Hey all!

During my downtime, I came across a series of lecture notes I've prepared for a writing panel I hosted at FC in 2007. I wanted to share them now as opposed to later because I'm hoping that, one day, a writer comes along and finds inspiration in the work I've written -- and they'll be able to carry the torch in my stead. As I wrestle with my health issues, I have to look down the road. There will come a time, in my life, when I'm no longer able to create specialized furry content. It's not a melodramatic thing. It's just life. I have more and more responsibilities that I'm placing on my shoulders as I get older so I don't always have the time, resources and energy to sit down and write these stories. But what I can do is share an inside look into my creative process for current and prospective authors. That insight is something I can see lasting far beyond my content.

Without further ado, here we go.

WARNING: This journal is long.

For starters, I think it's important to note that adult-erotic fiction shouldn't be limited to the oversimplified definition of adult activities and fetishes. It's easy to say, "Okay, this story will feature [insert fetish here]," and write out a description of a scene inside your head. Readers and viewers can instinctively conjure up these descriptions in their head and scene-build. The key to a successful story and immersive reading experience is to describe how each scene appeals to every sense at any given time. There may be a particular smell that excites you and the reader. They may be a texture or something that arouses you when you gently press down on it with your fingers. Someone may might a loud and lustful growl that helps you and the reader immediately realize that they're in the mood for a spectacular sexual endeavor. You may like the way a character dresses and feel compelled to describe in detail what they look like and how you want them to feel while wearing that outfit. It's all about evoking the senses in provocative enough ways to stimulate arousal or heightened curiosity.

In order to tap into this kind of detailed sensory exploration, there are a few options available to you.

The best option, in my opinion, is to experience these sensations in real life. Your imagination can certainly do incredible things, build amazing worlds, create extraordinary characters. But what makes experiences relatable is the intimacy. What happens when we make ourselves vulnerable enough to temporarily free ourselves of our inhibitions and intertwine our bodies in the utmost pleasurable ways? There is a spark. There is lightning in the bottle. As authors, it's our job to capture that lightning via our personal experiences and share them with readers to make our stories relatable. As furries, we naturally developed enough suspension of disbelief to envision ourselves as anthropomorphic creatures. But with all the bombast and fantastical embellishments we give our characters, their needs and primal desires are innately human. The way our characters interact are heavily inspired by humanity. There is plenty of grounding in reality. And as much as we want to escape from reality, we are constantly drawing inspiration from it.

The best kind of inspiration is to personally experience the euphoria of our most intimate moments and ask ourselves, "What kind of things did we like the most about our intimate moment?" For example: What kind of sensations that we appreciated so much that it drove you closer to climax? The observations one can make, when they're able to savor the moment, are limitless. The more you expound on those details, the more your reader will be brought into the story. If the details you convey can help emulate, in their mind, the sensations they enjoy, your readers will be hooked. And in order to retain their attention, the attention you bring to detail has to be sustained from foreplay to completion of intercourse. And never underestimate the power of quieter moments: the playful banter, pillow talk, the post-coital bliss and reset to normalcy. Let your dialogue, plot devices and character development chew the scene.

Another option is roleplaying. Furries love to roleplay. It's a vivid simulation of an intimate moment. Engaging in a roleplay session will naturally draw out details you never knew were needed to carry the scene -- as long as you're committed to painting the picture. "Notices your bulge" will not achieve that. Simple descriptors won't do that. Build the room, lay out your character, encourage your roleplay partner to give them equal control of the creative sandbox you helped manifest, and lean into improvisation. The most seemingly random thought, dialogue or expression you convey to your partner could make any stories you write pop with spontaneous flare. That spontaneity can lead to even subverting reader expectations. That is what will separate you from the horny, anonymous writer who publishes erotica on Nifty.org, simply to please themselves. Self-gratifying smut can only take you so far. Evolve from that standpoint by roleplaying.

One fun option that authors don't explore enough is interviewing. Furries will commission a lot of art that features their character and their character's particular interests. If you're an author and see art that intrigues you, it might be worthwhile to contact the person who commissioned that art and ask them, "What makes that scene work for you?" or "How does this scene push your buttons?" Of course, ask this question in your own words. This is a fun and engaging way to gauge the specificity of how people appreciate eroticism and its many subgenres.

For example, one fetish I struggled to comprehend for years was vorarephilia ("vore" for short), which derives sexual gratification by devouring others, being devoured or observing others perform this act. I have friends who are into that, but I started to question whether or not they should be friends because I assumed they were aroused by its real-life counterpart: cannibalism. I thought, "I don't want to be close to anyone who gets off on idea of eating me." In actuality, the fetish isn't as clear-cut as that -- just as infantilism isn't about a fetish for infants. This is a fetish that people are comfortable keeping in the realm of roleplay. You have your set power dynamic of predator and prey. The idea of being orally ingested and devoured is considered the ultimate establishment of dominant and submissive roles. The submissive partner finds theoretical enjoyment from being dominated in a deeper way. The dominant partner finds theoretical enjoyment from exerting the ultimate level of control. For authors, vore is tricky to write about as there are fine lines drawn between soft vore and hard vore. Interviewing someone who is into a specific kind will give you a better understanding of their appreciation and where they draw the line.

Even if you're comfortable with your fetish enough to have a masterful understanding of its parameters, it's still important to research it and ask others who are into the same things you're into about it.

I've been writing adult erotica for more than a decade. When I started, all I cared about was hitting my marks, mentioning buzzwords, and pretty much do what every other author was doing at the time. I thought, "Oh, this is how I get popular and widely read." But that simply wasn't the case. As I got older, I was exposed to more personal experiences and influences that allowed me to ask and answer the question: What exactly lights my fire? With my imagination, I would do a lot of experimentation in capturing the moment of heightened gratification. What could I taste? What did it taste like? Smell like? Was there something about my partner that drove me absolutely wild? I started to write these details down and really hone in on the scene -- so much so that I eventually started to get off from my own work and do so frequently. I'll readily admit that. I tapped into my most intimate, primal desires and brought them out with my vivid descriptions. Readers would tag along for the ride and enjoy it. Then at some point, I learned to channel my hormones, maintain focus and put everything I had and felt into the story. After a while, I started to accumulate a surprisingly large readership. I had people who stumbled on my stories and told me, "I didn't think I was into what you were into until I read your word. Now I'm hooked!"

The long and short of it: immersive erotic fiction works. Get the reader to be in your shoes. Don't simply write for yourself. Write for people you want to bring into your sexual realm.