All Comments on 'Breaking Taboos Believably'

Taboo practices have little to do with suspension of disbelief . Adultery by a religious wife is never taboo. Immoral, perhaps, as is a religious wife finding a lesbian girlfriend. Taboo speaks of pedophilia, enslavement, bestiality, cannibalism, necrophilia and suchlike. BDSM is not as it is consensual and in private.

Incest hovers on the cusp. Lit's over-18 rule prevents under 18-sex in any context. The legal prohibition is to avoid genetic problems with inter-breeding. Lit's rule is to stay legal.

Your essay confuses the concept of 'taboo' with unexpected sexual deviation from the societal norm.

Agreed, writing the change of character is not easy, but you aren't in the realm of 'taboo'.

First, let me unabashedly state that I, too, suffer(?) from sexual addiction. Of course, that is a catch-all layman's term for a host of paychological and behavioral issues - but it will suffice for the purposes of this comment. I also agree that I have often succumbed to the lure of a less-than-believable, but sexually "hot" story line, and done my fair share of self gratification with the non-mouse wielding hand, even as the little voice in my head chided my gullibility with a more rational view: "Right, she just walked in and found her teenage (over 18, of course) son jerking off five minutes ago, and now she's frantically riding him in reverse-cowboy position, screaming 'FUCK MOMMY' at the top of her lungs...".

In my mind it all boils down to basic writing skills - although the pressure to get to the sexual event is undoubtedly higher in the context of this forum than it is in trying to write a best-seller that might find its way to the shelves of the local mall's bookstore. What every good writer - whether for a novel, screenplay or even advertisement - is trying to achieve in the reader's mind is suspension of disbelief. That's not quite the same as "believable" - many rather far-fetched scenarios may seem "believable" under a certain set of specific circumstances - if all the planets are in the proper alignment, and the myriad variables that could cause a different outcome are all fortuitously made non-issues. But the simple fact is that any rational reader - even one consuming the written work through the hazy filter of sexual addiction - is going to know, on a basic, nonverbal, perhaps mainly subconscious level that such a magical confluence of perfect timing, circumstances, character shifts, desertion of moral values and blindingly overwhelming lust is just not really believable! Of course, since we are (in most cases!) talking about a work of fiction, do we need to spend twenty pages developing a scenario that will truly cause suspension of disbelief? I think that depends upon the author's goal(s) when writing. There is certainly an appreciative (and large) audience for down-and-dirty, slam, bam, thank you ma'am jerk-off fodder - and there's nothing wrong with writing for that audience, if that is the goal. I just think that in the long run, the author who recognizes that the human brain is the largest, most well-developed erogenous zone - and who takes the time to slowly, skillfully stimulate it as such - is the author who writes the most effective, most memorable and most well-read erotica. Again, just my opinion, and I'm sure many of the denizens of this site find "wordy" or "long" (anything over five pages?) stories boring. After all, as a society we've been trained to expect instant gratification, haven't we? Who wants to spend all that time thinking, when all we really want is endless exposure to whatever makes us feel good, right? I'll leave it up to you to decide if the journey is more important than the destination...

That was an extremely well written discussion. I enjoyed following the line of thought and reasoning. Also, I agree with the conclusion that taboo is whatever the reader or character believes it to be....kudos.

I don't know about breaking taboos, whether in writing or in life. I like your essay though and your writing. I think your example of the conservative wife is realistic, and coming from a conservative, Calvinist background myself, if the wife had made the decision to do more than look, that would have been one hell of a taboo that was crossed, especially if she was in the new Puritan movement.

Or at least let's not exclude the subject from this site altogether. After all, sex with minors is no different from non-consensual sex, incest, bestiality, and for that matter going nude in public. They are all unlawful and punishable by law. Only hypocrites would exclude the subject of underage sex from a sex story site, as though by doing so would make this social phenomenon go away?!?! It makes as much sense as accusing ladies wearing sexy clothing for provoking the rapists! Underage sex is more common than rape and incest. Let's face it, write creatively about it and have no more infantile declarations like "All characters are over 18..." on this site!

It's also about time that Laurel and Manu wake up to the 21st Century!

Too much about taboo, not enough about believability. You gave us an essay on what is taboo. I don't care what taboo is. The word taboo just gets them in the door. Replace taboo in your how to, with the word, story. How do you make a story believable?

A story is a story. You buy it or you don't. If you don't buy it, it still might arouse you. But if you want a believable story, ground it some type of reality. Keep special knowledge plausible for the average reader. Maintain the viewpoint of the storyteller. If it is a fantasy don't break the rules you set, unless you have a good explanation as to why that rule no longer applies. If you give a character a quirk, acknowledge it. Tell us why Granny is into death metal or Fido has three legs.

The subject doesn't matter, if you can make work.

You sir, are dangerous.

And fuck you, you sick, repulsive fucktard!

Same to you, sir! Fuck you very much!

So underage sex is repulsive but rape, incest, slavery sex... are not??? Somewhere, someone's got a fuckup mind and that's really repulsive!

You can ban it all, in another word this site can pack it in, or let everybody write liberally and literarily on sex subjects. Surely, we don't live under the Chinese regime that you only print and say what those in authority think as proper and permissible!

It's a sex story site for crying out loud, you hypocrite!

Reading these comments is more interesting than the submission itself.

And I think the rude anon who created the word "Fucktard" should have it tattooed in his (or her, let's not be discriminatory, right?) forehead and wears it proudly as a sign of personal status.

Amen.

He probably doesn't condone to rape, incest or whatever horrible sins. He just has a mental block over the issue of underage sex.

And don't go attacking Laurel & Manu. We take whatever we can get here, without underage sex, so be it, with that, even better. Otherwise, we are left with the bible as the last guy says.

And all the while I just wonder what is the author's stance on this taboo thing called underage sex. Isn't it his personal statement that he is "Old enough to know better and young enough to say 'what the fuck' and do it anyway." And is that why he has left this subject out of the discussion?

LOL!

Sorry, can't help it, after reading so much BS from the others!

Yes, I'm sure the fucktard is equally against rape... but he reads those stories here and jack himself off merrily. Bet he also gets a hard-on reading sex with minors, 'cept that he has to hide his erection!

An essay like "How to convince L&M to print underage sex stories on Literotica "?

I thought this was quite an interesting take on the subject matter. I felt a little dizzy at first with the twists and turns of getting to the point, and you almost lost me there.

But I think the material that followed made some good points about the nature of "taboo". Eye of the beholder and all that. Made pretty good sense. But I most liked your eh, formula, for recognizing or creating a taboo in a reader's mind, building to it, and pressuring it until the taboo bursts open into edgy "forbidden" scenarios. That was a pretty neat and fairly accurate way of examining it.

True, for some parts of this piece, I did feel overwhelmed by the exposition and background you coated it with. But too, it kinda felt like I was sitting next to you in a bar, in a way, listening to your approach to the subject. So that style did and didn't work for me.

Overall, it was a nice quick exploration of the topic, if a bit wayward at times. An interesting take on the subject, and shows us that taboos are right under our very noses. Good read.

This is a great look into what it takes to write an entertaining story. I am proud to say that although I don't see myself as Pulitzer prize author, I have written a few that at a few people have enjoyed. This motivates me to return to the keyboard.

THANK YOU!