At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of personal taste and preference. My own advice would be to write something that you’re happy with and comfortable enough in writing. Listening to other people’s opinions is important, especially if you put it on a public forum and want it to be read, but for me the most important thing is that you are happy with what you’ve done. You can perhaps implement factors into your story that others may wish to include but don’t think it’s something that has to be done.
I was recently critised on another forum (not in a nasty way at all - it was perfectly constructive and reasoned) that I seem to focus too much time on the belly/belly button changes rather than sex. Obviously it’s all a matter of opinion but to me, the belly is near enough the whole actual point of the pregnancy! The sex to me doesn’t greatly appeal and in most of my stories they’re merely brief, enjoyable parts. Sorry, but whilst I take this comment on board (after all, I want my stories to be enjoyed), I’m not really interested in adding in more sex. It’s not really my style and to be quite honest, I’m not overly comfortable in dramatising it in story form. Again, it’s all a matter of personal preference. This is just mine... You will find brief mentions of sexual encounters in many of my stories, but you certainly won’t find paragraph after paragraph of it! I have absolutely no issue at all with others doing it - it’s just not something that I wish to do. They’re not and I doubt they ever will be the biggest part of my own pregnancy-fetish stories. Sorry!
Generally speaking, I read almost all the stories that go up here as and when they appear. As long as it’s spaced out correctly, isn’t too outside the realms of possibility and doesn’t delve too much into sex over actual plot, there’s a very good chance I’ll read it all. I like to have pregnancy/expansion fetish related stories to have a start, a middle and an end. By that, I like to know the catalyst for the pregnancy/expansion and how it come about. I then like to know how the character changes during this. Personally, I pride myself on descriptive detailing of body changes and how others react around them. This is where I get my own ‘kicks’ from as such. This, to me at least, is the most important part. I also like to know what happens when the pregnancy/expansion comes to it’s conclusion and then any thoughts or reactions from the character afterwards. Sadly, all too often I find there’s too much beginning of a story, virtually no middle and then endless paragraphs on what happens right at the end when the actual pregnancy/expansion is over! To me, they read more like a sex-fetish or birth-fetish story. Not an actual pregnancy or expansion one. They’ve skipped that bit! To me, if you get the middle of these stories right, the start and the end doesn’t have to be too over the top.
The story length doesn’t bother me. I’ve read some very good stories which are probably only three or four pages of a Word document long. Again, it all depends on how well it’s written. Sometimes, stories take longer. I think the longest I’ve done was about 17/18 pages on a Word document. My shortest was eight (from memory). I know there are people out there who can truly dwarf this but I simply don’t have the skill or the time to make them longer.
With regards to common mistakes, I recommend you use a thesaurus as sometimes you may find yourself (as an amateur author) repeating certain phrases or words, which could be put across in a slightly different way. Especially if you’re writing your story in third person and are using words such as ‘said’ and ‘replied’ over and over again. This is something I openly admit I struggle with at times and I know on at least two occasions it’s actually made me change a whole story to first person instead. Then, as another example, how many different ways can you describe a growing belly? Stretched, expanded, distended e.t.c... This is again where a thesaurus comes in handy.
Stats and measurements is an interesting one. You’ll generally find I shy away from these in my stories (barring the absolute basics) simply because as I don’t have a girlfriend nor have experienced a pregnant lady myself, I’m actually rather clueless! Sure, I can look them up and draw my own conclusions but I wouldn’t feel satisfied that what I had written was accurate or realistic enough. Sure, every pregnancy is different but I’ve generally been a bit nervous about adding them. I’d love to have a go one day, though...
I’ve had three or four ideas since I last posted one up publicly, but unfortunately due to ill health this year (I really have had rotten luck - one illness after another, including a short stay in hospital a few months back), I’ve basically had to scrap them as the motivation and ideas to get them completed to my standard aren’t really there at the moment. It’s upset me seeing them sitting there on my screen, doing nothing. I do have one story which is somewhere between a third and half complete and I’ve put in too much work to simply scrap it - so that remains saved for the time being and I’m determined to get it done. Ironically, I have seriously considered adding some measurements to it - and hoping for the best!
I promise to our community that I will get back into story writing. It’s something I do enjoy doing when I’m in the right mood/frame of mind. I’m just going to have to accept it’s probably going to be a very quiet year for me in this respect. My desire is very much there and I certainly haven’t given up. My health has just left me without motivation at the moment.
Anyway, enough of me waffling on. I hope that helps!
muichimotsu The surrogate angle isn't covered nearly as much either
It isn't. You're right. I've done one - but it was Mpreg and wasn't posted here. It worked surprisingly well, actually! It was a pleasure to type up. About the closest I can come to that was my first few stories which concentrated more on the lead female character(s) being injected with an expanding substance as a test. One knew what was happening and the other was more forced into it.
Leave it with me...I might give a proper surrogacy a 'go' in a future project.
