What do our favorite tropes mean?

[FidelityBoss]

Very late in the game I realized that I had a favorite trope. The story doesn't have to be written well at all (although if it's written too badly I don't read it). I used it in two of my own stories and am happy to find it used in other people's, although that's pretty rare. The trope is that a soldier or nobleman is captured and becomes a sex slave, usually the "master" environment is male dominated, but not always. It's meaning for me is whatever I'm talking about when I insert "dignity" or "self acceptance" into blurbs about submission or surrender. It's awkward. Is there a short hand term for the kind of story I refer to here? What do these kinds of stories mean to me? It's a constant question.

A trope isn't "tired" for the person who responds to it. Do you have tropes that you respond to?

I'll make a stab it figuring out what someone else's trope may mean to him.



The cafe represents potential intimacy. Familiarity is the name of the game when two strangers connect. The breeze and sunlight are evocative of fertile memories.

Can any of you help me with my trope?

Tropes are like comfort food for storytelling, they hit the spot every time, even if they’re not “new.” Yours sounds like a mix of captive/captor dynamics and power reversal, with a heavy dose of emotional resilience and self-discovery. It’s not just about the physical captivity but the internal journey of dignity and self-acceptance, which is super compelling. Maybe it’s about reclaiming agency in a situation where it’s been stripped away? As for a shorthand term, something like captive redemption or dignity in submission might work. And hey, tropes are personal, if it resonates with you, it’s never tired.

 

[AG31]

Tropes are like comfort food for storytelling, they hit the spot every time,

Sounds obvious, but this is the first I've heard of this definition of comfort food. It's spot on and, as you point out, works perfectly for tropes.

And thanks very much for your analysis. Also spot on.

 

[SimonDoom]

Women over 40, hemmed in by conventions, societal norms, expectations, unsatisfactory husbands, etc., itching to let their inner slut out.

What does it mean? Mostly, I just like women, and I like writing about them and reading about them. I marvel at the fact that I'm 60 and I still feel like the kid in the candy shop when I think about how gobsmackingly sexy and appealing women are. It never gets old. I also enjoy the theme of rebelling against conventions and taboos. It probably has something to do with growing up with feelings of inhibition.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

Also, there'll be a little table by the door to put their car keys on, so they're easy to find in j

Business women (executives) getting their slut on, usually as a way to shake off the day.

Yes.

I have a story outline which I jotted down a year or so ago about this; still awaiting my attention.

In the meantime, Babygirl already hit the theaters and now I’ll be seen as just another copy cat.

Although that scene on the hotel room floor was probably better than I’d have ever come up with!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

" it seems like it always follows the same basic plan"

See something, touch something, lick something, kiss something, suck something, poke something, penetrate something ... smoke something.

 

[Erozetta]

Mine's not that deep. Friends to lovers with a submissive younger woman and dominant older man.

 

[Belegon]

Women over 40, hemmed in by conventions, societal norms, expectations, unsatisfactory husbands, etc., itching to let their inner slut out.

What does it mean? Mostly, I just like women, and I like writing about them and reading about them. I marvel at the fact that I'm 60 and I still feel like the kid in the candy shop when I think about how gobsmackingly sexy and appealing women are. It never gets old. I also enjoy the theme of rebelling against conventions and taboos. It probably has something to do with growing up with feelings of inhibition.

I feel a lot of those same things, and I'm 59. As to your last sentence, I was raised in a fairly strict catholic environment.

 

[SimonDoom]

My cafes are a convenient location, I find them easy to write for scene setting because I know the little details that add colour - what I call grace notes.

You and your cafes. I think this is an interesting window into how you and I are different. If you ask me to think, where to have a setting for a sexy story? My first reaction is to think, "office." Because you're not supposed to be sexy in an office. And, to me, that's exactly what makes it erotic.

You and I are close in age and we both adore women. But there's a difference. You're a little older, and I get the sense you come from a more chill, relaxed upbringing about sex. Even though I wasn't raised religious, I feel the weight of American Puritanism in my upbringing. It definitely affects what I find erotic.

A cafe is a relaxed setting where two people sit down at a table on equal terms, meet, talk, and then something sexy happens. It's a non-taboo setting.

An office is a place where nothing sexy is supposed to happen. Anything sexy is forbidden. It's taboo. That's what I find sexually exciting about it.

You could have a field day exploring all the psychological underpinnings of what drives Lit authors to write what they write.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

You could have a field day exploring all the psychological underpinnings of what drives Lit authors to write what they write.

No need for psychotherapy in my case. When an ad claims there are horny sluts around my area, I scream at my phone to let Google know I'm aware of that: I have a mirror.

But in all seriousness, I do write for satire purposes, and I found erotica to be the best vehicle for it. I like to add bits of social commentary. Sometimes it's tiny, sometimes the entire thing is social commentary (The Woman at the Speakeasy is that). Reason behind it? I'm a rebel. I don't smoke, but I'm the type of girl who would light up a cigarette in a non-smoking area, and the only way I'd put it off is by finishing it. I also write as a form of therapy. Fuck, that's how I took writing seriously in the first place: to process my very first breakup.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Women over 40, hemmed in by conventions, societal norms, expectations, unsatisfactory husbands, etc., itching to let their inner slut out.

What does it mean? Mostly, I just like women, and I like writing about them and reading about them. I marvel at the fact that I'm 60 and I still feel like the kid in the candy shop when I think about how gobsmackingly sexy and appealing women are. It never gets old. I also enjoy the theme of rebelling against conventions and taboos. It probably has something to do with growing up with feelings of inhibition.

That sort of describes the Holly Sykes of ". . .The Last Brooklyn Exit," but she doesn't have an inner slut if that means promiscuous. She's only involved with that one guy. It's true that she gets two of her divorced friends into it too, but they don't have threesomes (or foursomes?) where they are all having sex with him at one time. Once in a while they go with him to a bar just to chat.

A major point is that everybody knows that such affairs have a short life-span, but Holly is thoughtful and tries to let him down as gently as she can.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/garret-moutain-blues

Almost randomly, she chooses a dramatic place to do this.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://i.redd.it/fi0yh0xo4r2c1.jpg

One of my readers was impressed because he had been there too.

 

[StillStunned]

If I have a trope, it's probably competent women who are comfortable with their sexuality, and men who are a bit passive around them.

 

[gunhilltrain]

You and your cafes. I think this is an interesting window into how you and I are different. If you ask me to think, where to have a setting for a sexy story? My first reaction is to think, "office." Because you're not supposed to be sexy in an office. And, to me, that's exactly what makes it erotic.

You and I are close in age and we both adore women. But there's a difference. You're a little older, and I get the sense you come from a more chill, relaxed upbringing about sex. Even though I wasn't raised religious, I feel the weight of American Puritanism in my upbringing. It definitely affects what I find erotic.

A cafe is a relaxed setting where two people sit down at a table on equal terms, meet, talk, and then something sexy happens. It's a non-taboo setting.

An office is a place where nothing sexy is supposed to happen. Anything sexy is forbidden. It's taboo. That's what I find sexually exciting about it.

You could have a field day exploring all the psychological underpinnings of what drives Lit authors to write what they write.

Well, I'm nearly seventy, so I did possibly did have a more relaxed upbringing about sex. But as far back as I can remember, no matter where people met, they would usually go to some place like a bar, diner, coffee shop, or even pizzeria for there first conversation, depending perhaps on their maturity. (I never heard of anyone going to a fast-food place.)

Offices between the late 1970s and about 2010 were generally more relaxed about gender relations than they are now. Since then a kind of distrust - perhaps too mild a word - has become common and people tread very carefully with even talking to their co-workers.

I did have one story, set in the 1970s, where a theater usher winds up getting picked up (or does he pick her up?) by one of the patrons. I suppose that did happen, but I can't think of a specific case. Anyway, despite their abrupt coupling in part of the building, they decide to continue their relationship and go to this place across the street. I'm pretty sure it served food beyond ice-cream sodas and such.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/397341207760327/posts/1778559719638462/

So the point of going to this store is for them to say. "This could be more than a one-day stand if we want that."

https://classic.literotica.com/s/mandy-outside-paradise

 

[ElectricBlue]

You and your cafes. I think this is an interesting window into how you and I are different. If you ask me to think, where to have a setting for a sexy story? My first reaction is to think, "office." Because you're not supposed to be sexy in an office. And, to me, that's exactly what makes it erotic.

I think my cafes are a liminal zone between the mundane day-to-day of the office and the erotic promise of what's beyond. When I first started writing erotica ten years ago it was mostly as a relief from my professional life, which had turned to shit after I took on a thug of a boss at a very senior level in government. That's another story, but suffice to say, my friendships with cafe staff in the mornings and lunchtimes saved my sanity.

The three cafe vignettes at the beginning of The Floating World are so vivid because they're true recounts (except for one sentence in the first telling) of actual events over that year. In that story, pedestrian road crossings also take on a similar function as the River Styx, where there's payment made (the jab of the Wait button) and a journey commences with the crossing (that sequence, incidentally, is where the third vignette with Amanda goes into fantasy - up till then, it's a recount of what in fact happened).

You and I are close in age and we both adore women. But there's a difference. You're a little older, and I get the sense you come from a more chill, relaxed upbringing about sex. Even though I wasn't raised religious, I feel the weight of American Puritanism in my upbringing. It definitely affects what I find erotic.

Yes. My dad was a left-wing academic and my older sister a leading feminist activist in Thatcher's Britain, so I grew up in an enlightened household. My sister came out as gay in the early seventies, before the Sydney Mardi Gras was even thought of, so she's been a powerful influence.

I was reading The Story of O and the Marquis de Sade from Dad's bookshelf when I was sixteen.

A cafe is a relaxed setting where two people sit down at a table on equal terms, meet, talk, and then something sexy happens. It's a non-taboo setting.

True, it's not taboo, but it's where people can relax into who they are, and there's a spontaneity there that's definitely erotic - the look you get when she looks up! I've had women suddenly realise they're playing with their hair. That's a charge, for sure.

An office is a place where nothing sexy is supposed to happen. Anything sexy is forbidden. It's taboo. That's what I find sexually exciting about it.

You could have a field day exploring all the psychological underpinnings of what drives Lit authors to write what they write.

You might remember that little 750 Word story about "Simon's sister Suzie" Valentines for Suzie - within that story there's another, much shorter vignette, of an office encounter. It's piquant because again, it's true.

I've had my share of office flirtations, but they often ended up in those dangerous times where I've thought, whoa, step back, that was too close. So maybe for me, the office is far too close to write as erotica - I married an office romance, and I've been dangerously tempted several times. It is a powerful dynamic, for sure, but an unsettling one in reality. I suspect my cafes give me more distance.

 

[RetroFan]

For some reason I seem to be proficient in writing erotic stories about spoiled girls, with stories such as 'Spoiled Princess Hates Camping', 'Spoiled Heiress Gets Kidnapped', 'I Spy On My Stepsister', 'Bridget the Bossy Bridezilla', 'Spying on a Spoiled Brat', 'Bad Things Happen on April 15', 'Witness Protection Trophy Wives', 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends', 'Hotel Hijinks With an Heiress' and 'Mackenzie's Messy Mishap' all featuring young women who are spoiled. In 'Simon & the Senator's Wife' the senator and his wife have a pair of identical twin girls who are spoiled brats although they are not major characters. Some others feature young women who are from a rich family but not spoiled (like 'Forbidden Fun With the Mormons' or 'Marcie & Ramona's Sapphic Saturday'); some who are bitches but not spoiled (like Jo from 'The Starlet Seduces the Stagehand') and others where the young lady is from a wealthy background but more stuck-up and superior rather than spoiled (like Felicity from 'The Coal Miner & the Conservative' and Sophie from 'Stuck Up Sexy Sister Sophie').

Interestingly, I had some negative feedback on one character - Amber from 'X Rated Xmas Gift from Nutty Niece' - calling her a spoiled and self-indulgent princess, but although I wrote Amber to be completely loopy and she is a bit of a brat I never intended her to be spoiled, so that was a different perception. One angry reader once told me to 'write about anything but spoiled rotten bitches', but another day I got private feedback from a reader saying how much they loved stories about spoiled girls, that such material was hard to find on Literotica and asking me to write more.

One thing I can never work out, would being turned on by a personality type - in this case a spoiled girl - constitute a fetish, or is a fetish more to do with something physical, such as being turned on by tall women and girls, overweight women, feet or other body parts or types of clothing rather than a personality?

 

[ElectricBlue]

One thing I can never work out, would being turned on by a personality type - in this case a spoiled girl - constitute a fetish, or is a fetish more to do with something physical, such as being turned on by tall women and girls, overweight women, feet or other body parts or types of clothing rather than a personality?

In a clinical sense, I think fetish is characterised by the physical elements. If it's a personality thing, it's off to the psychiatrist for you .

 

[XerXesXu]

One thing I can never work out, would being turned on by a personality type - in this case a spoiled girl - constitute a fetish, or is a fetish more to do with something physical, such as being turned on by tall women and girls, overweight women, feet or other body parts or types of clothing rather than a personality?

Being turned on by a person, of whatever variety and whichever part, is a preference, not a fetish. Being turned on by an object, whether attached or unattached to a person, is a fetish. Whether your preferences or fetishes cause distress to you, or others, might make it a matter of significance or importance, otherwise, noone cares.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Being turned on by a person, of whatever variety and whichever part, is a preference, not a fetish. Being turned on by an object, whether attached or unattached to a person, is a fetish. Whether your preferences or fetishes cause distress to you, or others, might make it a matter of significance or importance, otherwise, noone cares.

It's not that simple. The terms fetish or kink often have negative connotations according to whatever the prevailing culture says is okay. It is the person you desire, the clothes they wear, what they are willing to do to or with you? Or some combination that is impossible to untangle? This topic of "kink shaming" has come up here in numbers beyond counting.

There is even an International Fetish Day which was last month. It's a big tent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Fetish_Day

 

[gunhilltrain]

In a clinical sense, I think fetish is characterised by the physical elements. If it's a personality thing, it's off to the psychiatrist for you .

It depends. If the shrink likes Spandex or water sports or whatever, then why waste your money? As I mentioned with that Alvy Singer/Woody Allen quote somewhere, you're wasting your money anyway.

 

[XerXesXu]

It's not that simple. The terms fetish or kink often have negative connotations according to whatever the prevailing culture says is okay. It is the person you desire, the clothes they wear, what they are willing to do to or with you? Or some combination that is impossible to untangle? This topic of "kink shaming" has come up here in numbers beyond counting.

There is even an International Fetish Day which was last month. It's a big tent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Fetish_Day

It’s all a matter of overlapping definitions.

If you were to walk in the parade with a man dressed as a puppy on a lead, that would be a puppy fetish. If you walked in the parade with a young dog on a lead, that would be bestiality.

 

[grey228]

Oi, cunt; w'ot's y'er fay'vreet troop?

Girls who like girls who also like dick.

 

[gunhilltrain]

One thing I can never work out, would being turned on by a personality type - in this case a spoiled girl - constitute a fetish, or is a fetish more to do with something physical, such as being turned on by tall women and girls, overweight women, feet or other body parts or types of clothing rather than a personality?

Rather than use the loaded term "fetish," how about we just use the term "aspect" in this case. I guess it could refer to either physical or personal attributes. Probably in most real-life situations, it's some combination of the two. If I may be instrusive, is this "brat" interest purely a part of your fiction, or do you have some actual experiences with it?

 

[FidelityBoss]

Sounds obvious, but this is the first I've heard of this definition of comfort food. It's spot on and, as you point out, works perfectly for tropes.

And thanks very much for your analysis. Also spot on.

Glad it resonated with you! Thanks for the feedback.

 

[RetroFan]

Rather than use the loaded term "fetish," how about we just use the term "aspect" in this case. I guess it could refer to either physical or personal attributes. Probably in most real-life situations, it's some combination of the two. If I may be instrusive, is this "brat" interest purely a part of your fiction, or do you have some actual experiences with it?

In my case these stories involving young women who were spoiled brats growing up are more to do with the plot of the story than a fetish or interest and/or what will appeal to readers, certainly its not writing from real life experience.

For example my story 'Spoiled Princess Hates Camping' is about a spoiled rich girl from New York City named Madison whose parents make her go camping in the New Jersey Pine Barrens with her aunt, uncle and cousins from rural Pennsylvania. Madison being such a pampered princess means she is completely out of her element in the campground with its very basic facilities and this would be more amusing, more interesting, and more of an attraction to the readers than a girl who was an experienced camper/hiker.

Interestingly in this case I was expecting negative feedback from readers about Madison with comments like 'What a spoiled brat', 'I thought my cousin was spoiled, now I owe her an apology' or 'She needs to have her panties taken down and her bare bottom spanked, but not in an erotic way' but nobody ever did. However, readers strongly disliked the character David, a handsome, brash young guy travelling from Australia who constantly makes fun of Madison for her misfortunes but winds up getting into her pants and banging her, while his New Zealander mate bangs Madison's female cousin.

 

[FidelityBoss]

In my case these stories involving young women who were spoiled brats growing up are more to do with the plot of the story than a fetish or interest and/or what will appeal to readers, certainly its not writing from real life experience.

For example my story 'Spoiled Princess Hates Camping' is about a spoiled rich girl from New York City named Madison whose parents make her go camping in the New Jersey Pine Barrens with her aunt, uncle and cousins from rural Pennsylvania. Madison being such a pampered princess means she is completely out of her element in the campground with its very basic facilities and this would be more amusing, more interesting, and more of an attraction to the readers than a girl who was an experienced camper/hiker.

Interestingly in this case I was expecting negative feedback from readers about Madison with comments like 'What a spoiled brat', 'I thought my cousin was spoiled, now I owe her an apology' or 'She needs to have her panties taken down and her bare bottom spanked, but not in an erotic way' but nobody ever did. However, readers strongly disliked the character David, a handsome, brash young guy travelling from Australia who constantly makes fun of Madison for her misfortunes but winds up getting into her pants and banging her, while his New Zealander mate bangs Madison's female cousin.

It’s funny how readers react to characters, Madison’s spoiled nature seems to have been a hit, while David rubbed them the wrong way! Sounds like you’ve got a knack for creating polarizing personalities, which keeps things interesting. Maybe David’s brashness hit a nerve, but hey, that’s what makes storytelling so dynamic.

 

[RetroFan]

It’s funny how readers react to characters, Madison’s spoiled nature seems to have been a hit, while David rubbed them the wrong way! Sounds like you’ve got a knack for creating polarizing personalities, which keeps things interesting. Maybe David’s brashness hit a nerve, but hey, that’s what makes storytelling so dynamic.

Yes, that's always interested me too when it happens with my stories. I think I am good at creating deliberately unlikable characters and I have received much feedback to support this assertion, but it is always strange when you get negative feedback on characters that readers are supposed to like, or characters so minor that you wonder how they inspired such strong dislike.

One of the stranger ones was in my story 'Secret Sex With My Stepdaughter' which is narrated by the stepfather Robert. In the story Robert describes growing up in Sydney Australia as one of four kids and how his parents wanted grandchildren but despite having four kids they ended up none. Robert's older sister was never able to have children despite she and her husband really wanting them, Robert himself never met the right woman until he was in his mid-30s and met a 40-year-old divorcee with two kids and who didn't want any more children, Robert's younger brother was a homosexual and the youngest daughter became a nun.

Robert describes his frustration that his parents refuse to accept his stepchildren as their grandkids and complain about their kids never providing any grandchildren even when their older infertile daughter is there. He also describes spending time with them as an ordeal as they refuse to eat any 'exotic' food. To clarify, exotic food to them is Italian food like lasagne, spaghetti, pizza and garlic bread; Chinese food like sweet and sour pork or honey chicken with fried rice; or Indian food like curry (beef stew with a sprinkling of curry powder) served on boiled white rice. The story is set in 2001 and the parents would have been born circa 1925, the bit with the food was to parody the older Australian generation born prior to the Great Depression many of whom would spurn any 'foreign' food, but most people in this age group are gone now.

In the story Robert's parents are not meant to be liked by readers, but they are only mentioned in passing several times with a brief cameo and so little impact on the main events of the story that it was amazing to get strongly worded feedback from readers about how much they hated them.