Note to Self: Get to the Sex

[luv2custrip]

I generally try to let the sex happen naturally. I have a plot line in my head and— I just let the characters take over.
There is one story “My Naked Wife…” in which I deliberately tried to make the second half include all kinds of sex.
For me, no hard and fast rules; it varies by story.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I plan everything around the sex. I come to it with a fair idea of what scenes I'm looking for and between whom and what kinks are involved. I fill the space between them with story. I try to make it feel seamless and organic, the getting from one to another. It's worked out pretty well so far. I try to not get formulaic, sometimes things get abbreviated or lengthened for the sake of flow.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

If you want ratings in general, put the smut ratio up - as high as possible.

There are exceptions of course. The category matters. If you write in Horror, the readers are willing to wait for the sex if you give horror and suspense elements while they wait. If you write in Romance, you can give nice filler fluff for a while before getting naked. Sci-fi and fantasy, you can get away with long stretches of smutless plot if you provide the necessary aliens and laser guns or swords and dragons in between, for instance. It's largely a world building genre after all so if you build an interesting enough world the readers can still be happy with less sexy bits.

Novels/Novellas is the one category where plot and character development are actually expected, since these things are part of the brief, so there's that.

The other main exception is if you have a following. If you've been writing here for years and you have hundreds of regular followers, they will read you just because your name is on it, and if they really are true fans of your style they will trust you with less smut because they know that you delivered before. In short, you've earned it with them.

But overall, the vast majority of the nameless clickers out there scanning the new lists and searching tags want something kinky - now! - and they don't want your story getting in the way of their quest. They don't want your subtlety, they don't want your character depth and they certainly don't want your maguffin. They want you to hit them over the head with a unicorn.

 

[Mr_Neb]

There is an old adage that relates to engineers and it has to do with the question of the glass being half empty or half full. Engineers (guilty as charged) tend to look at things differently. The engineer's answer is that the glass is too big, or more precisely, it's twice as big as it needs to be.

How does that relate to the OP's question? When and how often there is a sex scene (or any scene for that matter) in a story should not be determined by the set size of the word-count glass but rather when and as often and it needs to occur. Let your story unfold, either in your head or on paper or in the computer. Sure, you want your characters to eventually engage in some sexual activity but let it occur naturally. You (as God or the omnipotent being of your choice) can create the situations and motivations but they will take as many words as they take. Then the characters will progress through the scene as they should depending on how you have defined them.

Sex scenes in a story that occur because a word count is eminent and not from natural story development will seem forced and awkward for reader. It will take then out of the story and into your head. Same for scenes that are postponed unnecessarily because some arbitrary word count hasn't been reached. If it makes sense for the characters to get jiggy, then that's when they should.

Main point made but here is more about how I feel about writing. I used to love the computer game Sim City. In it, you would create this early town/village/city. Once it reached a certain point, the Sims would move in and stuff would begin to happen. You could only go so far. Eventually it would be up to what the Sims did as to whether or not the city would thrive and be successful.

For me, writing is like playing Sim City player. With some overall objective I create the basis for the story. There are certain events that I hope will occur during the story and some outcome for the end. I start writing to create the circumstances in which the characters would naturally behave the way I eventually want them to. Sometime (quite often though) I am faced with a dilemma. Once I get there, it is not natural for the characters to behave the way I initially wanted them to behave, given the circumstances at that moment in the story. Crap! Now I have to either be OK with how they would behalve or go back and adjust the circumstances so that they can now do what it is I wanted them to do. The latter option might take more words or less likely, require that I remove parts of the story.

This is just me. I am not a professional writter. I have published nothing so I have no bone fides that would mean anything to anyone. None of this may apply to anyone other than me but there it is. As a favorite YouTuber of mine would say, "That's all I have now. Go away now!"

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

For me, writing is like playing Sim City

My Sims tend to riot, set the city on fire, then, inexpicably, get decimated by an alien invasion or a giant killer robot...

 

[Euphony]

My Sims tend to riot, set the city on fire, then, inexpicably, get decimated by an alien invasion or a giant killer robot...

Sims

Days WITHOUT infidelity: 0

 

[dmallord]

I literally just write until sex happens and continue as the story does.

No plan, no approach, no cares in when or how the sex happens.

It has never occurred to me that x should happen by y...

Pantzer! That works, too!

 

[Djmac1031]

I can see taking 7k words to get to a sex scene. Hell, depending on the story, I can see it taking longer.

My question becomes: what's happening in the 7k words building up to it?

Hopefully introducing interesting characters, world building, setting up a plot, things to keep readers invested.

I get this is LE, so sex is expected. And perhaps that taints how many of us tell our stories, or at least the ones we read or write HERE.

That said, a story can sink or swim on the first 1k words, let alone 7k, if the writer isn't giving the audience anything to latch on to.

 

[EroticCupcake]

Not to pick on any particular person, but the controversy in this thread is about a (somewhat arbitrary) word count. This is surprising, and if OP opinion matters (it doesn't), the specifics matter less to me than finding alternative ways to review my own work and find better angles.

I'm really enjoying releasing things chapter by chapter, and doing everything in my power to get engagement with each one, even if it's setup.

I'm not saying this is THE most important thing, but I can imagine a world where I would put these constraints on a non-erotic work. I need to deliver the promise of the story (in this case sex or at least eroticism) in every chapter, or be very intentional why I didn't.

I tested out a 750 word challenge that I'll likely never publish, but just the exercise made me look at language different.

 

[TadOverdon]

If you post a long work in chapters in a category like I/T, any chapter that does not contain incest will get dinged by readers. I once had one of twelve chapters in a book moved to a different category by the admins.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

How much sex should there be in a piece of written erotica, compared to the amount of story? Some proclaim the importance of having plenty of time for build-up, before getting down to the sex. Some exhibit barely-disguised scorn for stories which contain “too much” sex, or where the sex is not embedded within a long build-up process. The implication can be that too much sex must necessarily push out other important aspects of story-telling, such as character-building, plot, settings etc.; in brief, too much sex is “pornographic”.

This line of thought can lead us down some unfortunate blind alleys, because it is predicated upon the mistaken assumption that a sex story is principally about sex, and that therefore its structure is defined by the sex; therefore, too much sex necessarily detracts from other things. However, sex writing is not a zero-sum game. My writing contains lots of sex: sometimes the fucking starts in paragraph one - or sooner. But the story is really about more important things, and therefore structured around more important things. If I know what I am trying to say, then the sex will fit in: it will show its true purpose as stylistic raw material for story-telling – for creating metaphor and gesture about the world we live in and the way we live in it.

In brief, lots of sex can help to tell a fucking good story.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have read a lot of Literotica stories over the last 20+ years, and I cannot say that I have seen any particular connection between how quickly a story gets to intercourse and a higher score. Readers are all over the map and are very difficult to make generalizations about. I've seen some slow buildup stories that do extremely well. In fact, stories that win contests tend to be somewhat longer, with more buildup and character development. It may be that contest stories draw a different sort of readership, but that's pure speculation.

It matters a whole lot whether you write a) stories with a non-sex plot that have episodes of sex in them, or b) stories where a sexual encounter/experience is the central point of the story. As far as I can tell, there are many stories of type (a), and they often do extremely well, and there doesn't seem to be any need to make sure that sex scenes dot the story at regular intervals. I more often read stories of type (b), and those are the types of stories I almost exclusively write. I more or less write with myself in mind as the reader: what would I like? I'll stretch things out if it seems really important to the story and/or I think I can maintain erotic interest and titillation. I'd say my stories usually have something "sexual" happen within 7000 words, though often not intercourse. In an exhibitionism story, for instance, readers get off reading about characters being naked in public. They don't necessarily have to have sex in public. In my exhibitionism stories they usually have sex by the end of the story, but getting them naked and exposed earlier on seems like enough to sustain erotic interest.

It all depends on the needs of the particular story, and also on what YOU like.

 

[RainyDayPen]

Someone once got annoyed with me for too much plot when there was about a 600 word area without a sexual scene (I write fetish stuff so it's not always literal sex, but you get the picture.)

I think slow-burn romance readers do give a writer more time. anyone else besides that genre of erotica/romance has to focus much more heavily on the sexual stuff.

 

[EroticCupcake]

My first long story had a "mistake" in that I had backstory I should have shifted to a later chapter.

My next one probably overcompensated by opening with a sex scene without context before getting to the real topic at hand.

The no context sex scene is "clumsy" but I may do it again. I think this was brought up elsewhere (maybe in this thread), it may be reasonable to immediately show an audience "this is how I write sex scenes" so they can opt in or out.

This ties back in to themes of this thread about not being formulaic and letting the story find itself, but maybe something like a cold open of sex should be my baseline and I should just try to be super good at it.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

Correction to your post:

Lots of sex can help you tell a good fucking story.

Or my favorite wording:

Lots of sex can help you tell a fucking good fucking story.

Or, fuck-loads of fucking can fucking help you fucking tell a fucking good story.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

*never pass up an opportunity to add an extra fuck*

No such thing as too many fucks...

 

[dadadadiox]

My two MCs had a five year affair over thirty chapters where they had sex five times. The emotional affair, the phone calls, lunch dates and happy hours, where they talked about sex and their dysfunctional relationship ran through the story. They had phone sex. They discussed their other sex partners and remained connected without sex. Just because your two characters are not having sex doesn’t mean you can’t have sex in the story.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Just remember there are no hard and fast rules.

Except when the sex is hard…and possibly…fast.

 

[EroticCupcake]

My two MCs had a five year affair over thirty chapters where they had sex five times. The emotional affair, the phone calls, lunch dates and happy hours, where they talked about sex and their dysfunctional relationship ran through the story. They had phone sex. They discussed their other sex partners and remained connected without sex. Just because your two characters are not having sex doesn’t mean you can’t have sex in the story.

Yeah, I'm interested in how to structure story to honor genre convention while still writing what I want to write.

I think there is something to honoring the genre, even if we make specific choices to follow our story. There is less skill in saying "fuck these stupid readers they don't get my genius" compared to balancing everything I want and everything they want (at least in theory). If I want to write something great and I'm writing erotica, I need to acknowledge this tension try to master it.

 

[EroticCupcake]

For me ( I emphasize that this is my personal preference as a smut reader), some guidelines that make a good erotic tale are:
1. A delicious promise made quickly
2. A payoff that respects the promise
3. Most important for me - a payoff that is surprising given the promise (in a gratifying way).

A version of this may be better than my original title. Do I know what the genre demands? If I'm choosing to flaunt convention, it is a risk I should take intentionally.

This is not the stuff I worry about while writing, but checking genre expectation is something I worry about after first draft.

I'm trying to write a straight romance (first for me). After my review, I realize there is no tension beyond sex. This is true, but not critical.

The critical thing (I think) is that the audience needs to fall in love with the romantic lead. Every word in my story before I introduce her is dangerous.

I'm not so sure I appreciated this risk. Now that I have articulated it, I'm going to cut everything possible to get boy and girl in the room together asap.

 

[Britva415]

The critical thing (I think) is that the audience needs to fall in love with the romantic lead. Every word in my story before I introduce her is dangerous.

Is that the only person in the story? If she's not first, then wouldn't there be some other person introduced first? Can't that person be interesting, even if they aren't the "lead?"

 

[EroticCupcake]

Is that the only person in the story? If she's not first, then wouldn't there be some other person introduced first? Can't that person be interesting, even if they aren't the "lead?"

It is first person MMC. He has backstory, but I'm going to cut it or move it to get FMC in as soon as possible. I'm still learning, but this feels right.

 

[MicheleNylons]

I'm interested in applying lessons from writing erotica to broader writing.

I set a rule for myself to have a sex scene every 7,000 words (or less). If I were writing something non-erotic, I would look to replicate some version of this rule, because it is helped me find a better story.

I am trying to write a longish story that takes place over a 6 year period where boy and girl are wildly in love, but a combination of circumstances keep them apart (including mistrust.) If they have sex in year 5, how the hell am I going to write this?

My solution was to add a frame story. It opens with MMC being questioned / investigated, and the first question is "where is FMC?" MMC doesn't know, and has some paranoia that maybe she set him up.

Now I can flash back to sex scenes as necessary to deliver on the promise of an erotic story. However, even without the self imposed requirement to find the sex, this is a better story. Better to introduce paranoia ASAP, especially since the specific event that causes it isn't revealed until later.

To me there is a kind of lesson to give the audience a taste of what they want within 7k words, even if that thing isn't sex.

Me, within a thousand words.

The story I am currently writing doesn't have a sex scene until around the 7000 word mark.

This is because I'm working on character development and establishing what I hope is an intriguing plot that will draw the readers in.

My stories generally fall into two categories: single part stroke stories or novellas. In my stroke stories I generally get straight to the sex because, well, it's a stroke story.

In my multi-part stories I endeavor to get one or two extended sex scenes in each chapter.

Also, in my multi-part stories the sex needs to be supportive of the story line, not just plonked there so that readers can take time out to have a wank!

When I'm crafting a novella I will often take a break and write a quick stroke story just to get something posted to keep my fan base happy and sometimes these little sex-filled vignettes can surprisingly be very well received. My story Spin The Bottle is a case in point.

 

[MicheleNylons]

The story I am currently writing doesn't have a sex scene until around the 7000 word mark.

This is because I'm working on character development and establishing what I hope is an intriguing plot that will draw the readers in.

My stories generally fall into two categories: single part stroke stories or novellas. In my stroke stories I generally get straight to the sex because, well, it's a stroke story.

In my multi-part stories I endeavor to get one or two extended sex scenes in each chapter.

Also, in my multi-part stories the sex needs to be supportive of the story line, not just plonked there so that readers can take time out to have a wank!

When I'm crafting a novella I will often take a break and write a quick stroke story just to get something posted to keep my fan base happy and sometimes these little sex-filled vignettes can surprisingly be very well received. My story Spin The Bottle is a case in point.

 

[EroticCupcake]

I'm final editing a Romance story. I think the genre demand is to fall in love with the object of affection as soon as possible, and (for this genre) the sex should wait. I'll post the story when it is released, and probably link it here. Someone tell me if I am obviously wrong, otherwise we'll see how it does.