Five_Inch_Heels
Unexpected
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2015
- Posts
- 4,975
There was the Pre Nosey Fat Dog Era and now I'm in the Post Nosey Fat Dog Era.
Your writing "eras"
- Thread starter HyunnaPark
- Start date
YmaOHyd
Wife Guy
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2025
- Posts
- 1,753
Is that the era where you just keep bringing this person up in threads they're not participating in?
Djmac1031
Big Simpin'
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2021
- Posts
- 5,252
interesting question.
I suppose my career here started with what I could call my Self Insert Phase. Basically, writing down my particular sexual fantasies in story form with "me" as the main male character. Shocking, I know, I'm sure no one else has ever done that.
From there I leapt quickly into my Trying To Branch Out Phase. Although my first venture into writing a Sci Fi story was still, admittedly, pretty much a Self Insert.
But I started branching out, trying to write in other categories with varying degrees of success. I suppose we could call that my Experimental Phase.
I suppose it was The Devil And Angel Em that started my Attempts At Being A Real Storyteller Phase. Again, with varying degrees of success.
I think currently im in my Just Write Something, Dummy Phase. Because my writing has slowed considerably, and I'm less worried about what KIND of story I'm telling in favor of just trying to tell it in an entertaining fashion.
I suppose my career here started with what I could call my Self Insert Phase. Basically, writing down my particular sexual fantasies in story form with "me" as the main male character. Shocking, I know, I'm sure no one else has ever done that.
From there I leapt quickly into my Trying To Branch Out Phase. Although my first venture into writing a Sci Fi story was still, admittedly, pretty much a Self Insert.
But I started branching out, trying to write in other categories with varying degrees of success. I suppose we could call that my Experimental Phase.
I suppose it was The Devil And Angel Em that started my Attempts At Being A Real Storyteller Phase. Again, with varying degrees of success.
I think currently im in my Just Write Something, Dummy Phase. Because my writing has slowed considerably, and I'm less worried about what KIND of story I'm telling in favor of just trying to tell it in an entertaining fashion.
GrushaVashnadze
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2020
- Posts
- 282
Weimar
Cöthen
Leipzig
Cöthen
Leipzig
DEFCOM5
Writing for fun!
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2025
- Posts
- 501
If I need to do that, my first era is good stories that are nearly unreadable because they were not edited
MY second era is the got feedback from great writers so the stuff is more readable
Era 1 and Era 2 are coexisting ....
big_cane_sugar
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2019
- Posts
- 533
At least since I've been writing here, my writing has not changed much. Apparently I'm an old dog. But if you compared it to 20 years ago, the difference is massive. I used to think dialogue was my weakness, so I worked on it, forcing myself to write entire scenes of nothing but dialogue. And now my stories are almost all dialogue. It's like a worm that took over my brain. So those would be my two eras.
Stanfield2025
Virgin
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2025
- Posts
- 186
I'm in my erotica era. And I won't be in it forever. But this era has taught me a lot about writing an interesting character. It's also the era in which I actually did serious editing. It's the era in which I've felt the most exposed and frustrated but kind of fulfilled.
Duil2
Writer
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2026
- Posts
- 341
The M&B Era
1992 to 1997
This was when I read Mills & Boon romances and then tried to write my own versions of them. I even took the plunge and sent them a story and to their credit they sent me back a nice letter saying that I needed to read more. I think that was also known as my 'writing on an actual typewriter' era. Oh how I miss finger strain from having to press the keys so hard and Tippex on little paper strips so you could go back and correct your mistakes.
The NWAA Era (Not Writing At All)
1997 to 2017
I took a comment made to me too much to heart and laid down my pen/typewriter and keyboard for twenty years. With thoughts of who did I think I was trying to be a writer and why did I spend so much time in my room banging away at that typewriter with nothing to show for it.
The TEWCKTM Era (Take Every Writing Course Known To Mankind)
2017 to 2020
My mother found an article in a free paper for a Comprehensive Writing Course and I threw myself into it with gusto. I bought every book I could find and over the next three years probably spent a good chunk of change paying for writing courses. Only problem was, I wasn't actually writing anything to completion. My efforts during this period were centered around writing exercises rather than actual finished works.
The NWAAA Era (Not Writing At All Again)
2020 to 2024 (late October)
When COVID hit the world my mother, while never contracting the virus, fell ill with other things and for the next four years I was her caregiver while also working full-time 9 to 5. No time to write was my mantra during this period.
The FINWRIA Era (Fuck It Noone Will Read It Anyway)
2024 (late October) to February 2026
During this Era I gave myself permission to write only what I wanted to and while still too caught up in the 'rules of writing' and trying to make my stories perfect, I actually managed to complete the three Novellas that now grace this website. I kept reminding myself that it was only for me, a hobby, a way of dealing with the loss of my mother, a stop-gap until I got back to a 'normal' life.
The OMGTASICPTCL Era (Oh My God There's A Site I Can Publish To Called Literotica
February 2026 to date
My Literotica era began with me remembering that I had once read some erotica on-line, possibly back in the early naughties and reading another author's story where the FMC's romance came about because she used her male neighbours as inspiration for her on-line erotica stories. I went looking and found Literotica. Shaking with nerves I set up an account and found my way around the site a little. Then with a pounding heart I submit the first chapter of one of the Novellas I'd completed over the previous years. It was published and over the subsequent days I continued to submit chapter by chapter. And then a miracle happened. Someone left me a lovely comment saying they were loving my story and couldn't wait for it to continue. I got so excited that I published the three completed Novellas I had, probably over the next few months at the most.
Anyway, that's where I am now. Getting addicted to the AH forum and the interaction with you guys, the other authors and hoping I can continue to produce stories that people like. Judging by the ratings I'm a solid '4' writer which out of '5' is okay with me.
Guess you're sorry you asked now, aren't you?
1992 to 1997
This was when I read Mills & Boon romances and then tried to write my own versions of them. I even took the plunge and sent them a story and to their credit they sent me back a nice letter saying that I needed to read more. I think that was also known as my 'writing on an actual typewriter' era. Oh how I miss finger strain from having to press the keys so hard and Tippex on little paper strips so you could go back and correct your mistakes.
The NWAA Era (Not Writing At All)
1997 to 2017
I took a comment made to me too much to heart and laid down my pen/typewriter and keyboard for twenty years. With thoughts of who did I think I was trying to be a writer and why did I spend so much time in my room banging away at that typewriter with nothing to show for it.
The TEWCKTM Era (Take Every Writing Course Known To Mankind)
2017 to 2020
My mother found an article in a free paper for a Comprehensive Writing Course and I threw myself into it with gusto. I bought every book I could find and over the next three years probably spent a good chunk of change paying for writing courses. Only problem was, I wasn't actually writing anything to completion. My efforts during this period were centered around writing exercises rather than actual finished works.
The NWAAA Era (Not Writing At All Again)
2020 to 2024 (late October)
When COVID hit the world my mother, while never contracting the virus, fell ill with other things and for the next four years I was her caregiver while also working full-time 9 to 5. No time to write was my mantra during this period.
The FINWRIA Era (Fuck It Noone Will Read It Anyway)
2024 (late October) to February 2026
During this Era I gave myself permission to write only what I wanted to and while still too caught up in the 'rules of writing' and trying to make my stories perfect, I actually managed to complete the three Novellas that now grace this website. I kept reminding myself that it was only for me, a hobby, a way of dealing with the loss of my mother, a stop-gap until I got back to a 'normal' life.
The OMGTASICPTCL Era (Oh My God There's A Site I Can Publish To Called Literotica
February 2026 to date
My Literotica era began with me remembering that I had once read some erotica on-line, possibly back in the early naughties and reading another author's story where the FMC's romance came about because she used her male neighbours as inspiration for her on-line erotica stories. I went looking and found Literotica. Shaking with nerves I set up an account and found my way around the site a little. Then with a pounding heart I submit the first chapter of one of the Novellas I'd completed over the previous years. It was published and over the subsequent days I continued to submit chapter by chapter. And then a miracle happened. Someone left me a lovely comment saying they were loving my story and couldn't wait for it to continue. I got so excited that I published the three completed Novellas I had, probably over the next few months at the most.
Anyway, that's where I am now. Getting addicted to the AH forum and the interaction with you guys, the other authors and hoping I can continue to produce stories that people like. Judging by the ratings I'm a solid '4' writer which out of '5' is okay with me.
Guess you're sorry you asked now, aren't you?
Last edited:
Duil2
Writer
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2026
- Posts
- 341
Kinda not in the spirit of erotica if anyone starts with 'suck', then 'suck less'
and finally 'barely suck at all' 
. Come on. 
KittyOfSteele
Chevaleresse de Sade
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2020
- Posts
- 1,564
Hmm...
The Apocryphal Era. From childhood until my early teens. Most of it was fairy tales and very short stories with some drawings.
The Urban Fantasy Era. Mid-teens to late teens. A lot of World of Darkness and some post-apocalyptic stuff. Definitely got into philosophy and theology, but here is where the first seeds of my Cyberpunk era begun to sprout.
The Early Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Late teens. Recently got into university, got swarmed with philosophy, and it's where my fiction writing started to shift into my way of understanding the world. The Urban Fantasy spell begun to dry, yet it never vanished.
The High Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Early-to-mid 20s. This is when I started writing properly. Learned how to write a nanonovel (has nothing to do with NaNoWriMo, No Heroes in Love is an example of a nanonovel that I have live in my profile), begun participating in NaNoWriMo, and it's also when the egg cracked thanks to a story I wrote. Here is where my shift to pulp fiction begun. It is in those techniques that I found my biggest weaknesses turned to my biggest strengths.
The Late Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Mid 20s. I met my ex around this time, and I slowly shifted into police procedurals as I found no one taking me seriously as a writer, most likely because everyone in my country opted for either Latinamerican classics (which I either praise really good or despise them like the biggest pieces of shit they are; there's no in-between for me) or mimetic fiction, mostly romance. And my romances are not exactly what you associate with romance, because those are fucking boring to write. Did I mention No Heroes in Love? That's the type of romance that I write: not exactly a romance. I come from love stories like The Hard Goodbye, or That Yellow Bastard from the Sin City graphic novels, not chick-lit. Don't ask me to write a traditional romance. It'll be just as boring for you to read as it is for me to write it.
The Initiation of KittyOfSteele. Late 20s. I hate 50 Shades. I hate it. It was my only exposition to erotica, and I swore to never write it. The first strokers for my girlfriend at the time happened, and I realized this was something I enjoyed writing far much more than what came before. Thus I started to read... here... and then write... and then I noticed my local library had old erotica. Met de Sade, met Bataille, met Nin, met Miller, met Cleland, met Sacher-Masoch, the anonymous writers, with the most notorious being that "Walter" dude... Became a cam girl for research, and my whole life changed.
The Rage Against the Machine Era. My 30s, which means it's ongoing. There's a side quest of poetry being written here, but after being forced to hide, and taking the authors from above as refuge, and reading them again, learning about their historical contexts, their lives, what those times looked like... That's when everything shifted in my erotica, and leaned more into surrealism, philosophy, and mythology. Everything I learned from Cyberpunk and Fantasy is being used in here. Everything. I realized some of my most recent works are myth pulpified.
The Apocryphal Era. From childhood until my early teens. Most of it was fairy tales and very short stories with some drawings.
The Urban Fantasy Era. Mid-teens to late teens. A lot of World of Darkness and some post-apocalyptic stuff. Definitely got into philosophy and theology, but here is where the first seeds of my Cyberpunk era begun to sprout.
The Early Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Late teens. Recently got into university, got swarmed with philosophy, and it's where my fiction writing started to shift into my way of understanding the world. The Urban Fantasy spell begun to dry, yet it never vanished.
The High Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Early-to-mid 20s. This is when I started writing properly. Learned how to write a nanonovel (has nothing to do with NaNoWriMo, No Heroes in Love is an example of a nanonovel that I have live in my profile), begun participating in NaNoWriMo, and it's also when the egg cracked thanks to a story I wrote. Here is where my shift to pulp fiction begun. It is in those techniques that I found my biggest weaknesses turned to my biggest strengths.
The Late Cyberpunk/Neon-noir Era. Mid 20s. I met my ex around this time, and I slowly shifted into police procedurals as I found no one taking me seriously as a writer, most likely because everyone in my country opted for either Latinamerican classics (which I either praise really good or despise them like the biggest pieces of shit they are; there's no in-between for me) or mimetic fiction, mostly romance. And my romances are not exactly what you associate with romance, because those are fucking boring to write. Did I mention No Heroes in Love? That's the type of romance that I write: not exactly a romance. I come from love stories like The Hard Goodbye, or That Yellow Bastard from the Sin City graphic novels, not chick-lit. Don't ask me to write a traditional romance. It'll be just as boring for you to read as it is for me to write it.
The Initiation of KittyOfSteele. Late 20s. I hate 50 Shades. I hate it. It was my only exposition to erotica, and I swore to never write it. The first strokers for my girlfriend at the time happened, and I realized this was something I enjoyed writing far much more than what came before. Thus I started to read... here... and then write... and then I noticed my local library had old erotica. Met de Sade, met Bataille, met Nin, met Miller, met Cleland, met Sacher-Masoch, the anonymous writers, with the most notorious being that "Walter" dude... Became a cam girl for research, and my whole life changed.
The Rage Against the Machine Era. My 30s, which means it's ongoing. There's a side quest of poetry being written here, but after being forced to hide, and taking the authors from above as refuge, and reading them again, learning about their historical contexts, their lives, what those times looked like... That's when everything shifted in my erotica, and leaned more into surrealism, philosophy, and mythology. Everything I learned from Cyberpunk and Fantasy is being used in here. Everything. I realized some of my most recent works are myth pulpified.
AStrangeDesire
Virgin (not really)
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2025
- Posts
- 485
Hmm, like many others, I never considered the 'eras'.
1. The "nobody knows I write" area - OK, maybe 1 person knew. 20+ years, but pieces tended to get bigger and longer, with no plan to publish, it was just for me and I didn't care if there was no end in sight
2. The 'you should really publish something' ear - which was my wife telling me that she thought what I wrote was good and other might enjoy it
3. The 'holy shit, some people actually like what I write area' - Started Feb, 2026 when I published my very first story. Since then I think I've learned more than I did in the previous 20 years, just from the threads and interactions here. That's now leading into a 'think about how this will play on Lit' area, which I'm not sure is necessarily the right path, but includes things like setting myself a word target and figuring out the ending ahead of time.
1. The "nobody knows I write" area - OK, maybe 1 person knew. 20+ years, but pieces tended to get bigger and longer, with no plan to publish, it was just for me and I didn't care if there was no end in sight
2. The 'you should really publish something' ear - which was my wife telling me that she thought what I wrote was good and other might enjoy it
3. The 'holy shit, some people actually like what I write area' - Started Feb, 2026 when I published my very first story. Since then I think I've learned more than I did in the previous 20 years, just from the threads and interactions here. That's now leading into a 'think about how this will play on Lit' area, which I'm not sure is necessarily the right path, but includes things like setting myself a word target and figuring out the ending ahead of time.
anthrodisiac
Weirdo Archaeopteryx
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2025
- Posts
- 3,059
Yeah, I wrote in isolation for 7 years, thought I was pretty hot shit.
News flash, I was, at best, luke-warm shit, very frequently frozen shit. Finding a group of people to give me feedback and talk craft with was beyond illuminating all those years ago. AH has been very helpful in getting me to shake off some of the rust that accumulated after I stopped writing for nearly 6 years.
Statius
Darkness engulfs
- Joined
- May 23, 2023
- Posts
- 2,602
First era ended a year ago. Crap writing, but with good ideas and- I think- good characters, but crap writing; it's unfortunate really but there it is.
Second era is current. Absorbing information here from all the threads and teaching myself as I write, rewrite, and rewrite again the one story that actually matters.
Second era is current. Absorbing information here from all the threads and teaching myself as I write, rewrite, and rewrite again the one story that actually matters.
Bamagan
Ultima Proxima
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2023
- Posts
- 4,461
That series definitely makes me think the honeymoon is over.Kinda not in the spirit of erotica if anyone starts with 'suck', then 'suck less'
anthrodisiac
Weirdo Archaeopteryx
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2025
- Posts
- 3,059
Come on what?Kinda not in the spirit of erotica if anyone starts with 'suck', then 'suck less'
Bamagan
Ultima Proxima
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2023
- Posts
- 4,461
The emojis were quite clear. Aimed for the mouth, but got some in the eye.
anthrodisiac
Weirdo Archaeopteryx
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2025
- Posts
- 3,059
I dunno, that first one seems like they were really hoping to get some in the eyes.
Bamagan
Ultima Proxima
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2023
- Posts
- 4,461
Only the last two are ejaculate-related.
I wonder how often that previous sentence has been used.
anthrodisiac
Weirdo Archaeopteryx
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2025
- Posts
- 3,059
"Only the last two are ejaculate-related, all the other accidents were from deer crossing the road."
I think we just found a new writing prompt...
AStrangeDesire
Virgin (not really)
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2025
- Posts
- 485
... are they antro-deer?
AStrangeDesire
Virgin (not really)
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2025
- Posts
- 485
I have 2 - 100k word novels like that. I keep thinking I should go re-write them, and they'd be good. But somehow ... <shrug>
BeechLeaf
Ridiculous Mouse
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2025
- Posts
- 511
Comedy era: childhood to present.
Grand fantasy era: dribs and drabs up to about ten years ago, all of it garbage not going anywhere.
Great divide: 2018, when I took out the failed comic novel yet again; the previous time I'd looked at it, I'd rooted out all the remnant fantasy, but whatever it now was, it still had no ending, it was like the first half of... of what? But there was one substory I knew the ending of: those two, their romance, which was supposed to be a discreet little promenade in the background, not the main theme. At least I could bring that up to completion. So the characters who had become interesting and rounded despite their purpose being participation in the comedy, they became serious and thoughtful and vulnerable, and I hurt them, and I brought them together. I created long passages of serious description and events that moved the plot along without comedy or fantasy, just real life. And holy cow, I did it. I can write seriously. That's all that interests me now.
Haven't improved since then.
Some years before that, I was chatting with someone on the Internet, as you do, and banter got to flirting, as it does, and I was a sneaky, deceptive swine, as one is, alas, bantering on the Internet, and I wrote a couple of erotic stories, my first, and oh that's interesting, I can do that too. Knowledge filed away for possible future use. Dabbled in a few more. Got a bit samey so I put it away for a few years.
Grand fantasy era: dribs and drabs up to about ten years ago, all of it garbage not going anywhere.
Great divide: 2018, when I took out the failed comic novel yet again; the previous time I'd looked at it, I'd rooted out all the remnant fantasy, but whatever it now was, it still had no ending, it was like the first half of... of what? But there was one substory I knew the ending of: those two, their romance, which was supposed to be a discreet little promenade in the background, not the main theme. At least I could bring that up to completion. So the characters who had become interesting and rounded despite their purpose being participation in the comedy, they became serious and thoughtful and vulnerable, and I hurt them, and I brought them together. I created long passages of serious description and events that moved the plot along without comedy or fantasy, just real life. And holy cow, I did it. I can write seriously. That's all that interests me now.
Haven't improved since then.
Some years before that, I was chatting with someone on the Internet, as you do, and banter got to flirting, as it does, and I was a sneaky, deceptive swine, as one is, alas, bantering on the Internet, and I wrote a couple of erotic stories, my first, and oh that's interesting, I can do that too. Knowledge filed away for possible future use. Dabbled in a few more. Got a bit samey so I put it away for a few years.
StillStunned
A Muse Bouche
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2023
- Posts
- 13,063
I find that careful proofreading really reduces the number of eras in my writing.
