How much sex detail?

[Sonia_de_Beaumanoir]

I have now been reading stories here for a few weeks, all categories and types. The ones that I personally find less satisfying are those with 95% descriptions of sex and 5% of situation or character development.

Since there are only so many ways to fuck, I find the best stories are those with plots. Too many paragraphs of moaning and stroking get boring after a while.

What do others think? Perhaps I'm in a minority.

regards
Sonia

 

[KillerMuffin]

No, you aren't a minority. Take a look at the stories in the top lists. They have plot and character development.

 

[Whispersecret]

I don't think you're in a minority, Sonia, however, I don't know that most people like plot development. I suspect there's a large number of people who scroll down until they get to the sex part so they don't lose the momentum on their stroke.

Nothing wrong with that. I occasionally have a specific purpose too when I look at the stories. However, the authors who take the time to build up to the sex scene give me a bigger payoff than they ones who just bungee in and out of bed.

 

[Kadee]

Sex detail...

I have wondered the same. Do the readers prefer well developed characters and plots, or just lots of sexual dialog? I am working more on developing my characters now. It makes it so much more fun to write that way. I love getting involved in my stories and making them more than just a description of sex, and I definitely enjoy reading a story more if it builds up instead of immediately going to the sex scenes.

 

[Darius53]

I just finished submitting the second part to my first story and I noticed your comment. You are probably right, but I know that I got into this with a lot of sexual events in my mind and as tell a story, I find myself arriving at a sexual situation fairly often. Maybe as I become a better writer, hopefully, I'll get better at plot and character development.

 

[Madame Pandora]

I think how much detail depends on which audience you are trying to reach.

There are times I am just in the mood to relate a randy tale. The characters and plot are certainly tended with the best of intentions, but it is all just a vehicle to get to the meat of the matter.

Other times, my intention is more literary. The story is still sexual, but it is clearly more a story told of which sex is only part of the overall picture. The sex will be pivotal to the plot, but it isn't the end or beginning of the tale. In this type of story, I may or may not delve into detail.

I enjoy both the "blow-by-blow" and the more subtle styles as long as they are done well. As long as it's in character, plausible, and well told, it's going to be a good story.

Know your audience. Decide what you think THEY will enjoy reading while still being true to your style.

MP ;-)

 

[bluntforcemama]

You're perfect! Don't think otherwise. At first, I admit that I was all for the sex... I was pretty darn frisky, though. And after a while, things get monotonous: he did this to her, she did that in return, oh baby, yeah baby... you know the drill. But the sex is good, really, it is! But of course, intellectual stimulation also has it's charms. Didn't someone say that the brain is the most errogenous zone? And we're here using it, so we might as well make it good, right? Anyone catching my drift or am I just off my rocker?

 

[christo]

I like a story that let's you get involved a bit with the characters and the situation. The sex scenes have to be well-done, of course, but they are so much more arousing if the story is interesting.

Many of my stories have been quite long, and I've been trying to cut them down a tad. But that's just the way I write. I try not to go more than two typed pages without SOMETHING happening. This is, after all, a site offering erotic fiction, and we should aim to please our readers. But I don't think every story should be a page long and have an anoynmous man and a faceless woman boinking. There's space on the 'Net to take your time, and readers will read a long story if it's well done.

 

[bluntforcemama]

My hero!

Ah, Christo, my hero! Cheers to the man who thinks with more than one head! I'm so glad to hear that the shallowness of some sexually dependent males isn't contagious and spreading. I fear that I become to enveloped in the characters, though, and perhaps tend to elaborate more than necessary. It's just that if I can fall in love with the characters, I want other people to be able to as well. I want to give the reader the emotions that pour from my heart and spew onto the page. Perhaps I'm deranged, but I always wanted the world to see what I see, and see what all of you see. Yeah.... gonna go now.

 

[vgrey]

plot and character development in erotica...

I'm fairly new at this, but I'm fond of the stories that interweave plot and character development together with the sex. The escalating sexual situations in many stories form the basis of the plot and the characters. I'm not sure that the "sex" scenes should always be viewed as separate from the "plot".
For example, a common plot might involve a virgin deflowered, followed by a sexual exploration in which the situations become less and less virginal and the plot centers on the breakdown of her personal boundries and inhibitions. That story could stay in one room and yet still be quite in depth.
I guess its a matter of craftsmanship. I really admire the writers that are able to pull it off. As Han Solo once said, "That's the real trick, isn't it?"
VG

 

[Flashman]

Too much sex detail?

Of course. Even the women authors are far too eager to hurl the protaganists into bed, albeit "soft core" style. This keeps the novels on a conveyor belt into the store. Somehow some women just never tire of reading hackneyed prose such as, "...and their eyes met, a union of kindred souls just as sensuous and frantic as their passion the night before when they didn't even know each other..." Ooops! Wrong plot! Sorry! Just kidding !

 

[Ray Dario]

I have noticed a real connection between rating, feedback, and plot/character development in the stories I have posted here. It was not exactly the connection I expected though.

What I have seen with my stories is the better the plot/character development then the better the rating but the less feedback I recieve. The stories with less plot/character development recieve lower scores but usually recieve much more e-mail feedback.

I don't really understand this relationship, if someone has theories over it I would love to hear them, but I this is the unmistakable results that I have seen.

Ray

 

[His Whimsicality]

Sex-only stories might be exciting for someone who hasn´t read a lot of them yet, but to satisfy the needs of a more sophisticated audience, you´ve got to include at least some sort of plot with twists and turns to make the whole affair more interesting, I think. (I was about to write "I know" instead, but then people would have called me arrogant *g*).

 

[bluntforcemama]

Teasing

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I love to be teased, I imagine there are others out there like me. So a good story for me comes with a fair amount of anticipation... like a touch, a kiss... and then a pause, a tension, until the reader is on the edge of her seat, wanting the portagonist as much as the woman in the story does! Anyone catching my drift here?

 

[genderbender]

I'm with you Myst! It's the tension leading up to the act that gets me going. I like stories where the main character is doing something they wouldn't ordinarily consider doing. It could be a parent tantalized by his or her child, confronting the fear of being caught or being tormented by guilt feelings about breaking a taboo. It may be a person struggling with their attraction to someone of the same sex, especially a person typically drawn to the opposite sex. It may be indulging in a new act, perhaps having anal sex for the first time and facing the fear of pain yet hungering for the excitement of teasing your partner in this most forbidden way. The character approaches the forbidden object or act, then withdraws. Inhibitions wither desire, before desire ultimately overwhelms inhibitions. Whether the final consummation is tender or driven by passion, the moment will have an extra edge if it also represents resolution of that tension.

Makes me want to write a story!

 

[Cockatoo]

a-hyup.

I just read this whole thread, and I was just about to say something very much along the lines of Myst's comment.

Plot, character, and situation are the "posts" along which we draw the string taught. I don't think it matters so much what we USE to create a sense of erotic tension, as long as that tension is there, and keeps us engaged... and turned on.

I started writing these things (fairly recently, I admit) because I was frustrated with the mere lists of names and contortions that pass for "stories" elsewhere on the web. Let's face it, you can have the horniest situation between the most libidinous people on earth and still write it so that it's dead flat boring. One of my first efforts, "The first time I saw Jennifer," was actually just an excercise to see if I could create eroticism without having anything really HAPPEN. I'd like to think it worked.

So, in short, it ain't the "what," it's the "how," IMHO.

P.S. Myst- I find that the teasing approach works even better on the sheets than it does on the page!

 

[doctor_insanus]

Finding the balance

It's true, there's a lot of writing out there with two or more people slamming body parts together, and it reads like TV instructions; in fact, some of it reads like Chinese TV instructions. You don't know what in the hell is going on (with apologies to our Chinese-speaking friends).

On the other hand, I sometimes find myself waiting for the payoff that never comes. It's like, "I've put in my time; when does the show start?" Then, I get something like: "Their sweet union was like the music of the stars" or some other such nonsense, with not one detail of the actual sex. That's almost as bad.

I tend to spend at least a couple of pages building up to each sex scene, and then I go crazy. I've had to cut back on some of my more descriptive encounters; I had one scene that stretched over five pages. As I re-read it, I thought to myself: "Jesus, man, does it ever end?"

It's a fine line, and I'm constantly walking it. Every now and then, I stumble and fall. Usually, I catch myself before I do any serious damage.







[Edited by doctor_insanus on 03-03-2001 at 02:30 AM]