Who do you submit your stories here for?

[Couture]

I write mainly for the strokers, but I try to give them more than just another 'stroke' story. I can remember back when I was a teenager and I used to buy penthouse magazing for the stories. Then I discovered Penthouse stories and wow! But, then came the internet alt sex stories newsgroup, and I was hooked. It wasn't just that the stories were free. The stories were far and above anything I had ever read before in a sex story.

There were stories by Parker that were kinky, pushed your sexual boundaries, that were well written. He was so bored with all that, he was even doing some weird thing where one story led into the next.

Then there were the Taxi Cab tales from Delta. And Nessus had written this unbelievable chastity belt story. And on and on. It was the golden age of internet erotic fiction. These were authors who took their stories seriously.

And now? Now, I don't believe many authors take the stories seriously anymore. So that is what motivated me to start writing. I'm not Parker, Delta, Nessus, Elf, Orestes, or any of the others. I just do my best to write a story every now and then that may or may not get you off, disturb you, fuck with your mind, make you think, or make you wish you hadn't thought, and that every once and a while give you a glimpse of the old days.

So that's who I write for...a bunch of fucking masochists.

 

[Sarastro]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Who do you submit your stories here for?

Porn is marginalized, hidden under the bed, surfed online, etc. It doesn't combine the power of sex with a deeper meaning. It and its readers can be ridiculed, ostracized, etc. But real erotica--that is both literary and erotic and not trying to hide under the guise of one or the other--cannot be so easily dismissed. Porn is a market to be exploited--erotica is something to be feared.

I think I know what you mean. Erotic erotica makes demands of the critics, requiring them to take stands, making intellectual challenges to their arguments and prejudice, forcing them to think things through. Which more often than not exposes the weakness of prejudiced reasoning.

I guess the heart of good EE's anti-establishmentarianism is that it - in describing sex as something good, beautiful and revitalizing - comprises a general argument against sex as taboo, and in favor of a socially liberated sexuality. As such, it is revolutionary.

~Sarastro

 

[Ann Vremont]

Sarastro,

Yes, that's what I was trying to say. But you said it so much better.

Ann

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The authors I enjoy the most are those who open my eyes to things I never saw before or who can give words to feelings I have that I wasn’t aware of or couldn’t express.

I don’t know who I write for, but these days that’s what I try to do in my writing: open peoples’ eyes to things I’ve seen and try and explain the world as I see it. I don’t see why you can’t write a sex scene that is blazing hot and very deep at the same time.

One thing I've noticed is that I used to write down to my audience. I don't do that much anymore.

---dr.M.

 

[Lovepotion69]

Re: Re: Re: Who do you submit your stories here for?

Okay, so what part of: didn't you understand?

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

Let's see here. What part of my answer didn't you get?
I told you I do not believe that you can only divide Lit readers into two categories; the ones who want plot and character development and those who want stroke stories. I think you have to divide by category too.

You're the one who took up about magazines and the target audience. Well, if I write for Romance then my target audience will most likely want more plot and character development, therefore longer stories. If I write for Letters & Transcript there's no need for those things really. Within all categories the readers consist of both novella readers and strokers.

Ok, let me then rephrase this: I SUBMIT for all categories. And I submit for myself.

 

[Dirt Man]

Who does the Dirt Man Submit for?

Okay, I'm going to be candid here. When I first arrived here at lit, I pretty much knew who the general reading public was for sites like this. So I had no problem submitting what I knew the majority of readers were looking for. Well edited, and I mean religiously EDITED, down in the dirt smut with as little plot, and character development as possible to sustain believability, and require the reader to fill in certain blanks with their own ideas of what is, or isn't beautiful, sexy, and drop dead gorgeous. Yes, more men come here than women, but not that many more by percentage, and changing all the time. But what's important is what they came here looking for.

Everyone is a wanker. If you understand that right off then you know who is reading your work here at lit. And intelligence, and cultural back ground have very little effect when it comes to wanking off. If we've learned anything from works like "Fanny Hill," and "Autobiography of a Flea" it's that wanking crosses all berriors of civilization. And erotica, porn, or good old fashion smut if you will, is only read by those who want to be sexually excited, enticed, or seduced by the written word to the point of self gratification, or with a lover reading along with them. So no matter what we call our submitted work here ie; erotica, porn, or graphilthy we submit it for the wankers who come here. (Pun intended.)

What's unique about literotica is that here, no matter what you write, erotica, or porn, or inbetween, you will find an audience that will appreciate your work, and an audience that is offended by it as well. And in the end we can justify our work by pointing to those who seem to like our work, whether they really do or not, as we will never truely know for sure if we go by only using the voting method used here. So, we must also concede to the catagory factor, and the views, public comments, or feedback factors when gauging how well our work is received by the readership, or in effect: judged, appreciated, revered, hated, or just down right ignored.

So say that you're writing a story about incest? What kind of sick, or perverted mind would want to read about Bobby boffing his sister, or cousin Becky? Or daddy, or uncle Mike doing it with his daughter Doreen, or Mommy, or aunt Hilda seducing little 18 year old Jimmy? Just the thought to most people is repulsive, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Else why do so many people read it? And that's what you need to think about before you write a story about incest, because the people who do read it have a mind set, and that mind set is your targeted audience. That mind set is what you have to pull into your story with you so that even knowing that the work is a piece of fiction they will believe that it is based in some truth from reality even if it isn't your truth. Believability is what fiction is really about. If the reader believes it, then you as a writer have fullfilled your obligation to the reader. How well you do this is the measure of your own abilities as a writer, reguardless of your style, or whether you write erotica, or porn. If you've put them right there with a camera's eye view where the action is going on you have indeed done your job properly.

The same is true for every catagory of fiction. You have to find your Target Audience.

But is finding your Target Audience enough? No. Once you find them you have to seduce them. How do we do that? We learn the art of teasing them. Teasing is erotic, but it is only erotic if we feel that the goal we are after is just around the bend. Other wise teasing turns into frustration, and that's when the reader back clicks, and reads somebody elses work. Now in the case of incest, do you really need to tease a lot, or just a little bit? Does the author need to develop the characters very much, or the plot? The reader is there because they want to read about incest. Or why else would they bother to open that page? And if they make a mistake all they do is back out, right? And that means little character development, plot, or teasing is prefered by most readers of this catagory in general. And that's just the plan and simple of that catagory. Keep that in mind when you write about incest and you'll always score above 4.25 if you're a good writer. In fact any extra ordinary taboo like catagory by society's mores pretty much follows this same line of reasoning ie interracial, bestiality, and such. Not so with say BDSM, gay, or lesbian and such where character development is way more important to those readers, as is true with Mature, and often as not with loving wives.

But in the end, middle, or sometimes even the beginning there is sexual contact in our stories. And sex is something that is more fun to do, than to read, or write about, isn't it? And no matter whether you use drawn out vowels, and consenants; "Oooohh!" or plain, and simple text; "Oh my fucking GOD!" the truth is, there is only so many ways that you can say: In & Out without repeating yourself. And this is where the cream of writers rises to the top. The better authors delve more into the mind games of readers by using their own intelligence against them. The cruder the language used during intercourse in your taboo story the more the general reader gets into it. And that includes by the characters as well. And yet would these particular characters talk like that even during intercourse? If not then don't let them, but that shouldn't stop you from being as vulgar discriptively as a monkey in a zoo pulling shit out of their ass/arse, and flicking it at the gawking/bloody tourists. This is the climax after all, and that's what you've built up to to this point so go for it. And this is where style means the most. When even cliche works because it is expected as there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to sex. Unique maybe, but new? Never happen. All you can do is make the old new again with a twist of phrase here, and there.

Okay, so who do I submit here for? If I said that I submit for the reader here at lit, then I'd have to define which ones? Instead I'll tell you the truth. I submit for my targeted audience, the general public. I don't think that they're all idiots, nor do I think that they are all college educated. But I do know that they are the majority of readers that come here. After all every story that I have submitted here enjoys an average voting rate above 4.25, and that the only story of mine with a viewer tabulation below 50,000 is my non-erotic story, or my poetry. And even taking into account a 10% (which is outrageous) back click for mistaken openings of those stories that's not bad for being a member here less than a year. The people I write for came here to read smut for the most part. And if you don't believe that, then tell me why the banners on this site, for advertisment reasons, are all porn, and nothing but porn?

I know I've targeted the right audience, in every catagory that I have submitted into here, and everywhere else, have you? Have you really? Or do you just think so? No author would submit their work if they didn't like it themselves, or want others to enjoy it. And that is a biased, and yes singularly egotistical opinion at best. But perhaps that is the real reason why some here submit their stories, because they are in love with their own work. Or perhaps they require justification for their efforts. They may even be looking for false praise, or at the very least a little shot to their ego to boost it. We write because we can't not write. But mostly I believe we all submit our work for others to read because we are reaching out to find out one of two things: Can we write well enough to be published, or are there others of a like mind. So if that is true then why not tartget the audience with the largest numbers? I guess it must be because they aren't of a like mind, eh. As I can't for the life of me figure out why else any author wouldn't target the much larger audience for their work.

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

 

[KillerMuffin]

Whoa. Did I accidentally stumble into Creative Smut Writing 101? You should have put a sign on the door, I would have happily skipped the lecture.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I really think that 'target audience' doesn't really apply here. You don't have to know your target audience. LIt is more of a place were there is 'something for everyone' Anyone can write and anyone can post. No one has to pay for anything. I don't think "Lit" has a target audience, but some writers who have a certain type of following do.

Or as you said- "What's unique about literotica is that here, no matter what you write, erotica, or porn, or inbetween, you will find an audience that will appreciate your work, and an audience that is offended by it as well"

I started out with the intent to write "Penthouse Forum" type porn, but hopefully better. Dirty, rough, nasty, kinky stroke stories were the female characters were more involved than mere props and were there satisfaction was primary rather than a 'trophy' of the man's verility or whatever. In otherwords, stuff than turned me on that I had a hard time finding anywere else. So I guess my target audience is people who want stroke- but better stroke Some may say that the stroke audience isn't picky, but I think some of us [particularly women] are.

Overtime, I started telling more 'stories' Now I'm not sure exactley what I want to do. Do I want to be more 'literary' or do I want to stick to my plan? Mostly, I don't really target anymore. I experiment. I think lit is the best place to do that. Let me see how this goes over, how many reads, votes, feedbacks will I get and what will they be like? What comments will I get from the 'writers' and how will it differ from the 'non-writers'

And NO I'm not asking who you write for here.

In the real world as an author you have to know your target audiance, or you won't ever have a chance of being published. Every magazine will tell you that you need to read more than one copy of their stuff to get a feel for what they will pay for. Every book publisher will expect you, or your agent to know ahead of time who your book will appeal too, and what percentage of them do you think will go out and actually purchase it.

Okay, I'm going to step out on a limb here, and ask if you think you know what kind of readership we have here at lit? And also if the work you submit to this site is something that they want to read? And if not, then why do you submit it here? Be honest, and please feel free to be candid as well. I really do want to know.

For example: What do think are the majority kind of readers literotica draws in to this site on a daily basis?

A.) Are they cultured, and looking for something literate to read with just a hint of sexual content? (Something saucy maybe, but with character development, plot, and enough sex to make it interesting.)

B.) Are they strokers, that is people looking for some nasty explicit sex to masterbate along with while reading, and possibly printing out a copy of their own for later use in the bathroom? (Down, and dirty with short character development, and enough plot to make it interesting, and believable without going overboard.)

That's it folks, and thanks in advance.

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

I came here to write porn. Good quality porn (I hope), but porn nonetheless- NOT erotica. I also come here to read porn for the most part. I do enjoy good quality stories (such as Colleen Thomas) when I find them, but honestly, they are not what I come here for.