Where have all the good bdsm stories gone?

[lgr]

Not sure where to post this very general and vague question, so if it needs to go elsewhere, please let me know. I'm looking for discussion and insights from like-minded people, so that's why I ended up in this forum.

Literotica is a great site, and there's so much good content here that I often find myself gathering up way more stories than I can ever really read. Still, one area that is a little lacking in my view was always catered to by other sites. Sadly, these all seem to have disappeared or gone by the wayside in the last decade. Most notably of course the bdsmlibrary.

One of the really great strengths of that site was the searchability, categorization, and (to a lesser extent) the ratings. You could easily find what you were looking for within the broad genre of bdsm. Also, it was less strict in what stories were allowed. And another great feature to me was browsing through bookmarks from other users, especially those that left a small comment about the story. That was always a good way to find similar stories and/or writers that gelled with my interests.

Other sites that have gone (or have had trouble) are the asstr site and one author site that I always checked: poweronestories, where the author sometimes posted freebies. In fact, the last post there spoke of 15 older books of his that he would be releasing for free. It actually seems like something happened to them? Nearly all books that were available seem to have been removed from a lot of places. Looking on Amazon for example, only shows two or three books, while I know in the past a lot more books were on there. At least 20, maybe a lot more.

I've had some authors in the past that I basically read every story from that they released. One of them was Powerone (who I think actually started out on literotica? at least, I found their stories first here), but others include Captv8td, Goldeniangel, Greysequoia, Loannie, mchucha, turtle_writes, portersky, DocCIS, TheTyke, the list goes on. But they're all 'old' writers, none of them have recent stories posted (recent, as in the last 5-10 years even)...
Now, for some, I know they've moved to actually publishing books on for example amazon (goldeniangel comes to mind; although the content allowed there has sadly had an impact on her stories), others have actually passed away (DocCIS iirc), and some just stopped posting.

I find I return to a lot of what I consider the 'classics' by a lot of those writers, and am unable to really find new gems in the current offerings. Finding the right stories _for me_ is harder than it used to be, it seems. It might just be perception. But I'm not entirely sure about that.

At this point I get most (if not all) my stories from here or SOL.

So, my rambling question/request is maybe this: what are your go-to places to find the really good (and maybe a bit more taboo) bdsm stories? Are there better venues? Better search tricks I need to use? I'd be very interested to hear...

 

[IrisAlthea]

Not sure where to post this very general and vague question, so if it needs to go elsewhere, please let me know. I'm looking for discussion and insights from like-minded people, so that's why I ended up in this forum.

Literotica is a great site, and there's so much good content here that I often find myself gathering up way more stories than I can ever really read. Still, one area that is a little lacking in my view was always catered to by other sites. Sadly, these all seem to have disappeared or gone by the wayside in the last decade. Most notably of course the bdsmlibrary.

One of the really great strengths of that site was the searchability, categorization, and (to a lesser extent) the ratings. You could easily find what you were looking for within the broad genre of bdsm. Also, it was less strict in what stories were allowed. And another great feature to me was browsing through bookmarks from other users, especially those that left a small comment about the story. That was always a good way to find similar stories and/or writers that gelled with my interests.

Other sites that have gone (or have had trouble) are the asstr site and one author site that I always checked: poweronestories, where the author sometimes posted freebies. In fact, the last post there spoke of 15 older books of his that he would be releasing for free. It actually seems like something happened to them? Nearly all books that were available seem to have been removed from a lot of places. Looking on Amazon for example, only shows two or three books, while I know in the past a lot more books were on there. At least 20, maybe a lot more.

I've had some authors in the past that I basically read every story from that they released. One of them was Powerone (who I think actually started out on literotica? at least, I found their stories first here), but others include Captv8td, Goldeniangel, Greysequoia, Loannie, mchucha, turtle_writes, portersky, DocCIS, TheTyke, the list goes on. But they're all 'old' writers, none of them have recent stories posted (recent, as in the last 5-10 years even)...
Now, for some, I know they've moved to actually publishing books on for example amazon (goldeniangel comes to mind; although the content allowed there has sadly had an impact on her stories), others have actually passed away (DocCIS iirc), and some just stopped posting.

I find I return to a lot of what I consider the 'classics' by a lot of those writers, and am unable to really find new gems in the current offerings. Finding the right stories _for me_ is harder than it used to be, it seems. It might just be perception. But I'm not entirely sure about that.

At this point I get most (if not all) my stories from here or SOL.

So, my rambling question/request is maybe this: what are your go-to places to find the really good (and maybe a bit more taboo) bdsm stories? Are there better venues? Better search tricks I need to use? I'd be very interested to hear...

I ended up here long ago because asstr and some similar sites in my first language closed.
These days I don’t have as much free time to read and rarely use the time I have on erotic stories anymore, but sometimes I’ve gone looking for an old story that pops into my head (I’m a re-reader, with most kind of reading material for that reason) and then I find that stories and writers have gone missing.
There was one particular story that I wanted to find again and did find published and it had been cleaned up, just like you said. The story was the same and the writing as good, perhaps even better, but some of the sexual content was gone. And I totally get why because it was admittedly downright weird, but it hit a spot perfectly for me.

When I do read stories and find things I like, it is very rarely in the BDSM genre and often based on things I already like.

 

[lgr]

I ended up here long ago because asstr and some similar sites in my first language closed.
These days I don’t have as much free time to read and rarely use the time I have on erotic stories anymore, but sometimes I’ve gone looking for an old story that pops into my head (I’m a re-reader, with most kind of reading material for that reason) and then I find that stories and writers have gone missing.
There was one particular story that I wanted to find again and did find published and it had been cleaned up, just like you said. The story was the same and the writing as good, perhaps even better, but some of the sexual content was gone. And I totally get why because it was admittedly downright weird, but it hit a spot perfectly for me.

When I do read stories and find things I like, it is very rarely in the BDSM genre and often based on things I already like.

Thanks for your reply, Iris. I've been in a period with not a lot of time to read erotica, but it looks like I'll be having more time from now on. Looking through my library I noticed all the old stuff and wanted to get something new and fresh. Quickly I ran into the issues detailed above (in the case of bdsmlib again, as that's been mostly broken for years now), which prompted me to post here to see if others have better luck.

Looks like not, based on the responses so far. Still, hoping for some other thoughts/experiences/opinions...

 

[IrisAlthea]

Thanks for your reply, Iris. I've been in a period with not a lot of time to read erotica, but it looks like I'll be having more time from now on. Looking through my library I noticed all the old stuff and wanted to get something new and fresh. Quickly I ran into the issues detailed above (in the case of bdsmlib again, as that's been mostly broken for years now), which prompted me to post here to see if others have better luck.

Looks like not, based on the responses so far. Still, hoping for some other thoughts/experiences/opinions...

If I believed in trigger warnings, I’d probably put one about grumpy oldtimer nostalgia here.

The Internet used to be a different place - more wild frontier and less commercial.
Monetizing your online endeavoiurs wasn’t as easy as it is today.

Perhaps when AI has taken over the more formulaic writing for publication, we’ll see a return to the more wild “just because I like it” creativity?

If we keep AI very bogged down with creating social media influencer content, we might even get to keep some of the creative jobs.

 

[firmbutgentle]

Apologies for what is half a self-promo, but part of the reason I started writing erotica was that there was so little I liked.

I follow a few writers here. alicynchains for instance. Molly Cactus, Eliza Grey. But I wish there were more.

 

[drusus]

If I believed in trigger warnings, I’d probably put one about grumpy oldtimer nostalgia here.

The Internet used to be a different place - more wild frontier and less commercial.
Monetizing your online endeavoiurs wasn’t as easy as it is today.

Perhaps when AI has taken over the more formulaic writing for publication, we’ll see a return to the more wild “just because I like it” creativity?

If we keep AI very bogged down with creating social media influencer content, we might even get to keep some of the creative jobs.

Asstr archives do exist, but that seems to be the extent of usenet storage. Probably not a bad thing considering what was freely available on there. The internet was a very different place back then and just like the wild west. Much more stories and pictures, as modems couldn't cope with more than a few frames of video.

 

[BCJ111]

Hoping my own small first contribution to BDSM will be approved soon. Look for "Fragments 1" if it is.

It was - be kind:

Fragments 01

 

[CuttingEdge]

As a writer who used to publish stories on here and no longer do, it is because of the readership has changed.

It used to be, you could write something and if it was marginal, if it got past Laurel then you were pretty good. If readers did not like it, they would just stop reading and go to something else. Now they flag it as inappropriate. As a writer, why bother to spend ample time making a story great over a few weeks' time, only later to have it removed or never published in the first place? It is the proverbial "Can't win, so why try" mindset for writers.

With bondage, a lot of it is marginal.

Here is a case in point:

Sara jarred with every thud of the rock. It was sonorous in its sound; not striking or shrill, but a continuous ‘thud, thud, thud”, as the mysterious man loomed over her, her wrists already secured with twine; too thin twine, that stung as it cinched against the thin skin of her wrists and ankles. And yet the sharpened stake kept being driven deeper, the man seeming convinced that no one would hear the pounding of the stakes... or perhaps later, of her screams? Instead, each “thud” sent her restraint tighter into the hardened ground with pure friction. It was the last of four, the other three having drawn her arms out above her head in a wide spread wide even as her fingers gentle brushed the cold, hard slab of granite that served as someone’s headstone. ‘Or was it marble’, she pondered, wondering why she marveled at such details when her fate seemed so ominous, like that of the full moon, obscured by the most iconic of clouds as she bore her naked-self, staked as it was to the cemetery grounds?

I admit this is very dark and mysterious, but while someone might flag this as inappropriate because as written it has a non-consensual vibe to it, it also has intrigue, suspense, and tension by the ton. Tension after all is what makes a story interesting to read. In reading it, a person feels as if they are right there, the sound of a rock driving a stake into the ground, the dew upon their naked back, the vulnerable feeling of legs spread wide and secured. But it should, all that is built-in tension into the story. Water that down, and the story loses its impact or what @lgr as “no more great bondage stories”.

I agree.

Take the watered-down version of the above excerpt:

Sara jarred with every thud of the rock. It was sonorous in its sound; not striking or shrill, but a continuous ‘thud, thud, thud”, as her boyfriend loomed over her, her wrists already secured with twine; thick twine so that it did not hurt as it spun around her ankles and wrists in soft knots. And yet as the sharpened stake kept being driven deeper, each “thud” sending her restraint tighter into the softened ground that she knew she could pull the stake free of lest someone was to arrive, it was at least, the last of four, the other three having drawn her arms out above her head even as her fingers gently brushed the back shed of their rural home.”

That paragraph is BORING! She knows who is staking her to the ground, the knots have no repercussions, she can pull the stakes out if someone stops by, and they are at her rural house where no one can see them sexually playing.

But this is where the skill of writing comes into play. I am not going to leave any character of the first paragraph in that situation (in red), staked to a cemetery grounds naked and afraid on a cold, full-moon night. Keep reading because in the end that price will pay off with feelings of love, contentment and aftercare to die for. It is that complete swing from completely vulnerable to utterly loved that makes a story great. But many readers today want to hit the ”flag for inappropriateness” as quickly as they read anything that could be seen as rapey. I get it, that first paragraph was kind of edgy, but in real life I have six daughters, and the last thing I want is to promote violence against any lady, EVER. But the tools for me to write a great bondage story have also been taken away. So they are no longer written.

 

[Syzoth]

If you're looking for a BDSM story, may I will humbly recommend this one?

https://literotica.com/s/mandys-sexcapade-the-gloryhole

 

[y=mx+b]

As a writer who used to publish stories on here and no longer do, it is because of the readership has changed.

It used to be, you could write something and if it was marginal, if it got past Laurel then you were pretty good. If readers did not like it, they would just stop reading and go to something else. Now they flag it as inappropriate. As a writer, why bother to spend ample time making a story great over a few weeks' time, only later to have it removed or never published in the first place? It is the proverbial "Can't win, so why try" mindset for writers.

With bondage, a lot of it is marginal.

Here is a case in point:

Sara jarred with every thud of the rock. It was sonorous in its sound; not striking or shrill, but a continuous ‘thud, thud, thud”, as the mysterious man loomed over her, her wrists already secured with twine; too thin twine, that stung as it cinched against the thin skin of her wrists and ankles. And yet the sharpened stake kept being driven deeper, the man seeming convinced that no one would hear the pounding of the stakes... or perhaps later, of her screams? Instead, each “thud” sent her restraint tighter into the hardened ground with pure friction. It was the last of four, the other three having drawn her arms out above her head in a wide spread wide even as her fingers gentle brushed the cold, hard slab of granite that served as someone’s headstone. ‘Or was it marble’, she pondered, wondering why she marveled at such details when her fate seemed so ominous, like that of the full moon, obscured by the most iconic of clouds as she bore her naked-self, staked as it was to the cemetery grounds?

I admit this is very dark and mysterious, but while someone might flag this as inappropriate because as written it has a non-consensual vibe to it, it also has intrigue, suspense, and tension by the ton. Tension after all is what makes a story interesting to read. In reading it, a person feels as if they are right there, the sound of a rock driving a stake into the ground, the dew upon their naked back, the vulnerable feeling of legs spread wide and secured. But it should, all that is built-in tension into the story. Water that down, and the story loses its impact or what @lgr as “no more great bondage stories”.

I agree.

Take the watered-down version of the above excerpt:

Sara jarred with every thud of the rock. It was sonorous in its sound; not striking or shrill, but a continuous ‘thud, thud, thud”, as her boyfriend loomed over her, her wrists already secured with twine; thick twine so that it did not hurt as it spun around her ankles and wrists in soft knots. And yet as the sharpened stake kept being driven deeper, each “thud” sending her restraint tighter into the softened ground that she knew she could pull the stake free of lest someone was to arrive, it was at least, the last of four, the other three having drawn her arms out above her head even as her fingers gently brushed the back shed of their rural home.”

That paragraph is BORING! She knows who is staking her to the ground, the knots have no repercussions, she can pull the stakes out if someone stops by, and they are at her rural house where no one can see them sexually playing.

But this is where the skill of writing comes into play. I am not going to leave any character of the first paragraph in that situation (in red), staked to a cemetery grounds naked and afraid on a cold, full-moon night. Keep reading because in the end that price will pay off with feelings of love, contentment and aftercare to die for. It is that complete swing from completely vulnerable to utterly loved that makes a story great. But many readers today want to hit the ”flag for inappropriateness” as quickly as they read anything that could be seen as rapey. I get it, that first paragraph was kind of edgy, but in real life I have six daughters, and the last thing I want is to promote violence against any lady, EVER. But the tools for me to write a great bondage story have also been taken away. So they are no longer written.

All of this.

Say nothing about how readers/followers tend to assume that what the writer writes is a direct reflection of who the writer is and what their beliefs and interests are as a person.

 

[Psychprofgal]

If you're looking for a BDSM story, may I will humbly recommend this one?

https://literotica.com/s/mandys-sexcapade-the-gloryhole

A very interesting story. Very interesting............omg.

 

[Syzoth]

A very interesting story. Very interesting............omg.

Interesting in a good way, I hope...?

 

[Woolmohair]

Not sure where to post this very general and vague question, so if it needs to go elsewhere, please let me know. I'm looking for discussion and insights from like-minded people, so that's why I ended up in this forum.

Literotica is a great site, and there's so much good content here that I often find myself gathering up way more stories than I can ever really read. Still, one area that is a little lacking in my view was always catered to by other sites. Sadly, these all seem to have disappeared or gone by the wayside in the last decade. Most notably of course the bdsmlibrary.

One of the really great strengths of that site was the searchability, categorization, and (to a lesser extent) the ratings. You could easily find what you were looking for within the broad genre of bdsm. Also, it was less strict in what stories were allowed. And another great feature to me was browsing through bookmarks from other users, especially those that left a small comment about the story. That was always a good way to find similar stories and/or writers that gelled with my interests.

Other sites that have gone (or have had trouble) are the asstr site and one author site that I always checked: poweronestories, where the author sometimes posted freebies. In fact, the last post there spoke of 15 older books of his that he would be releasing for free. It actually seems like something happened to them? Nearly all books that were available seem to have been removed from a lot of places. Looking on Amazon for example, only shows two or three books, while I know in the past a lot more books were on there. At least 20, maybe a lot more.

I've had some authors in the past that I basically read every story from that they released. One of them was Powerone (who I think actually started out on literotica? at least, I found their stories first here), but others include Captv8td, Goldeniangel, Greysequoia, Loannie, mchucha, turtle_writes, portersky, DocCIS, TheTyke, the list goes on. But they're all 'old' writers, none of them have recent stories posted (recent, as in the last 5-10 years even)...
Now, for some, I know they've moved to actually publishing books on for example amazon (goldeniangel comes to mind; although the content allowed there has sadly had an impact on her stories), others have actually passed away (DocCIS iirc), and some just stopped posting.

I find I return to a lot of what I consider the 'classics' by a lot of those writers, and am unable to really find new gems in the current offerings. Finding the right stories _for me_ is harder than it used to be, it seems. It might just be perception. But I'm not entirely sure about that.

At this point I get most (if not all) my stories from here or SOL.

So, my rambling question/request is maybe this: what are your go-to places to find the really good (and maybe a bit more taboo) bdsm stories? Are there better venues? Better search tricks I need to use? I'd be very interested to hear...

https://www.literotica.com/s/she-subdued-me-with-sweaters-pt-01

Here's a story that leads to bdsm, mind control, and more.... There are three chapters here on Lit...

 

[JiminNC]

Apologies for what is half a self-promo, but part of the reason I started writing erotica was that there was so little I liked.

I follow a few writers here. alicynchains for instance. Molly Cactus, Eliza Grey. But I wish there were more.

I just read one of yours— very good story! Can men serve you?