Writing Advise to Your Younger Self

[HeyAll]

There's always that question of what advice you'd give to your younger self.

Do you have any of that for your erotica writings?

I've been editing a bunch of my old stories and here are my mine:

(no order)

-- Take editing more seriously.

Go through every line thoroughly. In the last few years, I work hard on editing. Back in 2012 when I wrote my first story, I only did a quick glance, thinking everything was okay. There were a lot of comments on typos. When I re-edited in a year later or whatever, I was shocked at how many glaring typos there were.

-- Abuse of the word "had" and "just"

Self-explanatory. I used those words too much.

-- Starting dialogue with "So" or "Well"

They work, but only in small doses. I use to abuse them.

-- During sex scenes I used to be repetitive in what was going on.

Like spoon feeding the reader and constantly reminding what was happening with the action.

-- "Empty carbs"

An editor told me last year that words that end with "y" are like empty carbs and should only be used sometimes. ie "quickly" "immediately" "rapidly" "warily" "excitedly" "nervously." I thought about it and realized that the advice was correct. I toned down those descriptive and it looks better. I've also cut them out of my of old stories when re-editing.

 

[KeithD]

Work harder to keep your pen names separate.

 

[SamScribble]

Try not to confuse learning what to write with learning how to write. What works for someone else won't necessarily work for you.

 

[TxRad]

Start much, much earlier.

 

[SimonDoom]

What TxRad said. My writing advice to my younger self would be, simply, "Write." Because I didn't. Between high school and my early 50s I wrote no creative writing at all, of any kind. When I think about how much I've enjoyed this, I wish to God I had.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Start much, much earlier.

Well I didn't write erotica until 2017 and I didn't publish any until the following year, so maybe this question is a bit premature for me.

Before that I wrote very sporadically. I had some essays published in a college newspaper more than forty years ago. Then in the 1990s I wrote for a transit advocacy newsletter than folded after two issues.

In the first decade of this century I experimented with some screenplays. A handful of people on-line read them in installments, but that doesn't really qualify as "published."

That was about it until I started scribbling on the computer while while recovering from heart surgery. The first thing I wrote was erotic and involved BDSM. It was a kind of experiment I guess, a way to explore sides of myself that I didn't want to admit existed. Then it grew a plot and that was the beginning.

I'm still considering publishing a version of those first scribbles - in fact, I've already written most of it. But it's pretty dark and includes some violence. It definitely won't be on Lit in any case.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Start much, much earlier.

Amen. I can't believe how much fun I'm having doing this.

 

[gordo12]

Start earlier. I wasted years thinking about it—years writing and doing nothing with the results. I could have been so much further along, and at my age, that's sad.

I built a website and published a story back around 1998. I got an email telling me it was great and was I going to do more? Apparently not, because I didn't start until around 2016 and everything sat hidden away. Only for the Geek event 2018 did I finally get the courage to try.

I've wasted years over something I found I truly enjoy.

 

[gordo12]

Oh yeah, and don't marry the blond. Wait for the brunette

 

[Bramblethorn]

Worry less about whether the readers will approve.

 

[Payne_Hall]

Find a better hiding place for the binder with the Death Note cover.

 

[SimonDoom]

My writing experience and accomplishment are not significant enough to give me the authority to give advice that anyone should feel bound to follow, but regardless if I were to give advice to someone who wanted to write, of any age, I'd say this:

1. Just write. Write a lot, write every day, and pick a time of the day that you like to write and that you can write given whatever life constraints you have. This is the most important thing, by far.

2. Read a lot. Read so you know what good writing is. Read so you learn how good authors do things. Learning to be a good and regular reader will make you a better writer.

3. Spend some time learning the mechanics of writing -- spelling, grammar, punctuation. To be a good writer, you don't have to follow style and grammar guides slavishly, but if you know the conventions well, you WILL be a better writer. Make sure you have style and grammar guides, and a thesaurus, at hand when you write (whether in physical or digital form).

4. Follow your own muse, but learn from others, too.

5. Write what you know. To me, it's not a limiting principle. It doesn't mean you should write only about what you've personally experienced. It means you should incorporate your own life experiences and feelings in whatever you write, even if it's a fantasy story on another planet, to give your characters and stories life and authenticity.

 

[j267]

Don’t rely on your engineering education.

 

[lovecraft68]

I should have stopped posting to lit years ago.

That's not meant to be as snarky as it sounds. It has nothing to do with the site, readers, other authors.

Its about business and once I started selling in 2011 I should not have spent the next 5 years posting 50 or so stories for free.

Somewhere around 2016 I think I stopped and in the last 5 years I think I've put up less than 15 stories, and those were ones that were for sale first and their best days sales wise were behind them.

But it is what it is, and that's about the only thing I'd tell younger me

Unless you consider younger me 2 years ago to which I would smack that idiot and tell him to not rush that third book in the series and write yourself into too many corners.

 

[Ian_Snow]

No matter how wrong it might look, young Ian, "mom" and "dad" (and all the variants) need to be capitalized when they're titles, you ding-dong.

 

[NotWise]

I didn't write erotica when I was young. There was that confusing day when my English II instructor in college read my story aloud to the class. I didn't really think of it as erotic, but it was.

More generally, I would advise myself to be more kind and tolerant in my opinions of others work. My opinion brought a kind woman to tears, and I've regretted that for more than forty-five years.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

What TxRad said. My writing advice to my younger self would be, simply, "Write." Because I didn't. Between high school and my early 50s I wrote no creative writing at all, of any kind. When I think about how much I've enjoyed this, I wish to God I had.

Ditto...plus read more. You've got to write and read to learn how to write. IMHO

 

[PoisonPen33]

Specific is terrific - don't use three words when one will do.

 

[mollymollybegee]

Keep your knees together more often

 

[TxRad]

Pay better attention in English class cause, yes, you will need this crap later.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Pay better attention in English class cause, yes, you will need this crap later.

This.

 

[8letters]

Getting a Literotica author to spend enough time working with you on your writing is very, very hard and pursuing that is not the most effective use of time. Reading writing books is not an very effective way of learning how to write better. An easier way to learn how to write better is to give feedback to authors in the Story Feedback forum. It's much easier to see what other people are doing wrong then it is to see your own mistakes. When you post feedback, you'll be wrong regularly and people will gangpile on you, but that's a great way to learn from others about what makes good writing.