What determines "hot"
- Thread starter justgem
- Start date
I'm actually rather surprised that a couple of my stories have received "H" indicators. (Gratified, but still somewhat surprised.)
I must also admit that my stories, the ones thus far posted, do range into those categories you have all mentioned (e.g., incest, etc.). But I remember what Stephen King wrote in Dance Macbre. When asked why he wrote about the "terrible" things he wrote about, Mr. King responded, "Why do you assume I have a choice?"
But, I think there's room for all at the Literotica table. An exciting story is still an exciting story, regardless of it's classification or genre. As an open submissions' forum, naturally a great deal of less than professional work will find it's way in. After all, that's what a forum of ideas is all about.
Furthermore, I perceive writing to be a craft as well as an art. The more pratice one puts in, the better the final product will be. Those of us who had to take shop in high school and build those rediculous bookholders will remember how clumsy a chisel and hammer felt in our hands the first time we attempted a project. But over time, you learned the right tools to use at the right time to accomplish a certain job.
So, I view some of the less-accomplished submissions as an apprentice's work. If the writer wishes to improve, keep writing, listen to your feedback, and make the necessary adjustments. After all, there is ALWAYS going to be somebody better than you in any field, and if not now, certainly in the future. But those are the ones you wish to emulate.
I remember a literature professor in college once remarking that all writers steal from one another. The trick is to be able to steal from the best.
Of course, it was that same professor who remarked that there are essentially only two plots in all of literature; i.e., Death and Sex. Everything else was just detailing how the hero/heroine arrived at or avoided either or both those conditions. While a bit of an oversimplification, it seems to hold true. From Adam and Eve losing the lease on Eden, all the way down to The Lovely Bones, Death and Sex.
Thank you all for your postings. This has been an enormous help to me in my present projects.
bookworm
I must also admit that my stories, the ones thus far posted, do range into those categories you have all mentioned (e.g., incest, etc.). But I remember what Stephen King wrote in Dance Macbre. When asked why he wrote about the "terrible" things he wrote about, Mr. King responded, "Why do you assume I have a choice?"
But, I think there's room for all at the Literotica table. An exciting story is still an exciting story, regardless of it's classification or genre. As an open submissions' forum, naturally a great deal of less than professional work will find it's way in. After all, that's what a forum of ideas is all about.
Furthermore, I perceive writing to be a craft as well as an art. The more pratice one puts in, the better the final product will be. Those of us who had to take shop in high school and build those rediculous bookholders will remember how clumsy a chisel and hammer felt in our hands the first time we attempted a project. But over time, you learned the right tools to use at the right time to accomplish a certain job.
So, I view some of the less-accomplished submissions as an apprentice's work. If the writer wishes to improve, keep writing, listen to your feedback, and make the necessary adjustments. After all, there is ALWAYS going to be somebody better than you in any field, and if not now, certainly in the future. But those are the ones you wish to emulate.
I remember a literature professor in college once remarking that all writers steal from one another. The trick is to be able to steal from the best.
Of course, it was that same professor who remarked that there are essentially only two plots in all of literature; i.e., Death and Sex. Everything else was just detailing how the hero/heroine arrived at or avoided either or both those conditions. While a bit of an oversimplification, it seems to hold true. From Adam and Eve losing the lease on Eden, all the way down to The Lovely Bones, Death and Sex.
Thank you all for your postings. This has been an enormous help to me in my present projects.
bookworm
Whispersecret
Clandestine Sex-pressionist
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
- Posts
- 3,089
Jerry150, where you been hiding? Stick around. We need more people around here with your attitude!
Very Well Put
Jerry150 that was an awesome post! I agree 100%, the more one works at their writing the better it will (usually) get...there are a few exceptions to every rule of course. I can remember looking back on things I wrote 20 or even 30 years ago and thinking "Damn...that sucks!" LOL but I kept at it and researched writing and writing tools and now I turn out a much more readable product.
I love literotica and other outlets for writing on the internet. It gives people who ordinarily wouldn't have the chance of getting their work read. There's some very good lit out there that gets swept under the carpet by suposedly knowing publishers.
Mylynka
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=64666
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=64668
Jerry150 that was an awesome post! I agree 100%, the more one works at their writing the better it will (usually) get...there are a few exceptions to every rule of course. I can remember looking back on things I wrote 20 or even 30 years ago and thinking "Damn...that sucks!" LOL but I kept at it and researched writing and writing tools and now I turn out a much more readable product.
I love literotica and other outlets for writing on the internet. It gives people who ordinarily wouldn't have the chance of getting their work read. There's some very good lit out there that gets swept under the carpet by suposedly knowing publishers.
Mylynka
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=64666
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=64668
Aw shucks, folks. I'm speechless.
Dear Whisper, Gem, and My. . .
Thank you all. Random thoughts is all.
I really haven't been hiding. I'm new to the Literotica family <no pun intended--well, not much anyway>, and I'm still getting my feet under me.
Thanks for all your kind words.
bookworm
Dear Whisper, Gem, and My. . .
Thank you all. Random thoughts is all.
I really haven't been hiding. I'm new to the Literotica family <no pun intended--well, not much anyway>, and I'm still getting my feet under me.
Thanks for all your kind words.
bookworm
hrefnadrakis
Virgin
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2002
- Posts
- 19
To be entertaining, I feel a story needs compelling characters, a plot (you know, a beginning, middle, and end that isn't just foreplay, sex, and climax), conflict and resolution (heh, heh, that's probably plot), and style.
To be arousing? I just write what I think is hot. Part of what makes something hot to me is the build-up. Hey, I'm a woman. The sex can't just be sex for sex's sake. For a scene to really come alive for me, I have to know the motivation behind these two people becoming intimate
I agree whisper. I occassionally find a title that I think is interesting and might be a good story and I click on it and get that straight into the sex with no setup no reasoning just wham bam thank you ma'm/sir. It fizzles. I back click and try to find something else. I put authors that I like on my favorites and I look to see if they have posted anything new.
I greatly appreciate Laurel and Manu for having the determination and the stamina to read through each story. I do have to say better them than me
I have bad eyesight to begin with.
I submitted one story Delivery. That rated 4.5 with over 2000+ reads, Its short sweet and to the point with a little twist at the end.
My next two, Jade Keeps Rollin with Deadman Inc and Celuna's Hunt, are longer and have more of a character developement and such. That's how I write. I tried writing one of those wham bam stories and it just didn't work for me. I like to read stories that are written the way I would write them. I like to know the characters and know why they are with their partners.
Exxageration of physical attributes to the point of being unbelievable turns me off. Subtlety and descriptive verbiage are a plus in my book. When I write I don't describe how they cum or what it looks like. Its not me. Sometimes the words used make all the difference on the reaction they create.
Hrefna
To be arousing? I just write what I think is hot. Part of what makes something hot to me is the build-up. Hey, I'm a woman. The sex can't just be sex for sex's sake. For a scene to really come alive for me, I have to know the motivation behind these two people becoming intimate
I agree whisper. I occassionally find a title that I think is interesting and might be a good story and I click on it and get that straight into the sex with no setup no reasoning just wham bam thank you ma'm/sir. It fizzles. I back click and try to find something else. I put authors that I like on my favorites and I look to see if they have posted anything new.
I greatly appreciate Laurel and Manu for having the determination and the stamina to read through each story. I do have to say better them than me
I have bad eyesight to begin with.I submitted one story Delivery. That rated 4.5 with over 2000+ reads, Its short sweet and to the point with a little twist at the end.
My next two, Jade Keeps Rollin with Deadman Inc and Celuna's Hunt, are longer and have more of a character developement and such. That's how I write. I tried writing one of those wham bam stories and it just didn't work for me. I like to read stories that are written the way I would write them. I like to know the characters and know why they are with their partners.
Exxageration of physical attributes to the point of being unbelievable turns me off. Subtlety and descriptive verbiage are a plus in my book. When I write I don't describe how they cum or what it looks like. Its not me. Sometimes the words used make all the difference on the reaction they create.
Hrefna
Two Plots
A college professor I once studied under made the statement that there are essentially only two plots in all of literature; Death and Sex. Everything else was mere detail as to how the hero/heroine arrived at or avoided either, both, or one while missing the other of these conditions. While even he conceded this to be a gross over-simplification, it has a certain amount of merit. From the story of Adam and Eve <which explains how both sex and death came into the world>, to the current best seller The Lovely Bones, it would seem to be something of a true statement.
I think Drakis has a point. However, for the writer, and to a greater or lesser extent the reader, of erotic fiction, the sex is the thing. But that is the test of the writer: he must dream up his characters, set the situation and conflict, then resolve it. Or, In Drakis' own terms; foreplay, sex, climax.
Most Literotica submissions (Hi Laurel and Man!!!), are short stories, most suitable for one reading and one reading only. The reader I perceive as the ideal reader of my work wants to be titillated, gratified, and move on to the next experience.
I would hesitate to claim "artistic," to described what I write and submit, at least not in any serious sense. But if "art" is defined as any work designed to provoke some response from the reader, then I can safely do so. While my "art" may not reach the grandeur of a Michaelangelo nor the scope and genius of Miller or Lawrence, I think I can safely say that the average reader who takes up one of my stories knows what he's going to get and that is precisely what he wants. If I give him the response he desires, I have created "good" art. If not, I've failed.
I suppose I ought to add that there are qualities of such art, however. Mine is cheap and momentary. For now, that's fine with me, as I work on other hopefully more enduring projects. Nor can I align with artists who complain that they are misunderstood by their audiences. A good artist can provoke a response from Joe Public. If he can't, the artist is trying to speak above his audience's head, perhaps to other lofty-minded artists, instead of to his audience. Okay, the audience may have to listen attentively, but if they can't understand, or "get into," what the artist is trying to say, my humble opinion is that the artist is engaging in self-satisfying masturbation rather than giving his art an available audience.
My point is simply that good writing will be appreciated by the right audience <small pun--so sue me>. When I receive negative feedback, rather than jump on the audience for their deplorable lack of understanding, I find it more helpful to review the work in question and see where perhaps I went wrong. If I can't see why the work didn't fly, well the fault was mine, not the audiences. I'll have to try better the next time.
Thanks to all who read ALL this. It's a bit long, but I feel better. My own formula of "foreplay, sex, climax" is working for now. So since it's not broken, I don't think I'll fix it just yet.
Thanks again all!
bookworm
A college professor I once studied under made the statement that there are essentially only two plots in all of literature; Death and Sex. Everything else was mere detail as to how the hero/heroine arrived at or avoided either, both, or one while missing the other of these conditions. While even he conceded this to be a gross over-simplification, it has a certain amount of merit. From the story of Adam and Eve <which explains how both sex and death came into the world>, to the current best seller The Lovely Bones, it would seem to be something of a true statement.
I think Drakis has a point. However, for the writer, and to a greater or lesser extent the reader, of erotic fiction, the sex is the thing. But that is the test of the writer: he must dream up his characters, set the situation and conflict, then resolve it. Or, In Drakis' own terms; foreplay, sex, climax.
Most Literotica submissions (Hi Laurel and Man!!!), are short stories, most suitable for one reading and one reading only. The reader I perceive as the ideal reader of my work wants to be titillated, gratified, and move on to the next experience.
I would hesitate to claim "artistic," to described what I write and submit, at least not in any serious sense. But if "art" is defined as any work designed to provoke some response from the reader, then I can safely do so. While my "art" may not reach the grandeur of a Michaelangelo nor the scope and genius of Miller or Lawrence, I think I can safely say that the average reader who takes up one of my stories knows what he's going to get and that is precisely what he wants. If I give him the response he desires, I have created "good" art. If not, I've failed.
I suppose I ought to add that there are qualities of such art, however. Mine is cheap and momentary. For now, that's fine with me, as I work on other hopefully more enduring projects. Nor can I align with artists who complain that they are misunderstood by their audiences. A good artist can provoke a response from Joe Public. If he can't, the artist is trying to speak above his audience's head, perhaps to other lofty-minded artists, instead of to his audience. Okay, the audience may have to listen attentively, but if they can't understand, or "get into," what the artist is trying to say, my humble opinion is that the artist is engaging in self-satisfying masturbation rather than giving his art an available audience.
My point is simply that good writing will be appreciated by the right audience <small pun--so sue me>. When I receive negative feedback, rather than jump on the audience for their deplorable lack of understanding, I find it more helpful to review the work in question and see where perhaps I went wrong. If I can't see why the work didn't fly, well the fault was mine, not the audiences. I'll have to try better the next time.
Thanks to all who read ALL this. It's a bit long, but I feel better. My own formula of "foreplay, sex, climax" is working for now. So since it's not broken, I don't think I'll fix it just yet.
Thanks again all!
bookworm
what's hot?
I wondered that, but I kind of figured out a little something.
My stories basically consist of two main charictors. I've noticed that if I write a story with only them in it, it almost always get's the "H" but if I include them in a threesome or, add others to it, it is normal. So I just Started writing only about them.
I get such a rush, when I see the "H" by my stories. I like that rush, so I'll do what ever it takes to keep the "H" comming.
I wondered that, but I kind of figured out a little something.
My stories basically consist of two main charictors. I've noticed that if I write a story with only them in it, it almost always get's the "H" but if I include them in a threesome or, add others to it, it is normal. So I just Started writing only about them.
I get such a rush, when I see the "H" by my stories. I like that rush, so I'll do what ever it takes to keep the "H" comming.
Good title
A good story must have character developement, a real followable plot, and good English usage. I read some really crappy work, the main character fucks from the start to the end. Now, that sux. John Norman's Gor series is an example of a good read. Go figure....
A good story must have character developement, a real followable plot, and good English usage. I read some really crappy work, the main character fucks from the start to the end. Now, that sux. John Norman's Gor series is an example of a good read. Go figure....
Thank You, Gem
Dear Gem,
Well, this is a surprise. One who agrees that stories posted ought to have their gramatical ducks in a row.
The problem with computers, in my humble opinion, is so many have "grammar" checks. After some careful proofreading however, I find that such "checks" make your paper acceptable to most fourth-grade english teachers.
I have said, on several threads and sites, that writing is a craft, not unlike carpentry. You can learn a craft. Learn the basics, learn the rules, and even an elementary woodworker can build a serviceable bookcase.
But if touched with the muse, that bookcase will pass beyond serviceable, and move into the realm of "art."
So it is with writing, especially the writing of fiction. Most espcially, the writing of Erotic fiction. A well-crafted story won't offend the reader. All the joints are squared, all the lines are in plumb, and the reader gets the satisfaction of a well crafted piece of work.
But from an artist, one who can see the corner but make it even more aesthrtically appealing, we may have a Michaelangelo's "David," or a Van Gogh's "Starry Night," or a Rodin's "Thinker," before us. The reader gets not only his/her entertainment, but a thought or emotion to dwell on as well.
That is what most of us aspire too.
Thanks for the forum.
bookworm
Dear Gem,
Well, this is a surprise. One who agrees that stories posted ought to have their gramatical ducks in a row.
The problem with computers, in my humble opinion, is so many have "grammar" checks. After some careful proofreading however, I find that such "checks" make your paper acceptable to most fourth-grade english teachers.
I have said, on several threads and sites, that writing is a craft, not unlike carpentry. You can learn a craft. Learn the basics, learn the rules, and even an elementary woodworker can build a serviceable bookcase.
But if touched with the muse, that bookcase will pass beyond serviceable, and move into the realm of "art."
So it is with writing, especially the writing of fiction. Most espcially, the writing of Erotic fiction. A well-crafted story won't offend the reader. All the joints are squared, all the lines are in plumb, and the reader gets the satisfaction of a well crafted piece of work.
But from an artist, one who can see the corner but make it even more aesthrtically appealing, we may have a Michaelangelo's "David," or a Van Gogh's "Starry Night," or a Rodin's "Thinker," before us. The reader gets not only his/her entertainment, but a thought or emotion to dwell on as well.
That is what most of us aspire too.
Thanks for the forum.
bookworm
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