How Long Before Sex?

[JessWilson1985]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

 

[OneAuthor]

I have a multi-chapter story, with around 25000 words across 3 chapters posted. Thus far, there have been no actual sex scenes, although there are some sexual references. The first chapter (approximately 10000 words) had practically no sexual references at all.

In other words, I don't see an issue with pushing the sex scenes off...provided the story is engaging, and you eventually get to the steamy stuff (which my story definitely will).

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

From what I've gathered from other discussions here along these lines, it depends to some extent on your target audience. Apparently, according to folks with more experience than I have, the "group sex" audience wants sex right away, with little backstory required. And, the "romance" and "novellas" readers are ok with extended build up and exposition, so long as sex is in the offing in the future. The "erotic couplings" category is so varied that it seems to just depend on what the story needs.

So, I don't think there are hard and fast rules (pun intended) about how soon to get to the down and dirty. What does your story want? What makes sense in the flow of the story? I, personally think that's what's important.

 

[MelissaBaby]

F And, the "romance" and "novellas" readers are ok with extended build up and exposition, so long as sex is in the offing in the future.

I would go a step further and say that Romance readers will admonish you if you get to the sex too soon, rather than too late. (She says from experience)

 

[ChloeTzang]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

Depends on the story. I’m 5 chapters and about 50k words into one and there’s still no actual sex except a blowjob or two. There’s no real hard and fast rule, but if there’s no sex early on it has to be a good story to hold the reader.

 

[SamScribble]

One of my higher rating stories ( https://www.literotica.com/s/sweet-summer-nights-1 ) only has sex in the last few paragraphs. It is, however, a Romance story. I think that category has its own rules. Good luck.

 

[MelissaBaby]

One of my higher rating stories ( https://www.literotica.com/s/sweet-summer-nights-1 ) only has sex in the last few paragraphs. It is, however, a Romance story. I think that category has its own rules. Good luck.

It's true. While I have had great success posting in Romance, I couldn't resist poking a little fun at the attitudes of many of the categories readers in my latest chapter.

Seth was quiet for a minute, then asked, “I know it’s not really my business, but, um, do you have sex with everyone you date?”

Charlotte laughed. “Here’s my thought on that. Why would I date somebody I didn’t want to fuck?”

 

[ruddygore]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

It depends on how well the story is written and what the plot demands. I prefer stories where the sex flows naturally from the plot instead of the ones that keep putting the sex in even if it takes you out of the story.

 

[NotWise]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Unless the story is in Noncon, then it should happen when the characters consent to sex. I don't think a number of words is a meaningful guideline. There isn't a formula for such things.

 

[ElectricBlue]

A thousand words is nothing. As others have said, it depends on category, story style, characterisation, everything. There's no sensible guidance to be given because you've told us very little about your story.

 

[SimonDoom]

A general observation I've made is that newbie writers don't understand what a "long" story is by Lit standards. The OP seems to be worried that sex doesn't happen until 1300 words into his story. That's nothing by Lit standards.

I have two recommendations.

The first recommendation is simply to write the story you want to write the best you can, and ignore what you think you are "supposed" to do by Lit standards. Once the story is done, be smart about things like the category, title, tags, and taglines to ensure you reach the right audience.

The second recommendation, if you are concerned about pleasing the Literotica audience, is this: read the stories. Look for stories that are in the same ballpark as yours and look how successful authors do it. Learn from them. You'll learn much more this way than by adopting abstract rules. If you read, and read carefully, your experience will answer most of the questions that you have.

 

[KeithD]

It's hard to justify sex without the backstory.

Oh, I don't think so. Filtering in a backstory is a standard technique to keep readers interested and engaged. Many of my stories start with a sex scene. It won't be the only one.

 

[Hypoxia]

Alas, we've no magic formulae. Author and story choose when and where sex occurs. Set your players loose and see what they do, to whom, how, and why. Don't be surprised when they take over.

Sometimes I start mid- or post-fuck, then go to backstory, then more fucks-sucks-slurps-etc, in almost any category. Sometimes there's minimal or no explicit sex, but maybe lots of remembrance and/or anticipation. Sometimes it's pretty twisted. Fun, hey?

Even lacking formulae, we may find usable patterns for the sorts of stories we want to tell. Stroker; romance; tragi-comedy; parody; surprise; fantasy; exploitation; unpleasantry; whatever. Thus, the first challenge: figure out what you want to say and how you want to affect readers.

Where to go from there? My usual advice: Study stories you like, see how they're built, and model your writing on those. Learn from your idols.

 

[Handley_Page]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

I think that depends upon whether you're writing a stroker or an erotic story.
Personally, I prefer to read a long build-up.

And I think Simon Doom is right

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

Give it as long as the story needs.

My current serial in progress goes for about twelve thousand words before the first sex scene begins. Readers seem to have coped with that.

 

[tomlitilia]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

I don't think there is any need to rush to a sex scene. But, ideally, the story is sexy throughout.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

All good advice.

From my point of view, Abraham Lincoln once said that a man's legs should be long enough to reach the floor. In the same vein, I think that an erotic story - and the sex in it - should be long enough to reach the reader.

Seriously - don't worry about numbers or artificial concepts. Just write your story and see how it goes.

 

[SimonDoom]

But, ideally, the story is sexy throughout.

This is a good point. In fact, I think in a good erotic story "sexy" is more important than "sex." The part of the story that is the prelude to sex in some ways is the most important part, and if you make it sufficiently sexy probably no one will complain if they have to wait a while for the sex.

 

[JessWilson1985]

I want to thank each and everyone one of you who took the time to reply. I guess being new to Literotica, I am trying too hard to please people. In my professional writing, I write to educate and persuade. Erotica is a completely different ball of yarn.

I just need to be myself, write my story for readers to read. I need to remember that I can't control their reactions. Sometimes getting acceptance gets to be important to me.

 

[Privates1stClass]

I'm working on a new story and developing the characters. It will be a multi-part story and each part will be long enough to stand on its own. How far into the part should the first sex scene occur?

Introducing the main character and setting the stage for the first encounter is about 1000 words. It really needs about another 300 or so to get to the first sex scene.

Is that too late in the story? It's hard to justify sex without the backstory. That takes a little time to develop. or should I get into the sex faster?

My opinion is that a romantic story on this site should be a lot like foreplay. That is, it starts off slow, but sexy. Then there's a slow build-up. Eventually, the story reaches a climax. After the climax, the story winds down for a happy ending. There might be multiple climaxes, just as in sex.

Other categories--group sex, erotic couplings, fetish, exhibitionism, voyeur, etc., might start as quickies, where sex could be up front, in multiples, or later in the story.

However you decide to write your story, ensure you have a believable plot, interesting characters, use plenty of imagery, vivid description, and plausible dialogue. You might distribute the backstory throughout the story using dialogue.

You can't please everyone, so write the story for yourself. If it turns you on, there's a better than average chance it will turn on your readers.

Good luck with your story.

 

[KeithD]

I think that depends upon whether you're writing a stroker or an erotic story.

I don't think that starting off in a sex scene means you're writing a stroker rather than something more literary. There's a tendency on Literotica to be much too restrictive on what works in a story.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

The original poster appears to be satisfied with the responses, so what I add may be irrelevant. When I read an erotic story, and sex begins around a third of the way through the first Lit page, I could be quite satisfied, if the story itself is good and the sex writing is also good.

 

[KeithD]

And you are one of a couple of hundred thousand individual readers here. It's fingernails on chalk boards for me when posters inform what/how to write to cater to them individually. I think readers can jolly well look for what they like to read--it's not like there isn't plenty of it here--and leave others to write and read what/how they like. There aren't a limited number format formulas to write a story in.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't think that starting off in a sex scene means you're writing a stroker rather than something more literary. There's a tendency on Literotica to be much too restrictive on what works in a story.

Agreed, but with a caveat. The intro scene has a lot of influence on reader expectations of a story, and it's probably where many decide "this isn't my kind of story" and stop reading.

That being the case, if the intro isn't going to be representative of the rest of the story, it's worth giving some thought to how that affects reader reactions. Depending on the story, an author might want to look for other ways to hint at where it's going, or they might choose to surprise their readers - which is a valid choice, but probably better done by design than unintentionally.

 

[KeithD]

Agreed, but with a caveat. The intro scene has a lot of influence on reader expectations of a story, and it's probably where many decide "this isn't my kind of story" and stop reading.

Sure, but anyone who thinks they know what a significant number of readers on Literotica expect for an introduction is full of you know what. The file and readership is just too large and diverse (thank God).