Non-Hollywood sources of inspiration

[StrangeLife]

For me it's that the art work sucks and is so simplistic that I can't find any of it arousing.

It may be the quality of the animation. Anime is infuriatingly crude compared to disney - or at least the anime in Nin is.

The style and quality varies a lot among different animes, but it is true that few can reach the level of Disney. It's easy to se why too - the production budget for Tangled was a cool $260,000,000 for a two hour movie. Compared to this, a typical anime is made on a budget of $110,000 per episode - with a 25 episode season that is $2,750,000 for 12.5 hours of movie. Money certainly makes a difference in animation and Disney has a lot of money.

But money is also their problem. If they invest a quarter of a billion in a movie, they ain't taking any chances for sure. Consequently Disney movies are basically the same story told over and over again with slight modifications. If I may use a food analogy Disney is all fluff and no substance.

A modern anime is still fairly well animated and when it comes to story it is lightyears ahead of Disney. And what I have discovered is, that when watching a really good story you soon forget that you are even watching a cartoon. Your brain seems to be filling out the gaps somehow...

I am curious about Hentai. Are there any shows that focus on plot, comedy and character development rather than just the sex? For me, the actual fucking is the least interesting part of erotica, probably because it leaves nothing to the imagination. There's no mystery, no opportunity for the viewer to participate in the interpretation of the action. A cool bit in the Nin episode I watched was Nin's female boss putting the moves on her. You didn't see kissing, or grinding, or boobs, you saw a close up of Nin's hand trying to answer the phone, and her bosses hand preventing her from doing so. That's hot in my book.

The word "hentai" literally translates to "perversion" or "pervert" in Japanese. You can check it yourself if you ever go to Japan - just grab the ass of a random woman in the street and she will either take it as a marriage proposal or slap you and yell "Hentai!"...

 

[sr71plt]

The word "hentai" literally translates to "perversion" or "pervert" in Japanese. You can check it yourself if you ever go to Japan - just grab the ass of a random woman in the street and she will either take it as a marriage proposal or slap you and yell "Hentai!"...

Not my quote this is referenced to.

 

[StrangeLife]

Not my quote this is referenced to.

You are right - it was a reply to SikFuk. Sorry. my bad.

But the same experiment should work with Japanese guys too...

 

[lovecraft68]

People watching. Not just beautiful women, but men they're with. I see couples and watch how they are interacting and start making up details about them and those details morph in stories featuring these characters.

 

[sr71plt]

You are right - it was a reply to SikFuk. Sorry. my bad.

But the same experiment should work with Japanese guys too...

I can say truthfully that I never had my ass grabbed in Toyko, Kyoto, or Osaka--at least not out on the public street. Can't say that about nearly every other city I've been in, though.

(I have been bought in Tokyo, though.)

 

[RoyceConnors]

We as writers create what Hollywood eventually glamourizes. We are our own inspirations in creating something new, something different, because it's our minds at work doing what no other has thought of yet (or try to, lol).

Hollywood looks to us to bring the next wave of entertainment for them to produce. It's what we put out in books, that they see as potential revenue.

Made me wonder if I ever wrote something that well, that Hollywood wanted to make a film, would I give up any of the rights to it?

 

[sr71plt]

I certainly wish the porn industry would look to Literotica for scene plots. There movies would be a whole lot more interesting (and probably more erotic too).

 

[TxRad]

I certainly wish the porn industry would look to Literotica for scene plots. There movies would be a whole lot more interesting (and probably more erotic too).

But then the "actors" would actually have to learn to act. Not to mention learn dialog more advanced than grunts and fake arousal.

 

[lovecraft68]

But then the "actors" would actually have to learn to act. Not to mention learn dialog more advanced than grunts and fake arousal.

Depends on the story. I think the majority of one page stroke fests here were influenced by porn videos.

 

[MSTarot]

Strangely enough I find a lot of story inspiration on YouTube. I will be looking for something and the list of videos off to the side will show something and pop. I have a story.

Two recent ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVAEbMcQ-t8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmGj9VbYE4

 

[StrangeLife]

(I have been bought in Tokyo, though.)

I sense an interesting story...

I certainly wish the porn industry would look to Literotica for scene plots. There movies would be a whole lot more interesting (and probably more erotic too).

Don't get me started about main stream porn. The writers and directors - if you can even call them that - are beyond incompetent. They make Hollywood seem like a hotbed of creativity in comparison. There is a good reason why main stream porn lost half their market share to various amateurs during the last decade....

Strangely enough I find a lot of story inspiration on YouTube.

You are not allowed to use cats in your stories. Just sayin...

 

[SecondCircle]

Music.

I'm... not necessarily talking lyrics here. Of course I've hung on a particularly good lyric here and there, and the line kinda inspired a story....

But I'm mainly talking mood or atmosphere. This is difficult for me to put into words, but someone awhile back called it "spinal music". That kind of tune that just bypasses the brain and rushes straight into the body. Such a wide array of melodies has actually spun stories in my head.

It usually works like this. I can hear the tone of the song, the mood, the atmosphere it generates. Each song carries different connotations with it. Old school R&B has that kind of, swaying romantic, sit on a couch with a cigar blowing smoke rings while she dances kinda feel. That might spawn a story about a naughty late night meeting between two interlopers, two... strangers? Two long time companions that finally got a break. Then there's rock, or some edgy hard rock. Sometimes, I can hear the weep and the wail of guitars and picture the girl that's whipping her hair this way and that. Some rock songs just seem like they were made to thrust to. Absolute poison dripping from a girl's eyes when she looks at you, or the way his shoulders look when he's strummimg a guitar. Then there's creepy shit. Chilling tones that make you move too, but make it seem so dirty or sinister to do so. Gives a kind of haunting, back alley, abandoned house, infamous nightclub touch to things.

So I'll hear a song, and in a way, it becomes this soundtrack to these scenes that start forming in my head. I'm essentially making my own music video to the song, but it takes off and evolves into this very atmospheric story. Starts having this very... hmm, not noire, but sort of cinematic feel to the story. I get hooked, man. I have to play whatever song it is until I get the damn story outta my head. In a horror story I wrote (outside of Lit) I had the song "Closer" stuck in my head for so damn long until I wrote this one scene for the story. Now I can't listen to that song without thinking back to that lake house and the thing that came out of the fog and wrecked that party.

We've all kinda done this, or seen it at least. I know, I know, no Hollywood, but have you ever watched a chase scene with a blasting song that just built the adrenaline? Ever played a song that just made you wanna stomp the gas pedal? A song that made you wanna dance in a fucking field like a lunatic one summer night? Or a song you said, "I wanna fuck to that song". A song that just put you at ease and made you wanna close your eyes and drift away?

It's the same thing for me. I just envision characters playing along to the tones and melodies. Just from hearing a saxophone, or a guitar, or any blend of sound that propels my mind into a story.

...I like music....

 

[Hypoxia]

I also write to soundtracks, but that's because I write songs as well as stories. Sometimes the songs become stories here.

As for writing cats into erotica, well a cat can lounge on the edge of the bed whilst the humans are fucking, right? But I digress.

Are many non-cinematic (film, TV, anime, whatever) inspirational sources. They're called 'books', and also 'magazines', or 'newspapers'. In Dylan's protest-song days, he said that whenever he needed a song subject, he just read the front page of the DAILY NEWS. I may have already mentioned using NEWS OF THE WEIRD as a source for strange sex stories. But one may peruse libraries of romantic+erotic literature for inspiration -- stealing ideas is how we work.

 

[StrangeLife]

I also write to soundtracks, but that's because I write songs as well as stories. Sometimes the songs become stories here...

I don't remember if it was yours or some other authors - too much sex will erode the memory - but I have read a few Lit-stories that were based on songs with each verse being a chapter. They worked quite well I think...

 

[Hypoxia]

I don't remember if it was yours or some other authors - too much sex will erode the memory - but I have read a few Lit-stories that were based on songs with each verse being a chapter. They worked quite well I think...

That's about how I worked the original JENNY BE FAIR (linked below). Not quite as chapters, but as definite indicators of... transitions? Inevitability? Anyway, the folksong song mirrors and highlights the plot points. Now, wait till I get to I THOUGHT THE WRECK WAS OVER (But Here She Comes Again).

 

[DeathAndTaxes]

Story ideas come from everywhere.

My first story [The Eighth House] came from mythology.

The fantasy piece I'm brewing now was born from a paragraph I read in an ancient history text about Babylonian astrologers. It was just a couple sentences about the hoops these people would jump through to avoid what they perceived as fate, and now I have an entire labyrinth of a plot just from that one idea seed.

I have another future sci-fi piece that came from a snippet of a dream.

Sometimes ideas come from what seems like building an entire house around a painting you really like. When I started thinking about The Devil's Luck, I just wanted to write about pirates, and then decided I wanted a hot DP scene. Metric crap-ton of historical research and 108K words later, there's an entire story built around it.

I think creative people absorb ideas from anywhere. You could be sitting on the can, reading the back of the air freshener bottle and have the lightbulb come on over your head.

 

[StrangeLife]

This thread has unexpectedly gotten me in a bit of trouble with a few anime-fans - specifically of the female variety - who seem quite annoyed with me for "overlooking" the romance genre in my recommendations. To be honest, I don't feel that I did, since most of the ones I mentioned contain some sort of coupling. I mean seriously - calling me a male chauvinist because of my taste in anime? C'mon!

Oh well - I am nothing if not diplomatic so I will quickly mention a couple of the shows that certain people claim I ought have included.


Anime - Clannad

Sorry, but I refuse to watch Clannad. It has a rabid female fan-base but it also has so much angst and drama that watching a single episode can give a guy erectile dysfunction for life! So I will only say this: KILL IT WITH FIRE!

But according to people with long hair and boobs Clannad, and the sequel Clannad After-story, is a fine example of "slice-of-life" story-telling that will have you laughing and crying (or sleeping, if you're a dude). There are 44 episodes *groan* and once you start you will want to watch them all.

I'll take their words for it and move right on....




Anime - Angel Beats

I've seen this one, and it's not too bad for a girl-show.

A guy wakes up next to a girl operating a big sniper rifle with no idea who he is, where he is and how he got there. She informs him straight up that he is dead and asks him to join the resistance against the angels. The guy is convinced that the girl is nuts and runs down to the person she was aiming it - a small white-haired girl - who almost immediately pulls out a glowing sword and stabs him in the chest. Next day he wakes up in a school infirmary next to his bloody clothes but with no wound and he comes to realize that he is indeed dead and for some reason he is in a high school... because y'know, hight school can be Hell... together with other people who are dead too. And there is an angel patrolling the area attempting to maintain order while a band of students are fighting her with all kinds of weaponry in order to prevent her from forcing them to "move on to the next life."

Yeah, it sounds silly - I know - but for what it is, Angel Beats is actually a good show with an interesting premise. The fact that the main protagonist starts out with amnesia adds a discovery element to the show, and there is quite a lot of fighting... though why they bother is a bit of a mystery since the angel is pretty much invincible and shrugs off everything they throw at her.

There is only 13 episodes, which is too short - it should have had twice as many, but it looks great, the animation is excellent and the music is way above average for an anime. I would suggest watching the japanese version with subtitles.

Warning: It has a tendency to leave girls bawling their eyes out, so bring tissues. Of course this also means that it's a good "score show", so bring your cock as well...

Anime - Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (When They Cry)

This is not romance, but actually a mystery/horror anime - don't let the cutesy moe drawing style fool you because this is some scary shit.

The show is a bit like Groundhog Day meets Stephen King. We follow the daily lives of a group of teenagers in a small village over a period of two weeks and they are great friends. But at the end of the second week - beginning with the local Cotton Festival - things go to shit and everybody end up brutally murdering each other. And then everything starts over again with a new two week cycle.

And the viewer is like WTF?

The show is masterfully plotted and will have your brain running in overdrive attempting to figure out whats going on. And just when you think you got it, it throws new twists and mysteries at you. There are two seasons with a total of 50 episodes, and once you start you will watch all of them or your brain will explode. Trust me. It's that well plotted. Highly recommended regardless of gender.

Go for japanese with subtitles.

Anime - Deadman Wonderland

I don't know why I was told to include this one, because this not a very girly show.

The story centers around a 14 year old teen who is framed for a school massacre and sentenced to death. He thus becomes an inmate in the privately run high security prison Deadman Wonderland, where the inmates battle it out in front of an audience gladiator style. The winner gets a cash prize while the loser gets.... well, you don't want to lose. In other words, this is a lot like Hunger Games in a different setting. As an extra twist the prisoners are wearing a collar which injects a poison into their system that will kill them slowly if they don't eat the antidote at least every three days. The antidote is not free, so they are forced to fight in order to earn enough money to buy it.

This is actually a very good and well-made show with interesting characters that are surprisingly deep and detailed. As said, part of the plot is totally stolen from Hunger Games and The Running Man, but so what? The biggest problem is, that it's too short - only 13 episodes - and despite being popular in the West it flopped in Japan so there won't be any more. And the main character whines a little too much for my liking. Just because you are sentenced to death at 14 and put in a brutal prison full of bad people wanting to kill you, there is no reason to be such a sissy

Watch the english dub - it's excellent. The music style is metal and fits the atmosphere perfectly. Recommend for guys and butch lesbians.

So there! I did it. Now get off my back please.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I like to take a slice of real life and put some fantasy to it. I find the average person to be a wealth of inspiration to write about.

As for anime, I watched one show of Pokemon w/ my son and that was all I could stand. I found it very annoying more than anything else. I won't watch another again, no matter what it is.

Judging all of anime by an episode of pokemon is like judging the entire media of film by a five-minute clip from The Room

Watch an anime film, Like Akira, or Princess Mononoke. Mononoke is basically Japan's Beauty and the Beast. It was the first animated film to win their version of the Academy Awards.

It's a slow, overly-long and boring movie where Tom Hanks and Halle Berry are playing most of the parts. Pretty much the polar opposite to Benny Hill.

Boo. You know you liked it.

 

[SikFuk]

Interesting choice for an introduction to animes. Rin is borderline hentai and probably wouldn't be allowed on Lit if it was a novel because of the torture porn elements....

I found 6 episodes of Rin, Daughter of Mnemosyne on Netflix streaming. The set-up is great: two lesbians (who are immortal) are running a detective agency. The hot one with the big tits does most of the fight scenes, the less-hot one (smaller tits) minds the computers and such. They both drink vodka for breakfast, and the hot one also likes guys - or should I say, the right guy.

Every episode contains strong sexual elements that tie into the plot, but don’t take the focus away from the plot. In one scene, the less-hot lesbian is forced into having naked sex with another woman she doesn't particularly like while the novice male detective in the office is forced to watch. When was the last time you saw a scene like that on HBO?

Women viewers who like seeing hot women kicking men’s butts might really enjoy this show, but I’m not a woman, so what do I know? I do recall at least one scene of torture porn, but it was tastefully done, leaving the details of the torture to the imagination.

 

[StrangeLife]

Boo. You know you liked it.

That movie makes watching paint dry the high-point of entertainment. It was 172 minutes of my life that I can never get back - I am still considering suing the Wachowski brothers for that.

I found 6 episodes of Rin, Daughter of Mnemosyne on Netflix streaming. The set-up is great: two lesbians (who are immortal) are running a detective agency. The hot one with the big tits does most of the fight scenes, the less-hot one (smaller tits) minds the computers and such. They both drink vodka for breakfast, and the hot one also likes guys - or should I say, the right guy.

Every episode contains strong sexual elements that tie into the plot, but don’t take the focus away from the plot. In one scene, the less-hot lesbian is forced into having naked sex with another woman she doesn't particularly like while the novice male detective in the office is forced to watch. When was the last time you saw a scene like that on HBO?

Women viewers who like seeing hot women kicking men’s butts might really enjoy this show, but I’m not a woman, so what do I know? I do recall at least one scene of torture porn, but it was tastefully done, leaving the details of the torture to the imagination.

Yeah, "vodka" is "water" in Russian.

Anyway, you have seen the complete show - 6 one hour episodes was all the entire run of the story.

As far as the ass-kicking tough women are concerned, they are pretty common in anime. In fact the only recent show I can remember that didn't have one was Gosick - but the protagonist in that show was badass in another way (Sherlock Holmes level intelligence). And I don't think it's for the sake of the female viewers only. Personally I love tough chicks and I suspect that many guys share that preference. The helpless scream-queens are so annoying - give me a powergurl any day...

 

[RoyceConnors]

Judging all of anime by an episode of pokemon is like judging the entire media of film by a five-minute clip from The Room

Watch an anime film, Like Akira, or Princess Mononoke. Mononoke is basically Japan's Beauty and the Beast. It was the first animated film to win their version of the Academy Awards.



Boo. You know you liked it.

Might have a decent story to it, but the artwork doesn't appeal to me in any way to enjoy it. I find nothing enjoyable in the way it's presented, but that's my taste in things. If I want to watch an animated story with something interesting in the way of artwork as well as story, I'll watch Heavy Metal, or the Dark Crystal, which wasn't a cartoon, but J. Henson working his Muppet magic on the big screen.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Might have a decent story to it, but the artwork doesn't appeal to me in any way to enjoy it. I find nothing enjoyable in the way it's presented, but that's my taste in things. If I want to watch an animated story with something interesting in the way of artwork as well as story, I'll watch Heavy Metal, or the Dark Crystal, which wasn't a cartoon, but J. Henson working his Muppet magic on the big screen.

You think Heavy Metal is a better art form than Anime?

You should have just stuck to saying you didn't like the artwork.

 

[StrangeLife]

Might have a decent story to it, but the artwork doesn't appeal to me in any way to enjoy it. I find nothing enjoyable in the way it's presented, but that's my taste in things. If I want to watch an animated story with something interesting in the way of artwork as well as story, I'll watch Heavy Metal, or the Dark Crystal, which wasn't a cartoon, but J. Henson working his Muppet magic on the big screen.

Even movies like Heavy Metal and Dark Crystal don't go anywhere near where Japanese anime goes. No Western studio would greenlight the production of something like Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni for instance, and if you managed to get it made, no theater or TV channel would show it. There are certain unwritten laws when comes to animation and cartoons that you simply aren't allowed to break.

You might say that it's Disney's fault. They were so massively successful in the early days of animation that they were able to define the entire genre.

 

[RoyceConnors]

Judging all of anime by an episode of pokemon is like judging the entire media of film by a five-minute clip from The Room

Watch an anime film, Like Akira, or Princess Mononoke. Mononoke is basically Japan's Beauty and the Beast. It was the first animated film to win their version of the Academy Awards.


Boo. You know you liked it.

I do believe that would make anime like this the same as Hollywood inspiration, which of course, the OP's thoughts were non-Hollywood based sources.

If anime is what floats your boat, enjoy the sail, it sinks my ride, so I'll pass. To each their own.

 

[StrangeLife]

I do believe that would make anime like this the same as Hollywood inspiration, which of course, the OP's thoughts were non-Hollywood based sources.

If anime is what floats your boat, enjoy the sail, it sinks my ride, so I'll pass. To each their own.

I guess this thread got a bit derailed a bit from alternative inspirational sources towards anime - my own fault. But anime remains one of the best sources of uninhibited story telling available besides books because of that everything-goes-in-cartoons attitude of Japan.

Since the production requires a certain minimum volume in order to be feasible, it is in the interest of us "people in the know" to spread the word to you heretics and get you hooked...