My Controversial Smut-Take:
Smut has become a thing that can either make a fic or break a fic for me. Even as an author, I am guilty of “breaking a fic” with smut. Now that I’ve been reading and writing a bit longer, here’s my biggest controversial (maybe) smut-take.
Note: This does not imply to fics that are actual smut fics. That’s not what I’m mentioning here.
My biggest peeve is when I’m reading a fic that has a wonderful plot point and then as soon as the smut hits, that’s all the story has become. I’m guilty of this myself, unfortunately. It ultimately made me lose direction in a fic that I wrote, I’m Glad These Roads Led Me To You. I loved writing this fic so much. But the moment I did one smut scene, that unraveled into more smut scenes and then I thrived on the feedback of them and that was great. But I felt lost in the direction of where I was taking it plot wise, and then after taking an even longer break to find some direction, I feel like I lost the plot entirely. I’ll find my way back to it though, with a great planning strategy.
This doesn’t always happen though, and I’ve seen it done very well with a few fics. I feel like when smut is just another part of a fic, it can take a story to new heights. You get the best of the plot with a little smut on the side and it’s a perfect ensemble of a wonderful plot and an incredible addition of written porn, haha.
Smut gets stories lots of hits, kudos, comments, etc. because we’re all humans and humans get horny and well…you get it. I feel like the biggest downfall with smut is when authors, again, like myself, start getting that boost from the smut and then it’s like, “People are really enjoying this and are commenting on this, so let me give them more of this thing that they seem to enjoy!”
But the best part of the story is well, the plot. The plot is what’s keeping me interested. What are the characters doing, how do they feel, what are they thinking, what are they experiencing, where is this all going, where will they eventually end up? I feel like a lot of these questions get lost when smut takes over a story and it’s happened with a fic I recently read.
It had a great plot, great character development, awesome descriptions, and amazing writing. It was the perfect balance of romance and humor and angst and fluff and then smut entered and then I’m like, “Where was this story going before this?” And, “Where is the story going now?”
I’m writing a fic now where there’s smut in chapter 2 (so very early on) and my biggest goal with this fic is that smut has to make sense and only be a participant in the overall story. It can’t just be put in there to make things spicy. It has to just be another note in this song that elevates it, but doesn’t take over and become all that the story is. I don’t want people to start reading this fic and then forget what the core of it is or let it fall off because now there’s more smut than there is character dialogue and story advancement.
This is long and very dragged out. But I just felt like putting this out there because although smut is GREAT (of course it is.) I also feel like there can be a negative side to it as well. So there’s my maybe-maybe not, controversial smut-take. Leave your own thoughts if you feel inclined.
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