Description ...Description ..Description

[S.Daedalus]

Just a quick question to authors out there.

I come from the Ernest Hemingway and Charles Dickens school of thought, which is Description, Description, and Description.

When I write any story, erotica or not, I seem to always get caught up in the story of the two characters. I am assuming this is bad thing when it comes to erotica because from stuff that I have read, character development is not something everyone wants to read about.

Just wondering what author’s thoughts on the topic were.

Should I create the setting, the story, the 'How we met...' stuff? Or just skip to the sex?


- Stephen

 

[Whispersecret]

Don't judge what should be done in your story by what you read on sites like this, where novice writers try their wings.

In my opinion, you should set up the story. I like to know why the characters are having sex, or why they're resisting, whatever the case may be. BUT, I don't like to see all the set up dumped in a giant pile at the beginning of the story.

It's best to sprinkle in all that information a little at the time. Start your story in the right place, at a place where there is some action, and I don't necessarily mean sex.

I hope this helps.

 

[BlueDaisy]

Just a quick question to authors out there.

I come from the Ernest Hemingway and Charles Dickens school of thought, which is Description, Description, and Description.

When I write any story, erotica or not, I seem to always get caught up in the story of the two characters. I am assuming this is bad thing when it comes to erotica because from stuff that I have read, character development is not something everyone wants to read about.

Just wondering what author’s thoughts on the topic were.

Should I create the setting, the story, the 'How we met...' stuff? Or just skip to the sex?


- Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I'm new to writing and I know that my stories tell that all by themselves! But thought I'd drop in and offer my .02 on the subject.

I'm in the process of getting all these "hot and heavy" fantasies out of my head, so my stories have a lot of sex. However, I have received some feedback that said that I didn't build the characters enough. I figure that I'll eventually get to more of the "story" type pieces, but for now, my inner slut is reigning supreme. I've held her in check all these years so now she is running rampant! LOL! Only online, of course. In "real life" I'm still just the conservative housewife and mother that everyone sees when they look at me.

My problem is description, as in trying to describe what the characters are feeling, for instance. I think I do better with dialogue than I do with setting the stage (all the little details of how they move about, etc).

Good luck in your quest!

Blue

 

[its Leslie]

When writing, description is like frosting on a cake eh. No matter how good the frosting tastes, after a certain point, it becomes merely gross.

So if you are writing, just make sure you have frosted your story well. Is your frosting evenly spread and is it the write thinkness over all?

Because if you have to much frosting, you will also have ruined the cake underneath as well as ruined the frosting.

 

[Quasimodem]

. . . I come from the Ernest Hemingway and Charles Dickens school of thought, which is Description, Description, and Description . . .

That sounds like an interesting writing school in which to matriculate. I would be interested in learning what sort of sentence structure the pair of writers you mentioned would agree upon.

As for the description, for my part, I'd stick with your mentors.

 

[BlueDaisy]

When writing, description is like frosting on a cake eh. No matter how good the frosting tastes, after a certain point, it becomes merely gross.

So if you are writing, just make sure you have frosted your story well. Is your frosting evenly spread and is it the write thinkness over all?

Because if you have to much frosting, you will also have ruined the cake underneath as well as ruined the frosting.

Really? No! Never! One can never, ever have too much frosting on a cake! Too much cake under the frosting, maybe, but never the other way around!

LOL! Sorry....just couldn't resist. Actually, that is a very interesting way of putting it, Leslie; I like it.

Well, I will just say, in addition to my post above (somewhere up there), that the reason my stories have so much sex and the "F" word repeated so many times is because I'm finally allowing myself to break out of my conservative shell, even if it is just online. All the kink and raunch I've had bottled up inside me is finally getting to see the light of day. I figure that before too long most of it will be out of my system and I'll settle down to more "regular" erotica. Hmm...not that there really IS such a thing as "regular erotica", methinks.

Oh, well. Such is life. Have a great day, all.

Blue

 

[TheEarl]

Write what you like. Create your own style. I put in very little description (and actually have to force myself to put it in), because that's just the way I write. But there are people who like that.

Even great authors have their flaws. The trick is to maximise your strengths, so no-one notices.

The Earl

 

[jon.hayworth]

Write to suit yourself - the long set-up stories I have written with developed characters (within the bounds set by a short story) and an element of plot or storyline have had some of the best feedback I have recieved.

Someone (I think it was KM but don't quote me), said remember you are writing an erotic story and that is what the reader expects so even with character development about 40% of the story should centre on the sex.

Write and write your best some readers will like your work others won't

jon

 

[its Leslie]

I hear a lot of comments on numerous posts about "writing for yourself" but isn't that a bit painfully obvious (we would hope)?

To be sure, this writer is going to be writing expressly for himself. I would never write for any other reason than "I wanted to".

But it is always important to consider, that an audience of 1 (that being just the author) is not entirely encouraging.

Eventually you have to give the reader a margin of consideration (or they let you remain an audience of 1).

writing for myself (and effectively only for myself) would be a bit tedious if I was the only one pleased with the effort.

To put it another way. If my written erotica pleases only me, and no one else, then, hmmm, I think closing my eyes and day dreaming would be easier actually. The words have pictures that way too heheh

 

[deliciously_naughty]

It depends on what I'm writing. If I'm writing a stroke story (megan my dear, daddy's little devil, etc) then it's some set up for sex (I believe, above all things, that your characters *really* need a reason to have sex). If I writing a more involved story (Wesley's Woman, Haunted Lover) there ends up being disproportionately less sex in the sex/plot ratio. The stories with less sex do end up with less reviews and views, but remember that you're writing for yourself first and the audience second on a site like this. If you asked us what you need to write to get published by X, the answer would be different.

 

[NoJo]

I like description in erotica, but not of static images, as though the author's eyes were surveying a scene like a photo. The story might lose pace. I do like quick desciptions of small gestures, sounds and sensations that snap the reader (me) into the story or into the character of a protagonist.

For me, I find it hard to keep the pace when I get too descriptive.

I admit it -- I've read neither Dickens nor Hemingway. I guess they're very good writers, but so is Beethoven a great musician, and I can't really say I listen to his stuff much. "Description, Description, Description" seems to be a writing prescription from another era. And I'm over forty myself.

 

[ronde]

I have a lot of trouble getting into a story without descriptions of the characters and setting. I need to know why they are there, how they know each other, and why they would consider being intimate. It also adds to the story if I know where they are instead of seeing the scene as a spotlighted circle against a black background.

Many stories here are fantasies, and in fantasies two people do bump into each other on the street and then run to the nearest hotel bed. Each knows exactly what turns the other's crank and they have seventeen orgasms in twenty minutes. I just can't believe that, and I can't write things that seem unbelievable.

I use both narration and dialogue to introduce my characters and settings. Dialogue has an added advantage in that the author can "color" the words of the character to reveal personality traits that would be cumbersome to describe with narrative.

I write for the creative outlet and challenge. In this respect, I write for myself. My choice of subject is aimed at readers, but in truth, I think I write for my characters. If the descriptions are done well, it becomes very difficult to do anything else.

 

[X-Factor]

For the purpose of Literotica, I would suggest that you do not skip the description of the scene, or the character buildup. However, keep it far shorter than you would like. Use your talent to describe the foreplay and the sex itself. It doesn't need to be "get right into it" sex. Description description description!

 

[Sabledrake]

I like description, character build up, and interaction before the sex, so that then the sex is more ... I dunno ... meaningful? Interesting? I don't want to read about random faceless people doin' it ... I want to know who they are and care about what they're doing, why, and how they react.

Sabledrake

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I would guess you've read some Joyce as well, eh Stephen?

But I am confused. Hemingway is not known for description. If anything, he's known for his very laconic and sparse style and for his characters revealing themselves through their actions, which was so revolutionary at the time.

When you say "description", it sounds like you're really talking about plot & character development. When I think of "description", I don't think of it as something separate from those two. In my opinion, in a well-crafted story, all three go together so you can't say, "well, this paragraph here is description, this one is character development, and here's where I set up the plot."

In my opinion, you should /never/ pull one of those stunts where you take a paragraph to describe a character (the old She-admired-herself-in-the-mirror routine) because it rarely matters if she's a 38 DD or has long blue hair or whatever. That's an amateur stunt where you think that if you can convince the reader that's your heroine is really really sexy, or has really really tremendous breasts then the sex will be more interesting. Usually it means that it's going to be the same old sex. Tit size never saved a dull story.

Whether you set up the scene or not, your characters' personalities are going to come through in what they do & how they react. Even if they don't show anythging they're going to come across as a couple of unfeeling automatons. There's nothing duller than reading an anatomical description of sex without knowing the characters' reactions and emotions at the time. It's like those adult films where they give you just a big close-up of people's organs going at it and assume that because it's sex that it's going to be sexy. You'd might as will sit and watch a video of raw meat for half an hour. No interest at all.

I still remember a story where the male lead kept on "banging" women's "pussies". I suppose he was supposed to come off as a real stud, but all I could think of was what an asshole he was. That wasn't erotic. It was locker room boasting. So even your choice of verbs and nouns is character description

So just remember that you're writing an erotic story whose central theme is sexual, and keep asking yourself if what you're writing has sexual value or implications. If you've got thirty pages written and no one's yet had a sexual thought, then you're probably in the wrong business.

--dr.M.

 

[M.A.Thompson]

I am assuming this is bad thing when it comes to erotica because from stuff that I have read, character development is not something everyone wants to read about.

While there is every taste out there among the patrons of this Literary Buffet, I can tell you from feedback I have received that there is a good contingency of readers out there who truly appreciate character development in the stories they read here at lit.

As for me, I am not interested in writing a story in which I myself do not understand the characters I am creating. Character development is crucial in my writing, not only for the readers benefit, but also for my own.

 

[its Leslie]

I may be wrong, but I think erotica readers fall into two categories (I think).

1. the jacking off reader, who is after all just reading why masturbating. I don't think the story is two important, as long as it involves obvious sex.

2. the fan of stimulating erotica. Who might be reading naked, and might even be masturbating, but really DOES want a good story.

I don't think there is any middle ground in erotica. I would say either make it basic, short and right to the point. Or write it as if you would seriously like to get paid for it.

 

[sirhugs]

Lots of good advice, to which I'll add a few words too.

Lit stories split not just into stroke and non stroke stories, but into plot driven and character driven. Decide which you are going to write, and concentrate your description on that aspect. Only a novel is long enough to need , or support, both fully realized characters and plots.

Although characters are best developed enough not to be cardboard, many Lit readers find too much description gets in the way of using their own imagination. If the reader's cheerleader fantasy involves a slim redhead, your dwelling on her bosomy blondness might just be enough to ruin the story.

A 'character based' story, ficusing on feelings and reactions, needs only a sketchy development of events.

I agree you need about half the description you normally use. Think 'show, not tell'.

I seldom disagee with DN, and generally agree with her now. except, I don't think 'stroke stories', or sexually chraged stories, need always be short. I have read lots of great hot stories several pages long. They usually weave several sex scenes into a narrative. In these, description is essential. Not so much to bore a reader, thoug. And the reader in Leslie's first category will probably quit after (s)he cums, but might return later to finish the story. You will get as many views, although not everyone will read it all.

I hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Character development.......

Actually...I just mentioned this on another thread. I tend to write longer stories on average than I think or see as the norm on Lit.

Early on...I tried writing the quick "wham-bam" type's that seemed to be the most popular. Problem was...my characters kept getting in the way of the sex.

The women would email and tell me that I didn't describe the clothes the woman was wearing well enough. And the guys would tell me "fuck" the clothes...what do her tits look like?

Then I began writing for myself. Now...I write a long(er) story than most perhaps. But...the women get a description of the outfit just before the guy yanks it off and gets to stare at her tits for a paragraph or so.

Sorta keeps everyone interested and happy. More importantly, I now enjoy writing the stories the way I do.

To sleep.....perchance to dream - William Shakespear

I remain,