10 writing rules we wish erotic ficion authors would break

[Allyourbase]

10 writing rules we wish erotic fiction authors would break

I'm a sucker for the list-type articles - one of the unfortunate side-effects of making media. So, not entirely coincidentallly I stumbled upon a list on io9 of '10 writing rules we wish more science fiction and fantasy authors would break'

I wondered what a list like that would look like for erotic fiction authors. That sounds like 'what irks you in a story'-type things, but those are about whether authors follow the rules for a 'good' story or not. Let's shake up those rules, I mean.

For example, maybe something can be said for breaking these (of course, people break these already, with varying success):

- must contain/end with an orgasm

- flirting works

- bodies are desireable

- no backing out of an impending sex scene or regrets afterwards

- the sex/gender of a character is clear

I, for one, would be interested in reading about blue balls, foot in mouth-moments, disappointments, second thoughts, ambiguity. And when done right, those stories might even end up sexy after all. But I might be weird.

Tell me some rules you wish erotic fiction authors would break!


ETA Hahahaha, typo in the thread title! Here's a rule I didn't intend to break. Oh well.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm a sucker for the list-type articles - one of the unfortunate side-effects of making media. So, not entirely coincidentallly I stumbled upon a list on io9 of '10 writing rules we wish more science fiction and fantasy authors would break'

I wondered what a list like that would look like for erotic fiction authors. That sounds like 'what irks you in a story'-type things, but those are about whether authors follow the rules for a 'good' story or not. Let's shake up those rules, I mean.

For example, maybe something can be said for breaking these (of course, people break these already, with varying success):

- must contain/end with an orgasm

- flirting works

- bodies are desireable

- no backing out of an impending sex scene or regrets afterwards

- the sex/gender of a character is clear

I, for one, would be interested in reading about blue balls, foot in mouth-moments, disappointments, second thoughts, ambiguity. And when done right, those stories might even end up sexy after all. But I might be weird.

Tell me some rules you wish erotic fiction authors would break!


ETA Hahahaha, typo in the thread title! Here's a rule I didn't intend to break. Oh well.

I break the " no one ever has to piss in the morning rule" I know its a detail no one outside of the watersports fetish want to know about, but it annoys me when it is left out.

I don't describe the act just "she used the bathroom" also if this is a detail which annoys the reader, I make light of it by having the character think "This doesn't happen in the movies"

I also when I had the woman use the bathroom tossed in another realistic moment always left out. and that is I have her look in the mirror and take a minute to wash off last nights makeup.

 

[oggbashan]

One rule I've broken: No dandruff.

It features in one of my Silverbridge stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

One rule I've broken: No dandruff.

It features in one of my Silverbridge stories.

Now were you really daring and have the person with dandruff wearing a black shirt or coat so the flakes would be even more obvious

 

[Allyourbase]

I break the " no one ever has to piss in the morning rule" I know its a detail no one outside of the watersports fetish want to know about, but it annoys me when it is left out.

I don't describe the act just "she used the bathroom" also if this is a detail which annoys the reader, I make light of it by having the character think "This doesn't happen in the movies"

I also when I had the woman use the bathroom tossed in another realistic moment always left out. and that is I have her look in the mirror and take a minute to wash off last nights makeup.

Good ones. My pet peeve in all kinds of fiction is that often nobody seems to get hungry or thirsty. Especially in crime series, where the grumpy detective gets an urgent phone call and leaves his breakfast! Dude, really? I would totally take it with me!

 

[Allyourbase]

One rule I've broken: No dandruff.

It features in one of my Silverbridge stories.

*grin*

uhm, sexy

ETA: so this, yea, is the kind of realism that often lacks

 

[lovecraft68]

Another rule that I went against is my lead female did not have the large tits and perfect body of most erotica characters.

She was a little on the thinner side with very small tits, which were the butt of some peoples jokes throughout the series. She also had a smile that was a bit crooked so she was really more the attainable girl next door type than the hot goddess of most stories.

 

[Innuendos]

Rules like those are a lot of fun to play around with, and you can plenty of material out of them. While I'm guilty of sticking to the desirability rule, my lead females are overshadowed in the looks department by the main supporting character, and while not necessarily a source of regrets, a girl-on-girl v/e scenario was a bit of a disappointment to everyone involved.

Don't necessarily have to counter the "rules" with anti-rules, I guess, but it's entertaining to fiddle around in the middle ground between the two of them, using "reality" to get the most mileage out of them.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I break these so-called "rules" all the time. I've had females that were over 50, heavy, and sagging; a woman with a figure "like a beach ball with legs"; a male lead that was over 50, pudgy and balding; an over 60 couple; a young female who was so flat-chested her friends called her "surfboard"; a romance where the two main characters never got together; another romance where the female regretted the entire affair; a young male with premature ejaculation problems; and one where the two main characters were repulsed by one another.

Any good writer probably breaks at least one rule every time they write. Otherwise, it becomes formulaic.

 

[Allyourbase]

Yes, trying to write a perfect story can end up pretty formulaic.

So what other unwritten rules could be broken for more fun?

maybe...
- no one cheating ever gets caught in a bad way

 

[RockyMountainErotic]

In some sense these are fantasies so I want to honor that by mostly keeping the bodies desirable and the sexual scenes the sort of thing we (or at least I) wish would happen to me - a threesome with two porn star beautiful women, for example. I have broken the attractiveness rule, the moral ambiguity rules and the rules about no consequences and I'm continuing to explore those i the series I am working on. I also wrote a chapter with some masturbation "off-camera" for lack of a better term, and nothing else. That was actually fun

 

[Stella_Omega]

Actually, you could break the same rules as in the io9 article-- in erotic fiction as well as in sci fi.

And especially, in erotic sci fi.

 

[Neonurotic]

I like to add quirky little things in stories, like the one main character had an OCD of washing hands. Another character had stale cigar breath and cigar burn holes in his shirt, etc. I did one time write a story without orgasm, the female character tossed a bottle of lube to the male character leaving it up to him to finish himself as she had to get back to work then the story ended there with his frustration. I got a lot of feedback, most of it was feedback telling me what an asshole I was for not having an orgasm in the story. So obviously a lot of readers want unrealistic and perfection.

Imperfect is interesting. Stepford wives/husbands type stories are snooze and I don't read or write them.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I did one time write a story without orgasm, the female character tossed a bottle of lube to the male character leaving it up to him to finish himself as she had to get back to work then the story ended there with his frustration.

I love it. That's stepping outside the box.

 

[Allyourbase]

Actually, you could break the same rules as in the io9 article-- in erotic fiction as well as in sci fi.

And especially, in erotic sci fi.

Yes, agreed. In fact, I kinda thought of making this thread after reading the io9 article because I edit Kurokami's erotic sci-fi fanfic.

I like the 'consider infodumps'-tip, for example. Sometimes it really is just better to tell in stead of show.

No present tense is certainly one to break. And I'm writing a story in second person right now. Just because the general idea is that it will be awkward, and I want to see if there's a way to do it right. But, uh, I wouldn't put all your money on it. Fun to try though.

The no unsympathetic characters thing, is that for real though? I mean, lots of protagonists in erotic fiction are dudes I wouldn't fuck.

 

[Allyourbase]

I did one time write a story without orgasm, the female character tossed a bottle of lube to the male character leaving it up to him to finish himself as she had to get back to work then the story ended there with his frustration. I got a lot of feedback, most of it was feedback telling me what an asshole I was for not having an orgasm in the story. So obviously a lot of readers want unrealistic and perfection.

Imperfect is interesting. Stepford wives/husbands type stories are snooze and I don't read or write them.

I love it. That's stepping outside the box.

Love it too. Sounds interesting.

 

[Handley_Page]

Good ones. My pet peeve in all kinds of fiction is that often nobody seems to get hungry or thirsty. Especially in crime series, where the grumpy detective gets an urgent phone call and leaves his breakfast! Dude, really? I would totally take it with me!

The last slice of toast, perhaps, but not a bowl of cereal, surely ?
Or a decent fry-up ?

 

[jomar]

I break the " no one ever has to piss in the morning rule" I know its a detail no one outside of the watersports fetish want to know about, but it annoys me when it is left out.

I don't describe the act just "she used the bathroom" also if this is a detail which annoys the reader, I make light of it by having the character think "This doesn't happen in the movies"

I also when I had the woman use the bathroom tossed in another realistic moment always left out. and that is I have her look in the mirror and take a minute to wash off last nights makeup.

Haha! This is from my White Trash story...

I stood up and padded a few yards to the kitchen area and because my bladder was screaming bloody murder and she was using the head, I aimed at the sink and drained the lizard in what can only be described as one of life's underrated pleasures. Shit, I even rinsed it out some 'cause I had company over.

Another rule that I went against is my lead female did not have the large tits and perfect body of most erotica characters.

She was a little on the thinner side with very small tits, which were the butt of some peoples jokes throughout the series. She also had a smile that was a bit crooked so she was really more the attainable girl next door type than the hot goddess of most stories.

Double Haha!

More from the same raunchy series:

From one chapter: I got out of my chair and went over to the tiny skank. "Shit, she needs a shower," I thought but didn't say. Tina looked up at me through several strands of her shoulder length, dirty blonde hair. I leaned down, palmed the slut's cunt and massaged it while I mashed my mouth to hers. I jammed my tongue past her slightly crooked teeth and gave her a good scrubbing. My other hand pinched her little nipples.

From another chapter: ..."Damn," I thought looking her over, "She's smoking hot." Tina's little no-see-um tits on her tiny little body were actually pint-sized perfect. My dick started to swell.

 

[Allyourbase]

The last slice of toast, perhaps, but not a bowl of cereal, surely ?
Or a decent fry-up ?

Heh. Good point!

I actually wouldn't leave before I finished my food and coffee in the first place. Because hey, what am I gonna accomplish at a crime scene without a decent level of cafeine in my brain?

 

[RedMonkeyButt]

The no unsympathetic characters thing, is that for real though? I mean, lots of protagonists in erotic fiction are dudes I wouldn't fuck.

One of the main characters in Succubus Rising is not one of the nicer characters. I went into the story knowing my protag was not going to have it easy. She winds up binding herself to her owner... >.> The latest comment I got on it was that the reader actually stopped reading when that happened because they didn't like it, or that he went from an abusive asshole to lovey-dovey (though I didn't try to write him as lovey-dovey). *shrugs*

 

[Innuendos]

Yes, trying to write a perfect story can end up pretty formulaic.

So what other unwritten rules could be broken for more fun?

maybe...
- no one cheating ever gets caught in a bad way

Hmmm, by story type? Couple come to mind that seem to exemplify some stereotypes.

General:


~ Rom:
Those who fall in love, have somehow earned or deserve it
Being physically attractive is an element of romance.

~ NonC:
Orgasm = Consensual
Every M/F who gets blackmailed will indulge in increasingly more socially self-destructive acts that can be videotaped without a clue.
Every M/F will continue to believe their captor, no matter how often that person lies to them.
Secretly, they all want it. (That seems counter-intuitive, but seems to happen an awful lot)
a: A reluctant participant will eventually enjoy it.

~ Mind Control
MC, no matter the device, is a near god-like power with no limitations.
~ MC'ers don't get caught/always win.

~ SciFi
In sexual dystopias, those who rebel are fringe lunatics.
Social progress runs backward while the future moves forward.

~ NonH
You could probably get an endless list of these on a regular fantasy forum and simply cross them over to sexual elements.


... I could go on, but there's so many sexual stereotypes involved in writing erotica, that you could simply pick one, twist it, and create your own plot bunny on demand.

 

[Allyourbase]

oh here's another one:

- no one dies

I haven't broken that one, but I'm now thinking whether I could. Surely in the war/rebellion/post-apocalypse kind people die all the time. But sexy protagonists?

(On second thought, one of the last stories I edited had a traumatic death of a sexy character in it, as a flashback. I liked that.)

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I've broken the 'no-sex' rule so many times that I should probably stop. In one of my series, the first three chapters don't have sex in them (other then a very brief rape scene that isn't described) and somehow it's still my second-most popular series. I also have a stand-alone series with very little sex (and what there is is only vaguely described) but it's still pretty popular because it was story-based.

I've had a couple characters overweight, though not too noticeably. I've had one who was 56.

The story series I was talking about is about a guy who gets raped behind the club he works at, and most of the story is about his recovery with his boyfriend, with sex kind of taking a back seat.

One rule I would like to see broken is the rule that gay characters HAVE to have anal sex. The ratio of gay couples who have anal vs. straight couples is probably a little higher, but still, nowhere near ALL gay couples have anal.

Also, as far as gay couples, more even couples would be nice. I am VERY guilty of having dominant and submissive characters. I've tried to deviate recently, but it's just too easy to have a gay couple fall into the 'top/bottom' pattern when I'm writing them.

 

[wet_special]

Let's see.. I've had characters get hungry and even eat voraciously right about during the sex scene. Rarely end with an orgasm, I'm writing a story in which one of the main characters is grappling with regret over a matter of her engagement even though as written the two were "meant to be," and another character who went on and on about regret regarding a one night stand he had, and ended on that note. I think the last few paragraphs turned off or depressed readers and a that ended up being my lowest rated work. *shrug* I've even broke the gender rule in a few ways, most of my sci-fi involves dick girls and there's even a character who has uploaded his brain into a small computer, and he's installed it into all sorts of people, male and female avatars, and lived as a lesbian.

I think I always conceptualize something formulaic, but it's odd how story nearly always seems to work itself into the piece before I feel it is "ready." I have yet to break the hot bodies rule, however.

 

[Innuendos]

oh here's another one:

- no one dies

I haven't broken that one, but I'm now thinking whether I could. Surely in the war/rebellion/post-apocalypse kind people die all the time. But sexy protagonists?

(On second thought, one of the last stories I edited had a traumatic death of a sexy character in it, as a flashback. I liked that.)

I know what you mean! I'd originally conceptualized my story to have the death of the female protagonists be this major life-altering event, and when I started putting it into an outline, I just hated it. I was like, no, I like these characters, but I don't like my male protagonist all that much...

... then I started over, and decided that the new story made him a better character, hated the new ending and offed a secondary character instead.

So that may have cheapened the dramatic elements somewhat, but it's a better ending IMO.

I doubt I'll ever be able to off my characters like Stephen King, much less a Hollywood drama.