Writers?

[FallingToFly]

Romance is not erotic?

Romance in the category I'm heading for isn't. I do have a sex scene written, but I'm not sure I'l use it. If the emotional content is there, I may not need it.

 

[Munachi]

Don't you have a Holiday Story to finish?

who? *looks around searching for who might be meant by that*

 

[FallingToFly]

Okay. So I'm not the only one. I do so desperately want to be one of those people who religiously come home from work and bang out 10 pages (hell even 3 pages) before diner.

I'm doing NaNo this year, and I did my math beforehand. 50k divided over thirty comes out to roughly 1667 words a day. I can do that in an hour, if I have the drive.

Yesterday I put the hammer down and wrote about 4000 words. Today I've put out 2000, and I'm steadily inching along. If you have the drive, you can do it. If you don't...

My longest dry spell was four years. I didn't write for four years. I was deeply, and probably dangerously, depressed. I cried a lot, spent a lot of time curled up in bed listening to silence. When I managed to drag myself outof that hole, the first thing I did was sit down and write 150k words of useless fanfiction, a four part series of novel length erotica/romantica shit. It took me six months. I unpacked my tapes and cds and records, started downloading new music and asking friends to send me mix cds, starting taking an interest in whether or not I was alive again.

Now I write because it keeps me out of that hole. It lets me stay awake, lets me leach out the poison of my own genetic curse and life experience. I probably write 1500 words a day, even if it's only blogging or posting on here. It keeps me sane. Do I discipline myself, force myself to do it? Nope. If I want to sleep all day or watch soap operas or scrub my floors in the buff, I just ignore my writing. Is it easier than you think to manage to tap out a certain amount every day? Oh hell yes.

 

[uome1]

I'm not writing any erotica at the moment, Charley. I'm writing a romance. I have a few things on hiatus that are erotica, but nothing interests me enough to work on it, except my NaNo entry.

Here's an opening question: would you rather have well-written smut (graphic, short, straight to the sex story) with minimal focus on who these people are and why they're doing what they're doing, or well-written erotica, where the emotional context takes the place of graphic sex and the sexual focus is softer?

I really don't get into the straight-to-sex blurbs with no character or plot development. Just like the sex that I enjoy, I want erotica to long and drawn out with an emotional climax.

That having been said, I may have to give the straight to sex blurbs more consideration after what I experienced last night. I was inducted into the mile high club on the flight home from a job interview. It was pretty much straight to sex and was incredible. I really thought stuff like that only happened in cheezy porn flicks and badly written erotica.

 

[FallingToFly]

I really don't get into the straight-to-sex blurbs with no character or plot development. Just like the sex that I enjoy, I want erotica to long and drawn out with an emotional climax.

That having been said, I may have to give the straight to sex blurbs more consideration after what I experienced last night. I was inducted into the mile high club on the flight home from a job interview. It was pretty much straight to sex and was incredible. I really thought stuff like that only happened in cheezy porn flicks and badly written erotica.

OMG! YOU'RE THE DUDE WHO FUCKED MY LITTLE SISTER! BASTARD!!!

 

[uome1]

OMG! YOU'RE THE DUDE WHO FUCKED MY LITTLE SISTER! BASTARD!!!

I'm not a dude and does your sister work for Delta Airlines?

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

I'm struggling with my second story right now. It's a prequel to the first and when I have time, I don't have inspiration. When I have inspiration I don't have time.

 

[FallingToFly]

I'm not a dude and does your sister work for Delta Airlines?

No, she's just a slut. It was actually a poorly executed joke, because my sister just came home from a job interview last night and was joking about joining the mile high club... I always assume that everyone has fucked my sister.

 

[AngelofDarkLust]

I'm struggling with my second story right now. It's a prequel to the first and when I have time, I don't have inspiration. When I have inspiration I don't have time.

I cary note pads with me wherever I go. I've been known to pull off the freeway to jot something down (hell, I've been known to write while I drive )

 

[Alessia Brio]

I cary note pads with me wherever I go. I've been known to pull off the freeway to jot something down (hell, I've been known to write while I drive )

I named a poem after the place I pulled off the "freeway" (that's Interstate on the east coast) to jot it down.

 

[AngelofDarkLust]

I named a poem after the place I pulled off the "freeway" (that's Interstate on the east coast) to jot it down.

Well a few of our inter-states, stay completely intra-state == thus they are freeways.

 

[Liar]

Anyone feel like discussing erotic writing for a change of pace?

Got a topic?

Throw me a bone here.

 

[rgraham666]

Here's an opening question: would you rather have well-written smut (graphic, short, straight to the sex story) with minimal focus on who these people are and why they're doing what they're doing, or well-written erotica, where the emotional context takes the place of graphic sex and the sexual focus is softer?

I'll bite.

The latter. Emotions are the biggest part of sex. And if you do the build up right the readers will get emotionally invested in the characters and will get off with them.

On the other hand, I can't help but put emotions in my short pieces of smut. People have commented on it more than once.

So I don't suppose the categories are mutually exclusive.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I've got some erotica waiting in the wings to be finihsed. I've also got a few suspense and thriller pieces waiting for my attentions as well (the thriller is also a comedy, and a little political, but I guess my religious book is also a thriller about the apocalypse).

 

[bronzeage]

Anyone feel like discussing erotic writing for a change of pace?

I'm up for if you are still around.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm not writing any erotica at the moment, Charley. I'm writing a romance. I have a few things on hiatus that are erotica, but nothing interests me enough to work on it, except my NaNo entry.

Here's an opening question: would you rather have well-written smut (graphic, short, straight to the sex story) with minimal focus on who these people are and why they're doing what they're doing, or well-written erotica, where the emotional context takes the place of graphic sex and the sexual focus is softer?

I want well-written erotic smut, where the emotional content informs the graphic descriptions, the sexual focus describes the characters, and the sexual action is part and parcel of the plot


Charley, I can barely talk writing in the present tense. It's all future imperfect to me right now

 

[hmmnmm]

Take care in soliciting other writers' opinions about your own writings.

 

[cumallday]

If this constitutes thread-jacking (it is a writing oriented question) then disregard it...

Do you people write a certain number of pages per day. If so, how many?

I'm lucky if I write a paragragh a day. Sometimes I scrap whole pages.

 

[matriarch]

Sure, shall we wax at length on the difference between Erotica and Porn...

course I still haven't figured out which I actually write.

I know what I write.....at the moment nothing.

But in the past, I have written, and prefer to write....romantic love stories, with overtones of sex.



It seems to work. But that's what comes of being a soppy old bat.

 

[neonlyte]

I know what I write.....at the moment nothing.

But in the past, I have written, and prefer to write....romantic love stories, with overtones of sex.



It seems to work. But that's what comes of being a soppy old bat.

From one soppy old bat to another - you're quite good at it.

I'm now stretching my mind as to how much sex to include in a Romance for mainmarket publishing, might be a good thread topic, How Much is Too Much

 

[FallingToFly]

Take care in soliciting other writers' opinions about your own writings.

Well, only if you have a tendency to be touchy about criticism. Personally, I love well-articulated criticism; it gives me the perfect editing tool.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Why is everyone avoiding Charley's point?

The overriding sentiment here - no matter what category - is romance or stroke. Not an insult, but just an observation. There is very little erotica, good or bad, posted here. Me too, I try to write erotica and end up with something too pretentious - is the sci-fi, erotic horror slot free- or something too sickly.

Please, why can nobody write erotica anymore?

 

[FallingToFly]

Why is everyone avoiding Charley's point?

The overriding sentiment here - no matter what category - is romance or stroke. Not an insult, but just an observation. There is very little erotica, good or bad, posted here. Me too, I try to write erotica and end up with something too pretentious - is the sci-fi, erotic horror slot free- or something too sickly.

Please, why can nobody write erotica anymore?

I can write it, and quite often do. A Certain Way, Killing Loneliness, Night In My Veins, Your Eyes- all erotica, but with strong emotional content (except NIMV, that's pure stroke.) Bug Eyes is a romantic end to a marraige, Thing I Won't Say To You has no real sex, just the allusion to how much someone means to someone. Scream is Erotic Horror, as is Envy. Haunted is erotica with a dark undertone, A Far Cry From Heaven is dark fantasy with undertones of erotica.

The thing is, authors who write romantica or softer erotica, and who don't have an enormous output or following, are quite often ignored in favor of more popular authors. There are some amazing authors here on Lit. Ken Nitsua, who write Gay Male cat, is wonderful, as is Tyler_H in EH. Liar's Driftwood is an incredibly beautiful and erotic piece. Some authors, who fail in the technical arena, still write beautifully moving things.

It's rather difficult to say that there isn't a great deal of erotica on the site. There is actually a great deal of it, but it's one of those things you really, really have to look for. The Celeb category has some really beautiful work, that is largely ignred. The Non-erotic category actually has a great many stories that stir me more than some of the really graphic pieces. I personally think it comes down to a matter of what the individual finds erotic. If you like hardcore, graphic sex in a short, intense format- that is your erotica. If the emotional upheaval of betrayal is what gets you off, that's your erotica. And if the wording and flow of a list of ingredients for Cheerios makes your skin tingle, -that- is your erotica.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

FtF
I do not mean there is not a load of good writing here - quite the reverse, the standard is exceptional for an open site.

My point, following Charley's lead, is that there is not a lot of good erotic writing. I don't mean porn or stroke, which I respect and quite like. I don't think Romance, celebs etc., however well written, even tries to be erotic.

Surely, erotica is in the mind, not on the page, and so few of us come close to capturing that elusive butterfly.

 

[Kev H]

Why is everyone avoiding Charley's point?

The overriding sentiment here - no matter what category - is romance or stroke. Not an insult, but just an observation. There is very little erotica, good or bad, posted here. Me too, I try to write erotica and end up with something too pretentious - is the sci-fi, erotic horror slot free- or something too sickly.

Please, why can nobody write erotica anymore?

I believe her "point" was more general, but your statement is well taken. All I have to offer in response is that you are simply not reading the right stories. I know there's a flood, and the task of wading through it all is daunting (hence the original idea of the review thread, before it became something much more/less).

Most want porn, and it feels like the more you vary from that, the more you get punished (with low readership or votes). Add meat or play with odd plot devices and techniques? Guaranteed low readership. It's simply unfair.


Now my question: Has any writer felt "ruined" by writing erotica? For example, I used to write much more non-erotic stuff, yet when I try to go back to that now, it's much more difficult to become involved. Erotica is far more vibrant, alive and fascinating to write. Yet, here I sit (procrastinating) trying to finish the final scene of a piece I almost-finished about two years ago. I should have the motivation: it's a compelling short, plenty of plot, a waiting home/publishing idea, plenty of smooth phrasing, etc. In fact, the entire completed section is very smooth, so it's not a normal hang-up/block. It's just not as compelling, so the tendency is to put it off again in favor of one of my more exciting (read:sexual) plots.

Is there a special high we get from writing satisfying erotica that cannot be duplicated in more mainstream prose? Or is this problem likely to be more unique to me? Honestly, I'm curious to know if others have encountered this and how they have dealt with it.


Kev



Extra, random thought: I've studied erotic scenes that enhance otherwise non-erotic plots, making them more real, more meaningful (and in some cases, more painful/sorrowful to read). Shouldn't "good" erotica simply be a plot enhancement device? Romance often uses it to good effect, why shouldn't the other genres? Are the mainstream markets really so inhibited, or is my perception really that colored by this last year of complete immersion (both from writing and editing standpoints)?