Are true stories more exciting?

I'm placing my own opinion firmly in the question, but I'm curious about other people's perspectives. When I'm reading a true story, the knowledge that the sexual activities really happened takes my enjoyment to another level. Do you prefer fiction, maybe because fantasy or sci-fi is your jam? Do you enjoy stories that are based on the author's true experiences but embellished and fictionalized? Do you not give a rat's ass whether it's truth or fiction as long as the story pulls you in?

Now I'm going to psychoanalyze myself. 😉 Maybe I feel this way because of voyeuristic tendencies I've never really explored. I've watched plenty of porn but never been to a sex club; I went to a strip club once but it was kinda dead and wasn't a great experience. Every sexual encounter of mine has been with one woman, in private, but the thought of watching other people have sex without caring who's watching, either a male-female couple or a woman taking on multiple male partners, is very exciting to me. And I love reading women's forum posts about all the wild shit they've done; a quick "yeah, I pulled a train one weekend" does more for me than 3000 words of detailed fiction.

I thought about adding a poll to this topic but decided it would look sad and pathetic if it gets only three responses. Psychoanalyze that! 😅

Quote by Chet_Morton
Do you not give a rat's ass whether it's truth or fiction as long as the story pulls you in?

This ^^

I'm quietly convinced that the vast majority of "true" stories on here aren't.

A supposed true story that's poorly written is less appealing than a fictional tale that's well written, imo. So, no, true stories aren't universally more exciting. It depends on who wrote it and if they can transport me into the narrative and keep me there.

"Everybody lies."

-- Gregory House

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

This ^^

I'm quietly convinced that the vast majority of "true" stories on here aren't.

A supposed true story that's poorly written is less appealing than a fictional tale that's well written, imo. So, no, true stories aren't universally more exciting. It depends on who wrote it and if they can transport me into the narrative and keep me there.

"Everybody lies."

-- Gregory House

Yeah, mostly what he says. Even the ones that are 100% true are likely embellished. The fact is that reality makes for bad fiction a lot of the time. If I only wrote true stories, I would have run out of stories years ago and they'd be even more vanilla than my stuff is now.

From my experience with my first few story attempts, people seem to like the true story angle the best. But as the other commenters mentioned, even the "true" stories are going to be embellished to make them even better. My first story starts off true, and then veers into imagination, as do the others I've written. If I stuck to the total truth, it definitely would not have been as good of a story 🤣.
But for me personally, when I'm reading, it doesn't really matter to me if it is based on a true story or not. The characters and the writing are what draw me in.

Thing is, you can still make a fictitious story feel real if you play things right. Make the characters feel like real people. Don't wallow in tropes that feel artificial. Use life to inform the feel of your stories and characters even when the plot is pure fantasy. I didn't screw the minister's daughter in the woods when I was 17 but I was rather hot and bothered by our minister's daughter at that age. When I wrote my first Lisa and Alan story, I channeled some of that into the fantasy

Hmm, an absolutely true story? probably not. A story based on truth, definitely, and here is why. emotion. The story of the husband coming home nd getting off on his wife taking on 6 BBCs is far hotter than the potential truth, her in bed with one guy. The emotions of anger, betrayal, and eventual lust would be the same and tapped. At least in the beginning, follow the advice of Mark Twain: Write what you know.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

I'm quietly convinced that the vast majority of "true" stories on here aren't.

No doubt, no doubt. A similar thing that annoys me is when a Lush user scrapes photos from the internet and when someone comments "Wow ur hott!" they reply "Thanks ❤️" as though it's actually them. It leads me to believe you're a scammer, not just protecting your privacy.

Quote by Mandapanda2025

A story based on truth, definitely, and here is why. emotion. T

Sure. There's characters, settings, and situations in my stories that have resonance in my own life. Take a look at the stories in my sig. The first has little that is literally true in it, but is a situation I feel a connection to and the character has a bit of me in him. The second, on the other hand, is what my life could have been like (or I hope so) if I had been more aware and accepting of a certain part of myself earlier in life.

Everything everyone has said resonates, most especially Mandapanda’s quote from Mark Twain to write what we know. Our true experiences in life enable us to make characters who are believable and I think believable characters in hot situations are the most exciting. For me, imagination and reality woven together are the best.

True stories yes.

Make believe, fantasies, not that much.

If I had to stick to writing what I know, I'd have probably submitted one story here, not 150. Thank goodness for an active imagination.

Nope. I actually am of the opinion that stories that try to be true to reality are boring and usually give me a case of the blah blahs. Think about all the extraneous bullshit we think or feel or experience in between it all. It’s extremely difficult to look at your life and edit for the things that don’t matter to a particular story in it, because everything matters. It’s REAL LIFE

That said, I think if you use what or who you know to create aspects of stories, it feels way more real. A little truth goes a long way

Quote by Katherine
A little truth goes a long way

I think this may almost be better writing advice that "Write what you know." A lot of us make stuff up in our stories. Some of us have things in our stories that don't even exist (demons, spirits, dragons, whatever). But it's those little bits of truth, the emotions that feel real, the moments that resonate, that often make a story successful. I don't always write what I know, but I do draw on life to make those moments happen. Perhaps writing what you feel matters, too.

For me there is: a) what you know and b) what you KNOW. When I hold you in my arms, that may be what I know - and it may be at an ice cream parlor, or at a dance, or wherever. When I am writing it is what you made me feel that causes the eroticism for me. That is what I know, from what you made me feel, not the ice cream parlor where I spilled coffee on your shorts. (I am a bit of a klutz by the way)

I've got some 'true' stories in my 'Sexual autobiography" series. And yes, there is an element of artistic licence. But they are not purely invented. Did every move and position change happen exactly as I wrote it? No, honestly. Did the night in question happen? Yes it did! I really have dabbled in facials and given blowjobs in cars and had sex at work.

It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to write a totally fake story about me being gang-banged by six well-hung Black men, or my brothers, and I know that would get a ton of likes and clicks, but it's never happened, so I'm not doing it. My true stories are, basically, true, if not word for word true.

I love you. That is so well said!

All stories are some mix of truth and fiction. Adhering to perfect objectivity is literary impoverishment, while at the same time, there are many 'truths' in fiction (and in life) that go beyond and below the surface of mere facts. It's those deeper truths that I aim for in my writing.

I think personally that writing what you know to be true gives it an edge. Also, as you write it’s almost as if you can relive the moment from days gone by. My first true story is hopefully about to be posted after the review process. I will then let others decide if events that really happened are worth reading about.

The truth that I appreciate in stories is believable characters, feelings that make sense, and details that put the reader into the setting. A perfectly true story that is lacking in feelings, thoughts and settings is less entertaining to me than a fantasy (even an unrealistic one) where one can understand the motivations of the characters and the settings are described vividly.

OP here; I described some of my turn-ons to ChatGPT and it came up with the phrase Soft Patron Exhibitionism. I love hearing about a lady's past experiences with public sex, group sex, or sex work lite (as I call it). As detailed in my based-on-true-events Flash story Spiked!, I get aroused by hearing that a woman got paid to, for example, show off her titties. She's confident in her sexuality and she's not ashamed to use her body to make money, but she's not making a full-time career of it. I like buying dinners and dresses for a love interest, but I'm careful to not make it transactional. (It might be exciting to toss a few fifty dollar bills at her as I jump into her bed, but it's better to wait and slip them into a birthday card instead.)

I'm not into cuckolding or humiliation, so I don't know whether I would want a current girlfriend to be actively engaging in sex work lite or be the life of the party at the local club's gangbang night. (See my microfiction ETA?.) But I sure do love hearing that it happened in her past. Hence, my fascination with true stories. Exhibitionism fiction? Booooring. Exhibitionism memoirs? Yes please!

Well, if I did bother writing them out, my true stories wouldn't be more exciting.

Yes.

But sadly with chatgpt, ppl are just passing off fantasies as reality. It sucks.

Now that I've been here a minute, I can offer this: the two true stories I have submitted seem to garner more views, favorites, and comments than the pure fiction one, but it might be the categories of the stories.

My belief is that true stories are always exciting. I have read some stories even far from the imagination.

A couple years ago a friend of ours told us that we should write about some of the things we've done over the last 30+ years. Gail is a huge nymph and I have a huge sex drive we have done lots of crazy things.

Gail and I sat down and started recounting on a cross country trip and a particular night at an adult theatre/truck stop just east of Amarillo. We sat there for hours got horny as hell. Was it 100% true YES! The only thing that may have been embellished was the conversations. Obviously we didnt remember exactly what we said, it was 20 years ago.

Anyway we turned it into Literotica, got turned down three times for format, but we finally got help and it was published, we were so excited to read the comments, and some were great, but we had a bunch basically calling us liars, that was the last time we wrote anything. Feelings hurt yes they were

Quote by mandg

we turned it into Literotica ... but we had a bunch basically calling us liars

I quit Literotica in part because of the trolls in the comments; I prefer being quietly ignored on Lush. 😄

I’m not sure if they are necessarily more exciting but I do prefer them. Maybe just thinking someone really did what they are writing about makes it feel hotter and that they really had a great time. I’m disappointed, but not surprised that most true stories are not really true. I recently read a “true story” where the guy’s cock was a foot long and as thick as a fist. I’m sure that is fictitious but correct me if I’m wrong.

One of the things I enjoy most about writing true stories is that it gets away from the idea that absolutely everything is characterised by expertise. Some might enjoy writing or reading about filleted contortionists who can do stuff without ever putting a foot (or anything else) wrong, but that's not the case for everyone. Not everyone wants perfection, specific physical attributes, etc.

True stories, or embellished truth, offer something extra. That 'extra' might make no difference to you, but it might to someone else. People write about topics I wouldn't go anywhere near, so I don't. If you feel as strongly about 'true' stories, the same opportunity exists.

A lot of you seem to be confusing 'true' for 'realistic.' If you write it believable enough, the actual truth of it is irrelevant. Do the actions, words, thoughts, feelings, responses, and events of a story actually make sense within our general shared understandings of how the world operates? You can toy with those understandings (a lot of great writing does that), but if you unapologetically defy them outright, it shows a lack of regard for your reader, as if you're gaslighting them - and doing a shit job of it while you're at it.

My biggest irritation tends to be when a story suddenly veers into sex without any real set-up or explanation. Real life doesn't move that way, so it feels untrue (even if that might have actually happened to you one miraculous time). But if you actually lay the groundwork for the characters' seemingly spontaneous hookup, I'm far more willing to go with them into the storage closet for a wild tryst during lunch hour. Show how the characters build their desire for each other, revealing their interiority and clarifying their motivations to help me believe that something like this could happen. Unfortunately a lot of writers don't bother with this because they think that sex is the story. Sex is only the conclusion to the story, and not particularly interesting in and of itself. Describing a variety of positions reads more like a dry instruction manual than an actual story. To be believable, we need to know how they got there. That's the real story.

My own version of irritation-avoidance is much less stressful; I laugh. If someone plays the 'numbers game' with anatomy, I think it's ridiculous, so I laugh and find something I prefer. No drama, no gnashing of teeth, no problem. Believable is subjective, as is interesting. You may find a need to know 'how they got there' as fundamental, but someone else might not.

Everything I hate might be exactly the reason someone likes something. Eyewitness accounts of the same event may differ widely due to perception, but they're all 'real'.