Why write?

Why do you write erotic fiction for LS? It's obviously not for the money, so what is it that motivates you to create sexy stories and post them on this site?

For myself, my writing was motivated primarily by a desire to explore myself (my sexuality, and erotic fantasies) in a relatively low-risk way, and secondly by the fact that I wasn't finding stories that fit what I specifically wanted to read, so I decided to make them myself according to my own tastes. A third reason is I often enjoy the act of writing (when I don't, I've learned not to force myself), throwing myself into the creative process and the sense of discovery that unfolds between my mind and my computer screen.

I publish these things mostly because I can't think of anything else to do with them, but I feel that they should be released into the wild instead of kept to myself. I don't necessarily think they're good or that people will enjoy them, but I'm generally pleased when they do. I also don't look for celebrity, or readership, or count the number of likes a story gets, and so on, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I do find it validating when others take notice or appreciate what I'm doing. Even if it's just a handful of people who regularly check my stuff out (gluttons for punishment, I guess), it's nice to know there are other people out there vibing (in some cases, maybe literally) with a part of myself that doesn't often get expressed in my real life.

I enjoy exercising my imagination by developing stories and writing them out.

And I am interested in sex and human relationships (polite way of saying I get off figuring out how to get people together to get off).

Not sure there's more beyond those two points.

“You get older and you realize there are no answers, just stories.” - Garrison Keillor

I write for myself like many here I suspect and I have enjoyed erotic fiction since my late teens. English is a language I have been exposed to nearly all my life and I worked for an English company for nearly twenty years. My second husband is English and we have erotic fiction in common. So with all this opportunity... Why not?

Now, I love it and I am hooked. Is it a bizarre therapy and keeps my relentless libido in check (it fails). Or, does it appeal to my exhibitionist side (probably). Or, is it something bottled up that has to be set free (yes).

All I know that as a creative outlet, it is one I wished I discovered years ago.

Writing is the perfect creative outlet. It’s challenging and rewarding, something I can always do even if I only have a few moments to myself. If someone enjoys my work, it’s a bonus.

I was encouraged years ago by the woman who is now my girlfriend to write. I took a stab at it in December 2019 and kept going. Found out about Lush a little later on as I was on the fence about joining another well known site to publish.

Then one night in 2020, while browsing as a guest, I came across Chapter 1 of Grusha's "Alison in London" and felt encouraged to join. I always thought that only erotica that was very posh and sanitized in a sense would have been accepted which was why I delayed in joining. Seeing the rawness of Grusha's presentation with that story encouraged me, a person who is very raw with his presentation of sex as well to come forward.

Three years later and the will to write out my ideas doesn't flow as much anymore, but when the will returns, the work will keep coming here. Haven't seen another site that draws me to publish like here.

I enjoy writing, it's nice to use my mind instead of my hands all the time, and it's an escape for me. It allows me to use my imagination, and also work on my emotions - I am very emotionally centrist, in that I don't feel any type of emotion strongly, and it is usually difficult to empathize with those who do. Reading on here and writing allows me to explore and develop how to emote more, and it's helped. I found Lush and the quality and type of writing on here is high level, and that's what prompted me to join and start writing. The content, moderators, and authors are a great group of people, it's very non-judgmental and open, differences in tastes and morals are accepted and free to discussion. It's the only site I use.

I also love women and sex, so.... 😎

Quote by 1meanjean

I enjoy writing, it's nice to use my mind instead of my hands all the time, and it's an escape for me. It allows me to use my imagination, and also work on my emotions - I am very emotionally centrist, in that I don't feel any type of emotion strongly, and it is usually difficult to empathize with those who do. Reading on here and writing allows me to explore and develop how to emote more, and it's helped.

Oh, Mr Mean, I’m the opposite emotionally. Very emotional. And so empathetic I become crippled by others emotions at times. So, I’m working on emotional balance, compassion, yet not living others emotions as my own.

A late bf brought me here. He was a member and thought it would help me rediscover myself after I’d cut myself off sexually for many years while raising my son. Then he suddenly passed with my best girlfriend in unrelated circumstances. Mom got Alzheimer’s, and I needed a mental distraction so I became quite prolific. And I’m really good at a job I hate, so writing brings me joy and satisfies my desire to create. I’m alone a lot since my son’s grown, so I publish vs keeping it on my laptop to feel I’m connecting with the world. And unexpectedly, I’ve found kindred spirits here.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Oh, Mr Mean, I’m the opposite emotionally. Very emotional. And so empathetic I become crippled by others emotions at times. So, I’m working on emotional balance, compassion, yet not living others emotions as my own.

A late bf brought me here. He was a member and thought it would help me rediscover myself after I’d cut myself off sexually for many years while raising my son. Then he suddenly passed with my best girlfriend in unrelated circumstances. Mom got Alzheimer’s, and I needed a mental distraction so I became quite prolific. And I’m really good at a job I hate, so writing brings me joy and satisfies my desire to create. I’m alone a lot since my son’s grown, so I publish vs keeping it on my laptop to feel I’m connecting with the world. And unexpectedly, I’ve found kindred spirits here.

I had a similar path here, I was going through a ton of stuff IRL emotionally and I came here purely as a release, then started writing as a release. I'm not prolific anymore (and was never as prolific as you) but back in the day I was putting out a story a week, usually flash. I found the community here really welcoming and healing. And telling stories is always the best way to heal, and grow.

Living in self-imposed isolation most of my life, I early on took to writing stories to entertain myself, a sort of creative counterpoint and companion to my photography. When I was going through a bit of darkness, a therapist I was seeing read a few pieces and suggested joining an online site as an aid to overcoming my fear of social interaction. Lush was not one of her recommendations, but it is where I ended up feeling comfortable. What progress I've made remains an open question. I still write everyday, but don't publish much anymore.

Having tried and failed to write feature-length content over the years, I thought I'd try my hand at short stories so there's less chance of getting bored and never finishing.

When researching ideas, I landed randomly upon that other L site and was appalled at how shoddy the writing was. And how rude and downright nasty the readers were in general. But the idea of erotica as a medium intrigued me enough to seek out higher quality stories and a nicer environment. Stumbled upon a story by an author here called SITTING and fell in love with her writing. Read more. Read others. Read more still. Thought, hey maybe I can have a go at this. Joined. Wrote. The rest is history.

As for why I do it:

1. It keeps me sharp to flex my creative muscles.

2. Exploring fantasies via storytelling allows me to discover things about myself I never knew.

3. It excites me when I find out I've provided escapism for readers and they lose themselves in my worlds.

4. I can, so why the hell not.

Quote by kistinspencil

Living in self-imposed isolation most of my life, I early on took to writing stories to entertain myself, a sort of creative counterpoint and companion to my photography. When I was going through a bit of darkness, a therapist I was seeing read a few pieces and suggested joining an online site as an aid to overcoming my fear of social interaction. Lush was not one of her recommendations, but it is where I ended up feeling comfortable. What progress I've made remains an open question. I still write everyday, but don't publish much anymore.

You such a liar! Everyone knows I write "your" stories! pffffffft

Quote by MissPixel

You such a liar! Everyone knows I write "your" stories! pffffffft

Bows to the noble one in our midst

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Having tried and failed to write feature-length content over the years, I thought I'd try my hand at short stories so there's less chance of getting bored and never finishing.

That's another piece of it for me, too. I was writing a lot outside of lush as a student when I first joined, but there was always the (relatively) high stakes associated with the writing - Will this pass the class? Get me a good grade? Impress my professors, etc.? It was always aimed at satisfying other people's criteria for success. Here, if a piece fails as some of them have, it's no big deal. Nothing really depends on anything I write or publish. It's far more relaxed, and has helped me reconnect to the actual joy of writing.

I write now for fun, but originally it started as a challenge.

In 2019 I found myself retired (at an earlier-than-normal age). My wife and I started touring the world. Then the pandemic. We returned home to the UK from New Zealand. Then the boredom and I found myself reading plenty of erotic books/stories. I started reading erotica in the early 1980s but now I had time to enjoy it.

Then on January 28th 2021, a wet day, my wife challenged me to write something. Basically, she thought I wouldn't/couldn't. By the end of June, I had written two books, and by the end of the year, they had turned into five.

It wasn't until October 2022 that I started to adapt them for LushStories, and as I posted the chapters, I tried to improve my writing and have some fun.

Although I’ve been on Lush less than four years, I’ve been writing these stories for longer than a decade, a little bit here and a little bit there. This has been partly to express aspects of my sexuality but also to remember my youth, memories of which were starting to fade as I moved through my very busy forties. I found myself often looking back wistfully at both my sexual/romantic experiences and the missed opportunities, and felt moved to honor them with the written word.

As I hit my fifties, I watched the old memories fade yet further into the background behind newer experiences, sometimes alarmingly. This may be what prompted me to finally join and get these stories out into the world. Although of course heavily disguised, they honor many of the people I knew and loved as a young man.

Having gotten a large share of my youthful tales published since joining, I now find my active fantasy life prompting stories that involve more mature versions of me.

I must also admit that one of the motivating factors in continuing to write sexy stories is the tremendous sexual stimulation it provides. As hot as many of my fellow authors’ stories are, writing them is even more exciting for me, and I often find myself in a continual state of arousal while writing. Can’t deny that fuels some of this. It will be interesting to see how that aspect evolves, as I expect to eventually find inspiration for stories not centered around myself as protagonist.

I like writing, I like sex. So why not put the two of them together?

Writing is a way to express myself. I like coming up with new characters and seeing where the story takes me

Quote by AmuseBouche

I write for myself like many here I suspect and I have enjoyed erotic fiction since my late teens. English is a language I have been exposed to nearly all my life and I worked for an English company for nearly twenty years. My second husband is English and we have erotic fiction in common. So with all this opportunity... Why not?

Now, I love it and I am hooked. Is it a bizarre therapy and keeps my relentless libido in check (it fails). Or, does it appeal to my exhibitionist side (probably). Or, is it something bottled up that has to be set free (yes).

All I know that as a creative outlet, it is one I wished I discovered years ago.

I write for the same reasons. Writing has always been my passion, a way for me to process my thoughts, emotions and, at times, an escape from stress.

I never gave the “why” much thought and if you read what I have written you would appreciate why I didn’t give it much thought. My desire to write waxes and wanes. When I do write I have to get it out quickly or it spoils. My grammar, punctuation, and all the stuff that must infuriate the reviewers is simply awful. I got Grammarly which is intuitive in a way that has its source in Hell. Really…where the fuck does it come up with these corrections? Writing is like golf it gives you a reason to swear and drink.

I have few other marketable skills

Writing is my "happy place." I have no commercial ambitions, no aspirations to be renowned or famous; I just like to write, to let my creative juices flow, and to hone my tiny skillset as I do what I enjoy. "I love writing," is my reason why.

I write because I enjoy having an outlet for my imagination. When I write, I'm never alone because the characters are all with me in my head. Writing brings me joy.

I write to live vicariously through my stories, what I can't have in real life. The reasons for that are not something I want to go into here, but it motivated me to start, many years ago, writing a series of stories that specific people and/or scenarios inspired. My "You Need a Spanking" series began many years ago with https://www.lushstories.com/stories/spanking/you-need-a-spanking-rosa-pt-1-2, and I built on that for a long time. I have many more chapters already written which I release as I get time to review them.

I joined Lush just to read stories over a year ago, but late last year, some inner turmoil moved me to start submitting my story, which had grown to the length of a couple of novels. In the meantime, several other stories have come to mind through similar real-life sparks, and I continue to write about a life I'd love to lead.

The answer is 42... duh.

I just wanted another place to show off my work, other than just Lit. It's not for the money, not yet, but eventually, like everything else I write, that isn't fan fiction. I used to write on AskJolene, but the site ditched the erotica section and was gone itself, along with Lit. I felt a few days ago it was time to find another site for original work, decided to give this one a try. The only other outlets to write sex I've had is AO³ and AFF- those just don't cut it for true original pieces. Ehh... I guess Wattpad too, but getting readers is just... blah. It's baffling how little views some of my stuff has there, as long as its been there. We'll see how this site turns out. The book cover thing has already gotten on my nerves.

Quote by techgoddess

I write because I enjoy having an outlet for my imagination. When I write, I'm never alone because the characters are all with me in my head. Writing brings me joy.

Couldn't agree more

Quote by techgoddess

I write because I enjoy having an outlet for my imagination. When I write, I'm never alone because the characters are all with me in my head. Writing brings me joy.

Your writing “head” is some of the best I have ever had…

Believe it or not I used to hate writing and extracurricular reading too. It started with my English professor in undergrad. She told me how much she enjoyed reading my papers and that I should really consider writing on the side of nursing.

These days I write for catharsis. Expressing emotion and opinions, relating past experiences, and cooking up fantasy are quite the stress relief. Relating to my readers and other authors is a bonus.

Thought up another reason to add to the ones in my post above. Where in the hell could I ever dream up stuff like this if it wasn't for writing?