Non Erotic Aspects Of Your Stories You Enjoy Writing

[RetroFan]

When you write Literotica stories, what non-erotic things do you enjoy writing about?

As my user name suggests, I set all my stories in the past, so I enjoy subtle foreshadowing of future events, or characters saying things that would prove to be either correct or incorrect. For example, in one story I wrote set in the UK Miners' Strike of 1984 there are subtle references to the Piper Alpha Disaster in 1988, Poll Tax and Mad Cow Disease in dialogue. Also due to the past settings of my stories, I enjoy making reference to cultural events at the time to make the stories seem more authentic, and describing the clothes the characters are wearing.

I especially enjoy writing about characters committing a major faux pas. For example, one character in one of my stories gives a good guide of what not to say to an infertile woman.

I also enjoy employing the 'blonde, brunette, redhead' aspect to my characters, similar to Gilligan's Island where the three female castaways are blonde (Mrs. Howell), brunette (Mary-Ann) and redhead (Ginger); Scooby Doo where there is Fred (blonde), Shaggy and Velma (brunette) and Daphne (redhead); or Titanic (1997) where there is the love triangle of Jack (blonde), Cal (brown hair) and Rose (redhead). All of my stories have some version of blonde, brunette, redhead.

What are your favorite non-erotic aspects of your stories?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Little urban vignettes creep into mine, little things I see like gestures on a bus, people I see in the street, the pattern of table clothes in a cafe, a colourful bird in a tree, that sort of thing. Tiny visual details.

Someone said about a story of mine that there was no way a person could see so much detail in the short time frame I had for a scene - well, I 've got the kind of visual brain that does see lots of detail. Then I use lots of words to capture it. And get accused of over writing....

There's many people don't see like me, I've found.

 

[Kantarii]

I tend to write about past and present events that I come in contact in the real world. The atmosphere of the club I'm sitting in, the drama of relationships and dialogue between two or more people, the boring work week, the hectic Atlanta traffic, etc.

I even incorporate intricate dialogue of text messaging and phone calls, sometimes happening at the same time. Those are fun to do, but can boggle the mind to write out everything happening at the same time in a story as if it is really happening real time.

Ultimately, I have fallen in love with writing intricate smooth flowing dialogue that isn't always sexual based that centers around the drama associated with relationships between people not sexually involved or will eventually be. This is really fun for me to write and I enjoy doing it. That's why I'm in love with my storyline "A Slut's Triangle" at the moment - eager to press on to the next chapter and push the boundaries of intricate conversation.

 

[EverLux]

Dialogue, like Kantarii said. It's something all of my favorite romance writers have in common--the ability to write sexy, witty, believable conversations infused with the characters' personalities. I push myself to include more of it in each story I write, hoping to really sharpen that skill. Some of my favorite comments are the ones that specifically mention my dialogue.

Texts are particularly fun to write, because it's not just the words you get to play with, but also how they look. What kind of texter is each character? Full sentences with appropriate capitalization and punctuation? All lowercase? Is everything annoyingly abbreviated?
Since most of my characters are in their teens and twenties, there are plenty of opportunities to include texts. It would probably be unrealistic if I didn't

 

[GoldenCojones]

When you write Literotica stories, what non-erotic things do you enjoy writing about?

For me it is character back story. I like to hint at things that happened to my characters in the past. Not enough to give the whole story but enough to make it feel like this character has been alive and doesn't just exist for this story.

I hope this fleshes out my characters and makes them more real.

 

[Haulover]

When I was writing (non-erotic) mainstream novels, I had an editor/agent who I met every few months. Her advice:

For scenes that can handle the extra narrative, add one or two - but no more - little details.

Her example: "See how you're picking at that loose thread in your armchair? Put that into the narrative. It will add a layer of credibility to your writing."

The trick is not to over do it.

 

[IvyMarquis]

I looooove writing out body language.

Not even in a sexual tension sort of way, but I just really get a kick out of writing it out for some reason, as well as "in depth" (for me) working out the character's thought process.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

When I was writing (non-erotic) mainstream novels, I had an editor/agent who I met every few months. Her advice:

For scenes that can handle the extra narrative, add one or two - but no more - little details.

Her example: "See how you're picking at that loose thread in your armchair? Put that into the narrative. It will add a layer of credibility to your writing."

The trick is not to over do it.

I'll often give a character a tiny imperfection or little quirk just to keep them grounded. Good idea giving their favorite coffee cup a chip or anything like that. I'll have characters fidget with coffee cups, that's getting to pretty damn standard, so I have to be careful about using that one. In one story (not a Lit story), I made a character hard of hearing. I did it as a plotting shortcut. Making him hard of hearing explained away why he didn't hear someone walking up on him. Turned out that little quirk really worked for my readers. That little quirk made the character more endearing. So now, I make sure every one of stories has at least one character with a limp, a scar, an amputation, polio. . . . (Okay, I might be kidding about that last part.)

 

[SecondCircle]

Making characters come to life. Scenes come to life. That sounds pretty simple I guess, but there's a reel that plays in my head. I can see them. I can smell everything in the air. I know that he avoids eye contact. I know that she crosses her arms a lot. This one's eyes are so dark it's like peering into a cave and praying that something doesn't peer back. That one is full of himself. This place has blood in the air. That one seems like the house next door.

The reel plays in my head, but it's drip feeding the realities in my head bit by bit into the reader's mind that I enjoy the most. Slowly sliding the pieces into place to reveal the bigger picture, but leaving enough of them off of the table to make their own imaginations wander, and wonder.

The attempt to make the words on the page disappear and start spinning the reader's own reels.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I love writing dialogue! Sometimes I'm afraid there's too much dialogue and I try to add more details or add actions or something to the story.
But I love to write dialogue. When I see people sometimes I imagine what we would say if we talked. I can have a whole conversation in my head.

 

[Kantarii]

I love writing dialogue! Sometimes I'm afraid there's too much dialogue and I try to add more details or add actions or something to the story.
But I love to write dialogue. When I see people sometimes I imagine what we would say if we talked. I can have a whole conversation in my head.

I agree. My newest storyline is saturated with smooth flowing dialogue, but I also enjoy developing and expanding on what the main character is thinking and how the supporting characters interact. So much goes into writing a great story and when a few elements excite you when you are writing, it drives you to keep writing eager to get to the next chapter and hopefully bring the reader along with you as well. Kant

 

[Bramblethorn]

Depends what counts as "non-erotic". A lot of non-explicit content still supports the erotica in one way or another; an erotic scene becomes more powerful if you're invested in the characters etc. But I'll count that as non-erotic.

For me, fleshing out characters is a big part of it: showing who they are, and why. My romance novel has a big section where Phoebe (love interest) talks about the cello her father bought her, and it turned out to be a great way of exploring that relationship - she's an adult, still dependent on her father, wishing she could stand on her own.

 

[sr71plt]

I have a dozen nonerotic-category stories here and most have done well. They tend to be on the Christmas season. Some inspirational themes seem not to get along too well with erotic themes.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have a dozen nonerotic-category stories here and most have done well. They tend to be on the Christmas season. Some inspirational themes seem not to get along too well with erotic themes.

If I'm not mistaken DG hear won three contests with Non erotic.

 

[lovecraft68]

I like writing fight scenes. Love violence. Some of the best ones are on stories I've removed from here, including the one I just pulled this week.

I've always felt sex and violence aren't that far off from a writing stand point, both are physical acts driven by emotion, both require good imagination as you visualize them.

I've written some sex scenes that have come pretty damn close to being downright violent. Great mix, to me anyway

 

[sr71plt]

If I'm not mistaken DG hear won three contests with Non erotic.

My Christmas ones were for contests and all did well (as in managed to finish in the 4.6s and 4.7s, which is good for my contest stories). Some of those are still hot after several years. Even though "nonerotic" and "hot" on an erotica site doesn't seem to compute.

 

[lovecraft68]

My Christmas ones were for contests and all did well (as in managed to finish in the 4.6s and 4.7s, which is good for my contest stories). Some of those are still hot after several years. Even though "nonerotic" and "hot" on an erotica site doesn't seem to compute.

I think non erotic is out of the troll zone for the most part. Personal trolls will hit you anywhere, but I don't feel NE has a lot of category trolls.

 

[oggbashan]

The non-erotic part I like is...

Finishing the (expletive deleted) story.

 

[EverLux]

The non-erotic part I like is...

Finishing the (expletive deleted) story.

I don't know about you, but for me that's a pretty intense release

 

[Penuche]

Dialogue and working out the internal logic (aka 'physics').

 

[CyranoJ]

What are your favorite non-erotic aspects of your stories?

The three c's: comedy, character development and comeuppance. The last one isn't always operative -- but it's hella fun to write when it is -- but the first two are must-haves.

 

[Hypoxia]

History and geography, maybe obscure.
Sly little images, allusions, quirks, and sidetracks.
Seemingly-irrelevant technical details. (Wait till I submit my gyroplane tales.)
Lists of stuff to pack for a journey.
Lists of found and observed stuff.
Whatever I can get away with.