re all well-defined individuals, for sure. This is a regular gathering of FWBs. Five MF couples and a single F. All Fs in this case are bi, but the core is a couple-couple (“fourple”) who want to party with their friends and not necessarily with each other. They do enough of that already.

 

[alohadave]

Do you need to detail what everyone is doing? Yeah, it's a swinger party and there's lot of sex going on, but do you need to show all of it?q

 

[MrPixel]

...do you need to show all of it?

I don’t. Sometimes there are activities loosely described, but mostly it’s "X is in the back bedroom with Y and Z. If it’s anything like our last party they’re probably spitroasting X.” Or simply, “Yeah, A and B are sharing the shower in the master suite."

 

[Priscilla_June]

I use fortelling to keep track of things.

 

[Gamblnluck]

Do you need to detail what everyone is doing? Yeah, it's a swinger party and there's lot of sex going on, but do you need to show all of it?

Exactly. Why does every person have to have a name? And their activities detailed? Focus on your main characters. "There were people scattered between beds, hot tub, floor....etc. The MC laid back in a lounge chair trying to regroup so he could go again. He did not want to embarrass himself and be known as Mr. Oneshot."

 

[EmilyMiller]

I write swinger stories, and one in the works - 4K words in - has me momentarily blocked because I’ve lost track of who’s with whom at the party, even after multiple re-reads. Not to worry, I’ll probably straighten it out by this evening. Nonetheless, this note to myself attempting to update the scoreboard hit me as a little funny:

I think I said before… For You Spin Me Round, I ended up drawing myself a diagram.

Em

 

[Rustyoznail]

I haven't written a scene like that, but I did edit one for a friend. I drew maps showing the location of everyone, and created a new map when someone moved.

It was the only way I could keep track of them all.

 

[MrPixel]

I use fortelling to keep track of things.

Already there. We know who’s spending the night, and with whom. It’s the making sure everybody has a piece of everybody they want to sample before the party breaks up. I do have a scoreboard at this point.

Still need to find out what happened to Sandy. Steve (group leader) has an uncomfortable hunch she has slipped out the front door and is taking a nude walk around the neighborhood.

...does every person have to have a name?

Yes. Important something to know that this is like the ninth or tenth installment in a ficverse. We know everybody’s first and in many cases last names. Like most IRL swinger groups, they gather regularly and have developed friendships in the group. Nobody is truly anonymous, and if somebody does something considered embarrassing, everybody shares in the laughter/empathy and they keep on keepin’ on.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I did the swinger thing in Boat Talk. I think the most was four couples. I tried to give them all specific personalities and proof read it about 87 dozen times to make sure I got everything straight. It was quite the challenge. I think the main thing that helped was that the main story line for the swinging part was about one couplie and their experiences, so I didn't have to focus on all eight people all the time, just when the were with Rick and Mary.

If you want to check it out, I should warn you the story is in three sections, if you will. The main line, two old friend discussing how and why their marriages failed, then one story line each of them telling their stories. The first story is about a stocking fetish getting out of hand. The part with the swinging is the second guy telling his story, so it will be in the second half of the story. You can imagine what trying swinging for the first time might do to a marriage.

 

[TadOverdon]

I lose track of their hands.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

• Just write down a pointed list
• It shouldn't be as hard as you're making it out to be

 

[Zootonius]

Yes. To paraphrase Abbott and Costello, I've found myself asking "Who's on top?"

 

[TheRedChamber]

The most complicated thing like this I've ever done was in His Sister in his Lap. A strip club, six customers, six dancers - one of whom is secretly the MC's sister. A dumb dice game where the customers take turns to roll two dice and get to choose one of two of the dancers for their evenings dance - including stealing away a previously taken girl. Obviously I had to write it so that the MC ends up trapped with his sister and it took about eight rounds to get there.

And one particularly sadistic anonymous told me I'd confused names at one point, but didn't tell me where...

 

[ronde]

I find that writing more than three main characters can get very confusing for both me and the reader. Using names is a must if a reader is ever going to keep them straight, but the names have to be distinctive or at least start with a different letter. Mary, Marcia, and Marty are confusing. Mary, Evelyn, and Gladys aren't.

Another way is to write separate scenes rather then trying to lump them all together into one. The "scene" need only be a paragraph, but when that paragraph ends, the reader has time to adjust to the fact that there are different characters in the next paragraph.

 

[Britva415]

Tom and DeeDee are fucking in the spare bedroom. Rick is on the patio, still in refractory recovery, and standing by per DeeDee's request. Jackson and DeeDee are fucking in the tub.

Damn, DeeDee's gettin' around, ain't she! Two places at once.

I guess this story's getting the "double penetration" tag?

 

[MrPixel]

Damn, DeeDee's gettin' around, ain't she! Two places at once.

I guess this story's getting the "double penetration" tag?

Good catch! See? I was losing track! (I think I fixed that in the story but not my notes.)

And DeeDee is getting around. She's the noob at this little party. "Fresh meat", you know.

 

[WritingwhatIlike]

Ha, I ran into this when writing a story about two POVs that were occurring at different times in the timeline. It devolved into a bunch of 'okay, so X is doing this at this time, while Y is doing that'. It was confusing instead of sexy, so I scratched it for a simpler timeline where there was no 'time traveling'. It would have been cool to do what I had initially imagined, but not cool for the readers.

Unfortunately I shelved the story, unsure if it was all that good to start with.

 

[tenyari]

Make characters more distinct.

When I set out to make a cast of characters for an ensemble I'll make them radically different people both physically and mentally.

Make them all different ethnic groups. Have them play against a stereotype (ethnic, class, gender, profession, hobby, etc - ID the "type" and then go against it) - not just "ignoring stereotypes" but being strongly divergent from it in a way that stands out. Maybe even use a stereotype people expect of one of them on another. Give them each something that says "I'm weird".

Now you have strong hooks to remember them, and your readers will also. Even if you bury what you're doing for a few chapters or something - if you've mentally defined it you will have something to keep yourself from getting jumbled.

 

[yowser]

Best to film it all first.