Pulling a story from within a story.

[MisterEdMe]

New Here. Pulling a story from within a story.

I ask all you folks reading this to have patience as this my very first attempt at advice concerning a story I want to post at Literotica. So I am quite nervous at this point. Not even sure if the 'Author's Hangout' is the right place to ask this. It's a big mental leap for me.

Never attempted that nor posted any at all on Literotica. I write things on paper before committing it to a diskette. I even use napkins in restaurants or scrap paper for an idea at work. And my writings flow much easier than what I am attempting to ask in this thread. In my younger days I was simply use to just writing something and turning it in and saying "Just tell me what you think". Allways got good praise. Allways told I should be a writer.

I have written a few erotic stories I intend to submit to Literotica. The problem is that the novel I am writing simply "locked" into my head and won't leave. I spend every spare moment working on it. It is non-erotic and, for some reason, I feel I have to get through BEFORE submitting my erotic ones. I keep brushing it off when I write something full of sex. Yet, the story keeps bugging me and I won't be happy until I do it FIRST.

So, I decided to compromise and focus on a certain section of this novel and make it a story all of its own and submit it. It is very doable.

I guess my question is this: How should I go about this since I know at much later date I will submit the novel itself? Or should I stop obsessing with this one part of the novel and submit the stories I have completed?

 

[rgraham666]

Submit your stories. the feedback will be a great ego boost, contain good pointers, or both.

There will also be trolls. Ignore them.

Submitting part of your novel is doable. If it is a standalone piece. You can delete it later if you post the whole novel.

Just my $0.02.

 

[MisterEdMe]

Submit your stories. the feedback will be a great ego boost, contain good pointers, or both.

There will also be trolls. Ignore them.

Submitting part of your novel is doable. If it is a standalone piece. You can delete it later if you post the whole novel.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks. And I do believe it is very doable. I wasn't aware I could delete it later if I posted the whole novel. I've already started it and it has expanded from what it is in the unfinished novel itself.. Took on a life of its own.

Is this a common thing among writers? Admittedly, I am very nervous about putting it out on the net. It's a psychological thing. Because, normally, I am very bold and often fearless in R/L.

 

[rgraham666]

Thanks. And I do believe it is very doable. I wasn't aware I could delete it later if I posted the whole novel. I've already started it and it has expanded from what it is in the unfinished novel itself.. Took on a life of its own.

Is this a common thing among writers? Admittedly, I am very nervous about putting it out on the net. It's a psychological thing. Because, normally, I am very bold and often fearless in R/L.

The first time, yes. As far as I know we all get nervous. I did.

But like all things, you get used to it.

I will warn you again about the trolls though. They're really hard on first timers here.

Trolls are people who 'one-bomb' your story, that is vote a one just in hopes of pissing you off. They'll often leave anonymous Public Comments telling you that you suck and they hope your children are born brain dead. Even if you're the reincarnation of Shakespeare they'll do this.

Ignore them. They'll soon find someone else to play with. And they're so pathetic they're actually kind of amusing.

 

[AchtungNight]

On pulling a sex story from within a story without sex: I'll recommend the method I use for a lot of my work. Think hard about the story in all its aspects. Focus on the points that seem sexy to you, that jump out at you. Think about the characters and the emotions they're going through. How could they get together? Could you turn any key moments into a tryst? Research and read heavily as you go, then throw it all together and write once you and your muse are ready. An example:

I saw the film "The Upside of Anger." It got me thinking about anger and resentment in all our lives and how we deal with it. I also saw in the film four young actresses who had done a lot of great lovescenes and movies in their time but didn't have that many good sex stories out there that I'd seen. I applied the above method to the actresses and imagined characters based on them going through a plot similar to the movie's. I also researched them and dug up lots of trivia I could use for in-jokes, past pairings of co-stars and friends that could have become trysts (also fodder for later stories, and motivation for the girls to get together easily), and things of that nature. Message boards on IMDB were especially helpful. I threw in Neil Gaiman homages because I was reading Neverwhere at the time I wrote the story and it seemed to fit with the plot. The song Inside Out by Eve 6 also echoed in my mind. Ditto for movies like Breakfast Club, Four Rooms, and A Night at the Roxbury. When all these things combined together, my epic piece "The Rendezvous" was the result. (Check sig for link.)

Best of luck with your writing, friend. I look forward to perusing your novel. Like Graham said, do not fear the trolls. They really aren't that bad. There's even a certain big blue one who comes here now and then who's very friendly. Not everyone can see him, but he's always around.

 

[SexSweetheart]

So, I decided to compromise and focus on a certain section of this novel and make it a story all of its own and submit it. It is very doable.

I guess my question is this: How should I go about this since I know at much later date I will submit the novel itself? Or should I stop obsessing with this one part of the novel and submit the stories I have completed?

Post your completed stories. It will help to make you feel better about your writing. I know it has with me.

I have posted a number of stories, most are complete onto themselves. When I'm writing a story with a number of parts, I usually wait until I finish it.

One of the other comments you got said you can delete it. This is true. It is also possible to have a newer updated version of the same story posted. I have done this myself. After posting, I told of a number of errors in a story. She agreed to edited it for the mistakes. I corrected them, made the story better. It takes just as long to get the reposting up as the original posting.

 

[Guest]

Definitely post your stories. I've gained so much experience and knowledge just from the comments I've gotten and from a lot of the wonderful people here at the AH. Those who will read a story before you post and give you feedback are a tremendous help and have made my scribblings grow.

Plus, anything you learn from posting your stories can be helpful in a novel.

I wrote Endless one day when I was rereading some of my older work. It actually came from an idea I got on one of my older stories and expanded. And I've posted excerpts from other novels as stand alone stories. Literotica is a wonderful place to get the ego strokes and the help you need.

 

[SexSweetheart]

Definitely post your stories. I've gained so much experience and knowledge just from the comments I've gotten and from a lot of the wonderful people here at the AH. Those who will read a story before you post and give you feedback are a tremendous help and have made my scribblings grow.

How do the people here at AH get to read the story before you post it?

 

[Quiet_Cool]

How do the people here at AH get to read the story before you post it?

You ask them to, then they say yes, and you send them the story in an e-mail.

As for your questions, MisterEdMe:

Yes, having these uncertainties and being plagued by ideas is pretty much the writer's insanity, manifesting itself in constant mental torture. Naturally, this is a good thing.

As for what you should do... Honestly, you can't really expect anyone else to know any better than you. What does your mind want to do? Does it want to write the novel first, in whole? Does it want feedback on what you've already written? Does it want that one excerpt written before the novel?

It's easy for us to say what we think you should do, but then, mostly, the Ahers are eager to read one another, especially newbies, so the answer "submit them, damnit!" comes as no surprise. And telling you what we would do is easy, because we already know our own patterns and mentalities. I'd say the ame as them, but then, I'm working on about eight different stories now, and have a few festering upstairs that haven't been started yet. My mind says: Today we work on this one, and I do that. Tomorrow, it says we work on that one over there. That one it is. You've got to do what the writer inside wants. I'd say that's the only advice I can give.

Q_C

 

[MisterEdMe]

Thanks all of you. Your advice has been well taken. I decided to pull the story from the novel. I've completed the first chapter. This chapter is mostly the thoughts of the main character and adequately describes the situation at hand many years after the fact. The setting, time, place, characters, etc. are introduced via the thoughts of the main character.

I had to write it on paper (as is the novel itself) first. The rest is also generalized on paper; waiting for me to fill in the details. I use the pen and paper method for anything I write with any kind of depth to it. It also helps me keep the characters from contradicting themselves and from 'merging' into another one at times. I haven't written anything worthwhile in years.

I will committ it to diskette tommorrow and submit for review. The others were either very easy for me or I wrote them long ago. They shall follow shortly.

Thanks again. Wish me luck! I invite any other comments/advice you have to offer.