Writing Fluff - A guilty pleasure?

[Britva415]

Writing Fluff

*looks around*
*taps mic*
"Ahem"

Is this where I promote Unexpected Fluffer?

 

[anthrodisiac]

Bambi 2: First Blood

View attachment 2596416

Brambo.

 

[Writer61]

Brambo.

No, surely The Deer Hunter.

 

[Britva415]

No, surely The Deer Hunter.

The Deer Hunter 2: This Time, It's Cannibal.

 

[TheLobster]

Oh deer...

 

[xannatharr]

To me, fluff is stuff that has little to no conflict or just weak or no motive to drive the happy/kinky events.

That's not a bad definition, I could kind of get behind that.

I've been guilty more than once of taking some 'fluff' and ending up with many chapters, because I want to work more into it and voila, it's long and now has some plot and drama. I know, totally backwards.

And all the while I'm thinking of spin-offs for various characters.

I guess what starts as fluff is not doomed to end as such?

I’d rather work on the fluff story, get it out of my head. Such stories are usually finished faster and once it’s done, I can get back to the interesting narrative with my full attention.

But only if it's short, maybe a one-shot?

The last three stories that I published here, one in Loving Wives, one in How To, and one in Fan Fiction/Celebrity, were all purposeful distractions from the novel-length work in progress that I have almost finished.

None of the latest stories was longer than 6 Lit pages compared to my average novel length of 30+ pages.

While I hesitate to consider them "fluff", they do serve as a diversion that allows me to return back to my novel with a fresh perspective each time.

A couple folks have made this point, I think it's interesting to consider writing a "fluffy" piece as a bit of a palate-cleanser before you return to the main course.

`Not sure that any of my stories qualify as having a strong narrative and story arc. However, I recently completed a competition entry that is absolute fluff.

Assuming that I face such a choice, there are a couple of factors that influence my choice:

• I mostly write series, and try to finish all the episodes before posting any, so this gets priority
• But if I need a break, during or after a series, then I might switch to a fluff piece

That sounds shockingly responsible, and reasonable. Excuse me sir, what are you doing on the Lit forums?

I tend to write longer more 'in depth' stories, but I do write some fluff that I put in collections. It's a fun break to just cut loose sometimes and not think about anything more than having some clean dirty fun.

Thing is when you build a base here they tend to want the same thing over and over. I put a short stroker up a few years ago and the score was lower than usual and I had several comments along the line of "I like your longer stories better"

It's easy to become a victim of your own style on a site like this.

I haven't published enough to suffer from that syndrome yet, or maybe I haven't written any single story of sufficient length to have a consistent "style".

I'm guessing from this response that even though you may have a style that your readers want to see more of, you are still willing to write what you want, how you want , even if it might disappoint.

Would you say that's true? To what extent do you let reader expectations influence you?

Fluff for me can also be when I let the silliness in the story take control. I try to use some humor in a lot of my stories, but it is just a flavor to cut the heaviness. Sometimes I want to just forget the heaviness and be silly. Sometimes over the top, like my one comedy story (The Great Cupcake Caper) and other times, a little bit of silliness is the point of the story (Dolls).

Fluff pieces for me also tend to be short (<5K words) while most of the rest of mine range from 15K up to novels. Fluff just doesn't require the same commitment and concentration that the other pieces do.

Yes! Another potential definition for "Fluff" that I could get behind! Some of my favorite stories I have found on Lit are those that start with a serious tone, but then gradually become more silly until it is almost out of control. It's almost like the little bit of gravity at the start of the story grounds it, then the flight of fancy feels better when it takes off later. If it's done TOO quickly or TOO dramatically it is spoiled... but when the balance is right? Chefkiss!

I call the second type "queue jumpers". I have a list of stories to write in my head (getting shorter, finally!) - but if any idea for something quick comes along, I'll often leave the longer pieces and knock the shorter one out quickly. They are usually more fun to write.

Yes, yes, yes! The urge to quickly knock out that "fluffy" idea can take over, and the quick cycle of writing to reward (seeing people enjoying it) does feel like a guilty pleasure sometimes.

*looks around*
*taps mic*
"Ahem"

Is this where I promote Unexpected Fluffer?

I will expect your first draft within the week please!

 

[Britva415]

I will expect your first draft within the week please!

Way ahead of you