Things to Avoid in Writing Diaper Stories

I. Grammar

• End sentences with periods.
• Use commas to separate different parts within a sentence.
• Use quotation marks to identify characters� speech (or, in some cases, their thoughts as well).
• Break your story down into paragraphs.
• Learn what to capitalize and what not to capitalize. The first word of a sentence should be capitalized, as should proper nouns (somebody�s name, the name of a place). Everything else should be lower case.
• Learn the distinction between similar-sounding words such as �there� and �their� or �your� and �you�re.�
• Use spell-check.
• When you have several characters of the same gender, watch your pronoun use. If there are five boys, nobody will know who �he� is.
• Remember: you don�t have to be perfect. However, that doesn�t give you the right to be a lazy slob when it comes to writing.

II. Plot

• No matter what kind of story you are writing, your plot has to make sense.
• If you are writing a standard, �slice of life� diaper story, your plot must be plausible as well. While it�s perfectly all right to indulge in a little fantasy, the reader should not be able to look at your story and say, �Bullshit�no freakin' way that would ever happen.�
• The following are a list of commonly employed plot devices. They are good to use as starting points, or if you simply cannot think of anything else. However, they should not be abused. Readers are all familiar with them by now and if you use too many of them, the story will have no excitement.
  • Character is a bedwetter and is either put into diapers by parent or elects to wear them on his own.
  • Character becomes �curious� about diapers and pilfers them from younger sibling or babysitting charge.
  • Character is put into diapers as punishment for unruly behavior.
  • Character is put into diapers for therapeutic purposes.
  • Character is put into diapers as form of foreplay.
  • Friend of character (or sibling) finds out about diapers and partakes in them as well.
  • Character is treated like a baby full-time.

III. Characters

• Your characters must be believable. They can have quirks that make them interesting, but the reader has to accept them (otherwise they won�t read).
• Your characters should be specific. What do they look like? What are their personalities like? What are their names?
• The following are a list of clich�s to avoid.
  • �He was small for his age.� This is overused, but in some cases acceptable. In no instance, however, should a character be ridiculously short and underweight unless the author acknowledges the presence of a disease or defect of some sort. If you are dealing with teenage characters, baby diapers would not be likely to fit them.
  • �He was a normal boy.� OK�what does it mean to be normal? Explain. Keep in mind if you make your character too �normal�, the reader will find him boring.
  • A parent who is ridiculously cruel. Not all parents are perfect. However, any parent who excessively punishes or torments their child will likely be thrown in jail.
  • A parent who is ridiculously supportive. No parent would suddenly rise up and say, �well�if my son wants to be babied, I�ll do it without any reservations whatsoever.� Get real.
  • Likewise, your character�s reactions to diapers should not venture towards extreme loathing or extreme acceptance. It�d work best if you mix it up a bit. Ex: one character is accepting, another isn�t, another is neutral, etc.
  • Dialogue. Many authors include little of it or none at all. Some go the other extreme and try to have their characters say too much (and not do enough). The key here is balance. Also, remember that the dialogue should match the character. If you are writing about a 15 year old boy, ask yourself, �would a 15 year old boy really say that?�

IV. Misc. Notes

• Your story should have a good balance of exposition and narration. Exposition is when you tell the reader something. Example: �He had many friends and their names were�� Narration (in this context) refers to action. Example: he picked up the diaper and put it on.
• Chapter length may vary, but please don�t submit anything ridiculously short and call it a chapter.
• Titles. Your story should have a title. Once upon a time, it was perfectly OK to include your character�s name as a title. However, due to a proliferation of this, it is impossible to distinguish who wrote what any more. There very well might be five different stories all entitled �Adam.� Other things to avoid (if at all possible) would be �Adam�s Story�, �Adam�s Diapers�, etc.^(footnote)
• You should also include a name. If you don�t feel like using your name, make up a pen name. That way people will know that the story is yours. You may also want to include a disclaimer that warns against plagiarism or questionable content within the story, but this is often not necessary.
• When and if you ask for comments, please expect some negative feedback as well as some positive. If you don�t want criticism, don�t ask for comments. Also, learn how to distinguish between good commentary and bad commentary. Good commentary is specific (�I liked/didn�t like this about the story.�), bad commentary is vague (�This story rocked/sucked!�). Also, please don�t become disheartened by a lack of comments. Just because nobody comments doesn�t mean that nobody is reading. Lastly, you should take into consideration (even if you don�t feel like following) the suggestions of your readers (unless you have your own strong vision and it differs).

Good luck!

Footnote: For this site, titles beyond the use of one's name as a title are not as important for True Accounts. For Contributed Stories, however, creative and unique story titles are encouraged.