PLOTHOLE Authors After Dark: An Interview with 10tacles

10tacles

10tacles is a fresh-faced writer and roleplayer who loves to indulge in the creative process. With a taste for creating fantastical worlds for both characters, readers and roleplay partners to explore, he’s all too happy to take you on journeys to distant kingdoms, far off galaxies, and beyond. His penchant for creating and expanding extends to his more lustful interests as well – he particularly enjoys growth and transformation based kinks, as well as the subtle world-warping art of suggestion. He serves at your pleasure, whether that’s a world-hopping multiversal adventure… or a symphony of pleasurable growth, change and desire. His first full erotic project is a journey to Atlantis — a lost world of many titillating surprises…

This interview is part of a series with the 10 contributors to the PLOTHOLE: Loregasm Edition bundle!

time.to.occur: All right, all right! Let’s get started with our interviewee, 10tacles!

10tacles: Hello, everyone!

T: Thanks for being here with us, 10tacles. Here’s my first question! What is the origin of your pen name?

10: Well, in most places around the ‘net I usually go by ‘the 42nd Doctor,’ which gets me called ‘Doc’ wherever I go, sci-fi nerd that I am. But eventually I got my first adult credit collaborating with the lovely Seraphiel, doing caption work. I didn’t want my usual username attached so I had to come up with one. Prior to ‘The 42nd Doctor’ my usual default username was ‘tentacles.’ Which by itself wouldn’t be very easy to look up, so I made it more unique.

T:  That makes sense — being searchable can be pretty important when you start to share your work!

10: You’d certainly get a lot of adult search results for googling it, haha. But probably not me specifically.

T: My handle is also terrible SEO, hahaha.

Soren Fitz (Author and Audience Member):  A dectopus! Aww! 

T: Okay, so I know that this is your first published smut piece apart from captions, but how did you get your start writing (and writing smut specifically)? How long have you been writing, and how long have you been writing smut?

10: Writing in general as a hobby, I’ve been interested in since high school. To date myself, and give you an idea of time, I graduated high school in 2016. I’ve been going to college for writing in film, as well. I actually have a full feature-length screenplay written! So I’ve been writing for quite a while. 

I originally started really being in writing via non-adult roleplay back in my middle school years. I then got into doing it with a friend in high school. He ended up actually being my gay awakening.

Unfortunately, we did end up having a falling out. We’re fine now. But at the time, I wanted to get away from the stuff we’d done together and make something new, on my own. So I started writing in earnest.

T:  Congratulations on your feature-length screenplay! And ah, those firsts can be really hard. They’re so valuable but there can be so many strong emotions around them. I’m glad you eventually sorta kinda reconciled.

Soren Fitz: Non-adult roleplaying, oh to be a child again 🥺 

Noam de Pluma (Author and Audience Member): To date yourself, graduating high school in 2016 😂… would that I were so young again…

10: As far as smut goes, I first got into adult roleplay around 3.5 or so years ago, maybe fall/winter of 2018. In the spring, I ended up co-running a little adult gay growth/transformation based roleplay server with Kuro, who some of you might know as Shirobatte, who did our cover art. That was the majority of my adult writing until I first did caption work for Seraphiel a couple summers ago.

Soren Fitz: Kuro is the ultimate GSS writer wingman.

10: Seraph and I chitchat a lot about potential ideas or dialogue for his work, I’ve even given him his own special workspace on the aforementioned server for it. I even got to write for my personal favorite smut writer, Ziel, when he needed captions done for a Valentine’s day series he did based on Ziel’s characters.

Noam de Pluma: Ooh, Ziel! Nice.

T: Wow, it sounds like your practice when it comes to captions is really well-developed! Very cool.

10: PLOTHOLE, however, is the very first time I’ve done a singular fully written adult prose work. I hope everyone likes it!

T: I’m so glad you decided to go ahead and write something for it! It’s great to see you taking those steps into that different format.

10: Years of being an avid Metabods follower will convert you, haha.

Seraphiel (Artist and Audience Member): True facts.

T:  I hear that! So, we’ve heard a bit about your writing practice. What is something unique to you — a special skill, a particular experience, or a challenge that you face — and how do you think that it has shaped or impacted your writing practice?

10: That’s a good question. I think if I had to name a specific skill, I’m pretty good at absorbing and retaining lore, character information and tropes in an encyclopedic fashion, which helps a lot with my world-building process.

I could, and have, drop the entire history of several fictional universes on you from the top of my head if prompted, name characters and give background details on sight, things like that.

T: Wow, that sounds like an incredible memory you’ve got!

10: Which sounds mostly like something that would be useful mostly for trivia night. But when you’re constructing a fictional setting, having good examples in your mind helps you know where to fit pieces together.

T: That makes a lot of sense — kind of like having your lore “bible” as a writer in a writing room in your brain. It sounds like it might give you patterns to draw on, too, to fit the scenes you’re writing.

10: Especially since I largely work in the realms of fantasy and science fiction, which have massive bodies of prior work to look to for inspiration.

Soren Fitz: There are some incredible stories out there with amazing, well-fitting worldbuilding. It’s really cool that you’ve learned to bind those up in your head. Any exposure to the Cosmere? Malazan?

10: Cosmere is the Stormlight Archive, yes? I haven’t read it, but I have a friend that’s been trying to get me in for years, ahah. But there’s a good example for you. I’ve heard that term maybe three times and I was still able to mentally attach it to the correct setting.

Seraphiel: I struggle to keep track of some tiny details, particularly older stories.  On the other hand, quasi-amnesia makes it easier to hit the same kinks over and over without feeling like I’m rehashing it. 😆

10: Yes, I frequently amuse Seraph by recalling minute details of his older series that even he’s forgotten.

T: I always think of T. S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” and how our perceptions of older works and our interpretations of them can shift and change in relation to new works that we “put on the bookshelf.” Is that how you view your use of and reinterpretation of Greek myths and gods?

10: I’d say so. Remixing the Greek myths to create a lewd, gay fantasy land was fun. Using existing details like the Amazons, or Poseidon and Apollo’s history of male dalliances, helps me flavor the setting with enough real-world context that helps it feel more plausible than just making something up on the fly. I’m a massive mythology buff, so it’s fun for me to play with those old stories. I can’t wait for you guys to meet Asterius the minotaur in Chapter 2…

T:  Oooh, I’m not usually into anthro stuff myself, but Hades sure did give me a big ol’ crush on every single character in that game including Asterius. I’ll look forward to meeting Asterius for sure.

So, 10tacles, you’ve just joined the GSS Server recently. What has been your biggest surprise about joining a community of gay kink authors like this one?

10: Well, it’s not my first rodeo in an adult gay server, but this is the first server I’ve joined specifically for authors, and it’s refreshing to see lots of like-minded people! I’ve spent a lot of time lurking on the nerdy kinksters and writing-workshop chats.

T: I’m glad those spaces have been nice to have!

10: As far as what’s surprising? Perhaps how active this place is, and how many authors actually frequent this place. Could do with some more interest in growth. 😉

But this is the GaySpiral server, not the Metabods server, haha. (Does Metabods even have a server?)

T: I can definitely point you to some folks who have interest in growth, and specifically the kinds of growth that I think you’re especially into, judging from Atlantis.

Continuing on this thread of community, what is the kind of community feedback that keeps you writing? What’s a comment or reaction that has stuck with you?

10: Well, I haven’t had MUCH feedback mostly because my body of work is so small. But what does drive me is when someone tells me that they’re happy I catered to maybe a more niche kink or trope they don’t often see. I know how hard it is to find material to scratch certain itches, so to speak, so I’m happy to provide that for someone. The other fun reaction for me is when I awaken interest in something that wasn’t there before. I actually sent Atlantis to a close friend of mine recently and I think I can safely say I’ve cranked up his interest in hyper several degrees, which is quite satisfying to know, haha.

T: That does sound satisfying! Like growing the growth kink in ’em! And that makes a lot of sense — helping people discover something new about themselves and helping people find content that’s hard to find sounds very rewarding.

All right…it’s Robert Hass time! If you’ve read the other interviews we’ve done so far, it won’t surprise you that I’ve got a quote here. Robert Hass says, “It’s hell writing and it’s hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.” Discuss. What’s your writing practice like and how do you hold space for it?

10: I definitely relate to that. For me the easiest part is having the ideas. Creating lore, characters, scenes, is pretty easy… in my head. Actually getting it down onto the page is another thing.

What sometimes works for me is just going full bore and stream of consciousness-ing the story as it flows out of my mind, and then later on playing tetris with the various pieces to improve flow, structure, etc.

T:  Right — that makes sense — sort of following your interest and dealing with the stitching together later. Sounds like a great tip for getting unstuck, too!

10: Once I get started, it makes it very easy to keep flowing. On occasion I do get ‘stuck,’ like bridging certain major ideas in my head. But that’s just an excuse to try to come up with something new to help! For anyone who’s already read ‘Atlantis,’ Prince Andius is the result of a revision like this, with the helpful suggestion of Time to spice things up with some more conflict.

T:  You had so much lore in that original draft, and so much that you wanted to share! Atlantis is such a utopian society.

What do you like to read in queer porn? How do your tastes in reading differ from your tastes in writing?

10: Well, as my story and love of Metabods might indicate, I really love growth and transformation based stories. That’s definitely a kink that was seeded early. Even when I was younger, if a show did a ‘character gets turned into a giant for an episode’ plot I’d be weirdly into it.

My tastes in reading and writing largely overlap, which is definitely the result of my roleplay work. I probably wouldn’t write anything I couldn’t get off to myself, and vice versa I mostly would read things I could get off to and therefore would be willing to write.

T: I’m reminded of that one Steven Universe song. [YOUTUBE LINK] And that makes sense, though I know it isn’t the case for every author. 

Did you work with any other authors in preparing for PLOTHOLE (either on your work or theirs)? How do you find collaborating with others on something as personal and “transgressive” as porn? 

10: As much as I would’ve loved to, I unfortunately didn’t get to collaborate with my fellow submitters very much, which hopefully I can rectify in the future! But I’ve referred to collaborating with Seraph before, and roleplay is very much a collaborative effort, so I’ll speak to that.

In regards to roleplay, I consider myself a ‘service’ roleplayer. I love to work together to work out a story or scenario both parties can enjoy, potentially running for a long time. It’s something meant to be fun for both parties, and I think unfortunately a lot of people out there looking for roleplay forget that.

If I can make something that’s fun and sexy for both of us, then I’ve done my job.

As far as collaborating with Seraph, I’ve definitely pushed him more into some serialized lore-flavored content, haha. Part of that is my own preference (I often joke with him that continuity is my biggest fetish), but I also genuinely think that even niche stuff like growth porn can be served by having proper care and love put into its writing. Which is why Plothole was attractive to me.

T: I so appreciate that. I feel like well-crafted lore, plot and characters are what really get me involved and interested in erotica. So I guess it’s no surprise that I wanted to theme a bundle around that!

Noam de Pluma: Continuity :cumming:

T: Here’s a question from another author: “How do furries and anthropomorphic characters fit into the lore of Atlantis, which is largely based on gifts from Greek patron gods?”

10: Ahaha, speaking of lore. Well, a big portion of growth and transformation content out there is created by furries, so I did want to include them in a way. However, I didn’t want to entirely turn off people who aren’t into anthros either.

So I did a rare middle ground for me and did a mixed setting, where full humans, full anthros, and humans with some animalistic traits all co-exist. That way, there’s something for everyone! Hence the inclusion of Felix.

Noam de Pluma: Trying to find non-furry hyper art on NSFW Twitter is a challenge ☹️ 

T: I have seen a lot of furry growth content, but I had no idea that they were the ones who created the greatest portion of the content.

10: As far as fitting into the lore, I referenced how it was a gift from Artemis. This pulls specifically from a more obscure myth where she is spied on while bathing by a hunter, Actaeon, and in punishment she turns him into a deer and he’s devoured by wolves.

Plus the greek gods turn into animals all the time. Zeus has banged women as several different members of the animal kingdom, so it didn’t seem like too far-fetched a gift. Couple that with things like the Minotaur being all over Greek myth, and you have plenty of animal-hybrids well established.

T: Neat stuff! And we can look forward to Asterius being a part of that?

10: As far as Actaeon goes in the world of Atlantis… he was transformed with deer traits, yes. But as far as devouring by wolves… I might be interpreting that in a much more fun way for both parties, in a future chapter. 😉

T: Well, well, well.

10: Asterius will absolutely be part of it. He’s probably going to be the first fully anthro character introduced. Him and his very special ‘equipment.’

T:  You heard it here first, folks! 

Which of your favourite kink/erotica tropes do you think is the most unusual? What are your top three? I think I can maybe guess.

10: Oh, feel free to guess. But I will warn you now that none of them appear in chapter 1 of Atlantis. 😉

T: Haha, now I can’t wait to hear your answer!

10: As an honorable mention, though, I will say that the sort of soft cock vore/mpreg hybrid I do include in Atlantis is pretty unusual. I don’t know of anybody else who does that.

But hopefully I awaken something in a few readers and it will spread…Anyways, top three most unusual…I blame Shirobatte/Kuro for this first one.

Noam de Pluma: That rapscallion…

10: In a roleplay he did on the server we co-run, he ended up transforming his partner via suggestion into basically an addict to getting fucked by his boyfriend’s hyper cock. So the guy finished out the story as the dude’s live-in, permanent cocksleeve, carried around wherever he goes. 

And this is the least weird of the three.

T: Wow. Okay, that is definitely original and unusual!

Noam de Pluma: Honestly, there are worse fates. 

10: Don’t worry, I don’t have anything, like, gross coming up, haha.

T: I wasn’t worried ;).

10: So, next up…for those familiar with CTF, a.k.a cock transformation — basically fucking someone and turning them into your cock…That’s not the number two spot holder.

T: That’s just for context, I’m guessing?

Noam de Pluma: Contextual CTF. Very important.

10: It’s something way more specific, that I’ve only encountered on like, one Metabods story ever. It’s basically partial CTF, where the guy, hips/legs down, merges, but the rest stays humanoid. So the guy getting fucked, essentially becomes the other’s hyper cock. Gets his chest and abs stroked, and it feels like stroking a cock.

Like I said, niche, haha.

Noam de Pluma: Which story is this? For science, of course.

Soren Fitz: Does he get shoved into anybody? I don’t find that absurd, I’m just curious

10: It was a Four Jocks story, I think? Though the original had the cum shoot out the top of his head. On the rare occasion I get to include this in a roleplay, I usually have it leak out of his mouth.

Noam de Pluma: For SCIENCE.

10: I’ve never fucked anybody with this configuration, mostly because of size disparity. I’ve had both of them go fully inside in soft cock-vore scenarios, but that’s it.

Noam de Pluma: Hmm! Will have to check it out. (Science.)

T: For science, indeed. Science is very important. And I’m pretty sure I’ve read that story! I’ve read more unusual versions of this, too. Though I couldn’t name the titles of the stories.

Soren Fitz: Yeah, the size disparity is what gets me. The sad caveat to hyper cocks.

Noam de Pluma: The answer, dear sir, is impossible insertion.

10: And finally, the most unusual, is pretty much just having LOTS of dicks. Like, way more than even most multi fans go for. I usually only get to indulge in this if someone wants me to run a corruption/mutation scenario for them. 

I’ve done some that run borderline on sexual horror, in a sense, with how much corruption goes on. So if you ask/allow me to turn you into basically a cock Shoggoth, I can and will. Fair warning.

T:  Ooo, that line between fear and horny, revulsion and attraction can be really thin sometimes, eh?

10: Mhm. I’ve converted some roleplay partners pretty much entirely into cockbeasts.

Seraphiel: Oh like that postcard…

10: I can name the specific Metabods story that awoke this in me lol. It’s called ‘Infini-PUMP.’

T: Thanks — I have a feeling that there are many citizen scientists reading this who will probably go have a look. And thanks for sharing these intimate thoughts on kink with us!

What do you want us to know about your story in the PLOTHOLE bundle and any of the other stories in there?

10: My story definitely is a bit apart from the rest in terms of content – but I hope people who aren’t as familiar with growth and that realm of content will be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt and try it!

I unfortunately have not had a chance to read through everything in the bundle yet, but I personally can highly recommend The Cambion Monsterfucker. Some fun, creative, kinky ideas mixed with adorable relationship fluff. My favorite.

T:  Thank you — I appreciate that!

(To clarify, that’s one of mine — and it features, as one might guess…tentacles!)

In Tales of Atlantis, you deal with all things macro — from hypersized cocks to men the size of an island that can be visited as tourist attractions. Feel free to ignore any parts of this question that you don’t want to answer, but can you give us some insights into how you experience your interest in this kink? Would you rather visit a macro man and climb him, or would you rather be the macro man? Is it the end result that you like, or the process of getting there? What else would you like people to know about these size kinks?

10: I’d be happy to answer everything here! Let’s see…

I think part of my fascination with size is imagining that experience from both ends. Both from a normal sized person being dwarfed by a huge cock or a giant, or the physical sensation of being that big yourself.

Being bigger means more nerve endings, after all, haha. And with how good just a normal sized cock can make you feel, one several magnitudes in size… hoo boy. But I also often enjoy seeing how it can be applied to more mundane scenarios. Normal life with a huge cock, multiple cocks, as a giant, overproductive balls, etc. The sort of disparity between the overly erotic nature of their being and the ordinary complications that arise is a lot of fun to me, which is why I had a lot of fun building a society that would accommodate such traits with ‘Atlantis.’

You might have noticed that I’ve also populated Atlantis pretty much entirely with twinks and twunks. Part of it is because I’m admittedly kinda tired of the growth genre being dominated by macho, hypermasculine men (muscle growth often brings those types in), but also because the contrast of a svelte, unassuming guy rocking a package bigger than he is is extremely hot to me.

As far as which position I’d be in, it’s tough to say. I’ve played both, in my roleplay history.

I don’t know if I’d specifically want to be a macro, but a hyper cock or two would be delightful. Doubly so if I can cheat and say ‘both’ so my potential boyfriend could get some going too.

T: A growth switch, folks! Thank you for these thoughts. 

10: I love the end result, because you get to explore life beyond it, but the process is also just as important. The visual and feeling of growth. And finally, I feel like people should know that these kinks aren’t purely power fantasies, and in fact people use them as such too often. I honestly love when people depict growth as more awkward and requiring adjustment, as it should be.

T: Dealing with the realities of it feels like a way of playing with the tension of the story in a really important way!

In your own body of work, do you have a favourite story, a favourite character, or any other favourite elements? You’re allowed to pick more than one, and I promise I won’t tell any of them.

10: Hm… I’ve definitely got a few.

As far as non-erotic work goes, I’ve created some fun characters for that screenplay I mentioned. The main duo is a very put upon, grumpy Elf from the North Pole who basically works as middle management, and he ends up having to train his love interest, the young, up and coming new Claus. They definitely lean into the ‘optimistic himbo, sarcastic smart guy’ dyamic I really love. They’ve also got a lot of fun supporting characters, like a chain-smoking Sugar Plum Fairy, or a Jack Frost who works in a gay bar.

Erotic work, I’ve got a few fun highlights. Let’s see…

There was the town where pretty much any dairy product would make you grow in some fashion.

There’s the forest that was pretty much entirely one guy’s numerous hyper cocks, called the ‘Morning Woods.’

There’s the virtual reality Hearthstone/Yu Gi Oh esque card game, where buffing the cards made the summoned characters also grow.

Seraphiel: I believe there’s a picture of [the Morning Woods].

T: Some great highlights for sure ^^ Thank you.

10: You bet!

T: In your bio, you talk about the ‘world-warping art of suggestion’ — can you give us a demonstration of what that might look like if we were in one of your stories and your characters were in an interview context like this one?

10: Of course. Well, let me ask you: what’s it like living with a 2 foot cock? I know it requires certain adjustments to what some might consider an ‘ordinary’ life style.

And then I sit there and simply smile away as your cock swells and rips out of your pants as you obliviously talk about it, like it’s always been that way.

T: Well, I mean, I had to get a really good tailor, that’s for sure. But otherwise it’s never really been a problem.

It definitely attracts certain kinds of guys!

10: You’re a hyperphallic development major at your college, yes? With two feet as the minimum requirement to begin coursework, how big do you intend to get?

T: Oh, that’s right. It’s my second undergraduate degree — went back just for it. I thought that I would start with doubling in size and then see where that takes me. I live in a ground floor apartment, so I won’t have any trouble with the stairs, but since I’m a renter, I wouldn’t want to have to widen any doorways.

But I’m here to interview you, 10tacles! Don’t let me steal the spotlight!

10: Oh, I certainly don’t mind. I wish you the best of luck with your goal to triple in size! Very admirable.

T: Thank you! I know some consider it a lofty goal, but I’ve always been an overachiever when it comes to studying, and really, what’s the point if I don’t at least triple in size?

On that note, we’re nearly at the end of our time together. Any shoutouts, last words, rude remarks, or requests for anyone reading this?

10: I wanna shout out to Kuro, Seraph, and all my friends over at the Hot Coffee roleplay server. They’re my bois, and without their delightful roleplays for practice I wouldn’t be in this position. And also to Ziel, for getting me hooked on this stuff in the first place. And finally, to you and everyone else who worked hard on this lovely little collection. I can’t wait for volume 2!

And if anybody is in the mood to be suggested, grow, or transform… you know where to find me.

T: Thanks so much, 10tacles, for taking us into the world of macro and hypercocks, and for your candour! It was lovely to chat with you tonight.

10: Likewise!

PLOTHOLE: Loregasm Edition is a bundle of 10 authors, 17 stories, available until June 15th 2022 on itch.io. It contains porn with plot, stories with worldbuilding and lore alongside some very hot erotica. 

You can find 10tacle’s Tales of Atlantis along with 16 other stories here