Im considering writing another story but I wonder is the depth of character important for a short/medium story?
depends on the reader - some are just looking for a quick wank. personally, i am not into faceless impersonal sex scenes - i want a feel for the characters, i want them to feel real, i like a little insight into what motivates them, what is going on in their heads - do i need to know everything about them? no, but i want to know enough about them to care. i want to know a little about what makes them tick.
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
A few years ago, when I wrote a story every couple of months, instead of every couple of years , I kept making 'realism' my watchword. But in hindsight, I'm not sure what I thought I meant. I don't think characters have to be "well-rounded" in the classroom sense. Erotic "realism" is more about overhearing the characters' wishes, desires, inhibitions in a sexual situation.
Like, when I reread Anais Nin now, I find her stories are like sketches, smudged in, impressionistic. Everything feels like something happening in a half-dream, and I recognize now how much I really like that. The interior lives of her players are all about moods. I don't think a writer has to fuss over background, as long as we get a feel for how the characters relate to their own, or others', desires as the erotic situation unfolds. Even if it's just shadows moving in the eyes of mechanical copulating dolls, I think that works. Just a glance of shame or exhilaration, or both, can be enough psychology to make the story memorable.
Sprite can write the multi-chapter, more character-driven stories I used to attempt, but also is great with pulpy scenarios that I can never pull off. I envy this. Whenever I attempt a story now, I'm always trying to strip strip strip it down. If you can pull off simplicity in smut, I think that's a virtue.
Of course, this goes a ways to explain why I keep to poems!
Stories with in-depth characters are my favorite ones to read, I like the feeling that you know the character and have a bond with them. My stories aren't the best examples but there are authors on here who I think do an amazing job of creating the feel that you know the character and can relate and have the same thoughts and feelings.
I wrote a story and used the ask a reader section to find out how to make it better. The biggest problem was I misinterpreted the feedback given at first changing my story to include what can only be described as a completely irrelevant reference to something that happened earlier in the characters life. All in all it just made the story more confusing. So I believe, even being the brand new writer I am, that the best thing to do is simply to use powerful adjectives in short stories so that the thoughts and emotions of the character add depth to it.
Oh... and of course what the fancy people above with their snazzy ranks said ;)
Here's a good question. It depends on the story that's being told, doesn't it? Some stories don't need character development because we don't care who they are, just what they do. I've read plenty of *short* stories that had absolutely no depth of character and yet... they were amazing. And that's the other caveat. For a short story it's almost not necessary at all, since character development would make the story not so short. A longer story may very well require quite a bit of character development, unless the poor sod's just gonna go around experiencing things in an emotionally shallow manner. If the writing is really really good this could work, maybe. Cheers!
In my most recent story, I don't even give my main character a name. All you know of her is that she's a woman, she wears heels and she visits an art gallery - anything else about her does nothing to tell the story (what story there is). A reader will already have some kind of image in their head of what she looks like - why should I change that? She could be black, she could be blonde, it won't make a difference to what happens or enrich the story.
If I'm writing first person I'll drip feed information about the other characters to the reader, in the same way you'd notice things about someone as you get to know them. I did this with the girl in Unreserved Seating. Interestingly, I don't describe the narrator at all though and I did toy with idea of adding a twist at the end by revealing the narrator is a woman - but I don't think it needed it.
Of course remember though that you're writing for your pleasure so do what makes you happy.
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Why not read some stories instead
NEW! Want a quick read for your coffee break? Why not try this... Flash Erotica: Scrubber Give your characters a distinct personality but you don't necessarily have to get lost in explaining excessive backstory.
If you're going the traditional storytelling route (plot strands, scene changes, twists etc) then you might spend a little more time developing your characters, their motivations, and who they are.
If you're writing something that's more conceptual and stylistic, then you can leave the details of who they are (superficially) more obscure but then focus on fleshing them out in less obvious ways - through their energy and presence, the way they move and talk, the way they fuck etc.
I usually tend to do the standard variety of character development but in the last story I posted (which was still long, at over 9,000 words) I left them purposely vague because the focus was on the sexual encounter between them. Despite not knowing much about either of them and having almost no backstory, they still have very distinct energies.
I think the key is to try to create 'flesh and blood characters.' We don't need to know everything about them, but we just need to believe that they exist and are not cardboard cut-out humans with wet pussies, big dicks, and nothing going on upstairs.