Newbie questions for authors

[Bettyspages]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

 

[RejectReality]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

She was the one who kept on me to share the story I'd written for her with others.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

In a very limited fashion.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

Stress relief on ancient stories, but the run that started here ( in one of my other pen names ) began with a story that was essentially an erotic introduction to my fantasy world, so my wife could meet all those people in my head.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Never had a problem.

 

[sr71plt]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

She knows I write mainstream; she doesn't know I write erotica.


Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

No, I write nonerotica for the marketplace, not for websites.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

While I was writing a scene in a mainstream mystery, it became a sex scene and very graphic. Gave me a charge. So, I excised it, made it into a story, posted it, and continued doing that.

 

[_Lynn_]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

Yes, and he's totally supportive of my writing.

No, I post to the non-erotic cat here on Lit.

The initial reason? Something new?

A good story is a good story, regardless who wrote it. I don't see what the author's sex has to do with it in any way.

 

[Bettyspages]

Thanks for answering, very interesting.

The reason I asked the same sex question is that in the threads about people's favorite stories I hardly ever see men list stories written by other men. (That they know of.)

 

[Hypoxia]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here. Be careful of the answers you get.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level? No and none

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites? No, but I may start a site for my LIT rejects.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica? Because I could. And it felt good.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex? N/A

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.The worst flames are internal.

And what are your own answers to these questions?

 

[Bettyspages]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?
--He does know, he's completely fine with it as long as it's anonymous. He doesn't seem interested in reading my stories which is bizarre to me.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?
--No but I am considering it

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?
--I'm still trying to figure that out.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?
--not at all. Some of the best erotica is written by women.

 

[sr71plt]

--not at all. Some of the best erotica is written by women.

But, as was noted to a poster on another thread, you really have no idea what the real gender is of the author of a story you read here--certainly not in terms of aggregate numbers.

 

[trace_ekies]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

I'm not currently in a committed relationship, but if I was, my partner would have to know about my writing. I would hope that she would at least contribute her point of view.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites

No, I read a lot of it, but never attempted to write any.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

As a means of re-living my more exciting sexual experiences. (My earliest stories were a mix of fact and fantasy.)

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Only if they are written in what I refer to as '3rd person'. (I also don't like '3rd person' writing by women, but for a different reason.)

 

[Bettyspages]

But, as was noted to a poster on another thread, you really have no idea what the real gender is of the author of a story you read here--certainly not in terms of aggregate numbers.

I don't necessarily mean on here. Anne Rice and Anais Nin are/were females.

 

[DonnaBeck]

I am married and my husband does not know I write erotica. He is very conservative and it would freak him out. I started writing as an outlet for my own sexual frustration, a bit of a pressure valve.

I do write non-erotica and have a blog, but there is not an audience as eager as this one. I love the writing community here, the exposure, the help. There are a few sickos, but that is to be expected.

I love reading anyone who writes well and never consider gender.

 

[trace_ekies]

... I love reading anyone who writes well and never consider gender.

And she writes well herself.

But I do consider gender. Donna, are you sure you don't want to put those books down?

 

[MrFoxwood]

I'm married and my wife knows what I write and occasionally helps me edit my stories. She'd prefer it if I focused more on non-erotic but I think she's beginning to understand the reason why I need to write what I do.

I do write non-erotic but not for other sites and in nothing like the quantities I write erotica.

I think I've been writing since a fair while before I was old enough to submit here. I've always written, when sex became something to be interested in it was natural to write about it. Now it serves the purpose of allowing me to flex my imagination and libido.

I don't have any problem reading stories by other guys, I've never counted but I think women outnumber men on my favourites list but there are guys in there. Generally I find female writers are more likely to write in a style that I enjoy.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

My partner beta-reads my stories and encourages me.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

Yes, I post stuff to a personal blog, although not much of late. (Arguably, some of the stuff I post here is non-erotic...)

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

Whole bunch of things, including:

- Couldn't find enough of the sort of stories that I like to read, so I started writing them
- As something to send to a long-distance girlfriend
- Because ideas nag at me until I let them out

 

[StrangeLife]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

No. She believes I'm normal - why ruin her illusions?

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

Nope. Literotica is your only official source of genuine StrangeLife art.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

To challenge myself to do something new. And since they mothballed the space shuttles going going on a space mission has become prohibitively bothersome. Writing erotica seemed an excellent second choice.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

No, it's only the quality of the story I care about.

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

Who said you were off the hook, you #%&"?!$§

 

[SikFuk]

1. No.
2. No.
3. Alternative to real sex.
4. No. Great writing is not determined by the sex of the author.

 

[MSTarot]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

In a very serious committed relationship (we probably both should be committed) give that we have been together 15 years. She knows, as I read my stories to her at times. That and her computer chair is right behind mine and the flurry of typing would attract her attention.


Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?


Not yet but the future will hold many things. Just getting started.


What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

I liked a certain type of story and couldn't find to many examples of it. Decided I would give it a try myself. I was interested in writing just out of high school but back then it was a much harder industry to get into.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

The story turns me on not the author. The sex of the author really doesn't matter. A 'straight' author or a 'homosexual' , male or female,are both just authors. What they do in their own bedrooms may flavor their stories but other than that it doesn't influence my enjoyment of their writing.


Thanks in advance for not flaming me.


Puts down the flamethrower and walks off all dejected.


MST

 

[Acktion]

"I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here."

I almost skipped responding since I don't consider myself an author but a newbie such as you described in the title. But, only came in to read what the "real" authors had to say. However, the meds and caffeine got me again and I figured what the hell. People can always just skip over mine if they are so inclined.

"If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?"

No freakin' way. Okay, well, sort of. I think she has some limited idea that I'm still writing erotic stories, but doesn't know that any of them have actually been accepted. The couple that I showed her had ramifications for a couple of months, so I stopped letting her see them.

"Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?"

Nope. Partially, I don't have a clue what else is out there. But, more, I guess I'm just an old dog that doesn't like trying to learn new tricks. I found Lit and ghosted as an anonymous reader for several years before I decided why not dust off my old writing habit and see if I could still do it.

"What was your initial reason for writing erotica?"

That's actually kind of a long story, but I'll try to capsulize it. <mumble mumble> years ago, I tried to be a writer. However, I was resistant to writing erotica even though several articles and books by well known (and respected!) authors said that anyone who wanted to write should try first to write erotica.

But, being young and cocky, not least because I had my first poem published at either sixteen or seventeen in a trade mag (since defunct), I didn't listen and tried to skip straight to the "next great American Science Fiction novel of all time". With the results you probably can imagine. Got a couple of nice rejection letters from Tor and Baen and a couple of others for my trouble and four more out of one hundred and forty-four submitted poems accepted.

Even though friends and family encouraged me to keep trying, I was so very tired of the Will Rogers quote about "Success is falling off the horse seven times and getting back on eight". And, I was tired of working a job I hated while I waited for my glorious work to be accepted and take it's proper place among the hallowed shelves of the greats. So, in a fit of pique I cut off my hair (down to my waist at the time) and burned it and everything I'd written in the bathtub and went out to look for a career.

I reveled in my chosen career for several years, putting in far more hours than I needed to, or in retrospect should have. And when I wasn't working, I was too busy playing and doing other things to even think about pursuing something as silly as jotting down words that no one except me would ever read or appreciate.

Then, I got sick. No one really knows why although the people in white coats love taking my money to try to figure it out. But, the one thing they do agree on is that I won't get better. The best they can do is stretch out my decline and "improve my quality of life" which I know just enough medicalese to know is a nice way of saying "yup, you're fucked. and not in a good way."

After a couple of years of lying on the couch watching the paint flake off the walls in between episodes of television shows I was too busy to watch the first time around, I was bored out of my mind. I tried playing computer games, but even the simple mouse movements of pointing and clicking repeatedly would cause pain to build up after an hour or two at the most. Books had gotten too heavy for me to hold and my favorite position at the table with it propped up on a stack of other books was uncomfortable after short times.

I'd long been secretly reading Literotica.com stories as a hidden guilty pleasure and began reading more and more of them. Some of them reminded me of something from my past while others made me think of something I now wished had occurred in my past.

I'm not sure what exactly it was, but for some reason, I decided that I could either lie here and wait for death to come collect me (if the bitch will ever figure out I'm waiting) or I could have a little fun while I'm waiting. And, why not write erotica if I could manage it? I like sex and always have for as far back as I can remember. I like it a lot. And it's not like I'm that worried about my reputation anymore or anything. My younger self who was all worried about whether anyone would take me seriously as a writer if I wrote porn was a flippin' idiot. What the hell do I care what people might think of me closed up in my own home like some kind of prisoner that never sees anyone.

So, I tried and to my amazement my submission was accepted. So, I tried again and was accepted again.

Which isn't to say all of my submissions are by a long shot. Some, I clean up and resub. Some, I file in a slush folder that I may or may not ever be able to come back to to see if they are salvageable.

So, I guess if I were try to simplify it, I was bored and it was my way of spitting in the face of infirmity. After all, what better way to defy death than with sex?

"If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex? "

Not really. Some things do still make me uncomfortable, but the gender/sex of the author and/or the protagonist does not really enter into it for me. In fact, I stand in awe of a writer who can present themselves as the other gender and do so believably.

To my mind, if the writer is good, the story stands separate from the one who wrote it and can be judged based on it's own merits. If it has to be defended or explained ("Oh, but it was written by a woman/man"), then that just indicates that it wasn't written as well as it could have been.

"Thanks in advance for not flaming me."

Are you callin' us "flamers"? <Adjusts crotch and spits to the side to re-establish machismo>

Seriously, I know you asked for two cents and I either gave a dollar's worth or zip with all that. But, thanks. It was fun exploring my own answers and even more fun reading what the real authors around here had to say.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yes...

Check the links in my signature.

 

[Bettyspages]

Thanks guys, it's been really enjoyable reading all your responses!

The odd thing is, for me I would think posting erotica without my partner knowing would be almost like cheating in a way. But then he just doesn't seem to care at all, and isn't interested in the stories. So it's like I'm being a Puritan for no reason. Plus once I submitted I really felt like I just poured a drop of water in the ocean and like it was so not a big deal considering how much great writing there is out there.
I think that if I were single I wouldn't have any issue but for some reason when I think about what I want to write I am holding back. So strange.

I would like to answer everyone individually but I'm busy with work things today.

 

[robertreams]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

I have been reading porn for a lon long time, but always found it lacking because thereis usally no romance, no love and fake emotion.

I also love romanticlove stories, romeo and julie, Ghost, A man and a woman, etc. but alwaus found the lacking in the heat and slopiness real lovers share. The only way i was goingto find both was to write it!

I have been writig non-erotic lit since age 14(I am now almost 70). I was surprised by the response to my first posting on Literotica, so I kept it up..

I post non-erotic lit on Literotica and publish both on Smashwords.

If a writer is good, you shuld not be able to tell what their sexual orienttion is.

 

[trace_ekies]

No. She believes I'm normal - why ruin her illusions?...

You mean this isn't normal?

 

[soflabbwlvr]

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

My wife does not know. If she knew when I started, it probably would not have been a problem. However, I would not have written some of the stories that I posted here if she did know.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

No.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

I started writing true erotic stories from my past and posting them on another site. It suited my voyeur/exhibitionist tendencies. The overall quality of the writing on that site was abysmal, and I wanted to challenge myself by posting on a better site. As a result I adapted some of those stories as my first contributions here. I found that my contributions didn't really measure up to the best stories here, so I switched to writing pure fiction and challenged myself to improve.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

Not at all. What difference does it make? If I avoided stories written by male authors, the available choices would be reduced by around 75%, I estimate.

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

 

[StrangeLife]

Thanks guys, it's been really enjoyable reading all your responses!

The odd thing is, for me I would think posting erotica without my partner knowing would be almost like cheating in a way. But then he just doesn't seem to care at all, and isn't interested in the stories. So it's like I'm being a Puritan for no reason. Plus once I submitted I really felt like I just poured a drop of water in the ocean and like it was so not a big deal considering how much great writing there is out there.
I think that if I were single I wouldn't have any issue but for some reason when I think about what I want to write I am holding back. So strange.

I would like to answer everyone individually but I'm busy with work things today.

Don't be intimidated by the number of stories on Lit, because regardless of how large it may seem, it's dwarfed by the number of readers. So whatever your theme or writing style there will be people appreciating your work. Despite your feelings of being "a drop in the ocean" there are people seeking for exactly that drop. Don't let them die of thirst.

As for whether or not writing Erotica constitutes cheating. Well, it's basically nothing but one literary genre among many. We are writers before anything else and are not necessarily part of what we write about. Would you consider Stephen King a murderous maniac? Or Bret Easton Ellis a sociopath? Or Stephenie Meyer a vampire? (Actually that wouldn't be so bad. Then we could stake her and do the art a great service).

 

[lovecraft68]

I apologize if this has already been explored, but I have some questions for the authors here.

If you are in a serious committed relationship, does your partner know that you write erotica and what is their opinion or involvement level?

Yes and not only is she supportive, but helps me out by role playing some of the characters with me. It gives me new angles for what they might say and do. Some of our other role plays have turned into stories.

Do you post non erotic fiction on other sites?

Not yet, but I've been looking through some old stories and thinking of publishing them.

What was your initial reason for writing erotica?

I wrote my first one and e-mailed it to the wife while she was away for two weeks for a training. I figured it was just a one time dirty little story for her to have some fun with, but it kept nagging at me and I kept adding more to it and have been writing ever since.

If you are straight, are you uncomfortable reading erotica written by your own sex?

I never take it into consideration. If a story looks interesting I read it regardless of who wrote it.

Thanks in advance for not flaming me.

No problems, we lure you in with a false sense of safety before we do that.