A follow up on my posting on my Guide for Writing Erotic Fiction page, which has been getting some responses, so I thought I’d collect some additional thoughts on this page:
Other rules for writing erotic fiction:
- Create your own characters… Look, we all have fantasized about fictional characters from books, television, movies, or music. But to spend a lot of time writing a sex story involving Lindsey Lohan or Hermione seems really ‘cheap’. First off, it’s lazy, you can easily write a substitute where you actually define the character, instead of letting our preconceived notions and descriptions carry us. And, secondly it just seems juvenile to me.
- A good rule of thumb for writing erotic fiction is to concentrate on the scenario or concentrate on the sex. Either craft an interesting scenario that piques my libido (e.g., recently divorced woman meets a cute lifeguard while on vacation) or create a sexual nuance that might be enticing (Jane’s boyfriend breaks out the leather straps). Trying to do both usually leads to uneven stories
- Despite ideas to the contrary, you probably don’t want to write your “favorite” fantasy. Mostly because you’re going to get sidetracked in your mind. I have so many stories that I can’t write, because I get too turned on to type.
- I tend to throw two characters into a situation where I know that sex is going to occur, and I either write about the situation or I write about the sex, depending on my mood. The problem with this is that usually there’s parts of each that remain unfinished, and I have little desire to complete, as my head has moved on.
- I think that promiscuity (sexual openness) of all partners in a story makes for bad erotic fiction. I’m not saying that everyone should be chaste. But, I think your story world is better when some people are involved in a monogamous relationship, some are between relationships and not just looking for sex, and some are looking for whoever and whatever. You can have your characters ‘give in’ or have your characters ‘refrain’, but the mindset of all of your characters shouldn’t be “I want to fuck everyone I meet.”
- Would it hurt to have characters in erotic stories be less than stunningly beautiful. I mean, I am attracted to people who aren’t drop dead gorgeous. And there are some that are my personal poison, that don’t necessarily appeal to everyone. I know that we all are describing fantasy people, so that their uber-attractiveness is probably going to make it into the description. But a little realism might be more fun.
- I heard this once on the radio. That basically the best ‘porno’ is where the girl says, “No… No… No… Yes…” The whole no means yes… It’s probably true.
- I like stories that are a ‘series’… where additional erotic encounters occur… However, when you do this, there is a ‘trap’ where you feel the need to escalate the sexual content in each episode. And eventually you run out of new territories to explore. Keep this in mind when continuing a story.
- I think each story should concentrate on a single erotic fetish at a time. Two, if they fit together… (like S&M and bondage), but still ONE should be the focus. You shouldn’t have a single story with food, toys, bondage, pain, exhibition, humiliation, water sports, incest, non consentual, and snuff. That’s like adding cinnamon, rosemary, celery salt, onion powder, sardines, and chocolate into a single recipe.
- Men in most stories are distilled to three stereotypes: Attentive lovers, Sexual Predators/Seducers, and Total Misogynists. We can expand this a little.
Okay, that’s my list… please feel free to add any additional ones, if you like.
Cheers,
Luna
February 24, 2009 at 12:48 am
great list…hopefully, writers will pay attention. can only lead to better stories.
March 29, 2009 at 9:54 pm
great advice…this should be hanging next to every erotica writer’s desk.
October 29, 2009 at 1:28 am
I’ve got another few for you:
Pay attention to tenses. They *can* make a difference in a story. Present tense tends to add more suspense to a story. This is probably because it indicates that it’s happening at the moment and any action taken may affect things greatly in the future. With past tense, it sounds more like a story from long ago being recounted, and seems to imply that “everything turned out ok.”
Pay attention to pronouns. They can also make a difference. I can identify several combinations of pronouns (the number of possible combinations explodes for more than two participants, however.) These are:
Third person – “Alice (or she) hugged Bethany (or her).”
First/Third person – “I hugged Bethany (or her).”
First/Second person – “I hugged you.”
Second/Third person – “You hugged Bethany (or her).”
Again, these can have a significant effect on the feel of the story. For instance, third person lets you focus on the story more, without too much interplay between writer and reader. First/Third often conjures images of an older version of the main character telling you the story.
Tense and pronouns can play against each other too. Try out a few combinations to get a feel for them.
And, for pete’s sake, never, *never* change your tense or pronouns mid-story. It only makes the reader more self-aware and less engaged in the story.
(Sorry, Luna. I’ve caught you in this one. Luna and Her Niece part 6 you switched persons from first to third in the middle. Great work otherwise, however. I hope you never stop writing.
)
October 29, 2009 at 8:52 am
I know that definately is a problem of mine. My issue is that I HATE editing erotic fiction. It takes something that is so ‘in the moment’, so ’stream of erotic consciousness’, and makes you analyse it.
I have no problem editing ’standard’ fiction. In fact I usually edit too much, and never move on.
Regardless, I should at least edit for switching persons in a story. It’s something I’ve caught on a few occassions. Hope you ready my reply.
Cheers!
October 29, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Yup. I saw your reply.
I know what you mean about editing erotic fiction.
I tend to edit my own work quite a bit. (I often try to edit my work when I’m “least horny,” so I can look at it from a slightly more objective view.)
I notice that my work definitely loses something in the editing, but in my own personal work, I think it usually gains more than it loses.
I often start a story with some particular theme in mind (like, for instance, absolute realism, or innocence/inexperience, or breaking sexual repression and guilt) and find myself wandering from it in the process of writing. I’ll usually edit it to get “back on track” before continuing.
Sometimes my edits are just to make sure I stay true to my characters.
And, of course, there’s general proofreading for grammatical errors and typos and such.
Though, I wouldn’t want to tell you whether to edit your work or not. Whatever you’re doing, it seems to work very well.
October 31, 2009 at 2:18 am
Good to hear from you again.
Though, I’m pretty certain I’m not who you think I am. I don’t have a blog. I’m just a reader, and a fan. I’m a male fan, if you’re wondering.
I’ve never released any of my stories, and I don’t think I’m ready to release any of my stories just yet. I have only one which could be considered “complete” (though it does beg for more installments.) I still have some work to do on it before I’ll consider it ready to be released. And even then, I’ll probably hold off for a while. (Perhaps I need to work up the courage.
) I do plan to release a lot of my own work some day, though.
That said, I don’t plan to release any information that could be tracked back to me. (After all, writing about minors having sex has gotten people thrown in jail, even with no evidence of sexual acts with a real minor. Even ignoring the possible criminal repercussions, such works are about as socially acceptable as the acts described therein.) I’ve even considered looking for ways to foil matching strategies involving statistical analysis of word frequency and such.
By the way, I’m also using software to protect my anonymity online so that even if anybody “listening in” has the IP address (a number which identifies my computer) I posted from, there’s no way they can track that back to me without a lot more resources than most major governments have. (Instead of me, they’ll track it back to somebody else also on the network I’m using. It works much like peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent.)
Anyway, back to the discussion at hand.
I must completely agree about the importance of the scenario, as long as the “scenario” also includes character history and possibly even dynamics of the characters’ prior relationship. It definitely pays off later in the story to have a well-rounded history and introduction to your characters. And, I think it’s easier to relate to characters with a more developed history.
I sometimes get writer’s block at lulls in the “good parts” and go back to edit or add to my set-up. It usually helps.
I do also have many more stories started than I’ve developed. In many of these, I’ve stopped where I’ve gotten the sense that I’ve rushed to quickly into the “good part” (even though my set-up could be a whole story on its own) but editing in connective set-up while maintaining consistency would be difficult.
But, I get back to them eventually and resolve the issues.
I think my main weakness as a writer of erotic fiction may be the transition between “set-up” and “good part.”
But, I am still a fledgling writer. I’m sure experience (and reading others’ works) will make this part easier.
October 30, 2009 at 9:12 am
You are being very sweet. I wish I had some of your stories, so I could be sweet back.
BTW, you should leave your name or something, I’m only assuming I know who you are due to the timing of your response to me. LOL. If you are who I think you are, I linked to your blog on my page.
I create the scenario first. For me the ’scenario’ is the whole fun. Two (or more) people put into a situation, and a sexual situation emerges. I mean, at the end of the day, sex is just sex. Don’t get me wrong, the sexual progression can be fun, you can add new wrinkles that characters haven’t tried before, but it’s the anticipation, the potential, the situation, and the seduction, that gets me going, and makes me want to write.
My problem, and it’s why this blog doesn’t have 20 more stories, as I have 10 half started stories in my drafts, is that I love long drawn out set-up… But that isn’t as satisfying as writing the ‘good stuff’.
I have a story about a girl who develops her first love as a young girl (tween years) with another girl her age. It’s one of those fish out of water, flocks to the only like person she finds, and develops camraderie feelings that turn into something more, and first exploration occurs.
Well, I have another chapter of the two of them just having fun at the beach (hanging out at a playground, going to the beach, walking on the boardwalk) to write before I can even think about writing anything sensual… (and even then these two might not be ready)…
And I don’t have a hugely strong impetus to write this. Tho it’s a very personal story, drawing in real emotions from me.
But if I just skip to the ‘good part’, I’ll never write the in-between stuff. Learned that one from experience.
Anyway, keep writing here, or email me at lunabi93@hotmail.com. I’m enjoying the conversation.