setting the scene

[insane_beauty]

This question is for authors.

When writing a piece, how much do you put into setting the scene and background of your story before you get into the sex bits? And how do you keep this interesting?

 

[EdwardMidweston]

This question is for authors.

When writing a piece, how much do you put into setting the scene and background of your story before you get into the sex bits? And how do you keep this interesting?

Although I don't have any work on Lit at the moment--I will soon, however--I'm both a published writer and a former college-level writing instructor. Not bragging, just establishing that, contrary to appearances, I meet your criteria.

With rare exceptions, it's a big mistake to create more than bare bones minimums of background and scene setting at the beginning of a story. The quicker you get into characterization and some sort of action --not necessarily sex--the less likely that potential readers will yawn and move on to some other story. The days when Gene Stratton Porter could fill five pages with a description of a sunset are long-gone in most cases. Short attention spans are a very real problem for authors, and that's especially true at a site like Literotica that offers literally thousands of alternatives. You need to grab your readers early and inextricably, making them want to see what happens next. Otherwise, they will probably wander away to someone else's stories.

That doesn't mean you have to ignore scene orbackground. Just "spoon feed" them in relatively small doses after you've hooked the reader with a strong action-centered or character-centered lead.

Like all generalizations, this one is far from absolute. Still, it's a good approach unless you have a strong reason to do otherwise.

 

[roomfor1more]

My feeling setting the scene and back ground is crucial for the readers to understand the story. I feel it separates a good story that many will read and enjoy versus poorly constructed "jerk-off" story. For me, I try to speand a good amount of time on this but it is not my main focus when I write. As for keeping it interesting that is something you need to find for yourself since each author has their own writing style.

 

[EdwardMidweston]

My feeling setting the scene and back ground is crucial for the readers to understand the story. I feel it separates a good story that many will read and enjoy versus poorly constructed "jerk-off" story. For me, I try to speand a good amount of time on this but it is not my main focus when I write. As for keeping it interesting that is something you need to find for yourself since each author has their own writing style.

Agreed. I'm not suggesting two-dimensional cardboard characters or generic settings and backgrounds--merely suggesting that they be injected in small chunks as the story progresses rather than en masse. Another alternative is to put this information into an introduction or prologue before beginning the story.

In the end, however, there are nine and sixty ways to construct a tribal lay and the "best" way is whatever works best for any given author and any given story.

 

[nakdsub]

I think it all depends on the story and...

How important is the scene to the story. For instance, does; "It was a cold and foggy night in London town," have anything to do with the dark and mysterious figure hiding in the shadows? Sure, it ads to the visual aspects.
I sometimes start my stories out with setting the scene visually, and sometimes I start right out with an action scene. It all depends. Go with your gut is what I always do. Here's the intro to one of mine. I wanted to set a cold scene. The cold plays all the way through the story.

The bitter breeze strewn lifeless brown leaves along my cold, hard Midwest lawn. Only a couple weeks ago they dazzled brilliantly against the sun as it shown through the yellow, orange, and red colors of fall. Now, I struggled against mother nature. My only weapon to stop their attempted escape on the wings of her frosty breath, was an old fashion bamboo rake, a hand-me-down from a generation long since past.

I worked feverishly gathering the last remnants of summer into piles to be bagged and picked up before the first snow fall. The dull, gray sky and wintry winds told me I didn’t have a lot of time left.

My left arm was still hurting as it had been for most of the day. Normal, I suspected for a man who, like the season, was also approaching winter. The long tentacles of the old rake scraped along the ground when suddenly it dropped from my hands, I went down to my knees clutching my chest from the worst pain I could remember in years. My body twisted from tightening muscles and I fell hard on the frozen ground behind my house.

I was paralyzed from the agony, my body refused to function. I heard the rustling of leaves under me as I rolled uncontrollably from one side to the other.

 

[MaxSebastian]

I'd go with the bare minimum if I were you. I'd agree that readers don't have the attention spans they used to (I'm not sure I ever did!) but also it's just really not clever or impressive these days to shove a load of fat paragraphs at your potential reader stuffed with words associated with the location, temperature and time of day of the story you're tellng.

Just sketch it out lightly as you go. Are we in a cold New England winter? We really don't need to know exactly how it feels to have a chill wind biting at our cheeks. We have a fair idea already with just a hint.

Setting the story in a rainforest? Just a few carefully chosen words are needed - people have enough of a preconceived notion of what kind of place it is.

Assuming your story is erotica, your reader likely wants to know who it is that is going to get together, and perhaps how they meet and what it is that attracts them to each other. If they already know each other, we want to get quickly to an event that changes things in their relationship, and then see how things progress from there.

You can dribble in little signals about where these characters are, and (if you must) their backstory, along the way - but hints are so much more powerful and influential than great wodges of description or history in this respect.

Otherwise you'll spend a load of time concocting a mass of text that might read like poetry to you, but will have most readers skipping straight past it all.

 

[Wyatt1]

http://www.castoffdebt.comwell

bumb ubm!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The trick is to make setting essential to the action and story. What I call 'collateral digressions' test the readers patience.

My rule of thumb is to insert setting when characters are forced to make decisions that advance the plot. This is becuz the characters/readers are at a natural place for collecting information, and receptive.

Anuther useful spot for setting is when the character encounters surprises or is puzzled or confused. New info is welcome.

I constantly ask myself, WHATS THIS GOTTA DO WITH THE PRICE OF TEA IN CHINA?