Why do you write?

[capecodmercury]

Just a thought that was running through my head the other day that I thought I would throw out as an open ended question. Why did you start to write erotica? Is there anything in particular that you wanted to accomplish?

I started kind of by accident. I was reading a story and the ending left me unsatisfied. The next thing I knew, I had the first three pages of my very first story put down on paper as I wrote a story in response to what I had read.

Since then I have kept on writing because I like to make people think. I probably don't write erotica as most people think about it. My typical story is about as far from stroke as they come and I could easily write most of them with little or no sex.

But, I use erotica as a forum the same way that some of the old science fiction writers used to use that genre. If I work at it, I can raise issues and address themes that would seem out of place in a main stream story or novel. Of course, to be honest, I've tried writing fantasy or science fiction and it's been horrible so maybe I'm making a virtue out of necessity.

So, if people feel like playing true confessions, Why do you write?

CCM

 

[MagicaPractica]

So, if people feel like playing true confessions, Why do you write?CCM

Because the voices tell me to... all right, that's a lie, they've never said anything like that.

Basically, I've written fiction all my life and since I'm obsessed with sex (perpetually not getting any) it seemed natural to turn my writing to that. Also, I was trying to get myself writing again after a hiatus and it was easier to convince myself to write something in this line than something more "serious." This is more fun. I am working on the other now again and getting some done but it's slow going.

 

[Tom Collins]

Because I was reading a lot of stories off of a lot of sites, and while many of them were excelent, far too many of them made me want to scream. For instance, I read this one story, couldn't tell you who wrote it, what it was about or where it was posted (not on Lit!), but I can tell you that the whole thing was one, long paragraph. No breaks whatever, for any reason, and we're talking about a story that would probably take up two Lit pages.

Also, the "author", and I use the word quite loosely, couldn't even be bothered to distinguish one speaker from another. Both characters were male so everything was "he said". Half the time you couldn't even tell the difference between internal dialog, external dialog and narration because the guy didn't bother with quotes, be they single or double. It actually induced a migrain after about a quarter of a Lit page.

 

[AchtungNight]

I started writing erotica because one of my favorite sites went down and my fellow readers gathered elsewhere and yakked about how they were desperate for new fiction. It was a celebrity story site, so I got to thinking about all the hot celebs I knew of who did not have stories dedicated to them. I had not written much in years, and really wanted to again. I wanted to make people think, make them wonder, make them laugh, and yes, make them aroused. The right inspiration came when I heard about the cover of this year's Vanity Fair Hollywood issue. The story flowed out and got some acclaim. In ensuing months I wrote 12 great tales, 11 of which made it onto Lit. Many were the first of their sort for the celebs in question. I am not sure where I'll be going next.

 

[Tom Collins]

So many people say they started because they wanted to make people think, or raise issues of you nature or another. I'm sure they're being honest, so I will be too.

I wanted to lear how to write up a damned fine tale. The fact that the reader gets to read about my characters getting tail in hot detail is a bonus for them. *cheeky grin* If I manage to make someone think, or strike a resounding chord in someboby's soul then it's gravy for me.

 

[capecodmercury]

I wanted to lear how to write up a damned fine tale. The fact that the reader gets to read about my characters getting tail in hot detail is a bonus for them. *cheeky grin* If I manage to make someone think, or strike a resounding chord in someboby's soul then it's gravy for me.

"Larning to rite gud" is something I wanted to do too. I always wondered if I had the ability to write a story that other people would appreciate and the only way to find out was to start typing.

Back to being honest, I think there has to be some ego involved too. There is a rush when you see one of your stories posted for the first time. I don't know about other people, but I do tend to check the comments section on my new stories regularly so I can see how a story is being received. I know what I think of my new baby, I can't wait to see if the rest of the world agrees with me.

CCM

 

[AchtungNight]

Back to being honest, I think there has to be some ego involved too. There is a rush when you see one of your stories posted for the first time. I don't know about other people, but I do tend to check the comments section on my new stories regularly so I can see how a story is being received. I know what I think of my new baby, I can't wait to see if the rest of the world agrees with me.
CCM

I do that a lot too.

 

[SummerMorning]

... because I could. I used to write a diary. Then after an ex read my diary (and dumped me thereafter) I stopped writing diaries. Now I stick to vignettes.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Escapism. The challenge is to master words to the extent where it's almost real.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Because I have to. It's like breathing...

I write to understand the world, myself and the people in it. Same goes for erotica.

 

[rgraham666]

My first story on here was mostly so that I'd be an authour. I felt kind of fake hanging on the Author's Hangout and not having written anything.

And I found out, or rather rediscovered, that I like to write. It lets me use the gifts I've been granted.

There's the ego stroking of feedback as well. And it's taught me how to handle trolls, a very useful life lesson.

 

[Darkniciad]

My ancient stuff, which might see the light of day as erotic horror eventually after some extensive clean-up, was written more or less as an outlet. Graveyard shift in a tiny town does not much of a social life make.

My core tale was written as entertainment for my girlfriend when we were apart for a while ( medical reasons ) and was also a devious means to get her interested in the fantasy genre through sex, thus saving us money by having my entire bookshelf at her disposal. It was also a way of giving her a little taste of my old PnP role-playing world, which comes up in numerous converasations, and she didn't really have a perspective on it.

She kept after me to post it for a wider audiance, as did another lass I wrote naughty things to on occasion, and so I decided to go for it. Now, it's all about the feedback, and sucking people into my old world that I miss living in on a regular basis.

 

[FallingToFly]

I write because when I don't write- I don't sleep. There's too many people in my head that insist on getting out. Yes, I'm mental, but it's what keeps me from being dangerously so.

 

[deathlynx]

Lol...I wrote my first one as sort of a cyber to my wife...She loved it so I kept writing more and more stories for her...

 

[3113]

New Title?

I think you need to change the title. There's a difference between "why do you write?" and "Why do you write erotica?" which is the real question.

Writers will always say, "I write because I can't not write"--it's pretty much a cliché now.

But why should writers pick erotica to write, on a free site...that's a very interesting question.

Why erotica? I like erotica because it gives the writer a goal. Whatever else the story is going to be about, there will be sex. How is the writer going to get there? This intregued me because it was a little like doing a puzzle--a short puzzle, but a puzzle none the less. You can make it really easy on yourself (stoke)...or you can create a senario where it's a little harder. Like, if the characters don't like or trust one another. How will they end up having sex?

I rather liked that. It was inspiring and fun.

As for on-line erotica (rather than print)...as someone else said, that instantaneous thing is a rush. Not just "publication" but feedback. If you get a story into print, that's a rush as well. But it may take you a while to get feedback, if any. Someone has to say, "Oh, you wrote that story in that magazine? That was great!" Here, the minute the story is up, you not only KNOW that someone's read it, but that they've been affected by it.

 

[oggbashan]

Why do I write?

Because I have always written since I could hold a pencil and make letters.

Why do I write erotica?

Because I was so disappointed by the stories I was seeing in Yahoo Adult Groups, then Clubs. I knew that I could spell, make sentences that were sentences, and string a story together. The stories I was reading didn't seem to do any of those.

I started by writing for specific fetish areas, and that influence still shows in much of my work, but expanded when readers began to give supportive feedback. If a group said 'Liked it. Want more.' then I tended to write more for that group.

If a group said 'Liked it but it would be better if you expanded the story here, cut out some of the description here, and changed the ending slightly...' then a collaborative work emerged.

The forces driving me to write are several:

1. Retreat from frustration with my real world.
2. Enjoyment from constructing a fantasy world where I set the parameters.
3. Interaction between the characters once they come 'alive'.
4. Too many ideas competing for my time. If I can complete one story then I can move on to the next story idea.
5. A desire not to leave existing stories incomplete.
6. Feedback encouraging me.
7. Literotica's competitions. No matter how uninspired I feel, I am obliged to write at least one entry for the themed competitions and now I have made a rod for my own back - one of the entries has to be a 15 x Fifty-word set.

Og