Why do cliches keep working?

[LJ_Reloaded]

You're looking for new ideas in the porn world?????

It can't hurt to try.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Maybe that's the difference between porn and erotica: In erotica, there's room for a new idea once in a while.

 

[Feotakahari]

Well, this is Literotica.

(I myself have been trying to create new ideas, or at least do new things with old stuff. I realize that I'll never be as high-rated as writers who perfect other people's rough ideas, but I'm willing to live with that.)

 

[Stella_Omega]

Most of what i can come up with that's new is based on the many "new" genders that people have thought of and assigned themselves.

How about a woman who has always felt herself to be a man-- finally deciding to become the man she's always known herself to be. And how about the gay man who for some goddamn reason decides this dickless man is the hottest thing he's ever fucked, despite everything he's ever thought about himself.

There aren't any tropes for that one yet. Nor for the gay man who asks a butch dyke to top him.

Or a slightly conservative femme woman who lets herself be picked up by an almost-homeless, flamboyant young butch.

There are some tropes available there, but not many...

I like juxtaposing people who never expected to be thrown together.

 

[electric1]

I'm not sure originality is as important as how it is executed. Especially in a porn story. I would rather re-read a story that works for me than discover a dozen that don't.

Blatant self-plug: my Halloween story "Moan" pokes fun at some porn story tropes (modeled after the way "Scream" poked fun at horror movie tropes). Those interested in this thread might enjoy my spoof.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

People prefer the familiar

Maybe I missed someone pointing this out, but it's a simple fact of life: people prefer the familiar. There's comfort in what's knowable. An unexpected turn along the way can delight, but we still expect the knowable.

 

[Feotakahari]

Maybe I missed someone pointing this out, but it's a simple fact of life: people prefer the familiar. There's comfort in what's knowable. An unexpected turn along the way can delight, but we still expect the knowable.

Speak for yourself. The more I see a plot repeat, the more bored I get with that particular plot.

(Maybe it's different for those of us who write fantasy stories--I have a lot of leeway to create unique settings, characters, and acts.)

 

[Stella_Omega]

Maybe I missed someone pointing this out, but it's a simple fact of life: people prefer the familiar. There's comfort in what's knowable. An unexpected turn along the way can delight, but we still expect the knowable.

Those crazy monkey brains of ours, looking for novelty but not too much. *nods*

(Maybe it's different for those of us who write fantasy stories--I have a lot of leeway to create unique settings, characters, and acts.)

but the essential plot will still be pretty much the same -- lovers get together, evil is averted.

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe I missed someone pointing this out, but it's a simple fact of life: people prefer the familiar. There's comfort in what's knowable. An unexpected turn along the way can delight, but we still expect the knowable.

You're right and the scores of the same ole same ole stories more than back you up. Personally I can only read the same plot so many times, no matter how a good author may spin it, as soon as I see "where this is going" I'm done.

I've felt this for awhile, but I think the Halloween contest brought it out. "Hey someone dressed the same as someone else and is going to have sex with someone who has him/her confused with that person!"

Very unexciting by round 400. But hey if you still like meatloaf every Thursday like you've had for the last 5 years, then it will still do it for you.

Don't get me wrong I'm not insulting the authors, I've used some cliches as well. I am just constantly amazed at people who can swallow the same story over and over again.

A nod to the poster who brought up the fantasy character, yes a lot more leeway there.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

You're right and the scores of the same ole same ole stories more than back you up. Personally I can only read the same plot so many times, no matter how a good author may spin it, as soon as I see "where this is going" I'm done.

I remember reading/hearing a Stephan King interview back during the film release of "1408" - hell, maybe it was in the author notes from compilation, but he made no bones about it - King says that "1408" is his version of what he calls the "Ghostly Room at the Inn." He went on to say it's the kind of story every horror writer should take a stab at once, along with a premature burial, and he listed a couple others.

So, it comes down to how the story is written - the twists and turns along the way - but the ending is always the same.