Advice needed on starting an Erotic novel

[Shoshanna9]

Hi guys, first time poster here.

I'm about to start writing my first erotic novel and I wanted to get some advice from some of the seasoned pros before I begin!

I'd like this novel to have an older (30+), female audience.

Can I ask you first of all, what turns you on most when you're reading erotic stories? Is it taboos? Raunchiness? Domination? The build up of tension before sex?

I have two main scenarios in my head and haven't chosen one;

- The first is an affair between cousins. They've not seen each other in years, and wind up staying in the family beach house together with their respective partners, where things take an unexpected turn. The girl finds herself irresistibly attracted to her cousin's body and mind, and they begin having secret meetings.

- The second is a fling between a girl and her Spanish language teacher. She arrives in a Latin American country, having quit her job and left her partner, to start a new chapter in life. She begins taking language lessons with a moody and aloof local hottie, and they start having a wild and unpredictable romp.

Please let me know which of these scenarios appeals to you most. Please also feel free to give me your own scenarios, ideas.

Any other advice before I start out is also welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Handley_Page]

Write both of them.
If I could suggest, write them without sex and then put the sex in when you know the outcome.
Good Luck

 

[lovecraft68]

Well in my opinion you're not going to write a very convincing piece if your motivation is what a bunch of people tell you they like. A real story comes from within you, so you should be asking these questions of yourself.

What turns you on? Which scenario do you prefer?

Having said that I'll answer you based on my opinion. You would get more of a female audience(again IMO so people don't jump me here) and more attention in general with the young lady and her teacher, the mature section has a large readership and a fairly happy go lucky one. They are open to both smut and sweet romance so not hard to hit a sweet spot there.

The cousins will only really appeal to the incest crowd and cousins is seen as a little watered down there(they prefer more direct blood relations in general) and if they're married you're going to take crap from the weird faction that gets crazed over infidelity. In stories. On a porn site

Not sure why you're aiming at female over 30 audience, but there is no way to really know the demographics of the readership here. anon is not gender specific.

 

[HeyAll]

Can I ask you first of all, what turns you on most when you're reading erotic stories? Is it taboos? Raunchiness? Domination? The build up of tension before sex?

I've also felt that a good erotic story gives you something visual porn can't.

In other words, why read an erotic story when you can just watch a porn video or look at pictures?

That means, exploring things which taboo, the build up, something that makes the sex worth reading about and interesting, how they feel, what they're thinking, how they react, ect...

Focus on thoughts and details. Those are things which you can't get from visual porn.

Making the characters seem realistic also helps in making the story more erotic in my opinion.


As for the story, write both?

 

[oggbashan]

Just write.

See what comes out.

Then scrap it, start again, review it, scrap it, start again...

Continue for years/decades/the whole of your life.

Welcome to the frustrations of being an author.

 

[sr71plt]

Well in my opinion you're not going to write a very convincing piece if your motivation is what a bunch of people tell you they like. A real story comes from within you, so you should be asking these questions of yourself.

I second this.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Read MADAME BOVARY by Flaubert, its a masterpiece about a wife who cheats on her husband. Tolstoy did the same with ANNA KARININA.

 

[PennLady]

Hi guys, first time poster here.

I'm about to start writing my first erotic novel and I wanted to get some advice from some of the seasoned pros before I begin!

I will also second lovecraft68. Other writers might be able to help with ideas on character development, continuity, etc., but for the content of the story -- you'll need to choose that yourself.

This site, as others have noted, has too many readers to hazard guesses as to what some, let alone most, would like. No group, by age or gender or anything else, will like the same stuff. I'm a 46yo (sigh) woman, but I don't like incest -- yet another woman of the same age may think it's the hottest thing ever. Asking what people like is going to net you tons of different responses, and will likely leave you where you started.

Also, again as others have noted, you can't choose your audience.

Pick a plot, and get writing. Don't worry if it's right or good or anything else, just write it and see where it goes. Like so many other things, writing is something you learn and improve at by practicing.

 

[lovecraft68]

I will also second lovecraft68. Other writers might be able to help with ideas on character development, continuity, etc., but for the content of the story -- you'll need to choose that yourself.

This site, as others have noted, has too many readers to hazard guesses as to what some, let alone most, would like. No group, by age or gender or anything else, will like the same stuff. I'm a 46yo (sigh) woman, but I don't like incest -- yet another woman of the same age may think it's the hottest thing ever. Asking what people like is going to net you tons of different responses, and will likely leave you where you started.

Also, again as others have noted, you can't choose your audience.

Pick a plot, and get writing. Don't worry if it's right or good or anything else, just write it and see where it goes. Like so many other things, writing is something you learn and improve at by practicing.

Don't worry you're still younger than me

 

[NotWise]

- The second is a fling between a girl and her Spanish language teacher. She arrives in a Latin American country, having quit her job and left her partner, to start a new chapter in life. She begins taking language lessons with a moody and aloof local hottie, and they start having a wild and unpredictable romp.

I agree with the idea that you should write them both. We aren't on a word budget here.

One caution, though. If you don't know the destination better than "a Latin American country" then you might want to reconsider the idea. They don't all speak Spanish, for one thing. For another, they're mostly different from each other and pretty secure in their differences.

There's nothing wrong with the basic concept, but it should probably include *what* Latin American country you have in mind. Brazil and Argentina and Peru (for instance) would be very different environments.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Somewhat ambitious, contemplating a novel first off?

Agree with other comments here - writing to a hypothetical target audience rather than what's in your gut might end up with something pretty bland and vanilla?

Write what you want, and audiences will come, I reckon. Try to second guess an audience and you'll probably get it wrong.

 

[timelord1963]

Does not matter the genre

I find it does not matter the genre, that is just the text of the work but the template for the work is the same. I take my cue from Agatha Christie, that is to say do not tell the whole story of one character at one time. If you break each event up, asking the reader select questions from time to time to seed doubt, only give partial answers. These things tend to be organic and take a life of their own. You probably will have to be flexible with your characters as the one who becomes the main character may not have been the main character you first start with.
Once you get your idea play around with it in your mind, if you find you are explaining a little too much do not be afraid to have a intro story and use many of your cast in the next story. This will allow people to get familiar with your characters and you can explore more situations. Then come back with your cast members may even in a different genre. Keep track of your Characters, if you have not written about them for 15-30 pages add a few segments or make the reason you ignored them a strength.
I use group sex and domination in mine. I know you don't see any submitted, I am trying to rectify that.

You may want to say I want this kind of scene with these people in it, how would they talk to each other, what would happen if one of your characters catches the other off guard?

 

[timelord1963]

Handley

I agree with Handley, go light on detail to start, your characters personality will evolve over time and you could add great detail later. Read several of the threads in the writing aids in the submission section, many tell you how to add detail. What sounds better we started screwing all night or He took his 10" blood engorged cock and opened her cervix with every stroke. Do not be afraid to humiliate your characters, just don't leave them broken, always have them be better people by the end of your story.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Hi guys, first time poster here.

I'm about to start writing my first erotic novel and I wanted to get some advice from some of the seasoned pros before I begin!

I'd like this novel to have an older (30+), female audience.

Can I ask you first of all, what turns you on most when you're reading erotic stories? Is it taboos? Raunchiness? Domination? The build up of tension before sex?

I have two main scenarios in my head and haven't chosen one;

- The first is an affair between cousins. They've not seen each other in years, and wind up staying in the family beach house together with their respective partners, where things take an unexpected turn. The girl finds herself irresistibly attracted to her cousin's body and mind, and they begin having secret meetings.

- The second is a fling between a girl and her Spanish language teacher. She arrives in a Latin American country, having quit her job and left her partner, to start a new chapter in life. She begins taking language lessons with a moody and aloof local hottie, and they start having a wild and unpredictable romp.

Please let me know which of these scenarios appeals to you most. Please also feel free to give me your own scenarios, ideas.

Any other advice before I start out is also welcome.

Thanks!

If you want to write something good; write whatever appeals to you. As lovecraft et al said, your best stuff comes from your personal desires. But if you want to write something popular, your question makes sense. You get into the land of market research - look at what's popular and sells well.

No one can help you much with the former and I can't help you with the latter. (50 shades of grey was wildly popular and I thought it was complete trash.)

Since you're trying to do a survey and people here aren't much helping with that... I tend to like Domination stories and the build up before sex. There are many people who really like that, it's a popular genre, but not as popular as others.

I'm not sure why you're aiming at the 30+ female demographic, unless that's the kind of people you want to meet through your writing. There's lots of readers in that demographic, but there's lots of readers in most demographics.

Start shorter than a novel. Lit's a good place to work on building up length.

 

[Hypoxia]

...if you want to write something popular, your question makes sense. You get into the land of market research - look at what's popular and sells well.

"Plagiarize
Let no one else's work evade your eyes
Remember why the good lord made your eyes
So plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize
But be sure always to call it 'research'"
-T.Lehrer​

Steal plots, descriptions, attitudes, not passages. Find works you admire, study their formulas, use those as springboards for your ideas. Learn at the feet of the masters.

Start shorter than a novel. Lit's a good place to work on building up length.

That's one approach. My sister-in-law took another, starting with a fantasy trilogy and working her way up to the NYT fiction list a few times. She wrote a couple F/SF novels a year for two decades before trying shorts. She said she married a guy who won Hugo, Nebula and Campbell awards for his shorts in part so she'd learn how to do them right.

Conventional literary wisdom: The shorter the story, essay, or speech, the harder it is to get it tight. Novels can just spin on deliriously with many diversions; shorts take more discipline. And I've mentioned this parallel: A novel is like a painting -- the artist piles on paint till it's done. A short is like a photo -- the togger eliminates visual elements until only what's vital remains.

LIT is a good place for endless serials.

 

[NoJo]

I think, as others here have said, that starting on a "Novel" is a tad jejune.

Start with 1,500 - 3,000 words of smut.