Erotic writing and comedy

[nickydra]

Compatible?

 

[ElectricBlue]

In some circles, yes. Most writers "got" these little piss-takes:

https://www.literotica.com/s/in-search-of-a-story

https://www.literotica.com/s/aalison-the-aardvark

https://www.literotica.com/s/something-for-everyone-1

Not compatible with all countries and personalities, though - some people are just humourless sods .

 

[jaF0]

Almost every SitCom I can ever remember watching could have easily added a healthy dose of explicit Funky Monkey with little effort. Sam Malone's exploits on Cheers could have very easily been XXXplicit XXXploits on screen. Friends? Add the benefits they always eluded to.

Hell, even the Flintstones could have been swingers. There could have been a cave behind the quarry that served as a dungeon for Bedrock. Just the name 'Bedrock' alone implies rocking the bed.

George needed a raise? Send Jane or Judy to get a rise out of Mr. Spacely.

And ya' just KNOW Married With Children was a porn sitcom looking for a screen to appear on.


Parts of 'Young Lady Chatterly' were almost as funny as erotic.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Yes its possible. I think that a fair number of readers aren't necessarily looking for it. Some will appreciate it when they find it and others will click away and look elsewhere for a quick wank.


Also, erotica and comedy use very different skillsets. Often what is necessary to one can undermine the other. Pulling off both requires balance and restraint.

ALSO;
-judging writing in general is often subjective. What is good writing to one person is bad to another.
-judging erotica is very subjective. Sex is often a mix of many kinks and themes (male on female, redhead, blowjob, doggystyle, anal, facial), and any one of those elements might turn off a reader to the point that they click away.
-judging comedy is extremely subjective. Peoples senses of humor are as widely varied as their sexual kinks.

Trying to thread any two of these needles is hard enough, but doing all three is expert-level difficulty.

***
That being said, try. Don't let a high bar scare you.

 

[RetroFan]

Yes, all of my works are comedies or contain elements of comedy to lighten the mood.

For example, my story 'Leanne the Lusty Lifeguard' is classic 'Kafka Komedy' featuring a bumbling male protagonist who cannot get anything right. My 'Trailer Trash Teen Hates Rules' series are shock comedies, while two of my lesbian stories 'The PTA Queen Bee and the Teen Rebel' and 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends' are satirical comedies.

Another lesbian story I wrote, 'April Leads Julie Astray' set in 1963 is far more serious, but has comedy to lighten the story a bit. For example a 19-year-old fat guy has a huge crush on 18-year-old Julie and embarrasses her (and without knowing it himself) by saying and doing dumb things around her; two guys (clearly gay to the readers but not to the protagonist Julie in more innocent times) go to the movies to watch a Rock Hudson film; Julie's father talks about 'Negroes' and 'Chinamen' without meaning to be racist; and Julie and her friend April discuss how dull the month of November is, saying that in 10, 20 or 30 years time the won't remember what they did in November 1963.

 

[jaF0]

Another lesbian story I wrote, 'April Leads Julie Astray' set ....

Missed on a cool wordplay thing there since 'May' is also a female name. Or at least Mae.

 

[Jackthewriter]

Yes, I think so, myself and a friend on here are working on writing a series of stories in that very genre, which we oh so cleverly (not) named Eroticom..

 

[nickydra]

I'm fairly new to the game and still exploring possibilities.

I put the question because it seems to me that they're not suited to each other on the face of it.

Sex is often the subject of humour in the sense of being the butt of jokes, yes, but that's actually quite a different matter and doesn't speak to the erotic.

Take away all else and you're left with the question 'is it possible to convey the some thing both erotically and comically?' Personally, I think this is trying to address two entirely different parts of the mind. I don't know any neuroscientists but I'd guess they'd back that thought up.

 

[Jackthewriter]

Ha, hello, I'm a neuroscientist! Well, at least my first post-grad degree was neuroscience. Think I've forgotten more than I ever knew.

I agree it is extremely challenging to write something the is at the same time, both erotic and humorous. I think it's possible to write something that is funny, and has erotic moments, or something erotic that has funny parts. But to consistently simultaneously be both is difficult. Not impossible but difficult. As someone else said above, add in the fact what is erotic and what is funny are both subjective, and you've got another level of difficulty!

 

[nickydra]

Ha, hello, I'm a neuroscientist! Well, at least my first post-grad degree was neuroscience. Think I've forgotten more than I ever knew.

I see that your first degree was not in logic...

Well, for sure, the combination of the two is going to be a tough ask to the extent, I would imagine, of being of doubtful value. What, I wonder, is actually the point of trying?

At best, wouldn't you have achieved a triumphant juxtaposition of things which are mutually distracting?

Scratching my head...

 

[SimonDoom]

I disagree with those who think comedy and erotica are a challenge to fit together. I think they are a natural fit, although it depends somewhat on how broadly you define comedy, and it depends on the type of erotic story you want to write.

Erotica and comedy have been joined in TV and film forever. Think about a TV show like Three's Company in the 70s (I'm dating myself), which at the time played up edgy and erotic ideas such as a man living with two attractive men and pretending to be gay.

Erotic stories can be well done based on essentially comic story-building concepts -- misunderstanding, surprise, misinterpretation of another's motives, the risk of exposure, confusion, role reversal, etc.

If what you mean is funny or comical sex scenes, then I agree many readers will find that too much comedy ruins the erotic enjoyment. But if you define comedy more broadly, they fit together very well.

 

[NotWise]

You can look at the Humor and Satire category to get a sense for how well humor works with erotica. Humor seems to be fairly unappreciated. Among the stories up now (which date back to December) only EB's "Something for Everyone" is rated over 4.5.

Modern Biology is the only story I've written that comes close. My intent was to keep the story light rather than really make it comic. It went into the Mature category, and the Mature readers didn't like it very much. It had to slip off the Mature hub before its score made it over 4.5. Apparently the general readership has more of a sense of humor than the readers in Mature.

 

[KeithD]

I think comedy can exist with sex, but I don't think comedy and erotica are a good mix, no. I think humor takes the erotic out of a situation, if only for that moment.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

Yes its possible. I think that a fair number of readers aren't necessarily looking for it. Some will appreciate it when they find it and others will click away and look elsewhere for a quick wank.


Also, erotica and comedy use very different skillsets. Often what is necessary to one can undermine the other. Pulling off both requires balance and restraint.

ALSO;
-judging writing in general is often subjective. What is good writing to one person is bad to another.
-judging erotica is very subjective. Sex is often a mix of many kinks and themes (male on female, redhead, blowjob, doggystyle, anal, facial), and any one of those elements might turn off a reader to the point that they click away.
-judging comedy is extremely subjective. Peoples senses of humor are as widely varied as their sexual kinks.

Trying to thread any two of these needles is hard enough, but doing all three is expert-level difficulty.

***
That being said, try. Don't let a high bar scare you.

ALLLLLLLLL OF THIS.

 

[nickydra]

I think comedy can exist with sex, but I don't think comedy and erotica are a good mix, no. I think humor takes the erotic out of a situation, if only for that moment.

Yes, and vice-versa. My point entirely. I suspect not just 'for that moment', as well.

 

[Hypoxia]

One had BETTER be able to find their absurd sexual activities funny.

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

Pueblo Indian clown stories

Are generally accepted to be meant as social commentary. Pre-Columbian, they are often about sex, and the comical antics our human desire for sex leads to.

Lisa Ann

 

[KeithD]

One had BETTER be able to find their absurd sexual activities funny.

That's different from the moments of sexual arousal buildup--erotic emotions building into coupling. Yes, sexual positions and the act and all of that are some god's joke on humans, but, sorry, laughter is not compatible with the emotions of erotic arousal kicking in to the point of having sex. If a man's cock gets hard during a belly laugh, he has plumbing problems.

I could write an edging story that included humorous elements. But when something funny happened, they would be kicked out of the building arousal and would have to start into it again from some level short of where they were in the erotic moment.

The ha ha would kick the reader out of erotica for that moment at least as well.

 

[RetroFan]

Missed on a cool wordplay thing there since 'May' is also a female name. Or at least Mae.

I actually did think of calling her May or June, but these names did not suit the character, where Julie did, and it is similar to July. Of the female month names, Augusta definitely wouldn't have suited her, and while January is sometimes used as a girls' name it wouldn't have been back when the story is set, and also doesn't reflect her. The last four months of the year - September, October, November and December - are never used for names, and I've never heard of anybody naming their daughter February or March, but its possible.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I see that your first degree was not in logic...

Well, for sure, the combination of the two is going to be a tough ask to the extent, I would imagine, of being of doubtful value. What, I wonder, is actually the point of trying?

At best, wouldn't you have achieved a triumphant juxtaposition of things which are mutually distracting?

Scratching my head...

What's the point of trying? Satire, in the case of the three I've linked above.

But you have raised a question, you have a range of consistent answers (use a light touch, be careful with the elements, not every funny bone is the same), yet you then dismiss those who try it as of doubtful value and what's the point, and at best, something distracting. I suppose you did use the word, 'triumphant,' so I'll claim that one.

Just for the record, my little triumvirate are 4.71, 4.66, and 4.68, so yes, it can be done: folk commented on the cleverness, they laughed - and a smile is always good, don't you think? I seriously doubt, however, that there was much arousal, despite a spicy image or two. But then, the category is Humor and Satire, so I wouldn't expect a raging hard-on or a gush of excitement .

 

[Hypoxia]

I actually did think of calling her May or June, but these names did not suit the character, where Julie did, and it is similar to July.

The April Fools story I almost cooked would have been One Night In April, with her triplet sisters May and June snuck in for fun, vastly confusing and exhausting the studly victim (not their brothers, the twins Julius and Augie).

 

[AwkwardMD]

My sword-and-sorcery Fantasy satire has 15 chapters, 8 of which are above 4.80. It was also hard as hell to do and took me three years, but I am intensely proud of the finished product.

 

[nickydra]

What's the point of trying? Satire, in the case of the three I've linked above.

But you have raised a question, you have a range of consistent answers (use a light touch, be careful with the elements, not every funny bone is the same), yet you then dismiss those who try it as of doubtful value and what's the point, and at best, something distracting. I suppose you did use the word, 'triumphant,' so I'll claim that one.

Just for the record, my little triumvirate are 4.71, 4.66, and 4.68, so yes, it can be done: folk commented on the cleverness, they laughed - and a smile is always good, don't you think? I seriously doubt, however, that there was much arousal, despite a spicy image or two. But then, the category is Humor and Satire, so I wouldn't expect a raging hard-on or a gush of excitement .

Please don't twist my words. I wasn't attacking anyone, just questioning the value of the exercise.

There are lots of things in life which are desirable...but the simple fact that it's possible to fit them together physically does not render doing so valid.

I love cherry pie.
I adore pickled gherkins.

Does that mean I'd ever think of producing cherry and gherkin pie, purely because I can fit the gherkins inside? As an amateur cook, would I deserve plaudits from any master chef for having tried to do so?

Sorry but neither the stories I've read here on Lit nor any of the replies to my posting so far have convinced me that comedy has any worthwhile place in erotic writing.

 

[SimonDoom]

I love cherry pie.
I adore pickled gherkins.

.

A better analogy would be pineapple and pizza. Many people love it. I grew up eating a lot of it because all my friends wanted it. But I prefer pizza with classics like pepperoni and sausage.

As AwkwardMD put it well above, taste in both comedy and erotica is highly subjective and personal, and for many, perhaps you, there's no overlap. For me there is. I think sex is a great field for exploring comedic subjects because it's a subject we're so worked up and silly about. The two subjects I write most about, incest and exhibitionism, are, in my opinion, good subjects for comedy. I don't expect everyone to agree with me about that. But when you ask "what is the value" of stories like this, it's that some people enjoy them.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Terrible Company is my thesis statement on the matter.

I had never attempted to write comedy before, so the first three chapters don't stand up to what I was able to achieve later on with more practice. 4 was the working prototype, and 5 was where I hit my stride. I've included links to chapters 1 and 5. Be sure to check out the links at the beginning of the chapters at least once, because that will help explain very briefly who these characters are.

https://www.literotica.com/s/terrible-company-ch-01

https://www.literotica.com/s/terrible-company-ch-05


Just remember. I believe in my work because I successfully threaded those three needles according to my own subjective tastes. I've fielded enoigh responses over the years to feel comfortable stating that "It works as erotica and comedy", but that is not a guarantee that you'll like it.