What’s been your most formative writing experience since being on Lit?

[SofiaLaFrench]

For me, it was my first story, Encounter at the movies, which wasn’t supposed to be a story at all. I was in the middle of writing Kyleigh’s Mom, my planned first story, and hit a wall. For three days I was stuck. I was haunting the forums and found a thread about sex in the movie theater. It inspired me and I wrote Encounter in just a few hours. Afterwards, Kyleigh’s Mom flowed through my fingers.

 

[EmilyMiller]

For me, it was my first story, Encounter at the movies, which wasn’t supposed to be a story at all. I was in the middle of writing Kyleigh’s Mom, my planned first story, and hit a wall. For three days I was stuck. I was haunting the forums and found a thread about sex in the movie theater. It inspired me and I wrote Encounter in just a few hours. Afterwards, Kyleigh’s Mom flowed through my fingers.

Sometimes what we write in between other things can turn out great

 

[Zootonius]

It could be writing a pure, totally unrealistic stroker and finding it was well-received and lots of fun.

The first story I published got good rating from the start. But lots of comments like "Get an editor!" I finally got an editor, but those first ratings implied I could at least write a good stroker.

 

[intim8]

It could be writing a 50k story when all your previous ones had been under 10k (or vice versa).

I don't know about "formative", but it was mighty encouraging to be able to do a six part series of 65K words completely pantsing it start to finish. It's far, far from perfect, but it holds together and moves along. It's the longest thing I've ever finished to the point of being edited and presentable. I have longer things written, but none that I can put a bow on and put out for reading.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Probably getting into a permanent writers/beta-readers group around 17 stories in. That's about when I started to feel like this was a full hobby and something I'd be doing a lot of and wanting to get better at.

 

[Lighthousenorth]

A Lit user wrote me he liked my style and wondered if I would be interested in a story idea he had. I expected a well developed plot, but the idea turned out to be not more than that I would write a story about me fucking his wife while he was watching. No clue what made him ask me, because almost all my stories are about gay sex and I even have a kind of aversion against stories of men "offering" their wifes. Okay, everybody should just do what they want, but it's not my thing.
But then I thought it would be a challenge to write the story but in a way the "I" in the story could really be me. That's what I did, though I ended up with some things I probably will never do in real. But hey, it's just a story.
https://literotica.com/s/meeting-in-the-meadow

 

[Rob_Royale]

When my second story was as well received as my first. That was the "aha" moment when I realized that my first wasn't a fluke and I was actually half decent at this.

 

[Seadog777]

I fractured my spine in August of 2023.

So finishing up my "Marriage and Depression" series by attacking physical therapy, in December is my most personal accomplishment so far on Lit, FOR NOW.

I am currently working on a semi-autobiographical story about how I met my now deceased friend/ex-girlfriend.

I walked her down the aisle when she got married and was there with her family when she passed.

That will be my answer, once it's written.

 

[STrent]

I think for me, given some of my stories happened to me (I want to emphasise that the more boring bits are more likely to be true…!) facing up to some pretty heavy stuff in the last week or so, where I’ve rewritten chapters about some pretty saddening encounters, has been the most formative writing experience.

I say this because there’s been a big element of affecting my mood materially. So being kind to one’s self and talking a break is absolutely necessary. That, and remembering that it was all part of a bigger story that now makes more sense in hindsight.

 

[THBGato]

Everything has been formative so far. The stories that inspired me, all the comments, the votes, the reviews from AlexBailey and Omenainen, the editors and beta readers I've been lucky enough to work with, the process itself - what I've found easy and what I've found hard. Shorter is definitely easier for me, but longer so much more rewarding. It's all formative.

Mind you, maybe that's because I'm relatively new to this. Maybe there will be a big formative moment in a few months that will make me go "Woah, so that's what Emily meant".

 

[STrent]

I fractured my spine in August of 2023.

So finishing up my "Marriage and Depression" series by attacking physical therapy, in December is my most personal accomplishment so far on Lit, FOR NOW.

I am currently working on a semi-autobiographical story about how I met my now deceased friend/ex-girlfriend.

I walked her down the aisle when she got married and was there with her family when she passed.

That will be my answer, once it's written.

I am heading over to your stories to read them.

Saluting the courage it takes to write the most personal stuff.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Again, I’ll hold off on my - rather obvious - one for a bit and let others post.

It could be a story that you thought yourself incapable of writing before.

It could be a story that was hated, but which gave you determination to prove people wrong.

It could be writing in a new category and this opening new creative channels for you.

It could be adopting a style that’s unnatural for you and managing to do a half decent job.

It could be writing a pure, totally unrealistic stroker and finding it was well-received and lots of fun.

It could be writing a 50k story when all your previous ones had been under 10k (or vice versa).

It could be something entirely different.

What was it for you?

Emily

I think several of these apply to me, but really it's about trying new categories. There was that time I wrote a hardcore cuckolding story and decided naively that Loving Wives was the least unsuitable place to post it. Whether or not it was formative, writing in LW was certainly a novel experience (and no, not I'm going over the details of that incident again).

Then, nearly two months ago, I sat down and churned out an 18-page short story in just under six hours as a challenge that I set myself. I wrote it as a stroke-story and my first attempt at Incest/Taboo, and when it was finally published under the title A Mother's Lust, I was blown away by how much people loved it. In fact, I wrote another chapter and turned it into a two-part series to conclude everything on a satisfying note.

Publishing in Incest/Taboo was definitely formative for me because I'd always thought in the back of my mind that incest is a line that was a little too icky to cross. That doesn't really square with my extensive experience writing for NC/R, and now that I've crossed the line into Incest/Taboo writing, the cognitive dissonance of avoiding one taboo category and relishing the other is gone.

 

[StillStunned]

Probably Fairytale of New York. I'm not much one for cathartic writing, but this one drew quite heavily on my own introversion. It was easy to write, but hard to keep writing, if that makes sense. Judging by the feedback, the rawness comes across quite well.

 

[subdudeme13]

Club Emily?

Emily

Can we have a club house, a tree house maybe?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Probably Smoking Hot, being the first story I wrote here that was total fiction, without being based on me or anyone I knew. There are traits shamelessly stolen from friends, family and myself, but the resulting characters are totally new. Characters who grow during the series, even. And then keep getting sequels.

Also managed to put much more plot than originally planned into Image Nine Point Four, described as a 'legal thriller'. I'm not sure Sidney Sheldon will be worried about a challenge for supremacy in the field of crime drama with dirty bits, but there's certainly much more BDSM than you'd ever get from John Grisham!

 

[32aa]

That’s so cool. And I kinda identify with it too. My academic and professional work is technical. Writing this stuff is so different.

Emily

Same here. Different and a whole lot more fun. I mean, writing, visualizing about how well lubricated pussy feels against the main character's cock, or how perfect the female character's cute little breasts are, is so much more fun than writing engineering reports.

 

[intim8]

writing, visualizing about how well lubricated pussy feels against the main character's cock, or how perfect the female character's cute little breasts are, is so much more fun than writing engineering reports.

Some of the stuff here describes those things in a way that still feels like an engineering report.

 

[32aa]

Some of the stuff here describes those things in a way that still feels like an engineering report.

You mean like, "Peg 'A' goes into Slot 'B'... Repeat as often as necessary"?

 

[samhasstories]

Might be too easy/obvious of an answer, but for me it was just publishing that first story. It's not my best work, nor is it my best performing, but it was sort of an experiment, just writing what I thought was hot to see how it landed. And my reaction to the response was, 'holy shit, people actually like this.' It felt like it opened some doors for me that I was previously just peaking through: I can write unashamedly about shit that turns me on, and just go for it, and it might not blow the roof off the building but people might actually read it and enjoy it.

I know I'm not breaking any records, but the view count of some of these still blows my mind. That first story has 67.8k views, which I guess is low compared to some I/T and generally more popular stories, but it still seems like a fake number. More than will ever lay eyes on my non-erotic stuff, to be sure.

 

[EmilyMiller]

That first story has 67.8k views, which I guess is low compared to some I/T and generally more popular stories, but it still seems like a fake number. More than will ever lay eyes on my non-erotic stuff, to be sure.

I have the opposite. Have a wholly factual article published elsewhere (not as Emily Miller obv) with 1.6 million views. I won’t ever achieve that with erotica.

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

I have the opposite. Have a wholly factual article published elsewhere (not as Emily Miller obv) with 1.6 million views. I won’t ever achieve that with erotica.

Emily

And - I think - four others with over 500,000 views.

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

Can we have a club house, a tree house maybe?

Sure. Whatever you desire.

Emily

 

[orangecurious]

just getting good votes on stories when I started... then I went away and forgot about the place, but had an idea for a story and, again, it was well received. Trying different things too, wring very long stories that get good votes and comments. Being able to let my mind run at times has been fun, my longest story just grew and grew as I let the characters enjoy their romance (knowing how it would end).

I didn't discover the forum until a few months ago, so another new level for me.

 

[lustychimera]

Not really the website itself but more the mindset of writing that first story. I'm weak at descriptions, and erotica forces me outside of my comfort zone since they're integral. It's a lot easier to slip into that mindset when writing a sexy story.

I really enjoyed @mildlyaroused 's use of metaphor and imagery. Just enough to stimulate but not enough to feel purple. Great job on that.

And it's a fun sandbox to play around with different styles of prose. The content, too, since there are such few limits on here.

You don't need rounds and rounds of critiques and revisions to get a decent reception. Just polish the first draft and send it. It allows for more practice doing different things. Write a couple characters, how they interact, get in, get out, be done, and move onto the next--like exercises.

 

[subdudeme13]

Sure. Whatever you desire.

Emily

What ever I desire? This could be dangerous.