How to make a good erotic stories

[MissPython]

Hi,

I like to write stories and I was wandering, what does make a good erotic story?

I mean, with all the porn on the internet, how can litterature compete?

so my question is, what is good about erotic litterature, what is arousing, what can be better that a simple porn video?

 

[AlinaX]

Have you tried reading yet?

 

[MissPython]

A bit... I maybe not get the good ones...

I always find that weird the way writers elaborate so much on the sexual act...
I didn't find romantic or arousing ones...

 

[Abbafan]

Even the shorter stories here tend to have a little more investment in things like character than your typical video. Oh, hi stepmom. How did you get your head stuck under the sink, while wearing only a t shirt and panties? Why, yes, of course I can help you free yourself...

 

[Rob_Royale]

Porn is generally a single scene. All we know about the characters is that they are naked and horny. The setting is that room. Simple and to the point. Get your rocks off and move on.

Erotica is entertainment. Stories have fleshed out characters with histories and personality. Settings that help you visualize the locations. They have plot and scope and bring you into that world for longer than eight minutes. They make you feel something.

As you find some of the better work here, you'll see what I mean.

 

[GlennJenko]

Hi,

I like to write stories and I was wandering, what does make a good erotic story?

I mean, with all the porn on the internet, how can litterature compete?

so my question is, what is good about erotic litterature, what is arousing, what can be better that a simple porn video?

I guess I kind of think of it like I think of horror comparisons between book and screen. Yes horror films can be scary, but I firmly believe that what your mind can come up with is a lot worse than what you can be shown on screen.

Erotica is no different. Yes, porn can be good, but you're being directly shown a scene. In writing, you're more immersed in the world, and you can imagine a lot more that isn't being directly shown in a scene but implied by an author that you can then conjure up as you please in your brain.

EDIT: So I guess in answer to what makes good erotica, I'd answer that you need it to be enticing, and to be able to put that image in your reader's mind that they can then extrapolate from and picture in their own minds.

I'd definitely recommend finding a category you're into on here via the search engine and reading some of the top rated stories. You will hopefully start to see from there what makes a good erotic story.

 

[OnlyHappyEndings]

I find a lot of erotic fiction is essentially romance with extra details. Some stories are better than others. Some stories are more explicit than others. But while the porn video is a mostly visual experience, written porn lets you see into the minds of the participants, to imagine the pleasure and pride of lovemaking and sometimes also the pain and humiliation. It can put the sexual act into context, give the characters depth, background, explain their motivation or misgivings.

Read around, if you haven't already, and decide for yourself what excites you sexually and as a reader. And as you read, remember Sturgeon's law: ninety percent of everything is crap.

 

[BBlaketbv]

How can erotic fiction compete with porn videos?
Porn these days is short and to the point. It is often raw sex. Ot begins at the point where the characters are stripped naked or in their underwear. The videos often end right after the climax.

Erotic fiction paints you a larger picture. Characters are given a personality. The romantic and emotional connection between the characters is explained. And if it fits in the story there is plenty of foreplay and aftercare. The longer stories can also portray a more complex sexual fantasy than just a sex act.

In that way erotic fiction is (in my limited experience) more like good vintage porn movies.

 

[StillStunned]

No mattter how long or short a story is, or how much character and plot it has, what makes for good erotica is providing the reader with an immersive experience.

This can be done by slowing the action to describe sensory input. The scent of a lover's skin. The feeling of their fingertips on your skin, or of their skin under your own fingertips. Small, breathy gasps. The sensation of their body responding to your lips and tongue. Their taste. The look in their eyes, the heaving of their chest. The sweat that plasters their hair to their forehead and neck.

That kind of thing. In my opinion, of course.

 

[TheOtherTeacher]

What makes a good story?

Set the scene. Build up the tension first. Just like a third date with a sexy person. You both know what's coming later, but you are still at the restaurant, flirting and getting excited.

Don't forget the other senses. Tell me how something looks, but also how it smells and tastes. What's the texture? How does it feel in your hand? Things porn can't explain.

Keep it generic. I describe most characters (especially my main character) as little as possible, so you can insert yourself into the situation. Maybe you (the reader) have a thing for redheads. The love interest in the story is always a redhead in your mind, if the author hasn't said otherwise.
With porn you know what someone looks like exactly. You lose the ability to add your imagination.

Finally, there is a reason taboo/incest is one of the most popular categories. It's something you can read about, but not watch. Write things that are impossible in porn. Especially if it's impossible in real life. Write about the dude who fucks a martian!

 

[PhoenixLord]

Hi,

I like to write stories and I was wandering, what does make a good erotic story?

I mean, with all the porn on the internet, how can litterature compete?

so my question is, what is good about erotic litterature, what is arousing, what can be better that a simple porn video?

for one thing, grammar is essential.

For another, context is also helpful. I write based on stuff I've seen or can picture in my mind. If I'm watching porn, I'll get the positions in my head and then recreate them in some context on paper. As an example, read my story "Ogre orgy". It's based on the Goblin Cave Yaoi and has very similar aspects to it, namely spitroasting, double anal penetration, etc.

 

[intim8]

Stories compete with porn mainly on how much the reader cares about at least one of the characters. In porn, you care that you get to watch, in erotica, you care about who is doing it, why they are doing it, and what it means to them. In porn, the characters are stereotypes, one-dimensional. In (good) erotica, the characters are full-fledged people. In porn, the immediate situation is all there is. In erotica, the sex can take pages and pages to even get started. In porn, the money shot is the end. In erotica, it can be just the beginning.

Secondarily, erotica lets you fill in a lot of the details with your imagination. Yeah, a lot of stories are very explicitly detailed, but no matter how detailed the description, you still have to paint the actual picture in your head. A lot of stories here try to recreate the experience of porn, but that doesn't really work. The better stories are less likely to do that.

 

[ronde]

what is good about erotic litterature, what is arousing, what can be better that a simple porn video?

The difference between porn and erotic literature is the difference between a slap in the face and a gentle caress to the cheek. Porn is just there, staring you in the face and daring you to get off. Erotic literature is an experience of words leading you through a part of the character's lives during which you come to understand why those characters do what they do. Erotic literature doesn't have to get you off to be good. It just has to paint erotic pictures in your mind.

Several things go together to make good erotic literature. We all write using different methods, but if you read the best stories on Literotica, you'll see all or most of these things.

1. Write what you know or what you have researched sufficiently that you at least write facts instead of what you think or wish were facts.

2. Show, don't tell. What this means is to not attempt to write everything in infinitesimal detail. Give the reader the idea of what's going on and let him or her fill in those details. Let your characters tell the story in their own words. It's the difference between writing, "She was five feet ten inches tall with 40DD breasts", and writing, "She was tall for a woman, but the way her blouse was straining to hold in her breasts told me she was pretty large."

3. Write a plot that explains why your characters are in the situation in which you place them. Very few men would ever just walk up to a woman they don't know and have her immediately say she wanted to fuck them, yet this seems to be a popular way of getting down to the plug and chug. It's more likely the couple would meet somehow and then begin to forma relationship before sex every became part of their conversation.

4. Start with an ending of the story at least in mind and then write characters and a plot that with take the story to that ending. There are other ways to write, but this method will almost always work and gives the story "flow" and "continuity".

5. Maintain consistency in the personalities of the characters of a story or give them a reasonable excuse for changing. Men don't change from domineering assholes into gentle, caring men without a very believable reason. Women don't change from quiet and shy to sexual dynamos in bed without a very believable reason.

 

[StillStunned]

I wonder what a porn director would say the difference is.

 

[intim8]

I wonder what a porn director would say the difference is.

For one, it's more fun to watch the process...

I'd guess that a porn director would say pretty much the same things most people here have. They're under no delusions what they are doing and who they are doing it for. Then they would point to their paycheck.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Have you tried reading yet?

You can make it as porn-like as you please, or do it differently. There have been many discussions here debating the difference. I wouldn't read too much of what is already on here. There is no formula to follow; everybody does it differently. If you follow your own instincts, you should do okay. We can't tell you much more than that.

 

[gunhilltrain]

What makes a good story?

Set the scene. Build up the tension first. Just like a third date with a sexy person. You both know what's coming later, but you are still at the restaurant, flirting and getting excited.

Don't forget the other senses. Tell me how something looks, but also how it smells and tastes. What's the texture? How does it feel in your hand? Things porn can't explain.

Keep it generic. I describe most characters (especially my main character) as little as possible, so you can insert yourself into the situation. Maybe you (the reader) have a thing for redheads. The love interest in the story is always a redhead in your mind, if the author hasn't said otherwise.
With porn you know what someone looks like exactly. You lose the ability to add your imagination.

Finally, there is a reason taboo/incest is one of the most popular categories. It's something you can read about, but not watch. Write things that are impossible in porn. Especially if it's impossible in real life. Write about the dude who fucks a martian!

Keeping it too generic is one thing I probably wouldn't agree with. True, you don't have to over describe the characters. (Please don't specify the woman's bra size, assuming there is a woman in it.) In my experience, however, having some fairly specific time and place usually works very well.

 

[SimonDoom]

I am a very visual person, but I also enjoy words, so I think written erotica has at least some advantages over visual porn:

1. The pleasure of words. Not everybody is into this, but I am. There is pleasure in the sound and meaning of words, and when a skilled author uses words in the right way to convey a scene, it's a unique pleasure that a video cannot convey.
2. Imagination. The author's advantage is NOT having to show everything, but to tell enough to create a scene and let the reader's imagination fill in the rest. I think this is a significant advantage with erotica, because our erotic tastes are all so different. A skillful author can appeal to a wide variety of tastes by being clever about what is written and what is left out.
3. Interior dialogue and feelings. So much of what is erotic is what is FELT, rather than just what happens. The author has the advantage here. Conveying interior feelings in a video can be tricky or hokey. But an author has almost limitless ways to convey to the reader what a character is thinking and feeling.
4. Delving into background, setting, and motive. The author's tool kit is bigger here. The filmmaker has to visually depict scenes, which take time to do right, while the author has wide latitude to cover related material to tell the story.

 

[MillieDynamite]

@MissPython, if you get it figured out, let me know how. I've been stumbling in the dark for a lot of years now.

 

[EmilyMiller]

so my question is, what is good about erotic litterature, what is arousing, what can be better that a simple porn video?

I like porn and I like erotic literature.

Then I like champagne and I like rum cocktails.

They have different purposes.

What makes good erotic literature?

1. Characters who you either believe in, or are willing to suspend disbelief in
2. Situations and worlds and character motivations that are at least self-consistent (even in my first person strokers, the woman addressing the reader is at least self-consistent)
3. Outside of pure strokers, a plot that carries you along
4. Again outside strokers, sex that means something to the people engaged in it
5. An emotional dimension (even if it’s a quick fuck)
6. An attempt to use language in a way that draws the reader in (many ways to do this)

 

[lustychimera]

A bit... I maybe not get the good ones...

I always find that weird the way writers elaborate so much on the sexual act...
I didn't find romantic or arousing ones...

I think the trick is to become desensitized to the stigma of sexual descriptions so you can appreciate the story underneath. And read stories where the act itself is showing the character progression—as in, it's an active part of the narrative—rather than it being portrayed as a fan service side tangent. At least, that's what does it for me.

 

[AchtungNight]

As others have said, characters and plot can be further developed and emotions can be better shown in erotic stories. You can also include characters with non sexual roles if you like. And you can also incorporate incest beyond step family members.

 

[MelissaBaby]

A bit... I maybe not get the good ones...

I always find that weird the way writers elaborate so much on the sexual act...
I didn't find romantic or arousing ones...

In my view, the trick is to not write stories about sex, but to write stories about people who have sex.

 

[StillStunned]

In my view, the trick is to not write stories about sex, but to write stories about people who have sex.

Or people who watch people having sex. Or listen to them. Or think about them.

(Just a teaser for a story that's almost ready, about a blind voyeur.)

 

[MelissaBaby]

Or people who watch people having sex. Or listen to them. Or think about them.

(Just a teaser for a story that's almost ready, about a blind voyeur.)

How about "people who have sexual interests"?