Ways to keep erotica from sounding the same?

[MayorReynolds]

After three years, eleven submissions and some positive feedback, I've tried to keep the momentum going, but I've hit a bit of a wall.

I'm finding it harder and harder to describe sex scenes without using the same phrasing, colloquialisms, sentence structure, wording...I started getting obsessive about the mechanics of language and that's when I began to slow down. There's only so many times I can get away with writing "his cock slid in and out of her with no rhythm and harmony in his fucking" or "her tits quivered with each thrust" before it feels like I need to check over my old stories for the same phrases.

The same goes for sensory input, which in my opinion is important icing on the fuck cake. The room filled with her intoxicating scent. Fluid leaked from her opening. He kneaded her soft flesh in his fingers.

(Checks for how many times he's written these things.)

Those are really just hypothetical examples but the walls are getting taller and harder to climb.

Advice?

 

[Altissimus]

Read more?

 

[Swilly]

Draw from your own sexual experiences. Surely they are not always the same, are they?

I think a lot of authors here evolve into putting focus on the story rather than just the sex. Sure, everyone likes a good stroker now and again, but a good story is just enjoyable to read.

 

[MayorReynolds]

Oh, I love the storytelling aspect. I'd say it's my favorite part of writing for Lit. I try to build the characters and their situation up to the point where the reader feels like they're a friend or acquaintance.

It's only when I get to the sex that I feel like I'm describing the same scenario as the last people I wrote into bed.

My actual sexual experience is rather limited (three partners + one that was blowjob only, a few sexy selfies sent to me, seen tits at parties, settled down and married now) so I draw my inspiration from fantasies.

 

[jsmiam]

It's a good question, but I would also suggest (similarly to the recent penis size thread), accept that these are often unrealistic fantasies that are enjoyable nonetheless, so we should also just have some fun with it, realistic or not, Nobel prize-worthy or not..

So keep thrustin'..

 

[SusanJillParker]

After three years, eleven submissions and some positive feedback, I've tried to keep the momentum going, but I've hit a bit of a wall.

I'm finding it harder and harder to describe sex scenes without using the same phrasing, colloquialisms, sentence structure, wording...I started getting obsessive about the mechanics of language and that's when I began to slow down. There's only so many times I can get away with writing "his cock slid in and out of her with no rhythm and harmony in his fucking" or "her tits quivered with each thrust" before it feels like I need to check over my old stories for the same phrases.

The same goes for sensory input, which in my opinion is important icing on the fuck cake. The room filled with her intoxicating scent. Fluid leaked from her opening. He kneaded her soft flesh in his fingers.

(Checks for how many times he's written these things.)

Those are really just hypothetical examples but the walls are getting taller and harder to climb.

Advice?

Don't you dare write erotica for someone else. How dare you? That's just wrong.

Instead...develop your characters. Once your characters become three dimensional enough to move from the page to stand behind your chair and whisper their words in your ear, let them tell their own erotic story.

Then, instead of putting your words in their mouths through your fingers, get up out of your chair, hand them the keyboard, and allow your characters to write their own damn story.

Trust me, after having written nearly 2,000 stories of more than 10 million words and under seven different names, I know how to write erotica without making it all sound the same.

Listen, everyone has a unique story to tell. No two sexual fantasies are quite the same. Develop your characters and they will write their story for you.

Good luck.

 

[Bramblethorn]

One option is to integrate the sex with the story. What I mean by that is, don't think of it as "write an excuse for these people to be having sex, and then once you've justified that, write the sex scene". Instead, use the sex to develop the story you were already telling. Sex can be a sort of conversation, an attempt to find comfort, or a way to piss somebody off; in my experience, if you focus on that conversation, the story's going to be interesting even if you're not inventing a new sex position.

That said, if you don't feel inspired to write a detailed sex scene... why force yourself? Depending somewhat on the category, a lot of readers here will be fine with a "fade to black" story if the story side is good.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I fucked lotsa females, and all of them brought things to sex. They sense whats up with you and comment. like...WHAT NASTY GIRL TAUGHT YOU THAT! You trying to make a baby, honey? STOP! AND SUCK ME HARD! HARDER! Put it anywhere.

 

[RejectReality]

Change the scenery.

Most of the time, when people get in a rut, it's because they're sticking to the bedroom.

Move into the bathroom. The mirror gives you new things to work with. You can see things you normally couldn't see from different positions. Her panting breaths could be fogging up the glass. The shower is right there, inviting possibilities.

Move into the front room. The couch requires different positions than the bed. You may need to kick the coffee table out of the way. The lamp on the end table may start to wobble alarmingly. Take a ride in the Lay-z-boy.

Maybe someone else is in the house and you have to keep quiet. Maybe the bitchy neighbor needs to hear something to make them jealous.

If you trend toward slow, romantic lovemaking, write something raw and passionate, or vice-versa.

Throw in something new for the POV character. Maybe he's never had a tit-job before. Maybe she's never been fingered to orgasm by someone else before.

If all your female characters are blessed up top, give an A-cup a try. If they've all been shaved bare, consider a girl who trims instead. Maybe a guy with a beard if you've written clean-shaven guys for the most part.

It's all sights, sounds, and sensations that are different from what you're used to writing.

Just don't use them all up in a single story

 

[sr71plt]

Change the scenery.

This, including bringing in fresh settings, concentrating on plot and characterization more than the actual sex act. Think of unusual buildups to and letdowns from the actual sex act.

After nearly 800 stories here, each time I'm still approaching a story with the thought "how can I make this different from any of the others." (Don't always succeed, of course, but it helps to approach the writing with that in mind. It isn't the actual sex acts that are all that different--it's everything going on around them.)

 

[HeyAll]

I use to have this same concern when I first started writing.

But after writing a bunch of stuff, my concern is gone.

The way you can keep writing sex scenes without being repetitive is by constantly finding new (and hot scenarios). For instance, don't put every sex scene in a bedroom. Find other places.

Also, tailor the sex scene to the story. For instance, if it's an Exhibitionist story, maybe the sex is outdoors. While the sex is happening, constantly write about the female character's fear of being caught. Maybe she keeps looking around. Maybe she remains tense during the encounter.

If it's a bdsm story, constantly write about the loss of control. What must the character be thinking and feeling?

I focus on those things to keep each story fresh.

That said, some things will always be the same. For instance, when the oral sex or sex scene happens, it usually gets written the same way. Just changed a little.

 

[Handley_Page]

I think a lot of authors here evolve into putting focus on the story rather than just the sex. Sure, everyone likes a good stroker now and again, but a good story is just enjoyable to read.

I quite agree

 

[Totzman]

Write about different fetishes. Instead of writing about sex, write about spanking. Or medical procedures. Or exhibitionism. Or domestic servitude. Or hardcore domination.

 

[SikFuk]

Try to use metaphors unique to the POV of the storyteller. An engineer might describe the buoyancy of a breast differently than a redneck auto mechanic.

Humanize the sex. I was just watching a British series on Netflix where the guy, in a fit of passion, throws the woman on his bed. She goes "eek, what's that?" She sits up and discovers she landed on a plate full of old pizza.

 

[sr71plt]

Try to use metaphors unique to the POV of the storyteller. An engineer might describe the buoyancy of a breast differently than a redneck auto mechanic.

True, but if either an engineer or a redneck auto mechanic character spoke in measurement terms (which would be natural for both), we'd see three "what I don't want to see" threads pop up on the AH.

 

[sheablue]

I get stuck sometimes, too, and my solution is to read more stories. Granted, it's not always easy to find the good ones, but pick a category you like, or like to write in, or a participant whose post here in the AH you respect. I've read stories here that totally opened my eyes to new ways to describe the same old thing.

 

[glynndah]

Remember, too, that while the descriptions sound the same to you, your reader may not have read them with quite so critical an eye.

You're seeing apple after apple after apple.

S/He's tasting delicious juicy fruit.

 

[Everyday_Man]

Well, if you don't want them to sound the same ... try writing one in Spanish and then German and so on.

 

[SikFuk]

True, but if either an engineer or a redneck auto mechanic character spoke in measurement terms (which would be natural for both), we'd see three "what I don't want to see" threads pop up on the AH.

I agree. I was thinking of the metaphors they'd used. A redneck might compare a breast to a softball, or a cantaloupe. An engineer might compare a breast to an imperfect sphere floating in zero gravity. In one of my redneck stories, I was going to compare a breast to a squashed grapefruit, but thought that might be a little too... realistic.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Humanize the sex. I was just watching a British series on Netflix where the guy, in a fit of passion, throws the woman on his bed. She goes "eek, what's that?" She sits up and discovers she landed on a plate full of old pizza.

I love that stuff. I wrote one scene where the narrator's phone went off in the middle of sex and startled her girlfriend, who immediately sat up and cracked her in the nose.

 

[Hypoxia]

All the above, and theft, too. Read hot stories and steal the descriptions. Not word-for-word, of course, but approaches and nuances beyond your own comfort zone or experience. And note how other authors change *their* approaches to avoid undue repetition. Learn at the feet of the masters. As Tom Lehrer would say, it's not plagiarism, it's research.

 

[MayorReynolds]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Much appreciated. It has inspired me to pick up and finish the next installment of my chapter series.

As for changing up the scenery and situations, I have an app on my phone called Randomizer that can reorganize lists. At one point I was using it to generate story ideas as a writing exercise. I would create one list for Lit category, one for location, relationship, etc. Then I'd randomize the lists and record the results in a .txt file like this:

Male has first time with a neighbor under a bridge. (First Time/His, Female MC, Third POV)
Two friends have an erotic encounter in a field. (Erotic Couplings, Male MC, Third POV)
Lesbian enemies have a school encounter. (Lesbian Sex, Third POV)
A wife has sex with her robot husband. (Sci-Fi/Fantasy (Sci-Fi), Male MC, First POV)

It was a fun way to brainstorm, and while I ended up with a lot of stories about roommates fucking on planes for some reason, I might reconsider it as a way to get my characters out of the bedroom, but not before asking myself "why" they'd want to bang under a bridge.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

At LIT plenty of readers, a significant number, are PC fanatics who demand The Gospels According to #BlackLivesMatter and Mike and Carol Brady.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

I know the right answer to this question but I ain't sayin' it. However, let me give you an example:

JBJ, as the Fifth Evangelist.

Once upon a time, a young maiden became pregnant, after hearing voices maybe, telling her she would have a great son. And then, Herod killed pretty much all the other little kiddies of that son's year of birth and caused to be blotted out of the official records ALL THE NAMES OF THE JEWISH PRIESTS AND LEADERS such that by today, no real Jew actually knows what his ancient original family name really was and those that say they do are lying. And then, next, blah blah blahdi-bloody blah until one dark night, in the upper rooms of a rich man's house, some wicked-eyed, buxom woman with ruby red lips and long flowing tussled dark hair, asked the kid we've been talking about - whose name was Jesus and by now was a MAN of around 33, which is, admittedly a significant year number to my brother Greek scribes, since it was the number of years that Alexander The Great ruled the whole entire world; so I'm not going to quibble with them too hard over how old he EXACTLY was 'cuz it don't really matter anyhow...

...Anyway, the dame asks Jesus - the sinewy, outdoors-y type MAN of let's just SAY 33 - if he minded that she WAS GOING TO PUT HER SOFT, SUPPLE, PINK-PALMED HANDS ALL OVER HIS BODY and slap REALLY EXPENSIVE CREAM ALL OVER THERE, TOO.

And then the rest of the story has some really good gorey bits in it - whips, chains, crucifixes, nails, blood, guts, spears - even thunder and lightning, people getting out of graves, and temples being smashed up pretty good. A bit of Roman politicking, a bit of doubt fear and anxiety, a bit of treachery, more dames crying and then, sneaking about in the dead of night or at least very early in the morning when no one else was watching (author's note - and to me it sounds like there was even going to be a bit of necrophilia about to go on when) LO! And BEHOLD!

This gay-looking, albeit really cute and androgynous YOUNG PERSON, had beaten them all to the inside of the CRYPT or SEPULCHRE, where there was nought but some DISCARDED LINEN!

And that there, should prolly tell yez all there is ta know about it all. Except that it don't end there, well not just there already, but yer will hafta buys the next berk from mah Kindle listing if'n yeuuuu wan 2 knoze wert REALLY happens next, y'all.

Cuz I dun figgurred it owht. And thurr errrr werds wot ah ain't s'posed ter use anemurr around hyurrr. But they'z old werrrds, en black werrrds en en BAAAAA----DDD-ASSED WERRRRDS.

And the murd and the blurd en en en ther ther, errrrr...............! (And that's all she wrote). Nigger.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I know the right answer to this question but I ain't sayin' it. However, let me give you an example:

JBJ, as the Fifth Evangelist.

Once upon a time, a young maiden became pregnant, after hearing voices maybe, telling her she would have a great son. And then, Herod killed pretty much all the other little kiddies of that son's year of birth and caused to be blotted out of the official records ALL THE NAMES OF THE JEWISH PRIESTS AND LEADERS such that by today, no real Jew actually knows what his ancient original family name really was and those that say they do are lying. And then, next, blah blah blahdi-bloody blah until one dark night, in the upper rooms of a rich man's house, some wicked-eyed, buxom woman with ruby red lips and long flowing tussled dark hair, asked the kid we've been talking about - whose name was Jesus and by now was a MAN of around 33, which is, admittedly a significant year number to my brother Greek scribes, since it was the number of years that Alexander The Great ruled the whole entire world; so I'm not going to quibble with them too hard over how old he EXACTLY was 'cuz it don't really matter anyhow...

...Anyway, the dame asks Jesus - the sinewy, outdoors-y type MAN of let's just SAY 33 - if he minded that she WAS GOING TO PUT HER SOFT, SUPPLE, PINK-PALMED HANDS ALL OVER HIS BODY and slap REALLY EXPENSIVE CREAM ALL OVER THERE, TOO.

And then the rest of the story has some really good gorey bits in it - whips, chains, crucifixes, nails, blood, guts, spears - even thunder and lightning, people getting out of graves, and temples being smashed up pretty good. A bit of Roman politicking, a bit of doubt fear and anxiety, a bit of treachery, more dames crying and then, sneaking about in the dead of night or at least very early in the morning when no one else was watching (author's note - and to me it sounds like there was even going to be a bit of necrophilia about to go on when) LO! And BEHOLD!

This gay-looking, albeit really cute and androgynous YOUNG PERSON, had beaten them all to the inside of the CRYPT or SEPULCHRE, where there was nought but some DISCARDED LINEN!

And that there, should prolly tell yez all there is ta know about it all. Except that it don't end there, well not just there already, but yer will hafta buys the next berk from mah Kindle listing if'n yeuuuu wan 2 knoze wert REALLY happens next, y'all.

Cuz I dun figgurred it owht. And thurr errrr werds wot ah ain't s'posed ter use anemurr around hyurrr. But they'z old werrrds, en black werrrds en en BAAAAA----DDD-ASSED WERRRRDS.

And the murd and the blurd en en en ther ther, errrrr...............! (And that's all she wrote). Nigger.

In the Old Days a Jewish VIRGIN was any Jewish female. married or unmarried, with no children.