Question on writing stories

[QuietLeeMaura]

I've begun to dabble in the art of writing tickling stories, and am just curious if there is such a thing as "too long" of an introduction. The story I am working on has a lot (4-5 pages at this point, and I'm not done yet) of set-up and character development. Is that too much? Does the tickling need to happen right away in order to keep interest?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[DeaconMye]

I think it would depend on the information provided in the introduction, like for instance if you speak some of the characters preferred tickling techniques, areas they love to torture, or areas where they can't stand to be tickled.. Things like that, mixed into all the other details. Anyway that's my opinion 🙂 best of luck to you! 😀

 

[Cosmo_ac]

First, I will say that you should write what makes you happy and feels good. That should be the most important thing.

Second, If you're going to have a long set up, try and make it engaging for the reader. Some people are here for a quick story where it is tickling from page one to the next, and those can be great, but if you're trying for something more, you're going to quickly find that you're work does not appeal to these people, and so you have to make it so people will enjoy reading the parts that aren't tickling related. Build up to tickling can be great, but it can be difficult to do.

IMHO, just let the story flow naturally, and when it's all done, evaluate it as the whole first, as opposed to its parts.

 

[Myriads]

As a tickling and other erotica writer your question is one that any writer needs to ask. I do when I sit down to write something.

The first thing that matters is the structure of your story, and the impact that you wish to convey. A lot of people,to be blunt, are looking for something to get off on, and they are going to be searching for short form, and they are going to want a lot of Ha-Ha's off the top and all thru. Else they will move onto the next. But, many people are looking for longer form, where you feel a connection or sympathy with the characters. This style requires that you layer in a measure of character development. Unless you are writing a serial, the only way to do this is to layer in the development off the top. Thus a longer intro. You can cheat around this with a flash forward, or memory scene within the intro, but mostly you have to do the writing work to lay in the info.

The best thing to do is write the entire piece then go back and judge your intro. Is it worth the investment to a reader for the payoff? Is all of it needful to the story? Do the readers need it all to proceed? Edit as needed. Trying to judge it without a full context is hard, and not a great way to go in my opinion. Without the rest of the tale, you can't tell if the stuff in the intro is needful, or even in need of being expanded.

Most importantly, as Cosmo said, write your own story. The one you want to tell. If it's good, the audience will find it. Once you start to pander to your audience then you are starting to compromise the tale you are telling.

Myriads

 

[Libertine]

I've written feature articles professionally for national newspapers on two continents.

The most important thing to remember is that a first draft has never, ever been published. In other words you don't have to get it right the first time. So relax, get it all down, and only then start shaping and refining it for final viewing. Imagine the first draft is just the lump of clay you've thrown on the potter's wheel before you start spinning it, and take it from there. It may take two or three rewrites but eventually you'll end up with something that reads well and you're proud of.

Yes, that sentence was ended with a preposition. When admonished for doing the same thing, Winston Churchill rejoined, "That is the kind of errant pedantry up with which I will not put."

 

[Coda]

No, there's nothing inherent about the length of any part of a story that makes it better or worse – it's more important that if there is more content than usual, it serves some kind of function. (If you've come up with such a long introduction for any reason other than something like, "I feel like I'm doing it wrong if I don't have a long enough introduction," you're probably fine.) The actual "action" can even be the minority of a potentially wonderful story.

 

[Studious_Hustler]

QLM, this is really a great question, and I'm glad it's been brought up.

I write fetish fiction periodically and struggle with the same question. The stuff that gets me off is the setup and character development as much as the "action." Think of it like foreplay! But sometimes I wonder whether a better story automatically gets less attention just because it happens to be longer, without a punch at the start.

 

[ddd]

I think the setup is always a plus. Example (Jane woke up tied to a bed, spread eagle in a dark room). Well how did Jane get to that dark room? Be creative. There is nothing wrong with a strong setup. Many stories here dont have tickling in their first chapter or two and its great since you know whats to come.

 

[QuietLeeMaura]

Thank you all for the feedback. Spent a few hours working on it last night and 8 or so pages in, I still have just started scratching the tickle surface. I think it's good, though, so I'll keep plugging along.

Libertine, I love your lump of clay analogy. I'll have to spend some time shaping it tonight. 🙂

 

[Amnesiac]

The situation you're describing is what I call "The Hawthorne Complex" after the first chapter in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The first chapter in that book is basically "here's everything, everyone, and every place the story will involve" which makes me think Hawthorne wanted to write a play instead of a novel. It's an understandable urge, but it works against you. The problem is that the tendency is to bring everything up at once so the writer doesn't have to stop the story later on to explain something that just happened; much easier to get it out of the way at the beginning so you can keep the story moving.

The purpose of writing a story is to tell the story AND inform the reader of the character's reactions to the events transpiring (especially with erotica), but the trick is knowing what information to reveal and how. Too much and the reader loses track...too little and the reader says "Wait, what does that mean? What just happened?" What you want to do is find a technique that conveys information without revealing too much detail...essentially "gliding" around the action rather than telling it.

Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury do this particularly well in their short stories: they tell you what's happening by giving you an impression of what's going on through the use of substitution and euphemism which prevents them from spelling everything out. It might sound like a cheat, but as long as you make sure the gist of what's happening is clear, you can choose which details to include and leave out. Don't be afraid to type them, just make sure you pay attention when you prune the finished draft.

Another thing you can do is convey the emotional reaction a character has when an action reminds them of a past event. By using the character's reactions instead of the narrator's explanation, the reader gets the "idea" of what might have happened without having to be explicitly told. Sometimes this works better because an impression or a feeling carry more weight than a detailed synopsis. This usually requires first person or third-person subjective to work.

Also try parceling out the backstory and background throughout the story as relevant events occur; if they don't, then they aren't necessary and you don't need to bring them up. Comic book writers do this fairly well because the image can do the work of a flashback and the words need only hint, but even then, a few words and a single panel can do wonders. The same approach works for prose, you just have to adapt the means of conveying image in the process.

Try to think of Casablanca: Rick's behavior is affected by his past even before the audience sees the flashback. The character knows the backstory, and so does the writer. But does the audience need to know too? Not right away. In fact, not knowing makes him more interesting because the audience gets to invest their own creativity in figuring out what it is. That makes them more invested, and that makes it satisfying when the audience can match what they know with what they just learned and sift through the guesses.

A story and erotica are kind of one in the same: it's a tease. The trick is to do it just right for just long enough and know when to give and take.

 

[Bdsmtickler]

It depends... but it is probably too long. But as other say, write then edit it - eventually layer in some of that information from the setup in the action.

In my view character in tickling/erotic fiction is far less important than the situation. For instance, if the story is about an unwilling lee, then what we basically need to know is that the person is ticklish and unwilling too be tickled and some physical description. It's much more interesting to read about how it came about that an unwilling lee was tickled than biographical info about the lee - at least we do not need to know that before that action starts.

So if the situation/plot is unusual and well written, and especially if there are erotic undertones, then a long intro is okay. But that also mean that the action has to be very good -- and long. I think for most of us the actually tickling is the hardest part to describe, and it's tempting to have, say, 10 pages of intro and then 1-2 pages of tickling - but as a reader I would feel cheated.

If you want to self publish this as an ebook, then it would probably be best if there was at least some action/tickling in the first part, which serves as a sample.

 

[april]

When I'm writing one of my stories I'm basically enacting out my own fantasies so however long it takes me to get there...well that's how long its going to take. I like having a bit of back story and build up as well. I just figure that the readers appreciate this because not only does it add relevance, it also takes them through my mind and makes it more realistic. You will come across those that just want to get to the down and dirty of it but that's just preference. You can't please them all but don't forget to please yourself in the creative process 🙂

 

[QuietLeeMaura]

I woke up early this morning with plans on getting in another hour or two or writing. After re-reading my story, I detest it, and had to stop myself from deleting the whole thing. It's rambling and disconnected (or maybe I'm just tired) and I can't see how it can continue without some serious editing.

In truth, I don't know how 'real' writers do it. Is this kind of frustration normal?

 

[milagros317]

I woke up early this morning with plans on getting in another hour or two or writing. After re-reading my story, I detest it, and had to stop myself from deleting the whole thing. It's rambling and disconnected (or maybe I'm just tired) and I can't see how it can continue without some serious editing.

In truth, I don't know how 'real' writers do it. Is this kind of frustration normal?

While not a "real" writer, I can say that I have had the same feeling. When that happens, it is much better to edit than to delete.

 

[Libertine]

I woke up early this morning with plans on getting in another hour or two or writing. After re-reading my story, I detest it, and had to stop myself from deleting the whole thing. It's rambling and disconnected (or maybe I'm just tired) and I can't see how it can continue without some serious editing.

In truth, I don't know how 'real' writers do it. Is this kind of frustration normal?

Of course it is. In pre-computer days for me sometimes the creative process involved staring at a blank piece of paper in total frustration til my forehead began to sweat blood, then I'd dip my quill in that and finally start to write.

HOWEVER I think your main problem is not being able to get your first draft done. So think of the aforementioned clay on the potter's wheel as being put there handful by handful in no particular order. That means you don't have to write 'linearly'. It's perfectly OK to write a paragraph here, a passage there randomly as inspiration strikes you. Don't refine them yet because you will be making too-precise puzzle pieces without having a complete idea of how the whole picture looks.

If possible don't walk away from your work during the time you've allotted to write. Even if you only get one good sentence during that period it's something, and there will be other times when it comes more easily and fluidly.

Then cut/paste those paragraphs and passages into a semblance of order (I actually used to do this physically with scissors and tape when putting together a manuscript- the computer facilitates Calliope's inspiration like you wouldn't believe!) and you'll have a sort of a skeleton to flesh out. Again, no editing yet. A few sentences between them to join them up, a bit of fleshing out of the descriptive/narrative bits, and there's your first draft.

So what if it's inchoate- it's a first draft!!

And onto the potter's wheel it goes for shaping.

 

[tcklft]

I woke up early this morning with plans on getting in another hour or two or writing. After re-reading my story, I detest it, and had to stop myself from deleting the whole thing. It's rambling and disconnected (or maybe I'm just tired) and I can't see how it can continue without some serious editing.

In truth, I don't know how 'real' writers do it. Is this kind of frustration normal?

The secret to good writing is revision. Hemingway once claimed he rewrote the last page of "A Farewell to Arms" 39 times to get it right. As Libertine suggests, get it down, then shape it. And always, always, always back up your work!

Here's some writing advice from a guy who's published a few tales of his own:
youtube.com/ watch?v=Yq_Oh9PzKpE

 

[ElFewja]

Wit is the soul of brevity. Er, the other way around. Brevity is the soul of wit.

So, I don't actually have your work on hand and I therefore can't adequately give you feedback. Like most here, though, I also think that it depends on what you want out of the entire work.

If it feels right for the story, then go with it. However, there's a chance that you're being overly wordy, saying things in 100 words that could be described in two or three. I believe that the very small touches are what give depth to a character, not the large ones. Maybe he crosses his arms while talking with someone who works under him, or even a boss. Maybe he's looking away or at a watch, or picking at a scab on his arm, during the conversation. I don't know, small things. Maybe.