New Novelist Stuck, StoryLine Mirrors Life, Is That OK?

Question

2 years ago I started writing an erotica story. I have put it down and picked it up several times and I just want to be finished with it now. I got stuck recently and decided to write an outline (gasp, I know) because the events just weren't linking up in a cohesive and chronological way. I felt like my scenes were scattered.

But I have realized that this story is way too close to the truth. It has twists and turns that are fictional but i am so mad because its just not as creative as I would like it to be. I got very discouraged because of it and put it back down the last few days..

Has this happened to any other writers out there?
Any suggestions.

Please be nice, Thank You.

Answer 1

I've never written erotica before but I do know that we write what we know. Our settings are usually from personal experience. This does not mean that you want to write an autobiography. Perhaps interviewing others who are open to sharing fantasies or actual events in their lives would help to broaden your scope. This would be an impersonal interview such as a blog or some type of email questionnaire (not your friends though, that could be weird). Have you fleshed out your characters (pardon the pun)? In order to know where you are going you need a map. Just highlights however, not the entire story. You can change your story as you feel like when you come to certain points in your prose but an outline gives you direction.

There are many websites which help you in your writing process. I too am writing a novel and reading suggestions on line has been helpful. Below is my favorite.

Answer 2

Whether erotica or fantasy fiction with dragons, the idea of your personal life seeping into your story is not unusual. It is said Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote Tom Sawyer based on his boyhood growing up and around the Mississippi, and I don't think anyone would say that piece of fiction is *not* creative.

You also seemed shocked that you had to use an outline. Why? Outlines can be very effective, guiding you creativily though a piece of writing. Currently, I am working on a novel for commercial fiction. I'm basically a talent whore wanting a paycheck,so I outlined the piece from start to finish. What is interested is how the book has diverged from the outline but yet also how the outline has still been weaved into the story.

Plus, outlines are great tools for facing that blank page. You don't have so much anxiety saying to yourself, "Okay, what am I going to write, what am I going to write?" because you already have a nice start with the outline.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

First of all why gasp at an outline? That is the best way to write something if you find your thoughts scattered and need to write more cohesively.

I think your problem lies in characterization. When you broke to write an outline, you should have done some character studies too. If you feel it is too close to life, that is because you haven't done character studies and are more or less thinking of yourself as one or more of the characters. If you do character studies and pull your characters out of your shadow and give them their own lives - really flesh them out - I think you will find your story moving in THEIR direction and not your direction.

Yes that does happen when people aren't well versed in their characters. They tend to flood their characters with their own personalities and forget they are creations of their imagination and can have any personalities we want them to have. Sit down and really flesh out your characters. Discover where it is you have gotten their personalities and characteristics too close to your own - then change them. That's why it's creative writing and not autobiographical writing. My advice would be to make your characters as different from you as you possibly can. Then watch how their responses change in different situations since they are not the same as your responses. Pax - C

PS I will give you a little hint. I have written erotica before and I have gotten many letters from readers asking me if it was true. I always reply "my stories are part resume and part wish list - you figure out which is which" and let it go at that. :)

Answer 4

I just started writing as well. I am finding it easier when I'm more honest it seems to come across as believable when you get honest with experiences. All you're really doing then is swapping out places and names. Like in Catcher in the Rye I felt like I knew Holden Caulfield's character and his insights. People say write what you know. So I'm approaching it in that same vein. If some people don't like what I write about them if they figure out who is who when I eventually get this thing published. Who cares? I'm writing this for me because I want to write it.
Writing is often cathartic and a way to expose yourself, if the readers believe the details they'll want more.

Answer 5

As long as no one else's privacy is compromised, I think it's fine.

I think many writers, myself included, draw from experience to create fiction. If you can do this writing erotica, more power to you.

Good luck!