Lit v erotica? What do you think is a good ratio?

[stephenchapman]

I like enough story to support the premise but try to remember this is an erotica website. Maybe there isn't a hard answer (60/40). Just curious how others approach the process. Thanks.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is pretty much up to the individual and no right or wrong answer.

For me? I enjoy what I call a slow burn. I think the sex is much hotter if I get to know the character and can be invested in them. I like conflict and turmoil and more than two people going "hey, let's fuck" so I'm an erotica over porn sort. But...when it comes time to get down an dirty? You've built it up with some good story and now you better make it worth my while.

 

[SamScribble]

I like enough story to support the premise but try to remember this is an erotica website. Maybe there isn't a hard answer (60/40). Just curious how others approach the process. Thanks.

I would say just write what you feel like writing. As many people have pointed out in the past, there are hundreds of audiences on this site. Some of them want well-crafted stories, often with an erotic overtone; some of them want wall-to-wall sex. And I'm sure there must be a niche for 60/40 - whatever that is. The main thing is: don't try to please everyone. If you do, you are likely to end up pleasing no one.

Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I like enough story to support the premise but try to remember this is an erotica website. Maybe there isn't a hard answer (60/40). Just curious how others approach the process. Thanks.

In as many different ways as there are are writers and genres, I would have thought. There can't be a hard answer, a "rule", because there are so many different writing styles here. For example, I don't know how to write "stroke" or "porn", I don't have a clue and would get bored in a minute. I write long, slow burn erotica that might have an episode or two (or three) for each Lit page (approx. 3750 words); or I might have a page of build up with no hard sex described. But that foreplay page might be hornier than the fuck scene.

Just read a bunch of different writers in your favourite genre to get some idea.

Some here will ask, why the question? Don't let some expectations of what is "normal" on this site ever guide you. There is no "normal". Just write however you want to write, find out your own mix. If you follow "rules" your writing will become formulaic and, in my opinion, that always shows in the writing.

 

[Casiyessie]

I agree I have to know the characters before I go to bed with them lol! I want to feel what they feel and visualize both of them or all three

 

[HandsInTheDark]

If I don't think it's both decently constructed literature and hot, I'm not posting it here. Why is the question either/or? Good literary technique makes hot stuff hotter.

Tell a good story that gets hands in panties and you win.

 

[SweetWitch]

I was once accused of being too literary for Literotica, but I don't care. I write what's in me to write. Likewise, if I can't love the characters in someone else's story, I won't read it. Otherwise, it's just a comic book without the pictures.

 

[oggbashan]

Any ratio is valid for someone.

Literotica's readers have varied tastes. Some like slam bang continuous sex whatever the literary merit. Some like more story with the sex. Neither of them are wrong.

Some don't care. They'll read whatever they like.

 

[sr71plt]

I write the same story I would write for the mainstream except that I don't shy away from having sex scenes and the sex scenes don't stop at the bedroom door, as they frequently do in the mainstream. I don't think in terms of ratios (other than I have it in my head that each chapter should have a sex scene because that was a requirement for published erotica in last half of the last century) and I don't really care whether the reader thinks I've ended up with erotica or porn.

 

[GoldenCojones]

As has been said, there are readers here that will like what you write no matter what. There are also readers here who will hate what you write no matter what.

Write for you. Write what you want to read.

If you want to read it then someone else will want to read it as well.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't think you can think of it in terms of numerical ratios (60/40, 30/70, whatever).

This site appeals to a lot of different tastes, and there's no right answer to the question, but in my humble opinion, a really good erotic story requires some setup. Mechanics and anatomy are important, but they have to be combined with characters and dramatic conflict of some sort to make a really good story.

Skillful short story writers can set up the characters and the conflict in few words, so there's no golden rule about how many words you need before you get to the sex. You need enough to make the sex a good read, whatever number of words that is.

 

[SecondCircle]

Varies depending on the story premise for me. Sometimes that means the scales tip to one side or the other, or even a perfect balance. So I suppose my answer is the same as with most things. Depends.

 

[sr71plt]

This site appeals to a lot of different tastes, and there's no right answer to the question, but in my humble opinion, a really good erotic story requires some setup. Mechanics and anatomy are important, but they have to be combined with characters and dramatic conflict of some sort to make a really good story.

In affirmation that there is no right and wrong in this, your humble opinion preference is not what is commercially the most popular in recent decades. What sells best isn't starting off with background or, as you say "setup." It starts with a bang of action and unravels from there, tossing in background as needed. Thus, I often start with a sex scene to pull the reader into a "what is this all about?" mode, which mobilizes their attention--at least for the readers I want reading my stories.

Getting readers who aren't half brain dead and requiring babysitting engaged in my story is what I consider to be a good story, erotica or otherwise.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

It depends on the reason for the sex.

 

[NotWise]

I like enough story to support the premise but try to remember this is an erotica website. Maybe there isn't a hard answer (60/40). Just curious how others approach the process. Thanks.

As others have said, there's a lot of different readers on Lit with a lot of different tastes. Even in I/T there's a crowd that will prefer more story/less sex.

If you're concerned about the readers' response then you should know that expectations vary from category to category. If you post in Romance you need to have a story -- and a specific kind of story. SciFi&Fantasy seems to be along those lines as well. They like the story part.

Other categories, maybe not so much. I'm only familiar with a few. It's often-repeated advice that you need something attention-getting very near the beginning of a story to draw you readers in. That can become sex early and often, but it doesn't have to be.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

...Good literary technique makes hot stuff hotter.

And that's all she wrote, before cumming all over the chair behind the desk under the keyboard where she was trying to write a story, on camera, live, wearing only her Roja Dove 'Scandal' perfume.

 

[SimonDoom]

In affirmation that there is no right and wrong in this, your humble opinion preference is not what is commercially the most popular in recent decades. What sells best isn't starting off with background or, as you say "setup." It starts with a bang of action and unravels from there, tossing in background as needed. Thus, I often start with a sex scene to pull the reader into a "what is this all about?" mode, which mobilizes their attention--at least for the readers I want reading my stories.

Getting readers who aren't half brain dead and requiring babysitting engaged in my story is what I consider to be a good story, erotica or otherwise.

This is a good point. Opening stories the way you describe isn't just an erotica thing -- it's something you see in movies, TV shows, and written stories and novels of all kinds. Dan Brown, for example, typically starts his novels with a suspenseful action sequence in which someone dies. Then he moves on to the "setup", if you will, where the protagonist is introduced.

By "setup" I don't necessarily mean a part of the story that precedes everything else in the story. The "setup" can occur after an opening action sequence. It can be broken up and interspersed in the story among action sequences. My point is that the action (in this case, "sex") scenes are more compelling when some background and context are provided, but there's no particular formula for how many words have to be devoted to background and context, and skillful writers are able to convey background and context with relatively few words. It's a skill I'm still working at.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Whatever works is true.

 

[oggbashan]

It depends on the reason for the sex.

And the sex ought to be a necessary part of the story. But some people don't care.

If the story works without the sex - it's not a good erotic story, but someone might like it.

If the sex works without the story - someone will like it.

If the sex has NO story - someone will like it.

If the story and the sex work together - someone will like it.

Whatever is posted, whether it is literate prose or ungrammatical ramblings, if there is sex - someone will like it.

 

[SecondCircle]

And the sex ought to be a necessary part of the story. But some people don't care.

If the story works without the sex - it's not a good erotic story, but someone might like it.

If the sex works without the story - someone will like it.

If the sex has NO story - someone will like it.

If the story and the sex work together - someone will like it.

Whatever is posted, whether it is literate prose or ungrammatical ramblings, if there is sex - someone will like it.

Aye, agreed. People like what they like, just as we do. I just write what I enjoy and hope someone else gets enjoyment from it too.

 

[SweetWitch]

And the sex ought to be a necessary part of the story. But some people don't care.

If the story works without the sex - it's not a good erotic story, but someone might like it.

If the sex works without the story - someone will like it.

If the sex has NO story - someone will like it.

If the story and the sex work together - someone will like it.

Whatever is posted, whether it is literate prose or ungrammatical ramblings, if there is sex - someone will like it.

Then there are little stories like this without even the allusion of a promise of erotic content that people seem to enjoy immensely.

 

[Hypoxia]

I like enough story to support the premise but try to remember this is an erotica website. Maybe there isn't a hard answer (60/40). Just curious how others approach the process. Thanks.

When I write, I strew the page with word-images that seem appropriate for the story. Maybe lots of sex, maybe not, whether I write only for myself or for a supposed target audience. My goals are to engage readers, grab eyeballs, and satisfy my own desires. YMMV.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

OGG may want to look at some John O'Hara erotica.

 

[stephenchapman]

I appreciate all the answers. Not many formula folks here. That's not really surprising. Write what you like has always seemed a good guideline to me so that's what I shall do now. bye.