A ways back, I had commented about tropes and lines I tend to re-use over and over in different stories, and how a lot of authors tend to follow patterns and tropes in their stories. I think a lot of authors do this, but I also have started to develop a theory based on this.

I think a lot of people assume good writers are the only ones that come up with good ideas for stories, and by extension, people think the best ideas come from the best authors. The more I read, the less I think this is really true. I’m starting to believe that mediocre and “good but barely” authors similarly come up with amazing ideas, but overmilk them or tend to keep using them over and over. If you’re an avid sex story reader, I think you’d more easily agree with me. There are a lot of erotica writers that have their niche out there – and I am absolutely one of them – that had a few good ideas and kept using them over and over. I think the best writers are not necessarily simply those that had amazing ideas, but rather, that the best writers are the ones that had the restraint to use these ideas briefly – not only showing restraint, but also giving the space for other great ideas.

Certain combinations of words tickle the brain in a particularly pleasing way. That’s ultimately why we like erotica and don’t just close our eyes and imagine the story ourselves. We like ideas, and we like when they’re executed well. It’s just as true when it’s done for sex appeal. Sometimes, a combination of words is particularly good, and still hits the arousal button in us on our second or third time reading it. Sometimes we like to turn our brain off and we like to be inundated with one good way to word: “he had sex with her” (or whatever variation of sex you prefer) over and over and over. A lot of the top sex writers are one-trick ponies for this reason: it’s not coincidental, it’s by design. If there’s a popular writer in the space and you’re left scratching your head going, “They just write the same story over and over,” you’re likely correct, but a lot of people want to be told the exact same story because that’s what gets them off.

This is benefited by the fact that a lot of sex story authors only write their kinks, and so, will naturally pigeonhole themselves at the starting gate and make it more likely they will write the same plots, characters, kinks and wordings over and over. My writing is equally as susceptible to this as any other author’s. For this reason, I like to experiment with my style every so often, but even then, the fact I see my more out-there pieces as “experimentation” and yet still you can find clear commonalities by reading them tells you what I see “experimentation” to even be. This accidentally tells you what is so out there for me to write that I can’t even conceive of it. If what I wrote experimentally was me “experimenting,” it shows you where my natural limits, even in experimental mode, are. You can likely imagine the type of story I couldn’t begin to conceive writing using this limit and imagining what’s beyond it.

While it’s not the only skill that determines good writing, I think a lot can be ascertained by seeing how often a writer uses their best (or best-executed) ideas. I think a writer that manages to keep their written style fresh (and above all, distinctly not stale) is, on a whole, a better writer, but I also don’t think writers should necessarily be shamed or belittled for reusing their ideas. If they want to write in their comfort zone, on its own that’s not harmful, especially if people enjoy it. At the same time, I would love to try to push further and further with my style and eventually expand my experimental zone and be able to pull off several stories that don’t feel like each other and yet still work on their own as enjoyable reads. I like using the sentences I already know are good, and I do love exploring the same (or similar) scenario with slightly different variables in the stories. I especially like only planning the first few events of the story and seeing where my imagination takes these characters and their complicated relationships. It’s fun to feel out tropey familiar stories in real time. Still, I don’t want my comfort to become a trap.

I’m writing this a week or so before releasing a completed commission which has a kink in it I happen to not share personally (nothing gross or anything – I just don’t see it as sexually intriguing) and hopefully soon before releasing a very experimental and long piece, and I have no idea what people will make of either. I hope both are enjoyed, of course, and I have loved working with the very clear direction of this latest commission. I feel like I owe this particular commissioner a thank-you for getting me thinking about what my experimental zone is. It has just come with a lot of thoughts. I’ll talk to you all again soon.

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