True Stories

[Katie_Mae]

None of my stories are true. But they all have true things in them.

And by "true things" I'm talking about how I see and experience the world and my own fantasies, my obversions, my thoughts etc

Example:
-Banning all porn won't result in a porn-free society.
-Banning all masturbation and restricting all sexual activity to procreation-reasons after marriage will likewise not necessarily have the intended result.
-Some fantasies are best kept as fantasies.
-Some toilets are really confusing to flush, and when they are it will be after you've just done a big #2 that you desperately want to flush away but can't work out how.

And by "true things" yes, I'm also talking about things which did happen to me, inspiration from world events, people, places, times etc.

Yes, the toilet incident happened to me and I wrote it into a story.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Yes, the toilet incident happened to me and I wrote it into a story.

If I had a nickel for every erotica author who mentioned #2 toilet incidents in a story that has nothing to do with scat I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Tropic of Cancer has a scene where a man accidentally uses a bidet as a toilet for a big #2, to the horror of the entire brothel.

 

[old_prof]

I had a comment complaining about a non-erotic incident with college acceptances in my story The Important Days being unrealistic. That was absolutely based on a true incident. The whole scene is an amalgam of two real occurrences, one mine, one my wife’s

 

[FrancesScott]

None of my stories are autobiographical in the slightest. But of course real life experience informs what we all write. Our own feelings and our observations of others percolate into the text.

 

[Britva415]

you can write a "true" story as long as you don't claim it to be true in your text

You can say it in your text. You can't say it in title, tags or description.

Source

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I had a comment complaining about a non-erotic incident with college acceptances in my story The Important Days being unrealistic. That was absolutely based on a true incident. The whole scene is an amalgam of two real occurrences, one mine, one my wife’s

If it makes you feel better, someone on IMDB criticised the film Rampage (the 2009 made by Uwe Boll) as something that could never happen in real life. Then there was the Utøya summer camp massacre in Norway, which played almost step-by-step like the rampage on the film.

 

[EmilyMiller]

You can say it in your text. You can't say it in title, tags or description.

Source

From the beginning of Procreative Writing, which I wrote with @Djmac1031

This is a true story. The events depicted below happened in the Mid Atlantic in 2024. At the request of those involved, the names have been changed. Out of respect for our readers, the rest has been told exactly how it occurred.

 

[Voboy]

I've got VERY few directly autobiographical stories, or parts of stories, but several of the things I've put in my stories were loosely inspired by real stuff: usually, some sort of fleeting eye-contact thing, or a random stray thought about someone I've seen or spoken with. I'm not sure I'd say those read any more or less realistically than the purely fictional stuff; it would be hard for me to judge.

What I have noticed is that there's a definite tendency for readers to assume that stories (or parts of stories) are true, and they're often willing to reach out and ask about my proclivities based on what I have my characters doing or thinking. I usually find that interesting, even flattering, since I tell myself it means the story possessed a sense of verisimilitude.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I think real stories are fine, just make sure you change details. In particular, names, as has been mentioned, since I don't think most people would appreciate showing up in an erotic piece without their consent.

I definitely enjoy writing about people who aren't this close to me. Certainly, I put traits in my characters that belong to me, primarily because it's very hard to fully distance yourself and not have something slip in subconsciously. Hell, even the most alien creatures I've come up with, which were spacetime monsters, had a couple piece of me in them.

I just completed probably the most autobiographical thing I've ever done (except non-fiction writing about my experiences) for my Valentine's Day submission, and it felt weird, naked.

That said, it's not super autobiographical, and I am legally obligated to inform you that I am not a tamandua. Nor do I have a boyfriend.

 

[MaudeBlack]

What lovely and thoughtful - and thought provoking comments.
You guys are the best.

Xx

 

[jonnoback]

I always like it when the author says 'this is a true story' and then it's up to me to judge how truthful that statement is. Sometimes there's clearly far too much embellishment for it to be true and that's easily spotted but then I do wonder why bother to say it's true - maybe others don't notice? - but I have and I do think a little less of them though that doesn't necessarily stop me from reading more (that's more down to the quality of the writing and the subject matter).

But if I really think it's true then it makes the story so much hotter and I like the author a lot more as they've gone the extra mile and revealed a lot about themselves. And that speaks volumes about them.

 

[SimonDoom]

From the beginning of Procreative Writing, which I wrote with @Djmac1031

This is a true story. The events depicted below happened in the Mid Atlantic in 2024. At the request of those involved, the names have been changed. Out of respect for our readers, the rest has been told exactly how it occurred.

If I recall, this statement, or one almost identical to it, appears at the beginning of the movie Fargo, and of each episode of the spinoff series. It's obviously not true, but the writer apparently thought it would give the story extra interest to say this about it.

 

[Erozetta]

Much of what I write has kernels of truth in them. A person, an interaction, a relationship, a desire, an experience, just an element. Then I wrap and weave that into fiction.

 

[GraiceeGirl]

I like to say my stories are based on my experiences. Then there are some based experiences of someone I know and have asked their permission to write about them. A few based on a dream of mine.

 

[Jalibar62]

Appreciate that.

I don't mind if people believe it to be true or not, that's their business and not the question I was asking.

I'm more interested in the author experience of writing true stories and whether they find it more fun to write than fiction or if their stories start with an element of truth etc.

Xx

One of my first stories was 4 parts truth, 4 parts wishful thinking, and 2 parts newbie mistakes. It was easier to "write what I knew". Since then, the things I've written are truly fictional, but always with some of my own life experience thrown in.
But... something occurred to me as I was contemplating your question: As an amateur, it's impossible (at least for me) to keep my own feelings and emotions out of my stories, so from that perspective, there will always be something of my voice in my characters. Does that make them "true"?

 

[big_cane_sugar]

I believe that there are no true stories but that every great story is true.

 

[nice90sguy]

4 parts truth, 4 parts wishful thinking, and 2 parts newbie mistakes.

You can simplify this by dividing by two throughout. In fact please do, it's really bothering me...

 

[Jalibar62]

But if I did that, the story would be half as long?

 

[Britva415]

But if I did that, the story would be half as long?

something something "parts twice as big"

 

[Pabiporffor]

All stories are true, even if they haven't happened yet.

 

[Belegon]

Hi All,

I recently published a true story about myself. It was true for the most part but did contain a small amount of fiction, generally to compress the timeline and to add a few narrative flourishes.

I really enjoyed the process and am planning on writing a few more. Not that my sex life is especially exciting, but that's kinda the point of these pieces.

I'd anticipated the story attracting a few direct messages and comments but was genuinely surprised by the positive response and relatively few 'Let me diagnose you' comments.

I'm still a very new writer, so I guess I'm just asking for any of your experiences with true stories - if it's something you have written, or even if it's okay to write those kind of stories here?

Also, does it change your view on a story or the author, knowing that it is true?

Maude

Xx

i think, judging from reactions, that at least a few readers find it titillating.

Several of my earliest stories were based on actual experiences. and my most popular and rewarded one was cut almost whole cloth out of a night from my college days. however, I don't think it was the sex part of it that benefitted so much from it being a true story. i think it was that I had the imagery of the actual night in my head and was able to use it, especially in slightly comic ways.

Although I certainly have written quite a bit that has absolutely no similarity to my real life, I find that every story has something in it that relates to my own real history. Sometimes it's a very small something, sometimes it's a major piece of the story. For example, i have put approximately 2500 words into a current work in process today and am just now getting to the point where it's going to start getting naughty. and the sexual scenario has no real parallel in my personal life. however, the preamble to it is a connection between this man and woman being made at a poetry reading and I have absolutely pulled from the fact that I have actual experience doing poetry readings to enhance that part of the story.

<edited to change 25k into the actual 2.5k. I've never had a single days writing come out to 25K words and will be incredibly shocked If i ever do.>

 

[Belegon]

I’ve published fictionalized versions of real events without any problems (the degree of fictionalization varies from a thin veneer to major changes from reality). Like you my stories are exaggerated, compressed in time, may combine things that actually happened years apart, and include entire fabricated sections - either to aid the plot or add dramatic tension.

There is no problem with this ‘inspired by real events’ approach. But be prepared for;

1. People doubting the veracity of what you write (especially if any of the sex is out of the mainstream)
2. People thinking the fabricated stuff is also real (I guess how are they meant to tell?)
3. People thinking you want to do what happened in your story with them (this has happened to me a lot )

I’d also say if you lean heavily on any other people to create your characters, please check that they are OK with this.

It also makes sense to obfuscate and mislead a little to preserve anonymity.

Good luck with writing

when I was first out there trying to promote my erotic romance writing back around 2006-2007, the first conventions and such I went to, I had a real problem with readers thinking that every thing any of my characters had done, I had done in my personal life. I've never been quite sure why readers of romance and erotica got so stuck on that point.

I've never met anyone that thinks Stephen King actually met Pennywise. Or that Michael Crichton had ever had to run away from a T-Rex. Or that Tolkien owned a malevolent, magical ring.

 

[PennameWombat]

Really? Surely a good portion on what’s written here is based on reality in some way…

Maybe it’s different for me but I - always - assumed most people were drawing from experience or knowledge in some way.

If you mean by "draw from experiences," I include in my stories life settings (universities, offices) and various activities (certain sports and professions), then yes. I "draw from experience." Various of my characters attend universities, they have jobs, they have hobbies or play sports, drive cars, and so on. That much of these hew toward my life experiences I won't deny. Because those are things I can express in a way that they offer believable backgrounds to my settings.

If you mean the plots, sexual shenanigans, specific relationships, key involvement of aliens in certain of the sexual shenanigans, other events, and the like, then, no. My stories do not "draw from experience." As well as my characters travelling in space ships, having sex with aliens, and so on. Yeah. I make these up, but try to use elements from the first paragraph to assist with suspension of disbelief.

That's why it's "fiction."

I can't really put it much better than this:

None of my stories are autobiographical in the slightest. But of course real life experience informs what we all write. Our own feelings and our observations of others percolate into the text.

 

[TheDok]

Many of my stories contain autobiographical elements, and I have one series which is completely true, only the names have been changed (some of them). It's my catharsis story, my greatest sadness and one of my deepest loves. Time has passed, and she's not been the only one, but still...

The thing is though, I also have stories where readers have commented, "Thank you both for sharing," which means those readers thought it a true story, that the characters were me and someone else; whereas in fact the leading characters were both completely fictional (although the locations were somewhere real).

That is, if you write well enough about vividly real characters, there's no way that readers can ever tell the difference. Equally, I could write true stories, announce them as such, and readers are just as likely to say, "Nah, that could never happen."

It's not so much whether a story is true or not, but whether you can make it truly believable.

"It's not so much whether a story is true or not, but whether you can make it truly believable." For me, at least, if a story is not believable, it is not worth telling. That does not mean that fantasy or science fiction stories can't be told, provided they are set in internally congruent universes. I do not like stories where a protagonist's behaviour out of character or authors pull rabbits out of hats to make stories work. Life just isn't like that

 

[YDB95]

None of my stories are true, but most of them are inspired by real-life events in one way or another. For example, the first part of A Hairy Ride Down actually happened: I was at an aqua-aerobics class and there was a woman there in a very modest swimsuit, who nevertheless spent the whole class fighting a losing battle to keep her giant bush hidden. The second part of the story, and the sequel, were of course what I wished happened next! In real life, I never saw her again, but she went on to inspire a number of my protagonists.

Also, a lot of the pillow talk in my stories comes straight from my second real-life partner, who had a very big mouth in bed. My first partner was...well, the less said, the better. The second was truly a revelation for me, and a goldmine for a future erotica-writer! (It was well over a decade before I started contributing here.)