How difficult do you find it?

[Emilymcplugger]

Obviously we are all to some degree creators of filth, as such it’s the sex that’s brought people here, BUT, at the same time, plot and character are also vitally important.

So my question is this, how difficult do you find it to balance the requirement of sexual shenanigans in your story with the narrative need to have an engaging and interesting plot?

I know I’m finding it challenging with my current story but just thought I’d see if I was the only one getting lost in plot.

 

[SimonDoom]

The only part that's difficult for me after 52 stories is trying to write the sex scene in a way that's somewhat fresh and holds my interest as an author. I'm reasonably confident that most readers won't care. But I care. I don't want to write the same thing over and over, and it's not easy to write fresh, new, creative sex scenes after you've done it a lot.

 

[Amy_66]

The only part that's difficult for me after 52 stories is trying to write the sex scene in a way that's somewhat fresh and holds my interest as an author. I'm reasonably confident that most readers won't care. But I care. I don't want to write the same thing over and over, and it's not easy to write fresh, new, creative sex scenes after you've done it a lot.

This guy walks into a resort in the Catskills for the first time – one of those famous Borscht Belt places. Some of the old time comics are sitting around telling jokes. One of them says "Seventeen" and the other old timers all roar with laughter. A little later, another one of them says "Thirty-Two" and again, they all laugh and holler.

Well, the new guy can't figure out what's going on, so he asks one of the locals next to him "What're these old-timers doing?" The local says "Well, they've been hanging around together so long they all know all the same jokes, so to save extra talking they've given all the jokes numbers."

The new fellow says "That's clever! I think I'll try that."

So he stands up and says in a loud voice "Nineteen!"

Silence

Everybody just looks at him, but nobody laughs. Embarrassed, he sits down again, and asks the local fellow "What happened? Why didn't anyone laugh?" The local says "Well, son, you just didn't tell it right..."

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Sometimes one comes more easily, sometimes the other. Some characters will have sex easily but it's hard to get to know them, others insist on you getting to know them via 10,000 words of discussion before getting anywhere near a bedroom. I don't tend to have very intricate plots so a few lines as placeholders handles that.

I have one draft saying 'insert witty dialogue and her character here', another that says 'finally, they fuck - add more detail'. I was going to open the former up to suggestions here, but I think I have some ideas now.

 

[gunhilltrain]

This guy walks into a resort in the Catskills for the first time – one of those famous Borscht Belt places. Some of the old time comics are sitting around telling jokes. One of them says "Seventeen" and the other old timers all roar with laughter. A little later, another one of them says "Thirty-Two" and again, they all laugh and holler.

Well, the new guy can't figure out what's going on, so he asks one of the locals next to him "What're these old-timers doing?" The local says "Well, they've been hanging around together so long they all know all the same jokes, so to save extra talking they've given all the jokes numbers."

The new fellow says "That's clever! I think I'll try that."

So he stands up and says in a loud voice "Nineteen!"

Silence

Everybody just looks at him, but nobody laughs. Embarrassed, he sits down again, and asks the local fellow "What happened? Why didn't anyone laugh?" The local says "Well, son, you just didn't tell it right..."

Is this a Rodney Dangerfield routine? It sounds a little like him, although it's a bit longer than his usual quips.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The balance between sex, plot and character development are not really a problem. The struggle for me is describing the sex in way that does not feel like I have already done it 100 times before.

 

[stickygirl]

The only part that's difficult for me after 52 stories is trying to write the sex scene in a way that's somewhat fresh and holds my interest as an author. I'm reasonably confident that most readers won't care. But I care. I don't want to write the same thing over and over, and it's not easy to write fresh, new, creative sex scenes after you've done it a lot.

I appreciate what your saying and despite having written only a few stories I still wince when I catch myself using the same adjectives, nouns and metaphors. I let the plot and characters drive the sex and they bring the freshness to a scene for me.

 

[Mnkinkcpl]

I appreciate what your saying and despite having written only a few stories I still wince when I catch myself using the same adjectives, nouns and metaphors. I let the plot and characters drive the sex and they bring the freshness to a scene for me.

This, each new story and character has their own personality and kinks which direct how they will perform sexually.

Where I do find it difficult is in longer stories and multiple chapter stories with the same characters. For these it's easier if the settings are different. For my Exposing Tana series I intentionally planned on each part taking place in a new surrounding just for this reason.

 

[oggbashan]

I find writing stories with consistent plots easy.

What I have found more difficult in recent years is including sex which is an essential part of the story. Bolt-on sex is too obvious. The sex must form a part of the plot and help to move things on.

That is why in recent years I have written more stories in the Romance category where sex (except perhaps implied sex) is not essential.

 

[NotWise]

Like stickygirl, I depend on the characters to keep the sex fresh.

I do find it difficult to balance sex with the story line. What sometimes happens is that the story line wins out over sex as the story progresses. Sex is new, interesting and easy to write at the beginning, but the plot builds more slowly. Writing another word about sex can become a lot of work near the end of a story, but the plot is ramping up to a climax.

As a result, some of my stories are all sex at the beginning and all plot at the end. I want that to be a little more even.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I mostly write privately now, so I have less worry about my reader(s) finding the sex repetitive. I do, however, and I enjoy varying it in its detail in every story. My years of teaching and researching the Anthropology of Sex comes in quite helpful there.

I do enjoy developing the plot and the characters, and some of my readers relish that part as well. Most, however, seem to miss the subtleties of plot and character, and just enjoy the erotic detail in my sex scenes. Even with my older stories posted here, the comments seldom address the story itself, let alone the parallelisms, metaphors, and the like

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

Erotic scenes are the pay-off, sure enough but I think the journey to that is possibly more important. I write the characters, let their story unfold, paint the scenes and then, when I'm immersed in those things, the sex almost writes itself. There are only so many variations to how people make love or just physically pleasure each other, without delving into the arcane or simply perverse but, just like an orgasm, the foreplay is 75% of the..., well, story.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Erotic scenes are the pay-off, sure enough but I think the journey to that is possibly more important. I write the characters, let their story unfold, paint the scenes and then, when I'm immersed in those things, the sex almost writes itself. There are only so many variations to how people make love or just physically pleasure each other, without delving into the arcane or simply perverse but, just like an orgasm, the foreplay is 75% of the..., well, story.

I do get that character drives plot and I have no problem with that, in fact in ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE it was SO easy as plot and sex merged so well that there were no issues.

I just find in my new story as it involves grisly accidents (but are they accidents) that I find myself drifting towards getting sucked into the plot and the dynamics of the investigation rather than the good stuff.

I wondered if anyone else had experienced that.

(Apologies if I sound arsey, it’s not my intention, just wanting to start a discussion).

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Depends on the genre. Romance is going to have a higher expectation of plot than say Non-Con or Fetish.

I won't update a story here until I have a sex scene so if I go three chapters without a sex scene when I publish elsewhere, my next update on literotica will include all of those chapters as one.

Early chapters may be less than 10% porn but later chapters can easily jump up to like 30%

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The plot is the easiest part for me. I have plenty of imagination and I think can always come up with something that can keep reader's attention. The most problematic part for me is, as SimonDoom already said, coming up with new ways to describe sexual scenes that are by their nature repetitive. That usually happens when you have already written that same action in previous stories and you can't stand simply repeating the wording, so you try to come up with new ways of describing the same thing. It is so challenging and frustrating. I usually try to add some quirks, some new circumstances, some new twists to make the scene different enough so I won't feel embarrassed publishing it

 

[SamScribble]

I don't think that I write sex stories. I write life stories. And sex is often part of life and so, sometimes, my life stories end up with a dollop of sex here and there. Even then, the sex part is seldom that serious. Come to think of it, I probably should be banned from Lit.

If you are looking for advice, Emily, I'd probably suggest that you focus on the story and let sex fall where it will. But then what person in their right mind would take advice from me?

 

[NotWise]

I do get that character drives plot and I have no problem with that, in fact in ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE it was SO easy as plot and sex merged so well that there were no issues.

I just find in my new story as it involves grisly accidents (but are they accidents) that I find myself drifting towards getting sucked into the plot and the dynamics of the investigation rather than the good stuff.

I wondered if anyone else had experienced that.

(Apologies if I sound arsey, it’s not my intention, just wanting to start a discussion).

My current story begins when the main characters meet at a party. The plot centers around her job and his family (odd reversal, right?) and I'm trying to keep the plot balanced with their relationship by letting the plot and relationship develop together. The final few scenes will be a mess, but I think I can write it.

 

[OldFloridaGuy]

Is this a Rodney Dangerfield routine? It sounds a little like him, although it's a bit longer than his usual quips.

This j’okes by number tale ‘ has been making the rounds since well before Rodney Dangerfield was telling jokes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So my question is this, how difficult do you find it to balance the requirement of sexual shenanigans in your story with the narrative need to have an engaging and interesting plot?

This came into focus for me a few years ago when AwkwardMD gave me a very deep and detailed critique of The Floating World, which went on a lot about plot and story construction and so on, and it made me realise that I concentrate on "mood", not "plot", in my writing. Simon and I also exchanged comments about "conflict" in stories, me saying, I don't need it in my stories, him saying, but you have it.

It's the same thing, writing the sex in my stories. When my characters are good and ready, the scenes come easily, flow quickly. If they're not, they circle around each other a while longer. There's never a problem in the end.

Life doesn't have a plot, so if I'm writing vignettes from life, about life, I don't need one either.

TLDR: never been a problem for me.

 

[lovecraft68]

The only part that's difficult for me after 52 stories is trying to write the sex scene in a way that's somewhat fresh and holds my interest as an author. I'm reasonably confident that most readers won't care. But I care. I don't want to write the same thing over and over, and it's not easy to write fresh, new, creative sex scenes after you've done it a lot.

Yeah, the last couple of years I've found I really get into the build up, the characters, the conflict, the slow burn then....I kind of slog a bit on the sex scene. I've been writing smut 12 years now(and many here have done it much longer) I lost track of how many sex scenes I've written and other than location, its hard not to be somewhat repetitive.

 

[YesIamReal]

Interesting discussion.

I am not an experienced writer, so my advice is likely only worth what you paid for it...

When you want to add flavor, add the imperfections that make real life interesting:

- not every partner reacts the same each time. Sometimes they are in a different place mentally, or maybe someone is going to try some new little "trick" you saw in a porn or read in an article. Maybe this adds even more flavor if this newfound skill leads the partner to now suspect there is some philandry going on, which can be traumatic or hysterical.

- Change the locations. A new location will have places, things, furniture, people, animals which can and should be used in a variation on an old sex scene. That is what a good lover would do if they were in a real life tryst and even remotely imaginative. (Bonus points if you, like me, are cracking up at picking up and creatively using animals.)

- Add the imperfections. The same great scene will play out differently

 

[KeithD]

Yes, there are only so many ways to depict the Tab A into Slot B part of a sex scene (although there are a lot of positions that would vary that), but that's not the erotic part of story anyway. This is where plot, setting, and characterization come into the story. You can provide a lot of variety with those. You also can keep in mind that many readers are just looking for a familiar switch to be turned on in print. At the base, all you need do is turn on a familiar switch for the reader.

 

[NotWise]

Building good dialog around and during sex helps things stay fresh and brings the characters more into the act. Keeping the dialog natural can be a little challenging.

Describing sex more in terms of how it feels (both physically and emotionally) can give a lot of variety to how sex is described. I'm a guy, so I tend to think first about how to make things happen. Putting the physical and emotional result up front does not come naturally.

 

[Emotional]

Honestly, I have to remember to stop and add an occasional sex scene. Most of my stories would be fine without them

 

[oggbashan]

Honestly, I have to remember to stop and add an occasional sex scene. Most of my stories would be fine without them

That's what I mean about bolt-on sex. If sex isn't essential to the story it shouldn't be there. Romance and non-erotic categories are appropriate, but non-erotic has few readers on Lit.