Writers: Ever Feel Like You're Over-Thinking It?

[bashfullyshameless]

So we're writing erotica/smut/porn, right? The hook-ups are taken for granted. The fact that many of the stories will go beyond the bounds of normal, rational, let's-date-for-awhile-and-feel-one-another-out-before-boinking relationships is kind of a given, yeah?

I mean we've got "I have multiple partners and everyone's okay with it" stories, we've got "I *have* to let my wife sleep with my boss or I'll never work again and I honestly believe it" stories, we've got "I stepped outside during a party and banged a total stranger on the balcony and my S.O. doesn't know the difference" stories... and that's the tame stuff, yeah?

So I've got a story I'm playing with has within the first 5000 or so words: a dragon, a goblin wizard, pagan gods answering prayers of their faithful and priestesses of a goddess of love whose sphere explicitly includes sex and erotic love. But for some reason I've come to the first hook-up of the story, and it's basically casual, opportunistic, I-get-to-bang-a-(metaphorical)-rockstar-so-why-not sex... and yet I'm gripped with issues of realism.

Anyone else have these sort of problems? Or is it just me? I mean, when I come to this site as a reader, I fully buy in to casual sex and promiscuity as part of the suspension of disbelief. Hell, I've repeatedly gone there myself as a writer. So why am I having this problem now?

 

[Stella_Omega]

You are totally not alone. You have to figure it's because you have more going on in this work and more elements that have meaning for the plot -- the sex either is pushes the story forward or doesn't belong there.

So, you have to ask yourself what does this scene accomplish, and go into it with that aim.

 

[TxRad]

Now you have reached the point of either being a writer or just being a porn writer. So now you have to choose or write two versions of everything.

 

[damppanties]

Now you have reached the point of either being a writer or just being a porn writer. So now you have to choose or write two versions of everything.

And then there's the smutty porn writer or the porn writer or the porn writer who takes himself too seriously or the writer who occasionally writes sex or....


Bashful, that story seems interesting. Holler when you're done if you remember to do so.

 

[oggbashan]

I think the problem you are addressing is whether you can get the reader to suspend their disbelief enough to accept the premises of your story.

The outline seems interesting but somewhat overcomplicated. Priestesses of a Goddess of Love suggest enough possibilities without the dragon and the goblin wizard - unless you are writing an extensive novel of 300,000 words or so.

 

[TxRad]

I think the problem you are addressing is whether you can get the reader to suspend their disbelief enough to accept the premises of your story.

The outline seems interesting but somewhat overcomplicated. Priestesses of a Goddess of Love suggest enough possibilities without the dragon and the goblin wizard - unless you are writing an extensive novel of 300,000 words or so.

That was my first thought also. To many irons for a short story. Novels yes as in plural.

 

[talismania]

I think what you're experiencing is part of the growing pains that accompany moving from writing stories strictly for this site while publishing outside of here. I kind of find myself falling into the "have to get them together sexually" trap and am unlearning some of those tricks, like having a sex scene every couple thousand words.

Are you over-thinking it? Yeah, probably. Fear not, you shall soon vanquish your pesky problem. If you can, just say the hell with it and write the story the way you want to write it. It's a first draft. First drafts get turned inside out all the time. I've had stories literally change genres or main characters before setting themselves aright. Also, maybe your story is trying to tell you something. Are trying to make it do something that's just not in its nature? Listen to it and see where it takes you.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That was my first thought also. To many irons for a short story. Novels yes as in plural.

It was your 1st thought, period. Make a note in your diary.

 

[TxRad]

It was your 1st thought, period. Make a note in your diary.

Poor JBJ, a reader lost in a writer's forum.

 

[annanova]

So we're writing erotica/smut/porn, right? The hook-ups are taken for granted. The fact that many of the stories will go beyond the bounds of normal, rational, let's-date-for-awhile-and-feel-one-another-out-before-boinking relationships is kind of a given, yeah?

I mean we've got "I have multiple partners and everyone's okay with it" stories, we've got "I *have* to let my wife sleep with my boss or I'll never work again and I honestly believe it" stories, we've got "I stepped outside during a party and banged a total stranger on the balcony and my S.O. doesn't know the difference" stories... and that's the tame stuff, yeah?

So I've got a story I'm playing with has within the first 5000 or so words: a dragon, a goblin wizard, pagan gods answering prayers of their faithful and priestesses of a goddess of love whose sphere explicitly includes sex and erotic love. But for some reason I've come to the first hook-up of the story, and it's basically casual, opportunistic, I-get-to-bang-a-(metaphorical)-rockstar-so-why-not sex... and yet I'm gripped with issues of realism.

Anyone else have these sort of problems? Or is it just me? I mean, when I come to this site as a reader, I fully buy in to casual sex and promiscuity as part of the suspension of disbelief. Hell, I've repeatedly gone there myself as a writer. So why am I having this problem now?

Over-thinking? What do you mean? Just because the main characters in one series won't leave the damn hotel room for all the other adventures I'd planned for them, it doesn't mean I'm overthinking it. Does it?



No, you're not alone.

 

[Recidiva]

You're not alone.

Yesterday I was reading "Gone Girl" and thinking...this is really what happens when you overthink it.

But I might be overthinking that.

 

[PennLady]

I tend to think my beta reader over thinks things.

No, you're not alone, as I and others can attest. When I'm stuck on something, I often tell myself to back up and go at it in the simplest terms possible. What do I want to happen? Then I set it out and don't worry about continuity or anything else -- just get it there and then see if I can make it fit. If not, then that will probably spark me into thinking about what I do need.

 

[lance gt]

Is the sex scene contigent to the continuity of the story? Did the plot lead up to it, or is it just added in as a side thought that some sex is needed? If it doesn't feel right where it happens, you might need some priming for it, or move it to a point later in the story, where it does fit in.

Sex sells, but it can 'cheapen' a story if it's used the wrong way, IMHO.

 

[PayDay]

There is no such thing as over thinking, or too much thinking.

99% of the stories on this site are fiction, and the remaining 1% of 'real' stories have had minor name, character, and event changes.

That's the premise. Even if it's realistic, it's still fiction.

 

[topace]

I don't think I over-think my stories. Rather I under-think and don't include enough emotion.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

THINKING IS THE GREAT ENEMY OF PERFECTION. Joseph Conrad

 

[TxRad]

THINKING IS THE GREAT ENEMY OF PERFECTION. Joseph Conrad

"Is that smell a bear shitting in the woods or JBJ?" Me.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I mean we've got "I have multiple partners and everyone's okay with it" stories

Thing is, I have more experience of that than I am with vanilla dating. I never got my head around how to ask somebody out BEFORE I'm in a relationship with them

Anyone else have these sort of problems? Or is it just me? I mean, when I come to this site as a reader, I fully buy in to casual sex and promiscuity as part of the suspension of disbelief. Hell, I've repeatedly gone there myself as a writer. So why am I having this problem now?

You're not alone. Some people just want the sex and that's fine, but I'm less interested in how people rub their squishy bits together than in what's in their heads at the time. Even when there is a strong attraction that results in people having sex with near-strangers, I'm interested in the dance they do around that before, during, and afterwards.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

"Is that smell a bear shitting in the woods or JBJ?" Me.

Gotta be VMs breath.

 

[SamScribble]

In fiction there are always two realities. There is the reality that the reader ‘knows’ from their everyday life; and there is the reality that the writer creates.

For the duration of the story, the reader has to find this second reality totally convincing. If the writer strays outside his or her own created reality, then the reader has every reason to stop believing.

 

[TinyBeth]

Overthink? Oh no. I didn't spend six weeks editing, revising, re-reading, asking for advice and then re-writing again just to get my first story of all of 4800 words done. Lol.

Seriously though I like the concept, but it sounds like it may be a little much for a short story. Especially given you never know what tangent a story may take and then it ends up longer still.

Good luck! As I said I love the general concept.