How I Could Enjoy Literotica

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diggypop
diggypop
34 Followers

Now an invisible observer who sees everything is a useful tool in the writer's arsenal. You don't even have to credit him as a character. But if you're trying to get people to identify with your characters, you don't want your readers knowing too much more than them. It distances the characters, and can confer upon the reader the equivalent of an unfair advantage. There's a reason readers can only guess the outcome of a mystery until the end.

So every event you describe needs to be from a particular perspective. Sometimes the third-person omniscient is the best choice, but it should be a choice, not a default you aren't even conscious of. The same rule goes for narration.

Again, the third person has serious advantages. It sounds authoritative, it allows for presenting a scene from multiple perspectives without losing narrative flow, and it allows the writer to forge their own narrative voice rather than be limited to any given character's.

But if you're trying to get your audience to identify with one character in particular, letting that character's voice be the narrative one can immerse the reader thoroughly, almost frighteningly, in someone else's head. If you want to reduce the distance even further, stream of consciousness is often devastatingly effective, but it can also be exhausting for the reader.

Just remember, nobody knows everything. So if you write as one of your characters, don't just write what you know. Write only what they know. Raymond Chandler wouldn't even let his character Philip Marlowe say he was sad or happy. His pulse would race, he'd get a burning at the pit of his stomach, or his eyes would tear up. The reader then had to take it from there.

Note: With a sex fantasy, it's almost gospel that you write it from the first person perspective. This partly stems from its traditional form as a letter, often to a pornographic magazine. All I can suggest is that even if you feel like using a third-person observer, try writing it from a first-person perspective. It's also a fun exercise to write something you wrote in first-person in the third person. Remember, play doesn't have to mean putting no effort into polishing your writing. Learn to love the act of writing, and not just the outcome, and both will inevitably improve.

4. Every paragraph has at least one job. Every sentence has at least two.

Robert Anton Wilson used to say that every sentence should carry something of the tone of the entire work, and something to make it interesting. He wasn't unnecessarily strict about it; it was always more a goal than a strict criterion. But every paragraph that goes by without even one sentence that rewards the reader for paying attention is like a sign saying, "Just skim me; I'm not that interesting."

The paragraph's job is convey something that the work as a whole needs. Sometimes it's pure description; sometimes it's an action that's performed; sometimes it's what a character says or thinks. Now, because of Literotica's rules about paragraphs, you may find yourself having to split one up to make sure you aren't overwhelming your reader with text. It's OK. As long as you keep the second part of this suggestion in mind. Give each sentence at least two jobs.

Ideally, you could make every sentence a piece of polished literary silver. But that's not necessary. The two jobs your sentences must carry out are: convey SOME information to the reader that builds up the paragraph as a whole; and provide a bridge from the sentence before it to the sentence after it. Obviously this is amended for sentences that begin or end chapters, or sit next to one of those breaks we signify with little stars. (Not to mention single sentence paragraphs. Either it should be a long sentence, or you should be trying for serious emphasis.) But it never hurts to pay attention to what comes before or follows regardless.

Remember, if you come across a sentence or a paragraph that doesn't seem to serve any purpose, it's almost always better to eliminate it and sew up the cracks around it as best you can. But you're going to find exceptions. Once again, this is about making choices, not being perfect.

Note: This is mainly true if you're writing a 'real' story. A sex fantasy is best when the prose doesn't overpower the sexual description. The last thing you want is for your reader to say to themselves, "Ah, yes, I'm reading a story." Whereas that's fine with almost any other kind of story. Just remember when the sex or the violence happens, you want the reader to focus on the action.

5. You don't have to draw the universe if you draw the reader in.

Middle-Earth, Shannarah, Belgariad-land, these are all places where magic works and the landscape differs from our own. Both sci-fi and fantasy authors often take a certain pride in coming up with a wealth of detail for their made-up worlds, much of which won't ever be used in a story, just for the pure pleasure of creation.

But I don't need to know, for instance, the name of the 20th king of Narnia to be transported there. All I need to do is read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and follow Lucy, Edmund, and the rest along as they explore it. And the secret to creating such experiences is this.

No one notices every detail of every single experience they've had. They notice just enough for their brain to organize the data into a larger picture, and then, if their nervous system gets really excited, they get flooded with an overwhelming amount of detail. But our brains don't like to stay excited for too long, so eventually they adjust.

And that's generally all you need to draw someone into a written narrative. While you should avoid the abstract (go for "elegant cheekbones and full lips" over "a really pretty face") remember that your details are best when they support the story, not bog it down. So let your character notice a line of ants crawling on the sidewalk. Don't feel you need to mention every crack in the sidewalk, unless there's some reason a character would notice it, or someone trips on it, or it needs to be repaired.

This is a good reason to follow one character's perspective for a while. It gives you the balance between noticing too much or noticing nothing at all. If every detail builds up the world someone inhabits by fitting in their subjective experience, then empathy towards your character can be a remarkably apt guide for what to include, and what not to bother with.

Note: Sex fantasies are, by their nature, more insular than regular stories. You want to create in the reader the sympathetic sense of arousal, not create a world so vivid he regrets not having time to smell the roses.

It has been noted, however, that women are far more likely to respond to environmental cues when it comes to being aroused. I have heard the claim that Dangerous Liaisons, or A Room with a View is far more arousing to many women than a story about cunnilingus would be. So if the center of arousal in your fantasy is a woman, what might be going overboard on the details from a male perspective may be just what is needed to bring her to a soul-shattering climax.

Again, you have to know what you're writing. Are you writing a sex fantasy from the perspective of a believable woman, or the kind of woman you want to believe exists? Either one is fine, but don't kid yourself. P.S. 99% of sex fantasies published in porn magazines feature the latter.

6. Don't be afraid to learn from what others have done. Good writers borrow; great writers steal.

If you want to write a romance, read romantic fiction. How does the writer create the effect that makes you enjoy it? The same goes for mysteries, sci-fi/fantasy, cold war thrillers, and coming-of-age stories. Part of writing is taking the pleasure that others have given you over the years and appropriating it for yourself.

One advantage to a site like this, of course, is that because sex writing carries some of the same stigma as porn (even though the best practitioners are every bit as serious about their work as any other writer), it feels like there's less pressure. Free means there are no immediate mercenary motives, and certainly nobody is submitting stories here thinking they'll get a Pulitzer, so even if someone subjects your story to a hurtful, vitriolic attack, well, how important can their opinion be?

Thus one has the freedom to write any kind of story one likes, and the adding of one or several explicit sex scenes can feel like a buffer. It especially can encourage one to adopt a lighter, tongue-in-cheek style; it reinforces the MST3K mantra, "It's just a show; so just relax." And the last thing I want to do is inhibit anyone's sense of fun.

So my advice is, take as much as you can from whatever genre you're doing a sexy version of. Learn to be a gifted mimic. This is especially true of the kinds of stories you see in the Celebrities and (to a lesser extent) in the Humor and Satire section. If you want to do your own episode of Sabrina, or Buffy, or CSI Miami, then try to bring those shows to life. Incorporate their humor, the tics of their characters, even the plots, or your own versions of same.

There's a distinct structure to the large majority of plots in either written or broadcast fiction, and there are reasons behind that structure. Maybe nobody will be hiring you to write the next episode of House, but that doesn't mean your version of it can't incorporate everything you love about it, and sexy scenes besides. You learned to talk by imitating those around you. It's also a pretty good way to learn how to write. Your own voice will develop naturally, in time.

Note: And this especially goes for the erotic stories you find in old issues of Hustler, Penthouse, and even their lamer cousins like High Society or Genesis. Yes I mentioned this before. Yes, it's worth reiterating. If you were ever a teenager, and someone slipped you a copy of a 'skin rag,' and it felt like a whole world opened up, these were a crucial part of that feeling. It's part of our cultural heritage.

7. Chapters are your friends. Use them.

Of all authors, I was a little surprised to read that Terry Pratchett, one of the most superb authors of satirical fantasy around, is disdainful of chapter divisions. I could see his point, which is that they break up the action artificially, telling the reader "This is significant. These words in this particular sentence, they are all the more significant because the page ends here, even though there's lots of blank space left." (I'm paraphrasing wildly.)

But even though he has a point (after all one can't dictate the response of one's readers, and attempting to do so often results in a rather didactic feel), there are moments when it's a far from unwelcome gesture for the author to say, "At this point, maybe we can take a little break."

Such famously difficult authors as Faulkner and Joyce still found it appropriate to use chapters, or at least sectioned their longer works in rather a formal fashion, and it hardly makes them less readable. (But they still are tough going for lots of readers. I find them worthwhile, but unless the reader is prepared to put forth a great deal of effort, they may not be rewarding.)

Even if the characters or situations in a given Literotica story are interesting enough to pull me into chapter after chapter, that doesn't mean I want to spend an hour at a time reading one. Any activity is better when you allow yourself a break, and sexy stories are no exception.

Want a rule of thumb? OK. Consider about once every chapter putting in one strongly detailed, explicit sex scene. That means if you're writing about a long weekend, maybe that scorching 69 scene deserves its own chapter, and maybe that scene with the anal sex in the hot tub is worthy of its own chapter, etc.

If something other than the sex is driving the story, than this still is about the right ratio. As your intrepid archeologists jet-set around the globe searching for the Holy Grail, it makes more sense to have one sex scene in Paris, and one in Morocco, than to have one in the hotel room, and one in the lobby, and one in the ride to the dig site, and one at the dig site, and one in the library, and then three more in the hotel room...

However, if there are multiple characters in your story, there will still be times when multiple sex scenes make the most narrative sense, and breaking them up into formal chapters will seem like an artificial division. That's OK. But it's all the more imperative in such a situation that you've created, lively, interesting characters so that readers actually want to see them shagging their brains out. Remember, sex should enhance your readers' interest in the characters, not be a substitute for believable, fleshed-out personalities.

Note: I have observed that it is quite common for sex fantasies to present one sex scene after another, and while this also runs the risk of exhausting the reader, I can understand the impetus. Sex fantasies and porn movies are often very similar, with the exception that a far greater number of written fantasies (the professionally written kind, at any rate) are, if fluff, at least polished fluff. Even porn films with budgets tend to put all the money into set design, or costume.

With the exception of some of Will Ryder's efforts (Specifically Not the Bradys) there is virtually no effort put into script or believable performances. Which does not hamper in any way their audience appeal, apparently.

However, this creates an expectation that an erotic movie is one with a plot of varying complexity, lots of hammy performances, and a string of sex scenes, usually at rigidly timed intervals. This also goes for the soft-core variety, ubiquitous on pay-cable channels. And it works fine, given the basic assumption: No one is expected to watch one of these movies all the way through.

You see the sex scene, it turns you on, or doesn't, and if it turns you on enough, you masturbate and call it a night. If it's a cable soft-core, well, maybe you'll check it out again, perhaps On Demand, to see how the silly plot turned out. If it's real porn, you stop it and come back to it. This is especially suited for DVDs, which let you go directly to any scene your sick little heart desires.

The written version, however, if it's doing its job, is almost certain to sap the reader's vitality before he or she comes to the end, provided it has five or more sex scenes, or even one that takes up a whole page. Is there a solution? I myself have written at least one such story (the aforementioned Wonka), so I know it's possible to sustain a narrative through multiple sex scenes, particularly if one is doing a parody or pastiche. Of course, the reader can always copy and paste, perusing it at their leisure later, but that gets unwieldy after a couple of pages.

Once again, there's no shame in using chapters to break up the monotony. If you're worried about sustaining the pace, relax. Variation in pacing is, in 99% of all cases, more effective than simply putting the pedal to the floor and never stopping.

8. Try writing your first draft.

And by writing I actually mean putting a pen to a piece of notebook paper and physically writing it out. Now, after trying this once, you may decide it feels silly and unnatural and you never want to do it again. And that's fine. If you are a trained typist, regular writing may even seem painfully slow.

But there are some advantages to it that can't be beat, even if you have a laptop. There is almost nowhere you can't go with a notebook, nowhere you can't pull it out and start writing, and when you have thirty minutes with nothing to do, like waiting for a bus or for business to pick up at the bar or club you got there way too early for, well now you have something.

And what you write on paper is so obviously yours. Sure, you may have the worst handwriting in the world, but the only person who needs to be able to read it is you. And notebook pages fill up so quickly, especially if you're on a roll. Suddenly you're incredibly prolific, and instead of forcing yourself to finish a page, you've written five and you aren't sure you CAN stop.

But the main advantage, I've discovered, is that now you have to transcribe all that onto your computer, and all of a sudden, you'll discover you've cut the number of typos, shifting tenses and unintentional sentence fragments down dramatically. Making corrections just seems less onerous when you have to rewrite anyway.

9. Don't let your tenses slip. Shift them consciously, or keep them rigidly.

It's hard sometimes to stick to one tense. After all, so much of the storytelling we grew up reading is in the past tense, it just seems natural to write that way. But then, as the story or scene plays itself out in your head, you can get caught up in the immediacy of it and start writing in the present tense. And it can be jarring to the reader. And it seems sloppy.

Here's the deal. Because our minds formulate reality out of our past experience, it IS natural to write narrative in the past tense. It makes it feel more solid and settled. This happened; you can't unhappen it.

The present tense, however, feels almost detached to some people. Things that happen in the present aren't fixed; they're still in flux. If we see something surprising, it often takes a couple of seconds to be sure we weren't just seeing things. Ever had a friend that half the time would take back what he said with a "Just kidding?" What a dick, huh? Forcing the reader to think in the present tense can feel like that sometimes.

But it has an immediacy to it that can't be denied. And if you're trying to arouse in the reader a similar experience to what the character is feeling, it can be a very powerful tool. Just always remember to pick up your tools when you're done with them.

Note: As the first-person is to the sex fantasy, so the past tense. If you do choose to experiment with present tense in this genre, be prepared for a more arch, formal tone than you'd normally expect with this genre.

10. Poetry is about struggling for the right words. Prose is about choices.

There are so many elements of our lives that can't be summed up in words. Sex is one of the biggies. Feelings and emotions are more basic than language ever could be. And yet we can never know if another's feelings matches our own. Words can't solve that dilemma.

And yet a clinical, sexually explicit description of sex will never capture the way it feels any better than emotionally charged words like 'love,' 'desire,' 'lust' or 'vulnerability.' All words can do in the service of story, really, is draw us into a state where we try to feel an imaginary person's reality for a while. We may, along the way, explore any number of facets of humanity, but ultimately we never get completely out of our own heads.

With that said, what our prose needs is not certainty, but confidence. We can never know fully what effect our writing will have on the other side of the screen. But we can make decisions, and we can be conscious of our reasons for making them, and that, at least, can carry through our work.

So be of good cheer! You will be misunderstood, accused of espousing ideas you never heard of, and people will laugh at the serious parts and not get the funny ones. But you were there when inspiration hit. You were there when you wrote your fifth draft. You were there when you put the finishing touches on it and said, "I'm ready for this to be read." And I'll be keeping my eye out for you.

diggypop
diggypop
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sp9rkssp9rksalmost 7 years ago
Seven years on? Still applies 100%

The fact I search for this article is indicator how unsatisfied I feel about a large portion of stores on Literotica.

I too am from a similar (I doubt very much if identical) childhood, and notice you write "to be fair" numerous times. I feel that statement applies particularly to our upbringing, because without it we probably wouldn't recognise quality naughtiness from the ho-hum variety.

But that isn't why I'm commenting. Yours is the only article I've bothered to read on here about improving the readability of submissions. So, perhaps there are others just as tool-boxy. :) It is now a word so stuff it.

I'm a frustrated reader. Because most of the stories, from a sexually frustrated readers' point of view, are absolute shit. Seriously.

I don't blame the writers! For anyone to bother attempting to write, probably for the first time too, is a minor miracle.

No pay, no public recognition unless you can "take ownership" of public sexuality and its inevitable judgemental baggage. And then someone like me comes along (less constructive than you, it seems) and bags the shite out of their efforts.

Well, I'm not. No bagging.

But I just hope folks who write might consider the points you mentioned.

And this.

What is the point of reading, with expectation of a build up to a juicy, naughty expose and first hand experience of whatever xyz delightful romp in question, if before you've even finished one paragraph everyone has their clothes off, dicks or twats or barbie/ken non genitalia saying hello, and are even (for crying out LOUD) performing whatever nasty act already, I repeat, what is the point of all this with such a lack of build up?

It's like writing a whodunnit commencing the story with "by the way, Watson did the crime, but let's see how Sherlock got to the amazing conclusion".

Also, story titles that give away the whole show, magic tricks exposed and the whole works done and dusted. Why bother?

A large chunk of why I read erotic material is the FORBIDDEN part of the experience. What don't writers understand about NO! THAT IS NOT ALLOWED! so let's sneakily have Mr and Ms Smith choose to do something almost forbidden, then a little more wrong like the forbidden act, then deliberately choose to do more of the near enough thingy, then hey, no, you're not allowed, noway, get back, stop! what the? then actually DO the nitty gritty norty forty mad as a cut snake base filthy shameful act that feels so good!

If people could just tap into the feelings they seek to inject, that they are trying to ejaculate into their hot, wet story (I'm sure you understand this is "so to speak") and concentrate on showing, not telling, that aspect of it all, instead of writing a news article.

I know the anguish first hand of how to not only keep your story setting, mannerisms and location anonymous (yes that's important to me for my partner and children's sake) but to get past your own guilt and shame of writing down such things we were taught as children not to utter. Perhaps I'm in the minority here with these problems but I'm just saying, I do understand the struggle.

However, if writers can just see past this dilemma (that word again) enough to realise we are not inventing a guilt atom bomb. Sex IS a thing, and better to release frustration without personal or public fallout than to become all bitter, twisted and purple about it. Surely?

There are other issues I find disappointing about stories on here, but as usual my memory has reached its 2 minute limit and like Maggi brand noodles, you are better to eat what you have now and value / enjoy that rather than wait until they are cold or your teenage children steal them all.

Thanks Diggypop for your article and the amazing insight. There really are unique aspects about writing erotica and it was enjoyable seeing things some of my disorganised thoughts placed in an excellently worded article. You have nailed the skill of making every sentence of meaty value.

ParisWatermanParisWatermanover 11 years ago
A very useful essay

concise and well written. Something sorely lacking at Literotica.

Thank you for taking the time to do it.

ScarlettSlaveScarlettSlaveover 13 years ago
Good Advice

I love anything that helps make a good story better and better yet, that which makes a good story great. Writers can't fail to take away something useful from your essay. Many thanks!

SwiverGuySwiverGuyover 13 years ago
Good work

I liked your essay a lot. It has some excellent advice I haven't encountered before, specifically in relation to writing erotica/porn.

I was so struck by your Raymond Chandler line about not using Happy or Sad to describe his character Marlowe's feelings that I'm going put it on my MacBook's desktop to remind me (along with my Hemingway quote: 'The first draft of anything is shit'). That way, I'll be reminded every day!

Mongo837Mongo837over 13 years ago
Thats true

But I one must also look at the overwhelming content and general character of the story to decide what place to put it . Like you said this site is a bit too ambiguous about its definitions and badly needs to be re defined as there are too many cross overs that dont make sense . The target audience is a very good way to tell . I mentioned most IR writers are writing for that particular type of reader in mind and know its not a LW story , most have too many angry dom/wimp/mindless slut elements that clearly are not designed for that reader in mind . Swingers , swappers and wimp writers are by far the worst offenders on this site for miss-categorizing their stories , its almost like they feel the need to inflict and impose their fetishes on other readers . Group sex , fetish , erotic couplings are where most LW readers think that belongs . They generally dont like those stories in their category . It seems to be a continuing problem on this site as for what ever reason those people are not given their own area to post . Thanks for posting your ideas

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