Writer's write...

[lexium]

Hi...I wonder if anyone would like to discuss writing erotic stories…hopefully, to help new writers become better writers of erotica. I've been watching blindly and haven't seen very much written in this forum about writing erotic stories. Maybe if I began discussing writing styles and techniques, it would catch on and become a useful forum.

In the interest of becoming a better writer, which I've been keeping to myself lately, I would like to begin a discussion on the fundamental building blocks of fiction. I guess I should pose a question, so everyone will have something to respond to.

When you begin developing the idea for your stories, do you think about what Conflict there will be? I'm asking this because there are so many shallow stories; even the well written ones are not very interesting. I know the vast number of the authors here have studied writing and know that without CONFLICT, CRISIS, and RESOLUTION readers are in for a dull story.

I believe that a story has to have more than just a theme, such as BDSM or INCEST. I think that the characters should be interesting, complex if you will, and the CONFLICT needs to be more than having an inch that needs to be scratched.


You comments are very welcomed.

 

[Couture]

I agree one hundred percent. Most stories people post here aren't even stories. They are just settings where people fuck.

God, give me *something*. Even cardboard characters. But at least let it be *about* something.

 

[lexium]

If we had a horny young man....what young man isn't horny, right? But let us look at this young man.

If he is a nice guy...he would be boring. If he was a jerk...he would also be boring. But if he was a nice guy that has acted like a jerk for once in his life, we would have cause to wonder why? I would be interested in knowing what did he feel inside himself to make him act like a jerk.

I'm not interested in so-called real characters, because most people are boring.

Can anyone think of an interesting character? What makes a character interesting to you?

 

[wildsweetone]

Interesting characters...

What they look like,
Their quirks,
And
Their minds.

I love character's minds. So much goes on in there and not all of it comes out through dialogue. When the thoughts and the dialogue differ, I'm hooked.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Conflict? You dare to raise conflict?

And damn' right, too. I am very conscious of the fact that this is something missing from my tales. I've had enough good feedback to know that people like my style, but I know I can do better if I try harder. It means longer stories, of course . . .


Alex

 

[neonlyte]

Posting stories to Lit serves a multitude of functions for a diverse collection of people, writers and readers. What people choose to write and post is entirely their affair, I have the choice of not reading if the story is not to my taste or style. My comments are ONLY about my writing.

Character development, story line and atmosphere are the elements I strive to achieve with various levels of success. Erotic content has to be fully integral with the tale, never gratuitous. I find myself continually leaning to the erotic rather than explicit seeking to arouse through suggestion, imagery, rather than description of sexual acts. I don't always succeed, getting it right is worth my effort.

NL

 

[Green_Gem]

I prefer characters who are not one dimensional and totally predictable. I try, wherever I can, to create characters who readers can engage with and perhaps identify with. It's not always necessary that characters are likeable, but they do need to make some impact.

Generally speaking my characters are not perfect and as the story unfolds, I enjoy having them 'revealed ' as if the layers were peeling off. This means getting into their heads, adding small personal touches and idiosyncrasies to their personalities or behaviours.

I agree totally about the need for some kind of conflict in stories to make them work. There can be nothing more boring in erotica than a story involving two perfect people making perfect love in a perfect world.

Good luck with your writing and thanks for the interesting post.

Green_Gem

 

[Sshafer]

wrters write

As I make my characters up I use real people. Say I will use one womans body then then another one leggs and so on. I try to make my characters interesting a little back ground on them. Like if their married why is he or she fucking around on there mate. Is it something they lack at home or is it something more deep seated. As far as plots I let my charecters take me were they want to go. Now some of you will say that is weired because the characters are not real people. but any writer worth his salt will tell his characters are alive and well in his mind. If your good people who read your writing will think of them as real to in their mind.

 

[steve w]

I've written, I think, 18 stories now, and I think my latter ones are better than my first. So I would suggest that one thing to aim for is quite simply to feel like you've improved with each story. Like anything, considered and careful practice will lead to improvement, and you'll get more satisfaction from your writing as a result.

In terms of characters, GG's advice is well-founded, and you could do well to read her stories and see the depth, richness and little touches that she brings to her characters. I prefer characters who are uncovered to the reader by what they do and how they think, rather than direct description. For example, in one story GG uses a scuba diving episode to tell us much about a character, without telling us his height, weight, and shoe size. The literal stuff can be left to the reader's imagination, the more subtle stuff needs to be introduced to the reader.

Personally, I like dichotomy in my characters. The most interesting people in life don't have consistent and regular patterns of thought - they may be the hard worker who's lazy at home, the entertainer wracked by personal insecurity, the counsellor who's own private life is a mess, and so on. For me, that brings depth and credibility to a character, and also helps to give your character a suitable context for your story.

Myself, I have the odd quirk that I always think of a title first. Don't ask me why, it just seems to happen that way. As a result, I may have good titles and lousy stories!

Hope this helps

 

[sweetnpetite]

Re: Conflict? You dare to raise conflict?

And damn' right, too. I am very conscious of the fact that this is something missing from my tales. I've had enough good feedback to know that people like my style, but I know I can do better if I try harder. It means longer stories, of course . . .


Alex

It doesn't necessarily mean longer stories. I have several short stories that include at least an element of conflict. (often it's inner conflict.) The stranger, for example and Our Favorate Game. And my loving wives story. Very often, the key to the conflict in my stories is that characters *don't* get everything they want. My stories, generally aren't all out fuckfests. (even though my readers often ask for that sort of thing, ie, 'loved your story, but he should have fucked her mother, her sister and her best friend too, keep up the good work' LOL) Very often the reader doesn't get *everything* s/he wants either.

In "OUr favorate Game" my narator doesn't know if she wants to be hit accross the face with a belt. A part of her found it very exciting, and anther part of her was frightened. Her Top/Master/Dominant, whatever- has asked her if she wants more of that. She is effectivley gagged. She can't explain the complexity of how she feels about it. She has a few seconds to make a quick decision. She can't be certain anyway there her decision will be honored- she is tied up and helpless after all. What does she do?

The story is only one lit page, but there is conflict. Not all of my stories are mindful of this rule, but the best ones are

That's not to say that you can't write a story that will satisfy a great many people without conflct. But neither does a story have to be 'high literature' or above the heads of your average porn fan, or even necessarily take any longer to write and still have elements of conflict and tension.

 

[GodBlessTexas]

I write the kind of stories that I like to read. They must contain some kind of conflict as others have said. If I wanted a fuckfest, I'd turn on a porn flick. I too try to reveal my characters increasingly as the story develops. Nothing is more boring than the single paragraph description: "She was 5'4" with green eyes and brown hair. Her boobs were size..."

I won't claim to be a great writer or know/incorporate some of the literary elements that others here do, but my feedback suggests that I am accomplishing my goal: writing stories that many people love to read. I think as long as you decide what/how YOU want to write and you do it, forget what anybody else thinks.

 

[rgraham666]

I've only posted one story here so far. It's finally up! Yay!

I write stuff I like to read. And for me that involves characters. Everything else builds around that.

Characters give a story… taste, for lack of a better word. Can I roll my story around in my mouth like a piece of candy, savouring the flavour? If so, then I've succeeded in what I want to do.

 

[lexium]

Bravo Lit authors...I knew there was more thoughtfulness here than bashing and bragging about one thing or the other.

Characters in Conflict.

99.9% or 100% of the stuff I posted in the past has been for the incest category. I once believed that because of the category there was enough conflict, but I no longer have that view.

My questions for my characters now are the same as what many people might ask. Why would you do something that could land you in jail? Why would you take such a risk? What has made what you are after worth going against the social norms?

There are plenty more questions I have for my characters. Do you ask questions of your characters in an attempt to make them believable...in a good or bad way?

 

[rgraham666]

As I've posted elsewhere, my erotica always starts with the 'climactic' scene. Is that a real word, climactic?

So you could say I start with the answer, sex, and then ask the question about how the characters got there.

 

[lexium]

Letting the character tell the story.

 

[Guest]

There is basically two types of readers on lit.

a. Those who are seeking gratification i.e. “Stroke Factor”
b. Those who love the craft of writing. Grammar, spelling, good story development etc.

A great sexual story that is sure to turn on anyone but the dead, is lost on those in category b.
The same story will be appreciated and well received by those in category a.

A story written well, but not really that “Hot” will be well liked by category b. people and not liked at all by the “A’s”

So my conclusion is you can’t please everyone, so write with your own style and technique.

This is just my take on the whole thing.

Jmt

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: plot is over-rated. Done right a sex scene has all the elements of great fiction built that anyone could want. There’s character andatmnosphere, there’s conflict and development, tension as these people struggle and deal to get what they want, there’s climax (literally), there’s resolution and revelation as they deal with the implications the sex has for their relationship and with what they’ve learned about themselves.

What else could you possibly ask for in a story? Gun-fights and flying saucers?

You want character? What says more about a person than the way they negotiate a sexual encounter? You want development? Think of all the games and psychology that go on in a seduction. You want something everyone can relate to? Sex is the most dramatic thing that routinely happens to all of us.

Personally, if I want to read a story with an interesting plot, Literotica is not going to be the first place I look. Or the second. When I read a story here, I want to know what the author can tell me about the experience of sex that I don’t already know.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

With Mab. here. In my thread "seriously again" I quoted from an interview with a Swedish filmmaker (forgot his first name), Andersson. I like what he says here and believe it applies to writing.

Perdita

Film_in_Context. I bolded what I agree with.
---------------

Context: Let's start with the look of Songs From The Second Floor - it's unusually visual, very rich and detailed.

Andersson: I felt that film-making generally didn't reach the level you could find in painting or literature or music. It was for one-time use only, and more and more, the movies were losing their visual power - they were concentrating on the plot only. Especially compared to the 1950s, when I was a student. It was that period when the so-called serious art movie came out, all over the world: we had the East European waves, Kurosawa, Bergman, English realism. That's why I started wanting to be a film director myself. It wasn't only the plot that was interesting; it was the touch, the feeling, something visually rich.

 

[gauchecritic]

Almost exactly word for word what Mab said. Just wish I'd said it first.

If the reader can be left wanting to know more; how did they meet? What happens next? Then even a vignette serves the purpose of a 250,000 word picaresque.

Gauche

Edited to ask Lexi: How do you define 'vast number' and 'studied writing'?

 

[pop_54]

Almost exactly word for word what Mab said. Just wish I'd said it first.

If the reader can be left wanting to know more; how did they meet? What happens next? Then even a vignette serves the purpose of a 250,000 word picaresque.

Gauche

Edited to ask Lexi: How do you define 'vast number' and 'studied writing'?

Yes lad, Mab's gets in first again, what they said above. But I do often try to introduce people properly and explain a little about them and their reasons, not so much as to bore my target audience though... a wank only lasts a short while and I don't want them to finish before they finish the story.

As for the study thingie, count me out of the vast number, I've never studied writing or taken any form of writing instruction... I'm not perfect and I know it... and much to the annoyance of a lot here... I don't care.

 

[Guest]

I would like to begin a discussion on the fundamental building blocks of fiction.

I've never heard of these blocks. Please list.

Perdita

 

[pop_54]

Re: Re: Writer's write...

I've never heard of these blocks. Please list.

Perdita

Funny you should say that *P* I'd been wondering, I've actually given this a bit more thought.

Any building of fiction will have to come from within yourself Lexi... no one on Gods Earth can teach you how to write a fiction story... your fiction story has to come from within you, so do all the quirks and methods used in said story.

Hells bells wouldn't all stories be boring if they were all written in the same style and all under one persons instruction.

As individuals we all write as we see fit... in our own style... and to our own tastes... that's one thing that pisses me off about some of the so called editors, they try to alter your story to suit their tastes... can't be done.

And at risk of boring the shite out of everyone... as I always say.

Proper and overly precise written English fucks up more fiction stories then it helps... turns them into boring text book crap.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Re: Re: Re: Writer's write...

Funny you should say that *P* I'd been wondering, I've actually given this a bit more thought.

Any building of fiction will have to come from within yourself Lexi... no one on Gods Earth can teach you how to write a fiction story... your fiction story has to come from within you, so do all the quirks and methods used in said story.

Hells bells wouldn't all stories be boring if they were all written in the same style and all under one persons instruction.

As individuals we all write as we see fit... in our own style... and to our own tastes... that's one thing that pisses me off about some of the so called editors, they try to alter your story to suit their tastes... can't be done.

And at risk of boring the shite out of everyone... as I always say.

Proper and overly precise written English fucks up more fiction
stories then it helps... turns them into boring text book crap.

Well said Pops, I like your style, you write like you talk, as if you're there telling the person the story over a pint.
~A~

 

[CharleyH]

There is basically two types of readers on lit.

a. Those who are seeking gratification i.e. “Stroke Factor”
b. Those who love the craft of writing. Grammar, spelling, good story development etc.

A great sexual story that is sure to turn on anyone but the dead, is lost on those in category b.
The same story will be appreciated and well received by those in category a.

A story written well, but not really that “Hot” will be well liked by category b. people and not liked at all by the “A’s”

So my conclusion is you can’t please everyone, so write with your own style and technique.

This is just my take on the whole thing.

Jmt

LOL not at you J - just the whole me thinking this is some sort of alterego asking the original post- but that's me, and I make no excuses. Nonetheless, I quote you because I disagree. A story written well is hot. A story written poorly is too irritating to get through. Otherwise I agree

Plot, as Doc says: well, there are many elements in the Aristotle definition, and yet erotica, or smut always has a plot: people meet, fuck, get off, and the conflict is how one person seduces the other into exciting sex

 

[gauchecritic]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Writer's write...

Well said Pops, I like your style, you write like you talk, as if you're there telling the person the story over a pint.
~A~

If you like that style 'Struse you should read this story.

Reads like over the phone rather than over a pint. V.good. V. hot.

Gauche