Why do you write erotica? Are there things you’d change about it if you could?

[ElectricBlue]

Was it Groucho Marx that said he wouldn't want to join any club that would have him as a member?

Yes.

 

[AchtungNight]

Whether he likes it or not, Groucho- much like Jim Carrey, Lisa Kudrow, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, and myself- is forever in the club of tragic clowns.

 

[SimpleEnigma]

Back to the OP's question, Lauren and I began writing on a lark during the height of covid shutdowns. Our unique lifestyle has brought us together with like minded people over the years (wittols, swingers, slaves and masters) and some have become life long friends. As we all became closer during the shutdown, visiting each others houses, having sex in a variety of ways, we were challenged by those couples to begin writing our memoirs and theirs.

The premise was that we would project our/their experiences onto two main protagonists from who's perspective we would then retell them (with a lot of fun embellishment, of course). Each couple would not know who's experiences were going to be bubbled up next, so it is a surprise when each chapter drops. That couple would then have to provide certain 'services' for Lauren and I over the course of the following month. This has enabled some interesting times since we started our series.

All this to say that we didn't set out to be authors at all, merely storytellers of non-fictional events. I suppose we are also somewhat unique in that, unlike some authors, we actually live the lifestyle and have the mindset that other authors can only try to comprehend. That's not to take away from those who only use their imagination with no real life experiences to draw on. There are tons of folks that have written really good war stories who have never set foot on a battlefield. I'm actually toying with some true fictional stories that may or may not be ready for prime time someday.

Just wanted to add our perspective to this discussion.

As always, stay tolerant friends.

 

[Dirty_Old_Pervert]

I write erotic fiction because sometimes I have dirty thoughts, and I need an outlet to express them. If other people can thereby enjoy my dirty thoughts as I do, so much the better.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I wish people were just nicer and more thoughtful.

Emily

This thread still seems to be running. So, Emily, I have found this quote (yes, by that damned Nietzsche) to be worth pondering: "In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."

In my experience - including on-line and even on Lit - he may have been underestimating the weirdness that individuals are capable of. True, they cause more damage when they do get together in groups.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Whether he likes it or not, Groucho- much like Jim Carrey, Lisa Kudrow, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, and myself- is forever in the club of tragic clowns.

Mel Brooks was so funny because he was a great observer of details that other people missed. His own description of being in the Army during World War II shows that. I like how he still checks for booby traps when using a public restroom.

https://www.historynet.com/mel-brooks-goes-to-war/

 

[gunhilltrain]

I was in a bookstore the other day and thought of this message because the "steal if it you want it" rack by the door was at least half celebrity biographies, absolutely none of which seemed halfway interesting.

I'd like to read the Mel Brooks autobiography that the excerpt above is taken from: ALL ABOUT ME! My Remarkable Life in Show Business. I've notice that in many of the photos of Anne Bancroft (the hometown lady mentioned in my description) with him, she's laughing.

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/dc3...-brooks-anne-bancroft-lede.rvertical.w570.jpg

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

Hmmm...

I started writing erotica as a test to myself. As I post in my bio, I am a technical writer. I have spent the last decade (and then some) writing technical documentation for switches, routers, printers, etc., and even a few end-user items. Most of my work has been taking the literature that the manufacturer sends that, I think, they used Google Translate to convert from (Pick a Language) into English and butcher it badly.

As you might imagine, that work gets monotonous over time, and you begin to look at the Wakishazi on the wall and consider its use.

Now, I like erotica. I love reading what comes out of other people's minds. I enjoy reading the works of both professionals and amateurs. But there are times I look for something I just cannot seem to find, so I decided to write it myself.

I wrote three works that I put up on SmashWords, and while people have bought them, I am in no way excited by their performance. I took about a ten-year pause, then put two more in a five-part series up, and am waiting for people to see them.

Then I found Literotica and read... and read... and read... then decided to post something and was amazed at the response. Evidently, people like my work so far.

 

[LustyScribe]

Hmmm...

I started writing erotica as a test to myself. As I post in my bio, I am a technical writer. I have spent the last decade (and then some) writing technical documentation for switches, routers, printers, etc., and even a few end-user items. Most of my work has been taking the literature that the manufacturer sends that, I think, they used Google Translate to convert from (Pick a Language) into English and butcher it badly.

As you might imagine, that work gets monotonous over time, and you begin to look at the Wakishazi on the wall and consider its use.

Now, I like erotica. I love reading what comes out of other people's minds. I enjoy reading the works of both professionals and amateurs. But there are times I look for something I just cannot seem to find, so I decided to write it myself.

I wrote three works that I put up on SmashWords, and while people have bought them, I am in no way excited by their performance. I took about a ten-year pause, then put two more in a five-part series up, and am waiting for people to see them.

Then I found Literotica and read... and read... and read... then decided to post something and was amazed at the response. Evidently, people like my work so far.

I have read some of your writing and enjoyed it, both for the eroticism and the superb writing.

I have written in several genre & outlets, but for a long time I only dipped my toes into writing erotica. A few years ago, predominantly out of frustration from my almost sexless marriage. A trickle became a creek, and I discovered that I enjoyed writing for people, stories to stoke their specific desires, fetishist & kinks. I write straight, bi, translate, lesbian; whatever I can. It not only excites them to get something created for them, it widens my horizons & opens doors for me. I've also made several friends. Now creating erotica has become one of my little joys.

 

[rdodger]

I can't tell if I posted in this thread or not. Can't find a link for "things I've posted in the forums". Oh well.

I started writing erotica (yeah right - when I started it was stroke and smut) because I had discovered CBBS and through FidoNet I found the adult ones. Then I looked and said for most of what I was seeing, I could write better than this crap.

Turns out I could write better than a lot of that crap. Of course, it was a low bar. But then I'd have an idea and it would dig its claws into me until I got around to writing it out as a story, and one thing led to another. For going on 35 years and almost 200,000 words. Some of them actually elegant.

I've got a bunch of stuff in draft currently. With one thing and another, I can't get my head into the writing space most of the time. But my longest writing drought lasted four years, and I'm nowhere near that at present. So I expect I'll keep on truckin'.

 

[AG31]

I can't tell if I posted in this thread or not. Can't find a link for "things I've posted in the forums". Oh well.

I started writing erotica (yeah right - when I started it was stroke and smut) because I had discovered CBBS and through FidoNet I found the adult ones. Then I looked and said for most of what I was seeing, I could write better than this crap.

Turns out I could write better than a lot of that crap. Of course, it was a low bar. But then I'd have an idea and it would dig its claws into me until I got around to writing it out as a story, and one thing led to another. For going on 35 years and almost 200,000 words. Some of them actually elegant.

I've got a bunch of stuff in draft currently. With one thing and another, I can't get my head into the writing space most of the time. But my longest writing drought lasted four years, and I'm nowhere near that at present. So I expect I'll keep on truckin'.

Click on your name in the upper right of the screen. Also, you could visit the thread and search for your own name.

 

[rdodger]

View attachment 2357481 Click on your name in the upper right of the screen. Also, you could visit the thread and search for your own name.
View attachment 2357482

Thanks - somehow when I looked at that box I managed not to notice the By: line.

 

[alohadave]

I can't tell if I posted in this thread or not.

On the thread list, there is an icon for the OP, then if you've posted, it'll show your icon nestled in the lower right. If you hover over your icon, it'll tell you how many times you've posted in the thread.

 

[AG31]

I'm not sure what you mean by "thread list." I don't see my number of posts here

 

[TheLobster]

I'm not sure what you mean by "thread list." I don't see my number of posts here

View attachment 2357692

This view:



Notice the small claw icon (my avatar) in the bottom-right corner of every thread I posted in.

 

[AG31]

This view:

View attachment 2357693

Notice the small claw icon (my avatar) in the bottom-right corner of every thread I posted in.

Ah! Thank you! I've always wondered what those little embedded avatars were about!

 

[ofbuttons]

I write erotica because:

• visual porn rarely does it for me. I have always been geared towards vivid erotic imaginings, which often included characters and scenarios that had nothing to do with me. I discovered written erotica, which means others can do the hard work for me, or supply me new ideas for my own gratification. Then, I found enjoyment in the fact I could do it myself.
• it can be hard finding exactly what I like in a story, so I make my own.
• I'm a writer outside of erotica but writing erotica affords me a lot of imaginative freedom unhindered by self-censoring, and questions like 'is it realistic' and 'is this too much' and 'what's the broader purpose of this pleasurable activity', although those questions still haunt me. Just not as much.
• in any writing, I like producing stories that have an effect on people.
• I like knowing there are people out there with similar tastes as me.

I wish that:

• audiences were more open minded about male gay content in stories that weren't exclusively gay enough for the gay category, or at least could just stop reading it rather than hateful downvoting.
• the categories were changed up or done away with. Broadened, at the very least. Currently, I feel like they make certain audiences hard to find. A more robust comprehensive tag system would be preferable.
• we had some form of monetisation support. I think artists deserve compensation. I wouldn't want the whole site to go behind a paywall, and I think authors could be incentivised to continue publishing free content, but some mechanism for virtual tip jars as a more common means of giving support or having patreon-only style publishing without needing to go off-site would be really nice.
• we had some kind of micro-blog update feature (notifying about delays in chapters, talking about upcoming works, macro responses to comments, etc.) that isn't just rewriting your bio description.

 

[Syzoth]

Most of the stories that I've posted on Literotica are about my wife Amanda and, though she doesn't know about them, I write my stories as if they're love letters to her because I love her so much.

And, of course, many of my stories are based on unfilled fantasies, and the stories are my way of "living them out", I suppose.

 

[CherryCupcake]

Why do I write erotica. I've always written but never finished anything, I hated everything I wrote, it was all terrible and bad. During the pandemic I enjoyed an intense on-line relationship with a woman in England who was brilliant and imaginative and how had a taste and talent for role-play and the setting mattered. We 'played' one night, and the memory was so good I started to write it. Only a roleplay is not a story, an line-by-line descriptions of sex are not hot. So I adapted it, changed enough to make it a story, and put it here. People really liked it. I had a woman friend who told me she could never finish it because she got too turned on and needed relief.

That made me confident. So I started churning out more grabbing ideas from pictures, things I saw in the news. Fantasies I had, I invented characters and scenes, sometimes with research. And people kept liking it. I felt like I could write.

Then one day I started a role play with her. Only it couldn't be a role play it was the start of a story. because what happened then would lead to the police getting involved. within 60 days I had a 120,000 word novel.

I don't write as much erotica as I used to. There's no market for it, at least none that pays. But I've come to realize I might have the talent to publish in markets that do pay. That's my primary focus today. But, if I'm stuck on the books, and something turns me on, I'll still write erotica. It's a way of keeping up the momentum, and keeping my fingers on the keyboard.

 

[Bassytian]

I have always had a vivid imagination and wanted to write, I have also role played erotic and non-erotic roles for years. Tiafell and most of the characters in the series I am currently writing have been recurring characters in role play scenarios since 2017, though all of them have changed and evolved over the years. None of them have their original names either.

I recently turned 40, I don't know if it's the beginning of an early mid-life crisis or what, but something made me decide to get off my ass and finally write. I chose erotica because the femboy character that would become Tiafell was always a favorite of mine due to my attraction to people/characters like him. While I have non-erotic stories that have existed in my mind for years, the erotica I'm currently writing is a recent creation. I largely know how I want the entire story to play out, so thankfully I'm not suffering from writer's block at this time. I have a level of absurd humor in my sex scenes but I do try to keep them sexy too, the fantasy setting allows me a level of creative freedom in that regard.

I'm honing my technique and it's still far from perfect (not that it will ever be) but I'm coming into my own and gaining an audience little by little. It's enough to keep me motivated, I wouldn't change anything about it.