How to Write a Sex Story

After contributing to Literotica for a while, I decided to share some advice to those of you who want to write erotica. You can take my tips for what they are worth. I am a published author (not erotica) and to lend a little credibility, here are just a few comments I've received on my stories:

"O M G! This is the hottest story I have read here on LIT. I wanted so much to be any one of these characters. I was not even masturbating but came twice while reading this story."

"Very descriptive, plausible and believable events several times."

"You have a great imagination and your stories sound almost real at times. I like how you describe character anatomy and include trimmed and bush pussies."

"We loved reading this story, gave a picture of how their love started, the sex side of your story was horny too. 5 ***** from us."

If you're are more into telling long-form stories with a ton of character and plot development, this isn't probably the post for you.

If you're still interested, here are some of my erotica storytelling techniques to help you craft even better sex stories.

Write What Turns You On

As I mull over plots, characters, and scenes, I go with my gut, or my crotch in this case. If a story idea arouses me, it's a good bet it'll do the same for others. And isn't that what erotica is about? Often times I'll think about a scene's direction, and then try on different dialogue or directions to see which is the most arousing.

Good Storytelling is Good Storytelling

No matter the genre, using proven techniques works. Every story has certain common elements. You need a character you can believe in, placed in a situation where there is something they want, and a barrier to achieving it. The plot needs to build, have good pacing, and end in a climax (literally!). I'll get into that in detail further down. The barrier might be the taboo nature of the sex they are wanting, or how to get convince someone to have sex with you. It might be your own reluctance to do something. Getting over those barriers is what makes the story exciting.

Start With a Good Hook

"A sexually frustrated daughter masturbates in her mother's sexy underwear and ends up in a fabulous incestuous relationship". "A sister accidentally touches her brother's cock and wants to fuck him". Yes, I write mostly incest/taboo because that's what turns me on. But in these hooks you have character, barriers, and fulfillment. Your title and short description can form the basis for that hook.

Limit Your Characters and Scenes

It can be hard for the reader to keep track of a lot of people. You could have as many as four main characters, but I'd limit that to two or three if you can. Others can exist in the story, but they act as minor characters.

Write in Single, First Person Point of View

I always write as if I'm in the head of my main character. For me, it's usually the female protagonist. I think this POV is the most effective, because it gives the story the feeling like it's a confession, or diary, or the telling of a personal story. You also get to more easily tell their feelings, both mental and physical. Third person POV seems too distant from the characters, and also tempts us to "head hop", which means we go into the heads of multiple characters in a short space. It confuses the reader, in my mind. Keep it simple!

The Thrill of Anticipation

One of the things that makes a strong story is the emotional investment the main character has in the outcome. Anticipating that outcome leads to a thrill that propels the story forward. In a story I wrote about Ellie, a tennis coach, and one of her players, was the anticipation of the thrill of sleeping with Kayla. Could she entice her, should she sleep with a student? Ellie thinking about Kayla gets her aroused. That arousal builds until it can be expressed physically, which results in a thrill and physical and mental satisfaction.

Don't Rush into the Sex

I read too many stories where one of the main characters already wants to have sex, and acts very forward too early. One story had a mother just out and out touching her son's cock in scene 1. Your characters need time to build anticipation.

I suggest that building a sexual relationship in a story follows normal plot guidelines. The protagonist faces a series of barriers to what they want (sex). The overcoming of those barriers, and the resultant sexual satisfaction, is what makes the story sing.

The Sex Itself

I think it's more realistic to approach the sex itself just like you'd do in real life. I doubt that many people just jump into bed and start fucking. You want the scene, and the sex, to build. Start with a touch, a gentle kiss, then tongues, caressing, touching nipples, pressing against the person, grazing their cock or pussy, kissing and licking, all before penetration. I like my characters to get more and more aroused, and get wetter and harder as the sex act progresses.

Pacing

That leads me to pacing. As I said, do you just jump in bed with your partner? I hope not. Pace the story, have some narrative, some feelings, some description, and some dialogue. But not too much! I've read lots of stories that have WAY too much introduction. It's like spending so much time setting the table that no one wants to eat the meal when it finally comes.

Just how much stuff other than sex is something you need to figure out for yourself. But I would advise you to avoid telling or showing anything that is not somehow related to the sexual relationship. Don't go all James Michener, and have paragraphs of character history before ever getting to the real plot. You have to keep your reader hooked!

Sex Talk

I love it when characters talk about what they want, what they are looking forward to, and react to what their partner(s) are doing to them mentally and physically. "I can't believe you're actually touching my nipple!" or "Oh, please suck my pussy, I'm so fucking turned on!" Authentic feeling dialogue can greatly enhance the "punch" of your story. But don't let it get in the way of the sex either. I read a story once where during sex, the characters launched into the history of their sexual relationships. No one would do that in real life - so don't do it in your story!

The Senses - Sight, Smell, Feel, Taste, Hear, Thought

This is where I focus a lot of my time and attention as an author. Don't overdo it, but see if you can incorporate all of the senses into a sex scene. What does the protagonist see - a blonde bush, a swollen areola, a slender waist? Are there arousing smells, like the scent of a woman's pussy juice? What does an orgasm feel like? What does a cock feel like as you're going down on it? And most importantly, what are the internal feelings of joy, arousal, pleasure, awe, love, and the like.

I like to make sure I vary how I describe men and women cumming. You can learn a lot from your own experience, but also from hearing or reading the experiences of others. People online often freely share about how sex feels to them.

Physical Descriptions

I know I already touched on what a character sees, but it's also vitally important that the reader understands what the characters look like. You can do this a bunch of ways. In first person POV, it's sometimes hard to do self description without it coming off as the author intruding into the story to make sure you know something. Try to be more natural about it. You can have the character look in a mirror (used a lot but if it fits in the story it can still work), or have another character talk to them about physical attributes they admire.

You can also work it in to the narrative like: "She brushed a strand of blonde hair away from my face" or "her top hugged her chest so closely that I could clearly see the outlines of her nipples and large areola." Describing what someone looks like nude is also a turn on, which can serve to increase the thrill and anticipation of your main character.

Variety

I think it's a good idea to vary the terms you use to describe a character's body, especially their erogenous areas. Don't use the term "cock" over and over. You could use "rod" or "shaft" or "member" or "dick". Don't get overly creative either. I'm not sure "love handle" is that arousing, but maybe that's just me!

As an example, in my story about twins discovering each other's bodies, I have this part of a paragraph. Note the three different ways I describe Kai's cock:

"Over the next few days I caught myself looking at Kai's crotch, hopefully when he would't notice. I was having strange feelings between my legs when I pictured Kai's hard cock. Great feelings. What would it feel like to touch, to taste? But this was my brother, I thought. I'm not supposed to feel this way. I just couldn't seem to help myself! I imagined myself touching his smooth hard dick, putting it in my mouth, in my pussy. What was wrong with me? The feelings were incredible and terrible."

Something New, Forbidden or Surprising

This should really go without saying, but presenting a character with something outside of their comfort zone, or at least their experience, helps give your story emotional heft.

In a story about a mother/daughter duo seducing their neighbor, I have the neighbor, Julie, react strongly when the mother French-kisses her daughter. It was kind of a "What the fuck!" moment. That's the barrier. Will Julie recoil and run from the house, or... After revealing that the mother and daughter are in an incestuous relationship and wanted to include Julie, there's some dialogue where the mom tells how it happened between them, and then Julie has a chance to ponder and express how she feels about it:

"Fuck," Julie said looking between us as we fondled each other. "I'm not sure why but I'm not reacting like I thought I would. Seeing the two of you together is making me fucking wet!"

The forbidden and new becomes exhilarating and arousing, and leads to stronger sex between them.

Length

I read on LIT that the ideal length of a story is about 5,000 words. I agree with that. If a story that has eleven pages to it, I usually click off. Of course, you can go shorter or longer, as long as the story is served. Three pages is usually as long as I like my stories to be. I have gone as long as 10,000 words, but that's an exception.

I usually have 2 - 4 detailed sex scenes in a story. If I include others, they are more descriptions of what happened, rather than lots of physical description, dialogue, and internal monologue of how the character is feeling.

No magic to that. But it brings me to an important note. When I'm writing a series (and I do a lot) I make each story self-contained. The back story brings the reader up to speed (like how the brother and sister started having sex with each other), but it's limited in length. I dislike stories that have chapters where you are just jumping right into the action of where the last chapter left off.

Each chapter should have the same elements of a good story. There needs to be something new - a new character, a new location, a new thrill. I have an ongoing series with Ellie, the tennis coach. Her character began as an extra in a scene about Kayla Anderson's first day on the tennis team. I threw in a line about Kayla being physically attracted to the coach, and a little physical description, and that was that.

I later thought about a story where the two of them are together with her brother. To do that, I needed Ellie to have had both lesbian relationships as well as intimacy with her own brother. I ended up going back in time, prequel style, to set up her experience and desires so that she could realistically have sex with a brother and sister 12 years later.

But even thought it's a series, you could pick one story, any story, and it, hopefully, will be fulfilling on its own.

Realism

That brings me to an important point. At the beginning of this article I quoted a reader who said: "your stories sound almost real at times". They aren't. My stories stem from fantasies I've had, coupled usually with a touch of real experience. My story of the twins Kai and Kayla, for instance, came from a real set of twins I observed being pretty physical in a pool. My imagination took it from there.

The important thing here is that the story needs to be plausible, and the characters act and speak in ways that are motivated and natural. Make sure your dialogue isn't too stilted. Here's an example: "Yeah, I figured with wearing a suit that barely covers your boobs and bottom - and the way you pushed against me in the pool. But, hey, it worked!"

Climax, and Falling Action

Just so you know, in my stories, everyone gets to cum. That's the natural "climax" to a sex scene, and to a story. I also try to make sure my guys cum a reasonable amount of times. You can't overcome physiology, and normal guys can't usually cum more than twice in a session without taking a break. Virgin guys might be an exception.

A couple of tips here: build up to the orgasm, describe the feeling of it, or the sight of it, and let it play out. Don't just have them cum and then get up or talk about what they want to get for dinner. There needs to be "Falling Action" or what's called the Dénouement. Have your characters come down slowly from their orgasm, their legs spasming and slowing. Then have cuddle time, after glow. It will add to the realism of your story and provides better pacing.

So that's it. Hope these tips are helpful. I'll add more as I think of them!