Epic scale erotica

[Brandnewbuddy]

So @sirhugs asked in my maid thread if I had bigger ideas. So I figured we could try and come up with some massive scale erotica.

Now here’s the sticky part for me: erotica in an epic narrative does have the problem (in my opinion) of sticking out. Like I helped edit parts of the Orc Dominion series but I feel as time went on with it the sex was there more as an after thought or punctuation. Sex is an intimate act so how do you merge the act with an epic scope?

So my first idea:

Creation of the universe: the story is a short one. There are beings that only exist when our universe has fallen to entropy. These beings are massive in scale and made of the inert matter and energy that we left behind. Sometimes there’s many of them, sometimes just two. Even though they know it will be the death of them, they come together and make love for their one and only time, their joy and ecstacy activating all the inert energy and exploding in a massive bang or bangs, scattering their bodies to become a new universe.

 

[Brandnewbuddy]

But for a series maybe something like this:

The apocalypse happened on a fantasy world. Wars were fought, people died, gods died, and much grief and sorrow was had…but the world didn’t end. However, there’s so few people left and there’s such little trust that no one wants to have sex not for procreation, not for pleasure, they are so shocked that they just want to wait out the end.

So a group travels these shattered lands, not to do battle but to get people to feel comfortable enough to be intimate again and not only have sex but try to build a future

 

[dirk2024]

When I first read "epic scale" I thought of a REALLY big snake. (and mum's the word as we don't want @NuclearFairy to get word of this)

I like SciFi series...read quite a few here on Lit. Though I do have an issue with some of the never ending ones. They usually get too unbelievable at some point, with the author introducing ever more fantastical things to keep the story going.

I have one I'm working on and it will be 12 stories and then it will be done. Close the door, turn out the lights, the party if over.

 

[dirk2024]

But for a series maybe something like this:

The apocalypse happened on a fantasy world. Wars were fought, people died, gods died, and much grief and sorrow was had…but the world didn’t end. However, there’s so few people left and there’s such little trust that no one wants to have sex not for procreation, not for pleasure, they are so shocked that they just want to wait out the end.

So a group travels these shattered lands, not to do battle but to get people to feel comfortable enough to be intimate again and not only have sex but try to build a future

This is interesting, but where do you start? Post apocalypse I assume. What is it about this group that motivates them to make this journey. Save the world...sure. But why them and no one else on the planet?

 

[sirhugs]

So @sirhugs asked in my maid thread if I had bigger ideas. So I figured we could try and come up with some massive scale erotica.

Now here’s the sticky part for me: erotica in an epic narrative does have the problem (in my opinion) of sticking out. Like I helped edit parts of the Orc Dominion series but I feel as time went on with it the sex was there more as an after thought or punctuation. Sex is an intimate act so how do you merge the act with an epic scope?

So my first idea:

Creation of the universe: the story is a short one. There are beings that only exist when our universe has fallen to entropy. These beings are massive in scale and made of the inert matter and energy that we left behind. Sometimes there’s many of them, sometimes just two. Even though they know it will be the death of them, they come together and make love for their one and only time, their joy and ecstacy activating all the inert energy and exploding in a massive bang or bangs, scattering their bodies to become a new universe.

I think that the key to epic erotica may be to weave erotic moments throughout so that there isnt a singe sex scene that sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course, you could build toward the actually epic actual climax.

Not that I've ever tried it. Being a pantser, that much planning is way beyond my comfort zone. So feel free to tell me to shut up and that I don't know what I'm talking about. The flameproofing on the armour is turned up to 11.

 

[FantasySharer1]

You can also make the incest a key plot point - as in the result of a particular incestuous union being prophesized as what will save the world/universe. Perhaps a king who can choose any woman in the land to propose to, ends up proposing to his younger sister. An act that is technically legal but no one saw coming.

This is during a period of already massive turmoil in the world and this taboo action sets up some kind of civil war started by purists who hate that their king and queen are brother and sister. The wars fracture the world, lead to chaos. Eventually, the brother-sister couple have a son who ends up leading the world towards ultimate peace through massive sacrifice and struggle. The incestuous nature of his origin gives him special powers?

 

[Rob_Royale]

The following is my opinion-
To get close to an erotica that resembles something epic in scope, you need most of the following.
A setting that captures the imagination.
An ensemble cast with a main character who changes/evolves during the story. A love interest. The troubled character, who makes everything harder for everyone but in the end comes through but it costs them dearly. The sweet character. The clever one.
A main plot and at least one subplot. Preferably two or three but maybe one that is just hinted at and may be revealed at the end.
An adversary. This need not be a person or creature, but could be a circulmstance or calamity.
Then all the above should be centered around sex/love/intimacy. And it's damn hard to squeeze all of that in less than 30k words.

 

[sirhugs]

The following is my opinion-
To get close to an erotica that resembles something epic in scope, you need most of the following.
A setting that captures the imagination.
An ensemble cast with a main character who changes/evolves during the story. A love interest. The troubled character, who makes everything harder for everyone but in the end comes through but it costs them dearly. The sweet character. The clever one.
A main plot and at least one subplot. Preferably two or three but maybe one that is just hinted at and may be revealed at the end.
An adversary. This need not be a person or creature, but could be a circulmstance or calamity.
Then all the above should be centered around sex/love/intimacy. And it's damn hard to squeeze all of that in less than 30k words.

An epic would demand more than 30k worlds. I've written 20k and it was no where near an epic

 

[dirk2024]

The following is my opinion-
And it's damn hard to squeeze all of that in less than 30k words.

I feel challenged.



Good thing I'm too sane in the moment to take on yet another.

 

[Brandnewbuddy]

This is interesting, but where do you start? Post apocalypse I assume. What is it about this group that motivates them to make this journey. Save the world...sure. But why them and no one else

So the original idea was a bit more abstract (also I think my brain formed it from Age of Sigmar lore): effectively the group are demigods and the sex isn’t just for simple recreation but it also revitalizes the world in different ways (like originally it was full on AOS with them wandering the void and instead of a planet they were making different realms with each person or group that was brought back to the fold)

So like they meet meet the last goblin who is the ruins of his home. His people are dead and he at first has no interest in joining with them as he’s rather die and find his family. They eventually get him to join with them and after a night of passion and vulnerability he becomes a demigod as well, revitalizing the lands his people lived in and creating a place for their souls to return to once the quest is finished.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

I would not consider 20k or 30k as epic, that's just a novella. A novel should have 40k-120k words. So an epic should be well above that. Joyces Ulysses has 265k Harry Potter has 1 million, prousts lost time 1.2million.
There are series here on lit that are beyond 1 mio words.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Now here’s the sticky part for me: erotica in an epic narrative does have the problem (in my opinion) of sticking out.

Isn't erotica by definition sticky?

I feel challenged.



Good thing I'm too sane in the moment to take on yet another.

Do it, do it, do it!

On topic. I'm trying to do this with my orcs, and well, my SO calls them violent bonobo elephant hybrids for a reason. I'm trying to make sex a frequent hot plot point, because, it's what they do in reunions, and when they need cheering up, or to celebrate, or when they need to take Larry's mind off of something. Essentially I'm trying to make the sexy times, sexy, plot relevant, and culturally frequent.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

In many stories, the sex between the protagonists is the pivot or conclusion of the story and the core of the story is what leads up to it or the consequences of it (LW) These stories are probably difficult to extend up to epic scale.

Then there are the stories that make sex more commonplace. These are stories where sex is part of the world building. These can be scaled up well.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

There was a story idea published a while ago, about a woman who starts reading stories on an erotica website. She comes across stories that obviously project erotic fantasies onto a character that can only be her. She reenacts the stories in the hope to find the author.

This might well go up to epic level, which is the reason I haven't written it, even though I love the idea.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Epic works tend to have a tension between focusing on the grand sweeping events of the story and the focus on characters to make the reader care about events and give it a face for them to sympathize/empathize with. Having a large cast helps solve that, because each part has its own people to serve as lenses for the story, but then you deal with having too many characters for a reader to focus on, so it's all about balancing making the events massive, like an unstoppable tidal wave, where characters are swept up in them, but also have some agency, and having enough focus and close-up work to allow readers to identify with someone and give them someone to root for.

That's just normal epic tension, having an erotic angle is more difficult, because you either end up with one of those never-ending stories (like dirk, I also don't really like those, because there's an incentive to keep them going until people finally drop out, and it becomes unfocused and spreads out too much or becomes repetitive and uninteresting), or the sex scenes feel kind of out of place, unless you do a really good job balancing things out.

One good thing to do is have sex in a quiet moment between huge events. That way, it serves as a contrast to the insanity and massive scale of things, a moment where two (or more) people have their world narrow down to just them.