Post-COVID Obsolescence?

[LexxRuthless]

Some time back, someone else posted a thread in which they asked what we imagined the world would be like in the aftermath of COVID-19. I expect that it will be like air travel following 9-11; it will never be quite the same as it was before but we'll grow accustomed to the annoyances.

Late last night, though, it occurred to me that all the stories currently on Literotica may well read like historical fiction in just a few years. I've been writing and submitting stories this past year that completely ignore the pandemic, setting them in a world where that hasn't yet occurred. Right now I feel like that's my best choice. Setting them "during the pandemic" will make them seem reactionary and clearly set them in this specific year. Trying to imagine the post-pandemic world will make them speculative fiction.

Assuming Literotica is still here 8-10 years from now, will all my stories sound obsolete because I have students sitting in classrooms and dating? Will readers suck in a shocked breath because my characters actually [gasp!] shook hands?!?

Edit: Found the original post. http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1529529

 

[KeithD]

It's possible that the world will continue as a Covid world to some degree, one virus just moving into the next one. For now, I'm ignoring its ramifications in my story writing as well (except for the one story written to the pandemic being the required theme).

 

[MColton84]

Honestly, the world is always ending. I am not by any means trying to downplay the virus. I am just saying that there is always something wrong and every so often; Y2K, West Nile, Tsars, The DC Snipers, 9-11, and so on, it gets so bad that the world has to stop turning for a minute. If my story takes place in 2020, then Covid is a character. If it takes place in '95 then it will be the OJ trial, and in five years from now, every piece of erotica will center around the rise of the planet of the apes.

I just try not to think about it.

 

[MsNatalie99]

Assuming Literotica is still here 8-10 years from now, will all my stories sound obsolete because I have students sitting in classrooms and dating? Will readers suck in a shocked breath because my characters actually [gasp!] shook hands?!?

Edit: Found the original post. http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1529529

Honestly, the world is always ending. I am not by any means trying to downplay the virus. I am just saying that there is always something wrong and every so often; Y2K, West Nile, Tsars, The DC Snipers, 9-11, and so on, it gets so bad that the world has to stop turning for a minute. If my story takes place in 2020, then Covid is a character. If it takes place in '95 then it will be the OJ trial, and in five years from now, every piece of erotica will center around the rise of the planet of the apes.

I just try not to think about it.

I’m not going to lie. I had to google all but 2 of Matt’s examples. But I can agree that life has a way of going on. Things will never be the same as they were before, but they will eventually resemble normal. I can’t find many stories where a character will apply KY before anal or put on a condom before sex, so I don’t know how a Glory-hole story will work if the characters are wearing masks and practicing social distancing. People still have sex, and stories about sex will survive because of it.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Writing SF and Fantasy has its benefits. The only thing I need to maybe worry about is making sure that I'll mention the "global pandemic" in my SF setting's flashbacks. But then, the aliens make planetfall fifty years from now. By then Covid will be as much old news as the Reagan era is old news now.

 

[SimonDoom]

No one can say for certain what will happen in the future, but I suspect that eventually we will go back to something like normal. I read an article by someone predicting that the post-COVID world might be something like the Roaring 20s following WW1 and the Spanish Flu -- a time when people cut loose and go wild, and inhibitions fall. That seems likely to me, but who knows?

One thing I'm sure about: physical intimacy will never become obsolete. So keep writing about it.

 

[Ginlover]

so I don’t know how a Glory-hole story will work if the characters are wearing masks and practicing social distancing. People still have sex, and stories about sex will survive because of it.

Lol the official public health guidance in New York and some states in Canada recommended sex thorough a hole in a solid object, they went on to specify glory hole. That was released April 2020.

I have a plot outline which won’t be completed this year. It’s set in January and Feb. In the plot outline social distancing forms part of the dialogue. A scene when one character trips and falls on the other. The characters then refer back to this in banter as their relationship gets more physical as they have already broken social distancing rules so there is no extra risk as they progress towards sex. (Light hearted acceptance and humour not scientific fact)

It’s a minor plot point and their relationship can be achieved with out mentioning Covid or 2 m social distancing. BUT as I’d be looking to publish jan/feb 2022 I’ve just stopped writing it. If it’s relevant the Covid plot line must stay but by 2022 we might not be social distancing.

As an aside I sadly do think masks and social distancing will still be prominent through the winter of 21/22 but I can’t bring myself to write it yet as that is too depressing.

 

[vanmyers86]

I'm finding that my current work refers to the pandemic, but in the past tense, as a touchstone. I think people will be affected by the fallout from this period for a long time.

For the pandemic story challenge last year, I started two stories set during the pandemic, but I got too depressed to finish them. I find the entire situation sad and bleak, and that's not what I want to write for this site.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

It was widely asserted, in the late 70s and well into the 80s, that AIDS would kill casual sex (in addition to those who practiced it). That didn’t happen.

Whatever one’s motivations may be as a writer of erotica, I believe it’s true that many, many readers of this site are looking for escapist fantasy, and concern about microbes, pregnancy, and other potential drawbacks IRL would kill the buzz for them. Other readers may like to have the drawbacks addressed, but in a way that keeps the characters banging.

Has anyone yet received a reader comment to the effect that a story was ruined because COVID-19 protocols weren’t observed?

 

[B_Couric]

We are sort of in an immediately post 9/11 situation. Lots of irrational fear piled on to some legit fears. I'll leave it at that.

I'd bet money that in say, 5 years, this will pretty much be ancient history and ignored.

I think the bigger, way bigger issue, is the difference in generations and cultural touchstones. For example, I was reading some Stephen King last night. He's way older than me, but I've loved his stuff. He wrote a great short story about a guy who's about my age in real life, but the guy sounds and talks like a guy my age.... in 1982. Every older author has this problem.

Now people in their 20's live lives so crazy different then even I did. Social media and technology have completely revolutionized everything. They don't sit around watching TV. Even without Covid they don't just go to their friends house to hang out so much. I saw something that said only a fraction of 16 olds have girl/boyfriends and drivers licenses compared to my generation. I'm completely out of touch.

That's the biggest difference. If I wrote a story about current 20 year olds or younger, they'd sniff it out as fake in a heartbeat.

 

[MColton84]

Has anyone yet received a reader comment to the effect that a story was ruined because COVID-19 protocols weren’t observed?

I have. The reader said that my story wasn't realistic because of Social Distancing. I replied to the comment that the story was set sometime between 2010 and 2012 (Pre-Covid).

 

[MColton84]

We are sort of in an immediately post 9/11 situation. Lots of irrational fear piled on to some legit fears. I'll leave it at that.

I'd bet money that in say, 5 years, this will pretty much be ancient history and ignored.

I think the bigger, way bigger issue, is the difference in generations and cultural touchstones. For example, I was reading some Stephen King last night. He's way older than me, but I've loved his stuff. He wrote a great short story about a guy who's about my age in real life, but the guy sounds and talks like a guy my age.... in 1982. Every older author has this problem.

Now people in their 20's live lives so crazy different then even I did. Social media and technology have completely revolutionized everything. They don't sit around watching TV. Even without Covid they don't just go to their friends house to hang out so much. I saw something that said only a fraction of 16 olds have girl/boyfriends and drivers licenses compared to my generation. I'm completely out of touch.

That's the biggest difference. If I wrote a story about current 20 year olds or younger, they'd sniff it out as fake in a heartbeat.

That's an interesting point. I too worry that my younger characters will seem more manufactured than desired to my readers. I have two teens in my house and I notice more and more the differences in their language and mannerisms than that of mine at their age. Hopefully Readers will be able to relate to the spirit of the characters even if the language is off.

 

[B_Couric]

That's an interesting point. I too worry that my younger characters will seem more manufactured than desired to my readers. I have two teens in my house and I notice more and more the differences in their language and mannerisms than that of mine at their age. Hopefully Readers will be able to relate to the spirit of the characters even if the language is off.

"Two teens". You and me both. lol. I agree with your thoughts.

 

[StrappingMan]

You always have to read a work making considerations for when it was written. My current work is set in the late 90's. The internet existed but e-commerce was in its infancy. Cell phones had reached about 20% of the U. S. population but was about to jump to 40%. Amazon was just launching. The economy and housing markets eere roaring and there was a tremendousventhusiasm about the future with the Millennium coming. So every ten to rwenty years we will see many stories make little sense in the current world.

My personal opinion is that within a few months the numbers will have come down to acceptable levels and most public places will be mask free unless a person shows symptoms. Then they should isolate. Just like we should do for any airborne infectious disease. Things will then be semi-normal for several years until the next outbreak.

Hopefully next time whichever country it starts in will be more proactive and not let tens of thousands of its people travel all over the world.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I agree with all saying we can't see into the future yada yada. Perhaps though, reflect on how Literotica would have been if around in the early 1980s when the HIV/AIDS epidemic started and how things might have been treated.

We are writing stories, fiction. We are not in the non-fiction real world so, in essence, anything goes, however some stories will allow certain societal practices better than others. We are fortunate in that we get to write in the ideal world where we choose if STIs, unwanted pregnancies and/or social distancing enters our stories. We choose the sliding door moments that make our characters meet, we are in control of their destiny, not the reader!