Are You Using 12 stages of intimacy in your erotica writing?

[KayceeCharles]

I hate to be all noob, but what are the 12 stages of intimacy?

Scroll back up to the top.

 

[TwinkleToes42]

Scroll back up to the top.

Thank you!

 

[Bramblethorn]

The steps are...

1. Eye to body

2. Eye to eye

3. Voice to voice

4. Hand to hand/arm

5. Arm to shoulder

6. Arm to waist or back

7. Mouth to mouth

8. Hand to head

9. Hand to body

10. Mouth to breast

11. Hand to genitals

12. Full intercourse.


If your sex scene didn't have most of these steps, your sex scenes are definitely missing something!

https://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress...ical-intimacy-to-build-tension-in-your-novel/

"The" twelve stages?

Breath on neck
Mouth to neck
Fingertips to inside of wrists, elbows, backs of knees
Text to text
Brushing hair
Oral sex
Spanking
Blindfolds
Wrestling
Hair pulling
Rubbing feet
Nibbling toes
Listening to music together
...etc. etc. etc.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If your sex scene didn't have most of these steps, your sex scenes are definitely missing something!

Yep, they're not written to a formula....

 

[HandsInTheDark]

If your sex scene didn't have most of these steps, your sex scenes are definitely missing something!

https://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress...ical-intimacy-to-build-tension-in-your-novel/

Wow is this scripted and staid. It might work in a 30+ Litpage Romance story. My characters skip steps, sometimes go backwards, and generally start in the middle. And "hand to body" might not exactly be what you're imagining. But it generally leaves to love in the end, the way love is supposed to be - messy, surprising, unscripted, and splattered with adrenaline.

"Miss Jones, you seem flustered. Shall we take a walk in the park?"
"Oh, Charles. You're so thoughtful. Let me get my umbrella!"

said none of my characters, ever.

 

[Misshotndeep]

Wow is this scripted and staid. It might work in a 30+ Litpage Romance story. My characters skip steps, sometimes go backwards, and generally start in the middle. And "hand to body" might not exactly be what you're imagining. But it generally leaves to love in the end, the way love is supposed to be - messy, surprising, unscripted, and splattered with adrenaline.

"Miss Jones, you seem flustered. Shall we take a walk in the park?"
"Oh, Charles. You're so thoughtful. Let me get my umbrella!"

said none of my characters, ever.

ROFL. I can actually hear this in my head. SO corny!

 

[redzinger]

You may doubt it, but how many books has Linda Howard sold?

Clue: a lot.

So, it's obviously worked for her, and I'd classify most of her novels as erotic romance.

 

[lovecraft68]

You may doubt it, but how many books has Linda Howard sold?

Clue: a lot.

So, it's obviously worked for her, and I'd classify most of her novels as erotic romance.

It works for her because she created it. For her this is her natural style/formula whatever you could call it.

But for people who've been writing awhile and have their own methods of doing things I think something like this won't work.

I can see people writing along in the flow, then stopping. Shit! Did I use to hand to...or did I do hand to...? I didn't now I need to re write it.

I think its a great article and some good guidelines, but what works for one can't always be duplicated or should.

 

[Misshotndeep]

I am thinking it sounds like a great drinking game. Every time one of the 12 steps is done you do a shot of something. The book would fly off the shelves for real then.

 

[autoplot]

Nothing says sexy like formulae!

 

[SecondCircle]

It works for her because she created it. For her this is her natural style/formula whatever you could call it.

But for people who've been writing awhile and have their own methods of doing things I think something like this won't work.

I can see people writing along in the flow, then stopping. Shit! Did I use to hand to...or did I do hand to...? I didn't now I need to re write it.

I think its a great article and some good guidelines, but what works for one can't always be duplicated or should.

I agree with this. She uses it, and figured out that it works for her. It does not mean that it is a universal tool that will work for everyone.

It's something to consider, if one wanted to. And it may very well help some. But I don't see each and every writer's style syncing with this perfectly for results across the board. Even If it did, would your work not just seem just like hers and no longer your own?

 

[NoJo]

Nothing says sexy like formulae!

Yes, I get all hot and bothered when I use Excel too

 

[EverLux]

I have a glory hole sex scene in one of the stories on my other account.
Including all twelve steps would've taken a level of creativity I don't possess.

 

[EverLux]

Yes, I get all hot and bothered when I use Excel too

Porn for NoJo

 

[Bramblethorn]

I agree with this. She uses it, and figured out that it works for her. It does not mean that it is a universal tool that will work for everyone.

It's something to consider, if one wanted to. And it may very well help some. But I don't see each and every writer's style syncing with this perfectly for results across the board. Even If it did, would your work not just seem just like hers and no longer your own?

I'd think it would be weird reading her stories after seeing that checklist - "we're up to Stage 4, expecting to hit Stage 5 in five and a half pages"...

If we still had FAWC it'd make for an interesting challenge: write a story using as few of those stages as possible, but still keeping it erotic.

 

[redzinger]

The thing is, with the best writers, you don't feel them going through the formula.

There's a really sexy scene in Kill & Tell where the hero seduces the heroine in an almost-abrupt manner. Ditto All The Queen's Men. It's only if you re-read, that you realise the formula is present.

(I have a lot of Linda Howard books. She's one of the authors I can happily re-read - mostly the early books though. Son of the Morning is a classic.)

Note that the title of the blog is 'Using The 12 Stages of Physical Intimacy To Build Tension In Your Novel', not 'How to write an erotica novel'. There is a difference.

 

[Dream_Operator]

Good writing should be transparent -- you shouldn't notice it.

Deciphering how good writers manage to achieve this, is difficult and what you should study and try to achieve.