Authors - Researching Topics?

I’ve recently written some stories on cucking and BDSM. In both cases, I know I deviated from some norms.

I am now starting a Swingers story. I have zero experience with wife swapping, swinging, or the lifestyle.

I know some of you have done historical pieces which have required significant research. I get that. But when you tackle a category, topic, kink, or fetish that you know nothing about personally, where do you start? Google? Your favorite AI chatbot (cringe)? Somewhere else? Or do you just wing it and go with the idea that it’s a fictional story and it is okay if it deviates from reality.

Why not ask your questions of the experts on Lush?

Mr Paddling, if I need to research a kink I’ve not experienced, I google “psychology of (kink)”. Often get the Psychology Today site and it gives me things like types of people who enjoy that and motivations for engaging in it which really helps tell a more layered story. I’d suggest starting there. And I read the Recommended Reads and Editor's Picks for that category, too.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

the Psychology Today site

Just watch out for those clickbait ads; apparently, if you take any of the quizzes, you'll find out you're a wreck.

Quote by paddlingincognito

I’ve recently written some stories on cucking and BDSM. In both cases, I know I deviated from some norms.

I am now starting a Swingers story. I have zero experience with wife swapping, swinging, or the lifestyle.

I know some of you have done historical pieces which have required significant research. I get that. But when you tackle a category, topic, kink, or fetish that you know nothing about personally, where do you start? Google? Your favorite AI chatbot (cringe)? Somewhere else? Or do you just wing it and go with the idea that it’s a fictional story and it is okay if it deviates from reality.

i write a lot of 1980's stuff. my go to are movies and TV shows. Especially Miami Vice when it comes to clothing, Also, music videos. Between Don johnson and madonna you got the 80's styles down

I try to write what I know or at least can reasonably guess at. Seems more authentic than going out of my way to write about a subject I have no experience with. I don't do much research apart from maybe a quick google search to get a fact straight. And if facts get in the way, I'm not above just making up some wild fantastical bullshit, which I think is often far more entertaining than over-doing the whole 'realism' thing. Get creative and don't stress too much about it.

My lexicon of kink is varied. However, when I get stuck, my answer is Google. They have an AI hovering beneath the initial search, and out of frustration, I have asked it for risqué filth. It is not squeamish, and it has delivered. Something along the lines of "How much would a regular 20-year-old woman know about bondage and submission?" Not a problem. I admit the answer was spectacular.

Having had the carnal experience of a 20-something in terms of that - it acquitted itself well.

Somewhere there is a horny AI... I pity it.

For me, it will always be about what feels comfortable to write about. I can't set a story in a part of the world I've not experienced, or in a period either. Plenty can and do, so those who enjoy that aspect don't miss out.

Kink-wise, my thoughts are the same. I can only write honestly about things I've experienced (even if disastrously). The exception that proves the rule is the odd story I've set in the future, as that is creative speculation, not research- based. I would never suggest this is a case of right or wrong, but 'feels right or wrong for me to do' is an entirely different standpoint.

If people's enjoyment of a story is genuinely affected by a historical inaccuracy, or seen as impossible because of geographical or even physical improbability errors, they are perfectly entitled to take that view, just as I am to choose the settings and activity I do.

Doing what I do for fun allows me to stay in my lane. What seems restricting to some might feel like an important safety net to others. Not being interested in chasing badges or wanting to 'push boundaries' can be very liberating! If I need to Google it, except to confirm I'm correct, I wouldn't be happy writing about it...but that's just me.

I do a lot of research if it's something I don't know much about. And "research" often involves seeking good stories in the category I'm intending to write in.

For my cuckold story I had to go quite a bit beyond my usual research. In addition to knowing almost nothing about cuckolding, my knowledge of stuff around 0AD is very limited too.

Search engines rule here, because I can take a cross section of information and pull out the best bits myself. I don't trust AI to extract the details I need, as it tends to only precis popular opinion. Plus they often interpolate/invent stuff or give me false information and present it as fact, which would make me look stupid.

Clearly, as I don't write about things I've no experience of/ periods I didn't live in, I don't have to worry about either. If I did research, it would involve doing something I wouldn't enjoy, so my bottom-line of everything being fun would be under threat. It will matter to some, but if it doesn't. it doesn't have to. Differences of opinion only matter if they're used to imply superiority in their use.

Kind of like Just_A_Guy, I mainly Google facts to ensure accuracy, but other than that, I don't go too deep into it.

Usually, when I've conducted "research" to learn more about what's expected and conventional in a particular category (whether or not I intend to subvert it, which I often do), it usually takes the form of simply browsing the actual stories on Lush in that genre so I can get a feel for it. However, I have recently done deeper research on two stories, which involved hitting the search engines and diving down some rabbit holes.

For "Heartbombing the Heartland," I did quite a bit of research, much of it on Google Maps, on specific locations across the Great Plains. Especially Valentine, NE, a place I've been through once, but didn't know too much about, but quickly learned was the perfect setting for the ending of my story. I also took great care in choosing the names and pseudonyms of my artists, searching again and again until I came up with ones that didn't correspond to actual prominent artists.

"Steam Mates" took more research than I've ever done on a story. That included what was going on in 1972, in Portland, OR, in current events and in popular culture. That included whether specific businesses were in operation in Portland that year, what the state of the Watergate hearings (and other major news events) was in August of that year, and what the most popular and/or well-regarded movies, TV shows, books, songs and albums were that year. I verified release dates to make sure I referenced only what would actually have been available in early August, and not stuff that came out later in the year. I went out on a limb with Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes," which had not yet been released in the US, but had been out in the UK for a few weeks, assuming that Portland's Music Millennium would have procured a few import copies around the time my story is set. I also did quite a bit of research on 1910s-1920s steam cars to understand how they worked, and to project how they might have evolved over the next fifty years if internal combustion hadn't killed them off.

Both my upcoming Supernatural story for Christmas, and my Fantasy/Sci-Fi story that will put me across the Omnium finish line early next year, will each require a fair amount of research in terms of reading multiple books and watching several movies that relate to the subject matter.

Quote by joe71

Portland's Music Millennium

I posted this double Elements photo during forum banter about the Elements competition... I was visiting Music Millenium at the time.

I do SO MUCH RESEARCH for historical stories. I don't even want to go into detail describing it. I read a lot of the New York Times archives from 1926 for my smut. So many of the details and events and locations are historically accurate, it's actually rarer for me to just make something up, like the name of a nightclub. But I enjoy doing the research, and I enjoy knowing that readers can learn something from my dirty stories.

Quote by Chet_Morton

I do SO MUCH RESEARCH for historical stories. I don't even want to go into detail describing it. I read a lot of the New York Times archives from 1926 for my smut. So many of the details and events and locations are historically accurate, it's actually rarer for me to just make something up, like the name of a nightclub. But I enjoy doing the research, and I enjoy knowing that readers can learn something from my dirty stories.

The choice of whether the goal is to 'educate' or entertain is a personal one. The same is true with regard to what a reader is looking for. If a writer can't accept that some aren't interested in historical and geographical accuracy or 'learning something', that's their look-out. It isn't anyone's job to tell anyone what's 'important'; that's patronising.

People who write but don't see research elements as important have responsibilities, too. They shouldn't pour scorn on those obsessed with 'accuracy', but they should retain their right to express themselves as they wish, rather than worry about rather elitist-sounding snobbery that seeks to elevate something that's a choice, not a by-word for a good read.

Good, and less so, occur with either approach. It always will.