Writing outside of your proclivaties

[TheRedChamber]

So, last night I had one of those instances of a story outlining itself pretty much completely in my half-concious mind and earlier this afternoon I sat down and jotted down a 600 word outline for it. Basic jist is that, on a visit to a shoe shop a less-conventionaly attractive girl discovers she has pretty much aesthetically perfect feet, from the point of view of a foot fetishist, and starts getting involved in that world. Her dating options are much improved but, while she's enjoying the extra attention, she's weirded out by the idea of the hot, rich, and nice guy who is mainly interested in her for her feet. Decisions need to be made. I'm far too busy with other projects at the moment to write it in a short space of time, but it definitely has potential.

The problem is, I don't have a foot fetish. I'm not against the idea of ladies' feet. They're nice enough. I've even had the occassional foot-job and sure, it would probably make the lower half of my list of top-ten all time favourite *-jobs. But while I'm confident enough that there is such a thing as perfect feet to make it the basis of a story, I've not really got much of a clue what they would actually look like. I will also need to research standard types of foot fetish for some kind of 'authenticity'.

So my question is.

- Have you or do you often write outside of your own personal proclivaties? (whatever this word means to you)
- How did it worked out for you?
- How did you cope with parts of the proclivaties that you weren't sure about?

 

[Imstillfun]

I’ve tried writing bi male scenes. I had no idea how to write it. My narrators are almost always first person past tense women. I even have a hard time writing about watching MM sex. I just don’t have a frame of reference.

it’s interesting because, in general, women who watch porn are far more diverse in the type of porn we watch than men, I’ve seen MM porn, but I like written porn better and don’t look for the MM thing.

in my life, even as a swinger, I never ran into MM sex. So I find it difficult to write.

 

[shakna]

Last time I asked for help with writing something outside my wheelhouse here, all but one of the responses told me it absolutely couldn't be done. Not to any decent standard.

Since then I've written two pieces that lie outside what I like. Both happen to be trans pieces. One attracted a fair bit of hate mail, and the other attracted absolutely none at all, and had a whole heap of people telling me that I'd impacted them more than an erotic piece should. Real point of pride, on that front.

So long as you're respectful, I think you'll be able to go far with what you've got so far.

 

[oggbashan]

In my long list of stories there are many experiments. The most obvious is Breathless Stargazing, but there are pastiches of Swift and Kipling. As Jeanne-D-Artois I write from a female point of view.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I knew nothing about life for people with paraplegia, but I was inspired by a woman who worked in the same building, who jabbed at the button in the lift, looked up at me from her wheels, and grinned. I cannot remember now what she said, but she became Amelia in Rope and Veil, one of my most successful and well received stories.

Affirmative comments were received from people with disabilities, thanking me for giving them an erotic voice; with the biggest compliment from someone who said, "Thank you both for sharing" - they thought the story was autobiographical, whereas it is complete fiction, except for minor details.

I did some basic homework to get fundamental details right, then wrote a respectful story.

 

[Lifestyle66]

There are plenty of stories here written by authors who have no such experience in the subject. After all, how many authors have been on a starship, lived on another planet, or met an alien? And there are plenty of stories written about swingers and gangbangs, even well rated ones, which when read by someone who has experienced such things sound unreal.

I couldn't write a non-tech manual before two years ago. After trying it and reading the feedback, I like to think I'm at least a little better at it now.

My Amorous Goods story was about magic. It began with a story I had written for a "Hot Wife Hall Pass" as part of my swinger series. Then, I drew from an old movie for the "how to" magic portion, and just let my imagination take over for the rest of it. The story grew to four times its original length.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I’ve tried writing bi male scenes. I had no idea how to write it. My narrators are almost always first person past tense women. I even have a hard time writing about watching MM sex. I just don’t have a frame of reference.

it’s interesting because, in general, women who watch porn are far more diverse in the type of porn we watch than men, I’ve seen MM porn, but I like written porn better and don’t look for the MM thing.

in my life, even as a swinger, I never ran into MM sex. So I find it difficult to write.

As a friend of mine said: "I like women too much. If I were born as a female, I know I'd be a lesbian."

 

[SimonDoom]

I do this all the time. Any writer with a half-way decent imagination should be able to do this. Almost half of my stories are incest stories, and I've never had a real-life incest fetish in my life. I write from every point of view and every single kink is fair game, even if it's not one that personally appeals to me.

Like OP, I don't have a foot fetish. I've always thought foot fetish porn is odd and it holds no interest for me. But I've thought about writing a story about it. If I were to do it I probably would do some research on foot anatomy, hosiery, nail polish, and footwear. Fetishes like that work (for me, anyway) when they get obsessive about detail. That said, since it's a story, not a porn video, you can leave the description of the foot itself to the reader's imagination.

 

[TheRedChamber]

There are plenty of stories here written by authors who have no such experience in the subject. After all, how many authors have been on a starship, lived on another planet, or met an alien? And there are plenty of stories written about swingers and gangbangs, even well rated ones, which when read by someone who has experienced such things sound unreal.

But that's slightly different. As long as you're not making any Arthur C Clarke style claims to authenticity no-one can really tell you that your starship is wrong. It's more akin to me never having been to Saudi Arabia, but deciding to write a story set there anyway and potentially getting things laughably or offensively wrong.

I'm already finding myself noting down things like the principle fetishist saying things like 'The perfect foot shoud be completely odorless' but I'm already 90% sure that's would have them rolling in the aisles at the foot lovers forum.

I knew nothing about life for people with paraplegia, but I was inspired by a woman who worked in the same building, who jabbed at the button in the lift, looked up at me from her wheels, and grinned. I cannot remember now what she said, but she became Amelia in Rope and Veil, one of my most successful and well received stories.

Again, this is similar, but not quite what I mean. It's late so I did have a chance to read the whole thing, but from what I gathered from the start of the story, it's a romance with a woman who happens to be in a wheelchair - it's not a paraphlegia fetish story and you're not your not trying to sell her condition as being inherently attractive to the main characters (FWIW I have read such stories on here out of a morbid facination with how some people's minds work). The issue about writing about a fetish is that you have to kind of make it into the exciting and arousing bit of the story and really sell it, which is what I'm a bit concerned about.

Like OP, I don't have a foot fetish. I've always thought foot fetish porn is odd and it holds no interest for me. But I've thought about writing a story about it. If I were to do it I probably would do some research on foot anatomy, hosiery, nail polish, and footwear. Fetishes like that work (for me, anyway) when they get obsessive about detail. That said, since it's a story, not a porn video, you can leave the description of the foot itself to the reader's imagination.

I'll end up doing research as and when my other projects get finished. I imagine it's a deep rabbit hole to go down. I will have to describe the feet as my heroine will want to get to the bottom of exactly what it is about her feet that are so special (and also be secretly delighted when her more beautiful friend's feet are described as 'mediocre at best').

 

[NotWise]

I'll end up doing research as and when my other projects get finished. I imagine it's a deep rabbit hole to go down.

I'm going to be a wet blanket.

I don't think I'd put so much work into something where the rewards are likely to be so low--between not having the proclivity and understanding that readers in Fetish might not give you much response. There are other ways to write good stories.

 

[Lifestyle66]

But that's slightly different. As long as you're not making any Arthur C Clarke style claims to authenticity no-one can really tell you that your starship is wrong. It's more akin to me never having been to Saudi Arabia, but deciding to write a story set there anyway and potentially getting things laughably or offensively wrong.

That's why I made the "swingers and gangbang" analogy.

Some authors make assumptions about such activities as if it's just more of the same sex they might have experienced as a husband/wife or other couple. But there are rules and drama when others are involved which they often leave out, detracting from the realism in such things.

For example, in a house party, the hosts don't just allow anyone who knocks on the door to join in, and couples wouldn't just fuck everywhere or anywhere they choose (as I read in one story). It would be bad form for a couple to fuck on a living room couch in someone else's house, without at least first describing protocols of protecting the furniture. Granted, there might be one such house party where that might happen. But, then again, you could describe Saudi Arabia any way you choose, and push back against critics by saying they probably don't know every small part of the entire country.

 

[8letters]

So, last night I had one of those instances of a story outlining itself pretty much completely in my half-concious mind and earlier this afternoon I sat down and jotted down a 600 word outline for it. Basic jist is that, on a visit to a shoe shop a less-conventionaly attractive girl discovers she has pretty much aesthetically perfect feet, from the point of view of a foot fetishist, and starts getting involved in that world. Her dating options are much improved but, while she's enjoying the extra attention, she's weirded out by the idea of the hot, rich, and nice guy who is mainly interested in her for her feet. Decisions need to be made. I'm far too busy with other projects at the moment to write it in a short space of time, but it definitely has potential.

The problem is, I don't have a foot fetish. I'm not against the idea of ladies' feet. They're nice enough. I've even had the occassional foot-job and sure, it would probably make the lower half of my list of top-ten all time favourite *-jobs. But while I'm confident enough that there is such a thing as perfect feet to make it the basis of a story, I've not really got much of a clue what they would actually look like. I will also need to research standard types of foot fetish for some kind of 'authenticity'.

So my question is.

- Have you or do you often write outside of your own personal proclivaties? (whatever this word means to you)
- How did it worked out for you?
- How did you cope with parts of the proclivaties that you weren't sure about?

I think you are looking at this wrong. She doesn't have a foot fetish. You don't have to make her giving a foot job exciting to her. Her having perfect feet is no different than a girl driving guys crazy with big boobs. I think you should write it as a straight romance, where she's not understanding why the guy of her dreams is crazy about her because of her feet but is thrilled that he's crazy about her.

 

[DarkRaven13]

But while I'm confident enough that there is such a thing as perfect feet to make it the basis of a story, I've not really got much of a clue what they would actually look like. I will also need to research standard types of foot fetish for some kind of 'authenticity'.

So my question is.

- Have you or do you often write outside of your own personal proclivaties? (whatever this word means to you)
- How did it worked out for you?
- How did you cope with parts of the proclivaties that you weren't sure about?

First - *looking at my own feet* ... well, I too can't tell you what the perfect feet look like, because mine are kinda blech tbh lol.

As for your questions ... I see a lot have given their opinions, and mine is likely to mirror theirs somewhat....but I will state them anyway because I am talkative sometimes...

- Have you or do you often write outside of your own personal proclivaties? (whatever this word means to you)
I have actually. The whole erotica writing is outside of my norm. What I did was read a lot of stories in Lit ... not just the ones that interested me, but those that did not. I started to get a feel for what types of things readers liked reading about (which was omg all kinds of things), but also, how a lot of the writing was done.

With regards to certain fetishes, (exhibitionism) I read at least a dozen stories and got the flavor for what was the draw.

- How did it worked out for you?
I'm not sure yet. I've only posted 2 stories so far ... they have had okay responses to them. But I am not nearly as well published as some, so my results are likely from too small of a sample of readers?

- How did you cope with parts of the proclivaties that you weren't sure about?
Research. And more research. Then again, research is a part of what I do for work, so that is something I don't mind doing. I not only read stories here on Lit., but I also did other research in other venues, both of the Google search type, as well as looking up research papers.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I tend to write what I like to read, but I have recently ventured into areas unfamiliar to me just for the challenge. This resulted in my recent three-story incest series.

I think I was motivated by accepting a writing project this past summer for that British puppet show where they wanted me to create scenarios for a couple of gay celebrities, and some other situations that I had no personal experience with.

 

[KeithD]

I write well beyond personal experience. (My best-selling series works in the mainstream are lesbian mysteries.) I look for and write in niches that I think are underserved in the marketplace. Sometimes I research the experience hard, though, including experiencing it myself, to be able to write about it.

 

[Mnkinkcpl]

would be bad form for a couple to fuck on a living room couch in someone else's house, without at least first describing protocols of protecting the furniture

I have to call you out on this one.

Most of the house parties I have been to and hosted sex on the couch, floor, chairs and just about everywhere else is not only expected but encouraged. That's what they make washable covers for.

Just a word of warning Do Not go into a swingers house with a black light.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I think the question is less of an issue than you think. I would bet that close to 100% of the authors here who write in the most popular category -- incest and taboo -- do not actively practice incest, have not experienced adult consensual incest, and would not participate if given the opportunity.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I have to call you out on this one.

Most of the house parties I have been to and hosted sex on the couch, floor, chairs and just about everywhere else is not only expected but encouraged. That's what they make washable covers for.

Just a word of warning Do Not go into a swingers house with a black light.

That's why I added the caveat "without describing the protocols."

There are those "anything goes" houses. But sometimes there's a "donation" expected to attend to (at least) cover the host's costs, where personal protections would be highly recommended. And even you said that's why they make washable covers, describing some protocol to protect furniture.

Again, those are not usually described in the stories here, with authors just multiplying their personal one-on-one sex experiences. Other more discerning and safer house parties would gather only people they know, expect them to treat their home with some respect. If you read my "Lifestyle Ch. 13 - Single Swingers" story, you might see where I distinguish somewhat between two types of house parties.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'll end up doing research as and when my other projects get finished. I imagine it's a deep rabbit hole to go down. I will have to describe the feet as my heroine will want to get to the bottom of exactly what it is about her feet that are so special (and also be secretly delighted when her more beautiful friend's feet are described as 'mediocre at best').

I reckon you might come unstuck, if you're trying to unravel a real fetish response. Foot fetish aficionados (say those words fast!) are going to say, "Nah, this guy is faking it, he's not got a clue," and every body else won't care and probably won't even open the story.

Fetish is a tough little category to crack, but quirky when you unpack the edge of something and you go there. I've had a couple of fetish stories go trigger trigger, and run very well; and a couple fall flat on their face (but not my worst stories).

I'm not sure research is going to do you much good, if you don't have that tickle of perversity yourself.

If you don't know your shit, know your chutzpah, I'd say.

Sweet Treats

 

[Voboy]

I've tried. Some of the stories have worked better than others.

I do find that sometimes, when I push myself to go outside my proclivities? My proclivities change.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have a killer foot fetish. If you have any questions about what might appeal to someone with one, feel free to ask.

As for writing out of the comfort zone I never had interest in M/M sex. Not trying it, watching it, reading about it. Just not my thing. But when I created a character who was the cliched tough mafioso, but when who was on the downlow and has a thing for lady boys I realized I'd just put my self on a collision with a M/M sex scene.

I had to think on it, and say okay, what do I know that can work with this. I know self loathing, I know anger, I know 'broken'. This guy had a love hate thing to the nth degree with his desires to the point he would be aroused, yet angry at the same time while having sex with his secret boy toy.

My scene ended up being a rough degrading hate fuck type deal. After I finished it, I sent it to two people here who write GM, and said Okay, tear it apart. I was surprised that both got back and said it was very well done because there are a lot of men out there like this. We see mini versions of it in comments where people bash something, yet they are reading in the category, they get off, then get mad they did.

So my trick to pull off what I'm either not interested in or downright clueless is to mask it with an underlying device to take away from people noticing I might not be 100% spot on.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I think you are looking at this wrong. She doesn't have a foot fetish. You don't have to make her giving a foot job exciting to her. Her having perfect feet is no different than a girl driving guys crazy with big boobs. I think you should write it as a straight romance, where she's not understanding why the guy of her dreams is crazy about her because of her feet but is thrilled that he's crazy about her.

That's kind of what I'm doing except that there will be an air of fish-out-of-water comedy about it as well. The difference between boobs and feet is that if you are on a date with a guy, the boobs are above the table throughout the date, whereas she's hot and flustered and constantly going to the salad bar so she can give him another peak. Should she fake a sprained ankle or is that coming across as too forward or desperate?

I have a killer foot fetish. If you have any questions about what might appeal to someone with one, feel free to ask.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I may take you up on that if, as and when.

I'm going to be a wet blanket.

I don't think I'd put so much work into something where the rewards are likely to be so low--between not having the proclivity and understanding that readers in Fetish might not give you much response. There are other ways to write good stories.

I reckon you might come unstuck, if you're trying to unravel a real fetish response. Foot fetish aficionados (say those words fast!) are going to say, "Nah, this guy is faking it, he's not got a clue," and every body else won't care and probably won't even open the story.

Yes, there's a danger. The real core of the story would be about body image generally, so there would theoretically be a point to the story outside of just catering to foot fetishists, but pleasing no-one is certainly a risk.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's kind of what I'm doing except that there will be an air of fish-out-of-water comedy about it as well. The difference between boobs and feet is that if you are on a date with a guy, the boobs are above the table throughout the date, whereas she's hot and flustered and constantly going to the salad bar so she can give him another peak. Should she fake a sprained ankle or is that coming across as too forward or desperate?

You never heard of footsie? Slip the shoe off, slide it under the guys pants?
If you do a scene where he's watching her, the classic leg crossed, heel dangling from the toe is a classic move.
The faking a sprain is kind of campy, but...this is a site where people love the clichés.

 

[TheRedChamber]

The faking a sprain is kind of campy, but...this is a site where people love the clichés.

She may or may not actually do it. It may just be a random panicked thought or bad advice from her best friend.

You never heard of footsie? Slip the shoe off, slide it under the guys pants?

She may well attempt this after she's got the mechanics of it all clear in her own head.

If you do a scene where he's watching her, the classic leg crossed, heel dangling from the toe is a classic move.

Noted. The shoe may drop off and fall somewhere inconvenient and she may have to hop home. The path of true love never did run smooth.

 

[DarkRaven13]

If you want to write a foot fetish story, go for it. Otherwise, it may haunt you (Halloween pun).

Not to change the subject....but I am changing the subject .... Your Halloween story was great!