How do you come up with a story to go with the sex?

[desertslave]

I start with what the story is and let the sex drop into that.

Same here. It's my own personal taste, but I want the sex to be supportive of the story, not the other way around. It's how I prefer to read and how I try to write.

 

[i_would]

Or, as Noor says, just write the sex and forget the story. Here on Literotica, there's an audience for every type of story. Sad but true.

Just wondering, what's so sad about that?

 

[TxRad]

Just wondering, what's so sad about that?

I think he meant from a writers point of view.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I try not to make the sex gratuitous and make it an integral part of the story. I make it part of a character's personality profile and it gives me the opportunity to expose more of them that way, in a personal aspect.

As long as the sex is hot, no one really cares how it fits in the story!!

 

[RichardBacula]

I know what type of sex I want in the story I want to write, but I am having a really hard time figuring out how to have it be more than just the sex. I want it to focus around anonymous/unattached sex and escalate to crazier and crazier situations, but I have no idea how a plot can be made of this.

"Anonymous/unattached sex that escalates to crazier and crazier situations" IS a plot. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but books and movies are sold every day with less plot than that.
The next question is, "does the main character seek out these situations, or do these situations befall the character for other reasons?"
If the character is seeking these situations out, there's a story there. You just have to focus on the old "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How."

Do you just add some arbitrary "non-sex" plot to your story or what?

I generally come up with a general concept first, a specific sex scene, erotic image, or idea. Then I flesh things out from there. It's not arbitrary, though.
With my story Cornholed, for example, I was trying to write a Halloween story for the contest. I wanted to do something more original than vampires, werewolves, demons, and other monsters that have been done all the time, so I thought about different kinds of things that I associate with Halloween. The idea of a scarecrow came up.
The problem with a scarecrow (the main problem) is that they're not anatomically correct. So I had to fix that issue. I could have a guy (or girl) dressed up like a scarecrow, or I could just fix its anatomy somehow.
The image popped into my head of a scarecrow with a dick made of decorative dried corn. From there, the ending of the story jumped into my head, and I knew that I had to write it.
So the whole story worked backward from the climax. The ending came first, and all I had to do was to come up with a plot and a character to support that one scene.
In the course of writing that plot, the story became about more than just sex, as a natural progress of trying to establish characters and setting that would support the sex scene that I wanted.
What kind of woman, in what kind of circumstances, might have sex with a scarecrow?
How could a scarecrow come to life, and why would it want to have sex with a woman?
Plot issues like that are opportunities more than problems. By answering that kind of question, you can flesh things out enough that the story will often be more than just sex.

If your character does sexual things because she likes them, how does that have anything to do with your plot?

Stories are, almost without exception, all about people wanting things. The length and breadth of the story comes from how many people want things, how many things each one wants, what they want, and what kind of obstacles are in their way.
So you have a woman who wants lots of kinky sex.
What are the obstacles that are between her and her goal?
Obvious possible obstacles are:
-Society
-Inhibitions
-Obligations (perhaps she's in a relationship already, or perhaps she has family members to work around, or perhaps the person she wants to have sex with is in a relationship, or whatever)
-Lack of opportunities/partners
-Any combination of these things.

How large the obstacles are, how many there are, and how easy they are to overcome would all be major factors in how long the story turns out.

 

[Tsotha]

Same here. It's my own personal taste, but I want the sex to be supportive of the story, not the other way around. It's how I prefer to read and how I try to write.

I prefer stories where sex serves some purpose in the story, too. Which leads to the question, "how do you come up with sex to go with the story?"

 

[TxRad]

I prefer stories where sex serves some purpose in the story, too. Which leads to the question, "how do you come up with sex to go with the story?"

The story dictates the sex. Turn the characters loose and see where they go. They will get around to sex sooner or later.

 

[slyc_willie]

I prefer stories where sex serves some purpose in the story, too. Which leads to the question, "how do you come up with sex to go with the story?"

I've had issues myself when writing a story and I feel like I'm just throwing in the sex because it's expected on this site. But then I remind myself that sex, like violence, is a part of life (much moreso than violence, in fact), and if we continually accept graphic depictions of violence in stories when a a simple "he shot him" would do, why not include graphic sex where "he took her to the bedroom" would do?

 

[sr71plt]

The story dictates the sex. Turn the characters loose and see where they go. They will get around to sex sooner or later.

I think this is a key point. Even most mainstream stories are couched in sexual tension. What makes writing erotica freeing over the mainstream is that there aren't any barriers in erotica to continue the story into graphic depiction of the sex and/or the continuation of sexual tension into the release of same. If you took the "going all of the way" out of it, you should still have a story, though, if you want to consider it a story rather than a sex vignette (which is OK to post to Literotica too).

 

[AlwaysDancing]

I think the basic short story handles a narrative moment in time kind of tale which doesn't really need a plot per se to be successful. When I go for plot in a short story I often write in a dilemma (a difficult choice, not a difficult situation). To me, a dilemma packs a great punch in short stories. It's also very easy to work into sexual stories. It sounds like you have a longer story in mind. Just add conflict that becomes tougher and tougher to resolve as the story progresses. If you're writing a sex story, maybe things get so crazy they lose their identity as a couple and that grasp becomes more and more tenuous the crazier the sex gets. Hell, you only need one character to feel this way. If you're writing a story that happens to have sex, well then you can make the conflict about anything you want.

Sheesh, anyone else wonder if what they say actually answers the originally intended question? LOL, happy writing either way.

 

[Tsotha]

The story dictates the sex. Turn the characters loose and see where they go. They will get around to sex sooner or later.

I've had issues myself when writing a story and I feel like I'm just throwing in the sex because it's expected on this site. But then I remind myself that sex, like violence, is a part of life (much moreso than violence, in fact), and if we continually accept graphic depictions of violence in stories when a a simple "he shot him" would do, why not include graphic sex where "he took her to the bedroom" would do?

I'm currently writing something for the sci-fi category. At first I looked at my story and thought there was too little character development in it, so I started writing around what was already there, building up, showing more instead of telling... And now I have about 10k words before anything sexy happens.

So indeed, I'm tapping my head and wondering if I should just throw in some sex somehow. What do you think?

 

[TxRad]

I'm currently writing something for the sci-fi category. At first I looked at my story and thought there was too little character development in it, so I started writing around what was already there, building up, showing more instead of telling... And now I have about 10k words before anything sexy happens.

So indeed, I'm tapping my head and wondering if I should just throw in some sex somehow. What do you think?

A lot of my stories go to the last page before the sex shows up. The build up is a good thing as long as you end it with a climax. Pun intended, more or less.

 

[slyc_willie]

I'm currently writing something for the sci-fi category. At first I looked at my story and thought there was too little character development in it, so I started writing around what was already there, building up, showing more instead of telling... And now I have about 10k words before anything sexy happens.

So indeed, I'm tapping my head and wondering if I should just throw in some sex somehow. What do you think?

I had a series on Lit that ran for six installments before I unfortunately stopped writing it. I still plan on finishing it one day, but for now, I've taken the whole thing down until I have a finished product.

Anyway, the series was called "Beyond the Veil," and is about a group of specialized investigators. I actually got the idea from a role-playing game. The Veil is something like a mystical energy that conceals real monsters -- trolls, goblins, and so forth -- by making them appear as something more believable. But there are some -- like my heroes -- who are able to see through the Veil.

Nowhere in the basic idea is there a "need" for sex. I introduced certain sexual aspects with the addition of another character, a sorceress from the "other world" who joins the team and builds up magical energy through sex. Other than that, the sexual situations I included in the story were simply extensions of the relationships my heroes had with others.

Each installment was around 15,000 words or so and usually included only a single sex scene. I never got any flack for that. The Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre is much more forgiving for stories that don't include gratuitous amounts of sex. Readers in that category place more emphasis on the overall story.

 

[Tsotha]

Thank you both for the advice.

Indeed, it helps if a character or the setting itself permeates some sexiness into an otherwise unerotic plot.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've been sitting here trying to come up with how to answer this and still not sure I can.

I start with this vivid image of two-sometimes three-people having sex. In the vision there is some clue as to who they are as in the woman or man may be older, one may submissive, one could be reluctant etc...

Once I have the image "locked" to the point that it is not just a passing "wow" but a true bunny that has to be written I need to know who they are. I run through a lot of ideas and its like a slot machine. The ideas roll past quickly and just keep going but something will suddenly line up and the bell rings.

Then its how. The who and the sexual image will lead me to this as it will limit the ways this could come about.

On that all I can say is I usually start typing once I have the who and let it sort of take me along

This is why I believe that for many of us writing is instinctual and a gift that cannot be taught.

 

[patientlee]

What kind of woman, in what kind of circumstances, might have sex with a scarecrow?

After reading your story, I would bet there are many women who might volunteer. You made it sound really appealing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I suspect I spent the last 65 years in a parallel universe where people took it for granted that sex would erupt whenever conditions were right for it, like fog or Democrat looting. You people are clueless.

 

[TxRad]

I suspect I spent the last 65 years in a parallel universe where people took it for granted that sex would erupt whenever conditions were right for it, like fog or Democrat looting. You people are clueless.

Translation: I have nothing meaningful to say.

 

[lovecraft68]

Translation: I have nothing meaningful to say.

Translation: I have to say something petty.

 

[RichardBacula]

After reading your story, I would bet there are many women who might volunteer. You made it sound really appealing.

lol
Thanks!

 

[horrorotica]

I start with what the story is and let the sex drop into that.

exactly. Story first, add sex later. To do it the other way round doesn't make sense to me.

 

[lovecraft68]

exactly. Story first, add sex later. To do it the other way round doesn't make sense to me.

Depends on the person and how their mind works. No wrong or right way across the board just right and wrong for the individual person.

 

[RichardBacula]

exactly. Story first, add sex later. To do it the other way round doesn't make sense to me.

Got any examples?
Because your way makes just as little sense to me.

 

[sr71plt]

Got any examples?
Because your way makes just as little sense to me.

You could easily find them yourself, I think. Check out stories by those who post to the AH and also post stories to the file. Bet you find that more than half of them have strong storylines under the sex scenes--that will still be stories, with a strong theme/point, even when the sex is gone. Of course, the theme/point of many of them will be sexual tension, so the sex will still be integral to the story.

 

[Feotakahari]

I have trouble from the opposite direction, but in a way, I might actually have the same problem as the OP. I think of a story first, and then I start trying to think of ways to make it sexy. The problem is, bringing two or more characters together in a healthy relationship requires a lot of thought and tinkering to make them fit and bring them together, whereas a rape* scene just requires someone who wants to commit rape and someone who's potentially vulnerable. Thus, even though rape disgusts me and I hate writing about it, I wound up writing a lot of rape because it was easy to write.

For quite a while, I just plain stopped writing for Literotica, because I was so sick of writing stuff that repulsed me. I'm working on some new content now, but I'm only writing it if I can make it positive and pleasurable; otherwise, I'm just dumping it and writing something else. (I might do some more stuff with rape in the future, but only if I think it's a great story and the rape is necessary for it--for instance, I'll need to portray rape if I ever want to revise and improve Cold Steel.)

* Excuse me, "nonconsent." After all, Literotica doesn't allow rape. It just allows, and has an entire section for, terrified men and women begging their attackers to stop.