Tips to Write Erotica & Get Readers

Tips to Write Erotica & get Readers

Summary: Thoughts on writing, and how to attract readers.

Thanks to Tex Beethoven for editing this work.

Tips to Write Erotica & get Readers

A query I often receive is how to write erotica. Now although I have written over 650 stories (including chapters to stories of course), I am not pretending to be an expert. Truth be told, I do this mostly for my own enjoyment, and when I try to write for other people, I often fail... with that said, sometimes being challenged forces me into doing some of my best work (see Fate of the Fishbowl for my highest rated story score, after receiving very humdrum analyses of this work... as I attempted to write an erotic lesbian love story... which I believe I succeeded in doing).

So without further ado, here are some suggestions based on my 12-plus years of writing and posting erotica on the Literotica website.

ONE: WRITE WHAT TURNS YOU ON

This point likely seems obvious, yet I find the stories I like the most are the ones based on my own fantasies. For me, that includes stockings of all kinds of course, but also themes that are taboo... although most of them aren't things I would actually do.

My favourite fantasies are things I did in the past that I fondly recall while my vibrator is teasing me, and I write about them the most.

Being seduced by a younger woman, having an interracial affair, a sexy trans person, a forbidden affair, a wild orgy, incestuous taboo playing, straight men discovering they aren't so straight... these are all subjects that turn me on. So the majority of my stories include one or more of those themes.

On the other hand, you won't find any science fiction stories or historical erotica in my writing... as these themes don't really do much for me, and I don't read about them in real life.

On that note, if you're writing for the first time... a good rule of thumb is whatever kind of erotica you read the most is what you will write about the most effectively ... since those are likely your fantasies (even if sometimes you don't realize it yet).

As you evolve as a writer, you can explore other themes... categories... write from different points of view... stretch your boundaries... but when you start, keep it simple.

TWO: CHARACTERIZATION

Truth be told, I am often criticized (sometimes justifiably so) for writing characters that submit too quickly, so they're not believable (a fair assessment, if not always true in my opinion, as I think all people (both men and women) are capable of doing almost anything sexual if they're given the opportunity, freedom and time to explore their many complex sexual identities... none of us are as straitlaced as we appear to others).

Anyway, I believe the main reason people read my stories is because they see themselves in one or more of the characters. And I'm not just assuming that... it is based on over a decade of receiving and digesting feedback and emails. Just to give you an idea... I receive an average of 10-15 emails a day. I can get double that on the day of a new release, and triple if it's an incest story. So I'm a long way from needing to hire someone to run my mail room, but over the course of more than a decade, it's added up.

Now people generally read erotica to get off... but they also read erotica to explore fantasies they often can't act out in real life. Unlike in porn movies, gangbangs and orgies are pretty rare (I'm in my late forties, and have yet to see one of those in real life... although I did walk in on a threesome during a party decades ago), but that doesn't mean that many women don't secretly get turned on by the idea of having two men inside them at once. Again, people are never what they seem on the outside. Everyone has fantasies... everyone contemplates sexual practices they wish they could try... and part of an author's job is to create a safe imaginary location for the reader to do just that.

So... creating characters is the most important part of crafting a story.

Readers need to like the characters... or perhaps they need to hate them... but in any case, they need to feel something for them.

They often need to see themselves as one of the characters, or maybe see someone they know.

For example, I have learned from research and writing that MANY men, especially in their thirties or maybe later, experience a sexual awakening... a new curiosity... to suck cock... or sometimes to get fucked. This probably doesn't make them gay... but once the idea is formed, it doesn't go away. Many of my stories feature straight men who accidentally discover the joys of cock. From Black Cock: 1 Day Changes Everything (which ended up becoming a series), to Black Dominance (which also became a series... one I hope to go back to), HypnoSissy (which became a massive series that I'll certainly revisit) to the recent Freeuse Faggot, I've gotten a ton of emails and comments from men saying they wish they were the one being used... again, readers living out fantasies and curiosities through fictional stories.

And women too have complex fantasies, and behind the surface of paying lip service to today's standards, are hordes of women dying to explore their own deeply held fantasies. These could be pegging a man, exploring some same sex encounters, perhaps a May-December romance, or (in my own case) sexual submission. Many women see themselves as the submissive who wants a strong man to take her and just fuck her hard for a long night... or to be taken by a younger girl and treated as a lesbian sex slave. These women (and I include myself in this description) are required to be a certain person all day, and when they get home, they want a chance to switch off their work persona and just be taken care of... or maybe to take care of someone else.

Now I don't want to stereotype (although erotica is often about doing just that), since not all women are submissive. Sometimes a woman sees herself as the seductress... the Mistress... the dominant.

For example, if you have read my Accidental Gangbang series, especially the first part (a story about a bride-to-be who stumbles into getting anonymously gangbanged by almost everyone at her fiancé's bachelor party, which has become shockingly popular over the years), you might realize that you're one of many women with a secret desire to take part in such a scenario. To be able to shed the expectations of society, to break free from the conservative role you were taught to play, and instead, just to let loose. Conversely, many men also imagine taking part in a gangbang, but in the other role. One thing that makes this particular story interesting is its stats and their paradoxical nature.

This is my second most favourited story (behind only Backseat Mommy), with over 3300 readers saving it in their favourites. It is also third in number of reads of all my stories with almost 2.6 million reads (behind Backseat Mommy and Pet Mommy). Yet with only a 4.47 score, it is one of my lowest scoring stories, and definitely the lowest of my most popular stories.

The point being that as a writer you will create characters that people relate to... but that will often lead to some people disliking that same character. For every two or three comments saying they loved the story, there was someone who said she was a cheating slut, and the wedding should have been cancelled. The reality is you can't please everyone, so go ahead and please yourself (and yes, I'm aware of the double meaning).

So as usual, although it was long-winded, my point is hopefully clear: I encourage you to create characters with personality... characters who are likeable... or the opposite... characters who could be living and breathing and walking past you in the grocery store.

This is why readers ask for sequels to certain stories: they've become attached to the characters. Although they come to the website for sex stories, they return to certain stories again and again because they like the characters.

THREE: WANT LOTS OF READS? WRITE ABOUT INCEST

If you look at the majority of my top stories and the top stories of all time (by any authors) by reads (not by scores... that's an entirely different conversation for later), they tend to be about incest.

Why?

It's considered extremely taboo.

Why?

People like to fantasize about something they would never do in real life.

Perhaps there is something to the Oedipus theory, or maybe Freud was partly right in his psychology... but the average incest story gets WAY more reads than stories in almost every other category (such as the odd group, wife or illustrated story... although illustrated stats are deceiving, because I believe a lot of people just flip through the pictures, and don't actually read the stories).

In case you want to dig deeper, there are ways to garner even more reads in this category.

Keeping in mind that men read more erotica than women (although that gap has been narrowing over the years, since the stigma against porn and erotica is diminishing as society evolves), there is a clear order to which categories of incest stories are read the most.

First, mom and son. This by far is the most common. Quite a few of my most popular stories (according to number of reads and comments) are mom and son stories: Backseat Mommy and Pet Mommy are one and two for most reads out of all my stories. Simply put, many men of all ages have secret fantasies about their mothers. Also out there are faux incest videos, gif captions, and a plethora of mom-son stories to support this theory. Simply put, if you want reads, then write a mom and son story (but the scoring will likely be lower than in most other categories). PS: There are more actual moms than one would believe who fancy the idea of either seducing or being seduced by their son or sons, although almost none of them would ever dream of following through. (No, I take that back: lots of them might dream about it.)

Second, and that's an easy second, are sibling stories. These are hugely popular as well, and I would say they're almost as popular in reads and comments as mom and son. Family Affair: Backseat Sister, Best Present Ever: Bitch Sister and A Sister Surprise are very popular, since many men fantasize about their sisters, and sometimes sisters fantasize about their brothers.

Third (a distant third), dad and daughter. I have not written many dad and daughter stories over the years, although one of my most popular ones in the past couple years is Daddy Daughter Date Days, so my experience in the success of this subgenre is limited. While mom and son, brother and sister or sister and sister, and my personal favourite mom and daughter are more my cup of tea, and they are the kind I write more of... there is also a growing kink for grandson and grandma, or granddaughter and grandpa (I wrote a rare grandma one that did quite well not that long ago: Grandma Plays Cupid) and I have some ideas for a grandpa one in the not so distant future.

Of course, there are cousin with cousin and so forth as well, which I haven't ever dabbled in.

Note: Incest stories almost never win competitions, and although they tend to gather way more reads and comments, they also typically get lower scores (at least mine do). Like everything in this essay, these generalizations are not always true, but they're generally correct. For instance I have written some high scoring incest stories like the very recent OnlyFamily or the lengthy What Mom Knows series... but none of my 10 most popular stories by reads are top 10 by score (What Mom Knows Fucks Her in Vegas coming in at 14^th).

FOUR: TITLES MATTER... A LOT

This too may seem obvious, but Literotica releases a lot of stories every day (way more than back when I started), so how to get your story to pop out of a long list is the ultimate conundrum. I've had stories I had a lot of hope for get lost in the Day One avalanche of new stories, and then it can take years for it to gradually find its readers. While sometimes my titles are too blunt (and I get criticized for it), they help get people to read the story.

Think of a title as a hook that that gets people curious enough to read the brief summary. If they like the summary, they'll click on the link, and hopefully enjoy your story.

Look at my top ten most read stories, and it is obvious the title factors in (please note this list is about reads, not scores).

1. Backseat Mommy: A Long Hard Ride (the term 'Mommy' helps, and for reasons unknown to me, readers LOVE backseat sex stories).

2. "Pet Mommy": Becoming a Mommy-slut! (again the term 'Mommy', and a clear indication that the mother becomes a 'slut' for her 'son').

3. Accidental Gangbang (again the key plot is defined with just two intriguing words)

4. Family Affair: Backseat Sister (again backseat is referenced, and the implication of a sexual adventure involving the entire family)

5. "Stocking Tales": Office Submission (this is an illustrated story, and every single word helps draw the reader in: Stocking (for the fetish), Office (for the location, and many people have work fantasies) and Submission (to indicate the submissive genre)... only 'Tales' is there to make it flow.

6. Best Present Ever: Bitch Sister (sets up that a stuck-up sister is going to get made into a slut by her brother... in this case a nerd with a big dick... one of my tropes that I use too often).

7. Blackmailed: Cheerleader's Cherry (I like alliteration, and I use it often. If you check the category for this one, it's anal... and this title also gives away a lot. It's a blackmail story, and a cheerleader loses her anal virginity).

8. "Moms & Daughters": A Family Affair (another illustrated that makes it clear it's a story about a mom and daughter having fun).

9. A Sister Surprise (a fun story where the sister's surprise is, of course, her brother's big dick).

10. "A Shemale Submission": A Lust Story (a novella that is all about MY submission to a glorious trans woman).

Other wicked titles include:

-Daughter's Initiation to Incest

-What Mom Doesn't Know Will Fuck Her

-Big Fat Cock: A Hot Mommy Seduced

-Bedding the Babysitter

-"Taking" My Sister's Virginity

-Making Mommy Mine

-Cocksucking College Sister

-Revenge of the Nerd: Bitch Sister

-Gangbang Mommy

So as you can see, a creative title can have a huge impact on how many readers click on your story... especially casual readers.

FIVE: TAGS MATTER

Although many readers go to the new stories page to peruse what's new, many others never go there.

Patience in porn is not a virtue. No, many times readers search by category... or theme... or a particular word.

So the ten tags can be very valuable in getting people to find your stories (especially critical when you're a new author).

So use key words of themes people will search for in the Literotica search engine, or even in Google itself.

Key words that attract lots of views:

-mom

-incest

-son

-brother

-sister

-lesbian

-BBC

-shemale

-anal

-group

-interracial,

-gangbang

-orgy

-facial

-MILF

Other key words I use include:

-submissive

-stockings

-pantyhose

-cock sucker

-pegging

-curious

-straight

-seduced

Of course, these should all be elements that are actually featured in your story... people get annoyed if something you told them was in the story isn't there.

SIX: WRITE IN A VARIETY OF CATEGORIES

Earlier I encouraged you to write what you fantasize about or know... but it's also important to expand your content into all the various categories you're comfortable writing in.

I'm the most popular author on Literotica for a few reasons (none of them being that I'm the best writer; I know I am not), but the reasons I'm popular include longevity, regular releases, and stories in a variety of categories.

There are some of my readers who don't read my gay stories, or don't read my incest stories, etc., but they read most of my other ones.

But I do think that most people who frequent Literotica regularly, have likely read at least one of my stories, since I write in incest, gay, trans, interracial, group, lesbian, essay, illustrated, celebrity, mature and more. I don't hit all the categories. I won't write in a category I can't do justice to, or that I don't feel is my style, but if you can do that, I highly recommend it. For example, this will be my first ever How To entry... so we will see how it goes.

I know I have fans who only read my lesbian stories... or only read my gay ones... and I have some fans who read every story I write regardless of category or topic (the amount of those loyal readers grows over time, but they are a very small percentage of my overall fan base (I know it may sound pretentious to use the term 'fan base', but if you write here long enough, you'll have a growing number of readers who follow your work closely)).

SEVEN: WHICH NARRATIVE

The big question: First person or third person omniscient?

I highly recommend you begin with first person, since then you're only writing from the standpoint of a single person. This is easier, and it allows you to focus on the inner thoughts and the personality of just that character. Many of my most-read series are first person: Bedding the Babysitter, Catching Mommy, Best of Both Worlds, and Big Fat Cock for example. The strength in this narrative is simply that the reader has the opportunity to live and feel the experiences of that one character... often immersing themself into his or her world.

Once you're comfortable with doing that, try expanding to third person omniscient. This is substantially more challenging and a lot more work, since you need to create dynamic characters for everyone in your story and examine (read: create) each of their mindsets. However, this approach is also the most rewarding, since it allows the reader to experience the thoughts of all of your characters, which among other benefits, makes it more likely they will mentally or emotionally connect with at least one of them. It also gives your story much more texture, which should engage the reader more deeply.

For example: Look at my Church Girl series to see the difference it makes when all the characters' thoughts are made available.

Like I said, both ways work, and they can work well, but try to use variety so you don't bore your readers, and more importantly, yourself.

EIGHT: THE BUILDUP

This might sound ridiculous since we're discussing erotica, but I don't ever plot out the sex scene... truthfully, it's the last thing I care about.

I know... I know... what the fuck?

For me, and for most women, enjoying a story experience is all about anticipation... foreplay... leading up. Now I'm not saying sex isn't great... I love having my pussy eaten, sucking a dick and getting pounded just as much as any woman... but I want the full experience. For instance sharing a lovely dinner with my husband beforehand is just as important... if not as adrenalin-filled... as the eventual orgasm. As is cuddling with him afterwards.