Who, in your life, knows about your erotic writings?

I believe a thread like this existed a year or two ago, but I'm not going to go find and necro that.

Simple question, who do you know, knows you do erotica?

I only get to share my writings with Discord friends, and for the most part, they're taken aback when they find out. And I only share them with some specific friends to begin with. Physical friends and family, except my brother, doesn't know that I write erotica personally.

 

My significant female other knows that I write erotica...Although she's not a Big Fan of Choose your own adventure-style stories. She keeps telling me that I need to write linear stories. I'm working on it!

I have a friend who I know gets on Chyoa occasionally and reads (what else?) The Gamer, Chyoa edition.

He doesn't know that I also write on Chyoa under a different moniker than he's used to me using ...and while He and I have talked about porn games in the past and have traded recommends on them. I'm not really interested in him finding out, because that'd be weird.

He may or may not also write on here. I know he wants to write and get books published and whatnot and it's easy on Chyoa to just add your own chapters and continue from there. He does write on other sites. However, if he does then he also uses a moniker that I'm not familiar with.

He could be in this very discussion.
He could be you!
He could be me!?
~Nobody knows~

 

Nobody on my end knows and I aim to keep it that way, as.nobody on my end would understand

 

I've mentioned that I write smut to some friends, but I haven't shared my writing with them, nor will I. I want to keep those aspects of my life (mostly) separate.

 

My close group of friends all know I write erotica. Three of them have actually read some of what I wrote, although stopped at a certain point after they finished the chapters that were released at the time when they caught up. One of them did stop reading after reaching the point in my story where the incest scene was finally happening as he quote 'didn't want to find out if he'd like it or not' lol. The ones that haven't read my stories poke fun sometimes, and give disclaimers about their more raunchier adventures that I'm not allowed to write about it (like I ever would) XD

All in all, they're all very supportive of me writing erotica, but all of them do question why I chose erotica as my first written work instead of more traditional or mainstream genres.

 

My friend knows I write erotica and I know she writes erotica. For all I know, she might write on here.

 

I remember the thread. Since then, ten times as many people in my life know about my writing. (The number is still zero.)

I have friends that would not be fazed by erotica, but most would get the wrong idea about my sexual openness, so it would still affect our relationship. Also, some of what I've published is morally questionable, and much of it is what might be described as "cringe", so there's much more to be embarrassed about. If it wasn't porn, I'd probably still be secretive about my writing. And, to be fair, it's probably much classier than the sexual activities most men undertake alone.

 

As a time traveler from the future, I personally know several of you. Does that count?

 

One person who also writes here and introduced me to it. Besides that, I think there are a few people in our friends group who know, but the response upon learning was very much "Haha, you would be doing that!" and then moving on.

 

My wife knows I write erotica, and she's read some of it. One particularly godawful phrase I used in one of my earlier stories has become a running joke.

For the most part though, she's not interested in written erotica and I don't tend to write things I'd want to do with her.

 

Obviously you count me among your closest friends and confidants.

 

Yes, your future self and I served altogether in many missions.

 

I haven't mentioned it to anyone, or felt the need to.
I'm pretty sure most of my congregation would fail to understand anyway.

 

Congregation? Are you a priest?

 

hmm, we are all self-invented here. Perhaps.

 

Not many people know I write erotica. My problem is that I mainly write incest-based themes, so it's not the erotica that is my issue but rather the theme. I write incest not because it is a 'thing' I have, but more because I found it a bit of a challenge. My fiance knows what I write, as does my cousin whom I'm very close to, but that's it. I don't trust anyone else not to judge me.

 

Yeah, it's always a risk that people react to that kind of thing with "you really want to fuck your own <relative>!?" Because no, it's just a story. Weirdly, that doesn't come up in many other contexts which feature actions that would distasteful if you took them in the real world. For example, you never have to explain that even though you watched and/or read Game of Thrones, that doesn't mean you want your wedding to be Red.

 

There's a grandfatherly, Frank Langella-looking cat I go and play Scrabble with, who says things to me like, "Now Alex, the Center has decided that you should stop writing Fantasy Dynasty and instead work on more Morbius-focused chapters. I understand if adapting to this will be a struggle, but I'm here to support you."

 

Exactly. Most people who read or write erotica, on CHYOA, for example, are capable of separating the interest in a theme from a need or want to do it in real life. As you say, does that then make Agatha Christie a murderer? I could write about a serial killer or any number of violent themes and nobody would give a hoot. But when it comes to sex, people automatically assume the author must have some personal experience or deep longing for their subject matter. It's infuriating.

Some books have gone a long way to normalising previously 'dodgy'' themes, Game of Thrones did, to some extent, make incest as a fictional subject matter more acceptable. 50 shades of grey is a god awful book, it's poorly written and far from accurate in its depiction of BDSM, but it has brought BDSM, and erotica in general, into the mainstream arena which is a good thing in my opinion.

 

The Americans gets my vote as the best spy series ever made. My vote for the best spy film ever is The Spy who Came in from the Cold.