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The Shard-o-verse

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Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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So. I joined Lush a few years ago, wrote a few stories, and then Something Sad happened and I didn’t write for over a year. When I started writing again my style had changed dramatically: very stripped down, almost no description, almost no backstory. Lots of dialogue, lots of sex. Sometimes the sex is almost brutal, but it is liberally mixed with tender exchanges. I try to stay very much “in the moment” in these stories, and don’t stray much from the action. I am still writing them.

All the stories are about the same unnamed couple. They all take place in hotel rooms. They are all connected, and part of a larger narrative. In my own head I refer to these stories as the Shard-o-verse, though I fully realize that’s kind of a goofy name.

There are 24 stories in the series so far. Most of them are Flash fiction. They have 3 Series awards, 14 RRs, 1 Editor's Pick, and 1 competition winner between them. So I’d like to use this thread to introduce these stories one at a time, and maybe give a little more insight into them.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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The first thing I wrote after my break from writing was Serious Moonlight. It won first place in the New Experiences competition, and got awarded an Editor’s Pick. It’s about 6000 words long, but was originally much longer. I cut about 3000 words from it (thank you Ravenstar, Molly Doll, and of course my dear LaylaJ, for help with those edits). It's pretty fucking intense. I think it’s easily the best thing I’ve ever written on Lush.

https://www.lushstories.com/stories/bdsm/serious-moonlight.aspx
Sinner so Sweet
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I'm so glad to see you promoting yourself in here Verbal. Can't wait to see more posts so I can queue everything! I've read Serious Moonlight and some of your early Shards previously before rejoining and LOVED them all, it is all excellent work and I loved the way you basically reinvented flash erotica in that way! I'll make sure I get to some of them soon!
My latest offering: Intoxicated ~ An Erotic Poem.
Fancy Schmancy
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I am so glad to see that you have created the Shard-o-verse, my love. I think your work deserves more attention, but I also like to hear about your creative process. I am fascinated by interpersonal relationships, feelings, reactions, problem solving, and I love the artistry that puts those dynamics into writing, and love our discussions about the characters in these stories.
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I adore Verbal. He's an excellent writer. Everybody should read him. Like, now. Go!
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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After I wrote Serious Moonlight I decided to write a series of short Flash Fiction pieces called Shards, about the same unnamed couple I had written about before, and in the same style.

Each Shard is numbered somewhat randomly (there are exceptions). I did this to strip them of context, so they are disconnected from each other, or any larger narrative. It’s the same couple, they are always in an upscale hotel, but we don’t know what came before, or what comes after. We don't even know if it's the same hotel.

One of the ideas behind the Shards is this: your memories of any really intense experience—not just sexual, but artistic, emotional, physical, spiritual—aren’t logical, they are just crazy hot flashes of emotion and sensation. You don’t remember a linear story with a beginning and a middle and an end. Your memories are just short, disconnected bursts of experience. So the result is more like looking at shards of a broken mirror than a sustained logical narrative. You don’t see the whole experience reflected, just isolated moments of it. The Shards are sort of an attempt to mimic memory.

This is one of my early attempts. It is called “Shard 434: Mindful.” As with Serious Moonlight, I am working with contrasts. The primary one is the contrast between the brutality of their sex and the tenderness of their relationship. Another one is the mindful deliberation she gives to the taking off of her jewelry, and the unpredictability of her desires. Her careful mindfulness as opposed to her willingness to pursue wild impulses, having no idea where they might lead her.

Okay, this is almost as long as the story.

https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-434-mindful.aspx
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Verbal, I insist you keep writing about this. I could read your thoughts and processes all day. x
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by browncoffee
Verbal, I insist you keep writing about this. I could read your thoughts and processes all day. x


I appreciate that dear. I do tend to drone on, so sometimes it takes all day smile.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by LaylaJune
I am so glad to see that you have created the Shard-o-verse, my love. I think your work deserves more attention, but I also like to hear about your creative process. I am fascinated by interpersonal relationships, feelings, reactions, problem solving, and I love the artistry that puts those dynamics into writing, and love our discussions about the characters in these stories.


Thank you, love. I like seeing the story and the characters develop into something larger. Much like us. heart
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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So this is my favorite Shard ever: The Razor Thin Edge. It's about edging and Schrödinger's cat smile. I like it because it is a crazy hot scenario for me, edging in someone's face. And also because of the reference to the multiverse, the idea that a new universe is created every time you make a decision. A few of the other Shards (and the Open trilogy) refer to this too, but this is the first time I ever tried using it in a story.

This is also the only Shard that sprite has commented on. She said it was brilliant! I hold that comment close to my heart, like a giddy teenage schoolgirl who refuses to wash a kiss from her blushing cheek. :)

https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-428-the-razor-thin-edge.aspx
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Quote by Verbal


Thank you, love. I like seeing the story and the characters develop into something larger. Much like us. heart


something larger? like you've gotten fat? what, do you guys hook up to eat like, pizza all day?

sorry. i couldn't resist. FORGIVE ME.

i'm vaguely envious of how sweet you are.

i shallst read the Shard.
Fancy Schmancy
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Quote by browncoffee


something larger? like you've gotten fat? what, do you guys hook up to eat like, pizza all day?

sorry. i couldn't resist. FORGIVE ME.

i'm vaguely envious of how sweet you are.

i shallst read the Shard.


This made me smile - thank you! I think we are sweet, too!
Troublemaker
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Can't say I know Verbal but I see him around Forums where he has always impressed me with his gentlemanly behaviour and clever posts. The word "Shard" caught my eye so I poked my nose in here. I love how Verbal has randomly numbered the shards and his description:

"One of the ideas behind the Shards is this: your memories of any really intense experience—not just sexual, but artistic, emotional, physical, spiritual—aren’t logical, they are just crazy hot flashes of emotion and sensation. You don’t remember a linear story with a beginning and a middle and an end. Your memories are just short, disconnected bursts of experience. So the result is more like looking at shards of a broken mirror than a sustained logical narrative. You don’t see the whole experience reflected, just isolated moments of it. The Shards are sort of an attempt to mimic memory."

After I read that I HAD to read a Shard.

Then I randomly picked "Shard 629 Morning Light". I'm not the most effusive guy so I'm not going to do it justice here but its absolutely captivating. There are some great writers here on Lush but only a few snatch your heart and take it on a journey that changes something in you. Verbal is one of them.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by LYFBUZ
Can't say I know Verbal but I see him around Forums where he has always impressed me with his gentlemanly behaviour and clever posts. The word "Shard" caught my eye so I poked my nose in here. I love how Verbal has randomly numbered the shards and his description:

"One of the ideas behind the Shards is this: your memories of any really intense experience—not just sexual, but artistic, emotional, physical, spiritual—aren’t logical, they are just crazy hot flashes of emotion and sensation. You don’t remember a linear story with a beginning and a middle and an end. Your memories are just short, disconnected bursts of experience. So the result is more like looking at shards of a broken mirror than a sustained logical narrative. You don’t see the whole experience reflected, just isolated moments of it. The Shards are sort of an attempt to mimic memory."

After I read that I HAD to read a Shard.

Then I randomly picked "Shard 629 Morning Light". I'm not the most effusive guy so I'm not going to do it justice here but its absolutely captivating. There are some great writers here on Lush but only a few snatch your heart and take it on a journey that changes something in you. Verbal is one of them.


Thank you so much for this (particularly "only a few snatch your heart and take it on a journey that changes something in you. Verbal is one of them."), and for the comment you left on the story. This is one of the softest, least sexual things I've written for Lush, and I had kind of forgotten about it. Someone else read and commented on it recently, so I will go back and reread it, and maybe comment on it on this thread. I was going for a sweet, peaceful, totally unforced feel.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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This Shard is called Morning Light. It is one of the few Shards to get an RR.

Unlike nearly all the other Shards, which are very sexual, often brutally so, this one is very soft, very gentle, sensual more than sexual. I just wanted to write a totally unforced narrative, where a woman feels sad, walks across town to her lover's house, lets herself inside, curls into his arms. It's about love and comfort.

That's really about all there is to it. It doesn't take place in a hotel room, which is another departure from the other Shards. There is no way for the reader to know this, but while the POV is of the woman in the other Shards, the guy is not the man in the Shards. This is a memory of the woman's from when she was younger, well before she had even met the man she is with in the Shards. It's an old, lingering memory of hers that she has kept close to her heart, all these years.

Oh, and there's AUDIO!

https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-629-morning-light.aspx
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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A two-fer today.

Both these Shards are light and hot, and both involve ratcheting up the sexual tension in the story, step by step, as much as I possibly can.

I was actually reminded of these stories by Oceanrunner's and VirgoGoGoGo's (I keep forgetting how many go's are in her name) The Hello Blowjob, where they masterfully crank up the tension by counting down how far two lovers are from each other in a motel room. It rocks. Trust me.

The first Shard I'm introducing here, Elevation, is our two unnamed lovers in an elevator. She is wearing a short skirt with no panties. He is painfully aware of her state of undress. The tension mounts (heh) as they go from floor to floor, and wait for the other passengers to disembark.

Shard 41: Elevation - https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-41-elevation.aspx

The second Shard is our lovers early in the morning, after having fucked the night away. He is utterly spent, all fucked out, and watching Seinfeld. She is NOT all fucked out, wants more, and whispers an increasing filthy list of things she wants to do to him, to get him back in the game. She succeeds, but you gotta read it to find out how.

There is also the image of a whale lying at the bottom of the ocean floor, struggling to surface, but I will leave it to the reader to discover that for themselves.

Shard 17: Reruns: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-17-reruns.aspx
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Quote by Verbal



The second Shard is our lovers early in the morning, after having fucked the night away. He is utterly spent, all fucked out, and watching Seinfeld. She is NOT all fucked out, wants more, and whispers an increasing filthy list of things she wants to do to him, to get him back in the game. She succeeds, but you gotta read it to find out how.

There is also the image of a whale lying at the bottom of the ocean floor, struggling to surface, but I will leave it to the reader to discover that for themselves.

Shard 17: Reruns: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-17-reruns.aspx







Idk what it is about Shard 17: Reruns, but it sucked me in like a milkshake up a straw. Or something. I probably post too much on this thread but wtf. I told myself I shouldn't and then I read Reruns and I couldn't help myself.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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This is Shard 23: Fire and Ice, and sports an RR.

I don't quite know why this one is so special to me, other than it gets the balance just right between all the elements of the story. Clearly, they are in love, though the story never says that (only in one of the Shards do either of them say "I love you"). They just so clearly enjoy each other's company. There is bourbon, and ice, and hot oral sex involving the two. Also, a pirate imitation and a very old, very stupid joke from my childhood. Give it a read!

Shard 23: Fire and Ice
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-23-fire-and-ice.aspx
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Nearly all of the Shards are disconnected bits of experience, by design, but I tried a little experiment toward the end of the last set of Shards. I wrote five Shards, consecutively numbered. They don't exactly form a story, but there is a loose narrative to them. They lead directly to the Open trilogy, which have a traditional plot (they also won a series award, he threw in casually). Those stories lead indirectly to the v.2 series of Shards (I have only written one of these and haven't really figured out where they are going).

Anyway. I hope I don't sound hopelessly anal-retentive about all of this. I worked really hard on trying to make them pretty hot too. smile

Here are the last five Shards before the Open trology.

Shard 610: People Who Bought This Item
(my favorite title of all the Shards) is about our couple buying sex toys and lingerie together on Amazon. The woman describes exactly how she will meet him at the hotel door at an upcoming business conference.

Shard 611: Have a Nice Day
. Our couple is at the business conference. The Shopgirl, who figures prominently in the Open trilogy, makes an appearance. She notices the bruises on the woman's wrists, and recognizes them for what they are: bondage marks.

Shard 612: Business Casual
is about the man using fishnet stockings bought during the aforementioned Amazon shopping spree to tie up the woman.

Shard 613: Closing Time
. Our couple surreptitiously spies on the Shopgirl as she closes up shop. They get a little carried away.

Shard 614: Bound
. Remember how in People Who Bought This Item the woman describes how she'll meet him at the door of the hotel room? She meets him at the door in this story, exactly as described. With one significant addition. :)
Normal Adjacent
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I love your shards and have read some over and again. Your latest makes me want to take a trip to a museum and look in my bag of "fun" to try out something else.

Keep writing them and I'll keep reading them. It would be very cool to have them all collected into a book somehow and have them all together. I think I would wear out the pages very quickly. Maybe an ebook instead, lol. I can't hurt the pages of of a digital copy.

Thanks again for the wonderful world of The Share-o-verse!
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by Gillianleeeza
I love your shards and have read some over and again. Your latest makes me want to take a trip to a museum and look in my bag of "fun" to try out something else.

Keep writing them and I'll keep reading them. It would be very cool to have them all collected into a book somehow and have them all together. I think I would wear out the pages very quickly. Maybe an ebook instead, lol. I can't hurt the pages of of a digital copy.

Thanks again for the wonderful world of The Share-o-verse!


Thank you, dear. I will collect them when they are done and probably pull them off of Lush and onto Amazon. But finishing is a long way off.

I appreciate the words of encouragement. I really do. Writing can be a lonely activity sometimes.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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So. I quit writing the Shards toward the end of last year because I thought they were getting a little stale, and I was reusing the same set of tricks over and over. Plus, I was getting lazy, not having to worry about plot or detail or traditional structure or resolution. I knew I'd go back eventually, but I needed to take a break.

I wrote the Open trilogy, which won a Series award.

The Open stories are essentially a 10,000 word sex scene about a threesome, told from three different points of view. I start with the woman, move to the man, and end up with the shopgirl, who had made a cameo appearance in the first set of Shards. I was trying to focus on the stuff I had been lazily ignoring with the Shards, by focusing on detail and plot and continuity.

I guess I shouldn't be dissing my own stories in a promotional thread, but the Open stories seem a little emotionally cold. I think they are well written, don't get me wrong, but Ping described them as kinda Kubrick-esque, which I think is a perfect description. The original Shards are chock full of deep emotions, and I tried very hard to make sure their sometimes brutal sex was in the context of a secure, loving relationship. In the Open stories, I spend so much time constructing the three narrative threads there was little room left for emotion. The sex is pretty hot, though.

Now that I've thoroughly convinced you not to read them, here are the links. smile

Open Door (the woman)

Open Window (the man)

Open Eyes (the girl)
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Did you know that Amazon sells sex toys? Like, lots of them. They are kind of hidden, when you first start searching keywords, I assume so people won't innocently discover them during unrelated searches, but once the algorithm figures out that you really want sex toys, they start showing up in the search results, then in the banner ads, then in the People Who Bought This Item slider along the bottom. Then you can't get rid of them!

So I wrote a Shard about it. This is a lighter, breezier Shard, with my single favorite title of all of them:
Shard 610: People Who Bought This Item.
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/flash-erotica/shard-610-people-who-bought-this-item.aspx

Give it a read!
Her Royal Spriteness
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Quote by Verbal
Did you know that Amazon sells sex toys?


*snorts* who do you think you're talking to here? amateur.

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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As I was saying in an earlier post, I quit writing the Shards for awhile, cuz I was repeating myself, and getting lazy with my writing. I wrote the Open trilogy, and then a quick little sex romp called Fuckkitty. Then I returned to the Shards.

They are kinda different now, though very little of it is intentional. They are just evolving, and I am just letting them. smile

They all have a number ending in .2 (they are not meant to be read in order, but all mixed up, the .2 helps keep track of the chronology). The unnamed couple are now no longer meeting in hotel rooms, but live together. I allow both of their POVs in the same story sometimes, which I never did with the first set.

The threesome they had (depending on the timeline, there may be stories where it didn't happen) in the Open trilogy have opened them both up sexually, but that openness has come with a bit of a price: there are occasional doubts creeping into their lives about their relationship, and their commitment to each other. They are a talkative and open couple, so they sometimes discuss the doubts in these new stories.

They are less rushed, and more thoughtful, than the first set. That said, I still try pretty hard to keep the sex hot.

The possibility of another threesome is also rearing its head, perhaps with a man this time.

Anyway. Enough rambling. Four of the first six of these have gotten RRs (the first 24 Shards only earned two RRs) so I must be doing something right. I am too lazy to format all the URLs, just look below in the sig line for the stories.

Thanks for reading.... :)
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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So I just did an audio for Shard 504.2: Click. Listen to it!

The impetus for writing it was how I (men in general, I think, as they are more visual than women), when having really hot sex, kind of flip back and forth between loving, deeply connected sex and crazy animalistic sex, that is more emotionally removed. It's like two totally different parts of your brain.

I also wanted to make it really hot. Dani said "This is beyond erotic! It's steamy and dirty! It's decadent and so very naughty and the audio enhances... Every. Dirty. Thought." So consider that a high endorsement.

Shard 504.2: Click

More Shard audio very soon!
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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I just wrote a trio of Shards, about our couple role-playing at a bar, pretending they are strangers and picking each other up. Each story begins by describing her, dressed midway between classy and slutty, sitting the bar alone, sipping a martini (not her usual drink, she doesn't even like them, but the character does). Something different happens in each story.

I leave it for the reader to decide if, a) they really like role-playing and so do this a lot, or 2) each story takes place in a different timeline in the Shard-o-verse. smile

Mostly I was just taken by the idea of them talking at a bar, role-playing and knowing that within hours they'd be up in the motel room fucking. Nearly all the foreplay is verbal (heh - get it?).

Two of the three got RRs. There will probably be more someday, though I am moving on from the series for now.

They are consecutively numbered.

In the first one they contemplate having a threesome with the waitress. Don't let the pretentious literary reference of the title fool you. It's kinda hot.

* Shard 451.2: Candide

The woman shows the man her secret ingredient for the perfect Dirty Martini in the second Shard. I sorta stole the idea from Oceanrunner's story of the same name (his is probably superior).

* Shard 452.2: Dirty Martini

The last story has the woman at the bar, dressed for the slutty end of the slutty/classy spectrum, drawing men like flies on honey (I almost titled this Flies on Honey).

* Shard 453.2: Dicks
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Weird. I could swear I read Candide but the plot as described doesn't register. So, I've put all three in my reading queue.
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by seeker4
Weird. I could swear I read Candide but the plot as described doesn't register. So, I've put all three in my reading queue.


Cool.

It meanders a bit, but that's the plot. Hard to believe I can find the room to meander in only 1000 words, and yet I do. smile
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Okay, I now have every Shard still on Lush in my sig line (I haven't actually published it yet, as I am awaiting verification on the latest one, so if it is overwhelmingly long, I will just use my faves).

The are in rough chronological order for the first 10 or so (the v.2 Shards), after which it all goes to hell.

There are eight Shards no longer on Lush: Elevation, Fire and Ice, Buttons, Morning Light, Mindful, The Razor Thin Edge, Business Casual and Reruns. They are pretty much my faves, and I pulled them off Lush to try to get them published in online/print mags. Sold three so far: Elevation, Buttons, and The Razor Thin Edge. The other five are out, breathlessly awaiting approval or rejection, anxiously awaiting their fates. Sorta like sending your kids off to college and out into the real world. At least, I think so, I an still a few years from experiencing that.