Turning Fact into Fiction

As an erotic author, I'm often asked "Is it real?" or "Did that happen?" My answer depends on who's asking. I recently saw someone with the tagline, "It's all true. Only the facts are made up." In a way, that's the core of my writing style. There's an old writer adage that's related, "Write what you know." What you don't know, you can learn. Here are some examples and tips:

I'm a guy, can I write good lesbian erotica? or, I'm a chick, can I write good gay erotica?

Your first struggle is getting accepted. If your Lit name looks like a guy's name, you can expect some people to automatically 1 bomb your stories. I believe a man's name at the top of the story draws a few automatic 1 scores from people who want to imagine a story was written by a woman. That's too bad, because I also believe a guy can write believable erotica from a female perspective. Myself and other authors have put this to the test more than once by posting a lesbian based story under a male pseudonym and another under a male pseudonym. Guess what? The male tagged story always scores less.

To me, that's unfair. If we were to carry that philosophy to its logical end, then every sci-fi or fantasy story should receive 1 scores unless you're truly an astronaut or a wizard who owns a unicorn.

A man CAN write believable lesbian erotica. Guys have a unique perspective on women by the nature of NOT being a woman. We notice different traits about women than many women can notice about themselves. This can bring a unique slant to a story, making it more illuminating instead of less. Add this simple truth: "Folks is folks." The human experience is more encompassing than the gender experience.

Even a heterosexual man knows how a woman feels. He can appreciate and write about her skin, her scent and the appearance of her body. I intimately know how it feels to go down on a woman. I intimately know different women can taste differently. I know how a woman's nipples grow stiff and what that feels like beneath my tongue. It's ludicrous to think I can't describe those sensations. Depending on the nature of the story, where I might struggle will be with describing the sense of taboo that comes with touching another woman for the first time.

Still, the core of my belief remains: I know how women taste and feel. I sure as hell know how they sound. The adage applies: write what you know.

The voting bias against women writing gay male erotica doesn't appear to be as strong. Why? I think there is a large base of bisexual men who are excited to read gay porn written by a woman as an extension of their bisexuality. Otherwise, everything said about a man writing lesbian erotica applies to the concept of a woman writing gay male erotica. A heterosexual woman still knows how a hard cock feels. She still knows how a man sounds, how he feels and she can bring an illuminating perspective to the table.

Write what you know, part 1

I have at least half a dozen stories posted on Lit that include visits to adult bookstores and gloryholes. I'm fascinated by the places. If I include the sex shops, strip clubs, brothels and peep shows I visited in Europe while in the Army, it becomes difficult for me to count how many of these places I've visited. Dozens in probably a dozen different cities? I'll live with that.

Are they all dark, dank, nasty places? No. Are most of them? I think so. Some are well lit and very couple friendly. I enjoy revisiting them in my fiction because they're ripe, low-hanging fruit for my stories. There's comes a point where I know I have visited a few because I used them in my stories and it becomes research. Which leads us to the next writing tip:

Write what you know, part 2

Gain some experience! Go places. DO things. Pay attention to what you're already doing. Revisit what you've already done. Hell, visit a damn adult bookstore!

Where do you work? I've worked in restaurants, retail stores, radio stations, roller rinks and office settings. Each of these have become ready fodder for my fiction. I may not know what it's like inside the backroom of the retail store where you worked as a teenager, but I know how the layout of the backroom of a Spencer Gift store, circa 1980. I bet it hasn't changed much.

I know what it's like inside a dorm room. I went to college. I know what it's like in several different Army barracks, both in and out of country. I know how it feels to go away to summer camp and how it feels to be a camp counselor. Just as I know how it feels to go camping in the woods or attend a swinger's lifestyle party. All places I've been and things I've done.

Write what COULD have happened

Ah, what a wonderful gift: one's imagination! I have a couple stories that follow actual events nearly from beginning to end. (No, I'm not going to tell you which ones those are.) I have several more stories which include the beginning of actual events before they take a strong left turn into "here's what I wished had happened!" Mixed in with those are the stories that start with an imagined scenario before reaching a description of something that really happened.

Remember that hot blonde you saw at lunch yesterday? Remember how you wished you could... Oh crap! You have the material for a story! Quick, start writing!

Gain some experience, even if you have to give it to yourself.

If you're adventurous, you can give yourself the experiences of your characters without putting yourself in peril. Your personal limits will vary. How much are you willing to experience for your writing? Here are a few over-the-top suggestions you can do. If you're a guy and you want to know how cum tastes, taste your own! The same advice applies to women who don't know how pussy tastes. Um, ladies? You own one, don't you? Who's going to know, aside from yourself? Guys, want an idea of how it feels to receive a facial? Toss your knees over your head and jerk-off in your face. (Hell, it might be fun!) The same applies to writing a story about anal sex. If you've never done it, why not? You don't need to find an accommodating partner when you can experiment with your fingers, a vibrator, the handle of a hair brush... Want to know how it feels to have a prick inside your mouth? Buy a realistic looking dildo and suck on it. Want to know how it feels to be fucked by an incredibly well-endowed man? Aside from extra large dildos available for purchase, have you noticed the phallic shape of produce from cucumbers to zucchinis? What's it like to have someone pee in your face? If you're flexible, I bet you can find out!

I may or may not be the horn-dog you're imagining. I could be an absolute slut or merely a shy, quiet man with a good imagination. Or, for that matter, I'm a hot, barely legal college girl with an overly active imagination. Here's my point: none of that matters. You're officially absolved from being a real person. Now give me a good fantasy because I'm horny as hell!