All Comments on 'Poets and Fools: On Writing Erotica'

A fine piece of work but possibly not quite in its right setting here; it seems a difficult thing - to me - to bring such a degree of introspective analysis into the world of erotic writing, much if it of the 'wham-bam' kind.

Impossible to score, intriguing and erudite, this was well worth the read. I hope you find what (you imagine) you are looking for; be prepared, however, to be a little flexible; the perfect is sometimes the enemy of the good.

The frustration produces the art. And while getting there may be half the fun, as Greyhound used to suggest, not getting there is all the fun? Could be. Interesting essay.

Interesting, but I don't think I agree.

I would say that most of the stories on this site, and probably most erotic fiction in general, is written by writers who are seeking to gratify themselves as they write. I.e., to be crude, it's written with one hand on the keyboard and the other between the legs.

But that doesn't mean the writer is sexually frustrated otherwise. It just means that one of the ways that he or she gets off is by writing erotic fiction.

I also don't think that the quality of the writing has anything to do at all with the extent to which the writer is sexually frustrated. The quality of the writing depends solely on the talent of the writer.

And I don't think you've got Les Enfants du Paradis right either. Garance offers herself to Baptiste early in the film, and he rejects her because he is looking for eternal, sacred love, and she is offering merely a night of pleasure. In the second half of the film she has realised that she loves Baptiste (who by then has married another), and they meet again and this time they make love.

Final comment: don't get hung up about erotica and art. What appears on this site is not art. The stories here are stroke stories, no more than that.

The notion that for some, the act of writing erotica is in and of itself the ends as well as the means, is something I hadn't considered. However, I feel that unless it is a fetish, they are writing because they are frustrated by what they don't have.

I would not say that all of the stories on here are stroke stories. It's true that there are very few tragedies (wish denied), but there are several comedies (wish granted), and what separates the artistic comedies from mere porn or smut is to some degree subjective. I would say that if the story is communicating a deeper truth about love and beauty or any other thing, then it is approaching art. If this does not exist on Literotica, then let that be my goal.

There's nothing wrong with stroke stories. I guess that most of the classic erotic literature was written to give the reader a hard-on, or make her wet if she's a woman. Why else would anyone write erotica?

Nothing is as highly prized if the obtainment is effortless. My favorite stories are leavened with a little guilt or shyness and even more so when its a long winding road to get to the pot of gold. You and en_extase are great examples of this school of thought. Your writing has brought some higher standards to the community.

Puppop, I am deeply honored to be compared to en_extase. He is a phenomenal writer, and he is very much in my vein. I can certainly see myself venturing further away from mere stroke stories (which are not bad) to something more challenging. I am glad to hear that there is an audience for this kind of thing.