It's not easy to write something you're proud of. Any writer can churn out a dozen stories or so as easily as making scrambled eggs or taking the dog for a walk, but those stories will have much the same feel. Banal. Uninspiring. Plain.
I don't know about other writers, but when I get in a slump (I refuse to use the term "writer's block") I tend to read other authors' stories. Being a member of Literotica means I have access to literally hundreds of thousands of erotic tales. The vast majority are "stroke" stories, of course, and only a very small percentage are written with the idea of a real story in mind. Sexual vignettes have their place, too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking them. But I am getting away from the point.
The point is that sometimes, when your own inspiration fails, another's comes to the rescue. I used to avoid reading other fiction, mainly because I didn't want to fall into the trap of unintentionally siphoning someone else's work. But I've found that reading a bit here and there does wonders for looking at otherwise ordinary or over-used plot ideas in new ways. It doesn't matter how well-written the story may or may not be; what matters is the images, the ideas, the inspiration the story sparks in your mind.
I say this because I recently read an admittedly contrived and juvenile-minded story about a group of friends who decide to make a homemade porno film. The scenes described were pretty typical, although there were a few interesting descriptions (at one point, the young woman's unshaven pussy was referred to as 'a sumptuous fur-burger.' Interesting image, there). While reading it and shaking my head in wonder, inspiration dawned in my fevered brain about what I would do with such a basis for a story.
And that's when the evil grinning imp popped into existence upon my shoulder amid a gentle puff of brackish smoke. Now I'm two thousand words into a new novella I never intended to write.
Funny how that happens.
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