Newbie thoughts

[Bray123]

A silly question, also from a newbie; why would anyone write an erotic story that didn't turn themselves on? Surely that's the whole point.

I read many stories and decided that I could do so much better than some. So I tried it.

What I like is a character and a believable story. If a character does something out of the realms of likelihood I'm out before the end of the sentence. I saw, I conquered, I came, to paraphrase Julius Caesar (yes, that sort of reference amuses me).

There are times for a one-pager, there are times for a 20 chapter tome. But you have to have an interest in the characters to stick with it for that long.

 

[Hypoxia]

One other tip if you want to learn more about different ways of writing, and develop your own style, is to edit.

When I was employed (back in the Jurassic era) my work included writing and editing tech literature. I had written songs and propaganda but only a couple small bits of fiction before I hit LIT about 2.5 years ago.

I read many LIT tales with strong plots and abysmal grammar, orthography, etc. I repressed my strong, masochistic urge to edit all those, fix them, make them *right*. Instead I thought, "I can write better than that!" Thus the impulse to edit led me into authorship.

I've done a little "volunteer editing" here; I'm most proud of assisting on a long Hallowe'en contest winner. I'm not sure I can ascribe any improvement in my writing to such fiction editing. Writing, and more writing, and rewriting, forever and ever, seems to do the trick. Studying writers I admire helps, stealing their tricks, learning at the feet of the masters and mistresses, etc.

 

[le_kitty]

A silly question, also from a newbie; why would anyone write an erotic story that didn't turn themselves on? Surely that's the whole point.

I read many stories and decided that I could do so much better than some. So I tried it.

What I like is a character and a believable story. If a character does something out of the realms of likelihood I'm out before the end of the sentence. I saw, I conquered, I came, to paraphrase Julius Caesar (yes, that sort of reference amuses me).

There are times for a one-pager, there are times for a 20 chapter tome. But you have to have an interest in the characters to stick with it for that long.

Yes, precisely. (I chuckled)

 

[NaokoSmith]

AI saw, I conquered, I came, to paraphrase Julius Caesar

Welcome, also-a-newbie. Long may you keep coming

 

[JaxRhapsody]

So, having just started writing and put my first stories up on here, I thought I might explore some initial impressions, and would be interested in anyone's thoughts.
First is that I had no idea that writing porn is such a fucking turn on! As a pretty burnt out, seen it all, done it all, porn addict, I can't believe how horny it is creating a fantasy from scratch. I'm spending all of my time pondering what should happen next, or chewing over a phrase or image that doesn't quite sound true; then when I get the right next idea I can't wait to get it down in writing.
Yep, erotica(smut, porn) is a little different than sitting there watching some guy with some monster dick pound some barelly legal "virgin." I love looking at porn online, I have manay fetishes to fill, but as they say about movies; the books are usually better. Just about everything I write, as I visualize the characters in my mind, gets my dick hard. Depending on how you write, your basically the director setting the scene, telling him/her what nipple to suck first, or what dick to suck first. It's a different level than what is orchestrated in porn, things can happen that never happens on Xtube, even if there is a genre list for it, or something only hentai could get a grasp of- but you as a writer thought of it first.

Then, once it's submitted I'm checking in to the site every hour, first to see whether it's been accepted, then seeing how many views it's had, or better still, a comment!
Laurel is the only person that okays a story for the site, I'm pretty certain, so it could be hours, or days before a story is out for public viewing

I started by writing just what turned me on, but it's not as straightforward as that once you share it. I've discovered that it's mainly female readers looking at my stuff, so does that mean I add in bits to appeal to a female audience? Do I care how popular the story is? I think if you put it out there then you must, else why publish it at all?
Don't assume every feminine screen name/avatar is a woman, nor every masculine screen name/avatar is a man. There are writers who portray themselves as the opposite sex, not to mention some users have alternate(alt) accounts.

Which then raises the question about how much to change the plot to appeal to a broader audience, and where to put it. How much should I think about the title and tags? How do I stop it disappearing into the dross after a couple days?
I can already see progress from my first chapter (although that still has the highest ratings), and without false modesty feel that what I'm writing is pretty hot. I wish I hadn't started with such a cliched theme (professor and naive student), but then "uncliched porn" might be a oxymoron, and I think my characters are developing some psychological depth and truth (a fantasised version of, at least), and there seems loads of potential for where I can take them, so am inclined to carry on rather than make a fresh start.
Don't worry too much about expanding your readers, you can't please everybody- just look at the Loving Wives section. Write what you want to see on here, don't sell out, those who like your stuff will read it. I'd rather the same 10 people read everything I write, than try and appeal to 100 people. If you write in different genres, your bound to get a fanbase for each one you write in, though. Once you better yourself, more people will start to read your stuff, or at least like it. Ofcourse all those with the most points get to do is read the end credits- if you get my drift. Not all erotica her is cliché, it's all about how you write it, though some people like the Plumber, and his giant pipe wrench, fixing the giant titied blonds pipes, some can take those generic things, and spin it around, giving it substance. Giving the characters personality is a good thing, especially for actual erotica, for smut, it could be Johnny Bravo, and Kelly Bundy archetypes who's living on the base instinct to get laid. A tip on the tags; use them for main key points of a story, such as; Blond, Bukkake, interacial, Threesome. Things people search for, that would bring up your story. Think about it, if you Google big tit redheads, google brings up anything with big tits, tits, and redhead in it- same thing. You said you wrote about a professor, well tag Professor, School, Teacher, College, Student.

I'm curious about other's journeys and motivations, and of course if anyone wants to read my stuff and feed back that would be fab.
The next chapter (which is uber-hot) will be submitted in the next day or so.

Keep up the work, mind the spelling, and puncuation, make sure people are of legal adult age(18), and if you're worried about story comments, dissabling annon posting(meaning only logged in users can comment), eliminates some of the pointlesz more hateful comments. Oh and your story dropping down in the list has nothing to do with votes, newer stories are at the top.

 

[Wetpatch69]

Thanks all

Some great advice here.
If anyone's interested, pt3 of my magnus opus is up now, and p4 is in draft, getting ever more ambitious and dramatic in scale.

Finally, from each successive part building on the last, we now have an overarching plot line to follow through - which hopefully won't require going back to rewrite previous sections too drastically!
I'm not sure if I could have had it all laid out before starting. Needed to start exploring the characters first, and this has been a good place to try it out.

 

[Jose_Rick]

I research the shit outta everything. Like yesterday I researched air force re-enlistment bonuses so the number I used in the story is correct. Write what you know is excellent advice but guaranteed failure for most writers who know squat.

That's the bane of my existence. Earlier today I spent nearly two hours reading Anishinaabe legends in order to make a couple of paragraphs of a short story sound more authentic.

If I put any part of a story in a real town, I do things like study maps and do google image searches of the place so I know what the town looks like. Because you never know, someone might say "what the hell is a Craftsman house doing in Ely, Minnesota. I'm not reading another word of this crap."

And yeah, I just googled "craftsman house ely minnesota." I can't even write a damn forum post without researching things.

 

[Wetpatch69]

Well, I research the hell outta sex if that counts?

Spend all day at it sometimes

 

[Hypoxia]

Well, I research the hell outta sex if that counts?

Spend all day at it sometimes

I think Woody Allen wrote something like, "I'm good at sex because I practice on myself a lot."

 

[sr71plt]

For marketing purposes, I write some stories to fill an underserved hole in the market, not because they turn me on (although I try to write them as close to turning me on as possible). I'm putting together a GM anthology on the fetishes of docking and frotting now, for instance, simply because my publisher pointed to a hole in the market. Similarly, I just wrote a GM story for the market on fisting--as an art rather than a torture--and some of my best-selling e-books are on the fetish of sounding.

Again, I try to make them arousing even for me, but that's not the purpose I write them for. They make more money than more mainstream themes because there are fewer works in the market on those topics.

 

[glynndah]

A welcome for the little newbie from the good little witch.

 

[Jose_Rick]

... I'm putting together a GM anthology on the fetishes of docking and frotting now, for instance, simply because my publisher pointed to a hole in the market. Similarly, I just wrote a GM story for the market on fisting--as an art rather than a torture--and some of my best-selling e-books are on the fetish of sounding...

I must be getting old. I had to look up three different terms from that post, and now I'm wishing I could unread the urban dictionary definition of sounding.

That aside, it's an interesting post. I suspect that it takes a bit of practice to write good sex scenes if you're not aroused by the action.