I was recently talking to a friend about a story and they brought up making the parent a step mom.
I realized something about it after reflecting. Anytime I see that the parent is a step mom, I think "Well, they just left money on the table."
It's like carving the juicy steak you made and then removing the best parts before you serve it.
I can try to imagine that it's not a step parent. However, the writer doesn't explore the taboo or reluctance beyond what it would be of a wife cheating on husband. I could meet the people in the family of the man my mom remarried and fuck every single one of them and never feel the slightest twinge of guilt or reluctance because I barely even know them.
If my cousin from childhood showed up. The one I bathed with, rode bikes with, grew up with came over to my house and gave me head then obviously I'd still do it. However, I would experience the emotional conflict that goes along with that. That's the point of even making a story about taboo stuff. It's like stories where the author sets it in some impossible boomer world where no one has to go to work, everything is handled, it's just two people in their little terrarium of a perfect problem free world without even having the hassle of everyday life and the joys of going places. They take all the other characters out of the story and just make it blah. They take all the possible conflict or challenges to overcome so the characters can grow away. It's the same with step-momming.
It feels like a cop-out. "I want to have incest in the story, but not really though."
I imagine the author telling me about it like this;
"Hahah, I just posted a steamy story about a stepbrother who gets it on with his step sister."
"So, just a random girl that he just met about a year ago whose dad is or was fucking her mom. It's basically just a story about two people who barely know each other and aren't blood related at all, having sex, then."
"Yep, isn't that naughty?"
"Nope".
"No, but it allows you to imagine they are blood related, doesn't it?"
"No, no, it doesn't."
"But, you can imagine what it would be like if it was actually taboo, right?"
Just find and replace the word "Step" with blank space. If the story reads exactly the same, then why the fuck not give the reader something interesting? It's like taking spice out of food that should be there and saying "Flavor is overrated".
"Here is a story about Marsha Brady and Greg hooking up...Woo-hoo!!!" (Chris Farley dance)
"Okay, so two horny teenagers that only met when their parents were dating, and live in the same house. They had sex, then what?"
"Well...that's the story. I mean um, they shouldn't right?"
"They aren't even real people, dude. They were actors playing step-siblings in a family that was just made up. They didnt even live in that house or film it there. They filmed it on a studio lot. It was bigger inside than it was in the outside shots."
"Okay, but I don't want to commit to writing actual incest...it's taboo."
That's the fucking point. Movies like Taboo in 1980 starring the quintessential MILF Kay Parker explored the real sort of emotional aspect of "This is wrong and I know it, but I love that young cock."
It was emotional and sexual liberation of a lonely, divorced woman named Barbara, which ultimately leads to an incestuous relationship with her college-aged son, Paul. She wrestles with abandonment and loneliness after her husband leaves. It makes her vulnerable and horny.
Yes, that can happen in a step-mom story, but as she gets introduced to kinky people we get to explore the psychological conflict after it happens with Paul. I changed his diaper. I shouldn't have done that. Am I a bad mom? Who cares what people say? We have to keep this a secret.
If she's fucking her adult stepson who moved back in while he was in his twenties after the dad left, it wouldn't have even made it on a segment of Jerry Springer. Just take the fucking word "step" and leave it off.
It's like writing a story about a heroic fireman, but instead of real fire he is running through a simulation in a video game.
"Oops, my bad. Looks like I died."
"Just restart, dude."
There are no consequences, no conflict between her naughty side and her moral side, no stakes, it's a Chekhov's gun.