Do people really want to read slowburns?

[TheNovelist2000]

Yesterday, I had an idea about a couple vacationing in a remote mountain cabin only to encounter a group of rowdy teenagers moving into the cabin down the trail. A series of images rushed into my head. The wife, Kimberly, sitting on the lap of someone ten years younger than her, and the husband watching as the sadistic teenagers---three boys and one girl, all above 18, of course---turned a game of 'spin the bottle' into the dismantling of their relationship and corruption of Kimberly. A very exciting prospect. I started the story with these two paragraphs.

Whenever I had imagined my wife sitting on another man’s lap, I had always felt a flurry of emotions. There was the obvious lust. Excitement. A bit of jealousy. The fear that I would lose her. All those feelings had made my jerk-off sessions extremely potent, with me cumming in just a few minutes.

What I had never imagined feeling was disbelief. The first time Kimberly sat on another man, I was thoroughly shocked. I knew she was about to do it. We’d all been talking about it. They’d all been egging her on to do it. But seeing her crawl from beside me to that young man across the circle was unlike anything I’d ever imagined. My eyes certainly saw it happen. My dick for sure felt it. But my brain refused to register it. I watched her climb over his lap, settling down over his crotch, as her black skirt hiked up and the young man put a hand around her waist, pulling her in close. That was the beginning of what would later become the longest day of my life.

So far so good. The problem arrived when I started writing about how the trip happened. I wrote about their frustration with the two toddlers, how sex became infrequent, and why they chose a mountain cabin as the place for their romantic getaway. This was followed by the explanation of how Kimberly was really an exhibitionist, how awkward it can be to have sex on the ground in the woods or standing while leaning against a tree. I wrote about a game they played at home called the 'Ten-Meter Dash', an exhibitionist game where Kimberly was made to run from their bedroom to the yard, find the hidden toy and run back to the bedroom totally naked. This was followed by another paragraph about how this game was modified to be played in the woods.

After all that, Kimberly finally met the teenagers while making her 'Ten-Meter Dash', taking the story back to the premise. From that point onward, it would be another four or five paragraphs before she would be on one of the teenager' lap.

Here is the question: Would people read all that patiently until the premise finally arrives or would they back out?

I can understand how all this background info would be lapped up if this was indeed an exhibitionist story. But this isn't. This is a cuck story, so if I was the reader, I would probably click back out even before the 'Ten-Meter Dash' is introduced.

Another question: In speech, being able to get straight to the point is often a virtue. Why do we encourage slowburns when it comes to erotica? I feel 'slowburn' writers cheat their readers by hooking them with a certain premise and then put whatever they want in the story.

Or it might very well be the case that you might not call this story a slowburn or that it is an entirely different writing problem, where I've put the wrong details to support the premise. If that's the case, please let me know down below. What details would you have put to bring the story to light?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Another question: In speech, being able to get straight to the point is often a virtue. Why do we encourage slowburns when it comes to erotica? I feel 'slowburn' writers cheat their readers by hooking them with a certain premise and then put whatever they want in the story.

I can't speak for how cuckolds specifically will take a slow burn but speech is speech and story is story. Slowburn is more popular with readers who prefer plot because they want to see/feel the plot unfold, to speculate what might happen next and to watch it escalate and find out where the path leads, what twists may be in that path, etc.

Kink readers don;t want that. Just slam them over the head with that kink.

However, what you describe, doesn't look like that slow of a burn. You open with that HUGE promise of that kink, and you get right back to the story within four or five paragraphs, as you say. Four or five paragraphs (sounds like info dump exposition at first glance going by what you tell) is not a slow burn. Like at all. You might not even be halfway down the first lit page. So I think that you're fine with the cuckold kink crowd regardless.

Slow burn is 20k words and no sex until 16k. Slowburn is a 12 chapter series with no sex in the first four or five chapters. Slowburn is multiple (lit) pages of tease and denial. You have the wife in the clutches of a group of horny teens right on page 1.

 

[Aussieguy8]

People are very varied when it comes to what they like. Best thing to do is expectation management. Just put slow boil in the tags and you'll get the people who like that kind of stuff. Same with the rest of the tags. People are happy to go a bit slower if they know they will like the destination.

Personally I wouldn't read it because the "they are all over 18, trust me bro" isn't for me out but each to their own. I just don't get why people don't make everyone "college age". But that is a side discussion I won't derail the conversation with.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

I can't speak for how cuckolds specifically will take a slow burn but speech is speech and story is story. Slowburn is more popular with readers who prefer plot because they want to see/feel the plot unfold, to speculate what might happen next and to watch it escalate and find out where the path leads, what twists may be in that path, etc.

Kink readers don;t want that. Just slam them over the head with that kink.

However, what you describe, doesn't look like that slow of a burn. You open with that HUGE promise of that kink, and you get right back to the story within four or five paragraphs, as you say. Four or five paragraphs (sounds like info dump exposition at first glance going by what you tell) is not a slow burn. Like at all. You might not even be halfway down the first lit page. So I think that you're fine with the cuckold kink crowd regardless.

Slow burn is 20k words and no sex until 16k. Slowburn is a 12 chapter series with no sex in the first four or five chapters. Slowburn is multiple (lit) pages of tease and denial. You have the wife in the clutches of a group of horny teens right on page 1.

Okay. This is surprisingly elucidating. I agree with almost everything you've said. Especially the part about kink readers. There is an BDSM author I often read here. She would often start her stories with what I would consider a very improbable premise (like a mom submitting to an ex-girlfriend from college) without much plotting to get to that premise, but I would be glued to the screen every time.

I couldn't imagine reading 16k words just to get to sex though. I would be a hell beyond expression. But, as people often say, to each their own.

 

[Britva415]

Why do we encourage slowburns when it comes to erotica?

What you described wasn't what I'd call slow burn at all. It's what I call "no burn." Nothing you described was creating anticipation, building expectation, tugging at any heart strings, creating a desire in the reader to see tension get resolved.

So, do people like slow burn? Some people, yes, but only as long as it's burning.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

People are very varied when it comes to what they like. Best thing to do is expectation management. Just put slow boil in the tags and you'll get the people who like that kind of stuff. Same with the rest of the tags. People are happy to go a bit slower if they know they will like the destination.

What pink_silk_glove wrote really hit me. The solution isn't to write a slowburn that I don't appreciate. Instead, I should be thinking like a 'kink writer'. Often, I feel the need to set up the premise with background info or a long explanation to sell the story, but as she said, it is hardly necessary with 'kink readers'. Instead, I should tackle the premise in the first few paragraphs while making the story as plausible as possible, as much as the constraints of a 'stroker' would allow me.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

What you described wasn't what I'd call slow burn at all. It's what I call "no burn." Nothing you described was creating anticipation, building expectation, tugging at any heart strings, creating a desire in the reader to see tension get resolved.

So, do people like slow burn? Some people, yes, but only as long as it's burning.

So, you mean the burning should only be about the kink rather than the practical details of how such a premise would come to pass in real life. For example, in a cuck story, should the build-up mainly be about their tendencies for cucking or aspects of their lives directly related to cucking? (like the husband not being able to satisfy the wife or him having a small penis, etc?) Rather than talking about their vanilla history?

 

[Britva415]

So, you mean the burning should only be about the kink

No

 

[THBGato]

Yes, when the kink* we're after is the slow build up of feelings, the growth of the attraction, the overcoming of hang ups and barriers and social conditioning.

Then, all of that dialogue and flirtation and, dare I say it, plot, actually becomes delivery of the kink*.

*May not actually be a kink, as surely this is pretty mainstream and aren't kinks, by definition, minority interests?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

My question is: if you don't want to write slowburn plots and you prefer quick hit stroke, why are you called TheNovelist? : P

 

[TheNovelist2000]

My question is: if you don't want to write slowburn plots and you prefer quick hit stroke, why are you called TheNovelist? : P

Good question. Because novels were what pulled me into writing. My first ever story written was an 80,000-word long saga about a sailor who is shipwrecked and stranded on an island and stumbles upon a mermaid mother-daughter duo. The first 20k was about the drama on the ship, with many plot and sub-plots. It was fun writing the story, NGL. But I find strokers to be a more sophisticated, more difficult-to-write form of erotica. An ideal to strive for. And, to this day, I struggle to write strokers.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

Slow burn is gradual evolution. So it is the time from the arrival to the lap. What you provided is rather overexplaining. And having the teenagers arrive while she does the dash is actually the opposite of a slow burn. People arriving to a naked woman is to jump into the middle.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

Then it is teenagers. Do teenagers sadistically dismantle a marriage? Possibly, but unlikely. So the slow burn would be to show their growing confidence. The subtle hints the couple give them to proceed, etc.

 

[Hampshiregirl]

Interesting discussion; thanks OP for initiating it.

I'm very much a newbie here, but one of my earliest stories featured hot sex in the opening paragraph (Beth & Grace chapter 1) before backtracking to tell the preceding story. I've never been all that comfortable with that story, because I now feel like I was writing for the audience rather than myself.

You know, 'get some action in at the start to hook those horny Lit readers'.

Recent stories of mine are more slow burn, because that's, it turns out, what I enjoy writing. Sure, there's hot content, but I prefer to develop characters and context before launching into rude stuff.

TLDR: I write in a style that I enjoy. That's slow(ish) burn, so that's what I do.

HG xx

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

I think the 10m dash is a very effective way of showing her nature. But it causes the narrative problem that this is a game playing on her humiliation and where he is in control. But if he is then cucked by the teenagers it makes her dominant and him humiliated.
So you must decide which of the two has agency.

 

[Dodola]

As a reader, I prefer slow burns and search for stories with that tag.
Not every long story is a slow burn, though, because it's not a trope.

It usually means there's going to be a relationship(s) that takes a long time to develop, which often means there will be more character development and a plot that isn't primarily focused on sex, although many have sexy scenes embedded.
I don't think many women come here just to masturbate to quick graphic sex stories, at least I don't, and I suspect that's true for the majority. I'm much more likely to comment to writers who've made me feel emotional, rather than aroused. If they accomplish both, I'll typically follow them and read everything they publish.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think women tend to read and then masturbate after, having got in the mood.

And can enjoy either quick filthy stories, or long intimate stories about developing sexual relationships - though I actually seem to get more comments from men on my slow burn stories. In my book, a slow burn needs to show emotional development and what is changing in the characters' heads, as well as them getting to know each other better, leading to resolution.

I have a series where a couple have a two-night stand in the first story, become friends with benefits in the second, and conclude they might actually be in a relationship in the third. There's sex episodes all long, and a lot of talking about sex and other stuff. Readers either loved or hated it. Same for my other long stories, actually.

The best you can do for Lit is to put your tags at the start of the story, so readers actually see them and can see what sort of story it is.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

I think the 10m dash is a very effective way of showing her nature. But it causes the narrative problem that this is a game playing on her humiliation and where he is in control. But if he is then cucked by the teenagers it makes her dominant and him humiliated.
So you must decide which of the two has agency

The original plan was to not let the teenagers see her while she was doing the dash. She was supposed to see the pick-up parked in front of their cabin, freak out, lose the kettle, which was part of the game and which she was supposed to fill with water and bring back up, and run back to her own cabin. Then, the couple would go find the kettle together, fully dressed. So, the problem arises here. If we follow this plan, I have to write a whole scene of them getting to know each other until she is back up on one of the boys' lap, which I find to be a total turn-off.

 

[SimonDoom]

There are plenty of readers here who like a slow burn story. They may not be a majority, but there are plenty of them.

My concern would be less about the absolute length of the story or the portion of the story that passes without sex than the quantity of flashbacks you seem to want to add to your story. Slow burn doesn't necessarily mean lots of flashbacks. Some flashbacks can be done, but too many will weigh down the story, whether or not it's a slow burn. I would suggest trying to trim the back story and flash backs to what you truly need to tell the story in the present.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

There are plenty of readers here who like a slow burn story. They may not be a majority, but there are plenty of them.

My concern would be less about the absolute length of the story or the portion of the story that passes without sex than the quantity of flashbacks you seem to want to add to your story. Slow burn doesn't necessarily mean lots of flashbacks. Some flashbacks can be done, but too many will weigh down the story, whether or not it's a slow burn. I would suggest trying to trim the back story and flash backs to what you truly need to tell the story in the present.

Yes, I feel the focus was off in my original plan. I should have focused on writing about the mutual attraction between the female lead and the teenagers rather than about the couple's history in the woods. I would still keep the husband's POV, but I would let him notice the changes in her as the teenagers arrive at their cabin.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes, I feel the focus was off in my original plan. I should have focused on writing about the mutual attraction between the female lead and the teenagers rather than about the couple's history in the woods. I would still keep the husband's POV, but I would let him notice the changes in her as the teenagers arrive at their cabin.

Another key thing for you to work out is whether this is a happy cuck story or a sad cuck story. At the beginning you describe the incident as "dismantling" the relationship, which makes it sound sad. An alternative would be a situation where the husband is cucked but enjoys it, or where he even helps bring it about. The way you handle the backstory and the buildup will depend on which of the types of cuck story you want. I personally prefer happy erotic stories, but that may not be what you want to tell.

 

[Husky_Embrace]

<...>
Why do we encourage slowburns when it comes to erotica? I feel 'slowburn' writers cheat their readers by hooking them with a certain premise and then put whatever they want in the story.

Or it might very well be the case that you might not call this story a slowburn or that it is an entirely different writing problem, where I've put the wrong details to support the premise. If that's the case, please let me know down below. What details would you have put to bring the story to light?

I feel that there's too much focus on the erotica part. It's Lit first, erotica second

Sex only has value in reference to something. I know we can churn out graphic sex scenes all day. Would anyone read them? People would get bored pretty quick.

Now if we add another layer, like a premise, we already get slews of people reading them. Look at the incest category for example. Plenty of them have a thinner story than the average amateur porn video. If you remove the family connection, you often are left with just sex and some unbelievable setup. We're reading it because the connections have impact. The story has impact.

Personally I like to pad that framework. It's not just two people fucking. It's two people fucking with reasons. Add in themes, plots and more. It must mean something if they fuck.

A slow burn can be great. Many people might just come for a quick read and be out. However, you can actually reach some people and touch their minds and not just their privates. Yes you're losing the ones that look for something short, but many choices lose interested people. That's not why you shouldn't.

If you feel there truly is not enough sex, you can keep people interested by sprinkling in some sex in other ways. Ways that do not impact the story, or merely show their desires. An example, imagine them at a public bar. Her cleavage is too much for him. As she's talking he briefly imagines how they would fuck on the bar. It gives a small insight of what could come, lets you know a desire, and doesn't resolve any sexual desires. It only enhances them. So when they do finally fuck, you can live with his desire finally being fulfilled.

For your story they can think about the teenagers. Maybe Kimberly is reminded of her husband when they were younger, when sex was a different exciting than now. Maybe her husband transforms into the teenager. The husband could not happy about the intrusive thoughts, imagining the teenagers fucking his wife in graphic detail. You could even change his stance as he imagines it in too much detail, finding himself angry and... Turned on?

The erotica is also larger than just sex. The teenagers could see her topless, or she could see them skinny dipping into the lake nearby.

A slow burn can have plenty of sex, but without the pay-off.

 

[SpecterNecter]

Why not just infuse the 'slow burn' with bits of kink to keep everyone happy? I know there are some on here that think their 'art' can't be compromised but if their 'art' isn't read then it's just a lot of nothing.

 

[SpecterNecter]

There is a hall of fame slow burn story on here I've tried to read so many times ..just can't do it. It's like .....Enough already!!!!!

 

[TarnishedPenny]

As many have already noted, tastes vary. I have myself written straight-to-the-action tales and ones with extended buildup. I've received positive comment on both so, in general, yes, some people very much like (and, indeed, in some cases prefer) a long, slow burn.

Without commenting on the particular story you outline, I'll take a shot at one question.

In speech, being able to get straight to the point is often a virtue. Why do we encourage slowburns when it comes to erotica? I feel 'slowburn' writers cheat their readers by hooking them with a certain premise and then put whatever they want in the story.

Let me give you an analogy. In sex, a couple can have a lot of foreplay, build up the steam, work on anticipation. On the other hand, 'foreplay' can be as little as an elbow in the other's ribs and a whispered, "You awake?" before jumping on and humping like rabbits. Both are equally valid and I suspect most couples have indulged in both, but I personally think a slow-burn building of sexual tension and arousal can be a delightful thing to build into a story.