The boring bits of writing erotica

[DeMont]

Good evening dear colleagues, I trust all are as well as can be?

In writing "a stroker" there is probably no room for the mundane, or "ordinary" parts of existence - that would be somewhat counterproductive. However if you are, like me, currently embroiled in something a little longer, or setting a situation that requires some of the "regularity" of every day life how do you approach that inclusion?

Ordinarily I would use a "Plot planner" such as below, (original model adapted from 'for-the-teacher') and build from the different sections after high-lighting the particular plot curve I plan to use. For some reason this one is getting away from me and I can already see the "Right lane ends 1 mile ahead" signs. Knowing this I have the prime chance to divert now. Would anyone like to offer a suggestion or two to "save" this Literotica story?
Deepest respects,
D.

 

[THBGato]

However if you are, like me, currently embroiled in something a little longer, or setting a situation that requires some of the "regularity" of every day life how do you approach that inclusion?

So you've got to use those regular ordinary moments to show something about the characters and/or their relationship.

For example: it's a recurring trope in lesbian stories here that the couple will, before becoming a couple, do the washing up together after sharing a meal. It's possibly a way to foreshadow future domestic bliss, and is often also a way for the formerly straight woman of the two to get used to being in close proximity to her future lover. It's an ordinary, yet often intimate scene, full of innocent-but-not-really touches.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

setting a situation that requires some of the "regularity" of every day life

It’s not really true that strokers contain very little background information. I’ve read many fast-paced strokers that seamlessly weave the “boring” bits into the story. The trick isn’t to dump all the info at the start, but to reveal it naturally through dialogue or even during the spicier scenes.

For example, if one of the lesbians is a professor, a line like this can show what her job is like without writing much.

Character A: “Have you marked the essays yet? How many As did you give this time?”

Character B: “You know how college students are—most of them put in zero effort. But there’s one girl who wrote a really good essay. I’m thinking of giving her an A.”

This approach works much better than a long paragraph explaining how she became a professor, what she teaches, or her daily schedule.

Another example—Stephen King said this in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft:

I’m not particularly keen on writing which exhaustively
describes the physical characteristics of the people in the
story and what they’re wearing (I find wardrobe inventory
particularly irritating; if I want to read descriptions of clothes,
I can always get a J. Crew catalogue). I can’t remember many
cases where I felt I had to describe what the people in a story
of mine looked like—I’d rather let the reader supply the
faces, the builds, and the clothing as well. If I tell you that
Carrie White is a high school outcast with a bad complexion
and a fashion-victim wardrobe, I think you can do the rest,
can’t you? I don’t need to give you a pimple-by-pimple,
skirt-by-skirt rundown. We all remember one or more high
school losers, after all; if I describe mine, it freezes out yours,
and I lose a little bit of the bond of understanding I want to
forge between us.

Don’t feel like you need to spell everything out for readers to understand your characters.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'd like somebody to give me an example of what they consider a very good "stroker." Sometimes I feel like we're having a conversation about the White Whale, or Bigfoot. Everybody's sure that it exists, and they talk about it as though they know exactly what its properties are, but nobody ever gives evidence of a single example.

I have no idea how to give helpful advice at this level of abstraction.

Generally, for me, the most difficult part of the story to write is the sex, because I've done it so much at this point and it's repetitive. The other parts are easier. I'm not sure what the "mundane" is. My general advice, without knowing the details that apply to this story, is to leave out anything you consider mundane and only write what's interesting.

 

[StillStunned]

For example: it's a recurring trope in lesbian stories here that the couple will, before becoming a couple, do the washing up together after sharing a meal. It's possibly a way to foreshadow future domestic bliss, and is often also a way for the formerly straight woman of the two to get used to being in close proximity to her future lover. It's an ordinary, yet often intimate scene, full of innocent-but-not-really touches.

Uh-oh, is that where I went wrong with "Sweet Dreams, Poppy"? Did the dishwashing scene lead readers to expect a lesbian relationship, despite the "not all women want lesbian sex" tag?

But returning to the OP's question...

In writing "a stroker" there is probably no room for the mundane, or "ordinary" parts of existence - that would be somewhat counterproductive.

I disagree with this. A sex scene is a sex scene, whether or not it springs from a mundane moment. Just make sure that leap from the mundane to the sex is a plausible one.

However if you are, like me, currently embroiled in something a little longer, or setting a situation that requires some of the "regularity" of every day life how do you approach that inclusion?

Keep the details to a minimum, but rely on repetition. If your story consists of three scenes on successive days, or successive weeks, or something, provide just enough description to establish the character's routine for the day or week or event, and then make sure that you use the same details the next time, and the time after that. Add small variations that build up the tension and show the character's shifting focus or perceptions. This helps your reader prepare mentally for the story's eventual climax.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm going to pontificate more, to follow up on my last point.

There's a lot of discussion in this forum about "strokers" versus longer, more complex, more developed stories.

Stories have different lengths, but a good story is a good story. A longer story doesn't have to be padded with stuff you regard as "mundane." Every word should be essential to the story you want to tell, so in that sense every word should be fun and exciting. And the converse is true, that in a short story of no more than 2000 words there's plenty of room to add realistic details and portray the interaction between two people in a way that makes it more interesting and more erotic. The mere mechanics of fucking do not make a story "erotic," in my opinion. It's the other stuff that makes it more erotic, and I think that's true whether a story is 2000 words or 200,000 words. It's all the same. It's a story.

 

[Statius]

I have several strokers. There is story in all of them and one is quite long, 'Miss Vickie'. I keep the mundane as you say, kinda humorous, although there is some internal conflict I did not dwell on it, just in passing, and usually the dialogue turns from mundane to innuendo if not just about sex. Keep the mood light and make sure the characters do and say things that lead to intense, long sex scenes.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I plot extensively, especially in longer stories.

I never use any sort of plot graph. I just have ideas for scenes and jot down notes for them. Then I order the notes and connect them up with more notes. Then sometimes reorder a couple of things. I flesh out come scenes which gives me more details into the characters and their motives and leads to more ideas to add to the plot skeleton. Sometimes the skeleton fills in nearly complete fairly easily. Other times there are large gaps for a long time until I write enough to get the ideas to fill them and connect things.

I don't look for any specific shape to the plot. I am just aware of how many ups and downs are in it, and so long as I can keep it moving up and down and up and down and end up where I want to at the finish, that's all that counts.

As for the mundane, it should not drive the story but the mundane can be a great tool as juxtaposition for the fireworks. Exciting things can happen to normal everyday people.

 

[TheRedChamber]

For example: it's a recurring trope in lesbian stories here that the couple will, before becoming a couple, do the washing up together after sharing a meal.

I've only written three stories in the lesbian category and I was completely unaware of this rule. One of them does indeed include a washing-up scene. It must be some fundamental rule of the universe.

 

[Statius]

I've only written three stories in the lesbian category and I was completely unaware of this rule. One of them does indeed include a washing-up scene. It must be some fundamental rule of the universe.

Washing dishes/ cleaning up after a meal creates a psychological and emotional bond, just like cooking together does.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I wrote a whole essay about this but instead of rising falling action (which does have it's place as a structural analysis 'tool') I tend to look at what each stage of the story is promising the reader and how it is progressing and paying off these promises. Every scene should have a purpose in the story and the reader find it fairly easy to grasp the promise of each section (in a stroker these sections might be 'the couple meet...the couple fuck...the couple part', in a long work some chapters might stills seem like a diversion, but still it becomes clear quickly that the point of chapter seven is (as maybe) 'we meet a strange new character from the MC's past' with the promise that this character will have deeds to do later on.

Domestic bliss is fine and a certain amount of telling your reader how happy the MCs are through periods of domestic bliss are okay as well, but it's best to have that in mind as you write.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Washing dishes/ cleaning up after a meal creates a psychological and emotional bond, just like cooking together does.

Yes, but now @THBGato has got me paranoid if any of my heterosexual characters have ever bonded over the washing up and what that would say about me as a writer. I've got seventy-odd published stories so I'm not checking each and every one. There's definitely a plot point in one of my drafts where neither of my nerds has done the washing up.

(P.S. In case of doubt, I'm really not taking this seriously)

 

[Statius]

Yes, but now @THBGato has got me paranoid if any of my heterosexual characters have ever bonded over the washing up and what that would say about me as a writer. I've got seventy-odd published stories so I'm not checking each and every one. There's definitely a plot point in one of my drafts where neither of my nerds has done the washing up.

(P.S. In case of doubt, I'm really not taking this seriously)

 

[SimonDoom]

I have several strokers. There is story in all of them and one is quite long, 'Miss Vickie'. I keep the mundane as you say, kinda humorous, although there is some internal conflict I did not dwell on it, just in passing, and usually the dialogue turns from mundane to innuendo if not just about sex. Keep the mood light and make sure the characters do and say things that lead to intense, long sex scenes.

Miss Vickie is over 30,000 words long. How is that a "stroker"? That's longer than any standalone story I've written. This illustrates the problem I'm having with the conversation. I have no idea what people are talking about, and people won't say. A dialogue about writing stories is totally meaningless if it's carried on in the abstract. It's all about the actual words and the details of the story, and it's impossible to have that conversation if we're not talking about real stories rather than abstract concepts.

 

[Statius]

Miss Vickie is over 30,000 words long. How is that a "stroker"? That's longer than any standalone story I've written. This illustrates the problem I'm having with the conversation. I have no idea what people are talking about, and people won't say. A dialogue about writing stories is totally meaningless if it's carried on in the abstract. It's all about the actual words and the details of the story, and it's impossible to have that conversation if we're not talking about real stories rather than abstract concepts

It is. And I'm not asking you to read it lol. It's 1st p POV. And from the get go it's all about sex. Divorced woman, college graduate daughter who for multiple reasons isn't into monogamous relationships. They are stated within the first few paragraphs. 30,000 word long story short , it's group sex without incest. Most of the conversations revolve around sex, most of the scene situations revolve around sex. It's extreme, unrealistic, but within bounds if that makes sense; and the humor. There are maybe 4? Sex scenes. Voyuer, masturbation, one to one, and finally a group. The humor keeps the reader interested. Strokers are about fun, teasing and sex.

 

[Statius]

Or my 'Game Of Pool'. Length isn't the issue, it's the mentality I think.

 

[StillStunned]

Miss Vickie is over 30,000 words long. How is that a "stroker"? That's longer than any standalone story I've written. This illustrates the problem I'm having with the conversation. I have no idea what people are talking about, and people won't say. A dialogue about writing stories is totally meaningless if it's carried on in the abstract. It's all about the actual words and the details of the story, and it's impossible to have that conversation if we're not talking about real stories rather than abstract concepts.

The way I see it, erotica can largely be broken down into three basic categories: plot-driven, character-driven and sex-driven stories. A sex-driven story would be a stroker.

I don't think it's impossible to write a long story that's sex-driven, but you'd need to find ways to keep the sexy bits exciting. One sex scene after another will have the reader clicking away after the first few strokes (as it were). Red Hot (9.4k words) and The Walled Garden (10.3k words) are probably the longest ones I've written, and the sex requires considerable support from character and, to a lesser extent, plot.

Not A Soul (9.8k words) I'd probably describe as plot-driven, so despite the multiple sex scenes I wouldn't call it a stroker. Annie's Inhibition Removal Therapy (8.5k words) and Sweet Dreams, Poppy (6.8k words) are more character-driven, again despite each featuring multiple sex scenes.

 

[Statius]

Its pornography. Some people like clips, some movies.
And considering my lack of writing skills 'Miss Vickie' has done pretty well.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'd like somebody to give me an example of what they consider a very good "stroker." Sometimes I feel like we're having a conversation about the White Whale, or Bigfoot. Everybody's sure that it exists, and they talk about it as though they know exactly what its properties are, but nobody ever gives evidence of a single example.

I set out to write what I thought was a "stroker", with minimal story and plot, straight into the sex. Being me, it ended being a typical EB slow burn story, with a café scene, a bunch of intimacy and emotion, and a character who impressed even the infamous Stacnash.

Having written it, I have no idea whether it's stroker or not. I don't care - it ended up with one of my favourite characters, ever.

Garter Belts and Cigarettes

 

[TheNovelist2000]

For me, the definitions of strokers and non-strokers are simple. Let’s say I come to your home for dinner. If you greet me, we do la bise—a.k.a. a kiss on the cheeks—and then you bring me straight to the dining room and start serving me a spoonful of lasagna, you’re writing a stroker.

But if I come to your home for a meal and you keep me in the living room for an hour, setting the world to rights, telling me about your cactus collection, explaining what recipe you used to cook the meal, or showing me the pans you bought during your trip to Japan, then you’re an asshole who’s self-indulgent. You keep telling me that you’re going to feed me nice and full, and that the wait is all for my benefit—but as I get hungrier and hungrier, I might just stand up and walk out to the KFC down the street. That’s a non-stroker.

You can do both at any length. What defines strokers and non-strokers is how the story makes you feel when you read it.

 

[Statius]

I consider strokers fluff pieces. Light superficial tension, very little psychological depth/ exploration. You can write a long one as long as it entertains, which is why mine include humor. . Sex jokes, innuendo, along those lines, funny predicaments, etc.

 

[TheNovelist2000]

For me, the definitions of strokers and non-strokers are simple. Let’s say I come to your home for dinner. If you greet me, we do la bise—a.k.a. a kiss on the cheeks—and then you bring me straight to the dining room and start serving me a spoonful of lasagna, you’re writing a stroker.

But if I come to your home for a meal and you keep me in the living room for an hour, setting the world to rights, telling me about your cactus collection, explaining what recipe you used to cook the meal, or showing me the pans you bought during your trip to Japan, then you’re an asshole who’s self-indulgent. You keep telling me that you’re going to feed me nice and full, and that the wait is all for my benefit—but as I get hungrier and hungrier, I might just stand up and walk out to the KFC down the street. That’s a non-stroker.

You can do both at any length. What defines strokers and non-strokers is how the story makes you feel when you read it.

Okay, I need to expand on this. It was wrong of me to use the term “non-strokers” for the description I wrote above. In fact, a better term would be “Yappers”—for stories that like to yap. I wasn’t talking about slow burns when I used the term “non-strokers.” They’re a completely different breed.

To continue with the analogy above, slow burns are like being invited to dinner. The host brings you straight into the kitchen, but what awaits you are multiple courses—appetizers, drinks, fruits, and other rich-people stuff—before they finally bring out the steak and potatoes. So, in my opinion, we have strokers, slow burns and yappers, and if you write yappers, you are very self-indulgent.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I'd like somebody to give me an example of what they consider a very good "stroker." Sometimes I feel like we're having a conversation about the White Whale, or Bigfoot. Everybody's sure that it exists, and they talk about it as though they know exactly what its properties are, but nobody ever gives evidence of a single example.

I have no idea how to give helpful advice at this level of abstraction.

Generally, for me, the most difficult part of the story to write is the sex, because I've done it so much at this point and it's repetitive. The other parts are easier. I'm not sure what the "mundane" is. My general advice, without knowing the details that apply to this story, is to leave out anything you consider mundane and only write what's interesting.

I have the same question but I'm still not really seeing an answer to it. Folks are linking to stories but then explicitly saying they aren't really strokers. Before I saw you already asked, I was considering starting a thread on it. Mind if I spin off a thread for our mutual question? It would help me answer a question I have for myself....do I write strokers?

 

[Statius]

I have the same question but I'm still not really seeing an answer to it. Folks are linking to stories but then explicitly saying they aren't really strokers. Before I saw you already asked, I was considering starting a thread on it. Mind if I spin off a thread for our mutual question? It would help me answer a question I have for myself....do I write strokers?

My 'A Game Of Pool' pt1 and 3 'Miss Vickie'. 'Of Amoral Character'. All strokers.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

My 'A Game Of Pool' pt1 and 3 'Miss Vickie'. 'Of Amoral Character'. All strokers.

I've been meaning to ask as well, did you get your screenname from the Latin (I think?) poet?