Strengths and weaknesses

1) As a writer what's one thing you wish you did better, and would like to work on to improve in your work?

2) As a writer, what's one thing you think you do pretty well or get many compliments about related to your work?

1) Weird to say, given this is an erotic story site, but I'd like to write hotter sex scenes. As a writer, I often find I focus more on the build-up to the sex, than the sex itself (at times, I've even left it almost entirely out of the story - see https://www.lushstories.com/stories/cheating/the-staring-contest, though I'd still consider it one of my better pieces). For me, sex seems like the logical conclusion to a story, but not the main thrust of it, if you'll pardon the double entendre. Still, I feel like I could probably give these scenes a bit more heat or passion if I pushed myself as a writer.

2) The thing I think I do pretty well is the slow, gradual build-up. I do like to stretch out and amp up the sexual tension in a story before I let the characters go at each other. For readers with the patience to invest in that kind of thing, I think my stories could be rewarding. Also, I've been told on multiple occasions that I do dialogue well, so I'll take that compliment, too.

1) I wish I did better with the narrative aspect of my writing. I have issues finding strong verbs at times and I think I could be better at conveying the actual feelings the participants experience during the sex itself. Also, I am not confident with my descriptions.

2) I think my dialogue is my best feature. People tend to like my characters even though they don't tend to be deep and I believe it's because of the dialogue more than anything else.

1). Things I wish that I could do better are most to do with my actual writing, like story flow, grammar, keeping everything in the same tense and paraphrasing... Whatever that is!

2). My plus points... Story ideas, twists, character depth and progression. In a way I am lucky that these seemed to always come quickly to me, sometimes to the point where I feel overloaded.

1) What I want to improve on... My writing skills, really everything that has to do with the art of making my stories as vivid to the readers as they are in my mind. I still have a lot to learn.

2) Aces in my hand... My story ideas. I get really good ideas of scenarios to build on. My best-rated stories were built on so strong a setting that it was nearly impossible to miss. E.g., Senegalese soldiers winding up in a nunnery filled with sex-starved girls, and the Abbess is an aristocratic-looking blonde.

1. EVERYTHING! I have yet to find any area of my writing that doesn't need massive amounts of improvement.

2. I write quickly. When I'm in the groove I can pound out about 1.3K good words in an hour. With #1 in mind, as soon as I can make them excellent words, I'll be a little happy.

I am like Krystal (Hello! 😘).

1. I need a wider vocabulary, a lot of help with English vernacular (I learned this word today!), and I must improve how to keep the story moving and keep readers interested.

2. My imagination. Mon dieu, I am glad only I get to see its contents. It is either like a spicy porn film or just completely depraved and I think only suitable for the hardcore category. Although, the idea of writing a bisexual story remains only an idea for lots of reasons, including sticky fingers!

1. I add extra details to explain something when it's likely unnecessary because I fear being misunderstood - I score highly on ASD tests in social areas. I also find it easier to write dialogue for well spoken characters. My sentence structure is lengthy which can be off-putting.

2. My imagination is my strongest point. I can vividly imagine a scene before writing it, and I'll research the hell out of something if I'm uncertain. This does have the draw-back that I'm obsessive, and I'll sink many hours/days into learning which could have been spent writing.

Quote by utterchaos
1. I add extra details to explain something when it's likely unnecessary because I fear being misunderstood - I score highly on ASD tests in social areas. I also find it easier to write dialogue for well spoken characters. My sentence structure is lengthy which can be off-putting.

Yeah, I'm guilty of these, too, so I'll just steal yours.😋 I generally get it cleaned up in editing, but my first drafts are often full of it.

As for my strengths, many comment on my vivid descriptions so I guess putting the picture in my imagination on to paper in a way that resonates with people is one. Which is not always easy when I am writing about sex acts I have no personal experience of or when I am writing imaginary worlds for my fantasy stories on Stories Space.

I have plenty of weaknesses. I would love to make my stories more sensual, and my editing is woeful.

On the plus side, I think my dialogue is strong. X

I often try too hard to do too much, satisfying my mind, but not the casual reader's.
I'm lousy at sex-drenched scenes, so will never be a darling here.
With very few (mostly sarcastic) exceptions, hetero stuff does not inspire me. The same with many of the popular kinks.
I am not a flirty, openly erotic person, which is at least 75% of a writer's success on Lush.

I think my word choice and dialogue is pretty good at establishing character, place, time, and tone in the hard constraints of Micro fiction and in longer pieces, as well.
I think I set a pretty good twist.
Whatever the format, I write whole stories, not just blurbs, for better or for worse.

Quote by CarltonStJames

1) I have issues finding strong verbs at times and I think I could be better at conveying the actual feelings the participants ..,

2) I think my dialogue is my best feature. People tend to like my characters even though they don't tend to be deep and I believe it's because of the dialogue more than anything else.

1) I particularly feel challenged coming up with the right verb too, but specifically in dialogue situations. I try to minimize the use of say/says/said when there are so many alternatives that carry more meaning in expressing the tone and feeling of a conversation, but so often I feel like the just-right verb is on the tip of my tongue, but just out of reach and I settle for a second-best word instead.

Maybe I need to keep a list of dialogue verbs to slip into my writing. I already maintain a very long list of synonyms for cock, pussy and tits, to avoid overusing them.

2) I feel the same, that my dialogue is my strong suit. I’ve gotten quite a few compliments on the dialogue and banter (usually between two men) in my stories, and I do make an effort to capture the way the guys I’ve known over the decades really talk. All too often, IRL, i feel like I’m not quick enough to come up with just the right witty reply to someone, but of course when we’re writing that problem disappears!

Quote by AmuseBouche

I am like Krystal (Hello! 😘).

… the idea of writing a bisexual story remains only an idea for lots of reasons, including sticky fingers!

I hope you write one. Like Kistin, I guess, I’ve never been very turned on by straight porn or erotica. At least not consistently, though I have penned six or eight stories with pure M-F action that I found highly enjoyable to write. Even back in my adolescent days of flipping through the pages of Penthouse Forum Letters, I’d always find myself skimming in search of female-female action (common in the threesomes stories, obviously) or male-male contact (more common than people unfamiliar with the magazine might assume, with usually one or two encounters to be found in every issue).

Quote by krystalg

2. I write quickly. When I'm in the groove I can pound out about 1.3K good words in an hour. With #1 in mind, as soon as I can make them excellent words, I'll be a little happy.

Well, your productivity of late has been impressive. I usually find myself combing through my stories 15-25 times before publishing, trying to get everything just right, which slows the output considerably, so I could put that as a weakness for myself too.

One exception I just (re)discovered was my Contagion series about marital exploration culminating in group sex (with, unconventionally for me and conventionally for everyone else, no male-male action at all). I cranked those one out in a frenzy of inspiration driven by the pressure cooker of the 2020 Pandemic, without my usual, endless editing and re-editing. Rereading them last week for the first time, I was surprised to see how well they’ve held up. But still, those were still very much exceptions to my nitpicky writing process.

1.) Although I've been complimented on my character dialogue, I feel that I'm not as creative with the actions of the speaker. Example: "It's only rain!" So and so said.
I put most of my attention on what they say, with consideration to how realistic it could be, does it flow, etc., but in order for me to do that, I try to have those conversations in real-time with myself, so I write them on the spot, then go back and adjust, and whatever was in the "creative well" to achieve it, leaves little left on the other end.

2.) Details/Descriptions. People have complimented me a lot on my details and descriptions. In a story, they're kind of like foreplay, and thus, super important.

1. I write every day, not only erotica, and I should pay more attention to quality and less to quantity. On rereads, my writing of sex can read as rushed and unsatisfying.

2. I think I've written satisfying stories in quite a wide variety of situations and genres. From a dying girl wanting to lose her virginity through a young woman being drawn into porn to a comic romp about the Three Wise men (linked below!). So, range.

Oh Come, Let Us Adore Him | Lush Stories My entry to the Christmas comp.