How much build-up do you prefer?

[subversivesex]

Okay, so I saw there's an opposite question where somebody asked something like, "How much story is too much before sex?", so I guess mine must be the guy's version: How much build-up is necessary? Because I notice that a lot of good authors on here really do a great job with world-building, character interactions, and general plot before they even get into any sex. Since I've only just begun publishing erotic stories and they don't seem to be very good, I've been trying to emulate this a little bit. I've drafted a couple of messy novellas, but what I find is that a lot of my stories are 70% or more sex. So when I sit down to revise, I try to get closer to 50% by adding backstory and setting (usually right up front) and trying to give the characters more interaction outside of sex. Does this seem like a process that anybody else would use? Or is my approach all wrong? Love to hear from somebody who has an idea of what works best for them.

 

[Voboy]

I believe you should be writing what you'd want to read.

If you want to read a longer story with good buildup? You shouldn't be writing strokers. Personally, "revising" with a given target percentage in mind is WAY too mathematical for me and not what I think of as "writing," so FOR ME your approach is all wrong. Might be right for you, though, or for others.

What I do is I start with a setting or, more often, a situation. Then I comb through my many, many characters (who genuinely feel like real people to me) and find the right matchup of character and situation. And then?

I just write. Really, that's all I do. And as I write, my characters nudge themselves toward different thoughts, actions, and behaviors. If I write something that feels wrong? I just change it, then and there, and move on. By about the first 5k words, I know whether it's working; by then, or by about 10k, I know the ending and my path to get there. So I just write until that happens.

When I'm done? I'm done. I read it back once, for continuity, then it's completely finished for better or for worse. In my mind, any creative endeavor loses some of its legitimacy the further it gets from its "original version," which is why all my stories are at least 98% "as-written." So you can see why I don't buy into your percentages.

Do what works for you. Try many techniques. You'll find your audience.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I don't have a preference. The situation and the characters decide how much build up is required.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't believe there's any universal formula for this, and the best way for you to answer the question for yourself is to read enough stories that you get a sense of what you enjoy. THEN pick the stories you like apart to get a sense of what balance of build-up and sex you like. I spent years reading erotic stories before I wrote any, so I had a very clear idea of what I liked before I wrote anything.

For me, personally, I think of it somewhat differently. What do you mean by "sex"? Do you mean intercourse, strictly?

In an erotic story, "sex" for me is whatever the culminating erotic thing is in a story. In an exhibitionist story, it could be getting naked on a public street.

My M.O. is to come up with an idea for what I think is a sexy encounter or experience, and then to figure out the characters and figure out how they get to the encounter/experience. I like to introduce some conflict and obstacles to make it more dramatically interesting.

The "build-up" should be however long it has to be to get the characters through their dramatic conflict and to the encounter/experience in a satisfying way. It should be NO LONGER than that.

Some authors/readers here have different perspectives, but I personally find that there's a tendency of Literotica authors to take too long to get the climax. That's just my opinion, however, and it obviously is not shared by all, or perhaps most.

A key issue is the tone of your story. Is it a light-hearted stroker story (in which case excessive buildup is to be avoided), or is it a more character-focused and realistic story (in which case lots of buildup may be appreciated). The needs of the particular story always dictate the answer to the question.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I like enough buildup that the characters seem like people, rather than cardboard mannequins being shuffled around until their naughty bits meet. Sometimes I get that done to my own satisfaction in a couple of hundred words, and the whole thing is a few thousand. But lately it's taking longer, and the stories are a lot longer.

Personally (just me personally) the thing that will make me stop reading a story the quickest is if I have no understanding of why a character is doing what they're doing. Especially when I'm reading something kinkier (which is my preference). A BDSM story where the sub just falls to her knees begging to be faced fucked by some supposed dom she just got introduced to is uninteresting to me. At least give me a taste of the scenery in her mind that would make her act like that.

That being said, I don't need a full on exposition of all their motives, or their entire life history. When I'm editing my stories, that's what I wind up taking out. I'll include far more details in a draft, and then start paring them down to keep the flow going.

But I think the preference for details varies, and I've definitely written, and definitely enjoyed reading stories that were lighter on details.

(It's quite possible that nothing in this comment has been helpful at all...)

 

[alohadave]

How much build-up is necessary?

As much as you want and what works for you. I tend to write about 2500-3000 word stories and it's enough for really basic characterization and to setup the scene.

But you might want to look at the length of your stories. Your Getaway series has 3500 words over four parts. You don't need to make them huge, but less than a thousand words per part is really short for here.

 

[Djmac1031]

Personally (just me personally) the thing that will make me stop reading a story the quickest is if I have no understanding of why a character is doing what they're doing. Especially when I'm reading something kinkier (

EXACTLY.

There's nothing wrong with a "stroker." There's plenty of room for simple, easy sex tales.

But if you're looking to tell a more complicated, fleshed out tale, character is KEY.

Who are these people?
Why are they fucking, besides "He's hot / she's hot?"
What's their motivation?
Why do they like (insert kink here) so much?

Most importantly: why should we, the reader, CARE about whether they fuck or not?

Pick your plot, flesh out your characters, make them real people, not cartoons, and the rest will write itself.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

If I'm writing something that's just meant to be a fun little hook-up, I don't worry about providing much back story. Still, I try to make my characters seem like real people, so the readers can identify with them.

But for something longer and more detailed, I include a lot of back story to try and explain where they're coming from, and their motivations. I've found that quite a few readers enjoy a more detailed story. Surprisingly, they'll often ask why I didn't do a bigger splashier ending, when a story is already at 30k words.

I think it just depends on the type of story you want to write; just a quickie, or something they can sit back and enjoy for an hour or two.

 

[Djmac1031]

If I'm writing something that's just meant to be a fun little hook-up, I don't worry about providing much back story. Still, I try to make my characters seem like real people, so the readers can identify with them.

Again, fully agree.

I just finished a simple little "stroker" about a guy who catches a woman masturbating on a plane.

Simple premise, simple setting, simple plot.

But to make it actually interesting, I had to make the characters human.

WHY was she masturbating?
How does she react when caught?
How does he react when catching her?
What brings them together?

A simple yet hopefully touching backstory for her connects it all and makes their interactions make more sense.

Didn't need to spend pages on it; the whole thing will probably be two LE pages.

But just a few little touches can help make even a basic stroker something a little deeper.

 

[Euphony]

I believe you should be writing what you'd want to read.

This. This. So much this.

Writing is as much or more about headspace as it is the technicals. If you go in with the notion of set amounts, blocks, personal backstories, whatever, you inadvertently end up, at best, looking very paint by numbers and, at worse, unnatural. (because what you are writing is unnatural to you)

Storycraft can be viewed much like recipes. They are a good guideline for basic building blocks that have generally worked across a decent range of cooks and kitchens.

But every kitchen is different. Ovens vary. Humidity swings wildly to say nothing of sea level v. elevations.

You check your oven to see your 350 is true 350 and where its hotspots are.

You get your hands in the dough to feel if you are on the right pathing or no. (you learn this feel through repetition. No cookbook or forum post is enough of a substitute.)

And you fuck up, like almost every first pancake of the batch. But that's the process.

Maybe I'm woo woo, so be it, but I believe author authenticity (not objective truth but them writing for themselves foremost) reads as natural and we are uniquely able to tune into those frequencies even if we don't immediately recognize the why.

There are some character's arcs that setup okay for them to tumble into bed rather early. Others have no business coupling so soon (and it reads as if sex had to happen not that they worked through the interactions/negotiations that make it seem not only logical but inexplicable if it didn't happen.)

Get your hands dirty. Trash your kitchen with flour. Feel the dough. Learn the dough.

Everything else is optimistic guidelines but a poor substitute for doing the work.

 

[SeraphNocturne]

I'm a massive story over smut style writer... and you can find a very receptive audience writing in this way, yes, but if it's not the way you like to write it's going to seem very tedious and boring to you. I write with attention to detail. Maybe too much at times, but it's how I enjoy writing and as another author here has said, write what you like to read. I can attest to this sentiment.

It isn't to be said there isn't a time and place for sex focused work, I've put out a few 'strokers', or well... as close to that as I can get, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for world building and fleshing out my characters to the finest details. If they don't feel like tangible living people, I don't feel like I'm doing my job.

Again though, if that's not what you like to read or write, then don't waste your time with it. Write however is comfortable for you. I don't believe there's any set system, as authors we have creative freedom to do as we please at our own pace. I'll drag a story out for multiple chapters before any real action if I'm feeling that's the way I need to write that story. Some people may love that, some may hate it, but if that's my vision I'll see it through. It's all a matter of your personal preference and comfort zones.

 

[NotWise]

<snip>

I've drafted a couple of messy novellas, but what I find is that a lot of my stories are 70% or more sex. So when I sit down to revise, I try to get closer to 50% by adding backstory and setting (usually right up front) and trying to give the characters more interaction outside of sex. Does this seem like a process that anybody else would use? Or is my approach all wrong? Love to hear from somebody who has an idea of what works best for them.

Hmm. Bolt-on backstory and characterization? I think that's unlikely to produce a very coherent result, but I haven't read your stuff.

One possibility is to just write the stroker you want to write and leave it at that.

Another possibility is to start your story with who your characters are and give them a story that leads them to sex. There are five parts to a story: setting, characters, conflict, plot and resolution. Other sources might give you a slightly different list, but the point is that there are things other than banging bones that you can work on to improve the way your readers react to your story. If you don't want to write a stroker, then you should probably give those aspects some thought before you realize that your story is 70% sex.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

There's nothing wrong with a "stroker." There's plenty of room for simple, easy sex tales.

If I'm writing something that's just meant to be a fun little hook-up, I don't worry about providing much back story. Still, I try to make my characters seem like real people, so the readers can identify with them.

Yes. I absolutely agree with this. Though the more I've written, the more detailed I've tended to get, I know that you can put enough information in, in a few words, to make the characters seem like real people, even in a stroker.
My second most viewed story is just over 3k words, and is almost entirely sex. But there's enough history in it to get a sense of why the people in the story are acting the way they are. It's just a few words in a few sentences. It's fifty words of back story, and a explanation of how the two characters are communicating with each other.
That's what I find interesting in other stories, and is what makes me want to read through to the juicy bits.

 

[Zootonius]

My approach is to write only as much plot and character development as is needed, and no more. The steamy parts need a backstory. But, I confess, I want to get to the steamy parts as soon as possible.

 

[Djmac1031]

My approach is to write only as much plot and character development as is needed, and no more. The steamy parts need a backstory. But, I confess, I want to get to the steamy parts as soon as passible.

I agree too much backstory can be distracting.

We don't necessarily need to know where they grew up, went to school, what they do for a living, or their hobbies.

Unless, of course, these details are integral to the plot.

Perhaps something in their past helped shape who they are now, or informs the choices they make.

If so, by all means include them.

Small details can also make a character human.

The fact that she's beautiful with big breasts makes her attractive, sure.

But the fact she knows how to fix a lawnmower, or can shoot a half court basket, makes her interesting as well. So those kinds of little details can be fun to add, and adds depth to a character.

 

[Zootonius]

I agree too much backstory can be distracting.

We don't necessarily need to know where they grew up, went to school, what they do for a living, or their hobbies.

Unless, of course, these details are integral to the plot.

Perhaps something in their past helped shape who they are now, or informs the choices they make.

If so, by all means include them.

Small details can also make a character human.

The fact that she's beautiful with big breasts makes her attractive, sure.

But the fact she knows how to fix a lawnmower, or can shoot a half court basket, makes her interesting as well. So those kinds of little details can be fun to add, and adds depth to a character.

Or, as I like to remind myself, I write smut, not Hemingway.

 

[KeithD]

More often than not, I start with sex. Then, after a while I slip in another sex scene. And then I end with the anticipation of more sex. In between I wedge in a killer plot.

 

[Djmac1031]

I enjoy this topic because I think it's something I'm always striving for as well, to find that balance between storytelling and titillating.

I came up with this simple little example to show how to flesh out a character and story in just a few simple words.

Example 1:
I came home from work to find my wife in the kitchen, cooking dinner in her sexiest lingerie.

Gets right to the point, right? Nothing wrong with that. We've introduced the erotic moment.

But...

Example 2:
I came home from a hard day at work, most of it on the phone trying to be nice to idiot customers who didn't know how to reboot a hard drive.

My mood improved considerably upon finding my wife in the kitchen, cooking dinner in her sexiest lingerie.

Without several paragraphs describing his job in detail, we learn just enough to understand and sympathize with his mood, and to be happy for him to discover his lovely wife so scantily attired.

Now we've not simply introduced an erotic moment, but some emotions to attach to it.

 

[ronde]

I tend to write a little differently than some in that most of my story ideas start out as the ending that answers the question, "what if". From there, I ask the questions of "who", and most importantly, "why". The "who" and "why" are how I sculpt my characters so what they do to end up at the ending seems natural. In the middle is the plot, and as has been said, if you write the characters right, you won't have to worry about when the sex happens or if it happens at all. The characters will tell you when the time is right.

You can start with a sex scene, but unless your characters answer the "who" and "why" questions, the sex will seem contrived with the goal of just writing something for others or yourself to get off with.

 

[Djmac1031]

You can start with a sex scene, but unless your characters answer the "who" and "why" questions, the sex will seem contrived with the goal of just writing something for others or yourself to get off with.

I had fun with that approach in my story "Mommy For Hire."

I started out with a short sex scene that establishes two characters; Mami (Mommy in Spanish) and Charlie, her "good boy."

I then cut to them afterwards, and reveal that they're not truly "Mami" and "Charlie," but Sophie, a paid sex worker, and Charles, now out of character after a role play session.

From there I go on to explain how they met and how his "mommy" fetish started.

I'm pretty sure it's my only story so far that begins with sex to establish the premise.

 

[Voboy]

Most importantly: why should we, the reader, CARE about whether they fuck or not?

I just today abandoned a story because I found I couldn’t stand my own characters.

 

[Abbafan]

I start to get impatient if there isn't anything by the 4th literotica page. LOL.

Sometimes I'll stick with a story for a little longer. It helps if there's at least some hanky panky going on during the lead up.

I like some characterization, flirting, tension, and so on, but I'm not interested in reading a novel.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

The real answer is

 

[JaxRhapsody]

But all this advice will be of some help. How much build up, how much room do you have for any of it, because sometimes you can pack it in there. And of course story goals; what kind is it?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Most of my stories have a fair bit going on before the sex, though I usually think of them less as "building up to a sex scene" and more as "telling a story that includes sex"; the other stuff ought to be relevant in its own right, not just as a way of getting people together in bed.

If the main point of the story is the sex, give as much intro as it needs, but don't feel like you need to pad that out to X number of words just because some other author did.