Before I begin, I just want to say again, apologies for not having anything out in May. It turned out that everyone I know moving away and having to catch up with family takes up more time than I’d like, on top of working. For every one of you that wish I wrote quicker, I wish ten times as much that my life were less hectic so I could write more.

Those of you who retain a freaky amount of info on me know that way back when in a much earlier blog post, I talked about being a theater kid in high school. I eventually gave it up in university, mostly just doing classes and my school placement (although I did dabble in improv, which is surprisingly therapeutic). That said, I’ve noticed that in terms of the way I structure and word my stories, they often come across more as plays than novels.

I’ve always liked how plays are structured. You can really picture a play when you’re writing it. Characters go on and on about their feelings, and can sometimes monologue about their feelings, and there’s little pauses and hints of emotionality. Obviously, structure-wise, my stories don’t resemble plays, but in terms of tone, I think I write like I’m documenting a play I’m watching, action for action. That’s why I include all the specific actions while dialogue is being given, and the heartfelt speeches and monologues, and why characters talk about their feelings a lot. Also, side note, I write characters talking about their emotions because being open about your emotions is really helpful in a lot of situations, including romantic/sexual ones. Sometimes people tell me, “People don’t talk that way.” The people I grew up around did, and I didn’t stick around for long around people that liked to lie about their feelings. I think my high school experience was made a lot more headache-free because of this.

Obviously, plays and sexual stuff are in different worlds. Unless you’re in that weird section of the avant garde art world, there isn’t a whole lot of fucking in plays. There’s a good chance a lot of you reading this wouldn’t normally go see a play, which is totally fine. I’m not writing these stories with the feeling of a five-act play to bridge the gap and get people on sex story websites to go out and see Cats or Seussical or Lady Windermere’s Fan whatever. I will say, writing these stories in my own ways and discovering my own style has been liberating. I’m not writing my sex stories based on other sex stories.

Honestly, if anyone reading this writes smut, if I can recommend something, don’t read smut to be inspired. Don’t write your sex stories based on other sex stories. Be inspired by something completely different, whatever inspires you or gets you excited or whatever, and write based on that, or on what you feel from that. Your stories will perhaps be a bit more niche, but they’ll also stand out more. I’ve read countless sex stories where it was obvious the writer read some other smut and just went, “Me too!” and wrote their own carbon copy of ‘hot slut at school’ or ‘I bang personality-devoid family member, volume five’ or whatever. For me, I think my biggest inspiration is the way plays deal with characters, and how I want to explore characters instead of follow a novel/story formula. Most importantly, write, and write based on what makes you yourself and what inspires you. I’ll talk to you all next week.