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

[horrorotica]

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.

Exactly. This is what writing is all about to me. Crafting a story. Not making a sex scene. But I understand that probably most people don't do things like I do. At least the authors on this site (that's just an observation not a put down).

Whatever floats your boat and gets the job done for you go for it. I don't claim to be an expert, I just know what works for me.

 

[slyc_willie]

Thank you both for the advice.

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

It does, but ask yourself this: what, exactly, is required to make a plot erotic? After all, sex is all around us, from fashion to advertisements to our favorite TV shows. The erotic element is naturally inherent in just about anything we, as human beings, do, if we only look for it. It has often (to the point of cliche) to say that "sex sells." Look at the Herbal Essences advertisements. Glance over the cover pages of the glam magazines at your local supermarket when you're paying for milk and eggs. Sex is everywhere. It's just not -- usually -- explicitly depicted.

All we do, as writers of erotica, is go that extra step and add the explicitness to an otherwise tame scene. In my view, doing so does not take away from the overall message or feel of the story, whatever it may be, but rather, adds an additional dimension to it. Sex is real. Sex is necessary. Why the hell not write it out?

 

[patientlee]

It does, but ask yourself this: what, exactly, is required to make a plot erotic? After all, sex is all around us, from fashion to advertisements to our favorite TV shows. The erotic element is naturally inherent in just about anything we, as human beings, do, if we only look for it. It has often (to the point of cliche) to say that "sex sells." Look at the Herbal Essences advertisements. Glance over the cover pages of the glam magazines at your local supermarket when you're paying for milk and eggs. Sex is everywhere. It's just not -- usually -- explicitly depicted.

All we do, as writers of erotica, is go that extra step and add the explicitness to an otherwise tame scene. In my view, doing so does not take away from the overall message or feel of the story, whatever it may be, but rather, adds an additional dimension to it. Sex is real. Sex is necessary. Why the hell not write it out?

Yesterday my Spanish 1's were doing a cognate activity. The Spanish word was esencia. A freshman boy asked for help- encia = ence in English. The boy said he had never heard the word essence before. I said, "You know, like the shampoo- Herbal Essence." He knew that commercial, that's for sure. I had to stop and think about whether I had crossed the line by mentioning shampoo.

Yep. Sex is everywhere.

 

[RichardBacula]

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.

Well, yeah, I could sift through any number of stories to guess what exactly he was talking about, and how his process works, but I figured it'd be easier for everybody if I just asked for an example, kind of like how I went through my process with Cornholed instead of just telling people to guess.

 

[RichardBacula]

Exactly. This is what writing is all about to me. Crafting a story. Not making a sex scene. But I understand that probably most people don't do things like I do. At least the authors on this site (that's just an observation not a put down).

See, to me, crafting a story is part of crafting a sex scene. I don't quite understand how one would do things the other way, so I'm curious about your personal process- precisely because I don't do things that way.
As a writer, I try to learn what I can about other people's techniques, because sometimes certain stuff translates enough that I can pick up something new.

With me, if my goal was to just write a story, there may or may not be any real potential for eroticism there. If the story that pops into my head is about a guy being pursued across the tundra by zombies, for example, it would seem gratuitous to add in a sex scene.
And even then, I'd ultimately consider that to be a zombie story that happens to have a sex scene in it, not "erotica."
Similarly, if I'm writing a story about a geisha who ends up in a sultan's harem, it would seem gratuitous to toss zombies into the mix- to just "let the zombies happen," then to post the story up on a zombie story site.

Not that I'm saying that your work ends up that way- actually, I'm assuming that the sex scenes aren't gratuitous at all, that you make it all work.
But since I don't understand how you could make it work, I was hoping for some more insight.

If you would like to recommend a work of your own that particularly illustrates what you're talking about, and elaborate a bit on the process that helped you write it, I'd appreciate it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

David Mamet says put the sex in where it matters, preferably some place that's between irrelevant and implausible. That is, the unusual.

 

[i_would]

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.

Bringing two people together is not hard, really. Just think of how it works in real life. We're not living solitary, we're a highly social species. We meet other people every single day - on the bus back home, on the market while buying vegetables for dinner, etc. Casual meetings happen time and again. Now of course these meetings usually don't result in more than recognising one another.

Long time ago I was told the main love marketplace is the workplace (that was before the Internet, nowadays also a major "love brokerage platform"). And related: colleges, schools, sports clubs, etc. All places where people get together, and are meeting and working together as a matter of course, because it's for their business, or for doing sports, or pursuing a hobby. This is where people in general get the most of their friends from, after all you know you have something in common already so getting to talk is easy, and where there are friendships, there will be love.

Just now I'm in the process of finishing a story where such a meeting just happened. I didn't plan on adding a romance when first I got the story idea, it happened while working it out. In this case a romance between a female journalist and a male detective. First meeting because she's doing crime reporting and regularly interviews him, they end up enlisting each other's help and exchanging ideas in solving cases.

 

[horrorotica]

See, to me, crafting a story is part of crafting a sex scene. I don't quite understand how one would do things the other way, so I'm curious about your personal process- precisely because I don't do things that way.
As a writer, I try to learn what I can about other people's techniques, because sometimes certain stuff translates enough that I can pick up something new.

With me, if my goal was to just write a story, there may or may not be any real potential for eroticism there. If the story that pops into my head is about a guy being pursued across the tundra by zombies, for example, it would seem gratuitous to add in a sex scene.
And even then, I'd ultimately consider that to be a zombie story that happens to have a sex scene in it, not "erotica."
Similarly, if I'm writing a story about a geisha who ends up in a sultan's harem, it would seem gratuitous to toss zombies into the mix- to just "let the zombies happen," then to post the story up on a zombie story site.

Not that I'm saying that your work ends up that way- actually, I'm assuming that the sex scenes aren't gratuitous at all, that you make it all work.
But since I don't understand how you could make it work, I was hoping for some more insight.

If you would like to recommend a work of your own that particularly illustrates what you're talking about, and elaborate a bit on the process that helped you write it, I'd appreciate it.

My process is probably no different to any other writer. First I come up with a premise and then flesh it out with characters, needs/wants, weaknesses etc. I map out character relationships. Then I begin to flesh out my ideas about how the premise will be resolved. What the protagonist will learn. How a new balance is achieved at the end. In erotica I use sex scenes as plot devices. Just like in say an action story I might use a bomb or a car chase as a plot device. The sex scenes are meant to drive the story on.

I don't write a sex scene then wonder how I can turn it into a story. Neither do I write a story then try to add sex scenes to it. In erotica, I write the sex scenes with the story. But the story is what is important to me as a writer. Not just the sex scene.

I hope that makes sense. That's how I do it, or at least try to do it. I don't claim to be the greatest writer in the world or one that knows everything about everything to do with writing. But it is a way that works for me and in the end that is all that matters in my world.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, yeah, I could sift through any number of stories to guess what exactly he was talking about, and how his process works, but I figured it'd be easier for everybody if I just asked for an example, kind of like how I went through my process with Cornholed instead of just telling people to guess.

Yeah, but it's you who are doubting, so it makes sense for you to do the searching--especially since most of us know it's there and easy to find and didn't sign on to either be your servants or to bring you up to speed.

 

[RichardBacula]

Yeah, but it's you who are doubting, so it makes sense for you to do the searching--especially since most of us know it's there and easy to find and didn't sign on to either be your servants or to bring you up to speed.

Uh.. I'm not doubting anything.
So your post there doesn't make any sense.

 

[RichardBacula]

My process is probably no different to any other writer. First I come up with a premise and then flesh it out with characters, needs/wants, weaknesses etc. I map out character relationships. Then I begin to flesh out my ideas about how the premise will be resolved. What the protagonist will learn. How a new balance is achieved at the end. In erotica I use sex scenes as plot devices. Just like in say an action story I might use a bomb or a car chase as a plot device. The sex scenes are meant to drive the story on.

I don't write a sex scene then wonder how I can turn it into a story. Neither do I write a story then try to add sex scenes to it. In erotica, I write the sex scenes with the story. But the story is what is important to me as a writer. Not just the sex scene.

I hope that makes sense. That's how I do it, or at least try to do it. I don't claim to be the greatest writer in the world or one that knows everything about everything to do with writing. But it is a way that works for me and in the end that is all that matters in my world.

It makes things make more sense, yes.
I don't write sex scenes first either- I just have the basics of them in my head. I can't write the scene itself until I have things a bit more fleshed out.
So it sounds like we actually have relatively similar methods.
Thanks!

 

[lilmissj95]

Story first, erotica second, sex third. I can't say I've mastered the format in my first submission yet, but hopefully I'll get there. Anyone with me?

 

[sr71plt]

Not really. Different inspiration for stories come as they come. I don't run on one set path. I take whatever comes as it comes and then build from there.

 

[lilmissj95]

Not really. Different inspiration for stories come as they come. I don't run on one set path. I take whatever comes as it comes and then build from there.

It's not like you to disagree with someone. What's happened?

 

[i_would]

Story first, erotica second, sex third. I can't say I've mastered the format in my first submission yet, but hopefully I'll get there. Anyone with me?

To write an erotic story, I usually start off with an erotic story idea. Every story has a topic, a red line, and such a story line may be erotic or not.

If you start to add sex scenes on a non-erotic story line just to make it an erotic story, it usually just doesn't feel right. The sex often simply does not add to the overall story, it distracts, it's basically obsolete.

Game of Thrones is a quite recent and well known example where it does work though. The story is not exactly what I'd call an erotic story, thought most of the sex and nudity in the show either adds to the story (the frequent encounters with prostitutes by various characters) or just comes natural (Denaeris rising from the fire with her newborn dragons, her clothes burnt away, she unscathed other than some soot stains on her body).