Outer Kink Limits

[yowser]

I have always regarded writing as a tool of exploration. When I got here (ten years ago, ahh) I thought I had fairly broad spectrum erotic interests, and learned quickly the kinkoverse has many solar systems I never considered. Which is wonderful, and there is no reason the arousal landscape shouldn’t be near infinite.

My question to the crew is about expanding boundaries.

There are a lot of stories here with small focal areas, which can be lovely and intimate and engaging. Vanilla can be as sweet a flavoring as anything. Other stories range towards the infinite, tentacle sex on the Androgenital Galaxy, belief-stretching tales. The old saying ‘write what you know’ is often misunderstood, as then all we would get are documentaries (and there are plenty here, some of great merit.)

But as a small town kid, I was always intrigued by what was beyond. Past my neighborhood, in the next town, then later in my life, in the next country, another continent. The first time I heard the evening call to prayers in an Islamic land, where my mother tongue was unfamiliar and rarely heard, I felt a tremble of excitement inconceivable in the rural New England town that had been my home.

So I’ve always liked the beyond, and tried through my tales to make my characters different from me, and explored their own quirks and interests, and the farther I go, the harder it gets, although I inevitably learn something. I just finished a story just over the edge of my arousal universe and I find myself at a disorienting boundary.

How do those of you who stretch boundaries proceed? How willing are you, through your fictional characters or settings, to extend your understandings? I have sometimes heard here that writing a kink that one doesn’t possess oneself will make for an inauthentic story and it will show. How far can you go?

I am curious about others’ writing experiences in pushing envelopes, stretching imaginations, envisioning the beyond. What your motivations are, how you handle the ‘research’, whether your archery range has limits beyond which you know you cannot go.

 

[StillStunned]

Good topic.

The clearest example from my own writing is perhaps "Ben's Big Mistake". I used 1P present to make the situation more immediate for the reader, then decided to ramp up the stakes from a simple "male professor blackmails female student" to "but he discovers she's trans, and now he can't back out." This is far beyond my own very vanilla real-life experiences, but I still think the story is hot as hell.

A sci-fi story western I've been working on will embrace the full range of sexual preferences. The setting is gritty, and people have more immediate worries than to care about who's doing what to who. Life sucks, get your pleasures where you can. Some bits make me more uncomfortable than others - not the act of describing them, I think, but the pleasure I take in describing them. Luckily I think I'm old enough, and comfortable enough with who I am - and too stuck in my ways to change - that I'm not struck down by worry that writing (and enjoying) a scene with a trans woman, or two men, makes me "gay".

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't believe, and have never believed, that writing about kinks you don't personally hold makes your story inauthentic. To me, this runs contrary to the creative, artistic enterprise. Writers have always been writing stories from perspectives they don't personally hold. They write stories about serial killers even though they don't want to be one. Erotica is no different. If you're a good writer, you can make it work, regardless of your personal inclinations or experiences. That's what being a good writer is.

I don't really have any limits as to what's "acceptable" erotica. As far as I'm concerned, you should feel free to explore whatever weird, twisted corridors of your imagination you want to.

I think gender/sex identity/preference/practice is an interesting area for exploration. What if in the near future you could go to a clinic and say, "I want to have a vagina installed and have fun with that for the next week?" Or "I want two penises?" Or "I want to take a pill and be gay one week and another pill and be straight the next?"

There shouldn't be any limits to the imagination.

I feel like I've pushed my boundaries from the beginning. I have no real-world experience with, or interest in, incest. But I think it's an incredibly fun and sexy subject for erotica, so I write those stories. It's naughty and silly and fun. I like to push the boundaries of plausibility with what kinds of sexual experiences my characters have in my stories. Like Penis Fish or Teddy Bear.

I don't do much research, at least not yet. Most of it just comes from my imagination.

 

[Bamagan]

I don't think writing about something you've never experienced/don't want to experience is necessarily inauthentic, but it probably does increase the odds of failing to completely convince true devotees. A little bit of research and imagination should usually be enough to get one into the wide realm of authenticity, but there are probably little details and insights that 'believers' can tell one another by, like a secret code or handshake, or the presence of 'Easter eggs' that land differently for those in the know. So there might be a difference between authentic and authentic, if you will.
But, conversely, that could be a fantasy that people tell themselves in order to feel special, elite, selective, or what-have-you. The same kind of 'beautiful mind'-set that finds patterns or hidden meanings wherever it cares to look.

 

[SimonDoom]

Consider the novelist Tom Clancy. He had minimal military experience and worked in insurance before becoming a novelist. But he became fabulously successful writing stories about espionage and military matters, things he had no experience with. People loved it. There might be a small number of truly experienced military folks who thought his stuff was bullshit, but judging from his success they were in a small minority.

Agatha Christie had no experience with detective work, and no evident interest in being a detective. Didn't stop her, and it didn't prevent her readership from enjoying her.

Judging from my own experience, and the success I've had writing stories that sometimes don't concern subjects that actually turn me on, I'd say this is not really an issue except for a small minority. Having a good imagination and the ability to convert it into words is far more important than personal experience.

 

[StillStunned]

Judging from my own experience, and the success I've had writing stories that sometimes don't concern subjects that actually turn me on, I'd say this is not really an issue except for a small minority. Having a good imagination and the ability to convert it into words is far more important than personal experience.

I agree. I don't think readers are hoping for a factually correct description so much as an entertaining description that matches their expectations, however incomplete or flawed or Hollywoodified those expectations are.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Consider the novelist Tom Clancy. He had minimal military experience and worked in insurance before becoming a novelist. But he became fabulously successful writing stories about espionage and military matters, things he had no experience with. People loved it. There might be a small number of truly experienced military folks who thought his stuff was bullshit, but judging from his success they were in a small minority.

Agatha Christie had no experience with detective work, and no evident interest in being a detective. Didn't stop her, and it didn't prevent her readership from enjoying her.

Judging from my own experience, and the success I've had writing stories that sometimes don't concern subjects that actually turn me on, I'd say this is not really an issue except for a small minority. Having a good imagination and the ability to convert it into words is far more important than personal experience.

Tom Clancy served in ROTC as his eyesight kept him from the active military. As a child and into adulthood, he had a voracious appetite for military history and read countless books and papers intended for officers and engineers. He may not have had the practical hands on, but he knew what he was talking about.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I have occasionally ventured to the fringes of my own kink universe, as a personal 'stretch' goal. But the research for such, usually doesn't go further than these forums or the occasional chat with my wife on a subject.

I'd never even heard of rape-fantasy until these forums and the idea doesn't do much for me, but I wrote one. And I'm glad I did. I'm not into incest within the nuclear family, but I did write one. I doubt I shall I repeat the experience. I wrote a cuckold story. I wasn't planning to, when I typed the first lines, but that's where it ended up. And then I did it again, meaning to, though I find the idea unconscionable.

And then there were things that I am into now, after reading erotica and reading these forums, that I never really thought about before. Polyamory, MFM, CMNF/CFNM, dom/sub, breeding, breastfeeding. Though to be honest, the last two were very exciting back in the day, but as we've gotten older, we don't think about much.

I've found that sometimes, the story is in charge. And you have to let it lead you; let it take that wrong turn in Albuquerque. That's when the best things happen.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Nice thread!

According to a comment that OP @yowser left on one of my stories, I'm a "one note" author with "obnoxious" tendencies whose descriptions are "exaggerated and overdrawn" and "who could surely do better", but I do like to stretch myself here on Literotica.

That's part of the fun for me. I've done that by submitting a story in pretty much every Literotica category, and submitting to every Contest and Challenge this year. This has really prompted me to come up with scenarios outside my comfort zone.

Though my stories may certainly be one note in the sense that they all involve my chosen kinks of CFNM, big breasted females, and muscular males, I have enjoyed the fun of dense world-building in the Sci-Fi & Fantasy category and the challenges afforded by the other new categories I've written in, all of which exist in the same narrative "universe" that I've created. This has been great fun.

While I don't believe it's a necessity to stretch yourself here, it can certainly be rewarding, and it's prompted many great stories on Literotica. I know I've certainly enjoyed it. In my own mind at least, I do enjoy stretching my literary wings.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Agatha Christie had no experience with detective work, and no evident interest in being a detective. Didn't stop her, and it didn't prevent her readership from enjoying her.

Not as a detective, but her stories do draw heavily on her own experiences of dispensary, archaeology and English middle-class life. Poirot's appearance and manner was modelled on Belgian refugees she knew.

Writing a freelance detective is a bit like writing a dragon: readers generally understand that this isn't a thing that exists in real life, or not in a form resembling the fictional version, so they're not likely to get hung up on "accuracy" there as long as the story's fun.

The most challenging case is when the readers have personal experience of some particular topic and the author doesn't. It can be done but it takes a great deal of effort.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

I don't think it's so much 'write what you know' so much as 'don't write what you don't know'. I know very little about how BDSM sex clubs work, for example, so I don't write about them. If I wanted to, I could do research (an interesting weekend that would be).

I agree with the others who have said that it's not inauthentic to write about kinks you don't have. But for me personally, I find that if I am writing about kinks I do have, I enjoy the process more. I am sure others are different.

Maybe that should be my goal for 2025: write stories with kinks I don't have, to improve as a writer.

 

[Erozetta]

Most of my stories explore kinks that aren't my own. I read up on them and talk to the people who have those kinks to learn more and work out what drives the desire for it and write from there.

One of the best examples I've ever seen of an author doing this is Altissimus. He's written multiple stories involving kinks that aren't his and has done it beautifully with a guiding hand to introduce the kink and walk the reader through its appeal. To the point a few of his stories left me thinking, "Wait ... new kink unlocked? Huh."

Don't insult the people who have the kink, treat it with respect even if you don't like it, and put yourself in the mind of some who does enjoy the kink as you write it. You can pull it off even if it's not your thing, it just takes a little more effort on your part if you want to do it justice.

Take incest, for example. I'm not into it, but I wrote three moderately successful incest stories because I focused on the idea of building a caring relationship into something sexual. I treated it as a friends to lovers story in that the characters had a pre-established relationship where there was trust and love built in. I did it well enough that someone with the kink reached out and paid me a ridiculous amount of money to write an incest story for them. (And I did, they loved it.)

Now, if anyone comes across a story of mine with a D/s dynamic, spanking, hair pulling, a girl being bent over a desk or table, detailed blowjobs, collars and leashes, demons, witches, vampires (horror vampires not tween candy vampires), tails, a gratuitous amount of hand holding and clinging to a person, a focus on vocal tone and depth, and bondage, well, they'll probably find it much longer and more involved than my others as those are my own kinks.

But how boring would it be if we couldn't explore outside of our own interests?

To me, "write what you know" is just begging you to use your imagination and knowledge to dive into trying to understand what you don't know.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I got started here by challenging myself to write a story in every category. I did reasonably well, I think, with 16 or 17 categories checked off before I lost interest and began limiting my writing to things I found interesting, (It isn’t surprising that some of the topics or genres I don’t personally find interesting were among the unfinished ones. I wrote some stuff that I personally found distasteful. One example of that was some rape fiction I wrote for a couple where it was her personal fantasy - since deleted as I didn’t like what I’d felt writing it,)

Did I always always always write from people experience? Certainly not and I defy anybody to say yes who has included emotions and feelings for both male and female. Nobody can do that. On the other hand, I’m satisfied with the results and, aside from one very devoted troll (whose sniping gets erased by every sweep anyway) so do the readers. That’s good enough for me.

 

[yowser]

Most of my stories explore kinks that aren't my own. I read up on them and talk to the people who have those kinks to learn more and work out what drives the desire for it and write from there.

I was hoping someone would volunteer this. It certainly helps to flesh out abstract (for yourself) notions by listening to what others have to say. Over the years for a variety of reasons, the sexual universe has expanded (or at least it felt that way, maybe it always was huge but we didn't have the ability to see the far corners as well) and behaviors that were once fringe are no longer regarded that way.

One of the parts that interests me are squick factors. As I said, I used to think my zone was fairly wide spectrum, but there are areas where I know I won't go, and no amount of trying to edge closer will work. And if I tried a tale in that region it would be a monumental pratfall.

But why do I have such aversions? Some are simpler to diagnose than others. So I'm fine with sexual fluids, sweat and saliva, but nothing else. Other avoidances are harder for me to understand.

But certainly having friends or acquaintances willing to talk about their arousal zones is instructive. The forums here help as well.

 

[ChuckWolf]

For erotic fiction, I'd just as soon not waste my time & energy on a story that involves a kink I have no interest or passion in.

Having said that, I've considered writing a "Loving Wives" story just because the audience for that kink seem pretty hard to please and I'd be curious to see if I could crack the code and write a story that the majority of LW fans would like.

 

[countdowntolov3]

My writing focuses on my kinks, but usually the ones I never expect to do in real life. Sometimes that's for pragmatic reasons, like not wanting to get arrested for indecent exposure or simply because my boyfriend wouldn't be into it. But often times it's because I find the [idea] of something hot, but it has squicky complications that I can ignore when writing about it, but wouldn't be able to in the feal world.

 

[Erozetta]

I was hoping someone would volunteer this. It certainly helps to flesh out abstract (for yourself) notions by listening to what others have to say. Over the years for a variety of reasons, the sexual universe has expanded (or at least it felt that way, maybe it always was huge but we didn't have the ability to see the far corners as well) and behaviors that were once fringe are no longer regarded that way.

One of the parts that interests me are squick factors. As I said, I used to think my zone was fairly wide spectrum, but there are areas where I know I won't go, and no amount of trying to edge closer will work. And if I tried a tale in that region it would be a monumental pratfall.

But why do I have such aversions? Some are simpler to diagnose than others. So I'm fine with sexual fluids, sweat and saliva, but nothing else. Other avoidances are harder for me to understand.

But certainly having friends or acquaintances willing to talk about their arousal zones is instructive. The forums here help as well.

Squick factors definitely intrigue me. I already know some of my kinks are a touch too far for many so I don't include them in stories for that reason alone. I also understand that some are frowned upon as being too dangerous to indulge in and think encouraging their practice should be dissuaded. I seldom see them done well when they are tackled, and I never see them being written about in a "safe practice" way (probably because genuinely safe practice would be somewhat sterile and not really erotic, even if the sensation of pleasure is the same.) And now I want to see if I can make the safe/sterile version erotic... Hmmm.

Talking about and exploring unknown or unfamiliar kinks is about the only way I can truly look at something and consider if it does anything for me or not. Hell, there are kinks I've only picked up on having after reading a story here that left me in a *state of not finishing my sentences apparently.

My aversions are few as I don't really have many squicks myself and am open to learning about just about anything. (Scat might be the only exception for me as far as things that fall within Lit's submission rules. I have a weak stomach and I get nauseous just thinking about talking about it.)

*Edit.