Author: wesleybracken8258

Have you thought about writing a transformation story from a perspective of some unaffected person? For example a woman whose husband is changed, who usually would conveniently disappear in the story. Or perhaps do you know of some stories with such elements?

I’ve read a few stories like that, and that theme pops up in some of my stories, although usually the narrator is being changed as well (as in Letters From Prison). I’ve never been a huge fan of these kinds of stories myself, because I find they tend to unnecessarily obscure the change, so I usually avoid writing them, and none really spring to mind as something I would recommend–sorry. :-/ 

I’ve recently come across your stories and I want to thank you. The interests and fantasies you depict more closely parallel mine than most anything I’ve read out there. Ironically, my top 2 favorite all-timers are Circus and Cigar Monitor as well. Oh, how I wish E.S. Morwood would get back into the biz. My strongest fetishes are the heavy smoking addiction, gaining and age progression. 3 topics you cover so very, very well. Please, never stop writing. You have a lifelong fan here.

Yeah, I too miss new Morwood stories, but more than anything, I just wish there were more people writing in the genre all together. Still, it is what it is. Thanks for the note, I’ll hopefully have some new content up soon. 

Mentioning GoT brings up a good point, that adding sex to a story does not diminish the point of the story. However, GoT thrones isn’t really “porn” based, so it might not be the best comparison. Do you think that a story centered mainly around porn could ever be as popular as GoT? discounting fifty shades of gray which seemed to be only a fad

GoT is porn based (not just “sex” porn of course, but “torture porn”, “war porn” etc.–the glorification of a particular visceral act not for the sake of story, but for the sake of pleasure) I think, but see all of the other posts I’ve written about GoT for more of my thoughts on that. 

But I’m not looking to be GoT popular–I want to write what I want to write. A small, dedicated audience would be much more appreciated from my perspective than vast popularity. I’m not looking for some way to break into the mainstream–I just want to write the stories that I’d like to see in the world, and share them with whoever may be interested in them.

If you feel so content about that story then maybe instead of writing about transformations, switch to writing about people discovering their bisexuality or repressed homosexuality, because that’s pretty much what it came off as.

I didn’t say that story was perfect–it went too far off in the other direction, into the mundane. I’d like to discover some middle ground–I think that section of City of Bears is the best (and still imperfect) example of what I’m looking for. 

But like I said, I don’t really know what I’m trying to articulate, as I’ve said upfront here multiple times. Holding me fast to what I’m saying here is more you trying to play “gotcha!” with me and less trying to understand what I’m experiencing and what I’d like to do.

What’s the point of turning the characters in porn stories into real people though?

Well, let’s start off with two assumptions you just pelted me with that I want to question.

First, why in the world should porn stories be any less “stories” just because they are erotic? Is there something about including porn that necessarily makes them bad? Or is the audience’s standards so low, or so base, that the addition of a good plot and strong characters actually turns them off? If the former, I’d be really curious to know how something like Game of Thrones gets critical acclaim while including all of that “porn” in there, and if the latter, then that’s not really an audience I’m all that interested in supplying content to, and I’ll wait around for a different audience who might like a decent story to go with their erotica.

Second, characters in stories are never real people. But there are good characters and bad characters. I would say that good characters, in addition to having more complex motivations and being better able to foster an audience’s sympathy, are also capable of having much better, and more interesting sex, than bad characters. Why wouldn’t you want better characters in a story? I’m not trying to write real people here; none of this stuff can happen in real life, so why would I bother with real people. But better characterization? That’s something I can get behind.

Now, dispensing with those two assumptions which I disagree with, I might rephrase your question as something like, “Why should an author bother writing good stories with interesting characters when the primary reason people read these stories is to ‘get off’ (an act which presumably does not require a good story or interesting characters)?”

Well, that’s because I’d like my stories to do more than get people off. Granted, I do like getting people off–I have no intention of stopping that side of things. But maybe stories can also make people think. Maybe they can also have character’s they relate to and sympathize with. Maybe a story can be more than a neutral mask indulging in a variety of sexual experiences and physical and mental changes. That’s what I want to write at least–that might not be what you want to read.

That’s perfectly ok–if that sounds like an utter bore, than go read some other stuff–there’s plenty out there. But I’m going to focus on writing what I want to write–I’ll trust that an audience interested in what I have to deliver will find me and enjoy my stories.

Cool, care to elaborate on what exactly were you looking for, or exploring in these recent stories?

Well, I’d love to, but part of the issue is that I don’t really know what I’m looking for or trying to explore–that’s the central problem. But I can point to some of the aspects of the genre I find more tiring than others–i.e. where the face to brick wall hurts the most.

* The biggest problem I’ve been facing is one of character–I’m getting tired of the rather limited motivations which the tropes of the genre rely on. You can only write so many “revenge”, “second-chance-at-life”, “self-betterment” stories before they all blur together into one thick morass. I’ve been trying to assuage this by shifting the focus away from the change itself–making it more incidental rather than necessary. That second sketch I did, with the biker and the guy towing the trailer, is an example of that. The change is there, but it’s unexplained and the motivation isn’t explicit. It lent the character’s a depth that I really liked, but haven’t really been able to reproduce consciously.

* My writing style is pretty fucking bland. Don’t get me wrong, it gets the job done, but I don’t really put nearly as much effort into craft as I can and should be doing. One quick edit for the most glaring typos doesn’t make a story read well, but I also can’t put as much effort into craft and put out as many stories as I was. I simply don’t have the time. These recent stories aren’t any better, mind you, but it’s something that’s been wearing on me all the same.

* A lot of this current ennui/dissatisfaction actually stems all the way back from when I was working on the third book of “City of Bears” in November 2012. I found myself in the midst of the story line of Matt and Terry, and I found these two character leading me in directions that I had not anticipated but they were developing into actual people, rather than characters who I just kind of manipulate on the page to get people’s rocks off. It scared me, at the time, but again, it was a sensation I haven’t really been able to reproduce, and that’s been wearing on me as well, trying to figure out what went right there, or what I’ve been getting wrong all this time.

* I’ve spent most of my time these last two years writing commissions, and one of the things that happens when you write down other people’s fantasies is that you lose sight of your own interests. It can make writing your own thing again really difficult, I’ve found (or at least for me, it has). As I’ve ramped down the commissions over the last year, I haven’t really found much inspiration to replace them. Writing these little shorts have been a way to try and jumpstart that creativity, but nothing’s really been working.

Those are just the few that come to mind right now. There are more of course, but I think those are the big things I’ve been trying to do lately.