Story Elements Card Deck

So, this is really rough draft sort of stuff…and likely I should be patenting this shit or copyrighting it or something before I share, cause maybe it’s a really good idea…but…whatevs…

Recently, in a post I wrote for Wicked Wednesday, I came up with an idea to create a deck of story element cards to push me to branch out in the areas of character demographics, sexual technicalities (what’s touching what, so to speak), and setting within my fiction writing. Since I have a tendency to stick with my same old themes…basically what I know, I determined that I had to do something to liven up my fiction and help me to explore fantasies (my own and sometimes not). What I wrote in my previous post was this:

Something I’ve noticed about my sexuality, and I mentioned above, is that there isn’t a lot of variety involved, so I can totally see how Mr. D has gotten bored. Our sex life has become pedestrian, expected, routine.

So how does one go about changing that?

Well, it starts with exploration. One thing that can help me make a mental shift toward exploring the new and different is to write about it. I need to challenge myself to write stories involving alternate groupings of people and various types of sex for different reasons. It’s almost like creating one of those rubix cube dolls…the ones where you can change the top and the middle and the bottom to create new “characters.” I’ll have to choose my character groupings (MM, FF, MFM…etc.), and then my physical connection (A to B, A to C, C to B…etc.), and then my reason for sex…maybe the setting. In fact, I’m thinking of making colored cards and then drawing one from each stack to create a story that is completely unexpected (at least for me).

The majority of my “exploration” happens right here on this blog. When it leaves the blog, it becomes experimentation. And I can see how writing scenes that are not usual for me could lead to conversations in my own bedroom. I mean, a lot of what I write is just fantasy…things I would never do…but all fantasy has an element of truth in it. And talking about those truths is also a type of exploration that can lead to new experiments. And experiments can lead to change.

So…bring on the exploration!

Anyhow, I finished a prototype deck today and used it for the first time in conjunction with a meme prompt and a little help from Twitter.

It worked great! I wrote a story I absolutely would never have written otherwise. The character dynamic was vanilla – M/F (as that was Twitter’s vote), but the setting – The Train (provided by May More, before I got the setting portion of the deck done) and the body parts – face and stomach – involved were definitely unexpected. And it created a very unexpected story.

I have to admit, I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time posing my own body in order to describe the “on the tracks” “dry-humping/vibration” part of the story. I’m sure an audience would have found the whole 20 minutes or so it took me to craft that section rather comical, indeed.

So…if you are interested in the idea at all, here’s how I crafted the deck. I created small cards in 4 colors (blue, red, green, and yellow) and labeled one side of the cards with How? (the green cards), Where? (the red cards), When? (the yellow cards), Who? (the blue cards). I didn’t do a “What?,” since the prompt/meme usually helps to decide that, and if it doesn’t, simply drawing from each of the 4 piles likely will. Same with the “Why?”.

The piles will likely grow over time (especially the Where? and When?), as I add new ideas. Right now, the piles are kind of small, but, there is still plenty to work with…lots of combinations.

Here is a sampling on what is one the cards…

Who? – FF, MFF, MF, MF/MF, full-on orgy

Where? – public transportation, bar/restaurant/cafe, church/religious place, RV

How? – penis, face, mouth, toes/feet, fingers/hands

When? – lunch break, night, while watching TV or a movie, while shopping

I would gladly take suggestions for adding to the deck! And if you decide to make one of your own, I would appreciate any of your good ideas for improving it!