For Americans the settling of the the United States from the Mississippi to the west coast of the country from about the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to the late nineteenth century is an iconic period of time.

In the United States many novels have been written about this time. Many movies have been produced.

I wanted the CAW 18 to feature stories about the Old West. However, I was told that this would put XNXX members who are not Americans at a disadvantage.

Therefore, I would like for the contest to be about history in general. hornypixy could write about the Great Trek. Our British members could write historical romances about the Napoleonic wars, the Second World War offers many possibilities, etc.

I am sensitive to the fact that for American Indians the West was not won. A story involving the Indian Wars from the Indian viewpoint would be interesting.

To write a good story one would need to know something about the era. Nevertheless, I to not want the contest to be limited to those who majored in history in college any more than I want the contest to be limited to those who majored in literature.

This is the "Sex Stories" section. Although the stories should involve an attraction between a man and a woman I want to encourage non erotic stories as well as erotic stories. If you have a love story that could have been shown on American television during the 1950's, go ahead and write it.

Before declaring a topic, however, I would like for it to be discussed in this thread. I want something interesting enough to inspire many stories that will be read by many more readers.

So, what do you think? Does a historical theme interest you?

 

I like period stories. It does take research, so it won't be everyone's cup of tea. I commend you for thinking of the world-wide writers here.

 

Two things for clarification....

Historical definition: Are you looking for this to be 50+ years ago meaning WW2 and earlier, or could historical include Desert Storm/ Iraq war?

Do you want the story to include/ surround wars in particular? Or could the topic just be from the past - the roaring twenties, Lewis and Clark's expeditions, etc?


Characters: You said a story about a man and a woman, but could it be about two men? or three women?

 

I like the idea of a historical theme. You will, as NEW pointed out, need to clarify in your initial post any restrictions that you wish to place on the theme. If you don't, someone could say that a football game held this past Sunday qualifies because it was in the past and thus historical.

To get a specific sense of what you might want to include in the first post, you can always search for CAW 17, CAW 16, etc., and look at the initial post to see what you need to include. For example, if you want totally original stories and/or characters, you need to include something about that, otherwise, you might get some recycled characters and/or stories. Maybe you don't care, if which case you can leave that clause out.

Historical? I'm in.

 

My usual initial pessimism reared its ugly head.

At first glance, this topic seems restrictive and narrow, but, as usual, it is not. If I'm reading correctly, you're asking for "period" pieces. Interpreting your post to mean you're asking for history-based fiction opens a whole world of potential settings and story lines involving everyone from cave dwellers forward. If that's correct, it should be fun.

 

Up front, I'm of mixed feelings on this one, era-specific themes are a challenge yes, but it may turn off more writers than it draws.

Personally, I will wait to see what the final theme is about before deciding if it is in my ability to write about.

 

One suggestion I would encourage you to consider when it comes to a time-period specific piece: allowing for the entry of 'alternative history' themed stories.

I have written two different stories along this line for the 'Winter War' and of the American Civil War (F-troop combined with TABOO, to use the words of one reader).

No matter what you choose for the theme, just make it as open and broad as possible for interpretation by the writers.

 

Typically, the "easier" (read less restrictive) a topic is, the more entries there will be. The more challenging a topic is, fewer entries can be expected because some will simply not be up for the challenge.

Run it how you see fit; you won, it's your ball and bat.

 

I like the idea of an historical or 'period piece' theme. To restrict such a theme to one specific time-frame would be too limiting (in my personal opinion), but let us hope that those who would have some knowledge of the 'old west' era that you mention will be generous enough to write a tale set in that time.

I'm in for that sort of challenge (as long as I have time to write, of course - work and Real Life often interfere).

As has been mentioned, I feel you would have to define 'historical' - Gulf War? Vietnam? Korea? WWII? Or by era - 1950's onwards, or early 20th Century etc.

There have been plenty of 'time-piece' stories in the past CAWs, indeed I've entered a couple myself, one set largely on a ship bound for the New World in 1620, and one set partly in the era of the Zulu War of 1879.

Good luck, Pte Rickmers! :rose: One last thing - when it fell upon me to host CAW V, I found the assistance of Ejls invaluable, my advice would be to call upon her help and advice whenever you feel the need.

 

Hey Jayne! :rose:

I'm hoping what he meant was that he'd set a wide time frame, like, the setting has to be pre-1950 or pre-1900 or whatever...rather than zero in on a specific set of years.

We'll see.

 

I think that's an excellent suggestion...though my sentiment is perhaps self-serving, since I have a great many stories in the works that already fit the bill.

As for the issue of period: If it were me (which it's not, but hear me out) I would say that "historical" in this context means anything prior to 1980 or so. Anything more recent than that is too contemporary to really be called historical; the 1970s are, in most countries, the most recent span of time for which a writer would have to markedly reconsider the social status quo the story takes place in.

Of course, it's up to the host to decide such things for himself, based on what he hopes to engender from the writers. For example, last time we had a notable few WWII-themed stories, so if we wanted to avoid repeating that same motif this time (for the purposes of distinguishing this list of entries from the previous one) that would mean pushing the definition of "historical" back even further.

Personally, I don't think this will be nearly as difficult as it seems. Almost every writer does or has already done a "period" story at one time or another, and we always have a few on the list each time anyway. There are plenty of ways to alleviate the foreignness of the setting to make things easier for those at the keyboards: A time travel story, for example, would give you at least a protagonist with a modern sensibility, which is much easier to write, or a story about a modern character who daydreams about a particular period would give you a bit more "wiggle room" when it comes to accuracy (I suppose it would be up to the host to decide if the historical content of such plots is adequate to meet the criteria, but I think a liberal definition of historical serves the writing community better here--although, again, it's not my call).

...short answer, yes, go for it, wonderful idea.

 

Either a 'time travel' or 'historical' themed challenge would interest me. However, last week isn't history because it is too current to qualify.

If I have an opportunity to write, I'll participate.

 

These are good questions.

I do not want to require stories about wars.

The 1960's were an iconic decade. By including that we could have stories about the civil rights movement, the War in Vietnam, the anti war movement, the Summer of Love in Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, the Woodstock festival, and so on.

XNXX posters who participated in any of that stuff probably have a lot to say about it, and can describe details with a certain amount of precision.

Have any CAW stories dealt with homosexual themes? If so, how were they received?

XNXX is, after all, a pornographic website.

Nevertheless, I would like to encourage (without requiring) non erotic stories.

 

I didn't mean that the theme should be homosexual, just that by stating that the characters HAD to be a man and a woman, you exclude homosexual story lines.

I suggest you not say WHO should be the main characters, that way it's up to the author to fill in the blanks.

 

Excellent idea but not for me. I SUCKED at History and period dramas and the like make me sleepy! I guess I will be sitting this one out too!!

 

So what are you after?

Do you want a story set in the past or an historical story?

If it's the latter getting any plausible rolling in the hay into it will be a real challenge but then you really don't want that anyway, do you?

 

I am fairly confident that people in every historical period had sex at some point, as evidenced by the fact that we are all here to speculate about it.

My favorite historical anecdote from fine arts class: In 16th century Italy when you wanted to have casual sex, you went to church. It was one of the few places where a woman might plausibly be allowed to go unchaperoned, so lovers and prostitutes were constantly taking, ahem, "long walks" on the way to and from confession. The great sculptor Donatello was constantly being arrested after being caught in flagrante delicto on holy ground with other men, but he well-connected enough to escape prosecution for it, which made busting him every now and then almost routine.

...not that anyone has to write a story about that, mind you. But if they did, it would probably be awesome.

 

Interesting thought and no doubt you could write about that but I couldn't. Rich and famous people don't interest me ordinary people do.

Anyway, we'll see. My thoughts on sex V non sex stories in the CAW contests has been stated before and I see this one as setting the start line well to the side of no sex stories.

As before I argue it is so much easier to write a no sex story, than a sex story ; the narrative is easier, relationships are easier and that old chestnut 'suspension of disbelief' is easier.

 

I have yet to write a story on here. If we could pick any historical era regarding a event that lasted more than a football game. I would consider writing a story loosely based on a partial part of my own personal biography.

 

I'm no history buff, but I find the subject frequently fascinating.