"Where" do you write?

[darkride]

Hi,

Where do you do your writing? And by that I mean - when I started writing erotica for online forums, I was over on a site called Sex Stories Post Forum. It was a quiet spot - thought would be a good place to begin.

It had a messaging service for members, and so I would write a message to myself, and within that message I would draft my story. It had full html / formatting etc, so worked pretty well. Once complete, I could just copy and paste it into the applicable forum for the particular fetish.

I liked this option as I don't want to store my erotica on my computer for - reasons.

Sadly that site died a while ago, so I started writing my stories as draft emails to myself in Yahoo Mail. But, over the past few months or so I've noticed Yahoo becoming very odd / unreliable. It keeps adding paragraph returns randomly... and is getting very laggy as well.

So - where do you write?

(And, I just checked... Literotica doesn't let you message yourself... *pout*)

D.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Lit was the first place I found, and it suits me. I might put some things on AO3, but that's definitely down the track.

 

[StillStunned]

I just started writing on my computer, for my wife's amusement. She encouraged me to post my stories here. That's still the process: I write on my computer and copy-and-paste the text into the submissions box.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I am not embarrassed by what I write so it is all done on my computer at home.

I have heard some members here us the story text box in the submissions window on Literotica to compose their story, saving each entry as a draft until complete. You might stand the risk of losing portions if something glitches in the system, but nothing ventured...

 

[nice90sguy]

I have to say I'm in awe of people who can use the submissions box to write their stories. To have a complete story from start to finish that you can dump straight from your brain into an HTML textbox, with its crude editing features, is way beyond me!

 

[DustofFallenStars]

I just use the Google docs of one of my anonymous Google Idents. Then I can write on my phone while on public transport, going for a walk, waiting at the dentist/doctor/cinema/restaurant.

Then it's easy to swap back and forth to my desktop at home.

Plus all the collaboration/sharing options for cloning docs, granular sharing permissions, etc.

 

[Inkent]

I travel a fair amount for so often sit writing on my smartphone using Google docs.

Typically, I'll then do the final work on my pc using MS Word then have a friend who likes to read my stuff a pre-publish read. She gives a final once over for me with suggested edits.

Currently travelling in Germany with my wife and friend, we had a discussion over dinner about how I form ideas and they challenged me to wtite a piece using that evening as a seed.

I'm a light sleeper so over a couple days cobbled together a short story for them on my Smartphone in Google docs then pasted in Literoticas own editor for posting. Currently sitting pending, is a first publishing straight from my smartphone.

Whilst the phone is convenient to get a draft done, a story looks "different" when you can see the text in larger sections on a PC, so there's often some serious tweaking from that point.

Anyone else use a smartphone?

 

[nice90sguy]

I started writing erotica on an iPAQ PDA in the early 2000's. I used to spend my lunchbreaks in the local churchyard gobbling a sandwich and writing feverishly. It was a secret from everybody at the time, and I lived in a small apartment with my partner and boistrous noisy kids everywhere, so this was the only time/place Ihad to myself.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm a light sleeper so over a couple days cobbled together a short story for them on my Smartphone in Google docs then pasted in Literoticas own editor for posting. Currently sitting pending, is a first publishing straight from my smartphone.

Whilst the phone is convenient to get a draft done, a story looks "different" when you can see the text in larger sections on a PC, so there's often some serious tweaking from that point.

Anyone else use a smartphone?

Yes, almost all of my writing is done on my phone now, especially as the effort to sit at my desktop to edit is often too much. I've got a story nearly done that needs about an hour of tidying (I have multiple sections near the end that duplicate each other), and haven't got around to it in 5 months.

I really don't like Google Docs. I've used it a few times and once pasted text straight from it into Lit, only to find that it had pasted both deleted and replacement text in a dozen places.

WriterPad works nicely for drafts but doesn't have editing tools like Find, so I email my drafts to myself and ideally edit on the desktop, though my computer seems to be on the blink - works fine except on LibreOffice and Google Docs, where it slows to a painful crawl. Plain text copied from an email shouldn't be creating corrupt files. So my recent Christmas story is the only one I've edited in the Lit submissions page. Caught some unclosed italics and weird spacing and a couple actual-word typos.

 

[KeithD]

I write in one of my computers (home office desktop mainly, laptop when I'm on the go) in Word.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Everywhere. I have a big box, a laptop and a Surface Pro. All my stories are in a One Drive folder in the cloud that I can access with any of them. Most of my writing is done on my laptop at the desk in my home office, but some days, like today, you can find me at my favorite sports bar watching either the Cowboys of my Longhorns, happily typing away on my Surface Pro.

As for publishing, Lit is it...
I've looked around, not much but one or two other sites, and they just don't have what we have here, IMHO.

For the life of me, how do those of you that do, write stories on your damned phones I can barely send a text without rewriting half of it because I fat fingered something.

 

[SimonDoom]

I write everything on a desktop PC. Nobody ever uses it but me, so I have no security concerns.

 

[davion2308]

I feel like there are a few answers here.

I write in penzu.com because it's free, easy storage for my word-dump technique. I have 5 pages, maybe 40-odd stories and partials and WIPs in there. When I'm serious and I'm moving forward to submission, I'll move it to Google Docs so my beta reader to give me notes and provide feedback.

As to where in a physical sense: I like to write either in my basement by my little crafting area where I build models and dioramas or at the counter in my kitchen. Both have decent light and bring me joy when I do the work.

 

[ronde]

I write everything on my desk computer at home. I like the big screen and the clicky keyboard.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I write from my hobby room at the end of my work table. I write on my laptop that sits on a shelf and I have a nice monitor, keyboard, and mouse plugged in. Everything is at the correct height and is comfortable. I write on MSWord365 unless I feel the need while at work and then I use Google Docs on my phone and type with a Bluetooth keyboard.

A note to the OP. There are ways of locking and hiding files on one's home PC. I have done so in the past when my boys used our PCs when they were kids.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I wrote a few stories straight into the submission box here. Editing was a mess and lots of silly errors slipped through.
Now I mostly write on my laptop in Word. Some silly errors still slip through, but not as many.

 

[intim8]

I write everything on my desk computer at home. I like the big screen and the clicky keyboard.

Same here, including the clicky keyboard. I back my stuff up to a git repo on another computer I use as kind of a server. I do all my writing and editing in gedit, the Linux version of Notepad, but slightly better since it can have multiple files open in tabs and show them in a sidebar navigator, and it has a very basic spellchecker. Saves files as plain text without formatting cruft. KISS. Grammarly for the final proofreading. I don't use HTML formatting in my submissions, so far.

I'm sitting in a rickety but comfortable old office chair (it works for naps, too) at a plain but functional desk in a spare bedroom, cup of coffee in front of me, ashtray to one side, hacking away at the keys. My commute to work is to roll the chair three feet to the side to a different computer. During lulls in work I can slide back and hack out a few more pages.

I've only published on Lit, and two stories on Lush.

I recommend Eagle Tec keyboards, BTW. Cheap but just as good or better than the really expensive ones like Das, and last longer (but not forever). Really nice feel, blue backlit keys, open construction for easy cleaning, forty bucks. Best I've found, and I spent a long time looking.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

When not at home, typing at a coffee shop is a fun, pleasant experience. Gives me a chance to people watch and perhaps get struck by inspiration for my story.

 

[alohadave]

I write everything on my desk computer at home. I like the big screen and the clicky keyboard.

I do my initial drafts on my phone using Google Docs, mostly because I write at work while I have downtime on the road. So it's associated in my mind with drafting.

Editing and revision is done on my computer at home. At that point, the first draft is done and I'll only work on it on the computer from then on.

 

[silky52]

I have written, because I have not written for a while, on my PC in word. I simply encrypt the stories with a code. Even if someone got into my computer, they would not know the code, and my kids are all grown up and gone. I, as someone else said, can't imagine writing on a smartphone too small for me, fat-finger syndrome lol. I really have to get back into writing, but I do find it's something that one has to have the right mindset for, don't you? Or does it just come naturally to you guys?

 

[Duleigh]

I have always been a writer, I started writing in grade school, silly little stories that only my mom appreciated. When I entered the military as a young airman I wrote sarcastic stories that lamented the state of affairs I found myself in (I was in a fighter wing with ancient equipment that barely survived the Vietnam war, and my unit had 150 people arrested in a huge drug bust. It took years to rebuild that fighter wing) After retiring I found Lit and sent a few stories based on people I loved, then real life took over. My writing was all political and theological for a long time and then I said enough and started writing what I wanted to write here on lit. I've only posted a couple of stories on other sites but I don't know if anyone looked at them. I lost my log-in credentials so I don't go looking.

 

[darkride]

Thanks to all for the responses!

Have been getting frustrated with my current format, so will check out the above responses and find one that works for me, so I can finish that next damn chapter off hopefully before Christmas.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I have to say I'm in awe of people who can use the submissions box to write their stories. To have a complete story from start to finish that you can dump straight from your brain into an HTML textbox, with its crude editing features, is way beyond me!

It's usually beyond them too.

I write at my desktop. Any simple document or text editor will do.

I only submit stories here ... so far.

 

[MrPixel]

These days I write while on the sofa in the living room, the (large) dog cuddled up against me. Like right now.

As far as a place to store my works, it’s always local, on my computer(s), and backed-up between them and on USB sticks.

The “cloud” services such as Google Docs may be free or mostly free, but whether they “allow” erotica to be stored on their servers is subject to arbitrary policy changes.* You don’t want to have the only copy of your story(ies) suddenly vanish and your account terminated because of an unannounced TOU change.

* - Yes, they have AI processes that screen everything you upload. And, yes, they profile you from your writings, and sell those profiles to advertisers and who knows who else.

LitE is the only place I publish.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

I just use the Google docs of one of my anonymous Google Idents. Then I can write on my phone while on public transport, going for a walk, waiting at the dentist/doctor/cinema/restaurant.

Then it's easy to swap back and forth to my desktop at home.

Plus all the collaboration/sharing options for cloning docs, granular sharing permissions, etc.

Similarly, I’m using a (free) competitor to Google called ZOHO. Same deal: a mobile app for use on my phone, or access via computer; everything is stored in their cloud, unless I check a box for offline saving. It has decent grammar and style checker, which provides some rudimentary editor-type input, since I’m a punctuation moron at heart.