storytelling and 'clop' · 6:28pm Dec 21st, 2012
so this question might be a bit ambitious to ask expecting a ton of insight
honestly, i'm just mostly thinking out loud
but what do people think of the role between storytelling and erotic fiction?
i mean, if you're reading 'clop', you're probably doing it with the intent to find something to get off to. i imagine there aren't a lot of people who enjoy slogging through 10,000 words to get to the part where one of the ponies puts his dick in another pony. at the same time, i'm a big proponent of the idea that pre-amble and scene setting separate a good story from a great one; anyone can take an idea that has some potential and spin a decent sex scene about it, but it takes a really talented writer to make you feel the description and the build-up and set the moment well enough that when you finally get there, you want it as bad as the character does, and everything is that much hotter as a result.
i mean, that's something that i've always thought was a bit weird in this fandom. all the erotic literature (or smut, if you want to qualify it that way) is completely the opposite of pony porn-stories. in this fandom, it seems like the general idea is 'come up with idea, have two paragraphs of set-up, get right to the fucking'. and it's not an anomaly - these are the stories that get featured and lauded with unreal praise. like, i dunno, that milkmare story from a while ago. i took a look because it was so popular, saw the flimsiest set-up imaginable leading into some awkward description and unfulfilling sexual detailing and closed the thing. but that's the norm for horse-sex stuff here... there's not as much set up, and i have no idea why that's popular here, when everywhere else people seem to be of the mind that build-up makes the story.
that said, that's not really what i was wondering about anyway. i guess i can turn to a recent example - ap's chapter 37 is a good demonstration of what i think is a mix of storytelling and clop. if anything, i've told ap before that i don't think this story is really 'clop' - it's an idea bigger than that with sexual elements woven into the narrative. and, that story did get some pretty big praise, but i have a feeling the people who liked it didn't do so for the story. i might be wrong here though.
then there's the challenge of being a writer with ambition in general. i guess people who write clop might be content with just that, but i always feel like i'm doing a disservice to the written word, you know? like, i have this ability to put words into sentences and phrases that people enjoy reading, and i'm using it just to get them off. don't get me wrong, that's a big ambition... but i wish i could make people think sometimes. i wish people would look at something i've written and appreciate it for something other than how well i described the act of a dick going into a vagina. this is more my own fault than anything; if i'm setting out to write a story with the intent to get people off, putting weird narrative elements and using fanciful literary techniques isn't going to impress anyone; they're just going to get in the way of the story.
i've done this a couple times. i tried to make allusions to 'the metamorphosis' in growing up fast. i used a recurring element of outside narrative perspective and imagery in 'twilight's gradual descent into sluttiness' to try to convey the degradation of twilight's mental state. i used parataxis and fragmented narrative in 'walk softly' to evoke the frantic nature of snails' thought process and give an element of momentary significance to everything going on. i'm pretty sure most of that stuff is over people's heads, and i'm not really resentful for it. i just wonder - would i better spend my time trying to write 'real' stories if i want to do these things? if i want to make people think, am i dooming myself to failure by just writing porn?
i'm asking all this because it's been on my mind lately. i'm working on a new story, and it is for all intents and purposes the most divergent thing i've written while still being porn. i'm 12,000 words in and have yet to get to the sex, and i'm worried that i'm just wasting my time. my last three stories have all flopped, maybe partly due to deluding myself with my literary ambitions, or maybe just because i've lost my mojo and people would prefer to read straight-forward sex than something that's so far up its own literary asshole. i don't know if it matters if people like a story or not, but i guess that's the whole reason i write them; for people to enjoy them. maybe i'm just worried i'll post this thing when it's done and get pages of people in the comments saying 'the sex was hot but there are too many words' or 'why did you put all that stuff before the fucking'.
i dunno. like i said, i'm just thinking out loud.
along the lines of the above, i guess that means people looking for a new story can expect one in a bit. i want to have this thing finished by christmas, but given how long it's turning out to be, i can't make any promises. i'm not gonna turn into one of those guys who posts a blog everytime i'm writing a new thing, but this one is kind of important to me personally, and it's tied into the whole.... everything i just wrote. so, i thought it might bare mentioning.
we now return you to your regularly scheduled horse-porn broadcast. thanks for tuning in.
Very good points, sir. I've got nothing to add or argue against, except that you're doing a damn good job
I read both. Depends on the mood I'm in.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with story. In fact, I prefer it. It's actually a story, rather than just porn.
Also, well, regarding your last few stories, I don't like Humanized so I didn't read that one, and the others involved pedophillia, violent rape and week-old cum. Not everybody likes that kind of thing. While in, say, Growing Up Fast, the metamorphosis removed any pedo-ness, there was good story, good sex and it was highly successful.
I'm not saying you should be a damned conformist and stop writing things that people might not like, but I don't think your lack of literary reverement as of late is due to having any literary value at all. Given how much whining there is about clopfics with no story, I think it would be ill-advised to stop with the story in your stories.
The Milkmare story was popular...because it had the Milkmare in it, and was the first one with her on this site. She's very popular, not much to do with the story itself.
I don't really have any complaints or disagreements with what you're saying here.
Well, let's look at the last four stories you've posted. They involved, in ascending order:
1. Rancid semen drinking
2. Basically rape
3. Foals/ bad feelings
4. OoC(to most people) AJ and foot fetish.
And you're wondering why they failed?! LOL
Being serious, I like a bit of build up to the sex. Maybe it makes me a bit of a female, but setting the mood is very important. Also, if I may, I think a few problems yo've been having are the negatve feelings in your stories as of late. I don't know about the rest of you, but I hate negativity in sex. Sex is wonderful, beautiful. Having a mare treated like a peice of meat, having two bullies insult and use an oblivious colt, and having one of the nicer mares on the show humiliate "me" while I suck her toes? That's not what I want to read.
Now, that doesn't mean I only want mushy-gushy romance, although I do like that. rough, animalistic sex is hot beyond measure. Case in point, "Drop the (b)Ass." rough sex, but with a heart. Also, MTBBW had some heart behind(hur) it.
So, TL:DR, stop making your stories negative and you should come out on top.
But either way, I still love ya, Darf! Any man who is a fan of the fanny is a-ok in my book.
Well, I think you know my opinion on the matter, but for the purposes of this blog I will state it for others to read. I think a good story involving sex should worry about being a good story first. And I am not asking for much there, but put me in the scene, tell me how we got here. Introduce your characters. In other words, do everything you would normally do. Sex is merely an action, its really only interesting to me if I have a clear idea of who is performing that action on whom and why.
Take a fine example in literature: The sword fight in Princess Bride. Prior to that fight I had a huge introduction to Inigo Montoya. I knew how he got to this point in his life. His dreams, his passions. I knew who made his sword and why. I knew little about his opponent other than he was a mysterious man possessed of great courage and skill. That was fine too, because I knew enough about Inigo to know that he was the greatest swordsman the world knew at that time.
That's what I am looking for in my fiction, erotic or otherwise.
635369>>635375
you guys are 100% right that doing anything involving bizarre fetishes or stuff that's not happy-go-lucky clop isn't gonna get me as many fans
but that's another thing that's kind of problematic. the reason i write the stories i do is because i feel like the ideas have merit. to the latter point here, writing something negative rather than positive... well, i only see one of those stories as inherently negative, and it caters to a very specific audience in that regard. having something be a bit darker tinged or with an element to it more than 'two consenting partners have generic sex' doesn't seem like it should be a strike against the story itself, in my book. that's a problem with challenging a reader, rather than catering to something that's easier for them to digest.
i'm not arguing that it has more to do with my recent unpopularity than the actual writing of the stories, but my objection to that would be, why does something with challenging subject matter have to be inherently less popular? i guess that question answers itself though... anything designed to accommodate a reader's interpretation rather than push back against it is setting itself up to be digestible, rather than forcing you to chew through it like a tough steak. i guess that's another idea in itself though... storytelling in examples of good literature does exactly that, by making you think, rather than giving you something you understand or agree with automatically.
i don't know if that made any sense, but i'm appreciative of the insight regardless. thanks guys.
635385
Dude, I've been fighting that since I started writing. It kills me that my story, which I spent countless hours slaving over to make it the best it could be, never made the feature box, while the latest grammar-slaying TwiDash nonsense stays there for a week. Why? Because my story is a murder mystery, not shiny, happy ponies.
And I applaud you for writing against the grain. I'd actually lose a shit-ton of respect for you if you devolved into writing standard ship/clopfics.
I'm just not gonna beat off to it. Get it?
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One thing that works for me is to insert (pun intended) comedy into my sex scenes. I don't consider it a successful story unless the reader has to work hard to maintain their arousal through all the laughter. I want people giggling when they climax.
Flutterbox, One Tight Knight and Don't Move a Muscle all achieved what I considered to be an inordinate amount of popularity.
In contrast, my two most recent stories, Marshmallow Holes and Dickin' Around the Multiverse failed to reach the success of their predecessors. I think this was due to their subject matter. Both stories were very niche, even by my standards.
You asked about what role the story should play. When I wrote Flutterbox, people wondered if there was going to be any sex in it, because the only full-fledged clop scene with Fluttershy wasn't until the last chapter.
I think it's important to write what you want to write. If the sex scenes aren't the main focus of the story, then it might be worth cutting them down by avoiding graphic descriptions and trying for a Teen rating.
The truth of the matter is, a good number of people who browse Mature stories are looking for spanking material. If your Mature story doesn't revolve around sex, it'll get lost in the sea of narrative-free clop.
I think in your case, I would read any non-clop you might write, in fact I would encourage you to give a shot at it. I can identify with what your saying. I, personally, love a well-paced story, be it clop or just regular fanfiction. But, you must decide for yourself what it is you want to do. Love all your stories btw.
I am not a writer, I do not yet know your pain. However, there should not be a lot of lead up to a bit of 'horse sex'? I am of the opinion that the whole should be a story, and you must play it as it should lead out. I really wish I could say just write what you want to write and ignore what your readers have to say, but then this post would be meaningless. Instead let me just say that I enjoy the story, the build up, the words behind the characters, more then just the sex scenes, and would enjoy to see what you do with them.
In my honest and dearest opinion, do what you feel is right. If you want to know what I like in a good clop story, I wouldn't mind build up to a promising clop scene. I don't clop to anything, but I find more interest in a story that has plot and a lot of clop. That's just me, and I feel sorry that I'm not the audience you're aiming for. In that note though, keep the clop clean, and build up would do. Also, if you don't mind, try to keep it clean, I feel like anything like bloody rape is a turn off, and pedophilia is just not cool. Also, ship 2 ponies that work. if you have no clue what I'm talking about, shipping AppleJack and Fluttershy feels weird. I don't know though, I'm not an experienced shipper nor writer. This is how I feel about this situation that you're in.
Definitely agree with a lot of this, Darf. There's something to be said for expecting good quality fiction when reading things that are labeled as "clop," but there's a definitive line that divides a lot of people into separate camps. There are those who read clop for the purpose of "getting off" as it were, and tend to skip through fiction until finding the "juicy bits" wherein two or more characters partake in activities that are considered adult. Then, there are those who identify erotic fiction as it stands, and read for the sake of reading and feeling something from the events described. I like to consider myself the latter, but I'm an odd case in that I still have my boundaries when it comes to what I will and will not read/write. Being able to explore the depths of fiction, especially those involving sex, is both a very tempting and very disturbing thing to do, but sometimes it's necessary. It's impossible to denote everything as bad or everything as good, because taste is subjective, but my point is that there has to be a time where you divide your feelings on the matter.
In the end, stories are there to be appreciated for what they are or what they set out to do, at least in my opinion. When an author manages to encompass storytelling and "clop" with an interesting concept or at least good narrative capability, that's all we can hope for.
I've always stood by the point that sex is a background attribute to a story, and shouldn't be on front stage. It shouldn't be the one thing the story is based on, as people will only have the physical attribute without the emotional.
Without feeling, it's really just 'insert tab A into slot B, rinse and repeat' with really fancy language. If you don't have any build-up, it's honestly impossible to get off to.
Good smut always has good build-up, and good description. You do well with both, darf, and I say you keep chasing it. People will enjoy the writing you create, even if it is a ton of words before the actual sex.
Hell, I did the same thing with my first clop. 6000 words of build-up, and the sex was, admittedly, badly written, but people still enjoyed it. You need the emotional background and build-up, or the sex will fall flat, no matter how much you beat the thesaurus for words.
To drop the background is to drop your credibility as a story teller. You may as well just hold up a circular block and a circular hole, and put them together in front of us.
We've already discussed this plenty in private to the point where anything else is probably just wasted words, but I'm still gonna try to expound upon my thoughts on the matter, because, whether you believe it or not, it's an affliction that strikes me, as well.
First, let me address a few specifics before giving a general analysis of this issue.
>i'm pretty sure most of that stuff is over people's heads, and i'm not really resentful for it.
In a rare moment, I'm going to defend fimfiction and assume that more people got a lot of this stuff then you assume. I did, and I'm not a very clever person. But this, overall, is only tangentially related to the main issue.
>putting weird narrative elements and using fanciful literary techniques isn't going to impress anyone; they're just going to get in the way of the story.
My first question would be "If there's getting in the way of the story, why bother including them?" Maybe you phrased this wrong or I'm misinterpreting, but, yeah, you really shouldn't include fanciful or weird elements if the intent is to be impressive - include them if they enhance the story. (But, once again, that's really the question isn't it - what exactly is a story, and what should a story be, in the context of erotica?)
> my last three stories have all flopped
I'll iterate that I think you're doing your stories and your writing a massive disservice whenever you call them flops because they didn't get featured.
>would i better spend my time trying to write 'real' stories if i want to do these things? if i want to make people think, am i dooming myself to failure by just writing porn?
I'm tempted to be a succinct as possible and answer yes.
You're absolutely right in that most people open clop with the intent to get off. That's inexorable in this medium. Do people enjoy a good build up, and a story enveloping their sex? Absolutely, I'd say. Do enough people share the passion for proper storytelling in a clopfic that you'd find yourself catapulted to fame past the two-paragraphs-then-sex dime-a-dozen clopfics that plague the feature bar? Eeehhh...that's less than assured. I honestly don't know if your concerns about telling a story with your clopfiction is wholly or even partly inextricable from your annoyance that stories that DON'T consistently get featured.
It's despairing, yes, to know that the primary thing your story is going to be judged on is how well you describe the act of copulation, and that other details, no matter how skillfully done or literarily relevant, are, usually, transient in the mind of the reader. It's at a time like this that I think you seriously need to examine your motivation for writing and figure out why you're doing this in the first place. Are you writing clopfiction or are you writing stories that happen to use sex as a narrative tool? Obviously, I'm not being helpful at all, these are things you already know and positing your own questions as if in a reflection back at you isn't useful, but, frankly, I don't think anyone else can be helpful to you at this stage.
With the idea that these words are going to pointless in helping you anyway, I can at least be frank in my opinion: Stop caring about being popular. Stop caring about getting featured. Stop it. You're better than that. I've always thought that and I don't care how offended you might get about it, I'm going to continue thinking it.
I feel like you're reaching for two separate goals and because of that, coming up short of your own satisfaction with either. Were it my decision, you'd drop all the popularity motivation and start writing only for you own self-fulfillment. Tell the story at exactly the length that satisfies your storytelling goal, regardless of whether your goal is to get people off, or tell a proper story, or (gasp!) both (so long as it's not, for the love of god, 'to get featured!')" I want to see what YOU are capable of, not the (heretofore evidently limited) extent of an amalgamated consensus of nameless consumer's desires. You deserve to be untethered by the appeal of the majority, and unchained from their approval.
My depreciation of this issue into "Write what you don't want and get popular vs Write what you want and maybe get less general appeal" is probably an oversimplification, and the issue is much more multi-faceted then that. Obviously, it's not my decision, and I probably speak from ignorance on much of this. If the issue was that clear cut for you, you'd have sorted this out a long time ago and this blog post wouldn't exist.
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but hopefully I've at least adequately expressed my feelings on this, which is all I can do at this stage. And be sure to let me know when you've figured it out so I can be comforted, too.
I really like the buildup. I think the clop is a lot better when the author takes the time to establish the love between the characters.
If a clop has around 1000 words or less, I don't read it. If it has 2000 or more, I might read it, knowing that it will probably only be sex. The really good ones, I've found, have at least 4-5000 or so or multiple chapters.
One thing you could do is put the set up and the clop into separate chapters. That way, when people want to read clop, they can read clop. I've seen a few clopfics do that.
Every time I think we've lowered our standards more than we possibly could, another featured story blows me away with even more shitty characterisations, lame and uninteresting dialogue, and complete disregard for grammar, spelling, and just respect for the English language in general.
But people DO like porn with plot. Or at least they used to. Remember Romance Reports?
I just skimmed through this post, because I honestly already knew what it was about before I even looked at it. I haven't read the other posts that others have given in response to yours, so please pardon me for being redundant.
I haven't written fiction on this website for a while. Since my last story, I've moved on into professional work. I write and self-publish erotica on many different marketing fronts (amazon, barnes and noble etc.). The stuff that I have published up to this point is of the "set-up" and "do it" variety. With it, I do pretty well. Not as well as some, but I pay bills and have some money left over at the end of the month.
Good writing is good writing, bad writing is bad writing, that isn't really going to change. It's good to have literary ambitions, but don't get caught up in them. The thing that you should think about, first and foremost, is just telling an awesome story. Focus on being clear. Because, if you are clear, you'll connect with your reader. That's the real secret to being successful as a writer, other than a little luck, just be clear and make the characters and setting feel real. The rest will follow.
Another interesting thing I've learned about writing erotica is about reader support of an author. When a reader gets something that is badly written, they know it, and they'll tell you. On the flipside, if something is well written, they may not necessarily tell you. A person that reads erotica, especially pony porn, sometimes is embarrassed because they "clopped" to a story about cartoon ponies doing the horizontal mambo. So sometimes, as a writer of erotica, you don't get that positive feedback that you crave. But, it comes with the territory. So, if this is getting you down, don't let it. When you do get that positive feedback, it does feel really good.
I remember reading one of your stories and I thought it was good. I'm not going to tell you that you have potential, because I felt you were a person who was ready to move on, all you need to do is push yourself in the right direction.
Now, this is some general advice. I'm not an expert on literary elements, in fact I tend to discard a lot of these elements that make "great literature" so I can just tell a story. However you write a story, whatever kind of story you write, make that story feel real. This is sometimes easy, or very hard to do. Pull your character's emotions into the story. You don't have to do it much, just a sentence or two can sometimes be all it takes. Remember to use a little metaphor, especially during sex scenes. I've been told I have fairly decent sex scenes because of the metaphor I use.
When you right a story, make sure your central theme is there. Through the use of descriptions and your characters' senses and feelings, make it subtly clear why your readers are still there. In erotica, put little sexy things in the story that make the reader think "OH GAHD I GAHTA TOUCH MASELF." It could be how round a butt is, or how sensually someone walks, or even how someone speaks. If you slip these things into your story, it makes the whole thing sexy.
I wish I could give more examples but my brain is fried right now. The only stories I can think of are the crappy stories I used to write. I wrote emotional junk that kept how uncomfortable, painful, or however I wanted my reader to feel in the back of his or her mind. For example in one story where two characters were arguing, I wanted to get across the characters' anger toward each other by them both getting petty.
This probably won't help much or will get lost in the huge string of responses you'll get, but if you actually read this, I hope it gives you a little insight. On top of everything, I hope this post made sense.
Have a wonderful day and remember to smile.
635649
Xenophilia, Sophistication and Betrayal, Of Maids and Mistresses and The Teacher, the Sorceress and the Wonderbolt also come to mind.
Honestly; you can stop. Yes, I started reading your stuff because it's clop, but the reason I continued, the reason I am a fan of yours isn't because of your descriptions of coitus, but your ability to tell a story, evoking any emotion you chose, unlike many authors who seem to have just..one emotion which permeates every one of their works, your attention to detail and good sense of humor also set you apart from many of your peers.
Plus; there are a lot of people who, when they read clop, do look for a story, rather than just "Penis goes in where?" and are looking forward to your upcoming work.
I'm weird. I come for the clop and then end up skipping through the sex to get to the next narrative segment. When things get heavy and thought provoking trying to get off too the clop is awkward and I get invested in what happens next.
But, again, I'm weird.
I find myself reading porn for the story with surprising regularity. In fact there was one author (not pony related) I waited eagerly for new stories despite his writing being so not my fetish. The most amazing thing he did was make the sex scenes themselves important to the plot, really fleshing out the characters.
As to subject matter scaring away readers? There isn't much you can do about that. Challenging yourself to read something that you know will make you uncomfortable is not going to be common, so you're reduced to those who want to be uncomfortable, and the small group who are comfortable with it. There are only so many hours in the day and there is plenty of other Pony to read.
Speaking as a fellow writer (and a pre-reader for Equestria Daily), I'd just like to say that yes, I read clop. However? I find I enjoy it MORE if there's a decent story to go along with it. Fucking's nice, but I like reading about the events leading up to the intimacy, and the aftermath...
my sediments exactly
635965 Yes. I only picked RR because in my opinion it's probably the most famous.
Honestly? I think the best move would be to go after what you wish for in terms of writing, personally, I LOVE to see the two creatures making love rather then just fucking, the action of true passion and romance rather then just "YES, OH GODS YES, FUCK ME HARDER!" will bring so much more respect to that author then just mind less clop, I don't clop to the sex myself, but I do know that it's best to follow yuor heart, no matter what anyone else says, seriously.
I'll always have respect for your writing my friend, you have my word and you'll always have a fan
.
Combining clop and thought-provoking content is difficult. You ask if you are dooming yourself by attempting it, though I wonder exactly what you mean by that. Is it a popularity thing? If so, then yes, you are dooming yourself. I think you underestimate how successful your stories are, considering how small the target audience is. Pony porn? Pretty big group. Foalcon? Much smaller group. Thought-provoking foalcon? Considering that, Walk Softly was a slam dunk. That's the trend i see, at least. You're most popular stuff tends to be pretty vanilla on the porn front.
I think you should give another shot at non-clop stories. I think a lot of the success that WYCI deserved was lost through no fault of the story. Back then, you weren't as well know, and those who did only knew you as a clop writer. Also, IMO, the cover image was a turn-off, and the description didn't really hook (though, that might just be because OC's are hard to sell).
Good luck in what ever you choose to do.
I greatly prefer stories that use sex as a literary medium to get emotions and points across to the reader as opposed to stories written simply for the sex. These pathetic stories with two paragraphs of pitiful excuses of a plot line followed by mechanical descriptions of sex that get featured and showered with praise unfortunately won't go away though. Why? Because if you're simply going to whack off, they're serviceable. Their complete lack of literary values don't matter much if all you want is some help getting off. So, if the featured box is all you're aiming for, that's the way to roll.
I hope you're beyond that though. Getting featured on this site doesn't mean shit. It just shows that you wrote something that catered to the masses. You have an amazing ability to tell stories, and that your latest pair of stories didn't make that stupid box doesn't really say anything. I really hope that you're bigger than conforming to popular demand for some hollow recognition. Keep doing what you're doing.
While I don't think you're dooming yourself by staying with fetish porn as your major subject, I do feel it's unfair to you're writing abilities. While you porn is an amazing mix of proper storytelling mixed with great sex, more stories like What You Can Imagine and Moonlight would be a great way for you to keep developing as a writer and a real treat for your readers. There are no guaranties they'll make the featured box, but honestly, does it really matter?
I'm going to shut up now, 'cause it's four in the morning, and I don't even remember what I was trying to say. Maybe I'm making some sense. Probably not.
What happened to your shift key?
>if you're reading 'clop', you're probably doing it with the intent to find something to get off to
Nope
>i imagine there aren't a lot of people who enjoy slogging through 10,000 words to get to the part where one of the ponies puts his dick in another pony
Hello
A lot more people than you would expect notice all the literary tid-bits that are in clop ficslike the ones you mentioned. The thing is that more people are worried about getting off than reading a story. I used to read clopfics just for the porn, the I noticed that there's actually a story there. If you look at mystery fluttershy fan's my little slave, I went in for kinky BDSM horse sex but now read it because it's a well writen piece of litterature with a very catchy topic.
I'm not sure if you need any more responses but I'll give my opinion, even though I can't write fancy words like everyone just did
For the first point, I think we're reading clop to, well, get off of course, but firstly (in my case at least) because it's written.
What I mean is, when peoples want to get off, they have choices. They don't HAVE to read clop to get off, there are tons of ways to get excited.
If someone starts to read a clop fic, it's not just to get off, but because it's a story AS WELL.
When reading a clop fic, peoples have to use their head to create the world they're reading.
It's not just some random porn you're looking at, but something you're trying to feel. To imagine, and depending of the situation, to try to change place with THE or one of the protagonists of the story.
That means, the more immersive a story is, the more cloppable it is as well.
It doesn't have to be full of fancy words or full of details. It just have to feel like it could be real (even though we're talking about cartoon porn.)
Well, just my opinion of course, but if peoples just wanted to read the clop parts, they wouldn't even read. They'd just go R34 or something else.
Then, as someone already said, you're not going to get everyone to like every types of, well, sex.
To be true, I read (and even read several times) and loved most of your stories.
But that one about the crystal rape, just because rape isn't my thing. I didn't even tried to start it because I knew the main plot is about something I don't really like.
But again, you're the guy who's writing a drunken Fluttershy throwing up while giving a head and making it hot. And I wouldn't have thought that would've been exciting at all.
But that's the same for the rest. I clearly understand why "TRIGGER WARNING: Humanized, foot-fetish-y, slightly dominant AJ." don't appeal as many peoples as "She's more than happy to see you, and the two of you get very well reacquainted in a haze of wobble bass, club drugs, frenzied fucking, and Vinyl's spanktastic ass.".
If you're only writing to get featured, you're not talking about the right subjects.
And then again, I'm not sure the featuring works that simply. You're not going to see the same writer get featured everyday, even if he's writing the best fics ever, I guess they have to feature the "young" writers as well... If you get what I mean.
It's 5 AM here and I think I'll just post another comment tomorrow
Just keep it together buddy, and don't even think of writing lambda clop just to get featured.
Continue writing femdom and bizarre sex
I'm fond of the idea that it's not a story if there's no conflict. I think a dramatic arc makes the clop far more satisfying, even if it's an extremely basic story. Moreover, no matter what, you MUST make me emotionally involved in the story or it's just soulless. I feel that a writer should write a good story that happens to have sex in it, not just a big pile of clop.
Hm.
I spent a lot of time on this comment, simply because I have no idea really how to put what I want to say. So instead, I'll simply smile and nod.
I can get what you're saying, about the fact that most clop is a small build up, sex, and then finish. That's something I figured that most writers were aware of, but I guess that if you have to bring it up, I must be wrong. I'm a fan of the buildup; a fan of the story that's woven around the clop, using the clop as a climax or a pause for something else. Without that, there isn't much that makes clopfic any good.
As for what you're saying about the whole "Reading clopfic, looking for something to get off too", I'll agree, but disagree at the same time. It started like that for me, as I think it does with everyone who finds clopfic appetizing. But eventually, it turned into something I enjoy for the storytelling aspect. Romance almost always comes with clop, and I really dig that side of things.
Like I said, I had no idea how to really put what I wanted to say into words, so this is really just a bunch of spit out jibberish. But hey, That new story? I'm looking forward to it.
Apologies now if this is a bit rambling, it's fueled by caffiene and crazy:
You're a god damned amazing writer, and I'm... well... stunned that you would call your last three fics flops. So they didn't get featured, as surprising as that is (I thought two of them actually had) it's not the end of the world.
Clop is porn, but the best porn engages the readers brain or emotions in some way, as the mind is the most powerful erogenous tool, and "DOOMDONG + WETKITTY = HAPPYFUNTIEMS" is only the basic version of it.
Now, honestly, I would love to see you write a story with more to it than just clop, hell, I'd love to see you expand some of the other stories you've written past the initial clop-scene because there's so much potential. But really? Write what you want to write, and don't stress too much over the popularity of the works.
That out of the way, and answering the question directly: I love a clop-story with a good plot, and my favorite clop-stories on the site have a solid plot to them. I can (and do) read stories with relatively little build-up to the clop, but I tend to not enjoy them as much as I do those that do have plot.
For example: Your stories "Walk Softly" and "Growing Up Fast" are two of my favorite stories on the site, especially as far as clop goes, coming in the top handful. That's because they are emotionally engaging and have a thread of plot to them.
Btw: This new story sounds delightful and I'm excited for it! I'm honestly hoping to see something more than pure porn from you, as you're one of my favorite authors on the site
No matter what you write, I'm eagerly anticipating it, and I'm sorry if I haven't commented to say that enough.
if you wrote a clopfic that wasn't just clop or a fic that wasn't clop i'd read it.
your a good writer and frankly i don't understand why you would want to write just clop.
actually if you read this and feel like responding let me ask you this:
why do you write clop anyway?
654449
because i feel like someone needs to
when i started writing, it was taking requests from people on /co/ in the my little pony general
at that time not a lot of people were taking fic requests, especially for the kind of stuff that got talked about all the time
so i did a couple quickfics, eventually expanding into larger stuff after taking a little while off
now i do them for the same sort of reason... i don't feel like anyone else is going to tackle the kind of subject matter i try to. a ton of people write generic pairings, lesbian sex, light fetishism, etc, but i feel like so much stuff gets missed, it's kind of my job to bring it all to light.
not like i'm a crusader of pony porn writing or anything. i do like knowing that people have enjoyed my writing. there are other reasons i can't really articulate... but for now, that's a good enough explanation.
You're a great writer, Darf, and fuck me that is rare. Please don't let your talent be wasted on something that feels less than perfect.
I admit I am a bit late to this conversation, but...
The reasons that you pointed out that you believe are going unnoticed are the reasons I read your stories. I actually read them for the narrative. I personally feel erotic stuff spices up a narrative unlike anything else. You can really get into a character's emotions and desires through sex unlike anything else.
It would be an enormous travesty if you started writing like others did.
If you feel the genre is holding you back, do something else. You write for you. Do not write for us.