WIP Check-In: November 28th

[sperrywink]

Poll #12182 Check In: November 28th

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

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How has today been?

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Awesome!
2 (25.0%)

Pretty good
1 (12.5%)

okay
4 (50.0%)

meh
1 (12.5%)

Why are you taunting me?
0 (0.0%)

Today I have...

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wrote
6 (85.7%)

edited
2 (28.6%)

posted
4 (57.1%)

researched
1 (14.3%)

will explain in comments
0 (0.0%)

Today's discussion topic is Porn (It's hump day, after all)! Do you like writing it, is it like nails down a chalkboard, or the highlight of every story?

This is another one that sometimes works for me and sometimes doesn't. When I can see it all in my head, it is glorious, but when it is off, a story will stall for months.

Comments

[the_rck]

I have a bit of a block these days about writing smut. I used to be able to do it, but in the last few years, it's gotten really hard. I tentatively date the point the trouble started as around the time my daughter learned to read. I do most of my writing while she's at school, but that doesn't seem to matter. I still write as if she's looking over my shoulder.

[sperrywink]

Yeah, having a youngin looking over your shoulder would deter me too.

[the_rck]

She's not interested in what I write yet, but I expect she will be eventually. Right now, she's mostly interested in my e-mail. She wants to know who it's from and if any of it is about her. She also wants to know who I'm chatting with.

[annotated_em]

I like writing porn! I write a lot of it too. *ponders* Though these days I'm almost... bored of it, and I write less unless it's really integral to the plot. Or unless I want to write something quick and easy (just like my favorite characters).

[sperrywink]

I like writing porn too, but I can see how it easily get repetitive and boring.

But it sounds like you have a real good strategy for including it- I love it when it is integral to the plot.

[crowdog66]

While I have a hoot and a half writing porn, I can certainly tell a decent story without it. (See: the recent series in which one of the main characters is asexual, and thus porn does not figure into his storyline -- at least, not much!)

I never seem to have trouble writing it, and folks always seem to enjoy it when I do, so I suppose that's all right then. :)

ETA: Oh, and as far as today's writing, I knocked together a 390-word piece of dancing!fluff and relationship!fluff, "Beauty's Where You Find It" (Knight Rider 2000, Brad Adair/KITT/Shawn McCormick, PG-13).

[sperrywink]

Well tha tis all good! ANd yes, not all stories need porn, but it is fun when it works.

[lea_hazel]

I'm pleased by my progress today. I wrote a short response to an "imagine your OTP" prompt, even though the romance was in the background. I think this little ficbit can serve as a kind of prelude to an A/U ficlet I've been churning over for a while, too.

I avoided porn for a long time due to writing-related insecurities, and broke my block by writing a bunch of kmeme fills anonymously and getting some super harsh critique. It hurt, and that was how I knew I could write and live with the criticism. Most of my porn is still anonymous. Although it feels really formulaic, I worry about tossing in too much variety because I know people like their formulas when it comes to porn. That's why I go out of my way to give positive feedback to people who write unusual fills.

[sperrywink]

People do like their formulaic pron! (Myself included). I'm glad you reward those who go outside the box. I need to do that more too.

[lea_hazel]

I'm just lucky I don't write much m/m slash, I guess. There's so little room for variation. F/f is a little more flexible.

[cirque]

I am terrible writing smut... I avoid it like the plague. I barely even write ~romance if I can avoid it. It just makes me feel awkward and terrible, and I hate feeling like that when I write, so I don't bother with it.

[sperrywink]

Sounds like a smart philosophy!

[bay_alexison]

I like writing porn sometimes, only that I tend to get nervous over if it's decently written or not. Whenever I send a porn fic to my betas they would point out parts where I rushed and needs more detail, haha.

[sperrywink]

It is so hard to get good pacing in porn. I feel your pain. Sometimes it feels rushed to me and sometimes it is 3 pages later and they are just getting their shirts off.

[barbayat]

I like writing porn - but it needs to fit the story (unless it is pwp) and I need to feel good. For example, if I feel like throwing up, having a fever etc I just can not write it.

[obsidian_sea]

Hahaha, yes-- I've tried writing smut while under the weather and failed miserably. It kills the mood, and I can no longer fathom sexiness.

[sperrywink]

So true, omg. Not feeling sexy-ish yourself is a real mood killer.