Writing Part Two - How do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?

[designatedvictim]

TLDR at the end.

I've written two stories in T/I and I've been happy with both of them.

They've been reasonably well-received and have scored well.

I recently decided to write a follow-up to my most recent, Figure Study with my Sister.

The existing part ended with FMC1 and FMC2 discussing with the MMC the possibility of his visiting again for a week during the Thanksgiving Day week when he was returning home the week after the (US) Independence Day holiday.

FSwmS was pretty long, roughly 49K-words, and had a slow-burn buildup. It's early days for Part II, I only have about 4K written.

Now, I've got some plot points and small vignettes already laid out, but since all of the setup was done in the original, none of that buildup is needed in the sequel.

This, of course, means the characters already know they're going to be sleeping together. The only real suspense will be whether the sister will actually have sex with him. He and the roommate already have.

This sounds like the dilemma any sequel would have. The setup is done, but you have to be careful how quickly you jump into the action, so to speak.

I suppose it could be argued that I've already written a stroker in the first part, because despite the slow ramp up, they had a lot of sex - frequent, ongoing, detailed, and explicit. By stripping out the need for the buildup, Part II seems to devolve into almost pure stroker.

It would probably work better if it was an actual continuation of the original story without actually being published separately.

A note at the beginning to read Part I would be kind of a bait & switch for a new story.

I had the same problem with my previous story, A Week of Sunrises. I actually wrote most of a Part II, got a bunch done (15K+ words), then realized that it lacked much structure and felt like a stroker - semi-random-seeming sex scenes strung together with bailing wire and chewing gum.

Wondering how I should approach this.

Suggestions? Comments?

TLDR:
When writing a Part Two to an functionally finished piece, how do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?

 

[EmilyMiller]

When writing a Part Two to an functionally finished piece, how do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?

By giving it it’s own plot. You can take established characters and give them some other set of things to think about / deal with.

I’ve written sequels to functionally finished stories many times. You need a new story.

 

[NuclearFairy]

By overthinking the hell out of it.

More seriously though, by not assuming that they've read the previous one, and so going ahead and doing that set up, while also keeping in mind those readers who have read the previous one and trying to keep the set up from being repetitive for them.

I probably fail though. Only sequel I've successfully published on here is pretty much a stroker. And the other sequels I'm working on... I don't know if I've managed to get the setup situated right for that balance. But I'm trying!

 

[Britva415]

Hey, if there aren't any obstacles, there aren't any obstacles. Of course they can get right to it.

If you want to slow things down, think of some obstacles they have to overcome. Make the stakes meaningful. What's keeping them apart? How does getting together and fucking resolve the tension?

 

[SimonDoom]

Just write the story you want to write, and don't worry what it will be called.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Yeah, just write it is probably the best advice.

But if you want an answer to your question, then that would be to have roommate/MC still having sex (as one does), but layer in the sister element. There's tension there, as you mentioned, with the will they/won't they, so play into that. Presumably you know how to build up tension and slow burn, you wrote a 49k-word story after all, so you can use that approach, but for the sister this time. There isn't anything magic about a second parter, treat it like a self-contained story that happened to have a previous part written down.

Really, if you think on it, every story (almost) has events that happened before the story began. The only difference here is that the events were already written about. How would you handle it if it were its own story, completely detached from part 1? Give that a think.

Worst comes to worst, you have a stroker for part 2. I have a sneaking suspicion that people on this site really don't have much problem with that.

 

[designatedvictim]

By giving it it’s own plot. You can take established characters and give them some other set of things to think about / deal with.

I’ve written sequels to functionally finished stories many times. You need a new story.

You're probably not wrong.

By that I mean, building a new story around the existing characters.

The scenario was set up at the end of Part I (visit us again in four months for more fun-time!)

I already have the roommates picking him up from the airport, discussing his tense flying (only touched upon in the first part), giving him a beer when they get home to relax (they knew he was a beer drinker from Part I).

They are nudists who spent their at-home time bare for the whole three weeks he stayed with them. Things only got touchy during the last week.

They said they wanted to continue, but that was over four months ago. Do they still feel that way? Is he being too presumptuous? That sort of beginning.

I have him sitting them down for a talk-through after they peel off on getting home that first night.

He's going to ask for an easing-in period, if they still want to. (Yes, he'll admit that he'd be burning one of his play-nights by asking not be so touchy for at least the first night.)

That sort of setup is in place already.

 

[designatedvictim]

Yeah, just write it is probably the best advice.

But if you want an answer to your question, then that would be to have roommate/MC still having sex (as one does), but layer in the sister element. There's tension there, as you mentioned, with the will they/won't they, so play into that. Presumably you know how to build up tension and slow burn, you wrote a 49k-word story after all, so you can use that approach, but for the sister this time. There isn't anything magic about a second parter, treat it like a self-contained story that happened to have a previous part written down.

I'm still writing it as the first-person POV of the MMC.

The plan was already to have the relationships pick up roughly where they left off - unrestricted sexual warfare with the roommate with the sister somewhat relaxing the ground rules she dictated to him in Part I - with a mid-visit upstate excursion where she takes the plunge with him.

Really, if you think on it, every story (almost) has events that happened before the story began. The only difference here is that the events were already written about. How would you handle it if it were its own story, completely detached from part 1? Give that a think.

Worst comes to worst, you have a stroker for part 2. I have a sneaking suspicion that people on this site really don't have much problem with that.

Yeah. As mentioned already, and I was aware of, there's a hard balance to maintain trying to provide information to new readers without being too repetitive for people who'd already read Part I.

 

[Statius]

I'm still writing it as the first-person POV of the MMC.

The plan was already to have the relationships pick up roughly where they left off - unrestricted sexual warfare with the roommate with the sister somewhat relaxing the ground rules she dictated to him in Part I - with a mid-visit upstate excursion where she takes the plunge with him.


Yeah. As mentioned already, and I was aware of, there's a hard balance to maintain trying to provide information to new readers without being too repetitive for people who'd already read Part I.

Write it 1st P from the sister. Crawl into her mind. A new character POV allows you to develop a whole new perspective and personal doubt and/ or conflict, with self or another character.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Yeah. As mentioned already, and I was aware of, there's a hard balance to maintain trying to provide information to new readers without being too repetitive for people who'd already read Part I.

I was talking more from a plot perspective, not necessarily an in-the-trenches writing one. You're right to want to limit the amount of recap. I've been handling it in my series by having the MC reflecting back on the events of the previous chapter, or using compare/contrast how it was different, or some other technique so it's not just recapping the events, but doing actual work within the narrative.

Three different ways to approach it from three different chapters. Each one uses a different technique to recap the events succinctly in a way that fits within the larger narrative structure. It's both recap and doing work.

Chapter 3: Recapping to someone else

When I called Abeni the day after I hooked up with Kaya, she was beyond giddy about my news.

"Holy shit! What'd I say, stud? Go somewhere you love. The universe gave you a gift." Her braying laugh came through the headphones loud enough that I had to turn it down. "Damn. Water girl, huh? Slippery, I bet. How was it?"

I blushed as I lay on my couch, afternoon light spilling through the windows. My cock stirred in my shorts as the memory bubbled up. "Really nice."

"Nice? Pff. Try again."

"Amazing."

I heard shuffling and a grunt on the other end of the line, almost like she'd hopped onto her bed. "Fuck yeah it was. Tell me about it."

"I was just sitting there. I was gonna give up, you know. This whole thing, ten species to..."

"Fuck," she finished after I trailed off.

"Yeah, to fuck." I hated how it sounded. Cheap. Like a game. But that was old me thinking, that was human thinking. Anthros, if Abeni and Kaya were any indicators, were far less prudish about these things. Abeni had initially suggested the quest, and Kaya insisted I continue it. "But then this seal girl... Really cute. Hot..."

I told her about the encounter in some detail. How Kaya had convinced me to go swimming, how her friends stole my towel and she invited me back to her place as an apology. Her slew of questions about humans, how one thing led to another and we'd explored each other, then fucked.

Partway through, I heard a weird noise. It took a second before I realized what was going on. "Are you masturbating?" I asked, incredulous.

"Mhm," she confirmed with no shame or hesitation. "Keep goin', this is hot shit, man."

Chapter 4: Reflection on events

Man, I hated Abeni so much.

I wasn't sure how I didn't see it coming--it should've been obvious. But when a hot zebra woman--who'd somehow turned into your wingman after giving you a quest to bag ten anthros--invites you to a kink club and says she knows just what you need, how do you say no?

You say no by being smart. Or at least say maybe and ask questions. But I wasn't smart.

I just stared at the text from her and fumed.

Sorry! Cant make it. U got this dude! Lol

That "lol" was all I needed to know that she had never intended to show up. She'd done me a favor the prior weekend by taking me to the bar that had started the whole thing, served as my wingman, and helped me hook up with a gorgeous Brazilian paradise tanager anthro--my first non-mammal. Actually, I think I had done most of the work, and had gotten kind of cocky over the following days. I'd practiced sexy dirty talk to myself, feeling like an ass, but also kind of getting the hang of it...I think.

From Chapter 5: Assessing the current situation

If someone had given me odds on my night going anything remotely like this...

Get tricked into going to a kink club by my quest-master Abeni. Find a submissive red panda more than willing to give me a shot despite having zero experience being a dom. Actually do a pretty decent job at being her Sir until my damn brain and old habits conspired to ruin it for her. Sulk on a bench. Have a MILFy polar bear sit beside me and offer to teach me how the whole D/s thing actually works.

And then to be sitting in an Uber with her on the way back to her place...?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

When writing a Part Two to an functionally finished piece, how do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?

Plot things out before you post any chapters. If you want to avoid writing a stroke sheet, you need plot. What are these characters doing and more importantly, why are they doing it? That's what plot is. If you can figure this out it will be much easier.

Yes. Hack in the back? (points)

"But I'm a pantser. I can't plot!" hack calls out.

That's okay, pants it all out to figure out where it goes. And make sure that you edit to tighten it up. Do all of that before you publish anything. See, if you post each chapter as you write it, your plot tends to meander aimlessly. Then the only way to hold reader interest is to write a bunch of plotless sex - or in other words, a stroker.

 

[Dancefactory]

I'm a stroker writer, I've learned from the wise ones. I tend to write lots of multi-part stories, and it varies how the story continues / what's the point in the series.

• Sometimes, story builds up, slowly progressing towards the "real thing". In these stories, part three might end up as a "pure stroker", just a simple sex, and the interesting things are in previous parts. When I read them afterwards, they feel a bit too simple. But I feel there can be "building up the tension" parts - I wouldn't put them in the same story for it's easier to read short stories (plus I have no capability to write long stories, but that's another thing..).
• Sometimes all parts are strokers, go to the deep end with screaming orgasms. The variety are the positions, situations, feelings etc. These are all mostly independent stories with the same characters, so that I don't have to explain everything, and on the other hand I can deepen the characters.
• Sometimes parts are completely independent: different situations, different characters. Only some small think combines these stories (like a hypnotic device in my "Vakuuttavaa puhetta" series ).
• Sometimes I write a story and I understand it has some similarities to some old single story - so I create a series. This is purely because I love series. I have an old summer job story, and now I'm writing a summer job story, so why not put up a series. I also have a series of two stories where I have fun with the language - that's the only thing combining these stories.

So, well. I think in a sequel you can put the main characters to a new situation, new place etc. But they can also have building up feelings like anger, frustration or "that happed once, will never happen again". I think the psychological things are most interesting - they have some secret kink, something is "forbidden", they must do something they are reluctant about or something.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

TLDR at the end.

I've written two stories in T/I and I've been happy with both of them.

They've been reasonably well-received and have scored well.

I recently decided to write a follow-up to my most recent, Figure Study with my Sister.

The existing part ended with FMC1 and FMC2 discussing with the MMC the possibility of his visiting again for a week during the Thanksgiving Day week when he was returning home the week after the (US) Independence Day holiday.

FSwmS was pretty long, roughly 49K-words, and had a slow-burn buildup. It's early days for Part II, I only have about 4K written.

Now, I've got some plot points and small vignettes already laid out, but since all of the setup was done in the original, none of that buildup is needed in the sequel.

This, of course, means the characters already know they're going to be sleeping together. The only real suspense will be whether the sister will actually have sex with him. He and the roommate already have.

This sounds like the dilemma any sequel would have. The setup is done, but you have to be careful how quickly you jump into the action, so to speak.

I suppose it could be argued that I've already written a stroker in the first part, because despite the slow ramp up, they had a lot of sex - frequent, ongoing, detailed, and explicit. By stripping out the need for the buildup, Part II seems to devolve into almost pure stroker.

It would probably work better if it was an actual continuation of the original story without actually being published separately.

A note at the beginning to read Part I would be kind of a bait & switch for a new story.

I had the same problem with my previous story, A Week of Sunrises. I actually wrote most of a Part II, got a bunch done (15K+ words), then realized that it lacked much structure and felt like a stroker - semi-random-seeming sex scenes strung together with bailing wire and chewing gum.

Wondering how I should approach this.

Suggestions? Comments?

TLDR:
When writing a Part Two to an functionally finished piece, how do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?

I understand your situation.

When I wrote Family Fornication Contest, I had left the ending open for a possible sequel, and many readers have requested one. I haven't been inspired to write one yet.

On the the hand, my Uncle Sugar Daddy series did see two additional episodes being written that carried on after the first.

I recently published an article on writing series stories that you might want to take a look at, if for no other reason than the tips on how to handle the naming of your stories to keep the association between them clear for readers.

 

[designatedvictim]

• Sometimes I write a story and I understand it has some similarities to some old single story - so I create a series. This is purely because I love series. I have an old summer job story, and now I'm writing a summer job story, so why not put up a series. I also have a series of two stories where I have fun with the language - that's the only thing combining these stories.

It's funny that you mention this.

I have three works (one in six parts - so far) and, while I never intended them to be related in the beginning, while working on the most recent one, I realized that if you squint real hard at all three stories, they might... possibly... be the same MMC.

I didn't make any explicit connection between them, but I found that I was dropping small bits into Figure Study that hint at the possibility.

In Figure Study I have this bit, which seems to be a non-sequitur no one has commented upon, that ties back to a yet-unreleased bit in The Long Weekend, my first story:

“Yes. Your nipples are all pokey,” I confirmed. “Got that way pretty quickly, I noticed. This is the first time since I arrived where it was actually appropriate to comment on your pokiness.

“Nice look, by the way, although you need to be careful. Someone could lose an eye if they’re not paying enough attention and I can’t afford to lose another one.”

Turns out the MMC in TLW is blind in one eye (childhood accident). FMC, who'd known him for three years, had no idea until he mentioned it in passing near the end of the story. Seems that this guy is half-blind, too.

Again, in Figure Study, in a shower scene:

She turned her head to kiss me between my shoulder blades. “You’ve been telling me for the last two years that your lower back bothers you. I thought I’d do a little preemptive massaging there before it became an issue. You were doing an awful lot of hunching over and moving your hips about last night, after all.”

This can be used as a call-back to a story MMC relates to FMC in TLW about how he threw his back out when he met his first real girlfriend in college.

FSwmS is set about a year after the time of TLW, too.

 

[designatedvictim]

Write it 1st P from the sister. Crawl into her mind. A new character POV allows you to develop a whole new perspective and personal doubt and/ or conflict, with self or another character.

I think that's an excellent suggestion. I'd already considered it, actually.

It's just that I can't write a female POV if my life depended on it.

I tried once and pretty much decided, after some feedback, that it just wasn't working out for me.

It's actually a scene from my first story that I've been stuck on for a while.

I write first-person and, so far, all of my stories have had a male main character.

A scene was needed where the FMC is describing to him an encounter she had with some friends. It didn't take a genius to realize that having a story being recounted by someone other than the 1P MMC in a first-person manner would be all-kinds of needlessly clunky.

So, I decided to tell it as a flashback she was having and briefly switch to her being the POV character.

I am, so far, unsatisfied with the results.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Writing Part Two - How do you keep from simply writing a 'stroker'?​

Thinking about this more, it maybe goes to the sex story or story with sex dichotomy. If the entire plot of the first story was, ‘How do we get them to fuck?’ or, ‘Why does she want to be shared?’ then I agree a sequel is going to struggle to be anything other than a masturbatory continuation (nothing wrong with that).

But if the first story had a general plot, with obstacles negotiated along the way and sex happening as a result of the story’s inner logic, then the sequel is simply picking up on the same characters, now with a new level of personal development, and with some other challenge to face / overcome.

 

[RejectReality]

That's exactly why most of mine don't have sequels in this name. Mine in this name are mostly setup and screw anyway. The resolution of the plot — such as it is — usually is the sex. The only way for there to be plot or character development in a sequel is for something awful to happen that I don't feel like writing about.

I've got someone who asks me once a month or so whether the sequel to Pole Skills is coming out soon. The tension in that one came from the two of them doing the naughty in the same house where her son/his best friend is passed out drunk. I've got a title that tickles me for a sequel. I've got a hook for the sex scenes that fits that title and is a natural evolution from the first one. I even setup a perfect time for them to screw again, and go even further next time. ( This was a one-sided quickie with a blow job/titjob. ) She mentions that her son is going on a weekend fishing trip with her ex husband. No need to sneak around him. So where do you go? Hiding it from the busybody neighbor? That feels icky. Doing the deed and then post-nut clarity making them realize they're being really bad, and not just cartoon bad? Depressing. Every source of tension I come up with is something I don't feel like writing, and without that, I don't feel like writing just another long sex scene.

So, it remains a one-shot.

 

[Dancefactory]

Thinking about this more, it maybe goes to the sex story or story with sex dichotomy.

Hmm, this sounds like a really usable way of thinking. As a proud stroker writer, I wonder if I should try to write "a story with sex". Or are my stories already something like this. And what is the difference between these. I put these words in my heart and study them carefully

 

[KatieKulka32]

I guess the simplest answer is the sex advanced the plot versus the plot advancing the sexual component.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hmm, this sounds like a really usable way of thinking. As a proud stroker writer, I wonder if I should try to write "a story with sex". Or are my stories already something like this. And what is the difference between these. I put these words in my heart and study them carefully

I’ve written both sex stories and stories with sex. I think the latter lends itself more to sequels.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

I'm still just trying to write a good stroker. I mean a really good one. Haven't achieved that yet.

 

[Britva415]

I can't write a female POV if my life depended on it.

Could you write the story with her as the MC, but do it in third person instead of first person?

 

[anthrodisiac]

It's just that I can't write a female POV if my life depended on it.

You don't need to necessarily publish the FMC 1P POV (F1P)...

Gods, that's so many initialisms... Let's just call it F1P and M1P (for male)

Anyway, you can just write it, help you get in her head a bit, and then write the rest of your M1P story like you would've otherwise. The F1P can be used to get you acquainted with the character, not to publish.

The crazy thing is, human beings are a pretty diverse bunch. Males and females have somewhat different perspectives, but not nearly as much or as daunting as it being totally alien and incomprehensible. They have the same fears, wants, desires, the same base emotions. There's also a lot of variety within the genders as well — you have some men who think more female than some women, and some women who think more male than some men. You write her however you see fit.

Don't worry about the accuracy of the F1P, think instead of the fears, motivations, history, etc. In other words, not the sex differences, but the human differences.

F1P.

Sorry, just needed to get my mileage out of defining an initialism initialism.

 

[designatedvictim]

You don't need to necessarily publish the FMC 1P POV (F1P)...

Gods, that's so many initialisms... Let's just call it F1P and M1P (for male)

I'm sorry, but while reading this my brain crashed.

All I could read through all the initialisms was PIV and now it's stuck there.

The crazy thing is, human beings are a pretty diverse bunch. Males and females have somewhat different perspectives, but not nearly as much or as daunting as it being totally alien and incomprehensible. They have the same fears, wants, desires, the same base emotions. There's also a lot of variety within the genders as well — you have some men who think more female than some women, and some women who think more male than some men. You write her however you see fit.

I don't think I've ever mentioned that the MMC had this to think during the story:

While I was in the bathroom, relieving myself, I thought, Why don’t they need to pee, too? Don’t women wake up with full bladders? Guys certainly do! I bet that means that they’re actually aliens that are wearing their skins. One of them wearing a Jolene-suit and the other a Marie-suit.

That must be a tight fit.

Creepy as the thought of space-aliens wearing my sister’s and her roommate’s skins as disguises to blend in may seem, that could be an explanation for why over the last two days they got so friendly. The fireworks show was the regional signal for all the other disguised aliens to more fully integrate into our society through sex.

We were in the middle of Arizona and there are often times when people will be driving out in the boonies in the deepest, darkest night. Easy pickings for alien abduction.

Undisciplined morning thoughts run amok before my first coffee.

 

[SmilingLez]

I think that's an excellent suggestion. I'd already considered it, actually.

It's just that I can't write a female POV if my life depended on it.

I tried once and pretty much decided, after some feedback, that it just wasn't working out for me.

I am in the same boat as I am having trouble writing (for the on the job challenge) from a male MC POV.