Why didn't someone tell me?

[shereads]

Writing a story with a plot is hard.

 

[cantdog]

That's why my stuff is so long. Plot makes demands.

 

[yui]

That's why I write vignettes. Not so good with a plot.

 

[moonlight elf]

I am working on one right now, unfortunately I'm stuck on page 2 *sigh*

 

[sophia jane]

None of my stories have that much plot, but I find that the more plot that I put in my story, the less sex I want to write. I can do a story that is one big sex scene, but when I have "real" characters the sex isn't as good.

SJ

 

[Pure]

I find character harder, and envy the writers that, in a few dozen words create someone real who sticks in the mind.

Of course the absence of plot, (presence of only one or two plots) is a sign of porn, so it's not exactly the best training ground.

I think there are two problems in making a plot

1) it must flow and cohere; one event must lead into another, and character has something to do with this; that B follows A has to make sense.

2) it must contain some surprises or unexpected things, again linked, it's hoped, to the same characters who provided consistency and sense.

 

[cantdog]

You're just getting distracted by your characters' humanity. It's not such a bad thing, really. If they're human, you may well be writing something with, whisper it now, meaning!



Be careful with that stuff, it'll make you a writer before you even know what hit you.

 

[tolyk]

Plot? What's that?

 

[shereads]

That's why I write vignettes. Not so good with a plot.

I think I'm a vignette person, myself.

Is there a Vignettes category without a minimum word count? And what is the minimum word count, anyway? I can't find that in the Guidelines.

Note: need a Quickies category. And a Readers Choice Award for "Fastest Read."

 

[tolyk]

Requirement is 750 words..

If you could pass something off as poetry you could always circumvent that requirement.

 

[cantdog]

First, the minimum is 750 words, a mere cough for us long-winded, plotbound types.

There is a Snippetsville section, where they deliberately aim for six hundred words. I checked into it, and the mechanics of it were too arcane for me. You might be able to make sense of it, though. Alex de Kok and wildsweetone do it. They could maybe offer advice.

 

[shereads]

I've been a copywriter too long. Being good isn't considered as big a deal as being able to fit lots of content into a small amount of copy. Editing things to make them shorter is how I relax at work. If I wrote a novel, it wouldn't make the word minimum for Lit.

The Scarlett Letter

Puritan adulteress hooks up with minister, gives birth, is shunned, and learns embroidery. Minister remains anonymous, goes crazy with guilt, and becomes a renowned TV evangelist. Eventually he confesses, acknowledges his kid, and expires without paying a penny of child support.

The End

 

[Seattle Zack]

Create interesting characters -- not perfect characters, but interesting ones -- and the plot will evolve. Here's a blurb from another forum I frequent, far more insightful and useful than anything in the Author's Playground, but I liked it:

For example, if Hamlet had been decisive, Shakespeare's play would have been two pages long.

"Hamlet leaves the ghost's presence, rushes up to the king, and stabs him to death."

Curtain.

Hamlet's main character flaw, his inability to commit to a course of action, keeps him from resolving the central conflict of the play, avenging his dead father. This creates the tension.

That was from ERA, you can read the whole thread if you like:
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/AR/Plot.htm

So create a few characters. Let them go at it. Give them flaws, a history, a reason for acting the way they do. The plot will write itself, you just sit back and record it.

 

[snooper]

I am working on one right now, unfortunately I'm stuck on page 2 *sigh*

Cheer up. Getting to page 2 is a major achievement.

 

[elsol]

You think writing with plot is hard...

Here's harder.

Write with plot for awhile... THEN try to write without plot.

I've always written with plot, so I keep stumbling over myself when I try to write pure stroke. The best that I've been able to do is HIDE the plot from the stroke readers.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Colleen Thomas]

For me, writing something without plot is difficult. If I can't get into my characters or storyline, the sex just doesn't flow for me.

 

[impressive]

I have no trouble whatsoever writing without much (if any) "external" plot -- the many details swirling around my characters (period, location, etc.) -- but I do get caught up in the internal workings of their minds. Still, I'm more of a vignette person -- and when I want to read erotica (especially online), that's what I want as well.

 

[rgraham666]

Writing a story with a plot is hard.

We wanted it to be a surprise.

I don't seem to have a preference for stories or stroke. I seem, so far, to be able to do both.

Although my big stories all have much better scores than my pure smut.

I think it comes from my days playing RPGs. You had to concentrate on character and plot, especially if you were running the game as I usually did.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Writing a story with a plot is hard.

Plot? what's that?

 

[tolyk]

Plot? What's that?

Plot? what's that?

Gee.. something about great minds comes to my thoughts....

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The act of sex is the basis for every plot there is.

Sex is plot. Every seduction is a complete story: setting, character, conflict, development, climax, resolution, end. What else you want?

Oh yeah: proof that Jesus slept with Mary Magdalene.

 

[cantdog]

The Condom of Turin might be the answer.

 

[impressive]

The Condom of Turin might be the answer.

Or maybe her stained blue dress.

 

[rgraham666]

Gee.. something about great minds comes to my thoughts....

That's odd. The same thing is said of fools.

 

[tolyk]

That's odd. The same thing is said of fools.

Notice I didn't bother finishing the thought.. ?