Why did you start writing erotica? Why do you continue writing erotica?

[Seadog777]

Awww, that’s super sweet… awesome to hear you all have such a close relationship! You sound like a great big brother.

I suppose I might be overthinking things, eh, worse case I’m sure we’ll get a good laugh out of it! None of my sibs are exactly prude or anything like that.

Thank you.
I certainly have my moments of greatness and my own moments of being a pain in the ass, as well.

Families are all different.
I don't pass judgement of any kind.

We got this close because our parents were......just not great.
Had to rely on each other.

 

[Duleigh]

I just started writing erotica because I thought I could do it

And I guess I can.

 

[Altissimus]

Wrote my first in about 2008, for a UK BDSM website called Informed Consent - which sadly doesn't exist anymore. They had a forum, personal ads, a place for stories, and most of the latter were pretty shit. So I thought, what the hell - maybe I'd throw one or two up myself. Moved them to Lit a year later. It was six years on that I added to my Lit repository, with a 3-part story that someone had requested, taking my total to 5. Eight years after that (this year) I returned to Lit, and have added 19 more stories so far. 20, counting the one that'll be published tomorrow.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I had never heard of Literotica since I mostly read main stream fiction and like to write to romance. When I found it and read a few stories, I thought it might be fun to do one myself. 'Nice Spread' was supposed to be a one and done, till I wrote another one that got pretty good reviews. That was over five years ago. And I think it's fair to say that it's become a bit of an addiction. Only a few people know what I write, like my other half, who kindly gives my stuff a read through before I submit it. Although we still miss stuff, at least I've got some support at home.

 

[Altissimus]

Sound like fun sisters.

We are family
I got all my sisters with me

 

[XerXesXu]

Started – in 2005 after retiring from my main recreational activity. With spare time I wanted to record an eye-opening passage in my life that necessarily involved sex. How to write about sex? - I discovered Lit. Did I learn the right or the wrong lessons?

Continue – just a little, to contribute to Lit. Most of my escapist writing is conventional, ‘airport blockbuster’ type of themes, lots of action, a few oblique references to sex. It’s more escapist fun to write than read.

I’ve one WIP intended for Lit. It’s confected from a rather tawdry incident I recall, but should appeal to several fetishes among Lit readers. I keep pressing pause – is it too tasteless? I doubt it.

 

[dadadadiox]

As a long time reader of erotica I started writing when I started feeling a rapidly diminishing return to reading the next story. I felt like it was getting repetitive. And what would make it better, getting closer to the stories I wanted to read, with characters I wanted to read, focused on aspects I wanted focused on, could only happen if I wrote the stories myself.

Once I got started, there are several forces that keep me going.
(1) Getting better, whether it is by quantifiable or non-quantifiable criteria. Lit provides a venue for quantifiable criteria like all the stats. Then there is the non quantifiable stuff: you knowing--regardless of the external feedback--that it is a better story line or more elegant writing.
(2) Once you have started a story, or come up with an idea, a sense of duty and loyalty to your characters. If started, their stories must be finished. If not yet started, their stories must be told. For me, that is particularly true with my FMCs, who I feel are a bit imaginary girlfriends. KInd of like a Pygmalion complex.
(3) Once you have put yourself out there, there is also some (lesser) duty to your readers. Especially as they begin to accrue. What brought them to you is flavor of story that is uniquely yours. If you stop they will be ok, there are plenty of adjacent flavors. But yours is unique and will be gone.

What about you?

I would consider myself new to writing erotica, but not new to writing. I tried writing erotic scenes into my stories many years ago but never felt I was any good at it. I still feel that way but I'm now older and give fewer fucks so I'm just doing it and working that creative writing muscle. As you stated, erotica is repetitive. My scenes, and maybe yours as well, are no less repetitive than those we feel are bordering on monotony.

How many words are there for cock? I'm not asking anyone to list them. It's the same for pussy and every other part of the anatomy as well as the verbs and adjectives commonly used in erotica. We all have a sex thesaurus in our brain and Google to find more... and it's still repetitive! If you write about sports, cars, or any specific topic you'll have the same problem.

This is why erotic scenes are a minor part of my writing even when sex is a major theme. Even in writing erotica, I feel the tedium.

It's all about the characters; their backstories, fears, fetishes, vulnerability, desires, and motivations. I don't care if you like or loathe my characters as long as they make you feel something. I prefer the MCs to be morally dubious at times but give you hope through the good deeds they do. I would not call them antiheroes, because I don't do heroes, but they're anti-protagonists at times. If you get a reader to switch between loving and hating the same character, you've created an emotional ride for them.

You're now writing your stories and likely reading less because you need characters to identify with and the best way to have that is to create your own. That's literally why I started writing years ago. I went from voracious reader to hack writer doing his own thing almost overnight. My reading input is a fraction of what it was thirty years ago. That's not a brag or a whine, it's just a fact. I only have so much free time. I choose writing over reading.

I've been here 18 years and only started submitting stories over the last two years - with a big gap after a rejected chapter made me butt hurt - and I'm just finishing that story. Erotica is like a final frontier for me. I had to jump in and just do it, cringe at the results, do it again, and learn the ropes.

I had a chuckle when you wrote 'sense of duty' to your characters, and then also to the reader. Maybe I'm a jerk for not feeling that way. If someone likes it, great... if not, don't read it. There's so much out there. Move on and go find what you want to read.

Good topic BTW.
dadadadiox

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Why did I start writing?
I wanted to put some of my sexual fantasies in a story, to give them life in a way. Also, I really wanted to see if I can write with decent skill. Over time, my ambitions grew and I wanted to see if I can create a story series the size of a novel and keep developing the characters and the world.

Why do I keep writing?
I have no bloody idea.

 

[Altissimus]

I had a chuckle when you wrote 'sense of duty' to your characters, and then also to the reader. Maybe I'm a jerk for not feeling that way. If someone likes it, great... if not, don't read it.

Yeah. On the subject of 'duty to the reader', I used to worry about 1-bombs far more than I do now (or at least, that's what I tell myself).

Someone will always 1-bomb your story. Death and taxes. Thing is, someone else will drop a comment saying how much they appreciated it. I write for them, and for me, because I want to. Screw the 1-bombers, who 99% of the time haven't even read the damn thing anyway. I've found the scores balance out, over time.

 

[Altissimus]

I started writing because I needed to get ideas out of my head and onto paper. I had a break of several years and wrote some more. I don't know if I'll write erotica again because I feel I've said everything I wanted to, for the time being anyway.

I've been there on occasion, but eventually ended up writing again. I have found r/writingprompts on reddit to be entertaining, from time to time - and for a change of pace. I've also really enjoyed writing for other people, when they've come to me with a premise. Their premise, my words - I find that rewarding, and it keeps it fresh. My last three stories have followed that approach.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Writing is a sandbox and sometimes it's just fun to make the action figures kiss.

 

[Fatdog25]

I found Lit through an article in my news feed back in January '23. Don't remember the crux of the article, only that it had to do with erotica in general. This site was on a short list of places to find it online. I checked it out, found some stories that I liked, and when the search for more stories like the initial ones came up dry around April...I figured "What the hell, why not?"

It took four tries to come up with something I thought might be worth reading so I put it up. Before that story, the last piece of creative writing I had done had been more than 40 years ago, in high school. I barely passed that class, but to be fair I hated high school English classes in general.

That story also marked the first time that a person other than an English teacher had read anything I had written creatively. I have written many things over the course of my working life so it's not like writing itself was new to me, just creative writing. All because I ran out of things I wanted to read here and thought I could do a halfway decent job of it myself.

I'm continuing because there are people here who read what I write. I really didn't expect the response that I got from my first two stories and I was completely floored by the response to my third one, for Nude Day.

I've gotten a few negative comments (some of them deserved and taken to heart) and a lot of good ones.

I found this place. I hang out on the fringes for now, learning who's who and soaking up the collective wisdom provided free of charge. It helps me get through some of the tougher days. It's made me question what I believe about certain kinks and why. It lets me create something that's solely mine. My stories succeed or fail based on my ability to get what I imagine in my head down in words. In the end, I think it's that challenge that will keep me writing from now on.

 

[John_Vandermeer]

I would consider myself new to writing erotica, but not new to writing. I tried writing erotic scenes into my stories many years ago but never felt I was any good at it. I still feel that way but I'm now older and give fewer fucks so I'm just doing it and working that creative writing muscle. As you stated, erotica is repetitive. My scenes, and maybe yours as well, are no less repetitive than those we feel are bordering on monotony.

How many words are there for cock? I'm not asking anyone to list them. It's the same for pussy and every other part of the anatomy as well as the verbs and adjectives commonly used in erotica. We all have a sex thesaurus in our brain and Google to find more... and it's still repetitive! If you write about sports, cars, or any specific topic you'll have the same problem.

This is why erotic scenes are a minor part of my writing even when sex is a major theme. Even in writing erotica, I feel the tedium.

It's all about the characters; their backstories, fears, fetishes, vulnerability, desires, and motivations. I don't care if you like or loathe my characters as long as they make you feel something. I prefer the MCs to be morally dubious at times but give you hope through the good deeds they do. I would not call them antiheroes, because I don't do heroes, but they're anti-protagonists at times. If you get a reader to switch between loving and hating the same character, you've created an emotional ride for them.

You're now writing your stories and likely reading less because you need characters to identify with and the best way to have that is to create your own. That's literally why I started writing years ago. I went from voracious reader to hack writer doing his own thing almost overnight. My reading input is a fraction of what it was thirty years ago. That's not a brag or a whine, it's just a fact. I only have so much free time. I choose writing over reading.

I've been here 18 years and only started submitting stories over the last two years - with a big gap after a rejected chapter made me butt hurt - and I'm just finishing that story. Erotica is like a final frontier for me. I had to jump in and just do it, cringe at the results, do it again, and learn the ropes.

I had a chuckle when you wrote 'sense of duty' to your characters, and then also to the reader. Maybe I'm a jerk for not feeling that way. If someone likes it, great... if not, don't read it. There's so much out there. Move on and go find what you want to read.

Good topic BTW.
dadadadiox

To be clear when I talk of duty to the reader I am not talking about 1 bombers and other haters. I am talking about those who say "love it! More please!" I wont extend a story for them. But I do feel some sense I should finish any incomplete (ie, multichapter) story for them.

 

[FifthEstate]

I was a reader on Lit for years. I travel for my job and found writing to be a great way to pass time on the road. I wrote “UCLA To Big D” in its entirety (350k words) before I ever published a single word. I broke it into 18 chapters and published it. I thought it would be the only thing I would ever write. Five years later my 40th story will publish tomorrow. Thanks LitE

 

[DeLaFaye]

I wrote a traditional (non-erotic? Idk what you want to call it) manuscript and some of the scenes were getting too spicy. I thought I'd write up some erotic stuff to kind of get it out of my system. That didn't work, but I tone it down outside of here, going spans of time without writing here when I have deadlines elsewhere.

I keep writing here because it is a good outlet. It's fun. Feedback and validation is much quicker, obviously, than anything traditionally published. And I keep thinking of pervy ideas where the sex definitely puts the story over the top.

 

[oneagainst]

To be clear when I talk of duty to the reader I am not talking about 1 bombers and other haters. I am talking about those who say "love it! More please!" I wont extend a story for them. But I do feel some sense I should finish any incomplete (ie, multichapter) story for them.

I've come to a different take, I think, after 120 stories. The only thing we owe the reader is to finish the story and not leave it hanging out fading out. Beyond that, strap in dear reader, and remember to keep arms and legs inside the ride at all times. It's our job to deliver the wide blue yonder, no more, no less.

 

[ElvieG]

When I met my future husband, he was a seafarer. I'd see him for two or three days every two months, and the rest of the time we wrote each other letters that we received in bundles when his ship arrived at a port. After the first few exchanges, the letters became very graphic, but there are only so many times that you can write, "I want to fuck you," before it becomes meaningless, so I began to dress my desires up as stories. I joined an online writers' forum (not Lit) and began trying to write stuff that had some merit apart from making me wet and my guy play with himself.

I returned to Lit recently after a very long absence because I started writing again after a long and intense flirtation with a woman. Both of us were old enough to know what we wanted and that our desires were not really compatible, so our relationship never progressed beyond some rather embarrassing conversations. In the aftermath of this failure, I began amusing myself (and my hubby) by making this woman the heroine of some very explicit stories. I'm probably going to continue to post stories on Lit when I've written something worth reading.

 

[sixfoot4]

I don't publish on Literotica. I write short, erotic, hot stories to arouse the reader, girls and guys..and we take 'things' from there...

 

[TheOtherTeacher]

I started writing erotica because of NaNoWriMo. (basically the idea is you write a book in just 1 month).

I went to a weekly support group during the month, and we took turns reading something we had recently written.

After, one more experienced writer gave me advise, saying i focused on what the character SAW, but not what the character FELT, SMELLED, TASTED etc. And she advised me to try writing an erotic story. Because sex is barely visual. Especially in the dark. So you need to focus on the other senses.

So, I wrote a story. (It's not on this site. I never published it. Looking back now I know it wasn't good.)

I started publishing erotica to sleep with a girl. (spoiler, it worked)

 

[ZfrkS62]

I started very early, before I had any idea what it was. My first girlfriend lived about half an hour away (which may as well be cross country when neither of you are old enough to drive) so we would talk on the phone a lot, as I am certain the majority of you with birth years that start with 19 can remember. Really difficult to have sexy conversations when parents are constantly nearby. So I would write her stories and give them to her on our dates. She loved them. Never got to act any of them out, but it was a start.

A couple of years later, I took creative writing as a burn credit during my senior year. I had to be a little careful not to slip into that mindset during assignments. Apparently someone long before me struggled with this as the first day of class, the teacher made it a point to state that we weren't there to write porn.

After high school, I moved out of state for school while my girlfriend was stuck back home for her senior year. We'd send each other letters or emails to frustrate each other for the next visit.

I was kind of a serial long distance dater so I had good reason to continue writing. A friend of mine told me about Lit in 2003, and I ended up joining in 2004, but was only active for about a year. I stopped writing because it wasn't much of an outlet anymore and I was busier with life.

Flash forward to 2018 while on a frigid vacation in Costa Rica, our shower was an exhibitionist's dream, with a clear door to the balcony in the shower. If you happened to be in the exact right spot on the walking path below, you could look up and see in. My wife would close the blind, I'd leave it open. She shot me a dirty look when she was on the balcony while I showered one day. I started thinking about a friend of mine that I would text out of boredom, and the shower, and started writing a new story that I wouldn't complete. It sat in a folder on my laptop until very recently when a new muse started slipping into my thoughts.

I've already written a new story for her, and I've picked up the one I abandoned again trying to work through it. Luckily I never described the features of the characters, so I didn't have to change anything as the two have very different body types.

So, I guess I do it more out of boredom than horniness because I'm rarely feeling frisky while I write.

 

[Jay142]

I started writing because I like to read erotica but wasn't satisfied with some of the stories. I decided to write stories that fulfilled some of my fantasies. I found that getting positive feedback from readers made me want to write more. I've also enjoyed writing stories for other singles and couples to help put their fantasies into a story. It helps keep my writing fresh with new ideas and I also have a collection of hot wife pictures. I've also found that writing erotica relieves the stress in my life. It takes my mind off my troubles.

 

[AchtungNight]

I was bored and wanted to honor my subjects. That’s the summary. In 2006 when I first started writing, I was part of a celebrity and tv character fanfic community that had several celebrities underrepresented. Olympic athletes, newer actresses, some video game characters. I posted the ideas that occurred to me were fun. I got way into a few of my subjects, took the stories in some interesting ways, got good feedback. Having a troll tell me I should not be a fan of a certain religious celebrity and then that same troll telling me my story series about her was “freaking awesome” (Passion) will always be a treasured memory. So will looking back on certain scenes that were hard to choreograph and push through (Rendezvous, Beijing Streakers) and fun pieces like Confessions, Compensation, & Rekindled.

I stopped writing in 2010 after I got married. Other things were on my mind for a long time. Married life, divorce, surviving the pandemic. Recently I’ve been motivated to pick up my erotica pen again. I’m still looking for fun subjects and honestly unsure where I will go next right now. Most of my old characters are now uncomfortable subjects (still attractive, yeah, I just don’t know if I should use them anymore, I don’t want to get in a rut) and I’m older with lower energy levels. Still, with the right subject I like to think I can easily jump back into things. God of War gave me such a subject. The door is open for the next one.

What helps me write? A story I believe is worth telling. And one that flows out right in the end. I will easily scrap it if I don’t like where it’s going. But if I do like it, I will stand by my work.

 

[oneagainst]

What helps me write? A story I believe is worth telling. And one that flows out right in the end. I will easily scrap it if I don’t like where it’s going. But if I do like it, I will stand by my work.

Beijing Streakers: Tokyo Drift

C'mon!

 

[DeLaFaye]

Beijing Streakers: Tokyo Drift

C'mon!

If you write it, they will cum. #weekendwisdom

 

[AchtungNight]

If you write it, they will cum. #weekendwisdom

Beijing Streakers: Tokyo Drift

C'mon!

Sorry, need more inspiration. Have either of you actually read the story? It features Olympic athletes, Dynasty Warriors characters, and a street chase in Tina-men Square. Not sure how I’d take that to Tokyo. Though Samurai Warriors and Yakuza are good possibilities. Hmm.

I’ll think about how I can make it flow. Please send conversation if you have ideas.