How to keep the erotica interesting in a longer story

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story.

Right now I'm experiencing a situation where I'm trying to finish a rather long plot-driven story where the sex was very hot in the beginning, so I loved going into the dirty details, but as sex itself wasn't central to the plot, I'm finding it difficult to incorporate sex scenes without sounding too repetitive or forced.

What's your approach? Make the sex kinkier? Put the subsequent chapters in the non-erotic category if there's no sex?

Do 'erotically-detailed' scenes necessarily make it erotica? Can it be erotica without?

Just wanted your two-cents. I know there are a bunch of wonderfully talented writers in here willing to share their opinions

 

[MillieDynamite]

My two long stories have little sex. One has a lot of erotica in it, but in 32,000 plus words, not much fucking. The 25,000+ detective story has three sex scenes, but it isn't about the erotic it's about the Case!

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

I try to attach a gimmick to every sex scene I write. It can be location, technique, relation... The other day I had two characters going at it on a washing machine. The day after I wrote a scene where three characters simply masturbated together. Hell, I've even done the unthinkable and wrote a sex scene that was all just a dream. I've even got a 30-person orgy penned for an upcoming work.

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[NotWise]

In my longest piece, I got very tired of writing yet-another-sex-scene and found myself throwing in different kinks so it wasn't too boring.

More often, sex scenes become less frequent and less detailed toward the end of my long stories. Those changes are offset by making the story more emotionally loaded toward the end.

Do 'erotically-detailed' scenes necessarily make it erotica? Can it be erotica without?

I think there's a literary erotic tension that can be built up in place of details. The effect of releasing that tension is similar to a climax. I haven't really gone into it very far, and I'm not sure how to make it happen.

 

[KeithD]

Draw out the anticipation of sex. This, I think, is the meat of erotica. The tension of anticipation. And in longer works, create a wave. It doesn't all hang on one sexual encounter. Creative a wave of them, maintaining the tension of the next time.

 

[Trionyx]

I tend to agree that building the tension is more erotic than starting out with steamy sex. If you start out with a big sex scene, it’s going to be more difficult to keep things up, pun not intended, than if you build up slowly. However, if all you want to do is write a stroke story, the sex should come, again pun not intended, early and often.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Write characters who are erotically enticing so that the sexual encounters have a spontaneous flow of their own.

If the sexual content gets bolted on later, are you really writing erotica, or something else entirely, like an assembly manual for a house?

 

[KeithD]

I tend to agree that building the tension is more erotic than starting out with steamy sex. If you start out with a big sex scene, it’s going to be more difficult to keep things up, pun not intended, than if you build up slowly. However, if all you want to do is write a stroke story, the sex should come, again pun not intended, early and often.

Going with the wave theory, I see no problem in starting with a sex scene, which establishes a dilemma right off, and then moving back to a lower realm in wave production and either building on the original dilemma or introducing another one. Then moving on in this vein.

I see so many references here to putting the sex at the end. There doesn't have to be just one sex scene and I try to start my stories with a bang or in uncertainty--that's been the trend in fiction writing for some time, brought in by the thriller genre. There's no reason why that "bang" can't be banging.

 

[SimonDoom]

My own view of this is that the way to write a long erotic story is to have an oscillating but overall ascending structure to the story.

The only long story I've written to completion is my 8-chapter mom-son incest story. Each chapter fit into the overall story arc, but each chapter also stood on its own, with an introduction, a buildup, and a sexual climax. The climaxes kept getting hotter and more explicit with each chapter, until the relationship was fully consummated in the last chapter. This is the way I would typically structure a long story told in multiple chapters. Make sure each chapter provides some introduction, some buildup, and some hot sexual activity.

You don't have to do this if you submit the story as a single, long standalone story, but if you are after views it likely will do better if you don't spend too long between sex scenes.

 

[8letters]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story.

Right now I'm experiencing a situation where I'm trying to finish a rather long plot-driven story where the sex was very hot in the beginning, so I loved going into the dirty details, but as sex itself wasn't central to the plot, I'm finding it difficult to incorporate sex scenes without sounding too repetitive or forced.

What are we talking about? A 25K story? A ten-chapter series?

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story. ...

It would depend on the plot. Is the plot about sex? Or is the sex secondary and just injected to make the story more interesting.

The series I'm attempting (first ever effort in writing fiction) is about a couple becoming swingers. Each chapter will have sex scenes. But, it's the emotional dynamics in each scene to make them different. As examples, there will be chapters where the husband finds the wife violating their agreed upon rules, another where the wife finds the husband with his hand around another woman's neck (accusing him of choking her), and various threesomes, switching the husband & wife in the combinations. The overall plot is whether their relationship endures through the escalating situations.

 

[PennameWombat]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story.

Right now I'm experiencing a situation where I'm trying to finish a rather long plot-driven story where the sex was very hot in the beginning, so I loved going into the dirty details, but as sex itself wasn't central to the plot, I'm finding it difficult to incorporate sex scenes without sounding too repetitive or forced.

Then don't. I have plenty of long stories, up to 70,000 words. One of my highest-rated stories here (A Christmas Miracle on Dewdrop) is 35,000 words with only two very mild 'sex' scenes. It literally would barely merit an 'R' rating. There is plenty of longing, loss, desire and teasing along the way. And it neither begins nor ends with the sex (it begins with my female MC leading a children's choir singing Christmas songs and ends the following Christmas Eve, with another concert.)

What's your approach? Make the sex kinkier? Put the subsequent chapters in the non-erotic category if there's no sex?

Do 'erotically-detailed' scenes necessarily make it erotica? Can it be erotica without?

I keep in mind the name here: Literotica (emphasis added.)

Just wanted your two-cents. I know there are a bunch of wonderfully talented writers in here willing to share their opinions

For ones with more sex, it depends. In my very long Adrift in Space, my human male MC was originally with his (human) girlfriend when they were kidnapped by aliens. They had a falling out, the alien Queen used him to sexually train a genetically-engineered alien female, who looked like a human woman, so she could be sent to Earth. Then another alien female offered herself to my MC. I tried to ensure that the encounters built as parts of these various developments over the four years of story time.

A Dream of Age and Beauty is a bit different, as it was a single couple (and the female MC would, uh, rip the male MC's nuts off if he did another woman.) Much of it was them getting more comfortable, but the one ante-upping bit was when she pulled out her strap-on and gave him a choice (about midway in the story). I peg your ass or you leave. He stayed. That became part of their relationship.

My main Chaptered series (Chronicle) has introduced new characters to spice up subsequent sex, and expanded on aspects of the characters. Is it kinkier? Not necessarily. I try to throw in something small, in the last chapter (so far published) I introduced a character who is talented with a whip. But no more than that snippet. Edit add: Each chapter is 15,000-25,000 words, so plenty of length to build things and I intentionally keep each chapter in the same (SF&F) Category.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Try writing a series where the main characters are in their eighties by the end. That was my dilemma with Mary and Alvin. The intent of the series was to chronicle the whole of the relationship from beginning to end.

What I did, as the characters aged, was incorporate how two people, who were still passionately in love, managed to keep their sex life together alive. I also spun off some of the sex to supporting characters as it turned into more of a family saga than just the story of the two principals.

Not every chapter contained sex. In particular, the final chapter, as their life together was coming to a close, did not, for obvious reasons. Someone complained in the comments that it was not erotic, to which another readers said that if one could not see how that situation was erotic, they were missing something profound. I was very grateful for that comment.

 

[yukonnights]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story.

Right now I'm experiencing a situation where I'm trying to finish a rather long plot-driven story where the sex was very hot in the beginning, so I loved going into the dirty details, but as sex itself wasn't central to the plot, I'm finding it difficult to incorporate sex scenes without sounding too repetitive or forced.

What's your approach? Make the sex kinkier? Put the subsequent chapters in the non-erotic category if there's no sex?

Do 'erotically-detailed' scenes necessarily make it erotica? Can it be erotica without?

Just wanted your two-cents. I know there are a bunch of wonderfully talented writers in here willing to share their opinions

My current project is a long western romance — to date about 7 Lit pages long (+/- 26k words) with many more to go. Since it is a plot driven story, I approach the erotic part with the attitude that it's a normal western story but with normal sex scenes included. You know, it includes the details that would occur in a normal real life situation in vivid detail — including emotions.

So, I guess what that means is; the author has to decide what the intended goal is. Is it to tell a story with a real plot or is it intended to elicit some one handed self pleasure? Both are valid goals, right now I'm having fun with more story with realistic sex portrayed more explicitly than a book-stand western usually goes.

FWIW; I would not recommend switching categories in a series. You might even consider making it a one-shot complete "erotic" story so you have more control in getting it to your satisfaction before publication.

PS: Don't overlook the value of a 'beta-reader / proof-reader

Good Luck & Best Wishes

 

[LAHomedog]

I use fantasies and flashback as a device all the time in long stories like that. Once you learn the technique, it is the easiest way to drop anything in especially a sex scene.

All your character has to do is look at someone, something or have a desire for a fantasy of any kind. A triggered memory or any plot point can produce a flashback at anytime. Try it.

 

[GinnyPPC]

Draw out the anticipation of sex. This, I think, is the meat of erotica. The tension of anticipation. And in longer works, create a wave. It doesn't all hang on one sexual encounter. Creative a wave of them, maintaining the tension of the next time.

I completely agree with you Keith. Also in a longer story you need to develop characters who happen to have sex. The opposite of what I see in a lot of shorter pieces where you have sex with some character development sprinkled in.

Try writing a series where the main characters are in their eighties by the end. That was my dilemma with Mary and Alvin. The intent of the series was to chronicle the whole of the relationship from beginning to end.

What I did, as the characters aged, was incorporate how two people, who were still passionately in love, managed to keep their sex life together alive. I also spun off some of the sex to supporting characters as it turned into more of a family saga than just the story of the two principals.

Not every chapter contained sex. In particular, the final chapter, as their life together was coming to a close, did not, for obvious reasons. Someone complained in the comments that it was not erotic, to which another readers said that if one could not see how that situation was erotic, they were missing something profound. I was very grateful for that comment.

I knew an elderly couple, who when celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary (wrap your mind around that!), told me that they had sex every night. And by that they meant they held hands when they fell asleep. Not that the other didn't happen when they were younger. They had a big family.

 

[LAHomedog]

I knew an elderly couple, who when celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary (wrap your mind around that!), told me that they had sex every night. And by that they meant they held hands when they fell asleep. Not that the other didn't happen when they were younger. They had a big family. [/QUOTE]

I had an aunt and uncle (he's passed now) who were actual swingers. I mean actively in the lifestyle and they were still active in the lifestyle through their 70s.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I knew an elderly couple, who when celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary (wrap your mind around that!), told me that they had sex every night. And by that they meant they held hands when they fell asleep. Not that the other didn't happen when they were younger. They had a big family.

I had an aunt and uncle (he's passed now) who were actual swingers. I mean actively in the lifestyle and they were still active in the lifestyle through their 70s.[/QUOTE]

I know a couple in their sixties that have sex every night. I get embarrassed some nights when Jo and I stay with them, because they ain't never been quite lovers, and the house they have now isn't as big as the one I grew up in. the guest bedroom shares a wall with theirs. Bang, bang, bang, accompanied by moans and groans.

 

[Djmac1031]

I've been writing a series (The Jenna Arrangement) and almost every chapter has featured some kind of sexual activity, although I'm 8 chapters in and my leads still haven't actually had SEX yet.

One chapter had no actual sexual stuff in it other than talking about some past experiences.

I think forcing a sex scene in just to get to some sex isn't necessary. if you're writing a good story that keeps readers invested, they won't mind waiting til it actually makes sense to put a sex scene in.

Just my novice opinion, of course.

 

[MelissaBaby]

People think 25,000-35,000 words is a long story. That’s so cute.

 

[KeithD]

People think 25,000-35,000 words is a long story. That’s so cute.

It isn't a "story" at all. In e-book terms, it's a novella. In print book terms, it's a novelette. It exceeds the scope of a short story, though.

In the current mainstream competition world, the most common upper limit for a short story is given as 3,500 words. I don't know of any that will accept more than 5,000 words. At one time the upper limit for a short story was given as 20,000 words. But we have become a much faster world since then.

Literotica's love of wordiness in "story" terms is not shared in the greater world of publishing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm curious to know what other authors tend to do to keep the sex interesting in a longer, plot-driven story.

Right now I'm experiencing a situation where I'm trying to finish a rather long plot-driven story where the sex was very hot in the beginning, so I loved going into the dirty details, but as sex itself wasn't central to the plot, I'm finding it difficult to incorporate sex scenes without sounding too repetitive or forced.

That there may be something to work on.

IME, sex that isn't relevant to the plot tends to get dull. If it doesn't make any difference to the rest of the story, I'll probably skip over it. But there are a LOT of ways to make sex relevant to the plot, even if the story isn't directly about sex.

Look for ways to let the sex carry the story forward. I treat sex like a form of dialogue, a way for characters to influence one another and convey information.

A few examples from stories I've written:

- One story involves a character who discovers she's being stalked. Not long afterwards, she and her lover are doing BDSM play, which they've done many times before, but this time her lover accidentally gets too close to the stalking scenario and she gets upset and uses her safeword to end the scene. That scene lets me show the effect of the stalking on her, hopefully making the readers care more about the stalking subplot.

- In my latest, a researcher who's developing early-onset dementia builds an AI to emulate herself, as a gift for her wife after she's gone. Part of that story is the contrast between the growth of AI-Nadja and the decline of the human Nadja, and how Nadja's wife processes these changes. A passage of text-chat sex between AI-Nadja and her wife shows how their relationship has evolved.

- Two characters are rivals, both smitten with the same woman. In rather odd circumstances, the three of them end up having sex together, and part of that is the two rivals making peace through how they handle that threesome.

None of the sex acts in those scenes are particularly novel, but their place in the story makes them meaningful.

 

[LAHomedog]

It isn't a "story" at all. In e-book terms, it's a novella. In print book terms, it's a novelette. It exceeds the scope of a short story, though.

In the current mainstream competition world, the most common upper limit for a short story is given as 3,500 words. I don't know of any that will accept more than 5,000 words. At one time the upper limit for a short story was given as 20,000 words. But we have become a much faster world since then.

Literotica's love of wordiness in "story" terms is not shared in the greater world of publishing.

Yes. Folks on here sling the word "story" around.

In newspapers, a column is 500 words. I was the ghost writer on a financial newsletter during the '90s and had to write 10,000 words a month on investing and finance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, aren't most novels today typically 40,000 - 80,000 words? That number is sticking in my brain.

 

[KeithD]

Correct me if I'm wrong, aren't most novels today typically 40,000 - 80,000 words? That number is sticking in my brain.

In e-book terms, yes (although e-books really can go up into the hundreds of thousands of words). 45,000 words is the general minimum length of what is considered an e-novel. In the world of print, 72,000 words (having to do with how books are put together--in page clump "signatures" rather than single pages), is generally thought of as the lower threshold of a novel. And there's an upper limit to what is cost effective in print, somewhere around 120,000 words (unless the author is a guaranteed best-seller). At the higher count levels, higher binding fees kick in, which adds significantly to production costs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes. Folks on here sling the word "story" around.

In newspapers, a column is 500 words. I was the ghost writer on a financial newsletter during the '90s and had to write 10,000 words a month on investing and finance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, aren't most novels today typically 40,000 - 80,000 words? That number is sticking in my brain.

More like 120k - 200k, I'd have said. You don't see many 120 page paperbacks these days.