Advice

[Will]

Hi everybody, I've been checking site this site out for a couple of months but have just recently registered and I am thinking about writing my first story. Can anyone give me any advice on how to write a good story. I have never written a story before and I want it to be as good as possible.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

There are so many ways, but here's one you can try.

Don't start trying to write a story, just a sequence of events, based on something that that happened to you.

-I went to a party and met this girl.
-We talked for hours.
-She told me she worked as a stripper.
-The next night I saw her show.
-We made love in her dressing room.

Then take your time fleshing out each section.

Also, look around this site. This topic has come up many times before and others have given wonderful advice. Look, particularly, in the Editors section of the BB. Good luck.

 

[Will]

Thanks for the advice, Dixon. BTW, I already posted what my story is going to be about. It's in the Story Ideas Board in the "Give me your stories" thread. I posted it to see if any more experienced writers wanted to give it a try. I'm only going to write it no one else wants to.

 

[Rachel Picabia]

Hi Will. As far as writing in general, I'd say, draw us, the readers, into the story by writing with ALL the senses. Have your characters see, hear, feel, smell and taste their surroundings (and, in deed, each other).

Also - cut out all the extra padding in sentences. Go through your writing and every time you see a word like 'very', or 'pretty' (unless it's describings the aesthetic charms of a young maiden) score it out / delete it.

By stripping back sentences, you make them much stronger. If you write 'Suddenly Jason slid his full erection into Jessica's moist...' etc. It actually reads as being less 'sudden' than if you simply wrote 'Jason slid his full erection into Jessica's moist...'

(Kuh! Check me out, here! I'm like a bleedin' school m'arm.)

As far as making a story erotic. Use your own sexual experiences as a start point but don't rely totally on them. You might never have fucked 3 women and a monkey in one go - but that doesn't mean you can't imagine / fantasise about that scenario. People always tell ya to write about what you know. I think it's more fun to write about what you don't know. (Things you've never done but wished you had.)

Try to find out how other people experience sex - especially women. I think it must be hard for a male writer to get inside a woman's mind just 'cause until recently there wasn't much female erotica around.

If you haven't already, have a look at some of Nancy Friday's books on Women's Sexual Fantasies - especially 'Women On Top'. You may well be quite shocked by what us girls really think about in the privacy of own own fevered little minds.

Hope this doesn't sound too preachy or condescending. I've spent years trying to write fiction (not always erotica), and the stuff about using all 5 senses, and stripping back sentences is some of the advice that's helped me most.

Can't wait to read your story.
rachel
xox

 

[Will]

Thanks rachel, I really appreciate your advice. Where can those Nancy Friday books you talked about? Would they be in a regular bookstore or would I have to go to an adult bookstore? Thanks again.

 

[Rachel Picabia]

Should be able to find those books in a general book-store. Nancy Friday has written widely on female sexuality since the 70s.

'My Secret Garden', 'Forbidden Flowers' and 'Women On Top' cover three different decades of women's fantasies. (It's interesting to see how our fantasies have changed as the female sex stigma has slowly been chipped away.)

'Men In Love' is full of men's fantasies.

'My Mother My Self' - is about how a mother brainwashes her daughter into believing that her vagina is "dirty" or "smelly" and that sex and masturbation are "bad".

Shere Hite's 'Hite Report' is a good book to check out too. It's full of ordinary women describing how masturbation, sex, cunnilingus, arousal and orgasm REALLY feel.

Wow! It's great fun putting people onto new books.

Want me to recommend some cool albums, too. The new Beck lp's kinda funky but P J Harvey's 'Rid Of Me' is good if you're feeling dirty.

 

[Will]

Thanks a lot Rachel, I am definitely going to look for those books. BTW, I checked your site out, it's pretty cool. Kind of freaky, but still cool.

 

[Rachel Picabia]

Freaky? I guess it probably is. Must be something to do with the dark celtic temperament.

There's some good links to Erotic Writing guides and stuff in one of the Editor strands, I noticed the other day.

 

[Whispersecret]

Will! So glad you care enough about your writing to ask for advice.

I think that you have to consider the purpose and audience you're writing for. I prefer stories that are more complicated, with characters who learn something or change in some way by the end of the story. I also like to read those down and dirty stories, like Dixon's "Tara on a Tear." (I THINK that was the title.) Complicated stories will probably take more time. I've been working on mine for two months.

My number one recommendation is to read a lot of the stories. If you find one you really like, read it again and again. Analyze it. Dissect it. What makes it a good read? The characters? The setting? The build up to the actual sex? The vivid description?

Try to think of something as original as you can. Doing it on the dance floor of a bar has been done sooo many times. Being raped in the park, the poolside threesome, strip poker...<yawns> Let your imagination go wild. Orson Scott Card (a fantastic writer) once said in a book that when you're thinking about what will happen in your book, the first idea and maybe even the first FEW will be from the cliche part of your brain. Disregard that first idea. Sift through what your brain comes up with until you think of something you think might be unique.

Look at the Guide for Erotic Writers (again, not sure of the title) in the Editing section of the board. It's excellent.

I'm one of the volunteer editors, and I'm a teacher, so I'm good at explaining things. If you want, write a scene from your story or a short outline of the plot and send it to me. I'd be happy to tell you what I think. Sometimes I get huge documents that are so messed up that I can't even begin to edit them. (Not that yours would necessarily be that bad.) So it might be a good idea to just send a little bit, since you seem unsure about your talent.

 

[Will]

Hey whispersecret, thanks for showing an interest in helping me. I'm just getting started so I will send you a plot outline if that's ok. Thanks again for helping.