KRISTEN'S BOARD
Sex Stories => Story Posting Rules & tips for writers => Topic started by: coldwater on January 30, 2016, 08:13:04 PM
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Ok, the purpose of this post is to compare notes with other authors of erotic fiction on the writing process.
It’s a broad topic and I would welcome replies on any aspect of story writing: when, where, why and how do you write? What are your inspirations? Do you plan the whole story out ahead of time? Write an outline? Write all the sex stuff first, then fill in the rest? Strip naked, roll yourself in honey and…oh, wait, that’s a different thread…
I am a relative beginner, now nearly finished with story #4, or maybe it’s #3 if you consider the two “Roxanne” posts to be one story in two parts.
So far I have done little planning in my stories. I start with a circumstance and just let it evolve, a paragraph at a time, with no idea where it is heading until it gets there. When an idea for a plot turn comes to me, I write it down. Once it is there, I am loathe to change it, so I force myself to head down whatever rabbit-hole that leads to. That’s how I ended up with my heroine dead at the end of “Roxanne’s Wish.” (much to the dismay of one reader)
I started out just wanting to write something arousing. Interestingly, I am finding that writing the rest of the story is much more compelling to me than the hard-core sex part. In fact, I’m finding that penning the sex acts to be somewhat tedious. I mean, how many different ways can you describe a penis going in and out of a vagina? I may try writing my next story without explicitly describing any sex. I’d probably need to post it elsewhere though.
So…talk to me, authors.
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I also find a topic that interests me and then proceed to develop the character. As with you I never know where the story is going till I get there. Many times I am surprised as to where it goes.
I also agree that the sex scenes are the least interesting part of the writing. I try to paint a picture of a situation in which the participants slowly develop the deep desire to copulate. I work to arrange these situations with more creative type motivations to act upon their desire whether by choice or by manipulation. I particular enjoy creating scenes where one rather straight person is lured into a provocative sex act. This is the creative part; to make it believable. An example would be providing a reasonable scenario in which a very conservative woman begs for anal sex. To make this believable is the main point, not the sex itself.
I hope that gives you an idea of how I tend to view my writings.
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I usually have a theme, I figure out my characters, I know the major points of the story. I usually have an idea of how it will end by the time I have this in place.
When i start writing the story, things may change as I find that certain preconceptions don't ring true or don't work in context of the story, or I get a better idea.
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I am going to just 'mark my territory' here with a brief comment, to make it easier to find when I have more time to think about what I want to say. I am a Coldwater fan, and want to be part of this discussion.
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I can't plan my story ahead of time. I'll have a title, most likely the Story Code, but I can't do anything until I begin to post. And the story writes itself. I'm still amazed at how easily ideas start to flow from seemingly out of nowhere. As i've said many times, i'm like Thad Beaumont from Stephen's King's The Dark Half. Only my inner "George Stark" isn't a killer, he's a major perv. ;-)
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I am a Coldwater fan
Woah, I have a fan...how cool is that? Careful now, my head might get too big to fit in this thread.
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Okay, I've thought about it, and come to the realization that I don't really know much about it.
I've sketched out the key ingredients to a lot of erotic scenes, but only a few of them have been brought to completion--and by completion I mean they've been posted somewhere, or made available to be read by other people. Like many stories in this genre, I often feel that what I have posted deserves to be expanded into a series with at least a few more episodes.
As with so many other endeavors, I find it's a lot easier to start a project, literary or non-, than it is to finish it. So my file of story ideas are basically the precipitate of daydreams that filled my mind for a while, long enough for me to think I should elaborate a description of them, share them with other folks.
My dreams are always pleasant, bright, full of life, nice people having a good time enjoying each other's company, usually hung around the conceptual framework that an individual by himself or herself is incomplete, that a complete person is bi-partite, male and female from the conventional point of view, and my dreams are always conventional in that respect.
In real life I am a hermit. I don't mind being alone for days at a time. I would fit very well into the career of lighthouse keeper. It's not that I spurn human companionship, because when I have it, I pretty much always enjoy it. But I like it to be deep, intimate, intense and personal. If I can't have that in a living human companion, then I know I can always find what I crave within my own imagination, and I'm fine with that.
So that describes my typical scenario. Two or more basically good people are somewhat adrift in life, feeling incomplete, they find each other under whatever circumstances, a spark of attraction draws them together, there are difficulties to be worked out, but they set to work building a bridge by which to come together, they have some success, some setbacks, they bring out a better side of each other, the world intervenes, the story moves on to some kind of resolution, which may or may not be followed by another episode.
I took a creative writing class back in my college days, but don't remember any recipes or rules of procedure for how to write a story. Our creative writing instructor was a full professor, fine fellow, late middle-aged. If he had any publishing credits outside of the esoteric literary quarterlies, I never knew about them. Many years after that class I saw him published in the New Yorker, a long memoir of his family life. So it seems he followed the rule of 'write what you know.'
I do remember the best story written by one of the class members, who happened to be my own roommate. I knew, of course, that we were in the same class, but we never discussed what we were writing for the class, although we were both officers in a student magazine, and we did of course have lots of discussion about magazine content.
So we learned about editing and proofreading galleys and re-writing submissions that came in from other parties, and we always made suggestions to each other for improving our own personal contributions to each issue. Now, a zillion years later, I always review and edit my own material at least a few times before I show it to the public.
When I decide something is going to be seen by the world, I normally start with a brain-splash, just dump everything I can think of that maybe could be part of the story, onto paper (or silicon). Then I herd the bits into sub-corrals to line up the elements that are associated with each other. Then I mush them together, keep the parts that go well together and flush the parts that don't fit.
I did two summer internships in journalism, which forced me to clean up my style, boil passages down to the fewest words that would convey the idea with clarity foremost, but economy next, and of course I'd always try to sneak in a graceful expression or two, which often got edited out up higher on the totem pole.
Clarity, grace, economy, precision are the qualities I strive for. But these are just the colors with which I paint the canvas. The composition is the soul of the story, who does what with and to whom, and are they better off at the end than when they started out? Or sadder, or wiser, or what?
I have five volumes of the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, and one paperback of the complete, undoctored poems of Emily Dickinson exactly as she set them down in her own hand. I consider them two paragons of literary excellence. The Dickinson is out of print, which is a disgrace to the publishing world.
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Herschel,
That was quite a response. I'm impressed that anyone would ponder so deeply the craft of storytelling here on what is essentially a porn forum. It also gives me pause to consider that people like you who are well versed in the literary arts are reviewing my stories. I'm glad I posted the first few before I read this or I might have been more reluctant. Of course, it makes the positive feedback that you have provided all the more meaningful. I appreciate that you have taken the effort to find some merit in my writing and even more so that you have provided feedback to that effect.
Given that you write eloquently and that the story themes that you have described are in keeping with my own taste, my interest is piqued to read your work. Alas, I did a search and found that you have not posted any here. Do you have stories posted elsewhere?
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Good questions, coldwater, and I love herschel’s response. I have posted eight stories on KB, all of the “underage teen” genre. So I’ll start by saying that all of the sex scenes in my stories are fiction; I never have had sex with an underage girl (or boy), and never would.
That said, most of my characters are based on real people I have known. That approach gives me a visual (height, weight, hair color, etc.) and, more importantly, a personality to work with. I want my characters to have some depth; I want you to feel like you know them too. Naturally, the names are changed to protect the innocent. And the guilty, of course.
Many of the non-sex related events in my stories actually happened to me. For instance, in “Memories of Jeanette,” Jeanette was as I described her, a hippie girl who was in my biology class when I was a student teacher in 1970. She did come to school one day wearing nothing more than sandals, panties, and an oversized tie-dyed T-shirt. And she did invite me to move in with her mom and her on their farm. But her invitation became moot when I got drafted. She and her classmate Sharon (“Sharon and Me”) both wrote to me in boot camp. Everything else in those stories is fiction, but just getting to know those two girls for a semester gave me a lot to work with.
Many of the sex-related events in my stories also happened to me – but not with underage girls. For instance, I have gotten a handjob at a family reunion, a blowjob in a theater, had sex in a university library, eaten pussy and gotten laid on a sailboat, etc., etc. The sex scenes are easier to write when they are based on actual experience. (I will not write about getting laid in a cemetery, though; that was just too weird.) Still, writing the sex scenes can be tedious; as you point out, there are only so many ways to describe a penis going in and out of a vagina.
Most of my stories take place in and around a town I call “Kenworth”. If there is a real town called Kenworth somewhere in the USA, that’s not it. My Kenworth exists solely in my imagination, although it is very much like the town where I grew up. I wanted my stories to have some consistency of place.
Also, the physical locations I describe in my stories are real. The house Anna visits (“Anna’s Surprise Visit”) is my house. The beach house that Charly and her friends (“Charly’s Gang”) clean is my summer home. Sad to say, the person who actually cleans that house is older than, and weighs more than, all of Charly and her friends put together. And that lady can be downright surly; I don’t mess with her.
I like my readers to learn something as they read my stories, but maybe that’s just my attempt to inject some “redeeming social value” into the work.
Like you, I do very little planning before I begin writing. In fact, most of my stories begin somewhere in the middle; then I have to figure out how to start the story to get to that point, then where the story goes from there.
That “figuring out” is the most interesting and fun part of the process for me. For instance, in “Katie and the Man in the Boat,” I was dreaming about getting laid on a sailboat I used to own, while also thinking about what a piece of ass a friend’s daughter was (she’s 35 now; in the story, she’s about 14). Great vignette, but how do I manage to get myself alone with a 14-year-old girl on a sailboat a mile offshore for a whole night? That took some doing.
Another example: I was reminiscing about spending a night with a young woman in a one-room cabin in the Maine woods. Sometime later, I was thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to fuck an Amish girl?” Those two ideas came together (lucky them!) in “Hannah, Rescued and Geficht.”
The “Hannah” story posed a problem, though: why would an Amish father allow a total stranger to fuck his daughter? A little research brought me to a very interesting, even almost plausible, answer.
Whatever the storyline, once I start writing I just let the story take me wherever it wants to go. If I get stuck or dead-ended, I just start a new page and resume the story. I can assemble the pieces later.
“Andi the Jazz Singer” is my only story where I combine into one character the problems of two people I once knew. Andi used to sing with my son’s band. She was a beautiful young woman who happened to have very ample breasts with humungous nipples. Separately, I used to date a woman, Rita, whose pussy got so wet she kept a towel in bed just to mop up while she was fucking. I never knew anyone else who got that wet. How wet, you ask? So wet, you couldn’t cover that wet spot with a sombrero. And eating her was to risk death by drowning.
Anyway, I wondered what would happen if a young girl had both Andi’s and Rita’s issues to deal with. That wondering gave rise to “Andi the Jazz Singer.”
Lately, I’ve been asking myself, “Why bother with the whole ‘underage’ genre?” Except for Jeanette and Sharon, if my heroines had been only a few years older, age would have been a non-issue.
The answer, I decided, is that I like the extra amount of “figuring” I have to do to make the plot work with underage girls. Having an underage heroine adds some intrigue: how do they meet? Will they get caught? Will she get pregnant? How can they keep the relationship a secret? How can they even get together since she is not old enough to drive? What happens to the relationship at the end of the story?
I do most of my writing early in the morning (it’s 3:35 AM as I write this). I have tried writing later in the day but there are too many distractions and I can’t concentrate on the characters and the storyline.
Comments on this note (and on any of my stories) are welcome.
~Rick
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Thanks for the response, Rick,
Lots of good stuff to talk about there, but first, did I interpret you correctly:
You didn't think it was too weird to actually get laid in the cemetery, just to write about it later?
My first story, and naturally its sequel, was of the underage teen variety. It built on a fantasy that had been kicking around in my head for years. The underage aspect was central to the story. Part of writing the sequel was to figure out what made the girl want to partake in an encounter with an older man.
When it came to writing something new, I recognized how many intriguing aspects can be brought into the story by virtue of the girl being underage, just as you indicate. Then I decided to challenge myself in a different way. Could I write an entertaining and arousing story that didn't rely on the underage theme? I will let the reader decide whether I succeeded with "Alter Ego."
It didn't get much interest on this board, but that isn't really surprising. Readers mostly come here for themes they can't get elsewhere.
I did have an ulterior motive with keeping away from the underage taboo, in that I wanted to see how my work would be received on a more mainstream story site. It is cross-posted elsewhere and I am fairly pleased with the reception.
It would be interesting to try your approach of starting in the middle, basically figuring out the circumstances of the hookup, then working backward and forward from there. I think I will put that one on my list.
Have you ever abandoned a story in the middle because it just wasn't working?
I may be in that situation now. I have dug myself such a big hole in my current story, I'm not sure I can get out of it and have it be erotic. I don't think it is a bad story, it just may make more sense to be something other than erotic fiction.
I may pick up on this response later...gotta go now
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In my case writing can become difficult (bad writers block).
What I like to do is have available a notebook near by. I will just write something down that interests me, not a story per say, just a quick thought or a few sentences.
I don't dwell on them but flip the page to another "blank".....when something comes up I write it down. By the end of the day, I usually have five or six thoughts on paper (most of which get trashed by night time). If there is something tangible written down, I might add a couple of sentences to it (then leave it alone). Usually following this pattern, by the end of the week I'll have something started (it may be only half a page of writing, but it's a start). I've discovered that the worst thing I can/could do is force a story (I can not just sit down and create a story in one afternoon). It's better to start, quit, come back, quit, repeat a million times. The topic is irrelevant to me at the early stages of writing (I could write a poem about "Trees" and that would not bother me). What's important is getting started. Even more important is "time", use it to your advantage.....there is no "rush" in writing and some of the best stories take a long time to finish.
Now between Coldwater and Me....I'll get him to the "Dark Side"...... :D
I like being his editor........ :D
Love,
Liz
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I enjoy writing, often creative stuff that led me to join a local writing group. One of the tips for writing that I've heard about and tried is to write on separate bits of paper, twenty or thirty words chosen randomly from a newspaper or dictionary and drop them into an envelope.
Each morning (or at a predetermined time in your day) pick out two or three words and then write a story for say ten or fifteen minutes including those words. Its a good exercise that worked for me! And it overcame writers block.
The writing group thing is good and it's led to having a few things published. On here I've written a few sex stories (links on my profile)... I can't say they are brilliant now I've read through them again, but here's what I do mostly:
Think of the subject of the story, maybe based on real life events, - decide on the course of action you want it to take - whether there are other characters to be included - then pen the story. Sometimes I find the story goes in a different direction to what I intended but as long as it makes sense and is plausible then its fine. One thing I do is to get the words down on paper (or computer of course) without checking punctuation or spelling. Read through your work after a couple of pages or so and do any editing. Then continue for the next couple of pages and do the same.
I find it easier once the story is 'finished' to print it out and then read through and edit again and again until I get it right. Then update the online version.
Hope this makes some sense and helps...
vinney
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Coldwater, you asked, “You didn't think it was too weird to actually get laid in the cemetery, just to write about it later?”
Getting laid in a cemetery was strange enough but there’s more to the story. The girl, Diane, was a freshman at my college; I was a sophomore. Diane’s father was Dean of Admissions. He died suddenly during my freshman year. The next year I met Diane at a party and her last name gave me an opening: “I knew your dad. He was a really nice guy, and I’m really sorry for your loss.” By the end of the evening we were making out pretty heavily and Diane wanted to visit the cemetery. One thing led to another, clothes came off, and Diane said, “Over here.” She wanted me to fuck her on her father’s grave because “Daddy would have liked you.” I was 19 and ready to fuck anybody anywhere so I went for it. In the following days, I heard from some other guys that Diane seemed kind of weird and I had to agree with that; kind of creepy, too. So now the story has been told.
Like you, I am at the point of trying to write an entertaining and arousing story that doesn’t rely on the underage theme. I’ll read “Alter Ego” to see how you did it.
My “starting in the middle” of a story is often attempt to turn an isolated real-life event into an erotic tale with a coherent beginning, middle, and end. One example: when I was a freshman in college, three friends and I drove across the state line to a neighboring state where the drinking age was 18. The distance was about 120 miles.
When we got back to school, we discovered there were five people in the car. One of the guys had picked up a 16-year-old girl (16 was the age of consent in both states) and brought her back to school with us. She offered me a blowjob if I drove her back home but I held out and she agreed to a fuck. Halfway back, I pulled over to collect my fuck; then I slept while she drove us both back to her town. When I got awake the next morning, she was gone and I drove myself back to school.
That’s the essence of the story in two paragraphs. Who she was, how she came to be in our car, whatever happened to her? I have no idea and it would take a lot of imagination to turn that isolated event into a good story. A major problem for me: I didn’t get to know her personality. As it is, I don’t even remember her name.
Have I ever abandoned a story in the middle because it just wasn’t working? YES. Several times I have started a story only to discover that I wasn’t all that interested in my own characters or storyline. And if the writer loses interest, imagine how the reader will react.
Let’s keep this thread going, okay?
~Rick
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Rick,
My problem isn't that I have lost interest, it's just that the story has gone down a path that is so not erotic that its going to be hard to get the reader in the mood. My poor heroine is currently puking.
One advantage you have over me is you can apparently draw on a vast well of sexual escapades. If I drew on my real life experiences, I would run out of stories fast...or they'd all feature Rosy Palm and her five sisters.
Now Liz,
What the hell have you done to me...I just penned a really dark and sadistic scene. I blame you.
-cw
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Just saying that vomiting can lead to better things. :emot_laughing:
Yeah....Like mops and cleaning the floor with spic and span. And if the bathroom still smells funky....add bleach to it.
:D
Love,
Liz
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Rick,
One advantage you have over me is you can apparently draw on a vast well of sexual escapades. If I drew on my real life experiences, I would run out of stories fast...or they'd all feature Rosy Palm and her five sisters.
-cw
Hahaha, coldwater! Thanks for the reply. I should explain something, just so people don’t get any false impressions (although this thread is not about me so this post is an aside).
I am just a regular guy, probably like you, and not some kind of Lothario or ladies man. I will turn 69 (yay!) this year and have been sexually active for about 55 years. You can have a lot of different kinds of sexual experiences (and partners) in 55 years.
I was on the leading edge of the baby boom so there were lots of kids my age in my small town. It was a country town so there wasn’t a lot for kids to do; we had to find our own fun. Most activities for kids revolved around church and Scouts. Methodist Youth Fellowship retreats provided lots of opportunities for exploration with the opposite sex. And yes, most of the girls were as curious as we were.
I went to a consolidated high school with kids from six other towns, which meant we got to know a lot of people from the whole region, not just our little town. More towns equaled a lot more girls.
By 1965, when I went off to college, the “sexual revolution” was in full blossom. Birth control was widely available and most of the girls took the Pill “to ease cramps and regulate periods” – “nice girls” had no need for birth control, you know. :D
So I went to one college for two years and another one for three years. Five college years in the late ’60s offered lots of opportunities for sex with lots of partners. During those years, unwanted pregnancy was not a big issue; nor were STDs. Sure, Chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea and syphilis were out there somewhere but we didn’t worry about them and we never knew anybody who got an STD (called ‘VD’ at the time). And AIDS was unheard of.
I spent the 1970s in the Navy and graduate school. In the Navy, I was a Hospital Corpsman. At the time the Hospital Corps had the largest number of women in the Navy. So I was around a lot of very hot and adventure-seeking young women. Many wanted to “Join the Navy and See the World” but for many more, “Join the Navy and See the Overhead” [ceiling] seemed good enough. My official specialty was in anesthesia and critical care but, unofficially, my specialties might have been in pipe-laying and muff-diving.
Even during a year in Vietnam toward the end of the war, we had plenty of time for “R&R” or, as we called it, “I&I” (for intercourse & intoxication).
After the Navy and graduate school, I began working in the financial industry, a male-dominated industry powered by money and testosterone. It was not at all uncommon to go out for a drink after work and come home with a young woman who thought I possessed money, power, or both. I didn’t, but I also did not set straight anyone who thought I did.
But sex was not just an after-hours pastime in the financial industry. I recall one important sales campaign for which my department designed and carried out all the training companywide. The campaign was a rousing success so the company sales manager invited the six regional sales managers and me to join him for a weekend celebration at a resort.
After a sumptuous Italian dinner, we all repaired to the bar where we were met by about a dozen beautiful, classy young women. There was somebody for everybody; we all had our picks. The girls provided a full weekend’s “girlfriend experience”, courtesy of the company, as both a reward for the last sales campaign and an incentive for the next one. I don’t remember my girl’s name but she was beautiful, college educated, and could suck the chrome off a bumper. That was one of several such weekends.
Sometime after that, I ran into the same sales manager at a local massage parlor, where he was a regular. When he saw me, he told the hostess, “From now on, put Rick’s charges on my tab.” That tab was paid by the company. I took advantage of, but did not abuse, the privilege.
By about 1987, I had a three-year-old son so I thought my oat-sowing days were about over. But no: I found out that a 40-year-old guy with a cute little three-year-old boy in tow is a magnet for some women. I never did anything when he was with me, but I did have some good times later, when he was at home.
And so it went. By the mid-90s, I was a CEO and was still in pretty good shape, so meeting women was not that difficult. I traveled a lot, which was good for meeting people with all kinds of interests, including sex. And that was just about the time the Internet came into widespread use, so there was that.
Looking back on it all, I’d say that my experiences were partly due to the times, partly due to the kind of work I did, and partly due to the fact that I traveled a lot and met lots of different kinds of people.
Nowadays, I’m like the old man whose doctor tells him he has to give up half his sex life. The old man thinks about that and finally replies, “Which half, doc: talkin’ about it or thinkin’ about it?”
Comments welcome.
~Rick
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I have to comment on the thought that dads with young boys are chick magnets, since this is a topic that fascinates me. We were divorced when my son was seven. The agreement was that I would get custody alternate weekends, but in practice I had him almost every weekend. I was as much a pal to him as a father, and he was my favorite fishing buddy. We spent a lot of weekends driving to where good fishing was to be had, and lots of stops at highway restaurants.
When he was between seven and twelve years old, he looked like a boy version of what I imagine Farrah Fawcett looked like when she was those ages--fun-loving, innocent, angelic face, just oozing sexual attraction to the perverted female libido. Strange women, unknown to us but generally nicely packaged, could not resist reaching out to tousle his hair, ask if they could take him home for the rest of the weekend. He would sit there and smile his innocent, angelic smile, enjoying the attention. He knew the score, because I always reminded him what the score was, since I considered this an important part of a young man's education.
When he got a little older, he was never without a girlfriend, many of whom he brought with him to stay with me for a weekend. I fell in love with every one of them, and most of them seemed to return the affection, although I never crossed the line with them. It was enough to have them under the same roof with me for the weekend.
This was how I learned that women, as well as men, are crazy for good sex. Good for them is what I say.
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In an attempt to get back on topic...mostly because my own sexual history is dull as dirt so I don't have anything to contribute in that regard...
I've got this crazy idea for writing a story in an unusual way. I have found that I really like writing dialog. I think it is the strongest part of my writing (feel free to disagree). I'm thinking about challenging myself to write a story that is 100% dialog, no narration allowed.
I'm not suggesting it would be a literary masterpiece, but I am curious if I could pull it off and at least make it readable and tell a complete story.
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I'm curious too to see if you can pull it off, especially since every story needs some narration. Unlike a television show or a movie, where there is no narration, just dialogue.
My stories are somewhere between yours, Coldwater, and my buddy Rick's. I tend to not write based on my own experiences, though I have based a very small percentage of my stories on things that have happened to me. I tend to base my stories on my fantasies, and my overactive imagination takes over, my "George Stark" as I like to say. Show me just the right image, I can build a plausible story around it. And I have done that with the majority of my non-celebrity stories and been told constantly how believable my scenarios are [though I purposely somewhat exaggerate the sex scenes - guys wish they could perform like Peter North and woman wished men performed like that too...lol].
So, coldwater, you don't need to base your stories on real life experiences to tell a hot story you wish would happen to you. :^)
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So, coldwater, you don't need to base your stories on real life experiences to tell a hot story you wish would happen to you. :^)
Oh I don't doubt that. I believe that my miserable real sex life led me to develop a highly active fantasy life which now fuels my story writing.
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I'm thinking about challenging myself to write a story that is 100% dialog, no narration allowed. I'm not suggesting it would be a literary masterpiece, but I am curious if I could pull it off and at least make it readable and tell a complete story.
I think you should give it a try, coldwater. I would be interested in both the story you come up with and the challenges and obstacles you encountered along the way. Good luck!
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OK, I did it. Go read "Walter's Birthday" and see what you think. It was an interesting experiment. The approach doesn't lend itself to having a detailed plot. Still, I don't think it came out too bad.
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One of the books I am currently reading (well I say currently, when my Kindle showed 40% I switched, and that was just before Christmas so I'm overdue going back to it) is Venus In Furs, and while it isn't 100% dialogue, it's closer than just about anything else I've ever read. There are some speeches which take more than an entire page. The last few per cent of anything is always the hardest, but based on that book I'm sure a totally dialogue book is possible.
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I saw the movie version of Venus in Furs, a Polanski film, starring his wife as female lead (only female in the cast, with only one male for her foil), which was damn fine entertainment. As I recall, the script purported to come from some much older text, going back like a couple hundred years.
Of course, as film, the pictures were worth a thousand words apiece, apart from any dialog, so the film is at the same time much more and much less than what the plain text would be like.
Plus plus plus the vocal intonations provide so much of what is missing in text. In dialogue text you get almost zero clues as to intonation, inflection, pauses, pace, facial expression, eye-speak, aura, body language--all of which are a major part of human communication.
The positive side of this is that all these details are left to the reader's imagination, which can be a good thing if the reader has his own ideas of how the scene should play out to best effect. And after all, isn't it the objective with prose to stimulate the imagination?
So what am I saying? I think I'm saying that two bodies, male and female, both in heat, alone together, are the best part of life. To be able to evoke that magic through the limitations of the written word is high art. That's why we should write.
I remember my astonishment, many years ago, while still a schoolboy, when I pondered the fact that squiggles of ink on paper, set down a hundred years ago halfway around the world, could bring a tear to the eye, cause juices to flow or a convulsion to the genital apparatus, not at random but as an intended effect, artfully conceived, cast abroad on the world to spread everywhere, like seed on the wind, looking for fertile minds in which to germinate.
As long as there are humans who can read your language, there is as close as you can come to immortality. Plus, of course, making babies.
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Herschel: The first sentence of your final paragraph is a distillation of the message of Shakespeare's Eighteenth Sonnet, one of his most moving works, in which he expressed the measure of his love by writing the words with the intent to keep his beloved alive forever through them.
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I remember that sonnet. I was never a serious student of Shakespeare, although I did read most, possibly all his sonnets. Anyway that one is certainly one of his big hits.
He wrote at least one other in which he pleaded to his love the reason why they should make a baby together, as a way toward the other kind of immortality. I did not have these sonnets consciously in mind in making my post, but who knows what may have been going on unconsciously? We are supposed to absorb these thoughts, are we not? So maybe that's what happened here.
So Bowser, I see you are a new member. Thank you for contributing, and welcome aboard.
Consider yourself invited to say a few words about yourself on the New Member Introductions Page.
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Well, I managed to complete my story with the aforementioned puking girl, somehow finding a path back to eroticism (hopefully). It also includes the aforementioned sadistic scene (again, Liz, your fault for dragging me there ;D). See "Safe Harbor". I couldn't quite figure out the right tags, because of the dark scene. I eventually settled on adding BDSM, but I am not sure that is really giving the right expectations.
Yes, this is a shameless plug for readers (at least I admit it).
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Well, I managed to complete my story with the aforementioned puking girl, somehow finding a path back to eroticism (hopefully). It also includes the aforementioned sadistic scene (again, Liz, your fault for dragging me there ;D). See "Safe Harbor". I couldn't quite figure out the right tags, because of the dark scene. I eventually settled on adding BDSM, but I am not sure that is really giving the right expectations.
Yes, this is a shameless plug for readers (at least I admit it).
:D
LOL....I love getting dragged around.......!!!!!!!!!!
(well sorta)......
Love,
Liz
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As long as it's not by a horse...
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...and the well is now dry.
I had a lot of idle time on my hands where I couldn't do anything else (driving and waiting in the car), so I was trying to come up with an idea for my next story and came up with... nothing.
Up until now, as soon as I thought about starting a new one, an idea would come forward.
I guess it was unrealistic to expect that to continue.
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Not all story ideas come from within. I have mentions this many times and possibly in this thread, most of my stories are inspired unexpectedly by what I find during Google Image Searches. I'll see an image and either an idea for a scene in a story comes to me or possibly even a whole story.
So try looking outward for your next story idea.
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It usually starts with an inspiration, and then some brainstorming of the rough direction the story is going in. Then I just start writing and revise as I see fit
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Here is my Adult Erotic Literature writing process:
I keep a collection of story ideas, usually just a working title on a MS Word document with a brief outline of the concept/story summary, perhaps a line or two of dialog and/or a short paragraph. I update it occasionally if think of something to add to the plot or characters.
Once one story is done, I view my collection to see which one interests me to work on next. I generally try to have a beginning, middle and end before I get too far into the story, or even a synopsis of each chapter. Then I write it as I have time. Usually I focus on only one story at a time, sometimes two. Of course, the story can easily go off on a tangent, and I have to reel it back to my original intent, or change my mind about where the story should go next and still come up with a proper conclusion.
I keep all the unused bits and pieces of the story at the end of the document, using, expanding or discarding the ideas as I see fit. I always copy them to the next Word document/chapter, until the entire story is complete.
I often re-read/edit what I have written for spelling, punctuation, clarity and arousal. Typically I do this at the start another writing session; it also reminds me of the characters and the plot line. I always review again after posting - seeing the words in a different setting/format lets me find the errors easier.
Of course, I find that writing in an aroused state helps to infuse the story with added sexual excitement, a sense of 'urgency' and better descriptions of the sexual arousal the characters are feeling.
Taking a Viagra and writing for longer than four hours (without seeking medical attention) helps too.
:)
UU
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I need to. If I don't write, I go even more insane. I don't know how to not write any more.
Writing erotica is a coping mechanism, I picked up decades ago.
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Of course, I find that writing in an aroused state helps to infuse the story with added sexual excitement, a sense of 'urgency' and better descriptions of the sexual arousal the characters are feeling.
:)
UU
[/quote]
Like your quote, I am usually hard during writing also, however I just spin out a yarn that started earlier in the day. Perhaps it was something that happened that wasn't even sexual, a conversation in a checkout lineup, seeing someone who turned you on, be it a nice ass, short skirt, nice smile... I can usually spin out a story on something as innocent as a business phone conversation, my mind just starts to work everything into something sexual, kinda always has.
I have never tried to write like some of the great writers do in here, I don't do beginning middle end, no spread sheets.
I usually like to start with, "It was a dark and stormy night..."
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Ah, one of my favorite Snoopy cartoons;
It was a dark and stormy night.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. A door slammed. The maid screamed.
Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!
While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury.
Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up.
Part II.
"In part II I tie all of this together."
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Ah, one of my favorite Snoopy cartoons;
It was a dark and stormy night.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. A door slammed. The maid screamed.
Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!
While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury.
Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up.
Part II.
"In part II I tie all of this together."
ROFL! Wow, this is starting to overlap into the thread about bad lines in Erotic stories. (Or fiction in general.) I have to say, great mix of genre' there. Honestly, it just reflects someone who can't come up with anything more original. (Which isn't to say that originality isn't over-rated. Especially for stroke-stories.)
"A beginning is a very delicate time..."
~Irulan Corrino-Atreides.
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Ah, one of my favorite Snoopy cartoons;
It was a dark and stormy night.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. A door slammed. The maid screamed.
Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!
While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury.
Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up.
Part II.
"In part II I tie all of this together."
Well shit. I figured I was th only one who perhaps remembered Mr Schultz paintin Snoopy writin them lines. LMAO and hearty cheers to a great shared memory
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REMOVED
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First I need to know what the pairing will be, what the genders and ages and so on of the characters will be. Do I want to write man on woman (boring), futa on woman (now you're getting somewhere), futa loli on either a trappy little shota or her own futa sister (ding ding ding I have my current winners!)? Then I think about the sex acts. Mostly sex acts in stories are just the three standards - oral, anal, and vaginal, and they're all great, but it can be kind of predictable. I like variety in my smut, give me an honest attempt at a good footjob, titty fuck, armpit job, some hotdoggging, a discrete or not so discrete handjob, something different! I find that when I have my pairing thought out a lot of possible sex scenes I'd like to see between them kind of present themselves, and then very often when I know what kind of sex scenes I'm going to write are story beats and ideas present themselves. Getting the sex down in my head actually helps the larger creative process for me.
And then after that, deciding what chapters are going to contain which sex scenes, I kind of plot everything else out from there the usual way I guess, figuring out the characters and their motivations outside of sex. If you have the right characters pinned down the right way, the plot and sex kind of organically flow from there. So even though the sex is plotted out first, everything that follows after in my writing is mostly character driven rather than plot driven. Of course I never have trouble making the sex scenes I want feel character driven, because all my characters are pretty sex driven - this is porn after all.
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I always start with the characters. Who they are means more to me than what (Man, woman, child, futa...) they are. A little glimpse of Why they like each other, beyond "She's hot," really helps, either through introduction, dialog, flashbacks...
What they do with each other tends to flow organically, once I get a line on who they are, what motivates them, and what they mean to each other. However, I have to add the caveat that my writing style (Especially alternating narrators) isn't very accessible, and tends to confuse readers. I can get bogged down with the characterization so much that it loses people who just want a lot of sexual action.
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Start somewhere exciting!
Set-ups can be boring and tedious to write, even if they are necessary and even enjoyable (if the author knows her craft) to read. That has killed my momentum dead on several projects! Leaping straight into the good stuff, though, means that you can start out excited, work your way through fully engaged, and leave off with a good idea of which plot lines or ideas need to be set-up before or after. Fill in the blank spaces afterwards and try to infuse them with tension and meaning.
I feel this works for all kinds of fictional writing, but especially for erotica. Writing while aroused is a new experience for me and the words flow hot and messy when I do. (To be cleaned up afterwards in a mood calmer and chaster. Isn't there some writing advice, something like "write drunk, edit sober"?)
Also! Always prepare for your characters to get away from you. The little shits have minds of their own and sometimes you just have to bargain, persuade, work around, or just give in to them.
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Start somewhere exciting!
Set-ups can be boring and tedious to write, even if they are necessary and even enjoyable (if the author knows her craft) to read. That has killed my momentum dead on several projects! Leaping straight into the good stuff, though, means that you can start out excited, work your way through fully engaged, and leave off with a good idea of which plot lines or ideas need to be set-up before or after. Fill in the blank spaces afterwards and try to infuse them with tension and meaning.
I feel this works for all kinds of fictional writing, but especially for erotica. Writing while aroused is a new experience for me and the words flow hot and messy when I do. (To be cleaned up afterwards in a mood calmer and chaster. Isn't there some writing advice, something like "write drunk, edit sober"?)
Also! Always prepare for your characters to get away from you. The little shits have minds of their own and sometimes you just have to bargain, persuade, work around, or just give in to them.
I usually have a story pretty well written in my head before I ever type a word, but I have also found that I can write the juicy parts first and work forward and backward from there.
Never heard "write drunk, edit sober" before, but it explains the process pretty well. I edit compulsively and will read through a story from the beginning repeatedly, sometimes changing a single word. Only when I've read through 3 times without a single edit do I consider a work finished.
I had to laugh at your last paragraph. I have had that happen so many times. A number of my stories are way different that I imagined them when I started, including the first two I ever posted here (my stories are listed in order on my profile page). I really don't mind that. The characters are real people in my head, and sometimes they have better ideas than I do. ;D
Remmy
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Okay, here's how I do it. It's a little bit of what everyone else already said, just combined in my own way.
I...
Yeah it sorta starts like that. I start, and then I can't think of anything to write. So I calm myself down. I sometimes like to start with the title. That works.... hmm, yeah, almost never. Okay, so... What the hell am I writing? Let's start there. And I get that little piece in my head, that very short summary of the story. One sentence, if possible. Never more than a short paragraph.
Then I go to bed, and dream. I think about it all night. When I wake up in the morning, I have a story, usually. The trick is just remembering it.
Then comes the hard part: actually getting it written. Sometimes I'll hurry and write a quick outline of what I dreamed. That helps me keep track of important details and plot flow. And usually I'll follow it. Next, very important question here, is deciding who is the best person to tell the story, who will do the narration? It's not always obvious. But, my most important writing decision is casting the characters. I spend... Well, maybe not a long time there, maybe not a huge amount of effort, but in my opinion, it's probably the most important part of my writing process. Second most important, for the fantasy I dream up is probably the key ingredient to a good story.
Once I decide on my characters, whoever they are, whatever they are, whenever they are, I give them some background. Names are always a good start. Families. Places to live. Quirks. Usually they come with their own set of predefined quirks. Beware if you ride my bus regularly, you and your quirks are probably in one of my stories somewhere. And sometimes I have to go back to bed and redo the fantasy, once I know who's in it. Sometimes that changes things a little.
Finally, with the story well in mind, I hand it over to my narrating character, along with my fingers for typing, and let them take it from there. If I'm lucky, the story writes itself. If not, it usually means I missed a step.
And then, my favorite part: when you come to the ending, stop writing.
After that, edit. Proofread. Edit. Put it away for awhile so you can come back and see it with fresh eyes. Edit some more. Have someone else read it. Edit. Take a deep breath, cross your fingers and pray it's not a disaster as you click SEND.
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Ok, the purpose of this post is to compare notes with other authors of erotic fiction on the writing process.
The few erotic stories I've written were all reactions to stories I found on alt.sex.stories and various porn sites. I usually can't make it past the first few paragraphs of such stories, but on the rare occasions when I do, I sometimes wonder if I can tweak the narrative, making it more plausible and less nasty (my two biggest gripes with erotic fiction).
My process for writing full-length novels is different. I'm aware of plot and character mapping, but my brain doesn't work that way. An image of a person and a place forms in my mind and if that image lingers long enough, I go with the flow and start typing. The figure begins to move and talk, and I just record what she's doing or saying.
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I guess one thing I've learned from rules and other writers and books is that everyone is different. Situations are different too. Sometimes I have the final scene or phrase of dialogue, and work backwards to get to that point. Other times it's an erotic thought that just grows daily in my imagination, with details getting added all the time, even before I write a word. Other times it can be a random trigger like, in this case, a newspaper article I read one morning back in 2005 at breakfast in a Sydney hotel. As soon as I finished breakfast I put all thoughts of work aside and started scribbling ideas on a notepad. This eventually became a story called Fifteen Love, which seems to be one of my most popular.
https://imgur.com/a/GpmBOAN (https://imgur.com/a/GpmBOAN)
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I guess one thing I've learned from rules and other writers and books is that everyone is different. Situations are different too. Sometimes I have the final scene or phrase of dialogue, and work backwards to get to that point. Other times it's an erotic thought that just grows daily in my imagination, with details getting added all the time, even before I write a word. Other times it can be a random trigger like, in this case, a newspaper article I read one morning back in 2005 at breakfast in a Sydney hotel. As soon as I finished breakfast I put all thoughts of work aside and started scribbling ideas on a notepad. This eventually became a story called Fifteen Love, which seems to be one of my most popular.https://imgur.com/a/GpmBOAN (https://imgur.com/a/GpmBOAN)
True!
My thought-process regarding creating fiction is also eerily similar.
Though they mostly end up staying in my mind, :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:
And gradually slowly start to fade…
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True!
My thought-process regarding creating fiction is also eerily similar.
Though they mostly end up staying in my mind, :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:
And gradually slowly start to fade…
Hi Asmodel, cool to be posting in almost real time in a thread that in the past hasn't had replies for years...
Anyway, I know exactly what you mean about great stories that never get written. Discipline is the key for me. Sometimes I force myself to write a number of words, just to keep the process going. It doesn't matter if it's crap, you can fix it later - consistency is the thing. If I really don't feel like writing at all, I may set myself a limit as low as 200 words. The next day it might be more. Thing is, find your own limit, but try to do something each day. I haven't always been able to stick to this rule, but I know it works when I have. And I'm not just talking about erotic writing here - it could be anything if it works for you.
You'll find similar advice in a book called The Artist's Way, but of course I'm always mindful of other people's rules and what works for them - it doesn't mean they will for you.
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Hi Asmodel, cool to be posting in almost real time in a thread that in the past hasn't had replies for years...
Yeah, :sign_iagree:
Anyway, I know exactly what you mean about great stories that never get written.tell me about it. Discipline is the key for me. Sometimes I force myself to write a number of words, just to keep the process going. It doesn't matter if it's crap, you can fix it later - consistency is the thing. Good advice! If I really don't feel like writing at all, I may set myself a limit as low as 200 words. The next day it might be more. Thing is, find your own limit, but try to do something each day. Really good advice! I’ll try to do that. I haven't always been able to stick to this rule, but I know it works when I have. And I'm not just talking about erotic writing here - it could be anything if it works for you.
yeah, most of my thought-up stuff’s pretty much neat.
You'll find similar advice in a book called The Artist's Way, but of course I'm always mindful of other people's rules and what works for them - it doesn't mean they will for you.
that’s true, as well, not everything is everyone’s cup of tea, in the common way.
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I'm writing this story, and I'm having the damndest time transitioning from buildup to action. It feels clunky and rushed or way too long winded and a bit boring, and there isnt much flow to it. I've deleted and rewritten it a few times already, but I'll never post it if I dont settle on something soon.
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I'm writing this story, and I'm having the damndest time transitioning from buildup to action. It feels clunky and rushed or way too long winded and a bit boring, and there isnt much flow to it. I've deleted and rewritten it a few times already, but I'll never post it if I dont settle on something soon.
Something that's helped me when I have had that happen is write up a short list of possible transitions then ask "Which movie transition works best?" Like, if I were watching this as a movie, would I like to see a slow build-up like an old film noir detective story, or the bad guys walking in and shooting up the place like in Die Hard? If it's going from teasing to sex scene, would a slow burn work best or have them jump each other's bones? It's almost like picking the emotion that you want to elicit. Does it flow better if it's quick and sudden or slow and deliberate?
If that doesn't work, just write something until the story tells you where to go. I've lost count of how many times I've had an idea for how a story should go, just to change it halfway through because the characters or setting or something moved the story a certain way to where it felt natural to change.
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Another good plot sequence is to start with a really hot sexual encounter, and then do a flashback to build up context and character development. In other words, set the hook, and then lay out the story. A lot of authors here make the mistake of just droning on and on and on about absolutely nothing before getting into the “good parts.”
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I'm writing this story, and I'm having the damndest time transitioning from buildup to action. It feels clunky and rushed or way too long winded and a bit boring, and there isnt much flow to it. I've deleted and rewritten it a few times already, but I'll never post it if I dont settle on something soon.
write the buildup, write the action, write whatever you feel comes after that
then circle back, read it, see what works and see if you can cleanly get from one segment to another. That may show you where the problems are.
I've done half of the story I'm currently writing. I'm pretty sure I'll need to revisit the first half because there's not enough erotic energy to necessarily keep the reader going for the next five hundred words.
I'm having the same problem you have in transitioning from buildup to action, in the second half of my story. But while I was driving the car this afternoon, I came up with an idea that makes the transition organic. And also lets me add some depth to one of the characters, which I think is an issue with the first half anyway. I may put some words down in that direction later tonight.
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It usually starts with an idea. The story I'm currently writing (elsewhere) is simply the encounter between a Scottish actress in her early thirties and a very young man who lives in Quebec City. The story uses the "I" narrator from the young man's perspective, and the female main character is introduced with her asking him if she may sit on a park bench with him.
The story is linear and starts out with a lot of context, for one specific reason. It is set 70 years ago, in 1953. I give the reader a general feel of what people are wearing, what cars look like, how long winters are in Quebec City (snow in April), what life is like, how central ice hockey is to Canadians, etc., and more importantly, the presence of authority figures walking down the street -- Catholic priests wearing black gowns and police officers patrolling on foot.
Then comes the encounter. What this woman does with this much younger man was something very inappropriate according to customs. It gets quickly noticed, and the atmosphere takes a film-noiresque turn. The young man guides the older girl to safety by leading her through the quieter bystreets he knows by heart and carefully avoiding the patrolling policemen, who are perfectly capable of arresting and detaining (and abusing) the woman simply for holding hands with that young lad.
He makes it to the taxi spot and she takes him to her hotel room in Château Frontenac.
The result is the portrayal of a situation that would never be remotely possible today, and it really takes the reader to a very different place. What does it do when the two lovebirds finally have sex? In my opinion, it creates a more intense sense of how huge a social transgression this was --- to have a woman in her thirties getting intimate with a "young buck" who is still in his teen years. Telling the story this way makes the sex scene a lot more powerful. The very place I chose for the scene is Château Frontenac; it adds to the glamour theme that this Scottish actress carries with her. She's classy and hot; she's a femme fatale. And raven-haired, rather short with delightfully small feet and a gorgeous body. Very attractive. Our young hero does not complain.
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What does this example tell me about how I write a story?
I have a basic idea, usually an encounter that implies some sort of social transgression.
I have themes.
If it's set in a different time and place, then there's an information and atmosphere aspect.
One way to actually start writing the story is to just start writing according to the film I have in my head, then, upon rereading, I question every sentence and cut anything I don't feel is needed. And I rewrite and improve. The main themes must stand out from the page.
The erotic build-up is all-important in this case. It is usually best to introduce that element sooner than later. In my story, the actress is wearing a greatcoat that covers her attributes, but when the lad quickly stands up and drops his Latin book, she picks it up and as she stoops down, he can't help but notice how gorgeous she must be in the nude. We also quickly learn that he has a foot fetish and he keeps looking at her low-heel shoes.
Then there's the way she breaks the touch barrier, which soon brings the element of danger since she's getting too familiar with an age-inappropriate potential date, and this does not go unnoticed in God-fearing Quebec City back in 1953. Public displays of affection were frowned upon even between dates and even spouses back then. Quebec was just as strictly Catholic as Ireland.
The element of danger adds to the erotic tension.
You need to ask this simple question? What would happen if they got caught? What's at stake?
The young man knows that his parents will learn that a priest has ordered him to stop and he ignored his order; his father is going to beat him up to discipline him. He is not exactly eager to go back home, which makes him proner to accept the woman's offer to take him on a roadtrip to Montreal. Sleeping in motels and fucking her is one perk that comes with the ride.
I tend to have several secondary characters and many sex scenes in a story. For each sex scene, I need to ask myself questions. What does it do for the story? What does it achieve? Is it realistic and believable? There's a gang-fuck scene early in the second chapter that I decided to cut entirely, this for two good reasons... 1) They just had sex and feel like relaxing in front of a wonderful meal; 2) She just ate a full plate of pasta with Bolognese sauce along with two glasses of wine --- she is not going to get shaken by four big boys right after this, unless she wants to throw up! In a multiple-chapter story, she can always get gang-fucked later at a more plausible time. At the end of that big meal, they do what normal people do... They drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and chat. This part is much better suited for character development and era atmosphere (smoking inside a restaurant was normal until around 2000).
When they have sex at the end of the first chapter, it is very intense and urgent as they both feel insanely attracted to each other. They remain mostly clothed in all this excitement. Even though they got intimate, he has yet to see her in the nude and ditto for her. The femme fatale keeps more of her mystery for longer; the young man keeps more of his curiosity (he wonders whether her neat eyebrows are mirrored by an equally neat triangle of blackness down there). This gives the lad another reason to say yes to the roadtrip; this is the only way for him to unveal her mysteries. He had a wonderful taste; he must know her fully!
Each good story has features that make it truly unique.
In this particular case, I hope I do justice to that wonderful actress who left us four years ago.
Elizabeth Sellars (1921-2019)
(https://media2.lushstories.com/64338964173e77.79266946.jpg)