Jerry and the Goddesses is a story I’m in the midst of writing on Reddit. It began as a response to an r/WritingPrompts post; a subreddit where people post ideas for authors to write short fiction on.
I’ll be honest, the original post looked like the poster was eager for some erotica. And I thought about it. Erotica is not really my thing, but I’m all about dirty jokes. So I took a poke at it, and people liked it. They liked it a lot, in fact. It’s my most popular comment on that subforum. And a couple of people asked for a part 2. I think some of them were hoping that the huge barrier I’d raised in the first part (which was actually not all that dirty in retrospect) to sex happening would be lifted, or moved around, and I’d write something titillating. I gave in and wrote a second part, and it was damn near as popular as the first, even though I didn’t make it titillating at all, except for a single sex-related joke at the end. It ended with the suggestion that maybe some sexy fun times might be happening in Jerry’s future.
And then people asked me for a third part. And I said no. Not just no, but Hell No. I knew how I’d ended the second part, and I didn’t want to end up writing erotica on Reddit. But the pressure mounted from all angles, and I gave in. I wrote a third part. And I made a point of it strongly implying a sex scene with the final sentence. Only I made it scary for the main character.
I think that’s where it clicked for me. At the end of the third part, an ancient goddess of Sex, Love (and War, though that doesn’t come into play until later) tells Jerry that she’s been lonely for a long, long time, and leaps on him. That may technically be a (implied, at least) sex scene, but it’s also a dirty joke. Because Jerry is terrified of this powerful being that suddenly wants to get super intimate. Because that would fucking terrify me, too, and I’m pretty sure I’m a lot more self-confident and experienced than Jerry. For whatever that’s worth.
I think it was that scene that really cemented this as something I could run with in my mind. I pictured an epic urban fantasy, chock full of filthy humor, yet with enough serious plot to keep anyone interested who wasn’t reading just for the chance to hear about how a skinny nerd and a literal goddess fuck. An antagonist began to take form in my head. I thought of a supporting character, and a way to introduce him that would give me plenty of chances to make some filthy jokes.
And things just cascaded from there.
I ended up having well over a hundred people follow me. For illustration, I had 22 followers when I wrote the post. By the time I wrote the third part, I had over a hundred and eighty. I know that’s nothing compared to even a tiny YouTube channel, or even a niche subreddit. But it’s a lot for me. So not only had I gotten really invested in telling this story, I knew I was doing so for an audience.
Another r/WritingPrompts post inspired a new character; a pet cosmic horror for Jerry. And then I needed a setup, so I created a henchman for the villain and wrote a part from his perspective. By sheer luck (I wish I could say I did it on purpose, but it really just worked out this way), that became part 13.
I kept going, setting up and defining a conflict. I wrote a scene where Jerry finally proves he can accomplish something, and isn’t just a hapless victim caught up in all of this. I wrote a scene where the four named protagonists had a little downtime after the action, and formulate a plan.
I realized I needed yet another character, because the team of the four main characters was missing a down-to-earth presence; a straight man (Jerry could not possibly fill that role, as he’s too used to all the weirdness by now, and so I introduced her in a way that was significantly less traumatic for me than her, but still difficult to write.
And now I’m up to 24 parts.
I am really loving this story. I’ve got an outline to work from, I’ve got a few scenes planned out… I really feel like I’m not even creating this tale, but discovering it. I’m chatting about lore implications with one redditor who absolutely would deserve the title of My Number One Fan, if that title actually meant anything.
I’ve made a study of one of the characters (the sex goddess; don’t worry, it’s just a portrait, nothing NSFW) and am working on a study of two more, with plans to do them all. I’ll post them here, as well as on Reddit.
Oh, and I got my first bit of fan art! It’s definitely NSFW, but I love it anyways. It does a really good job of capturing the feel of the characters, in a style that’s whimsical and not-too-serious, just like the story. I’ll post a link to that, too.
If you want to read the whole story, you can do so here. And if you want to read my other work, you can find it on Amazon.