Getting it started...

[sonja_blue]

Okay, I have to ask for help again, as embarrassing as it is. I really have written erotica for a long time, but ever since I signed up for the Survivor contest and started trying to post here, I've been stuck. I have half a dozen stories started and running smoothly right up until the point where the actual down-and-dirty starts... And I'm frozen. I cannot write about sex. I have no idea what's up or how to fix it. Anybody got any suggestions?

Thanks

Poor Sonja

 

[cantdog]

Wow. I haven't had a similar problem; I guess I'm helpless. You have my sympathy, though, for what good it may do.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Okay, I have to ask for help again, as embarrassing as it is. I really have written erotica for a long time, but ever since I signed up for the Survivor contest and started trying to post here, I've been stuck. I have half a dozen stories started and running smoothly right up until the point where the actual down-and-dirty starts... And I'm frozen. I cannot write about sex. I have no idea what's up or how to fix it. Anybody got any suggestions?

Thanks

Poor Sonja

Same problem I have several posted stories waiting for final chapters, with emails telling me to hurry up.

I have no answers.

 

[TheEarl]

I've had this problem and (amazingly!) I also have the answer:

You don't know why your characters are having sex. It's quite difficult to make the just from plot-based writing to description-based writing and you're stalling because you don't understand your characters enough. What are their passions, why are they doing it? Sit back, cross-legged, close your eyes and imagine yourself in the body of one of your characters. What's their motivation? What are they feeling? How are they feeling?

Another suggestion is to engage in some light bondage. Handcuffs, scarfs, etc - get oen set of hands firmly secured. Then you can concentrate on where the other set is going. You can concentrate on moving one person, maybe getting them to go down on the bound one. It's a lot easier to deal with one thing at a time and it should give you impetus to get into the scene properly by the time you release your character's bonds.

The Earl

 

[Dinsmore]

A Long Post on Getting to the Good Stuff

I’ll apologize in advance for the length. I don’t post here often, but when I do I have a lot to say.

As I delve deeper into this genre, i.e., the more stuff I write, the less interesting it becomes to create moderately repetitive laundry lists describing sexual acts. As I was re-examining some of my earlier work, I was almost embarrassed. Recently I actually went back and inserted obligatory sex scenes in a story---shame on me. Am I pandering to the jerk off crowd? Not that there is anything wrong with that---jerking off I mean.

I have a dozen stories in various stages in which it takes fifteen pages single spaced in Word to get to copulation. I have one---well over thirty pages---in which they never will. You know they are going to---but why do I have to describe it for you? Maybe we need a new section to submit stories to, entitled: “Of Course They’re Going to Fuck---but I’m not Going to Give You the Graphic Details---Don’t you Have Any Imagination of Your Own?”

I write two kinds of stories. I write long, detailed slow builds with lots of character development. Sometimes these stories are difficult to wrap up. When I’m stumped, I sit down and bang out a few pages of what I like to call, recreational smut---fuck stories.

The point someone raised is extremely valid---why are these two people fucking? If the characters are between the ages of 18 and 25 and male the reasons are neither complex nor sublime. As Tina said, “What’s Love Got to do With It?”

At some point men, as they age, evolve---slightly. They chase skirts to prove that they can still catch them. How many men in their thirties and forties pursue some sweet young thing, get her in bed---and then have mediocre sex? They discover that they have nothing in common, don’t really want to have a relationship and wish they weren’t there. Erectile Dysfunction is often exhibited. When I was that age proving that I “still had it” was more important than “doing it”---particularly if there was good competition.

Quick sport fuck stories can be fun. We all remember the obsession of William Hurt as Kathleen Turner was just a French door away and he had to have her, in Body Heat---one of the most erotic movies ever made. The unexpected screw based on pure lust and hormones is terribly exciting. More often than we want to admit, in real life, the heavy make out scene between two people in a heightened state of arousal does not lead to mind blowing story-book sex. The ardor cools---for whatever reason---and they don’t fuck. Worse, if they do, as I indicated above---it is disappointing.

My favorite story to write---and read---has a similar theme. Two people meet---often through work where we all spend too much of our lives. Probably they are unlikely candidates for love, romance or even fucking. Maybe there are barriers---age, status, education, existing relationships---whatever. They become non-sexual friends. The attraction builds. It grows to a point when it borders on obsession. Thrown together in the right situation---they fuck. At that moment there is no one else in the world they want to screw more than this---now special---person they have, “grown” with. The sex is great because it has a basis in friendship, respect, mutual attraction and so on.

I also like the absolute reverse of that theme. They fuck---because they are lonely, horny or need some comfort. They do it because there is an overpowering chemical attraction. They have no expectation that it will lead to anything. Casual sex has become too common in their lives. It’s much better than either could imagine and they know they want to do it again. In the process of getting to the second act they discover that there just might be more than sex between them.

If you are a man writing this stuff, try to find more than one woman to review your scenario and tell you if it makes sense from a woman’s perspective---would she end up in the sack with this guy? Would she think these thoughts? The same can be said if you are a woman. Would this man, at his age and in his unique position behave in this manner?.

Finally, drawing from comments others have made about clichéd descriptions. Sexual thoughts are often, to me, more erotic than sexual acts. Ten inch cocks are only in the movies---and, even then, often penile implants that never really get hard. Eight inches is not unrealistic if used sparingly. Tits in the 38DD range only work for Dolly Parton---sadly she is a gifted song writer with a great voice who never needed them to have success. Jamming it in to the hilt pales by comparison with a teasing, agonizingly slow insertion. The pain associated with rapid, dry anal insertion is not pleasant for 98% of the women on the earth. Pinching nipples is terribly overrated---as is sucking on them unless you are under the age of one and it is your mommy’s tit you are sucking on. Brutal mouth fucking seldom works well for either participant. In closing, the actual fuck is almost always somewhat anti-climactic---getting there is the fun part.

 

[wishfulthinking]

the actual fuck is almost always somewhat anti-climactic---getting there is the fun part.

Great point. I read many that jump straight into the 'action' and forget the build up is crucial.

 

[impressive]

Great point. I read many that jump straight into the 'action' and forget the build up is crucial.

There is a niche for both stroke and story. If I start with an idea for a sexual encounter, the end result is stroke because I'm impatient and can't be arsed to manufacture a plot. If I start with an idea for a seduction or a conflict in need of resolution, the end result is story which happens to include sex as the resolution (or as the conflict itself).

TheEarl's suggestion is a good one.