Roses are red.
As I lie in my bed,
Scratching my head;
Thinking what should be said.

.

What if I stumble my words,
And my cheeks begin to glow?
A fool I'd look, as before I have;
How I wish I could simply show.

.

What if you didn't like
The things that I say?
Thinking me insane
And keeping me at bay.

.

But then again—
What if? What if?

.

What if that didn't happen,
And your smile I saw?
To see it once again
Would never be a chore.

.

What if the price was set,
Destined to become your fool?
If so, a fool I'll gladly be;
Letting hope forever rule.

Thank you for your help. It just felt wrong to do it with italics, but if that's how it is suppose to be then fair enough. I probably just didn't pay attention at school when it was covered. Thanks again

(Sorry if this is the wrong category for this type of question)

So I've always liked to include the thoughts of the POV character in my stories, even if it's just a snippet. Generally, I've been doing this in the same way that I would speech, but with a relevant dialogue tag, and so far I haven't had any issues with submissions.

However, I was reading articles recently that said thoughts should never be within quotations and should just be italics. So my question is:

1) Is the use of italics the correct way to punctuate thoughts? I love you, I thought vs "I love you," I thought.

2) Would it require a dialogue tag to go along with it, or is the italics enough by itself?

3) What is the preferred method of punctuating inner thoughts within story submissions on the site?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Gagged and restrained, I listened for footsteps.

November Rain - Guns and Roses

There once was a man from Sheboygan

Walking about with his pants undone

Hoping to corrupt the nun

Who would only outrun

The man as he loaded his tiny 'gun'

(Sorry realised afterwards that the third line rhymed with the second.)

*****

Rope licks my dripping wet cunt

Roses are red
Rob seems frustrated
Have we not teased him
Enough for lust to be sated?

.

If so we do apologise
Denial it is for another year
Outside at the door
While our bodies we explore

.

And let's not be quiet
Poor Rob must hear
To relieve his stresses
I'm sure he will thank us dear.

****

A lick; so tender, so divine.

The Final Orgasm

Everybody Needs Somebody - Blues Brothers (not sure who did it originally though)

There once was a man from Sheboygan

Walking about with his pants undone

Hoping to corrupt the nun

Perfectly normal to worry about and feel self-conscience about your writing. It's bound to happen because 1) you care about the story you are writing and 2) there is an element of vulnerability. Try not too stress too much, people are generally supportive on here. Writing is difficult after all, just try to enjoy the process of writing and learning. (none of us are going to make a living out of it on here so we do it for the enjoyment)

Experiences can help by giving the story an authentic quality, however, I think you might be placing too much emphasis on it. Tolkien didn't have much experience with dwarfs, elves and a giant burning eye at the top of a tower (at least I hope not - maybe he secretly did a whole lot of acid?) and yet that story is loved by millions.

Plus, sex is only part of erotica, the depth of the relationships, or the lack of, (ie cheating/one-night stand) is where a lot of the story is found. Even if you are inexperienced with sex, I'm sure you have been attracted to someone, felt nervous approaching them, hoped they would look your way etc. So you do have plenty of relevant experience for the stories you write. As for the areas you're less familiar with, reading other people's work can help with that. The more you write, the more you'll learn what works for you.

The experience which we all need to write good stories, is and always will be, writing experience. The more we write the better we become, and the more able we are to capture the mood and feelings of the characters.

There's countless more experienced and far more talented writers than me on here, but that's my thoughts. Hope it helped and please don't get discouraged from writing if that's what you enjoy doing.

I'll tell you my lewd secrets, if you tell me yours? :P

Centre

Stage

Within reason it wouldn't matter to me. I'm not someone to have sex randomly, so the relationship part is just as important (if not more) as the bedroom part. If there is a connection between the two of you then it shouldn't really matter. Even if they had less experience with BDSM than I did, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the process of discovery together. If anything, that would strengthen the relationship, and might even let me discover something new I to enjoy.

Enflaming passions, lust conquered my tender heart.

Roses are red
Woven within rope;
Coiled around me
Without it, I cannot cope.

.

Reverse prayer hold
Or maybe a simple frog tie.
Choices abounding
How they make me sigh.

 .

Make it tight,
Oh, make it bite!
Leaving marks
To lust invite.

 .

Around my wrist;
My ankles too.
Let's not forget
A spank or two.

 .

Put a knot,
Yes, right there.
Embellishing crotch rope
My clit will wear
.
Oh, make me quiver.
Make me scream!
I want all of them to hear,
Of what I do dream

 .

And if I should
Make too much noise;
A gag should do,
As you turn up all the toys

.

Once I'm begging you
As I'm prone to do
For orgasmic relief
Please forever say, No! Boo-hoo.

 .

***
I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think I may have a teenie weenie thing for rope bondage.

Another one bites the dust - Queen

Thanks for making this thread and sharing the link which will know live on my toolbar for all of eternity. Really useful advice and I'll hopefully be able to implement it more in my own stories.

Though I did want to mention that this can be expanded to 3rd person as well to avoid the repetition of names/pronouns. If the POV has been established and it remains clear, then we don't need to be told who is experiencing the story because it should be clear, allowing us to write more directly. Which also has the benefit of drawing the reader into the story and making it a story that's difficult to put down.

Thanks again

Chocolate ice-cream is also over-rated if you don't like chocolate :P

There is undoubtedly awful bdsm relationships; some are just bad fits, others sadly border on abuse (which is far from actual bdsm). But its naïve to think that there are no bad relationships within vanilla settings or that one is superior to the other.

• One person giving voluntary control to another, via the safety of a safety word?

Giving up control, especially in a setting so intimate as the bedroom is not a simple thing to scoff. In reality, another way of putting that is to have complete trust in your partner, which is something that seems to be gettting rarer these days. After all it is not the safety word that allows you to give up control, that's just a sensible precaution to ensure what begins as fun remains fun. We give up control via trust and love, knowing that our partner will look after us.

Obviously, if you don't enjoy bdsm, then you shouldn't participate in it, and you shouldn't feel pressured into it. There are plenty of ways to have sex. Most of them end with toes curling - some of us just have a sore butt as well

Edit: If you are basing BDSM of porn off stories here/elsewhere, you will always have an extremely inaccurate view.

Roses are red

Insonmia's a bitch

Maybe this vibe

Can scratch a growing itch

When Paige showed up Rob began to drool

Clearly forgetting girlpile's golden rule

The lastest draft is posted on the door

To read while pile lust doth soar

Hard

Decisions

Never gonna - Rick astley... Sorry

For making a raft of course... Heaven knows what lewd things you're imagining.

More so with longer stories but for me it's a lack of conflict/challenge, the sex might be written well, it might even be amazing, but I want to see a couple overcome something and grow along the way.

If nothing has changed by the time the couple are worn out cuddling in bed, then the story feels more like a simple sex scene within something bigger. And I want to see the rest of it, when I don't it can almost feel like I've been cheated.

Granted in dreadful at this myself, especially when I've grown to like the characters when writing. Becomes a little hard to put them through difficult times.

But, what I happen to dislike, someone else is bound to love.

I wouldn't say it heightens the experience as such, but it can set the tone and expectation. My memory is bad enough at the best of times though, so I've probably forgot the picture after a couple paragraphs.

Having said that I do enjoy coming up with cover art, though I try to find picture that imply a mood rather than depicting the character. For example, I once wrote a story about a Christian girl exploring her sexuality for the first time, and the cover art is just a hand picking an apple from a tree. The idea being that it's a reference to the forbidden fruit (some think is allegory for sex) and hopeful set the tone for the story.

Only time it would be negative for me is it it is especially grotesque, which likely won't get approved, or if simply shows the story is about something I'm not interested in. But of course, that doesn't mean the next person will be uninterested.

Imaging Rob trying to look up Heidi's skirt

Okay, let's not panic as long as we have a crop I'm sure we will be fine.

Mischievously

Thorough