Erotic story or written porn?

[- K -]

Hello everyone.

I've been a writer for some time now, though I just recently joined the site. I have a question, though it is a bit more of an informal survey than a how-to question.

Basically, in an erotic story, do you feel that the "erotic" part or the "story" part is more important to focus on? What I mean is, which is more important: the sexual imagery by itself or the story surrounding it?

I've always been a story-teller, so my opinion thus far has been that my writing ends up being about 50-70% sex and only about 30% story. However, the actual focus of the story focuses about 70% on the situation itself and much less on the physical act. To me the story (or at least the set-up) is incredibly vital. After all, if there is some scandalous detail, like one of the characters is actually a robber or that they were rivals walking into the room, it adds an element of spice to it that makes the story much hotter than it just being an act of sex. I just find reading (and also writing) much less fulfilling if there is no context.

That's not to say that I haven't come across simply breathtaking pieces of work that have very little or no stated context surrounding them. If the words are powerful enough, you can still get pulled into it.

So what do you think? Is erotic writing more about the story or the act?

Peace in the Mid-East,
- K -

 

[Guest]

Hello everyone.

I've been a writer for some time now, though I just recently joined the site. I have a question, though it is a bit more of an informal survey than a how-to question.

Basically, in an erotic story, do you feel that the "erotic" part or the "story" part is more important to focus on? What I mean is, which is more important: the sexual imagery by itself or the story surrounding it?

I've always been a story-teller, so my opinion thus far has been that my writing ends up being about 50-70% sex and only about 30% story. However, the actual focus of the story focuses about 70% on the situation itself and much less on the physical act. To me the story (or at least the set-up) is incredibly vital. After all, if there is some scandalous detail, like one of the characters is actually a robber or that they were rivals walking into the room, it adds an element of spice to it that makes the story much hotter than it just being an act of sex. I just find reading (and also writing) much less fulfilling if there is no context.

That's not to say that I haven't come across simply breathtaking pieces of work that have very little or no stated context surrounding them. If the words are powerful enough, you can still get pulled into it.

So what do you think? Is erotic writing more about the story or the act?

Peace in the Mid-East,
- K -

As this is a porn site, then sex in the story is important.

To many readers, plot is incidental, but most folks in the AH like a little story with their sex.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

As this is a porn site, then sex in the story is important.

To many readers, plot is incidental, but most folks in the AH like a little story with their sex.

I always try to write a story, the story to me is more important to me...sometimes sex is the vehicle for the story...and sometimes the sex is just incidental to the story...

And I try to make my characters realistic, and believable...I want the reader to recognize someone in their lives when they read one of my smutty little works...

 

[BlackShanglan]

I'm with drkside. Without wishing to be crude, I think that when you get down to it, the physical aspects of sex are essentially repetitive motion. Absent physical sensation, it's really not that interesting. It needs story and character and emotion to make it sing.

Shanglan

 

[wishfulthinking]

Hi

The "insert part A into part B" does very little for me in the way of an erotic story. Anyone can write a description. But the little details you speak of, that's what makes a story come alive for me. I want to know how or why, if there are any conflicts how they are resolved. But I don't want a big chunk of Billy-Ray's 0-18 years that made him to be the horny nerd he is today. it's a balancing act most of us struggle with.

That's my 2c. This is a pron site. There are different kinds of readers. I think most of us agree on 3 kinds of readers. Those who want stroke - quick and fast and no plot. Those who want a detail. And those who like to troll. Pick your audience and write for them

 

[drksideofthemoon]

The "insert part A into part B" does very little for me in the way of an erotic story. Anyone can write a description. But the little details you speak of, that's what makes a story come alive for me. I want to know how or why, if there are any conflicts how they are resolved. But I don't want a big chunk of Billy-Ray's 0-18 years that made him to be the horny nerd he is today. it's a balancing act most of us struggle with.

That's my 2c. This is a pron site. There are different kinds of readers. I think most of us agree on 3 kinds of readers. Those who want stroke - quick and fast and no plot. Those who want a detail. And those who like to troll. Pick your audience and write for them

I agree....I think I am writing for the 3rd group now...

 

[Colleen Thomas]

As this is a porn site, then sex in the story is important.

To many readers, plot is incidental, but most folks in the AH like a little story with their sex.

Sarah, that av is KA

 

[Guest]

Sarah, that av is KA

Don't ya just love Edna?

 

[zeb1094]

Don't ya just love Edna?

Hey Edna, you wanta meet Mr. Muscles?

 

[Guest]

Hey Edna, you wanta meet Mr. Muscles?

What happens if you let the air out of him?

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Hey Edna, you wanta meet Mr. Muscles?

I hope no one approaches you with a pin...looks like Mr. Muscles could blow at any minute...

 

[zeb1094]

What happens if you let the air out of him?

No air, all muscle.

 

[logophile]

For my porn writing, I do some pretty good set-up stuff with character building and descriptions, etc. But the real thing for me is writing the stuff in the character's head. The stuff going on deep in the back of the brain that is the subtext for all sex and I believe is pretty universal. This following is from a very short piece of mine (Caressing the Veil, my Halloween entry two years ago). Even the total word count is only about 1600 (I think, maybe more like 2000) I spent a lot of time in my MC's head:

I love the way you've always entered me. Not a little at a time, inch by inch, but all at once, driving into me in one deep, earth shattering stroke. I love the feeling of going from being completely empty and aching for you to being completely full. That first stroke always pushes all of my air out in one fast exhale as I welcome you.

Tonight, once you were buried in me, you leaned down and kissed me again with more and more urgency. My hands were all over your back and as you started to build speed and momentum, I went from gentle exploration to greedy scratching and clawing. Pulling my nails across the tender flesh of your lower back drove you even more wild, and you fucked me hard, making me cry out in a combination of delight and overuse. Still I hung on tight and matched your thrusts, rising to meet you again and again. I bit your shoulders and your neck in my hunger and you responded by redoubling your efforts and pounding me harder and faster.

I watched your face as you grew closer and closer to the edge. Looking on you with pure love, I said, "Yes, That's right, I want to feel you cum inside me, Yes, Do it..." And you opened your eyes to stare back as you exploded inside me and I said, "I love you too, with all that I am..."

 

[drksideofthemoon]

For my porn writing, I do some pretty good set-up stuff with character building and descriptions, etc. But the real thing for me is writing the stuff in the character's head. The stuff going on deep in the back of the brain that is the subtext for all sex and I believe is pretty universal. This following is from a very short piece of mine (Caressing the Veil, my Halloween entry two years ago). Even the total word count is only about 1600 (I think, maybe more like 2000) I spent a lot of time in my MC's head:

I love the way you've always entered me. Not a little at a time, inch by inch, but all at once, driving into me in one deep, earth shattering stroke. I love the feeling of going from being completely empty and aching for you to being completely full. That first stroke always pushes all of my air out in one fast exhale as I welcome you.

Tonight, once you were buried in me, you leaned down and kissed me again with more and more urgency. My hands were all over your back and as you started to build speed and momentum, I went from gentle exploration to greedy scratching and clawing. Pulling my nails across the tender flesh of your lower back drove you even more wild, and you fucked me hard, making me cry out in a combination of delight and overuse. Still I hung on tight and matched your thrusts, rising to meet you again and again. I bit your shoulders and your neck in my hunger and you responded by redoubling your efforts and pounding me harder and faster.

I watched your face as you grew closer and closer to the edge. Looking on you with pure love, I said, "Yes, That's right, I want to feel you cum inside me, Yes, Do it..." And you opened your eyes to stare back as you exploded inside me and I said, "I love you too, with all that I am..."

Very good....

I don't write porn! I write smut, and dammit, I try to make it good smut...

 

[LoneOwl]

To me there's a big difference between written erotica and written porn. Porn is sex, and not much else, maybe a crude storyline. Erotica is a story, it has characters, it has an emotion other than lust. I've read stories that were porn, and I've read stories that were erotic.

I suppose in a sense, the difference between erotica and porn is if you can cut out the sex, and still have a story, it's erotica.

If I wanted just sex, I'd rather watch porn.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

To me there's a big difference between written erotica and written porn. Porn is sex, and not much else, maybe a crude storyline. Erotica is a story, it has characters, it has an emotion other than lust. I've read stories that were porn, and I've read stories that were erotic.

I suppose in a sense, the difference between erotica and porn is if you can cut out the sex, and still have a story, it's erotica.

If I wanted just sex, I'd rather watch porn.

As a writer I would have to say that there is a big difference between written erotica, and porn.

But I could be full of it, I write neither, I write smut...

 

[JamesSD]

Basically, in an erotic story, do you feel that the "erotic" part or the "story" part is more important to focus on? What I mean is, which is more important: the sexual imagery by itself or the story surrounding it?

I've always been a story-teller, so my opinion thus far has been that my writing ends up being about 50-70% sex and only about 30% story. However, the actual focus of the story focuses about 70% on the situation itself and much less on the physical act. To me the story (or at least the set-up) is incredibly vital. After all, if there is some scandalous detail, like one of the characters is actually a robber or that they were rivals walking into the room, it adds an element of spice to it that makes the story much hotter than it just being an act of sex. I just find reading (and also writing) much less fulfilling if there is no context.

That's not to say that I haven't come across simply breathtaking pieces of work that have very little or no stated context surrounding them. If the words are powerful enough, you can still get pulled into it.

So what do you think? Is erotic writing more about the story or the act?

I think your ratios are about right. The sex should be central to the story. But having a set-up is tremendously important. Who are the characters, and why are they screwing?

To be great I think it needs both the story and the act. To be good you can just do one or the other well.

 

[JRaven]

I don't know.

Some of my later stories, I've tried to write about relationships as told through sex. Of course, there HAS to be something more than just sex. But sex in itself says a lot about a relationship.

Jenny

 

[LilyMelb]

Erotica or porn-fiction, hmmm...

I often joke with friends (those who know I write this stuff anyway) that I write pornography, or more often that I'm the local pornographer, lol... but I do actually think of myself as writing erotica, rather than porn. What the actual line between the two is, however, I wish I could clealy say, and I certainly don't get offended if my stuff is labelled porn.... 'tis probably six of one, half a dozen of the other....

Sex and arousal is clearly the point of the writing which is intended for this site - erotica or porn either way. Is it simply that erotica has more developed stories, characters, narratives or thematic plots? Or is that just bringing it back to the old
"erotica is simply quality pornography" which I don't necessarily agree with?

I know when I'm developing a story intended for this site, I often find that in the first draft, the sex gets in the way (believe it or not, lol) because I'm too involved with developing the characters psychological and emotional backgrounds and motivations. I actually have to stop and force myself to remember that the point of the story is the sex.... but I tend to use the sex as a device to tell a story about the characters, rather than the characters simply getting down and dirty for the sake of it.... (lol maybe that's why I dont' appear on many top 10 lists, hehe)...

Is that the difference then? No idea... just throwing a few suggestions into the wind...

I guess I'm used to pornography, whether in written fiction or visual, being straight to the point and, for me, rather dull - kind of "fit tab A into slot B" dullness.... so I personally think of erotica as having more to it.... but I'd be very very happy to be proven wrong, because I love knowing there's damn good quality porn out there and be even happier to know I've contributed to it somewhere along the line, hehe...

Cheers
Lily

 

[oggbashan]

Don't copy me.

I tend to write stories with optional sex, if I include it at all. Implied sex can be erotic. Off-stage sex is seen by some as cheating.

My optional-sex stories are never going to popular with the mainstream of Literotica's readers.

If you want popularity and high ratings, in-your-face sex is important, if only as significant incidents in a plotted story.

Og

 

[rgraham666]

I divide my work up into three categories.

My 'short pieces of smut' focus on a single act. The characters are never named nor is there great character development. I do try to keep the level of writing above 'I kikked down the door and cummed in her face' though.

Many of my works are full stories, with named characters, development of their relationship, a plot and conflict. Usually there is only one sexual act at the climax of the story.

And a couple I have no idea how to categorise them, as they fit in neither of the above categories.

There's lots of room for all kinds of stories here. Write what you want.

Oh and welcome to the AH, K. You'll find the people here are good supports for writing. And fine people all around.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

There was a trial involving this distinction, wasn't there? In which a porn writer was accused of writing erotica and a Supreme Court justice famously said, "I can't define the difference between erotica and porn, but I know it when I see it."

Hi, group, my name is Roxanne and I'm a porn writer. (In unison: "Hi, Roxanne . . .")

I spend 70 percent of the time when not actually striking keys thinking about the story, which as a porn writer I recognize as in fact being "the set up." I think a good set up is critical for good written porn, because (obviously) it establishes the context in which the ol' in-out is taking place, and that context is what separates a blood-pounding fantasy from a yawn. But probably half the words in my stories are sex acts, broadly defined (stripping or getting stripped included, for example.)

It's interesting to compare this with visual porn, where the "set-up" is rarely taken seriously, and the product is almost purely "in-out." I have read a few "stories," not on this site but on Nifty, that are barely more than this. Needless to say, they don't work very well.

It's still all rather fresh to me, and interesting to introspect on the process. I wrote my first words of a sex story just six months ago. It turns out that I spend most of non-key stroking time thinking hard about the "set up," and almost none thinking about the sex. Other than the word-smithing, which is automatic, I hardly think at all when writing the "in-out" parts - those flow out of some deep, mysterious well (referred to technically in the psyche journals as "deeply disturbed and depraved mental condition").

In this latter process I do pause intermittently and re-engage brain fully to consider what each character is thinking and feeling, translate that into prose, and insert it into the actual smut. It's not an afterthought, because as the creator what the characters are thinking and feeling is implicit in my own mind. I just have to engage a different part of my brain and "look within" so as to make the implicit, explicit.

I have tremendous respect for those who seem to come at this from a different direction – they have a “suite” of internal thoughts and feelings in their mind, and build a story and sex act around these.

 

[Liar]

I'd like to think that I write lust fiction. It's stories about sexuality and lust. But the intention does not have to be to arouse the reader. I don'tr know if that makes it more boring or more pretentious or both, but it's a good excuse for when I fail to turn the readers on, but still write a decent plot.

 

[MichelleLovesTo]

The Citizen Kane of Porn...

I do try to keep the level of writing above 'I kikked down the door and cummed in her face' though.

Hmpfh. I don't know why anyone would be so blase about ignoring a classic approach. If it wasn't for "virginas" and "public hare," where would we be today?

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Hmpfh. I don't know why anyone would be so blase about ignoring a classic approach. If it wasn't for "virginas" and "public hare," where would we be today?

Thanks...I just spit coffee all over my laptop...