Is smut bad if it doesn’t end with an orgasm?

[LuciJuicy]

Something I’ve noticed in my writing is that I’m way more interested in writing characters interacting in awkward, humiliating, and/or intimate situations. The part of the story where characters do the fuck is where I usually lose interest and work on something else. But at the same time, I feel like smut that doesn’t have a big orgasm in the climax doesn’t really fulfill its intended purpose. Anyone have thoughts or experience relating to stories that don’t have that traditional climax at the end?

 

[KeithD]

I try not to force any element into any story. I write the story I want. What to write and where/how to present it are two different issues.

 

[rescatooor]

As long as it ends in somebody's orgasm.

I mean... porn with cakefarting doesn't have to end in anyone's orgasm but possibly the viewer's. Smut doesn't need to be any different.

 

[LuciJuicy]

What to write and where/how to present it are two different issues.

That’s a way of looking at it I didn’t really think about. But in retrospect, if I just put the scene I’m most excited about at the end and work my way backwards from there, the plot kind of writes itself with no need to artificially escalate it. I think that gets me unstuck. Thank you!

 

[LuciJuicy]

doesn't have to end in anyone's orgasm but possibly the viewer's.

Haha also very true!

 

[ElectricBlue]

I often have stories with a non-sexual coda, a denouement.

Who gives a toss what porn writers do? Break the "rules". Your work will be far more interesting for it, I'm sure.

 

[KeithD]

That’s a way of looking at it I didn’t really think about. But in retrospect, if I just put the scene I’m most excited about at the end and work my way backwards from there, the plot kind of writes itself with no need to artificially escalate it. I think that gets me unstuck. Thank you!

There's no reason to only think about putting the sex scene at the end. I often put one at the beginning and/or one in the middle. Often if there's one at the end, it's not the graphic one I put in the story. The ends of my story are saved for revelation, resolution, and/or twist and they more often than not are dealing with the result of the sex scene(s), which was(were) placed somewhere else in the story.

 

[gordo12]

Something I’ve noticed in my writing is that I’m way more interested in writing characters interacting in awkward, humiliating, and/or intimate situations. The part of the story where characters do the fuck is where I usually lose interest and work on something else. But at the same time, I feel like smut that doesn’t have a big orgasm in the climax doesn’t really fulfill its intended purpose. Anyone have thoughts or experience relating to stories that don’t have that traditional climax at the end?

The story goes, where the story goes. If it ends up sexless, so be it! I have several, and all have done well.

 

[NotWise]

I haven't written many stories with NO sex, but I've written quite a few where the sex was not part of the climax.

 

[PennameWombat]

Many, if not most, of my stories do not end with orgasms or even sex. It’s often there, but the climax of the sex and of the story were different. It depends on the story. I have stores here with very little actual sex that have high ratings.

And some that are two or three Lit pages of essentially nothing but sex.

 

[LuciJuicy]

These are all great points! It’s good to know other people have done this first (and been successful since I’m a whore for ratings lmao)

 

[StrangeLife]

If it ends without an orgasm, it should also end with a seriously pissed off girl that will never go on a date with you again - just for the sake of realism...

 

[MillieDynamite]

If it ends without an orgasm, it should also end with a seriously pissed off girl that will never go on a date with you again - just for the sake of realism...

Ya mean something like ...

That's it, that's the fucking big deal? Shit, you are really a disappointment, take me home now, that's wasn't worth my time.

have you been thar and dun that?

 

[StrangeLife]

have you been thar and dun that?

Certainly not!

 

[TadOverdon]

If the smut buys me drinks and a decent steak it can end any way it likes. Otherwise, the Earth better move.

 

[Ian_Snow]

If the smut buys me drinks and a decent steak it can end any way it likes. Otherwise, the Earth better move.

Hah! Good answer.

I think it depends on what the purpose of the scene is. If it's to titillate, then yeah, I generally think an orgasm is a good way to finish the scene (or post-orgasm). But if, say, the focus is more on the romance part of erotic romance, having a scene end on a character's thoughts before they come is a fantastic way to build character and end a scene stylishly with the orgasm being implied. That said, the buildup there is the key to the whole thing. It has to suit whatever you've put into it. Nothing is worse than an overly abrupt ending in either camp. If there's lots of build-up and two lines of sex, that isn't the happy ending I'm looking for, no matter what the intent.

 

[LAHomedog]

It's not porn without an orgasm. The ending doesn't matter. That is how your story ends. But you've got to have "the money shot," and by that I mean at least one orgasm. It's that simple.

 

[CyranoJ]

Something I’ve noticed in my writing is that I’m way more interested in writing characters interacting in awkward, humiliating, and/or intimate situations. The part of the story where characters do the fuck is where I usually lose interest and work on something else.

Porn and smut is definitely about the second thing, not the first. If you can't do the second thing, your story is probably best served in another venue. What defines smut is that people get to get off; there's an honorable tradition of sexy farces that don't play by those rules, but they're the stuff more of comedy than of smut. If people could not wank to your smut, it just isn't smut.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I suspect 'the viewer has to get off' is a very male way of looking at things, as opposed to 'the story turns you on to the point of indulging in a story-inspired session after'. Similar for porn vids.

The easiest structure for a Lit story is probably 'start with clear indications of what is to come, build to a literal climax,' but that still needs some story round it to be well-received, and there's many other ways to do it (start with a bang, insert plot, build back up, resolution, is my preferred way).

Just think about why you are putting more content in at the end. Is it serving a purpose in your eyes? If nor, get rid. But then I could say that about every single word of every single sentence - and not expect others to agree wang of my words are necessary ever...

 

[Bramblethorn]

Porn and smut is definitely about the second thing, not the first. If you can't do the second thing, your story is probably best served in another venue. What defines smut is that people get to get off; there's an honorable tradition of sexy farces that don't play by those rules, but they're the stuff more of comedy than of smut. If people could not wank to your smut, it just isn't smut.

I generally agree with this, but I don't think it necessarily contradicts Luci.

I certainly want erotica to be arousing. But for me, the scenario around that sex is far more important to that arousal than blow-by-blow description of the unf-unf-unf action. A lot of stories lose all narrative tension at the point where the clothes come off, and from there the sex scenes are more or less interchangeable; I'd find more arousal in an enthralling courtship that fades to black at the moment the clothes come off.

(My favourite, though, are stories that continue to develop characters and/or story through the sex scene; cf. my line about treating sex as a form of conversation.)

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

Is smut bad if there’s an orgasm in the middle? Would a particularly hot sex scene in the dead centre of the story cause the reader to blow their load too soon and lose interest?

Thinking about things like this can become exhausting and complex to the extent that it make writing prohibitively hard. Pacing is important, and by pacing I mean the speed at which your — probably male — reader is doing the five knuckle shuffle. But, they know themselves well and the typical Lit reader navigates stories accordingly because they read a lot and know what’s what.

 

[NotWise]

Is smut bad if there’s an orgasm in the middle? Would a particularly hot sex scene in the dead centre of the story cause the reader to blow their load too soon and lose interest?

Thinking about things like this can become exhausting and complex to the extent that it make writing prohibitively hard. Pacing is important, and by pacing I mean the speed at which your — probably male — reader is doing the five knuckle shuffle. But, they know themselves well and the typical Lit reader navigates stories accordingly because they read a lot and know what’s what.

I figure that a story is smut if it features a detailed sex scene written primarily to excite the reader. Where it happens in the story is largely irrelevant.

I skimmed back over my catalog, and it looks like my first six stories built to a sexual climax with or without a short denouement. In most of my stories since, the last detailed sex scene is usually far from the end of the story. In quite a few cases, the climax of the story isn't even a sex scene. Among my ten highest-rated stories (counting my long series as one story), only one ends with a sex scene and a short denouement.

 

[NotWise]

(My favourite, though, are stories that continue to develop characters and/or story through the sex scene; cf. my line about treating sex as a form of conversation.)

It's not unusual for my stories to use an intimate conversation instead of a sex scene. I think the intimacy and the implication of sex to come can be -- at least in some contexts -- as arousing as a detailed umf, umf scene. It looks to me like quite a few readers might see it the same way.

Obviously, that isn't for everyone or for every story.

 

[TadOverdon]

I like to end with a bang, but it's not a rule.

 

[Comshaw]

That’s a way of looking at it I didn’t really think about. But in retrospect, if I just put the scene I’m most excited about at the end and work my way backwards from there, the plot kind of writes itself with no need to artificially escalate it. I think that gets me unstuck. Thank you!

Writing (even porn) is an artistic endeavor (or should be). I suppose like anything else it could be reduced to a formula with numbers and rules, but I suspect that if it were it would be flatter than a glass of beer left out.

Some pick a title from which a story flows. If picking the ending first then filling in the body and beginning work for you, don't screw with it. Leave it be and let it flow. That's called style and it's all yours.

As stated in an earlier post, porn needs some sex somewhere to fit the description of porn, but it doesn't have to be in any particular place in the story.

Comshaw