I wrote my first published short story
when I was about 19 or 20. It was about a guy who received an
invitation to a cocktail party at the home of a local celebrity. The man
had no idea why he had received the invitation, but he was thrilled
that he had.
He spent the day of the party trying on various outfits, trying to decide which outfit would make the best impression. He also spent a couple of hours in front of a mirror, practising what he would say. And then, almost on the dot of six o'clock (that's what the invitation had said), he walked up the gravel driveway and rang the host's doorbell. The door was opened by a butler who, very diplomatically, informed our man that he had the wrong day.
'And would it be
convenient
to come again
tomorrow?'
I sent the story to the editor of a magazine who snaffled it up immediately, and asked if I had any more.
I had had no training in how to write short stories. In fact, I had had no training in Creative Writing at all. I just wrote what I wrote. And editors seemed to like what I wrote.
A year or so later, I started writing radio plays. Again, I had no training. But, again, I sold everything that I wrote. And radio led to some film work.
And then I thought that I had better get some 'proper' training. I enrolled in a Creative Writing course that focused on short stories. The instructor thought that my style was reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut. I thought that this was a good thing. She didn't. Oh well. So it goes.
My first exploration of the possibilities of erotica didn't happen until about 20 years later. It was the result of an unguarded moment of bravado. 'That's rubbish,' I said. 'I could write better than that.' But it turned out to be harder than I expected. The erotica audience can be very challenging. One moment you get feedback saying 'That was absolutely fabulous.' The next you are told 'That was total crap.' How can one story generate such diametrically opposed responses?
One of my friends – who also dabbles in erotica – says: 'Don't read the comments. And ignore all personal messages that aren't complimentary.' I'm working on it, PJ. I really am.
So what have I learned?
Perhaps the biggest lesson is that you can't please everyone. The audiences for erotica are various. If you make one person, or ten people, or a hundred people happy, enjoy that moment. And try not to fret about the reaction of the many people who you won't please, entertain, or titillate. As Ricky Nelson said: 'See, you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself.'
One way to please yourself is to write about things that amuse, entertain, or titillate you. Personally, I have no interest in Erotic Horror or Gay Male or Loving Wives or Mind Control or NonConsent/Reluctance or SciFi & Fantasy, so I don't go there. (Actually, I do have one story listed under Loving Wives, but that was finger error. I meant to click Mature. Oh well.)
Don't start by 'setting the scene'. At least don't start by setting a scene devoid of people. People like to read about people. If you start by writing about the colour of the river and the shape of the mountains in the background, or the way in which the late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the empty plaza, your reader will skip ahead to find the people.
Keep eye-of-god character descriptions to a minimum. Your mythical god may see all, but your reader only needs enough information to start creating his or her own vision. 'Belinda was a rather plain-looking girl. But she had a taste for really expensive shoes.' What size was her bra? Most of the time it doesn't matter.
Despite some of the stuff you may read on the Authors' Hangout thread, dialogue is good. Used well, dialogue can tell the story. But it has to be convincing. Your reader has to be able to 'hear' it. Two of the best exponents of believable dialogue were the English playwright Harold Pinter and the American novelist Elmore Leonard. Both knew how to tell a story using the speech of 'real' people.
As you craft your story (with interesting characters and believable dialogue), try to keep in mind that the big question in the back of your reader's mind is usually 'And what happened next?' What happens next is what keeps the story moving forward.
And the other big lesson: keep it simple. Don't show off. Try to make your writing look easy – even when creating the appearance of ease is very difficult indeed. If the cat sat on the mat, don't be afraid to say so. Cat and mat are words your reader will understand. As Kurt Vonnegut Jr used to tell his Creative Writing students: 'Use words I will recognise. And not too many of them.'
I'm sure that I will learn a few more things as I write a few more stories. But there are a few things to be going on with.
He spent the day of the party trying on various outfits, trying to decide which outfit would make the best impression. He also spent a couple of hours in front of a mirror, practising what he would say. And then, almost on the dot of six o'clock (that's what the invitation had said), he walked up the gravel driveway and rang the host's doorbell. The door was opened by a butler who, very diplomatically, informed our man that he had the wrong day.
'And would it be
convenient
to come again
tomorrow?'
I sent the story to the editor of a magazine who snaffled it up immediately, and asked if I had any more.
I had had no training in how to write short stories. In fact, I had had no training in Creative Writing at all. I just wrote what I wrote. And editors seemed to like what I wrote.
A year or so later, I started writing radio plays. Again, I had no training. But, again, I sold everything that I wrote. And radio led to some film work.
And then I thought that I had better get some 'proper' training. I enrolled in a Creative Writing course that focused on short stories. The instructor thought that my style was reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut. I thought that this was a good thing. She didn't. Oh well. So it goes.
My first exploration of the possibilities of erotica didn't happen until about 20 years later. It was the result of an unguarded moment of bravado. 'That's rubbish,' I said. 'I could write better than that.' But it turned out to be harder than I expected. The erotica audience can be very challenging. One moment you get feedback saying 'That was absolutely fabulous.' The next you are told 'That was total crap.' How can one story generate such diametrically opposed responses?
One of my friends – who also dabbles in erotica – says: 'Don't read the comments. And ignore all personal messages that aren't complimentary.' I'm working on it, PJ. I really am.
So what have I learned?
Perhaps the biggest lesson is that you can't please everyone. The audiences for erotica are various. If you make one person, or ten people, or a hundred people happy, enjoy that moment. And try not to fret about the reaction of the many people who you won't please, entertain, or titillate. As Ricky Nelson said: 'See, you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself.'
One way to please yourself is to write about things that amuse, entertain, or titillate you. Personally, I have no interest in Erotic Horror or Gay Male or Loving Wives or Mind Control or NonConsent/Reluctance or SciFi & Fantasy, so I don't go there. (Actually, I do have one story listed under Loving Wives, but that was finger error. I meant to click Mature. Oh well.)
Don't start by 'setting the scene'. At least don't start by setting a scene devoid of people. People like to read about people. If you start by writing about the colour of the river and the shape of the mountains in the background, or the way in which the late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the empty plaza, your reader will skip ahead to find the people.
Keep eye-of-god character descriptions to a minimum. Your mythical god may see all, but your reader only needs enough information to start creating his or her own vision. 'Belinda was a rather plain-looking girl. But she had a taste for really expensive shoes.' What size was her bra? Most of the time it doesn't matter.
Despite some of the stuff you may read on the Authors' Hangout thread, dialogue is good. Used well, dialogue can tell the story. But it has to be convincing. Your reader has to be able to 'hear' it. Two of the best exponents of believable dialogue were the English playwright Harold Pinter and the American novelist Elmore Leonard. Both knew how to tell a story using the speech of 'real' people.
As you craft your story (with interesting characters and believable dialogue), try to keep in mind that the big question in the back of your reader's mind is usually 'And what happened next?' What happens next is what keeps the story moving forward.
And the other big lesson: keep it simple. Don't show off. Try to make your writing look easy – even when creating the appearance of ease is very difficult indeed. If the cat sat on the mat, don't be afraid to say so. Cat and mat are words your reader will understand. As Kurt Vonnegut Jr used to tell his Creative Writing students: 'Use words I will recognise. And not too many of them.'
I'm sure that I will learn a few more things as I write a few more stories. But there are a few things to be going on with.
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