Show me your unusual stylistic or structural choices

[joy_of_cooking]

Second person narration? In medias res? A frame story? Every chapter 750 words?

 

[Djmac1031]

I think the most unusual thing I ever wrote involved an elf narrator breaking the fourth wall several times during the story to address and insult the readers in my Christmas tale Elves Gone Wild.

 

[Euphony]

Not even drinks first?

I usually need at least a little something to justify showing my weird bits, especially in public.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not even drinks first?

I usually need at least a little something to justify showing my weird bits, especially in public.

Be shameless, like the rest of us!

Brooke Works in the Hardware Store - Four x 750 word chapters - this is the first chapter

A Girl on the Bus - Starts with 750 words, then each chapter gets longer This was an experiment, to see how many I could drag along before they got to the payoff.

Garter Belts and Cigarettes - in media res

 

[AchtungNight]

I always write in Celebrity using many characters that are not mine. It’s a weird crutch I can’t drop. Lots of other unusual things in my work too. Go read it, you decide what’s weirdest.

 

[lovecraft68]

I consider myself a basic writer. I like to tell stories and I do it in a simple manner, not very stylistic. Not sure if it counts, but for an e-book I had the MC summon The "Great Pump-Kin" (Okay, if puns is a style...) a family demon out for revenge. I decided to fool around with writing an incantation to summon it, then tweaked it into a poem.

https://literotica.com/p/the-great-pump-kin

 

[Trionyx]

I did one primarily in reverse chronological order and using almost all dialog. It was a fun challenge.

https://literotica.com/s/we-dont-have-to-do-this

 

[TheRedChamber]

This post has led to some head scratching on my part as to what exactly qualifies as 'in media res'. A lot of my stories start with action (or at least some form of movement) in the first few sentences rather than huge amounts of backstory.

A Half-Decent Performance probably counts as IMR as the whole (2k words) story covers only about 10-minutes in the life. Get Your Coat probably doesn't as there isn't really any exposition that was skipped at the start, but was an attempt to see how few sentences I could get to sex.

I've done second-person exactly once (Amazing Chest Ahead) and only because the video game I was basing the story on required it. (Note: readers expect Horror then Eroticism in this category. Eroticism turning into Horror doesn't seem to do so well...or maybe it's just me.)

A Veil of Sky is a story initially told not through the eyes of the main couple.

Goodbye, My Hot Young Wife is the inner monologue of a guy sitting lonely in his room musing over his own failings - technically nothing at all actually happens in it.

Shawna's Leaving Party, by far my lowest-scoring story, attempted the 'not spelling everything out exactly for the readers cos I've only got 750-words' and got absolutely crucified as a result.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Double layered flashbacks: first-person framed by third-person close framed by third-person distant.

Story within a story: modern-day romance alternating with a fantasy romance, 1001 Nights style.

Brief in medias res before jumping back to tell the story from the start, and I guess post res with styling to mark out chat logs/emails/etc.

No second-person narratives yet, but I'll get to it some day.

 

[mirafrida]

Don't know if this counts, but I've written a couple of VERY long, epic-style poems.

Huge amount of work. Posted one under stories and readers hated it. Posted one under poetry and it's been pretty much ignored. But I remain proud...

 

[MediocreAuthor]

I prefer First Person Present tense vs First Person Past tense.

I feel like it's so much more personal. Apparently it's a less common choice? But all of my most popular stories are in that style.

Also I abuse the shit out of ellipses, and I hate the em dash. Does that count as a stylistic choice?

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Don't know if this counts, but I've written a couple of VERY long, epic-style poems.

Hero's Tale (or a Heroic Homeric)
The comments are hilarious. A bunch of people weighing in on dactylic vs iambic hexameter, and then "It doesn't even rhyme."

 

[SeraphNocturne]

I prefer First Person Present tense vs First Person Past tense.

I feel like it's so much more personal. Apparently it's a less common choice? But all of my most popular stories are in that style.

Also I abuse the shit out of ellipses, and I hate the em dash. Does that count as a stylistic choice?

You're seriously missing an opportunity to plug Eldritch Pact's use of diacritics and I am so disappointed.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

You're seriously missing an opportunity to plug Eldritch Pact's use of diacritics and I am so disappointed.

OMG THANK YOU, NYX!!!!


YES! As all none of you have heard, because I always so seldom mention it, Eldritch Pact uses exaggerated diacritics!!!
.
I̸̘̤͇͖̜̔͌̿́t̷͓̽ ̸͈͈̌̈́l̸͕͆̂͝ö̴̞̙̙̤o̶̡̫͔͕͌͊̔̕k̸͈͂́̐š̸̱̆ ̴̳͎̮̫̆͂̒͊͐l̸̼̑́̚ḯ̷̱̹̩̌k̵̥̝̤̞͓̏̄̚͝ę̶͇͖̬̋̆͗̏ ̸̨͍̰̠̫͒̄̌́̕t̵͚͍̅̂͐̿͝h̷͕͉̘̀͝ḯ̸̗̺̇͆s̴͙̯̪̤͆̚
.

And I use it to denote the deafening , otherworldly speak of the Old Ones. (The sexy Old Ones, btw)

 

[oneagainst]

I prefer First Person Present tense vs First Person Past tense.

I feel like it's so much more personal. Apparently it's a less common choice? But all of my most popular stories are in that style.

Unreliable narrators in FP present tense for the win. MC can jump off the page if it's done right, because you're not reading the story as much as being in conversation with them.

I think I got away with 2nd Person in Everthing We've Been Told Are Lies, and the immediacy of present tense allows the story to turn on a sixpence (a dime? I dunno), which was what was required with that ending.

Also I abuse the shit out of ellipses, and I hate the em dash. Does that count as a stylistic choice?

No, M. No... it doesn't.

 

[RejectReality]

I wrote a cougar story and broke in with Discovery Channel style researcher commentary as if she was an actual cougar.

https://www.literotica.com/s/documentary-cougar

 

[djrip]

Present tense, from the POV of an undead blind amnesiac with someone else's talking eye... An Eye For Love.

 

[mirafrida]

Hero's Tale (or a Heroic Homeric)
The comments are hilarious. A bunch of people weighing in on dactylic vs iambic hexameter, and then "It doesn't even rhyme."

Yes, when that one gets comments, positive or negative, they tend to be entertaining

 

[Rustyoznail]

The most unusual would be my two 750 word stories that had no quote marks or dialogue tags. With only two characters, it worked well, I think.

https://literotica.com/s/keeping-up-with-the-ruston-whites

https://literotica.com/s/keeping-up-at-cambridge

 

[oneagainst]

I wanted to try something different in The Light Between The Trees ch 17 - it's the end of the book and it's FMC 1st person with direct 4th wall addressing of the reader. I got to the end and thought... after everything she went through, why not let her have her moment turning the mirror back on the readers. How would she feel about being basically voyeured all the way through her journey? It's probably gonna go down in flames but no risk no reward.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I prefer First Person Present tense vs First Person Past tense.

I feel like it's so much more personal. Apparently it's a less common choice? But all of my most popular stories are in that style.

Also I abuse the shit out of ellipses, and I hate the em dash. Does that count as a stylistic choice?

MA, you've left out your squiggly bits and runes, and whatever other alienating paraphernalia you use, so I can't read your stories .

 

[MediocreAuthor]

MA, you've left out your squiggly bits and runes, and whatever other alienating paraphernalia you use, so I can't read your stories .

@seraph_nocturne was nice enough to bring that up too! I added in a second comment! Thank you very much, though!

I'm very proud of my illegible garbage!

 

[ElectricBlue]

@seraph_nocturne was nice enough to bring that up too! I added in a second comment! Thank you very much, though!

I'm very proud of my illegible garbage!

So you should be. I must have been so devastated by the rectangular nothingness of your creature's words that I gave you a day pass on your first person present tense. That usually a run away quickly, for me! Even the few times I've written it myself, I've had to change it to past tense after a thousand words, because I'm exhausted.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

My story Tomorrow is Promised was written as a literary triptych where three disparate story lines are tied together but written in parallel. While the overall story progresses from part one through part three, each part can be read separately without losing any of the story of the three disparate story lines.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

So you should be. I must have been so devastated by the rectangular nothingness of your creature's words that I gave you a day pass on your first person present tense. That usually a run away quickly, for me! Even the few times I've written it myself, I've had to change it to past tense after a thousand words, because I'm exhausted.

First Person Present Tense
Unintelligible Text
Non-human
Femdom
Noncon
Pegging
Tentacles

I feel like I've ostracized 99% of Lit's reader base with those choices. Anything I can add to make that story less popular?