It’s been roughly three months since I started posting smut, and I am a very reflective person, so this is me reflecting on what I’ve found I enjoy writing, where I struggle, and all that stuff. I do this regularly, for everything, but this time I edited out references to real life shit and how it made me certain ways to make it fit for public consumption. This will be very long. This is very informal rambling. My thoughts are in second person usually, don’t question it. However, I do think that my reflection will point in the direction of what makes certain prompts more likely to be chosen. I will be using real prompts- most of which have unpublished responses as examples for how my mind works, and why they work/don’t. If I call your prompt one that doesn’t work for me- know that this is a reflection on how my brain works, rather than the sheer quality of your prompt. Not saying who prompts come from, sorry if that offends you, but I’d rather offend by not giving credit than the other way around.
The general rule of thumb is that I am always going to want something that feels unique. This should probably go without saying, but I want to elaborate on what that means. Unique does not inherently mean crazy or out there. It means something I don’t feel like I’ve done before. One of the first prompts I did was Musashi/Shirou with a two sentence setup of:
“Musashi had not expected to be summoned to a grail war, but rolled with as usual, however she quickly found her Master Shirou to be a bit too reckless even for her. To help mitigate this she decides that toughening him up through sparring would be ideal, perhaps even knock some sense into him. How they both ended up naked with Shirou ramming her against the dojo's wall she could not recall but stopped caring hours ago.”
That prompt is pretty simple. Shirou summons a different servant, and said servant finds him reckless. Tries to train him, and gets fucked. I’ve gotten multiple other prompts like that one since. Some of it is that Okita, Scáthach, Ushiwakamaru, etc. are less interesting of a relationship dynamic with Shirou. But it’s also just that the prompt feels done already. Maybe that will change when I get further from the original one, but right now, I feel like the whole training into sex thing is done. The relationship dynamic changing slightly, doesn’t change the fact that it feels like a redux of something I’ve already done- and frankly, that is boring.
(For the same reason, 90% of sequels don’t pan out. I’ve tried to write some- Musashi the most prominent of them, but the problem is that I want it to be thematically consistent with the first, and also not feel like a retread or have it hurt the original if you read both back to back. That is a very fine line. Her Face on Painted Whores is a good example of that- I planned on it being a series of Artoria Faces and their Master giving Gilgamesh heart palpitations, but the second part just felt like I was rewriting the first, and as such it died).
Same pairings doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not unique. The Shirou/Morgan fic I already did had a very unique dynamic between the two. Doing one with a very different portrayal of their relationship, is absolutely still on the table. Wanting unique prompts does generally mean that I don’t want to do things that canon has already done. Shirou/Rin and Shirou/Artoria are two pairs that I love very dearly. Ritsuka/Ereshkigal as well. I have no desire to write a prompt with those pairs that is not adding a third person to the relationship or having them do something new within it. Even in the scenario where I write Shirou/Rin without a third partner or whatever, it would be their first time together with some elaborate setup to make it completely unique from canon. Canon pairings are where this is most applicable, but it is not exclusively with those. If you want Shirou/Aoko having been dating for years, having a day in the life, or even a proposal just won’t excite me most of the time.
Unique prompts are generally speaking prompts that do something I haven’t seen before. Usually, that is a creative interpretation of a part of a character’s personality, or abilities. Chapter 7 is a good example of that- Serenity tries to murder Shirou, finds that he doesn’t die and cuddles up with his naked body. It’s not typical Serenity, but makes sense for her, and felt like a unique relationship dynamic for just the two of them.
Sometimes, these things aren’t embedded in the prompt itself- but added by me. Chapter 10 is a good example of that. They proposed Ishtar getting punished and fucked unconscious, and my brain immediately leapt to tying that to Ishtar getting fucked into swapping with Ereshkigal since that can occur with those two while one is unconscious without the consent of the other. Chapter 19 is another good example of this where BB became the focus and got “unmuted” through my decision to give the prompt spice when the original prompt just suggested she was maybe watching. Do want to clarify that it’s not everything that needs to be unique, it just needs one unique wrinkle.
Creative pairings work as well for something that gets me to want to do the prompt. I did Shirou/Koyanskaya solely on the pairing and butchered the proposed scenario to keep the tone the same, but the scenario completely different. The Shirou/Lion King Inhumanly Human one shot posted separately from the prompt collection is another good example of this. I took the pair and general setting idea, and completely murdered the plot to make it fit something I wanted to write. I think that is fine- but it does happen. A pair is still not a valid prompt- I need a hint at the dynamic, but sometimes the idea behind that will run away from me. Usually for the better, but it happens.
One thing on creative pairings- I really struggle to write pairs where both characters are background pieces. A Fergus/Zenobia pair holds no real interest to me, because neither of those characters are strong enough to be a lead. The same is true of a pair like Shinji/Ayako which I have a very very fun scenario for, but both characters are not someone I am interested in writing a story centered around them. They just can’t carry my interest in the way that a Shirou, Rin, Ritsuka, etc. can. One obscure character is fine, but one of them has to be someone I’m interested in writing for their character more than their body for the prompt to click.
The prompts I choose most are not the most structurally sound ones- with a few exceptions, but the ones that engage my mind the most. A lot of the time, this is prompts that require some reworking but generally have that unique flair. This chapter (23) is a great example of this. The initial prompt submitted was:
Ayako has one competition left for the archery club before graduation, and she wants to win, and they definitely can. But she wants more than can, she wants will, and for that, she needs something extra. She needs a ringer. Fortunately she knows where to find one, an archer that she knows only ever missed once. Unfortunately, she’s been trying to convince Shirou to come back for a long time, and he hasn’t, which means she’s got to try something she never has before: a bet…and sex appeal. She’ll get him to come to the archery dojo, and then challenge him to a shooting competition, one shot each. If she wins, he rejoins the club, if he wins, she’ll take off a piece of clothing. In theory, he’ll be flustered enough by the whole thing that he’ll miss. If not…she’ll challenge him again until he does! And pull out her backup plan, in the worst case. …It’s a good thing she planned for the worst case, because her distraction and embarrassment balances out Shirou’s, until she’s naked. So it’s time for the bunny girl outfit (complete with fishnets)!...And that did it. She won. Shirou missed, and he’ll rejoin the archery club! Job well done! Until HE challenges HER to another match, with higher stakes…which works for her, she can win again. Except Shirou apparently REALLY likes the bunny girl outfit, and he locks in like never before. Of all the ways she imagined her first time…well, in the archery dojo with Shirou wasn’t unusual, but the bunny girl outfit was. At least she’d beaten Rin in their competition to be the first to get a boyfriend.
The appeal here was strip-archery, a very unique scenario that I hadn’t seen before- a more fun variation of the strip poker trope. That paired with a fairly unique pair in Ayako, made for a very enticing prompt. But the reason why it stuck in my mind is that there are holes in the prompt. Ayako is well aware that Shirou can not miss without choosing two and has “reached nothingness” with the bow. (Another reason he’s so perfect with Musashi!). She literally tells him that. She might beat him once by getting him flustered and by sheer repetition, but she’s not going to beat him twice. And what higher stakes is there for her to try to beat him again? So my head went overboard trying to figure out how to make the one missing puzzle piece fall into place- and this one clicked quickly, and that problem solving dopamine hit made me desperate to write it. The storm and what not, only arose while writing the prompt.
Another example, is the one shot, An Impossible Girl that came about not because the prompt resonated with me, but because I had two dozen prompts at the time, and this one occupied my thoughts the most, because of how impossible the idea of Shinji beating Ritsuka was - especially with Jeanne, Mélusine, and Tamamo-no-mae as their servants was. As such, it evolved into the Zouken focused thing it became with the smut as the background. Trying to make every piece fit in the puzzle caused it to consume my mind and get chosen. This kind of prompt probably would be snorted at and dismissed as impossible most of the time- especially with my current abundance of options. But those prompts that make me put the last piece of the puzzle in place tend to get a subconscious boost.
A good unpublished example of this is one with Shirou/Aurora that I will probably write at some point soon. When Melusine delivered Aurora to Chaldea wanting them to save her, after everything she had done, nobody was thrilled at Shirou’s accepting, which is how he wound up being solely responsible for her. Nobody else was willing to go near her, even as a prisoner, so he found himself doing nearly everything for her. Naturally, Aurora deludes herself into imagining that this human serving her (feeding and bathing, because they’re not letting her go unrestrained) is doing so out of adoration for her and her beauty, so she’s not afraid to speak her mind about everything. For Shirou…he wasn’t able to bring himself to just leave Aurora to die, and he’s not ready to kill her when she can’t harm anyone, but he’s starting to regret it. Until eventually, after yet another round of insults about his heritage, demeanor, appearance, and implications about his motivations for taking care of her, he snaps. If this faerie thinks that his “base human lusts” are at the root of everything, let her experience it.
The problem with this prompt is obvious- it fundamentally misses who Aurora is. Her entire character is based around wanting to be loved by everyone and be the most loved being .She has never directly insulted anyone. So the prompt in my notes has been altered to be Shirou snapping at Aurora not because he can’t take the insults anymore, but because her mask of love is so painfully fake. Then Aurora falls for Shirou because her obsessive need to be loved shifts to a need to be loved by Shirou and the need to not feel worthless with no one who loves her anymore. So she devotes herself to Shirou through self gaslighting to actually love him, and is happier for it- even if Shirou struggles with accepting it. This is even one of the few scenarios, that I could see Mélusine possibly fitting in as a threesome, because Aurora getting torn on Mélusine still loving her when summoned later, and Shirou who sort of does and she’s devoted her being to receiving love from works. And with Mélusine being in love with Aurora still, her submitting to Shirou to finally be with Aurora as she wants to be kind of just works?
Sometimes this takes a different form- there is one prompt I will not be pasting given that it’s 2,000 words long where Shirou is dating Scáthach but has equal feelings for Skadi, and things are messy there and it’s about it becoming a threesome. The prompt itself gives almost all the details of what will happen within it- from beginning to end. There is very little room to elaborate on the plot. But it still takes a lot of thought and creative spin to figure out how Shirou could have equal feelings for both while only in a relationship with one. The solution I came up with is an elaborate Shirou joined Chaldea as a new field agent on December 1st. 2017- before servants were unsummoned. There he fell in love with and dated Scáthach. She was unsummoned four weeks later and Bleaching occurs. In LB2, without having seen Scáthach in so long, he sees Skadi and doesn’t care to think she’s not just Scáthach under it all, and so he tries to love her. She becomes fond of him, even as enemies. And then LB3 prologue all of your servants are resummoned, and Shirou is close to both- in equal ways, but only in a relationship with Scáthach who he doesn’t want to end things with. So you have that awkward love triangle and the story takes place in that in-between window before LB3 properly starts.
Like those are prompts that required me to be creative, adapt a solution, and find a way to expand on them. I can give a dozen examples of this. It’s the ability to not just read your prompt, but have a way to spin it and improve it, that makes already good prompts memorable, and have subconscious priority. Flawless prompts do rise to the top- as an example, here is one with Gray/Shirou below, but this one doesn’t occupy my thoughts in the same way as like Rin Pornstar did because the original prompt comment had it as her buying a couch for a porno without realizing and the cancellation fee as like 100x the purchase price which is not legal at all. Reworking that is what lead to the beautiful version we actually got in Chapter 18.
While attending classes at the Clocktower with his girlfriend, Tohsaka Rin, Shirou gets wrapped up in all kinds of trouble along with the rest of his classmates in Lord El-Melloi II's lecture hall. From a haunted mansion, to macabre train, he wonders not for the first time how much stranger the Moonlit World could get. He also wonders how to deal with the complications of his love-life. The scabbard within him, a Noble Phantasm that had fused with his body and become his very flesh, blood and bones sought out the Pendragon bloodline with vigor, and those of that blood would feel the call to claim it - him - just as strongly. And as fate would have it, there was one such person he'd spent quite a bit of time with that met that criteria, not that he understood that this was the source of his current debacle. Either way, it was a point of personal pride for him until now that he'd held his lust in check and treated Gray as both a gentleman and a true friend, but the tension between them comes to a rapid boil when neither can help but to start swapping spit when they were supposed to be having a study-hall period in the Clocktower's grand library. Gray has a complex about her face, and Shirou - realizes he has a complex about her face too. They try to work through it, and Shirou is left pondering how likely it is that Gray would accept a three-way relationship. Given that Rin had been fine with Saber when she was still around, he was sure that he could convince her to be alright with it, and if she wasn't then he'd just convince her with his cock.
I think this prompt is genuinely perfect. The prompter and I had talked in the comments of One Didn’t Wait Endlessly about the theoretical idea that Avalon could have been responsible for the attraction between Shirou/Artoria and essentially compel them together. This is a dark twist of that and pushes Shirou to someone who is not Artoria but instead has him project Artoria onto someone who is obviously not her. And then you get sub Rin being forced to accept it because Shirou isn’t giving her an option- to the point of literally fucking her into submission- and we know Shirou isn’t big on getting Rin’s consent when he fucks his girlfriend… Incredibly hot scenario, and one that I had no questions about when it was submitted. It always is near the top of the list when I choose a prompt. But there is also that part of my mind that feels like the scenario description is in a way complete? Like I will write it at some point, because it sounds fun- but it does subconsciously get lowered on my list because it doesn’t feel like there is room to expand on it.
Digression time, because I said this would be poorly structured. Back when I wrote longer plot based fanfiction with no smut under a different pen name, for a different fandom, I had a problem. My story outlines are detailed to an unreasonable degree on long form stuff. One JP Spoiler “Prompt Response” I’m working on has four separate google docs of planning, and notes on every character that appears- the order of scenes and the contents of them. This is bad process, especially for how my brain works. When I have plotted something out to the degree where I can play out the whole story in my mind, I subconsciously mark it as finished. I had one story that was 300K words and I abandoned it, once I finished my outline, because while I liked the ending fine, it felt done and like there were no new surprises to be excited for. I ended up moving away from formal outlines as a whole, and just having random notes on what I wanted to happen indescriptive later and character bios. I would only plot out there are three scenes in the current chapter and X happens.
With the new smut prompts, I have a prompt as a baseline, my notes of random idea, and then I freestyle it and ignore both to see what comes out. The smut format also works better for not losing anticipation by pre-planning the ending, because the smut is still an end goal to work towards, and then wrapup is rarely more than a thousand words. But, that’s still besides the point. When an idea feels complete, I lose motivation. I think some of these prompts that almost feel too bulletproof get dinged slightly because of it. It’s not the same, because fundamentally it’s not my ideas, so a new mind will always have room for innovation, but it does factor in.
To be clear, this is not an invitation for barebones ideas. If a prompt doesn’t give me anything to work with, to want to innovate on, or make me care about seeing it happen, then it won’t get past that initial phase to where I figure out how to make things work. As an example, I’ll refer to a prompt that was since rewritten by the dude with 91 prompts so I don’t offend anyone.
Shinji likes being Shirou's friend...kind of, he likes it enough; but what he really enjoys is staying over at his house. Not because they had fun playing games, but rather that gives Shinji the chance to drink at the sight of Shirou's smoking hot mother, Irisviel. Shinji has lost count of how many times he has masturbated to that perky ass and bountiful breasts. And when Shinji stays over he can always tell Shirou she will go to the bathroom and head to Irisviel's bathroom to peek at her. No longer able to endure not having a piece of that body, Shinji makes up his mind to fuck Irisviel, a task he knows is not easy, but with Iriviel's husband always traveling, he plans on taking advantage of her unattended needs. Though, when Shinji arrives at Shirou's house he knows it will be even harder than he imagined, but ten times more rewarding, when Taiga unexpectedly arrives to stay the night, another woman he has fantasized fucking for a while. Shinji doesn't know how he will do it, but he is damn sure that both women will spend the night moaning on his cock. The reason? he has never failed to fuck a woman he has set his eyes on.
This prompt, while it sounds semi-hot in theory, gives no real details to work with. What is different about this time versus his last visit to fuck Irisviel here? How exactly is he going to fuck both women? Shinji doesn’t know so how should I know? Like it sounds hot, sure, but what can I work with here? If it was a pairing I absolutely adored, I might be motivated to try to work through it- but Shinji? (I will not be pasting the rewrite here, given that it is 1500 words cause they are insane). There are other times where I’ll be told oh you can choose the girl that Shinji is fucking in this one from the entire roster of servants, which is cool, like yay free will!
But I don’t want free will. I can’t visualize the prompt if I don’t know the characters. Especially when the characters are meant to define the plot’s gimmick as in this RPG style prompt I was given. (This is one I worked through with the prompter, which is why it’s the example). I like having options, but it should be multiple choice. And usually I’ll just ask if I don’t think a character fits your scenario, and figure out who we can swap in that has us both satisfied. There is such a thing as too much freedom, and not enough. It’s a fine line. It’s not one I expect you to walk perfectly. I don’t think I could consistently craft prompts that trigger the right psychological response from someone similar to me. I am just explaining why I sometimes choose as illogically as I do.
Alright so that’s structure, now let’s talk about setting cause I’m having fun. I love self-psychological analysis lol. Generally speaking, I want things that are closer to canon. What exactly does it mean? It does not mean that I want canon compliant- that is far too restricting. But like when the setting is something comparable to canon, that is ideal. Like the post I’m currently working on is a spin off of the current NA event- Morgan’s Athletic Zone is not a fall in the lava and get hurt when you fail the obstacle. It’s a fail the obstacle and get fucked by whatever the theme of the obstacle is. And it’s exclusively for females… with the prize of winning being a night with her husband. It’s a spinoff of a canon setting that has a fun peppy unique format. (No one submitted this, I just decided I wanted to write it, because someone who doesn’t play FGO said they were considering giving me an ANW spinoff prompt, and this event plus that very not conscious memory lead to my mind going haywire when I started the event).
Another fun one, is Inhumanly Human that uses the canonical setting of the Sixth Singularity with just two changes- Shirou is part of Chaldea, and the Lion King is his version of Artoria. That allows a spin off in an already established setting I don’t have to build. On a broader level, a Grail War works as a simple canon adjacent setting that is easy to immerse myself in and not have to build from scratch. A singularity with unique oddities works, but is harder when there is not a template one to follow.
I hate and emphasis on hate prompts that are not really taking advantage of the setting of Fate. I’ve done them on occasion- you could argue that this prompt (23) is that even, but they will be pushed down because of it almost every time. If I wanted to write stuff outside of the setting, I would post original fiction. Prompts that have characters feel OOC and don’t take advantage of the Fate setting, have about a 0% chance of being written. Magecraft, True Magic, the Servant System, Dead Apostles, etc. - prompts should always try to take advantage of some part of the beautiful world that Nasu has built.
Any prompt built on impossibilities that are explicitly stated to be impossible in canon will not be considered for even a second- as in I literally do not save those prompts. I don’t care about minor continuity details- but like if you want Roman to survive Arc 1, the answer is no without exception… and the real examples I want to use I can’t say cause they could be argued as JP spoilers grrrrrr. Or if you want a character doing a true magic that they are not capable of- the answer is no every time. Man, not spoiling JP makes it way harder to illustrate this smh. LIke four easy examples once y’all get OC prologue in January. The absolute best prompts in terms of my bias towards them, are those that let me present my unpopular fan theories in a natural form, but those are so far and few in between.
A lot of the reason why I like writing the smut, is the research portion that goes into writing. I reread the character interludes of characters involved in the chapter. If the setting is Avalon, I'll read through the Garden of Avalon prologue and the LB6 part where they go to Avalon for research on the setting. I’ll read through characters' bond profiles and my room dialogues to understand dynamics and try to capture their voice. This does lead to new theories forming while I get my rocks off, and that is fun. The Manaka is Lady Avalon theory didn’t arise until after I finished the prompt- I wrote them mostly just as Merlin Pretender self as a girl, but it also was something I was capable of coming to while discussing future JP content with a friend because of the research I did for the prompt, and on Manaka for a different one (That I hit a wall on and pushed back, maybe it happens at some point idk, believing they are the same person makes having Manaka and LA in the same prompt a bit awkward). The better example is Dantes poison resistance stuff in An Impossible Girl that I only realized while researching that prompt and if Dantes was a plausible way to escape Zouken’s crest worm. That stuff is cool.
When you take the setting out, don’t take advantage of who the characters are, etc, you lose priority because that theorizing opportunity bypasses me. And like some of the time when I say I want to write a prompt with Marie Alter, it’s because I want to reread her parts in Id because you always find out you missed something in that chapter (and because she is so unreasonably hot). You don’t have to know the setting yourself to give me a prompt that lets me explore the setting through research. To be clear, I don’t choose prompts off of this, but it probably has a subconscious bias. And I do have a conscious bias towards ones that try to be set in the Nasuverse.
Some other stuff that still isn’t formatted. I hate writing “dates”. That Artoria/Shirou kitchen scene Inhumanly Human was the shortest scene of that post, the worst, and took the longest to write by a wide margin. Couple activities makes me cringe and get frustrated. It’s just not easy to put to paper and hitting a wall kills motivation. I’m glad you have a fluffy date in mind, bring it to someone else. Loving something in concept, doesn’t mean it works in practice. To me, the core of all romance I write will be dialogue- not activities. It’s the back and forth about who they are, rather than how they feel on it’s own that flows easiest and is the most satisfying to write. I sound like a broken record, but see the end of Inhumanly Human. That dialogue is some of the best I’ve done, and the entire 4,000 word final scene took about an hour. I think that is your blend of character development focused romance that works well. Musashi did it pretty well too. Where it was seeing the others problems through words and recognizing the similarities that lead to obvious feelings and steamy sex. The banter based falling in love style should work too, where it’s the dialogue and not the corny romcom shit that leads to plot progression, feelings progression and eventual sex. I haven’t really done that in a way that I think qualifies as a real example yet, but there are a few prompts I plan on doing in that fashion and think can work. Don’t have an example prompt for this that isn’t 2,000 words long. But like the back and forth, not sappy date should be something I am comfortable writing.
For whatever reason, all my prompts have an undertone of comedy. I could genuinely not begin to guess at why this is. I do not like comedy movies. My long form fiction has never been comedic. I think every comedian is a hack, and usually a racist piece of shit. But somehow, literally all of the ones I choose end up playing something stupid for humor and I do not get it. But prompts that allow for humor or have a silly but not stupid premise have an edge I suppose. Why? Who the fuck knows. I guess I just like my porn comedies for some reason? Weird fucking brain.
The part of prompts that I enjoy writing the most is not the smut *GASP*. I like writing the dialogue most, which is funny cause I used to struggle with dialogue lol. Having a social life has helped that from back when I started writing lol. The dialogue comes first, then the plot, and then the smut in order of priority. I prefer my smut to be kinky in some way- vanilla sex does get written, but the bar for dialogue/plot/fucking comedy is higher for me to choose something more vanilla.
That being said, dialogue focused is not a really telling statement. The dialogue should generally be fun and directed towards mutual development, in a more subtle way. Ideally, despite it being a smut prompt, there is some sort of character development, although that is obviously not a hard and fast rule. That Musical is not a good post at all, but it did the development in the way I try to aim for, and probably would have been good if my mind wasn’t so addled and it wasn’t a musical. Again, Inhumanly Human did it well. The conflict of the story should usually be character driven- usually. I am flexible on this stuff. If the plot works enough, or if the comedy works, or whatever, I do override it. Or occasionally I want to write hot shameless smut ala chapter with 11 with Ritsuka/Kiara in a gangbang. That one is more rare. (The next prompt is also pretty much that, so won’t say it’s that uncommon though).
Alright, specific genres time. Bestiality is something I find hot. Reading it is a blast wink wink. God that was cringe. Anyways, I have really struggled to write most bestiality based prompts and not for a lack of trying. I think a large portion of this is probably that your dialogue is inherently lacking in a bestiality prompt. Fucking a dog while hot, doesn’t offer much conversation. Not sure what the route is here. Maybe have two girls bantering while getting fucked? It’s not something I’m against writing, it’s just a hard prompt to get invested in anything but pure smut. And that’s just not what I’m really interested in writing. Not against writing bestiality, just haven’t had prompts with it really click.
Rape suffers from the same problems along with some other ones. Dialogue is hard to have as interesting in non-consent situations. You can do internal dialogues with the self, but it still gets stale. There is also the problem with rape of it’s fucking miserable. Like reading it is hot, but writing you try to put yourself in the characters head… and in rape? It’s just not fun. Any rape prompt will have the characters while not consenting to the rape, and wanting out most of the time, it will have them enjoying it all the same after the first few minutes of rape. Otherwise it just becomes a depressing spiral. There are still rape prompts I will write. One that is technically in progress is Ritsuka and others getting raped by Woodwose in Avalon le Fae. The core of the prompt is that Ritsuka while being raped, to cope with the situation, and make it feel worthwhile, uses the situation to get Woodwose to leave Morgan and fight for Chaldea (by offering her simple summons as his whores basically- along with herself). It’s a dialogue based rape scenario, because the dialogue is her coping mechanism and gives there some plot and a direction beyond brutal rape and end. Dubcon that in any real world scenario would be considered rape is still the best form of rape prompt.
NTR I’ve talked about and done reflection on before. I’m not going to retread all of the same old ground. I do not like prompts that have a character exist just to suffer. I do not like prompts that end miserably. I especially don’t like building an original relationship in a fashion that you have to in order to set up say Morgan cheating on Shirou just to rip it apart. I will do it, because it is hot as fuck, but it is a demoralizing and emotionally draining setup. As such, I only write NTR when the scenario is fantastic, and their is clear room for a happy ending. NTR has an inherent advantage on the whole, I need the problem solving dopamine hit, because I have to figure out how to work out the NTR being happy thing. So like there is that, but it also is just draining and more work than most prompts. Double NTR where both partners cheat and/or break up to be with someone else is absolutely the best way around the emotional drain of it.
I also think all of the NTR I have done so far is incredibly mid. The Morgan/Shirou one is a mess. I should have just ignored the prompter and used the Aesc design for Morgan and played into the similarities between the two in character to make Shirou mistaking her as Artoria more believable. I also think it was just pretty fake NTR where neither character is viewing it that way for much of the prompt. It’s more in the vibe of Artoria being Shirou’s ex-girlfriend with no modern attachment that kills the NTR feeling aside from the reader being told oh yeah Shirou loves this other girl and never seeing proof of it. The chapter 13 and 16 NTR are my two least favorite non-Musical prompts. The prompt that will probably be next week is NTR and better than the other three I’ve mentioned, but still is somewhat weak and just shameless smut in a lot of ways. My favorite scene is the epilogue basically lol. I think the Rin pornstar NTR is great, but like that was setup to be the prequel to making it not NTR- and it was also more rape than NTR if we’re being completely honest. An Impossible Girl was also more rape than NTR. Medea Betrays Again is the worst thing I have ever written, and I want to scrub all traces of it from the internet.
I do actually think NTR can work. I think of like my top 10 favorite prompts I haven’t done yet, as of right now, five of them are probably NTR. Three of those are double NTR. All of them have very elaborate setups and a focus on comedy that is what makes them work as something that is worth writing, and all but one of them have all of the characters in the original relationship ending the prompt happier than they were at the start. Including the cuck. The one exception, is using canon relationships in a gameshow format and having BB interview “cheating sluts” so I’m not building a new relationship to tear it down, but using pre-established canon and never showing the cuck at all to get in their head. NTR is really hot. It just is a lot, and I really struggle with writing prompts that feel depressing- which NTR is inherently. You will still get NTR as something like 25% of all posts- because again, very hot. And the happy ending twists, I think usually make the prompt better if done well- without ruining the kinkiness of it.
But when you give me an NTR prompt with like two sentences, and no elaboration, it is never going to get off the ground in the same way that a more standard prompt has the chance to. NTR demands a higher level of quality for me to put in the effort.
Yuri is something that I thought I would enjoy. It just doesn’t happen though. I have two problems. One, I am a male and have no woman on woman sexual experience. I can not capture at all what that is like- and as such, I can not write it. I also just have never enjoyed lesbian porn as much? I’ve tried building myself up with stuff like chapter 17 where Saber/Saber Alter got some yuri focus, but uh that was the least exciting part of the prompt sexually for me, and generally was harder to write. I’m not sure that I actually want to commit to writing lesbian stuff. Which kind of sucks? I won’t say never, because if the plot/pair is good enough, there is absolutely a chance I do it, or like I do one lesbian prompt in June to celebrate Pride Month but… Sorry? Futa has similar issues. I am not capable of writing someone with a dick as someone sexually attractive. Like if I write a futa girl, I am in function just genderbending them to a guy- I will probably not mention their breasts much, and they won’t have both genitals or whatever. It’s not an absolute no… but it’s not likely.
Another random thing I very much like the concept of is exhibitionism/public sex. That shit gets me off like few other things do. More of those please. Free use is also an incredible concept, but idk how to ever make that fit in Fate or in a prompt that would make me want to write it.
Let’s see other random notes, I want to tell people now that I have been rambling for so long. I can not write EMIYA. His character just does not click at all in smut scenarios for me. One of my favorite prompts I’ve gotten is an EMIYA/Jeanne one and holy fuck their relationship dynamic is so unbelievably perfect. I can not put pen to paper at all. He just doesn’t fit in any smut scenario I’ve seen. I think the Nameless and Alter versions of him are probably closer to something I can write, but all of the prompts with him are usually the EMIYA version, so haven’t exactly gotten to put that to the test. Mélusine is another character I don’t think can fit in 99% of smut scenarios. The one I might make a threesome with Shirou/Aurora/her is the first prompt I have actually been able to figure out how Mélusine works in it, in a way that I think I can capture her mindset during sex- hence why it probably evolves into that without the prompter’s request. All emotionless types are hard to make work in most scenarios too.
GudaGuda characters are also just not people I usually have much interest in. I’ve never really locked in during those events, because Nasu has established that the world of Gudaguda follows different rules and is not applicable to the rest of Fate on his blog. I have very limited recollection of the characters from the few Gudaguda’s I’ve played, and no real desire to research those characters given that the only value in it is for the one prompt. I also won’t write Barghest under any circumstance. She canonically eats her lovers, and I can not think about any smut prompt with her without shuddering in revulsion. It’s not something I can just shut off thinking about to write the hot busty blonde getting fucked. My brain just doesn’t let me do that. Sorry if you love her.
Generally speaking, approach prompts on this the same way that you would approach commissioning a full length one shot. Functionally, that is what the average prompt response is at this point. I will very rarely make them under 10K words. If your prompt is that they go to the hot springs together and then have sex, there is not enough for me to make it into a real prompt from that basis. Like that is a 3K drabble, and I just don’t really enjoy writing those. Give me an actual story to work with, not just they fuck. Or give me a character direction, something to let my mind chew on.
The TLDR is be unique and creative, with room for innovation, and happy endings. Don’t be short, but give room for a full length one shot. That does not mean you have to be the one guy and give me 2,000 word prompts, but like enough of an idea to actually form a story off of it. And use good characters. Sorry if I offended anyone with my takes on certain things I struggle with or whatever. I’m going to try to be more open and honest on new prompts, cause reflection makes me realize it’s super fucking assholish to be disengenious and reply thanks this sounds fun or whatever to a prompt I will never do. If a character doesn’t feel like they fit, or the scenario feels off, I’ll say that, and we can try to figure out how to make it actually usable. Rather than being overly positive or dismissive, and giving false hope. Part of the reason I am publishing this is cause accountability on all that shit or whatever. Things will evolve and leave even reworked script while writing obviously.
Also, I do want to clarify that the best and hottest prompts are not the most likely ones to be written. The prompts that make me go holy fuck yes are not always the ones I want to write- but the ones that just sound like incredibly hot fantasies lol. Sometimes, I want to write those. Other times, it’s just really not something I can see myself penning.
To be clear, do not leave prompts that are deliberately flawed, to make me correct stuff and get the dopamine rush. That will just piss me off and cause me not to do it. The point is that you don’t deliberately make details not line up, but leave room for innovation on the idea- don’t make it so rigid and structured with a step by step script that leaves me feeling like I have no freedom. Don’t make it so open-ended that there is no structure. Make sense? Can comment and ask for clarification on any of this if it doesn’t ig lol.
Holy fuck, this is over 7,500 words… well I did say I would ramble lol. Sorry? If anyone read this you are insane. Might publish future reflections whenever I next do this, cause mindset evolves, process evolves all that jazz, and I’m going to be doing it either way so… we’ll see. This isn’t getting published on FFN given that uh death threats for posting NTR! Alright bye now, thanks for reading, I guess?
