Character Types: The Innocent & The Angel

Good Afternoon everyone,

And Happy Holidays to those who observe.

I've been hard at work drafting "Carrot and Stick Part 1", and at this point I am most off the way through with the raw rough draft, although it will be a while until you see it. I am working closely with a co-writer on this one, so the back and forth work means it will take a little more time to perfect.

Likewise, "Love the Sinner" has been with the commissioner for several weeks now waiting on approval for my edits and tweaks. I gather that the holidays have slowed down that process. It could be released any day now, or the commissioner could request further changes. I am itching to release it as soon as I can and see what you all think.

In the meantime, I have another entry in my series about character archetypes in erotica:

The Innocent & The Angel

Examples of the Innocent from my stories:

Lily Udden (From Miss Udders)

Carol Moehn (From Wet Witch of the West)

Juno Evans (From Intro to Interracial Relations)

Cassie Harlowe (From Cross Contamination)

Examples of The Angel from my stories:

Claire Estrada (From Hottie in the Mirror)

Laura Wilson (From Kitty in the Middle)

Lindsay (From Multitasking)

Paige (From Comfort Zone)

Who are the Innocent and the Angel?

I grouped these two together because I think there can sometimes be a fine distinction between them. Both of them have important roles in stories focused on corruption. 

The Innocent is defined by, well, their innocence. They either are very inexperienced with sex, have a dislike of kinkiness in general, or both. They don’t necessarily need to be virgins, but if they are having sex, it is sweet, vanilla, and tame. Generally speaking, this character is set up for corruption. A corrupting force from outside will teach them how exciting kinky sex can be. 

The Angel, in contrast, is defined by their role. The loving, supportive girlfriend. The doting mother. The popular teacher who just wants to help. A perfect woman with pure intentions at the beginning of the story. Something usually happens that makes them betray their role, or slip from their pedestal. 

What separates an Innocent from an Angel?

There are a lot of characters that fit both roles, and I think some writers default to combinations of these traits. But for me, I see a distinction. The most important difference for me is that Angels are often very sexual beings. Some of the Angels I listed above are more experienced and adventurous than their partners, sexually speaking.  

When are these roles useful?

Both of these roles are common in corruption stories of all kinds. In particular, almost every female main character in a cuckolding story is an Angel. Innocents are used more often in other types of corruption stories. Some people have a kink for taking something pure and innocent and defiling it in some way, and both of these character types scratch that itch in different ways. For the innocent: teaching someone about kinky sex and getting them hooked, and for the Angel, convincing someone to betray their role as girlfriend, wife, mother, etc. 

Playing against stereotypes:

I think that both of these character types have a tendency to be a bit boring sometimes, because they can be a little overdone. I think that you could find a dozen stories in ten minutes about a naive, busty 18-year-old virgin on Literotica. Ditto for a perfect housewife or loving mother. I try to add a little more texture with these character types, except when writing a story so short I don’t have much room for characterization. For example, women don’t need to be 18 or virgins to be innocent! Out of the four examples I gave, only Cassie is 18, and only Carol and Cassie are virgins. I think special care needs to be taken with the Angel archetype. Characters can seem incredibly flat and lifeless if their only character trait is “wife” or “mother”. Stories feel a lot hotter when it feels like a real person is getting corrupted, rather than a blowup doll with a nametag that reads “wife”, if you know what I mean. 

What do you think? Do you enjoy stories with these character archetypes? Any stories you can think of that use them particularly well?