Storytelling Structure

[BlazonG]

How many here follow a storytelling structure such as Save the Cat or the Hero’s Journey. Those don’t seem to work for me because they require the main character to be “reluctant” in the first act. I would rather hook the reader with a hot scene early on, not have a bunch of reluctance.

Is there another structure that fits erotica a little better?

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'm very interested in structure and as an obsessive plotter, I tend to focus a lot on making sure my stories have a pleasing structure. I've seen quite a bit about the various story structures on blogs and YouTube and while it can be interesting from a analytical point of view, I don't think I'd ever write a story directly to a given story structure.

That said there are a number of fairly obvious tropes and structures for an erotic story. At it's most basic:

Boy* and girl meet.
Boy and girl date.
Boy and girl sleep together.

(*adjust genders to taste)

Then there are a whole bunch of additions you can make but you don't have to. Expanding a little you get...

Boy is lonely. Girl is lonely.
Boy and girl meet
Boy and girl date.
Boy and girl sleep together.
Boy and girl encounter roadblock that threatens their relationship.
Boy and girl overcome roadblock.
Boy and girl profess eternal love for one another.

Now you've got the outline of every romantic comedy ever. This will still work as erotica (especially if your setting is, say, a porn studio). Is following this trite! Maybe, but if you do it well people care.

Even if you don't consciously follow such a structure it will start to creep back in - your characters do need to meet after all, and they (usually) need to sleep together in an erotic story.

I'd say reluctance is generally good because it makes the story more dramatic in the early stages. That said, there can be a lot of different types of reluctance e.g. 'she's out of my league' vs 'I'm not sure I like him' etc.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Always always always a structure.

Never ever ever a template (like StC etc).

 

[gunhilltrain]

How many here follow a storytelling structure such as Save the Cat or the Hero’s Journey. Those don’t seem to work for me because they require the main character to be “reluctant” in the first act. I would rather hook the reader with a hot scene early on, not have a bunch of reluctance.

Is there another structure that fits erotica a little better?

How about his one.

FWIW: This is in 1974.

Boy is lonely.
Girl enters one of his classes at the beginning of a new semester.
He develops a crush on her. She scoffs at him, then later taunts him.
He doesn't know that she is the freelance campus hooker.
Near the end of the term, he finds out her true nature. She offers to give him a blowjob if he writes her last paper of the year.
He finds that hard to take, but he figures it's better than being a complete virgin. He writes of review of George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia for her.
They meet in his college newspaper office at night for the exchange.
He wasn't supposed to come in her mouth (that was the deal she offered). He accidental comes in her hair instead.
She gets very angry and slaps his face. He slaps her back. They yell and curse at each other.
He loses his cool and pulls her over his lap to spank her.
She is aroused by that and they have sex on a couch.
After that, they are both shocked I'd say. He looks out the window, while she lies face down on the couch.
He decides to leave her there and insults her on the way out.
She jumps up and asks him not to go. All of the shame and loneliness of the previous ten months have made her depressed and she sort of apologizes to him.
He says they're going downtown to have dinner and drinks. He does that because he has romantic as well as sexual desires for her. She agrees because she has never had a real date at that school.

The next part is about their date at the restaurant. The story grows like kudzu after that. It has supplied me with tons of material. I'd call that "meeting cute," wouldn't you?

 

[SimonDoom]

I am aware of these structures, but I don't think about them when I write.

I generally like erotic stories to be positive, so the most common story structures that I like to read and write are generally problem--challenge--favorable resolution. So, up down up or down up.z

Unlike OP, I like reluctance in the early going. I like to see the main character(s) overcoming a barrier to achieve the satisfying erotic resolution.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It never occurs to me to follow any sort of a story structure. My stories might end up with some type of structure (I don't know, nor care, but if someone were to point it out to me, it would be a curiosity), but nothing would be done deliberately.

 

[Britva415]

I figure out what the structure/theme/archetype is after I'm done. Not before.

Or I don't.

 

[OffNSFW]

If you write with faith in your idea, and you edit wisely, the right structure will emerge.

I think the great mistake of how-to books, articles, and listicles about writing is that they foster the idea that structure is something you pick ahead of time, that you plug an idea into and a story comes out.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

If you write with faith in your idea, and you edit wisely, the right structure will emerge.

I think the great mistake of how-to books, articles, and listicles about writing is that they foster the idea that structure is something you pick ahead of time, that you plug an idea into and a story comes out.

Totally agree. I like to work with a structure but I can change the structure as easily as anything else. The main point is that whenever I zoom out I'm always aware of the shape of the structure and making sure that I still like it.

 

[THBGato]

When dreaming up a new I tend to start with the inciting incident (that's often the two people meeting, but not always, especially if it's friends or rivals to lovers). Then I work out the outcome of that incident and from that usually generate the denouement of the story. Then it's a question of how to get the characters to the initial inciting incident as quickly and engagingly as possible. So my structure ends up with:

- as little character introduction as I can possibly get away with*
- inciting incident
- roadblock
(-further inciting incidents and roadblocks as necessary)
- solution to roadblock
- end


*This always ends up being much, much more than I initially anticipate

 

[Rob_Royale]

Story structure? I'd never heard of anything like that, but then again, I have very little education in writing. I had creative writing in school, but nothing since and I'm 56 now.

But, I've done a good amount of reading in my life and I understand how a story is put together. Building the setting, the relationships, the characters, and do it all while the story is unfolding. It's possible I'm following some sort of structure, but not know it I guess. I feel I'm passably decent at this after two years.

 

[StillStunned]

I've read half a dozen books about story structure, and each time I think, "Wow, that makes sense! I'm going to try that!"

And I never do. Even the ones that tell you they're good for pantsers, because they can apply them to their pantsed draft.

I suppose I'm like @Rob_Royale in that I've developed a feel for how a story should develop, from years and years of actual reading. But then again, most of my stories are relatively short, so structure isn't as important as build-up.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

How many here follow a storytelling structure such as Save the Cat or the Hero’s Journey. Those don’t seem to work for me because they require the main character to be “reluctant” in the first act. I would rather hook the reader with a hot scene early on, not have a bunch of reluctance.

Is there another structure that fits erotica a little better?

Reluctant doesn't necessarily mean reluctant to have hot steamy sex.
What else are your characters doing? What's the point of the story?
If you are just writing a quick down and dirty stroker, then there really isn't much structure and this is all irrelevant.

 

[SimonDoom]

Is there another structure that fits erotica a little better?

The basic structure of almost all stories is the movement by the characters from state A to state B. Erotic stories are no different. This can be as simple as two people start a story not having sex, and they finish it in bed having sex.

But by itself, that's not very interesting, and, to me at least, not very erotic, no matter how well-written the sex is. I like a story with a kinky edge. What that usually means (this is just for me; others may have completely different ideas) is that in State A, the main character or characters are driven to want something sexy/kinky/erotic, but there's some obstacle that holds them back. That obstacle can be almost anything: internal scruples, other people, physical barriers, societal disapproval, unfamiliarity, etc.

The middle part of the story deals with the character(s) grappling with the obstacle(s) in a way that is sexy.

In the end (State B) they overcome the obstacles, and sex happens. The act of sex, or something like it (it could just be running down the street naked in an exhibitionist story) at the end of the story represents the resolution of the hero's struggle for sexual fulfillment.

A related concept that describes many of my stories is "first time is best." There's nothing particularly erotic about a well-established nudist being nude for the millionth time at a naturist resort. But if an uptight mom-wife-librarian finally indulges her long-sequestered exhibitionist desires and runs naked down a public street on a dare, that's erotic. The first time having anal sex is erotic. The first time mom and son overcome taboos and have sex together is erotic. The first time a character submits to being tied up is erotic. After the first time, the barrier already has been overcome. There's not the same delicious zing to it.