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

[Duleigh]

- I write because I can't do much else and I don't know how long I have left... so I write

- I write because TV is so horrible, so preachy, so divisive. I have a better story to tell... so I write

- I write because I have so many beautiful imaginary friends and I want everyone to meet them... so I write

 

[desecration]

Now I find myself drawn towards mainstream non-erotic.

The good thing is how Literotica covers a range from romance to serious social commentary like half of LW.

 

[gunhilltrain]

- I write because I can't do much else and I don't know how long I have left... so I write

- I write because TV is so horrible, so preachy, so divisive. I have a better story to tell... so I write

- I write because I have so many beautiful imaginary friends and I want everyone to meet them... so I write

Those are as good as any reasons. Cable TV looked promising ten to twenty years ago, but I don't think it panned out. I don't even have a TV now. I haven't been to the movies ever since I used to take my kids to them, like before 2010. There were some truly awful films in the first decades of this century, including the painfully unfunny This is the End, SuperBad (both with Michael Cera), and the bloated third version of King Kong.

I wouldn't want to be a filmmaker or a TV whatever-they're-called. Everything is micro-managed so nothing is spontaneous. If you write, you're responsible entirely for the output, however it goes. You have nothing but words to make it work.

 

[Duleigh]

Those are as good as any reasons. Cable TV looked promising ten to twenty years ago, but I don't think it panned out. I don't even have a TV now. I haven't been to the movies ever since I used to take my kids to them, like before 2010. There were some truly awful films in the first decades of this century, including the painfully unfunny This is the End, SuperBad (both with Michael Cera), and the bloated third version of King Kong.

I wouldn't want to be a filmmaker or a TV whatever they're called. Everything is micro-managed so nothing is spontaneous. If you write, you're responsible entirely for the output, however it goes. You have nothing but words to make it work.

I fully agree with you, so much is crap... I worked for the cable industry for 20 years. You know it's bad when the best written dramas available are all porn. I have a TV still, hooked up to a ROKU where I spend most of my viewing time (maybe 1 hour a day) watching the good stuff - Science documentaries, Historical documentaries, and Archer. (VERY guilty pleasure) I am also hooked on Cary Grant and the Pluto, Tubi, and Plex apps carry a lot of Cary Grant for free. The rest of the time I have an aquarium screen saver which is so much better than anything on Broadcast TV.

 

[Duleigh]

Regardless of what story is working it's way onto my keyboard, this is always my desired goal

 

[VallesMarineris]

I haven't been to the movies ever since I used to take my kids to them, like before 2010.

It may be time to try again. I gave up on movies when I had to get there 45 minutes early to get a good seat, then sit through endless loud commercials that I couldn't even mute.

But times have changed. I recently went to a performance of Dune 2. Awesome movie, true to the novel. The theater had reserved seating, so we showed up just before the start. The seats themselves were motorized Lay-Z-Boys. You could have food delivered right to your seat during the movie. Different experience.

 

[Paul_Chance]

I write because I enjoy it. I like stories, both telling them and reading them.

I wouldn't change anything about writing.

There are dozens of "If I was the Ruler of Lit" threads, so I've got nothing to add to it. I enjoy the site. If I didn't write here, I'd write somewhere else. It's not perfect, but nothing is.

I'm pretty simple that way.

 

[AlinaX]

Regardless of what story is working it's way onto my keyboard, this is always my desired goal
View attachment 2338402

I have that computer...

ETA: Do people still say 'computer'?

 

[StillStunned]

On the subject of "things I'd change", I'd like the reading audience to be a bit more open-minded about non-heterosexual/lesbian scenes. It feels wrong that I have to exclude large groups of characters from hooking up out of fear of offending my readers.

 

[AlinaX]

Wait, what? People object to lesbian scenes?

 

[StillStunned]

Wait, what? People object to lesbian scenes?

Sorry, that was meant as "non-(heterosexual/lesbian) scenes".

Although I'm sure there are plenty of people who object to lesbian sex too.

 

[AlinaX]

Ah, I see. Yes.

 

[AchtungNight]

I’ve done a few gay hookups in my stories. Never gotten any complaints. If you want to do a full on story about it I think there’s a category for that. It’s not something I’m into, so I haven’t detailed any gay sex in my work, but the hookups are mentioned.

 

[Duleigh]

I have that computer...

ETA: Do people still say 'computer'?

yes, it's still a popular term for desktop and sometimes a laptop.
Fun fact - the original laptops were called laptops because they were so damn heavy that's as high as the average person could lift them.

 

[StillStunned]

I’ve done a few gay hookups in my stories. Never gotten any complaints. If you want to do a full on story about it I think there’s a category for that. It’s not something I’m into, so I haven’t detailed any gay sex in my work, but the hookups are mentioned.

It's not my thing either, IRL, but then neither is sex with anyone except my wife. I've enjoyed writing scenes with MMF threesomes and with transgender women, and my wife has enjoyed me reading them out to her. It just feels restrictive that my stories would have to go into separate categories if I want to include those elements with any degree of detail.

 

[AG31]

and literary erotica basically serves as a framework from which you can explore just about anything else. It's like offensive speech in general... it abolishes the rules, and so you can finally speak clearly.

I agree!

Reminds me of Gravity's Rainbow and Naked Lunch of course

Just requested them from the library. I think I've read both, but long ago. Don't remember.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It may be time to try again. I gave up on movies when I had to get there 45 minutes early to get a good seat, then sit through endless loud commercials that I couldn't even mute.

But times have changed. I recently went to a performance of Dune 2. Awesome movie, true to the novel. The theater had reserved seating, so we showed up just before the start. The seats themselves were motorized Lay-Z-Boys. You could have food delivered right to your seat during the movie. Different experience.

You may be right. Maybe part of the problem is me. At 68, a lot of things have long since lost their novelty. (Lit hasn't, yet - but that's only been six years.) I admit, I can't afford the ticket prices anyway.

Do you remember when there were no commercials, there were maybe two trailers, and the house lights were on when you came in? That sort of changed gradually, and I'm remembering the way it was forty or fifty years ago. Maybe you're not that old.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Sorry, that was meant as "non-(heterosexual/lesbian) scenes".

Although I'm sure there are plenty of people who object to lesbian sex too.

It's kind of amazing that people would come to a site like this and then object to to that. What did they expect? Everything here has a category and tags, so one can usually pick whatever one wishes to read.

 

[AlinaX]

Dune 2. Awesome movie, true to the novel.

Yes and no. Spectacular, no question, but the emotional heart of it was cut out.

 

[desecration]

All the remakes are insane and stupid, in addition to the usual propaganda and product placement.

 

[Paul_Chance]

You should never write from fear of what the reception will be.

 

[StillStunned]

You should never write from fear of what the reception will be.

It's not the writing, it's the publication.

 

[desecration]

At this point, so much is getting published that it is difficult for new authors to get noticed.

 

[AlinaX]

I'm not sure that's necessarily true, in that I don't think readers just read particular authors. They scan the new stories in the categories they like to read, and if you have a title or description that catches their interest, they'll give it a go. So you should get a few hundred reads at least in the first couple of days after publication, and if you write well the readers may go looking for your other stories.

Or am I missing the point?

 

[desecration]

I'm not sure that's necessarily true, in that I don't think readers just read particular authors.

I should have clarified: in the industry in general, not just here. There's a glut. Those nasty supply-demand curves show up everywhere.