#DISCUSSION: FMG via Magic or Science?

[zarina]

I'm curious to see if there is a preference on this...

In an FMG story, do you have a preference for a scientific story device versus a magical one?  There's a pretty big degree to which these could overlap and blur (magic potion versus super-soldier formula).  Even with creatures possessing "special powers", there are pixies and devils on one hand, contrasted with aliens and extradimensional creatures on the other. 

So, any strong feelings for or against one or the other?  And why?

[zarina]

LIVE NOW

Muscular Women Are Live Right Now

Join private chats instantly. Real models. Real-time interaction.

120+ models online now

Start Watching →

[derekr]

I like most fmg stories, but my favourites are the more realistic, steroid/lifting/eating ones.  I like the freakishly big, but I like the (slightly?) more believable route.

[Online1138]

I'm down for either, as long as the muscle descriptions are done well.

[El_Roy_1999]

I'm not too much into magic growth. I like slow growth, using realistic (but not real) methods.
I don't mind it, though, if it's well done.
It also depends on the setting. If it's a fantasy story, magic is perfect.

[Ardanian]

Like El Roy says it depends on the setting.  "Real world" or sci fi then science makes more sense.  Fantasy magic makes more sense.  I think the style of the writing and growth is more important than the source. 

[magnusmagneto]

I've written and enjoyed both types.

Many of the 'realistic' stories are not actually very realistic at all.  We vastly overestimate just how strong/muscular women can realistically become, even with chemical help - which is understandable, since these stories are fantasies.

The most realistic story I know of is probably the Equality: Genesis one, mostly because it's entirely based around genetic therapy to cure muscular dystrophy that might actually happen (with documented uses on mice) - after that would probably be the extreme slow growth and stories that focus more on already strong women instead of FMG.

[Greatguy87]

I'll be honest. I only read and write FM stories because I can't get laid.  my life sucks.

[egad00]

I'm good either way.  The fmg is the important element in the equation.

[Jaguar]

Like most people I prefer believable. 

To me that either means true-to-life (like the Modesty Blaze novels) or real sci-fi.


A background with years of hard training, or ray guns, chemicals, etc. that lead to growth that fits with the plot and fits with what is reasonable.  (There is a reason no major super hero is ever extremely tall -- you can't have a secret identity, people can tell who you are from a mile away.  Much more believable to have Supergirl's muscles or The Flash's speed in a body that is merely in the top 2% of human sizes.)


Fantasy and 'fantasy sci-fi', 800 foot, or even 8 foot tall women, women 6 feet wide women, they're less enjoyable.  Too many laws of physics are broken.  And they are usually either very very short or have tons of plot holes.  Not to say I hate them, I do read them, just they're *usually* less satisfying to me.

But firstly, an author should write as they feel compelled to write.  What we readers say we want should be secondary.

[bambucea09]

If I have to chose I will chose both of them, I like to see more female getting muscle from a good one to a bad one. Others getting corrupted by power, I don't like slow growth or realistic ones...

[bertmacklinsbrother]

I think both can be great for different reasons.  I think I prefer growth through Science since (as others have mentioned), it typically still involves the methods of growth that I'm familiar with and have come to love (eating, lifting, juicing, etc).  Growth via Magic tends to just yield the results without the build up in between, and for me, the slow progress is what makes a story interesting. 

But some folks are different; some like to see the growth happening right in front of their eyes, and enjoy the Magic route.

[lowerbase]

my 2 cents, for the writer point of view

Be a tattoo, an amulet, a transfer chamber, a serum, a monolith, aliens, a demon, a god, magic cum, etc, they are all McGuffins

I write other stuff besides fantasies, and one thing I've learned is that the McGuffin serves the story and not the opposite

from wikipedia:

mcguffin is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation.

That's the thing about them: for the reader the mcguffin is not really important

But for the writer the mcguffin is what triggers the chain of events of the story, and usually governs the conclusion as well, if not sets the rules of its universe.

For me, the best route to chose the mcguffin, is to first know what kind of story I want to tell, and then find the best, cleverer device that serves it, and know its mechanics, even if you don't tell them explicitly in the story

If the fmg-mcguffin-enabler is easy to obtain is one story, if it is hard, then is another. One of the most common (or lazy) fmg mcguffin is the protagonist forgetting the serum/gun/wand over the kitchen table and little sister finds it and drinks/fires/waves it. There is nothing wrong with lazy mcguffins, but probably it will be a very predicable story   

A scientific mcguffin, or one that obeys the rule of nature, works best when the story is about realistic (slow) growth, like evolution, genetics, a drug that promotes fast cellular growth. The trouble with that is that the writer don't set its rules, nature already did it for him. It doesn't fit for stuff like 'transferring attributes' very well, or anything that breaks conservation of energy (like most gts stories usually do). But we aren't here for hard scifi, are we? Most of 'scientific' mcguffins are like superhero comics stuff, mostly unexplained like a radioactive spider, and most of its rules are more like magic, which I prefer to call supernatural, and here the symbolism is important, if not more than any other aspect. In the Bitten by the Queen, I chose bees.   

the supernatural is more fun, you don't need to care about how cellular multiplication works, but unlike scientific mcguffin, you have to set boundaries, rules to frame the story. even in the wide range on the 'wishing' anything-can-happen mcguffins, where the protagonist can ask anything to bend/transform reality, there is this 'thing' that he or she makes the wishes for, and this 'thing' can break, can be stolen, can be subverted, and the drama comes out of that.

I chose bees as mcguffin for my story because, besides the symbolism of the queen-bee, any girl/lady/oldlady could become an amazon, there is no choice for the bitten, and she or they have to deal with becoming all around superior than any normal being, wanting it or not. That was the story I wanted to make. I didn't need to explain what the bees are actually doing, while I as the writer actually know it.

It is possible a fmg story without a mcguffin, like someone growing at will with no explained reason, or by just going to the gym and eating more/better, but if anyone wants to make an actual story after this, there will be needed some bigger effort into characterization (goals) and settings to make it interesting, to be something more than description of bigger muscles.

But if you are after a revenge story, or about corruption, or redemption, a new uber female society, find a device that serves best its theme, and the story will develop by itself.

Like I said in the beginning, readers will go after the titillating fm scenes and its climaxes, and spend little thought on what's causing it, unless it is a bad mcguffin. It is more or less like special effects in a movie, if they are good, they are invisible, if they are bad, they are noticeable like a sore thumb.     

[bertmacklinsbrother]

my 2 cents, for the writer point of view

Be a tattoo, an amulet, a transfer chamber, a serum, a monolith, aliens, a demon, a god, magic cum, etc, they are all McGuffins

I write other stuff besides fantasies, and one thing I've learned is that the McGuffin serves the story and not the opposite

from wikipedia:

mcguffin is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation.

That's the thing about them: for the reader the mcguffin is not really important

But for the writer the mcguffin is what triggers the chain of events of the story, and usually governs the conclusion as well, if not sets the rules of its universe.

For me, the best route to chose the mcguffin, is to first know what kind of story I want to tell, and then find the best, cleverer device that serves it, and know its mechanics, even if you don't tell them explicitly in the story

If the fmg-mcguffin-enabler is easy to obtain is one story, if it is hard, then is another. One of the most common (or lazy) fmg mcguffin is the protagonist forgetting the serum/gun/wand over the kitchen table and little sister finds it and drinks/fires/waves it. There is nothing wrong with lazy mcguffins, but probably it will be a very predicable story   

A scientific mcguffin, or one that obeys the rule of nature, works best when the story is about realistic (slow) growth, like evolution, genetics, a drug that promotes fast cellular growth. The trouble with that is that the writer don't set its rules, nature already did it for him. It doesn't fit for stuff like 'transferring attributes' very well, or anything that breaks conservation of energy (like most gts stories usually do). But we aren't here for hard scifi, are we? Most of 'scientific' mcguffins are like superhero comics stuff, mostly unexplained like a radioactive spider, and most of its rules are more like magic, which I prefer to call supernatural, and here the symbolism is important, if not more than any other aspect. In the Bitten by the Queen, I chose bees.   

the supernatural is more fun, you don't need to care about how cellular multiplication works, but unlike scientific mcguffin, you have to set boundaries, rules to frame the story. even in the wide range on the 'wishing' anything-can-happen mcguffins, where the protagonist can ask anything to bend/transform reality, there is this 'thing' that he or she makes the wishes for, and this 'thing' can break, can be stolen, can be subverted, and the drama comes out of that.

I chose bees as mcguffin for my story because, besides the symbolism of the queen-bee, any girl/lady/oldlady could become an amazon, there is no choice for the bitten, and she or they have to deal with becoming all around superior than any normal being, wanting it or not. That was the story I wanted to make. I didn't need to explain what the bees are actually doing, while I as the writer actually know it.

It is possible a fmg story without a mcguffin, like someone growing at will with no explained reason, or by just going to the gym and eating more/better, but if anyone wants to make an actual story after this, there will be needed some bigger effort into characterization (goals) and settings to make it interesting, to be something more than description of bigger muscles.

But if you are after a revenge story, or about corruption, or redemption, a new uber female society, find a device that serves best its theme, and the story will develop by itself.

Like I said in the beginning, readers will go after the titillating fm scenes and its climaxes, and spend little thought on what's causing it, unless it is a bad mcguffin. It is more or less like special effects in a movie, if they are good, they are invisible, if they are bad, they are noticeable like a sore thumb.   

That was a great read!  As a fellow FMG writer I agree with a lot of what you said.  You're definitely right that when it comes down to the reader not finding the driving force behind the muscle growth important; the end result is what keeps them reading.  Thus is the nature of fetish writing; readers tend to just want to see the "what" instead of worrying about the "why". 

That being said, I think a good McGuffin is far more necessary for a long-form story (which are the stories I tend to write).  Whether the reader cares or not, I'm still going to spend time developing the characters and setting, because that's just as important to me.  When writing a quick 1-10 page story, the McGuffin really doesn't matter.  The reader is going to pick it up, want to see muscles, and get some satisfaction from the descriptions of said muscles (or situation resulting from the muscles they find appealing).  But, for longer pieces, just as you mentioned, a McGuffin that's thought out well can lead to far more interesting situations.  The readers can ask themselves, "Can this thing affect other characters?  What about X character that I've come like?  I'd love to see them grow.  What about Y character?  What if his mother found it?"  They become more invested in the future of the story since the groundwork is already there for a future to be written.

Not that there's anything wrong with short stories.  I honestly wish I was better at writing them; I think there's a true gift in being able to get to the point and get as many details as possible out of a few words.  In the end though, the McGuffin kind of serves which type of story you want to write, which makes choosing one wisely a vital part of those opening chapters.

[tika85]

Both 

[captreyn]

I like magic myself.