why do you write?

[Rollinbones]

Almost 20 years ago now, my therapist frowned at me and told me if i couldn't tell him, i needed to tell someone. So i started typing into the void. It helps. I've done so many things i can't tell anyone about without hurting them too. But if i create pretend people and make them walk the horrors i've lived then i can let other people look at that mess of them and not feel responsible. I'm broken. But i can still spell. It takes little moments from the locked cupboard in the back of my head and polishes turds until they are almost pretty and displays them like a cat displays dead mice.

 

[Izanami9]

I started writing in 3rd grade, a collaboration with my BFF on an epic we called Battle Island, about a flock of sheep living peacefully with a herd of unicorns on an island, until one day PIRATES invade!

I haven’t stopped writing since, for any number of purposes including (but not limited to) business and pleasure. I started with Erotica in particular, of course, for pleasure; no one seemed to write the kinds of stories that gave me orgasms, and I very much wanted to experience more of them, so I wrote myself Erotica for my birthdays.

THEN someone said I was full of sh*t if I thought my fantasies were really all that unique, there’s nothing new under the sun or in the human heart, and I was missing out if I wasn’t reading and being read by other pervs out there. I agreed with that, and here I am! Very happy I joined, too, since Literotica has already helped me grow as a writer , and writing was always my first true love

And we all cum happily ever after

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I started writing erotica in my early 20s because I had a male friend tell me some of his fantasies, and he wanted them written out into more expressive words..

I stopped writing for 25 years during my marriage, but picked it up again a few years ago.

I just love expressing mine and others fantasies into a story...

 

[NuclearFairy]

I write to get the movies out of my head so that I can sleep.

I write coherent stories so I can share them with my SO and have them make sense.

I publish on here and one other site cause I'm curious to know if anyone else would enjoy them. And it helps to motivate me to actually finish a story, because my SO can't read without going into editor mode, and so if I didn't tell him about my three fans who are waiting for the next one then he might never get around to reading it and then what would be the point of writing coherently?

 

[iwatchus]

I am not completely sure why I write at all. For more than fifty years, I had channeled my creativity in programming. I know many non-techies don't understand, but programming is kind of like creative writing; you get to create stuff from pure thought. And a keyboard. Not all programming is creative -- I am not sure if @StillStunned 's web rewrite was. But most of mine has been.

I had a nine month period several years ago when I could not program because of a severe concussion. I was suddenly much more interested in photography, which has always been a background task for me, but nothing more. When I could read text on a screen again, my interest in photography faded almost immediately.

About four months ago, for the first time since adolescence, I no longer wanted to program. Three months ago I started thinking about writing and soon wrote my first fiction in over fifty years. And it has been cathartic to me. My spouse wants to know if I will ever write anything else. I have some non-erotica ideas, including some sci-fi and fantasy, but I am still compelled to write here. I don't know why, but I have to. It is a compulsion.

 

[Jay Richards]

I write erotic stories because my wife abandoned me sexually over 20 years ago. I was left alone; I thought about divorce, but I didn't know how to make it work financially. We stayed together, and I took care of myself until one day I wrote a story. It was so dirty I jerked my cock under the table while writing it, I squirted on the floor. It was more erotic than any movie I could watch back then. I posted the story, and I got responses from readers. I now have a nice following, and they look forward to my writing. I still jerk off under the table sometimes, so to speak. The brain is the biggest sex organ. So, I write to excite myself. And that's the actual truth.
Jay Richards

 

[EdgySubMic]

For more than fifty years, I had channeled my creativity in programming. I know many non-techies don't understand, but programming is kind of like creative writing; you get to create stuff from pure thought. And a keyboard.

As a fellow (former) programmer for R&D projects, I most definitely agree on that!

 

[StillStunned]

Not all programming is creative -- I am not sure if @StillStunned 's web rewrite was. But most of mine has been.

I'm not rewriting the programming, I'm rewriting the text. Creative, exhausting and soul-crushing all at once.

 

[comegently]

I write erotica because it lets me explore things that I do not necessarily do in real life, but have thought about doing.
The format here is relatively short, which suits my attention span.
I experience a story in my mind's eye as I write, and it can be very stimulating. If it were not, I doubt that I would do it. Most of the time, I am seeing myself as one of the characters, and to an extent experiencing what they are experiencing.

 

[BlazonG]

It’s more arousing than porn and I like when I get positive feedback on here.

 

[AG31]

no one seemed to write the kinds of stories that gave me orgasms, and I very much wanted to experience more of them,

THEN someone said I was full of sh*t if I thought my fantasies were really all that unique, there’s nothing new under the sun or in the human heart, and I was missing out if I wasn’t reading and being read by other pervs out there.

Would you mind telling us specifically what kind of fantasies you were looking for, and eventually found?

I came to Lit to publish a bunch of fantasies I'd written for exactly the reason you describe. I stayed for the conversations, but, of course I looked in th stories for just my kind of fantasies, but found only a handful over the course of four years. After a while I got tired of skimming the new stories and just wait for the random mention in the forums.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I came to Lit to publish a bunch of fantasies I'd written for exactly the reason you describe. I stayed for the conversations, but, of course I looked in th stories for just my kind of fantasies, but found only a handful over the course of four years. After a while I got tired of skimming the new stories and just wait for the random mention in the forums.

I noticed that the late, lamented Ogg Bashan seemingly had very specific fantasies about clothing that could be used as a restraint, combined with reasonably-benevolent femdom. He seems to have written all the stories on this site that accommodate that specific paraphilia.

--Annie

 

[LilyBright]

I am really curious what motivates everyone to write Erotica

I'm working on writing here to work through a personal experience I had. My therapist suggested journaling, but I wanted to share it in an anonymous space. I'm close to finishing it and the process has been good for me. A little nervous to actually put it out there.

 

[calmlikeabomb]

As someone on the spectrum, reading and writing were always my escapes. I love writing in general because it helps focus my thoughts, and it helps bring my overactive imagination to life. I have also worked in books and publishing, and that has given me a very different perspective on what writing can do.

I never really wrote erotica seriously until the recent past. I was more interested in roleplaying etc, but as I have grown older and more... Shall we say selective in how I choose to spend my time, writing erotica has become my poison of choice. it's just easier to set the pace and dictate the terms, as it were.

And I have aspirations of taking up non erotica writing, and writing erotica is good practice for that. It helps build the muscle memory I need for writing long form fiction, it allows me to build my rhythm and find my voice. And erotica is much like any other genre, in that it's about interesting people in interesting places doing interesting things, so it allows me the luxury of trying out different structures, archetypes, paces, which I can then bring to my non erotica writing.

 

[calmlikeabomb]

I am not completely sure why I write at all. For more than fifty years, I had channeled my creativity in programming. I know many non-techies don't understand, but programming is kind of like creative writing; you get to create stuff from pure thought. And a keyboard. Not all programming is creative -- I am not sure if @StillStunned 's web rewrite was. But most of mine has been.

I had a nine month period several years ago when I could not program because of a severe concussion. I was suddenly much more interested in photography, which has always been a background task for me, but nothing more. When I could read text on a screen again, my interest in photography faded almost immediately.

About four months ago, for the first time since adolescence, I no longer wanted to program. Three months ago I started thinking about writing and soon wrote my first fiction in over fifty years. And it has been cathartic to me. My spouse wants to know if I will ever write anything else. I have some non-erotica ideas, including some sci-fi and fantasy, but I am still compelled to write here. I don't know why, but I have to. It is a compulsion.

I understand you completely. Well written code, elegant, simple, powerful, can be very beautiful. These are languages, just like any other, and a good eye can pick up beauty where others can't.

 

[AG31]

As someone on the spectrum, reading and writing were always my escapes.

Interesting. I'd never heard about this quality. I don't know if I'm "on the spectrum," or not, being much too old to have anyone have paid attention using that category, but my daughter has wondered if I might be. I'm sympathetic to the qualities attributed to Asberger's people. I'm not at all visual, and so am not very tuned in to non-verbal cues. I do know that I read ALL THE TIME that I'm not doing something else. I always take a book to a doctor's appointment, or anywhere else where I might have to sit and wait.

What place does reading and writing have in "the spectrum?"

it helps bring my overactive imagination to life.

I've described myself here as a "recorder" of fantasies. There was a period in my life when my fantasy life was in overdrive. Maybe my need to record those fantasies was what you mean by bringing your imagination to life.

Does this ring bells with any of the rest of you here?

 

[LilyBright]

I've described myself here as a "recorder" of fantasies. There was a period in my life when my fantasy life was in overdrive. Maybe my need to record those fantasies was what you mean by bringing your imagination to life.

Does this ring bells with any of the rest of you here?

Yes! Very much so!

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

There were a variety of reasons why I started writing. First and foremost, though, was to prove to myself that i could do it. I have been toying with the idea of wanting to write a novel for years and years now, and have started a few times but then tapered off because I just never got the ideas to gel where I could get out the tale that I wanted to tell. I've been reading erotica since I was in college (which is about when usenet was becoming a thing) but I'd never thought about writing until I stumbled across this site.

I was having trouble finding good stories that I liked - not just the sex part but like actual stories with plots and character development. I always said in the back of my head that I thought I could do that.

Then there was a big family crisis last year and I suddenly had some free time, and for some reason, I just started writing. I don't know why, how, or what, but the muse hit me and suddenly I was spitting out thousands of words, crafting a story like nothing I'd ever considered writing before, and that's kept me going.

I've proven to myself I can do it, and people seem to like what I've been doing, which definitely helps keep me going, but the number one reason I'm still going is I've still got stories to tell.

 

[Dearelliot]

As a kid, I liked to build things, and it wasn't easy in real life. So I started to build things on paper, laying out plans, picking a location, making changes, and that slowly drifted into building a story. Like laying out plans for building a house, I'd put a door here, a window there, a pitched roof, a set of stairs... In my story, I get partway through and maybe add a character, change a situation, or increase tension. I might change her response, add an adverb or two, a whimper or a whisper from him, until I'm kinda satisfied. Now I know it isn't a castle or a mansion, it's a small house...maybe a bungalow. Okay, so it's a shed! and I'm not the best house builder...But I enjoyed building it
And maybe some agree, life gets in the way, and years pass. Not enough hours in the day.

 

[Jay Richards]

I'm working on writing here to work through a personal experience I had. My therapist suggested journaling, but I wanted to share it in an anonymous space. I'm close to finishing it and the process has been good for me. A little nervous to actually put it out there.

I'm looking forward to it.

 

[calmlikeabomb]

Interesting. I'd never heard about this quality. I don't know if I'm "on the spectrum," or not, being much too old to have anyone have paid attention using that category, but my daughter has wondered if I might be. I'm sympathetic to the qualities attributed to Asberger's people. I'm not at all visual, and so am not very tuned in to non-verbal cues. I do know that I read ALL THE TIME that I'm not doing something else. I always take a book to a doctor's appointment, or anywhere else where I might have to sit and wait.

What place does reading and writing have in "the spectrum?"

I've described myself here as a "recorder" of fantasies. There was a period in my life when my fantasy life was in overdrive. Maybe my need to record those fantasies was what you mean by bringing your imagination to life.

Does this ring bells with any of the rest of you here?

I see similarities.

And I can only speak for myself, but like i said previously, it helps me focus. It helps me clarify my own thoughts, and create something out of nothing. It helps me bundle up my own experiences into a digestible bunch of words in a rhythm that helps me express myself in a way in sometimes struggle to when I'm asked to speak.

And at work and in my married life, I am required to speak a lot. Sometimes, i am forced to. And i don't have a choice. I have to stand in front of hundreds and explain strategy. I have to convince and cajole the entire spectrum of the corporate ladder. It what I am expected to do. It's my dharma.

And so i often find myself retreating to writing because it helps me center myself again. It helps me find my core again. It helps me voice my emotions and confront them in solitude. It reduces the blast radius.

I don't know if that makes sense to you, but as someone on "the spectrum", thats how i find solace in writing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I noticed that the late, lamented Ogg Bashan seemingly had very specific fantasies about clothing that could be used as a restraint, combined with reasonably-benevolent femdom. He seems to have written all the stories on this site that accommodate that specific paraphilia.

--Annie

Yes, Brother Ogg was a classic old school English pornographer, a gentleman in every way, even down to his kink.

A Strange and Curious Fellow

 

[ElectricBlue]

What place does reading and writing have in "the spectrum?"

I'm not sure there is a direct correlation. There's a bunch of neuro-diverse folk here who write (and possibly a feature might be the depths of plotting and planning they do - but at the same time, many NDs just get down and write). That's no different to neuro-typical writers. You have visual and verbal thinkers, language or mathematically oriented minds... although, safe to say, the maths department and comp science departments at university might skew a tad higher towards ND. People just think differently - the thing is never to assume everyone thinks like you do, because they won't.

It's no different to gender - that might affect what you write about, but not how you write.

 

[Writer61]

I've described myself here as a "recorder" of fantasies. There was a period in my life when my fantasy life was in overdrive. Maybe my need to record those fantasies was what you mean by bringing your imagination to life.

Does this ring bells with any of the rest of you here?

Yes, it does.

Most of what I write are my fantasies from the last 30+ years, some written down at the time, others just remembered. During lockdown I started to write again, with the addition of some structure (characters, story-arc) linking individual stories together. That has been both restrictive (continuity doesn't matter in your head) and enjoyable (I like plotting and planning).

Publishing them is very new (approx 15 months at this point).