Erotic Humour

[be0wulf]

Most of my stories have elements of humour in them and the responses I recieve back have been very positive.

There is a dilemma however. When trying to proceed from humour to erotica, the evolution always seems a bit jarring. It's just that the transition seems so forced.

You almost hear yourself saying, as you read along, "Ah, here's where the sex part starts" and the cheap saxophone music starts up in the background.

Does anyone have any experience with erotic humour? Any suggestions on how to smoothly transition into the erotic aspect of the story?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

That's a great question, and a tough one.

In my opinion, sex and humor just go together, but laughter and sexual arousal are deadly enemies. I've done some humor stories, but I always shift gears when the sex starts. My sex is always serious.

I don't have much trouble with the transition, but then my humorous stuff is usually first-person, and what happens is that the hero goes from wise-cracking to being serious when the clothes come off. I think that's pretty natural.

It doesn't give me much trouble, because that's pretty much the way I am in real life too. The wise cracks and jokes stop at the first kiss.

---dr.M.

 

[be0wulf]

That's pretty much how I do it as well, first person narrative. I always try to inject a bit of humour into the sex as well, and I think if you balance it right, it can work. But if you lean too far to the humour, it taints the mood and you never acheive that sense of intimacy. The danger is, as I've said, if you go the other way, you risk losing the character and it ends up sounding as if it is a completely different person having the sex.

What I need to do is experiment with this in real life.

...any volunteers?

 

[Boxlicker101]

I don't usually try to add humor but my stories tend to be in a light-hearted vein and sometimes the dialogue contains elements of humor. I try for this because I want my stories to be fun to read, besides being smutty.

 

[OliverTwists]

Like with tenderness and confidences I like to keep humor post coital.

 

[Barnaby]

It is Tricky

My story PURPLE DAZE has been my most popular story to date. As stated elsewhere, it was based largely on real, if unlikely, events which were just naturally funny. However, in real life, the situation did NOT lead to sex. In the story, I wanted to make it a natural progression and also to make sure that I kept the characterizations for the participants. That was the tough part. As most reviews have commented on how logical and real it all seems, I'd have to say I succeeded. What I did was to try to keep the sniping and argumentative attitude that I had developed going even as they drifted into the sex. She tries to be serious by telling him what she thinks he wants to hear, he responds realistically instead and she bites his head off just as they had been doing throughout the story. They are already friends and they realize that that doesn't change as they become lovers. It's not perfect, and I can't read it myself without wanting to take another run at it even now but like I said, it's reception would seem to indicate that it works as well as possible. I will admit that the transition from what I feel were strong characterizations to the sex scenes was one of my hardest requirements as a writer.

 

[Octavian]

I even have humour in my serious stories and I find the most natural place for it is in the dialogue. However you have to get the balance right. It can easily be overdone and that can only detract from your story.

But if you do get it right, the characters become more three-dimensional and as a result, reading about their sexual encounters becomes all the more enjoyable.

It also helps if you do have a sense of humour!

Octavian


“Encase your majestic tree of manhood in the sublimely soft wondrous wet hallowed depths of my body,” she implored.
“Oh,” he replied, “you mean you wanna fuck!”

 

[be0wulf]

Thanks for the feedback.
So far I guess humour must be pretty effective. I have had some overwhelming responses for one of my stories and people have voted it fairly high.

It's good that there are pervs out there with senses of humour.

 

[JohnMorrison]

I have humour in just about all of my stories. I am writing one looong series on xnxx. I dont try to make them funny, but thats just how i envision it. Some people have said its pretty funny. I like to keep it lighthearted most of the time, except for the serious love parts.

 

[postobitum]

I have had quite a few times in real life where the laughter and sex just kept going with no ill effects. Admittedly it's not the mind blowing oh-god-I-can't-even-breathe kind of sex BUT it is a great reaffirmation of love and friendship kind, so I guess it just depends on the type of story you are writing.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I agree on its importance. My epiphany after reading a story I really loved was that I was being tediously, grimly serious in my own. Sometimes that's right - I don't have a problem, for instance, with "Letters from the Hesperus" - but other times I realized that a little humor would go a long way not just to making the story fun to read, but toward creating a sense that the characters were real, likeable people. Who enjoys the company of someone with no sense of humor? I'm still working on it, and as you say, the transition can be tricky, but I think it's worth going for.

 

[Kassiana]

I include humorous elements in all of my stories, even one of my hardest and darkest to date, one where numerous people died and the main character's sanity was lost (in part due to a sexual encounter with a sadistic demon). It's one of the ways I got through writing it.

Sex can be written funny.

 

[be0wulf]

Originally posted by BlackShanglan
I agree on its importance. My epiphany after reading a story I really loved was that I was being tediously, grimly serious in my own. Sometimes that's right - I don't have a problem, for instance, with "Letters from the Hesperus" - but other times I realized that a little humor would go a long way not just to making the story fun to read, but toward creating a sense that the characters were real, likeable people. Who enjoys the company of someone with no sense of humor? I'm still working on it, and as you say, the transition can be tricky, but I think it's worth going for.

This has been the theme of the comments I have received from my stories. The sex is okay but the story is good.
I think that a balance can be acheived but it's the transition that takes the work.

I know that putting humour into stories takes a LOT of work. To do it right and make it funny, you can't just sprinkle a few jokes around, you need to sculpt it and have an eye for the overall flow.

I need to keep working on it, but the results so far have been encouraging.

 

[herecomestherain]

I like moments of deftly handled humour even right in the middle of sex scenes, they seem to diffuse the situation or the tension for a moment then allow you to build it up again. I wouldn't use it unless it felt natural to do so. Humour endears me to the characters, provides contrast and often lets me see their foibles which I kind of like. Depends on the kind of story and the kind of sex you write I guess.

 

[Barnaby]

Least Read Categories

The problem with the Humor category is that people expect nothing but parodies and slapstick pieces rather than just stories with humor in them. My story PURPLE DAZE was originally submitted to the Erotic Couplings category but LIT chose to recataegorize it as Humor. The result was that it was the highest rated story in its category that month but that it has less than 4000 looks even now as compared to 26,000 for A MOST INTERESTING LIFE. That story, like PURP, is a partially factual, character-based, funny story but it ended up in the more-read Group category.
My new story, PUTTING PANTS ON PAULA should go up this weekend. It's in the same vein--partially true, lots of funny dialogue and strong characters based on real people. I submitted to the Group category but we'll see where it ends up. I'll do a link on this thread when it goes on.

 

[sack]

My experiences....

Well, I've tried humor in a few of my stories, The Mask immediately comes to mind which was reasonably successful (4.56). I have a new one coming tomorrow which is outright goofy, kind of like Monty Python. It's called The Attack of the Uni-Tits, in which large breasts on unicycles terrorize a small town. One of the best stories I have read on Literotica is Abstruses' Ole OneBreast. It will make you laugh out loud...! My story was inspired by Abs'. but is completely different in content. You'll have to read my stories to let me know if the sex works in the larger context of the humorous slant.

Sack

 

[~hellbaby~]

This is a new direction for me but it seems to be the only thing I can write at the time. My humor is, unfortunatley based on real life experiences. I started thinking tonight that some of the stuff I've been through is pretty funny. So I am working on a story about how I was tied to the coffee table when unexpected company came over. I don't know how erotic it will be but it will be lighhearted.
I tried my hand at something similar the other day for the first time and would love any comments on it as I have never written non 'make you cum hard and fast' stories before!!!





http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=173294

 

[sack]

an easy 5....

I had looked at that story and PC'ed on it. Really, probably the cleverest submission I've ever read! Extremely well written and recommended to anyone! Congratulations, Sack

 

[~hellbaby~]

Re: an easy 5....

I had looked at that story and PC'ed on it. Really, probably the cleverest submission I've ever read! Extremely well written and recommended to anyone! Congratulations, Sack

Thanks! I saw that today and was going to write you and acknowledge your comment! I plan on reading your work in the next few days ,anything in particular I should read first?

 

[sack]

Thanks!

There's only a few of my stories I think are truly worth reading (not just a stroke story!) To whit:

The funny, goofy ones:

The Mask
Attack of the Uni-Tits (should be up soon!)
Zapped Into National Nude Day
How to blow a man in his underpants

The serious ones:

The Door
The Little Candle Girl
How to Write a Holiday Contest Story Entry
Who Killed Lois Laynes?

Impressive was kind enough to provide a link to my stories on the Author's Hangout Plug Your Own Story thread, it's on the last page near the top I think!

Best, Sack

 

[Carmenica Diaz]

The humour should be natural, that is as part of the character conversation.
sack - snap! we share the same title for stories - I have one entitled The Mask but it is a TG story.

 

[Barnaby]

Putting Pants on Paula

PUTTING PANTS ON PAULA
Well, here's the link I promised. A couple of minor errors that glare at me now but I'll send in a revision. Even so, it's getting a good reaction so far. Like most of my pieces, only a few public comments (Thanks, Sack!) but voting is good. I always read my dialogue-heavy works out loud to my wife to listen for unnatural sounding speech patterns or words and she nearly choked to death from laughing on this one. Still, she thought it hot enough to not go directly into the Humor category.
Incidentally, for those who like PAULA, try my A MOST INTERESTING LIFE, SEMANTICS and SUMMER MAGIC, all based on different aspects of the same young lady (also see THE INTERVIEW PROJECT 3).
Bottom line, as many people have suggested: Natural, unforced humor can enhance, not detract from the erotic aspects of a story!I'm working on TRIVIA TIME! already, about a radio call-in trivia contest and its amorous home players.
Barnaby

 

[Daisy May]

Most of my stories have elements of humour in them and the responses I recieve back have been very positive.

There is a dilemma however. When trying to proceed from humour to erotica, the evolution always seems a bit jarring. It's just that the transition seems so forced.

You almost hear yourself saying, as you read along, "Ah, here's where the sex part starts" and the cheap saxophone music starts up in the background.

Does anyone have any experience with erotic humour? Any suggestions on how to smoothly transition into the erotic aspect of the story?

Ah! Someone who does the same thing! Sorry, I haven't submitted anything yet....just browsing and checking out the site. But hey, when you figure this out, let me know. I have the same problem. But the people who have read my poetry and stories think I handle it pretty well. It's very hard not to mix passion and humor for me. I can picture myself kissing and always wanting to laugh or I do. Sometimes it ruins the moment and other times he just puts his hand over my mouth and says "hush, let me kiss you". Once I'm spoken too.....it's ahhhhhh! Then I behave. I'm 33 and still feel like a teen at times