Just curious as to how everyone views their writing and what takes priority, do you view it as erotic literature first (or only) or do you view it as a story like any other and worth the same merit and effort as more mainstream novels and stories (such as those on Wattpad) And building on that, how does each view change how you go about writing your own stories (if it does at all)
I largely view it as a story, and as I spend more time planning/writing that aspect becomes more important. The sex is nice, and part of the reason I started writing here was to have some stories that featured my particular kinks and tastes, but I always have other stuff going on with the characters. I want them to have lives as well and I do put effort into my writing to make sure they seem like real people and their actions make sense. That's also what I look for in the stories I enjoy. I prefer a work that takes a while to get going and makes me feel like I know the characters and why they're hooking up before the sex scenes start otherwise I just don't like it as much.
For myself, I sort of assume that sexytimes IS the point, but that the scenes should be set up and plot-relevant. Initially, I had planned a different approach to writing which involved more initial outlining and plotting, but as the branches piled up it became more convenient to treat it as a creative exercise in exploring different possibilities. The consequence is that the mood, characterization, and to the degree even some of the style of the storyline can shift rather abruptly depending on the decisions that the reader makes...for good and ill.
I'd view it as more of a spectrum, with one end being 'porn without plot', and the other 'a single sex scene buried 50,000 words in'. The Lord's Companion, then, would be on the far latter end - the main character loses her virginity after 39,500 words. Much like Prince, the entire reason I even enjoy erotica is because the sexual scenes often have an enormous amount of narrative context backing them up, at least compared to any other pornographic medium. It's nicer when the participants feel like real people with thoughts, feelings and personalities, and not just sexy bodies colliding with each other. To be fair, this can (and usually is) achieved with fanfic, but the vast majority of fanfic commits one of four errors. First, they majorly contradict the established canon, which I guess is a personal issue for me, but ignoring the work from which you're deriving kind of defeats the point of derivation. Second, they fail to accurately understand and write the characters' personalities, leaving those characters as empty shells that just happen to share a name and appearance with your favourites. Third, most fanfics are written by children, and it shows in their grasp of what actually happens in sex. Fourth, because fanfiction is a highly accessible form of writing, it's also generally very bad. I do think there's a third consideration to make when it comes to CHYOA stories in particular. It's not as common, but sometimes the point of a CHYOA story is to function as a game. For instance, in my case, Darkest Challenges would function as a game first, erotica second, story third.
I would agree that all erotic writing falls on a spectrum, I tend to use "smut" on one end and "erotica" for the other. Smut is work where the sex is the point, erotica is a story that happens to be about or include sex. I've written both kinds (my branch in The Rulebook is definately smut), but I find I enjoy writing the latter more, and I think that shows in the quality of the work I do.
What we write reflects what we like. ;P I like build up, long dialogs, weird puzzles that aren't really puzzles, and sex. And Who doesn't love Smut? For me, I think how I treat my stories reflects how I feel about my characters. I don't ever want to "Kill My Darlings" as the modern popular advice is given. If that had been the case for many of the books I love, we'd be reading the story of the great dark lord Saruman, who took the ring and cleverly defeated his master by pretending to work for him! Or The story of the best bacon ever made from a Pig called Wilbur. Perhaps the story of The guy who took one look at the Windmill and said... "Ya know what? This is crazy. Fuck the Armor, I'm going home and boinking the hooker." (Don Horny De La Mancha) I mean, somebody wants to write those, I'm sure they'd make great smut... but they aren't my characters, and aren't the way I'd take it. Which is why it's so GREAT to have a site like this and a format like this. It allows the person who believes that the characters should have been written that way to write it that way, and for others to enjoy that... if that's what they want.
These are all really interesting angles to read about to be fair. I'd be very interested to hear more but it'd be unfair not to share my views after asking the question; I guess for myself it's kinda complicated. Due to my ADHD I run through stories all the time in my head and have been writing some form of Erotic Literature for the past 9 years since I was 13/14, initially it was really REALLY bad self-insert fanfictions, but then matured into a spattering of original stories I was half-interested in and stories based around characters I created in RPG games like Dragon Age and Skyrim. My recent lockdown-driven foray into CHYOA has been from a different angle. I've taken it a lot more seriously this time as, as biased as it is, I think well written 'smut' is just as valid as any other Novel, especially so in the day and age of A Song of Ice and Fire, and 50 Shades of Grey which aren't shy about the sexual aspect of people and in fact embrace it with audiences of millions. For that reason I would say over time I have grown to see it as just as valid a form of literature as any other (which has massively changed how I write my own stories as well), so long as it is a Story with Erotic Content rather than Erotic Content with a Story, the direction of their effort and intention of the writer painting the reception of the writing in question. Edit: I suppose a rather amusing way of looking at it is the similarities in how Porn Stars are viewed by the Movie Industry vs Erotica Writers compared to Novelists,
Ok, Getting onto the Soapbox, so forgive me a little personal opinion. IMHO, Erotic scenes can convey as much about a character as any other type of scene. Action scene? You get to know how the character reacts to threats, their mentality on attacks, defense, etc. All of which show past/future of the character, and how they react in a death situation. Someone who has always followed the "Get em before they get you!" mentality is going to be very different in a fight scene than somebody who spends their time concerned about collateral damage. On the other hand, understanding why characters do certain actions in bed, why they like this move, as opposed to THIS move, also conveys a great deal about the character, and the way that they think. A character who concentrates solely on their own pleasure, or what their partner can bring them is going to be very different in their erotic dialog/content/general attitude than a nervous, quiet virgin. They might not be someone you would want to have a sex scene with, and while the standard in Porn is to completely ignore that and have the scene anyway, you can take your time and figure out a reason that doesn't involve "He's got a big dick... so it's all cool" style stuff... (Of course some folks aren't in the mood for the build up... which Is why I usually helpfully provide links to my sex scenes if they're a bit obtuse to get to.) Now, do I expect everybody who reads my stuff to give a crap about character motivations, dialog and the like? Of course not. The story has to be a GOOD story before it can be anything else. If the story doesn't entertain, there's no point in seeking higher aspirations. I know full well that my own work is a bit hit or miss for some folks on the good story part. And I make no apologies for my poetry, because it's stuff that I use as source material. Adding in the Interactive/Game element makes it infinitely harder, IMHO, and Kudos to those who can pull it off. So, yeah, I think there can be a higher aspiration than just a "Get folks off". Do I think everybody should aim for that ? Hell No! If it ain't fun, don't do it! That's the whole point of writing, IMHO. To have a good time, and to try to entertain and possibly enlighten. I strongly disagree with English professors that only the enlightened critics should judge work. If you like it, and it represents something you want... Who are the critics, the educators, and the politicians to tell you that your taste is bad? If you're smiling, laughing or generally enjoying yourself... you're probably pissing off an authority figure somewhere, so I encourage you to do it!
This is one of the reasons I don't care for pick-your-celebrity stories. The other being that I don't care about celebrity's news in the first place. Exactly! I try to at least define some kink that each character in into. It might not be character development in itself, but it gives a sex scene something to reveal and keeps variety across characters. For me to really enjoy a smut scene, I want to know something about how the characters feel about it, whether that is expressed in the foreplay, sex, or the aftermath. I will tend to read smut-heavy stories faster, but I value stories with more narrative build-up. I smell an interesting writing challenge in there somewhere.
