Tips for transitioning into writing erotica

Hypoxia said:

My usual query: Why are you here? Why write for LIT? Not for money. "Only a fool writes, if not for money," said Dr Johnson, so we're mostly fools here, all who aren't commercial. So why? For feedback and approval? To expand your skills? To provoke or otherwise affect readers? Because you simply MUST? (That's me.) Motivation drives production. Be clear.

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Interesting questions, but I guess your motivation for writing can be very important indeed. Well it's easier to start with what I don't write for. I wrote non-erotic stories on a different site for a while, and got tons of approval. And a hugely inflated ego. Which then went to my head and came crashing down when I realized my writing was actually relatively horrible and the people leaving those comments/ratings either were just being nice, wanted something from me (usually giving feedback on their stuff), or just had no idea what good writing was and thought anything not completely awful was the best writing ever.

I don't primarily write for feedback, although it's always appreciated. I know I still have a lot to learn, and hearing the opinions on my writing of different people can be really useful. But I'm not writing because I need that feedback, it's just nice to have. I'm not writing for money either, because then I wouldn't be here. That's very simple.

So why do I write? Part of it is indeed that drive. I have a pretty lively imagination (as I'm sure most writers do) and my mind just constantly generates stories, scenes and characters. If I don't write those down or tell them to someone, I'd go insane. So yes, I pretty much need to write for my personal sanity, else my imagination goes out of control. And if I'm writing anyway, I figured why not share my stories with people? There has to be at least someone out there who would enjoy the weird creations of my brain. So while not the primary reason, I do also write to entertain people. While I'm not sure my writing skills are quite good enough for it just yet, I would also like to deeply affect people with my writing. I don't want to change the world with my writing, but I've read a few things that have changed my life. If I can write something that could do that for someone else, or something that can comfort them or otherwise help them or just plainly entertain when they need it, that would be my ultimate goal. But again, that's a thing I'm aiming for, not something I think I'll be able to pull off consistently, if at all.

Whelp, that turned out longer and much more in-depth than I intended... Oh well, guess that means you asked some good questions.

KeithD said:

This keeps getting asserted on the discussion board...

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Corrected: changed MOST to SOME. Happy?

Hypoxia said:

Corrected: changed MOST to SOME. Happy?

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Not really, because you and other elitists will return to this again--because you folks seem to either believe it without doing the research or want everyone else to write like you do. Lit. authors who regularly comment on the discussion board simply aren't the mainstream of either writers or readers who enjoy using Literotica. And, no, I don't write using a lot of measurements--unless I'm writing in the viewpoint of a character who is geared this way or to a specific reader group that is--or, occasionally, just to jolt the more literary reader.

To build upon TarnishedPenny's point, if we are going to generalize, most male readers are visually oriented and might (I suppose) prefer physical descriptors to spark their mind's eye.


Female readers tend to substitute themselves for a character they identify with (often the female lead but not always) therefore they usually prefer less physical descriptors and focus more on the relationships between various characters.

TheThird said:

To build upon TarnishedPenny's point, if we are going to generalize, most male readers are visually oriented and might (I suppose) prefer physical descriptors to spark their mind's eye.


Female readers tend to substitute themselves for a character they identify with (often the female lead but not always) therefore they usually prefer less physical descriptors and focus more on the relationships between various characters.

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So what you're saying is that you'll at most be able to please about 50% of the audience? (assuming there's an even split between male and female. I have no idea on the actual stats on Lit's readers, not to mention that it probably varies between categories too).

ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:

So what you're saying is that you'll at most be able to please about 50% of the audience? (assuming there's an even split between male and female. I have no idea on the actual stats on Lit's readers, not to mention that it probably varies between categories too).

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Well, I never want to generalize too much (especially something so dependent upon one individual's tastes) but I also think that if you have multiple character pov's you can write from those and satisfy a larger audience.

That said I am sure there is a happy medium for every genre/category but probably no quick and solid rule.

TheThird said:

Well, I never want to generalize too much (especially something so dependent upon one individual's tastes) but I also think that if you have multiple character pov's you can write from those and satisfy a larger audience.

That said I am sure there is a happy medium for every genre/category but probably no quick and solid rule.

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Yeah, I guess if you don't get overly detailed it might not distract the typical female reader you mentioned, while still giving just enough of a description for the more visually oriented readers. Sounds like a difficult line to find, but it should definitely be possible.

ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:

Yeah, I guess if you don't get overly detailed it might not distract the typical female reader you mentioned, while still giving just enough of a description for the more visually oriented readers. Sounds like a difficult line to find, but it should definitely be possible.

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Yes, it's possible. I have a couple of story cycles that are popular with both men and women - they are lush with physical and sensual description of bodies, clothes, surroundings, as well as intimate and emotional detail of moods and feelings. It's almost my trade-mark style, it seems to work.

ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:

Yeah, I guess if you don't get overly detailed it might not distract the typical female reader you mentioned, while still giving just enough of a description for the more visually oriented readers. Sounds like a difficult line to find, but it should definitely be possible.

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It’s not difficult to find. Focus on how everything feels, not on how everything looks. That’s half the solution.

Phrases like “She’d never felt so full of cock” work for any length, any “depth,” any body type, any bra size. And it’s concise, too.

ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:

This current story I'm writing for the Nude Day contest will be in the Lesbian category I think. Despite the subject of the contest, I feel like it fits there better than in Exhibitionist & Voyeur. But I wasn't exclusively looking for advice on this story, as I don't want to limit myself to just one category after this one. Sci-Fi and Fantasy sound interesting to me too, possibly Romance or Mind Control... I have a few ideas playing around in my head that are all over the place as far as category is concerned.

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I haven't read every word of suggestions in this thread, but in reading the bold part of your post above, I'd offer one simple thought. Each Category has it's own nuanced differences of best/preferred content. Instead of asking for specific content/style suggestions here, I think I'd spend my time reading some of the top rated stories in the Category I was going to try a story in. Read as many as you can find time for in the Category you're planning to tackle—no doubt they will vary, but try to pick out the pertinent elements you're unsure of that seem to be common, etc. (This has probably already been suggested, but if not )

yukonnights said:

I haven't read every word of suggestions in this thread, but in reading the bold part of your post above, I'd offer one simple thought. Each Category has it's own nuanced differences of best/preferred content. Instead of asking for specific content/style suggestions here, I think I'd spend my time reading some of the top rated stories in the Category I was going to try a story in. Read as many as you can find time for in the Category you're planning to tackle—no doubt they will vary, but try to pick out the pertinent elements you're unsure of that seem to be common, etc. (This has probably already been suggested, but if not )

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I've read all the comments I got, but I can't quite remember if it had been suggested yet. Either way, that is good advice indeed. I don't think I'll have the time for it before the deadline of the Nude Day contest, but it's definitely something I'll do before I start writing a new story. I guess for the contest I'll just have to wing it, as Lesbian isn't a category I've read much on here to begin with (and being a male writer that might not have been the smartest choice for a first story, but... Oh well, at least I'll learn from it)

KeithD said:

Not really, because you and other elitists will return to this again...

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So it's not quantifiable. Is it worth argument?

A safe point: Each reader want their own lusts fulfilled. If that takes detailed anatomical numbers, fine. Writers will find ways to reach any audience.

Hypoxia said:

So it's not quantifiable. Is it worth argument?

A safe point: Each reader want their own lusts fulfilled. If that takes detailed anatomical numbers, fine. Writers will find ways to reach any audience.

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You returned to it a little quicker than I thought you would, but you did return to it as predicted.

It might be quantifiable, as a matter of fact. It's just that you and others assert it without any evidence of having quantified it. Just take a snobbish approach to it, asserting that that is the way it is.

And, yes, you and others will continue to assert it.

tomlitilia said:

Another pointer... skip overtly detailed descriptions of body parts. We allknow what tits and cocks look like, and stories rarely benefit from exact measurements.

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Second that, especially when the body parts are described as freakish in size.

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the replies I got. They've been very helpful, although I didn't have the time to apply all of them to my Nude Day story before the deadline. They'll definitely be useful for my next story though.

My story was published a few hours ago, and while I have no idea of the normal traffic for a new story I am pleasantly surprised with how it's been going. Got 3 straight 5 star ratings at the start, but it's quickly been going down after that, sitting at 4.12 at the moment with 8 votes and almost 750 views at the moment. Not that I'm too concerned with that, it's just interesting to watch.