The banality of reality

[SimonDoom]

I had to think about how to respond to this one, because I get what the OP is saying, but I have my own way of approaching this so I don't quite feel the same way.

I've said this before, so I know I'm repeating myself, but I think it's responsive to the thread. I don't strive for reality. I strive for verisimilitude: I want the story to seem just realistic enough. I don't worry too much about plausibility, or whether what the characters are doing is REALLY realistic. I don't care too much whether it's too boring or too over-the-top. I try to put just enough things in my story that make it plausible enough to keep the reader moving along, to make the reader buy into what I'm trying to convey. It works for many readers, but it doesn't work for some. It works for me, most of the time, and that's enough. It's what I call the "Zen Garden" approach to story writing. I'm not trying to duplicate reality, just to artfully suggest it in my own way. Reality is a huge palette with many dabs of paint, and I can choose which ones to apply to the canvas.

Reality IS banal, but banality can be part of what makes a story so erotically satisfying, to me, at least. It's sexier to write about a seemingly ordinary mom getting into an outrageously hot, sexy situation than writing about a sex-crazed, Double D porn-star type doing the same.

Stick to whatever reality/fantasy balance works for you personally. That's probably what will result in the best story.

 

[Senor_Smut]

I had to think about how to respond to this one, because I get what the OP is saying, but I have my own way of approaching this so I don't quite feel the same way.

I've said this before, so I know I'm repeating myself, but I think it's responsive to the thread. I don't strive for reality. I strive for verisimilitude: I want the story to seem just realistic enough. I don't worry too much about plausibility, or whether what the characters are doing is REALLY realistic. I don't care too much whether it's too boring or too over-the-top. I try to put just enough things in my story that make it plausible enough to keep the reader moving along, to make the reader buy into what I'm trying to convey. It works for many readers, but it doesn't work for some. It works for me, most of the time, and that's enough. It's what I call the "Zen Garden" approach to story writing. I'm not trying to duplicate reality, just to artfully suggest it in my own way. Reality is a huge palette with many dabs of paint, and I can choose which ones to apply to the canvas.

Reality IS banal, but banality can be part of what makes a story so erotically satisfying, to me, at least. It's sexier to write about a seemingly ordinary mom getting into an outrageously hot, sexy situation than writing about a sex-crazed, Double D porn-star type doing the same.

Stick to whatever reality/fantasy balance works for you personally. That's probably what will result in the best story.

Thanks for this. I prefer to stress verisimilitude over realism myself (which I define as 'real enough' to not annoy me as I write it, combined with adhering strictly to whatever rules I establish as a part of the setting or story). I don't know why this story is up in my head. If I ever get a first draft of the first chapter done, I'm going to try to revise it in a few different styles to see if anything clicks with me.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks for this. I prefer to stress verisimilitude over realism myself (which I define as 'real enough' to not annoy me as I write it, combined with adhering strictly to whatever rules I establish as a part of the setting or story). I don't know why this story is up in my head. If I ever get a first draft of the first chapter done, I'm going to try to revise it in a few different styles to see if anything clicks with me.

That could be a fun creative exercise, and it might be revealing. It's hard to know whether the story is going to work until it's actually written.

 

[Senor_Smut]

That could be a fun creative exercise, and it might be revealing. It's hard to know whether the story is going to work until it's actually written.

If the story doesn't work it will be because I couldn't get out of the way and let it write itself.

 

[Rob_Royale]

So I ask myself why I'm making it so hard, and I keep coming back to the fact that reality is painfully banal. I know I don't need to write scores of pages of temptation and growing lust overcoming social norms and taboos gradually crumbling, when it would be much more realistic to have them just start fucking one day. But just having them start fucking one day is fucking dull.

This is my problem too. To overcome societal norms and embrace the taboo is the story, in my eyes. And as a writer I'd want to explore that journey in detail. But I know that's not what the readers there are looking for. It's one of the reasons I haven't gone there yet.