Learning to Write Erotica

Cafe Society
1

I can write okay enough stuff, from the back story angle. I seem to have characterization and plot down well enough, although I typically have the same problem within that frame work that I do when I blabber most of my posts… it’s never ending. :stuck_out_tongue: However, for these purposes, I’m learning to edit, re-edit and edit myself again before I call it good.

That said, I’m having trouble ‘getting’ how to do the intimate aspect. I haven’t read a lot of erotica (or plain old porn either), so I’m a bit behind and when I try to emulate what I do see, it comes across repetitive (agh! the same terms for body parts and acts used over and over again!!), trite and completely without merit. I know some would say it doesn’t matter, but I’d love a little help in this area from anyone with some expertise. I’ve already bought a book about the subject, but so far, it leaves me as cold as my own. So please help! :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh, and solely for informational purposes, I’m attempting to get up to par with some other friends who dabble in fan fiction. Therefore, it’s not exactly something many people are going to read, nor am I aiming for publication / monetary gain or anything. Just a desire to be properly smutty with my entertainer of choice. Heh. :wink:

Thanks for your assistance!

2

Well, the three standards rules of writing are:

  1. Don’t “tell” - SHOW

Try and avoid raw mechanical descriptions; instead of telling “what went where” always describe the characters feelings and reactions to their activities. Your character’s personalities, situations and intent should all not onlly lead up to the “event” but should meld with their intentions and activities.

Bad: She grabbed his pulsing man root in her hand

Good: He sighed with pleasure as her soft palm squeezed him

Better: The feel of her hand slowly encricling the fleshy proof of his passion made him hungry for her; for all of her.

Best: “Whack-a-doodie!” thought Dave, “This is the best $50 I ever spent!”, as she snatched his giant sausage in her pudgy grubby paws!" (Huge grin - sorry I couldn’t resist!)

  1. WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW

In writing Erotic fiction, this can be especially challenging, as describing the feelings of the opposite gender can be a real challenge. Sinc e you are working with friends, hopefully there will be mixed genders to critique and comment on the “alien” viewpoint. Please excuse my assumption(s) that your characters are of the opposite gender, if this is not the case.

Additionally, if you are having your characters engage in sexual activities which you may be unfamiliar with, do your research. Nothing makes erotica ring “false” or amaturish as an inaccurate description of the activities involved. One thing that separates erotica from pornography, in my humble opinion, is that there is little description of the after effects of the character’s “union” in pornography. Your characters did what they did for a reason. How did they feel/react afterwards?

  1. WRITE, EDIT, REWRITE, EDIT (Repeat)

Once in a long while, the “muse” will grab your pen (if you are lucky indeed) and words will spill from it in a torrent of scintilation brilliance. Most of the time, however, good prose is a result of sweat, labour and love. This means reworking and tweaking and reworking your writing until you have beaten it into shape.

Then put it away for a while. Leave it alone for a few days, weeks and even longer, so that it can be “forgotten”. When you reread it, the great parts will stand out, but so will the weak points. Get in there with your blue pencil and edit mercelessly.

Additionally, try reading your work aloud. What looks good on paper will often sound stilted or forced if read aloud. This is especially true in actual dialogue.
If you find that your dialogue doesn’t sound like something your character would say naturally, then rework it so it seems true.
4) KILLER ROBOTS WITH FRIKKEN LASERS
I just thought of this, and it seems to me that more erotic fiction could be signifigantly improved with the addition of KRWFL!.. Imagine the “EROTIC AWAKENING OF O” with the addition of killer robots. Am I right or am I right?

Best of luck, and keep us posted!

Regards
FML

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I’m not much of a writer, but I’m a hell of an editor! nudge, nudge, wink, wink

4

I’ve had my smut published in print, but it would not have been without the assistance of The Erotica Readers and Writers Association and its mailing list. What you do is submit a story, flasher, part of a serial, etc. weekly by email and receive other members’ works the same way. Critique and be critiqued! The website is stuffed with helpful articles and links, too. The Fishtank is similar and awesome.

Don’t try and write about what you don’t like, but write about what you do.

I think it’s kind of amateurish to write in the second person (I think it’s second person): You take the buttons of my blouse and undo them one by one, making me wait for the touch of your hand on my skin… That form just bugs me. :slight_smile:

Backstory, character and plot–if you’ve got that, you’ve got a great start. So much erotica is just a scene or series of scenes of sex, where there’s no connection with either the characters or why they are having sex. I’ve read some stuff at ERWA that has made me weep–sure, it’s great to be aroused, but to touch the heart along with the other bits is a gift.

Have fun! This is one of the funnest genres to write in! It’s smut! It’s great! If you have to take a break from the keyboard once in a while (wink) you may be on the right track. Please yourself first, then let your story go out for feedback.

I’m a bit behind and when I try to emulate what I do see, it comes across repetitive (agh! the same terms for body parts and acts used over and over again!!), trite and completely without merit. I know some would say it doesn’t matter, but I’d love a little help in this area from anyone with some expertise.

It’s hard to avoid repetition, so I seriously have a Word document with nothing but sexy synonyms–you don’t want to have the word “cock” appearing seven times in one paragraph. Coming up with synonyms or rephrasing is a great exercise for a writer, not just an erotic fiction writer.

Get some smut to read–I like pretty much any anthology edited by Alison Tyler. The Best Women’s Erotica series have also turned my crank. What do you like in other people’s writing? Explore.

I have the browser opened to an online thesaurus quite often as well. And maybe another tab or two for other “inspiration”–there’s no lack of that on the web.

Again… have fun!

5

We’ve got a Doper here who is a writer. I’m not affiliated with her, so please don’t think I’m pimping her book. She was online one night and I chatted with her, so I bought the book.

It’s called “Chasing Silver” and it is on Amazon. Great read. Easy flowing story, good dialogue, and steamy erotica. Her husband is one lucky man with that crazy mind of hers. :slight_smile:

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Moved from IMHO to CS.

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I write and publish a lot of erotica and steamy romance…and Chasing Silver is one of them (thanks jtgain! I’m glad you enjoyed it reading it) :). Writing erotica is not an easy thing to do, but it’s not terribly difficult either.

First, do the characters want to have sex? Do they have chemistry? Are they attracted to each other? I know, as an author you should just be able to tell characters they have chemistry, but it doesn’t necessarily work that way. At least, not when i write. And if they do have chemistry and attraction, you can’t just tell that. You have to show it.

Second, everybody knows the mechanics of sex. In fact, that’s why watching porn can be pretty boring. Thrust, thrust, thrust, oh my god, light a smoke. that’s boring. People don’t want to read that. Instead of focusing on the mechanics, focus on the senses. How do you feel when you have really good sex? What do you smell? What does it taste like? What are the little intimate details that really make sex mindblowing? A drop of sweat on the shoulder? A kiss on your ribs? How do your hands feel when somebody is touching you intimately? Do your toes curl? What’s on your mind? Make sure to engage all 5 senses.

Third, do something unexpected. It can be anything. I have such a thing for men who are still mostly dressed when having sex that I like to look for excuses for my heroes to be wearing ties, unbuttoned shirts, and pants at their knees. But you should always try for something that makes the reader surprised and intrigued.

Fourth, remember certain acts require lube.

Fifth, it is hard to use the appropriate words. I mean, seriously, how many times can you say “cock” or “nipples” or “clit” before it all just gets too silly? But using “manhood” and “nubbin” is pretty ridiculous and will probably give people the giggles. As will “purple headed love mushroom” and “love channel” and “center of womanhood” and “perfect little pearl” etc etc, you get the idea. there’s really nothing to be done for this except to minimize the need to use such words and to have a handful of terms you feel comfortable using. Trust me, being a bit repetitive is better than being really silly.

Sixth, read erotica and watch porn. I don’t understand people who want to write it but get all wigged out at the thought of reading it or watching it (though i seem to get the “eww no” response every time I make this suggestion to new writers). You want to know how it’s all going to look? If it’s possible to put an arm here and a leg there? If a certain position can be held for longer than 10 seconds? then you got to do the research, one way or the other, and I find it’s much easier to learn if you’re watching. You can be more analytic.

Ultimately though, it comes down to the characters. I never write “porn without plot.” I want my characters to have a damned good reason to ahve sex and I want the readers to fully support the smut. I also want it to advance the plot or characterization. So ask yourself what you hope to accomplish when you sit down to write a scene. Pure titillation? or should the characters be in a different place emotionally? should it advance the plot? Are there any ulterior motives? Is there any reason these people shouldn’t have sex but they can’t help themselves? Etc etc.

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See what I mean about her lucky husband? :slight_smile:

So, pepper, when is the next book in the Silver series coming out?

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Great smut is about two (or more) people in a place they shouldn’t be doing things they shouldn’t do.

Husband and wife in their bedroom enjoying the missionary position? BO-ring. Wife and three dusky tradesmen in the church basement, hidden video camera recording the whole sordid affair? Hot hot hot!

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Go to IMHO (or maybe MPSIMS) and ask people for all the terms they can come up with collectively for body parts and acts.

For extra fun, have them leave out (or at least spoiler) the common names for what they list.

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I’d recommend Susie Bright’s How to Write a Dirty Story. It was a pretty interesting read for me, and it might help you as well. Good luck, you naughty person!

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Perhaps.

ETA: Here’s a nice picture (I assume safe for work, it having appeared in the New York Times Book Review).

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The recommendations for erotic books are fine, but most of the best erotica exists only on-line. Print publishers are pretty snooty about what they publish, and don’t publish much erotica at all. Some excellent SF writers write erotica for free because “there’s no market for erotica” (at least there’s little for contemporary, heterosexual erotica). So start reading free, on-line erotic story sites.

http :// storiesonline.net / (remove spaces to visit) is a great archive of some of the best (and worst) writing. “Sturgeon’s Law” applies, but the rating system is pretty trustworthy. If you want to do a lot of searching, or read more than 10 stories a day, you’ll need to subscribe. The “All Time Best” stories are usually excellent.

http :// www.asstr.org /main.html is the alt.sex.stories archive. More dross than Stories Online, but completely free.

Search for posts by celeste801@aol.com. She’s no longer posting, but Celeste was a high school English teacher who reviewed erotic stories. She introduced a tri-part review system - Athena (technical quality), Venus (plot & character) and Celeste (appeal to reviewer). Anything rated with straight 10s is going to be comparable to or better than anything available on a store shelf.

With each review collection, Celeste would include grammar lessons, with erotic examples knows as “Celestial Grammar”.

I wish I could buy some of these authors in print:

Vulgar Argot
Friar Dave
Nick Scipio
Frank Downey
Al Steiner

Please, don’t even attempt to write erotica until you’ve read a lot of it. And have a good knowledge of anatomy - to make sure what you’re describing is physically possible. One pet peeve is writers who describe a penis forcing it’s way in through a woman’s cervix (yeah, a D&C is real pleasurable). Don’t get specific if you dozed during Health class.

Good luck!

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The first and most important step in writing erotica is to study the dictionary definition of the word ‘loins’:

Resist the temptation to use it in any other sense.

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Unfortunately, I don’t know. Publishing is a fickle business…and shit happens.

This really isn’t true. Sure it is if you want to focus on NY pubs, but if there wasn’t a market for erotica (of all flavors) I wouldn’t be making a living at it. Well, ok, technically I’m writing erotic romance, but romance is getting steamier and steamier, to the point that sometimes the romance just exists to serve the erotic aspects. Check out some e-publishers, which at least has the additional benefit of having an editing process (though it’s not always perfect. It’s better than no editing at all). Places like Samhain Publishing, Amber Quill Press, Liquid Silver Books, Loose ID, Total E-Bound…
Also, if you’re already dabbling in fanfic, there’s probably a ton of great stories (and really bad stories). But I started writing with fanfic, and some of my favorite stories of all time are fanfic (with great authors who had no desire/need to “go pro”).

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There’s great erotic writing online–and absolutely terrible stuff, too. But maybe you haven’t been to a good bookstore in my town. There’s ample, good, erotica available in print in physical stores, along with at Amazon and other sites.

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Aw, hell. I’ve got to know about what the coins do and what happens with Remy and Nathan. I’ll suck a donkey dick for a copy of the next book or at least give equivalent money value for donkey dick services…:wink:

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Most of the best on-line erotica authors have extensive editorial assistance. Each chapter of Nick Scipio’s “Summer Camp” series goes through several editors and proofreaders. This is from his FAQ:

In general, the technical quality of Nick’s work equals or exceeds any printed erotica I’ve read in the past 20 years.

Other on-line writers are genre writers (SF, romance, westerns, etc) but can’t find a market for their erotica. Al Steiner’s “Aftermath” is a post-apocalyptic SF story, his “Doing It All Over” a time-travel story, “Intemperance” about the rise and fall of a rock band.

I might be able to find equally good stories on the 20 feet of shelf space my local Barnes and Noble devotes to erotica, or waste hundreds of dollars blindly buying books on Amazon trying to find something I like. But compared to reading excellent work like Vulgar Argot’s “Such Things Are Never Done” for free, my only payment an e-mail to the writer?

The OP was looking to learn how to write erotica, not “how to write the type of erotica that can get printed and on bookshelves”. Reading the best on-line erotica is more likely to prove useful, especially as the intention is to write Fan-Fic - which can’t legally be sold as it violates copyright.

Pepperlandgirl, I’m happy that you’re published, though I can’t say that I’m your target audience.

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Sorry I’m late just now getting back to my thread. Since we’ve been in the process of unpacking from our move, things keep happening to our electronic equipment. Yesterday was the day for the computer. :frowning: And now that it appears to be unfrozen, I’ll be catching up and then posting a response to everyone.

So for right now, thanks to all that have replied. I’m really looking forward to reading your suggestions!

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No offense to pepperlandgirl, but the cliché about women reading erotica and men reading porn has a lot of truth to it. I know there are exceptions, but most erotic romance is consumed by women. Porn for men is a different genre, and one that has mostly died in print form.

There are a couple of publishers of bookstore porn, like Nexus, an imprint of Virgin Books, but they have no romance and no characterization. Instead they are heavily into BDSM and female flagellation, which I have to assume is not a major subject in romance erotica. Virgin does also publish the Black Lace imprint, by women for women. They’re not very similar. You can write for one audience or the other in a particular book, but they don’t overlap at all.

There’s a line by some comedian about Internet porn that goes roughly like, I never thought I would find watching two people fucking boring. Video porn has devolved into dozens of specialties that go beyond straight sex.

Same for men’s print porn. Literotica . com probably has the largest repository of short stories. More specialized sites like bdsmlibrary . com have as many subcategories just for BDSM.

The rankings on Literotica may provide some hints for the type of fiction the OP wants to write.