The Importance of Plausibility

[wabbit_season]

CWatson's analogy with Sci Fi films is a good one.

I love Sci Fi and fantasy films, but they have to be structured in a logical and plausible way within the context of the fantasy. The film can feature unbelievable elements or even a ridiculous premise, but if it fits some kind of internal logic and plays by the rules established in that universe, then it works a lot better for me. So a man dressing up as a bat to fight crime is absurd, but if presented with enough plausible backstory and internal logic as in the recent Chris Nolan films, you can kind of buy it, and therefore enjoy it.

Same with erotica. A nerd ending up in bed with 3 gorgeous sex-hungry models is absurd, but if you can take the reader on a journey that successfully contrives to make it seem even mildly plausible, then the sex is a more enjoyable read as a result.

That's what I like to read, anyway, and it's how I like to write. I'll always lose some impatient readers with my set-up, but when the clothes eventually peel off and the fun stuff begins, I feel like the characters have earned it, and the reader is more likely to believe it and therefore enjoy it.

 

[CWatson]

Cross-posting this from elsewhere, because it's really what underlies the whole thing:

Human nature is human nature, and The Reader knows when an action or a motivation rings true to life. There are certain things that will always be true of human beings--they need to eat, they need to drink, they need to breathe, they want to have friends, they want to have sex, they are capable of both great nobility and great laziness. The instant your story abandons or contradicts one of these facts, you have lost The Reader.

This is why elevator story lost me. It is a verifiable fact--a scientifically verifiable fact--that humans are lazy; if an elevator exists, they will try to use it. For them to avoid it because you just happen to be having sex in it is contrary to human nature. Elevator Story, to exaggerate it to its most logical extent, is not actually about human beings; it's about other creatures who are similar but don't mind using 50 flights of stairs. It might seem like a small difference, but 1) it's not (50 flights of stairs!! In college my friends would stare incredulously when I used three!!), and 2) it's still enough to bump readers out of the story.

So, simply put, plausibility is about me believing that an actual human being would do what your story says they're doing. If I don't believe that, then no, I'm not going to read. If I do, then yeah, you can take me anywhere. Shit, I wrote in the Naked In School universe, where the President signed legislation forcing girls to walk around nude. I can suspend a lot of disbelief. If the story makes sense.

 

[bronzeage]

How important is plausibility and realism in a story to you? How much belief are you willing to suspend?

I've written a lot of very realistic stuff with plausible character motivations, but find myself straying lately into scenes that maybe fit a contrived set of motivations, but are perhaps too fantastic or logistically improbable. They're hot, but certainly leaning more towards pure fantasy.

This question comes to mind when I read story comments that complain that characters aren't wearing condoms, etc., but it could apply to situations where a character gets caught up in the moment and behaves in a way that might seem against her nature. Personally, that doesn't bother me, and short of a story that is poorly written or ridiculously gonzo, I tend to suspend disbelief more in erotica than I do in other forms of fiction.

I'm just curious as to how high to set the bar of expecting readers to suspend disbelief in my own writing.

It's the writer's responsibility to create a world where the characters behave in plausible ways. Any character can have personal quirk which makes them behave in strange ways. If the writer makes it clear this is peculiar to that character and not general human nature, it becomes plausible.

The military championed condoms as disease preventives. It's the nature of army life for young men to have quick(casual is not the right word) with women he knows nothing about. The Army was not concerned with pregnant prostitutes.

There was a time, not so long ago, when condoms were the only reliable birth control. It was actually illegal to sell birth control devices, so condoms were plainly lablel, "For Prevention of Disease." When chemical birth control became available, condoms became part of past era. Everything comes full circle. Now condoms are primarily to prevent disease, again.

Plausibility is relative and subjective. While condoms are rare in erotica, so are STD's and pregnancy.

 

[MatthewVett]

I try to keep my stories internally consistent. I have a story with a sexshifter, for example, but it's mentioned at the story's beginning. It's not like I'm telling a regular story about normal people, and all of a sudden one of them changes sex in the blink of eye. I also try to be realistic in terms of how people go about things. In one story, they make molds for chocolates using a man's penis. I ended up researching some about how to go about that, and I think I ended up with an accurate depiction.

 

[NikkiBastion]

Please post How To making chocolate molds from penis guide...because if nothing else, that rules

 

[MatthewVett]

Well, it's this story: http://www.literotica.com/s/body-comfort-day-ch-01 It's pretty much the same way you'd make your own dildo; they sell kits for it, even.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

For me, I can handle unrealistic tendencies in the universe, but it's the sexual exaggerations that turn me off. For example.

1. the virgin girl/guy who can take a 10 inch cock up the bum almost right away

2. 10 inch cocks in general. Less then 1% of all human males have cocks longer then 9 inches, but if you read porn you'd think it was the other way around

3. virgin guy/girl acting like a total slut and saying a bunch of ridiculous over-the-top things

4. incest being okay. I know it's a fantasy, and for a while I thought I was just turned off by incest in general, but then I came across a story that was fucking fantastic. It was about a girl stuck with her father and brother on an island and eventually they start having sex, but it was conflict, the brother was tortured by his desire for her. He hated himself for it. Whenever there is an incest story here, they are perfectly happy and there are never any consequences ever, to which I call...

BULLSHIT

 

[erotica_n_s]

Very interesting thread.

I frequently find myself struggling with this very issue – realism.

I’m a male virgin. I’ve never actually had sex with anyone. The stories I write are based on my own sexual fantasies.

One story I’m writing at the moment:
• Female protagonist
o shy, timid, reserved young woman; a virgin
o from a fairly conservative, deeply religious social & cultural background,
 not previously motivated to explore/experience/express her own sexuality
o if anything, taught to value her own virginity/chastity/purity/modesty

o AND YET, on one occasion, the male protagonist performs cunnilingus on her
 This is after they’ve known each other for several months
• On the surface, they’re just platonic friends/colleagues with a healthy professional relationship
• They meet regularly for coffee
o (our male protagonist has managed to gradually draw her out of her lonely “shell”)
• Beneath the surface, there’s been unspoken romantic tension
o On one occasion, the male protagonist touches the female protagonist on an “intimate place” (her waist).
 The romantic tension now turns into sexual tension, but during that scene, no further action takes place.
• If anything, the young woman is taken aback by the boldness of his touch, and abruptly leaves
• Sometime later (days?/weeks?), they both resume meeting, but pretend as if nothing has happened.
o Then, during one of their meetings when they go back to her apartment, they kiss, they embrace…

BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO FROM THERE TO CUNNILINGUS

• Because I just know that the real-life woman, on whom my female protagonist is based, simply would never let such a thing happen to her!
(Yes, I tried to “model” the female protagonist in this story upon a woman I knew in real life)

And I'm kind of stuck at that stage...

I have to write a "bridge" from the initial sparks of sexual tension, to the scene where my male protagonist performs cunnilingus on my female protagonist.

I find myself thinking, "what would it actually take, in real life, to get her so aroused that she cannot resist the temptation? That's where I struggle, being as I lack the real world experience...

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Very interesting thread.

I frequently find myself struggling with this very issue – realism.

I’m a male virgin. I’ve never actually had sex with anyone. The stories I write are based on my own sexual fantasies.

One story I’m writing at the moment:
• Female protagonist
o shy, timid, reserved young woman; a virgin
o from a fairly conservative, deeply religious social & cultural background,
 not previously motivated to explore/experience/express her own sexuality
o if anything, taught to value her own virginity/chastity/purity/modesty

o AND YET, on one occasion, the male protagonist performs cunnilingus on her
 This is after they’ve known each other for several months
• On the surface, they’re just platonic friends/colleagues with a healthy professional relationship
• They meet regularly for coffee
o (our male protagonist has managed to gradually draw her out of her lonely “shell”)
• Beneath the surface, there’s been unspoken romantic tension
o On one occasion, the male protagonist touches the female protagonist on an “intimate place” (her waist).
 The romantic tension now turns into sexual tension, but during that scene, no further action takes place.
• If anything, the young woman is taken aback by the boldness of his touch, and abruptly leaves
• Sometime later (days?/weeks?), they both resume meeting, but pretend as if nothing has happened.
o Then, during one of their meetings when they go back to her apartment, they kiss, they embrace…

BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO FROM THERE TO CUNNILINGUS

• Because I just know that the real-life woman, on whom my female protagonist is based, simply would never let such a thing happen to her!
(Yes, I tried to “model” the female protagonist in this story upon a woman I knew in real life)

And I'm kind of stuck at that stage...

I have to write a "bridge" from the initial sparks of sexual tension, to the scene where my male protagonist performs cunnilingus on my female protagonist.

I find myself thinking, "what would it actually take, in real life, to get her so aroused that she cannot resist the temptation? That's where I struggle, being as I lack the real world experience...

He admits that he's very shy and not sure what to do, she agrees. They decide to look up a porno for some pointers. They are both very embarrassed, but decide to imitate what they see. (the porn stars give each other oral sex) And she is so shy and unwilling to initiate, that he offers to do her first. The experience gives him and her the confidence to continue

 

[Penelope Street]

Because I just know that the real-life woman, on whom my female protagonist is based, simply would never let such a thing happen to her!

Well, that is a bit or a problem, isn't it?

What's the natural progression from kissing? Fondling, and then petting, right? Fingers are way underused in erotica, but especially so in first time stories. Handjobs are another sexy stepping stone.

If your heroine is super shy, cunninlingus is probably the last thing she's likely feel comfortable doing, and that's even if it's something she actually wants to do. Do not doubt for a moment that cunninlingus can be every bit as intimate, and therefore intimidating, as coitus-- often more so.