In your opinion, can a story be arousing without being explicit?

[kathyisgr65]

Yes... teasing is incredibly erotic and it doesn't necessarily have to explicit or graphic

 

[NightOfPassion2]

Oh my yes.
The brain is the noisy amazing erotic organ.. It's amazing how a setup...innuendos can all get pretty heated

 

[kathyisgr65]

Oh my yes.
The brain is the noisy amazing erotic organ.. It's amazing how a setup...innuendos can all get pretty heated

I totally agree..the brain or intelligence is insanely sexy

 

[NightOfPassion2]

I totally agree..the brain or intelligence is insanely sexy

Flashing my...., BS degrees now

 

[kathyisgr65]

Flashing my...., BS degrees now

Hey baby.. what are u UP to

 

[kathyisgr65]

Hey baby.. what are u UP to

Are u really trying to flirt with a BS...?

 

[Pikemaster41]

A touch is a tease. A word is a touch

 

[NightOfPassion2]

Hey baby.

Are u really trying to flirt with a BS...?

Big Stick

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Damn straight. Describe a beautiful elegant woman, how she moves, how she's dressed. She walks over confidently to an awestruck man. She touches him lightly on the face.

"I've noticed how you look at me, handsome. Like I'm something you want to take. But you're always so proper and professional. I feel safe with you," she says softly. "Should I feel safe? Tell me the truth."

The man swallows. "No. If you knew what I've imagined, you wouldn't feel safe."

She leans in and whispers in his ear. "Show me."

Your little sample seems pretty explicit to me.

 

[kathyisgr65]

Big Stick

Ok.. that's better

 

[NightOfPassion2]

Ok.. that's better

I try...whichever organ is larger that day
Never went for the phd

 

[Rob_Royale]

Your little sample seems pretty explicit to me.

Fair enough. I was assuming it compared to explicit sex.

How about ...

Diane strode up to the man and touched him lightly on the cheek. "I've noticed how you look at me, David. Like I'm something you want to take. But you're always so proper and professional. I feel safe with you," she says softly. "Should I feel safe? Tell me the truth."

David swallowed. "No. If you knew what I've imagined doing to you, you wouldn't feel safe."

She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Show me."

Better?

 

[Djmac1031]

Absolutely. Although I also agree with @EmilyMiller that in the right hands, the hard core approach is fine too.

Depends on the mood of the reader, and the skills of the writer, ultimately.

I've dabbled in a more soft core approach in a few stories, and never had any complaints.

 

[AG31]

Yes.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Both Val Lewton and Alfred Hitchcock believed that the unseen can be far more frightening than anything that exists in the real world. Applying this principle to erotic fiction, can suggestion be more exciting than description?

A saying I heard somewhere.
Terry Pratchett I think...
Kinky is using a feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken. Sex is more than an act of pleasure, its' the ability to be able to feel so close to a person, so connected, so comfortable that it's almost breath-taking to the point you feel you can't take it. And at this moment you're a part of them. The difference between light and hard is that you can sleep with a light on.

 

[davion2308]

Now that I'm a bit older, I'm a 42 year old man, I find the emotional connection and the relationship to add to the story. Sex scenes are fun and all but have you read the stories where the characters are developed and they connect with each other? The physical act of sex, especially via words, can get repetitive. Add two people you can actual understand and see them playing and having fun with each other and it's way hotter.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Absolutely, but on lit in it will probably score shit.

How much of this is due to many writers here not having yet developed the skills which would allow them to successfully "imply" sexual content without having to graphically describe it?

Of course, certain readers will always have their "written porn" expectations, sometimes built upon their limited exposure to good alternatives for their arousal.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

How much of this is due to many writers here not having yet developed the skills which would allow them to successfully "imply" sexual content without having to graphically describe it?

Of course, certain readers will always have their "written porn" expectations, sometimes built upon their limited exposure to good alternatives for their arousal.

Of course there are many authors here lacking the skills to pull it off. There is no skill requirement (nor measurement) on lit - which is a good thing. But while there are plenty of readers here who can appreciate and do look for such nuance in stories, the truth remains that lit is essentially a porn site and the majority of readers out there just want to stroke.

There is large traffic here at lit (that's why we like it here) but the bulk of that traffic is the porn crowd. Lit's most effective means of boosting traffic is the same as anyone else's: advertising. However, a smutty site like lit cannot advertise through conventional means. It cannot put up ad banners on sites like kijiji or youtube, so it puts its banners on porn sites. Therefore, the traffic that walks in off the street here are looking for the exact same stuff that they get in free porn thumbs: plotless slutty unicorns doing kinky things with the flimsiest or even zero context. That's how they like it. They don't want three minutes of sex in a twenty minute video. They want just three minutes of sex, and if they don't get it they get annoyed.

So if you give 10k words of eloquent storytelling and 3k words of sex it will be very hard to score 5s. If you want a score with your skilled storytelling you have to find that minority crowd who want that (yes, absolutely they're out there) or more accurately, they have to find you. Unfortunately, there is no metric for quality plot and depth of storytelling on lit. It is completely unsearchable. Search for all the milf stories: yes you can do that. Search for only the good milf stories: impossible. People have to literally just stumble upon you. There's not even much for word of mouth here.

 

[Trionyx]

One of my better scoring stories ended with her leading him to the bedroom. No sexual activity except for kissing was described at all in the entire story.

 

[AG31]

Of course there are many authors here lacking the skills to pull it off. There is no skill requirement (nor measurement) on lit - which is a good thing. But while there are plenty of readers here who can appreciate and do look for such nuance in stories, the truth remains that lit is essentially a porn site and the majority of readers out there just want to stroke.

There is large traffic here at lit (that's why we like it here) but the bulk of that traffic is the porn crowd. Lit's most effective means of boosting traffic is the same as anyone else's: advertising. However, a smutty site like lit cannot advertise through conventional means. It cannot put up ad banners on sites like kijiji or youtube, so it puts its banners on porn sites. Therefore, the traffic that walks in off the street here are looking for the exact same stuff that they get in free porn thumbs: plotless slutty unicorns doing kinky things with the flimsiest or even zero context. That's how they like it. They don't want three minutes of sex in a twenty minute video. They want just three minutes of sex, and if they don't get it they get annoyed.

So if you give 10k words of eloquent storytelling and 3k words of sex it will be very hard to score 5s. If you want a score with your skilled storytelling you have to find that minority crowd who want that (yes, absolutely they're out there) or more accurately, they have to find you. Unfortunately, there is no metric for quality plot and depth of storytelling on lit. It is completely unsearchable. Search for all the milf stories: yes you can do that. Search for only the good milf stories: impossible. People have to literally just stumble upon you. There's not even much for word of mouth here.

So if you give 10k words of eloquent storytelling and 3k words of sex

Here I am, rocking in again on my "simple erotica" hobby horse. I maintain that it is possible to write 3k words of sex eloquently.

Search for only the good milf stories: impossible. People have to literally just stumble upon you. There's not even much for word of mouth here.

But I totally agree that eloquence must be stumbled upon. I've been very disappointed not to find much eloquent simple erotica. Every day for the past month or so I've scanned the new entries for 3 categories. I haven't found any (or, I think even eloquent un-simple erotica, the kind you're advocating for). In my whole life of reading erotica I've only stumbled on less than a dozen. But it is possible! Explicit sex does not have to equate with "plotless slutty unicorns doing kinky things."

 

[rthnck]

In my younger days, I went to a bachelor party that visited the adult block in our city. We started at one end and worked our way through all the establishments having a beer in each one. In each one, a naked woman would step from behind a curtain and dance on the bar or a small stage in the center of the bar. I had expected to be excited but it was extremely boring until... the last bar was a burlesque bar and that was by far the most arousing of any of them. The point of course is that what I didn't see (or what I saw slowly revealed) was infinitely more exciting than a straight-up naked female dancing in front of me.

A story always elicits emotion in its descriptions and narration. Explicitness can play a big part but it's not necessary and there are plenty of writers who nibble around the edges of explicitness and still tell a great story.

 

[AG31]

In my younger days, I went to a bachelor party that visited the adult block in our city. We started at one end and worked our way through all the establishments having a beer in each one. In each one, a naked woman would step from behind a curtain and dance on the bar or a small stage in the center of the bar. I had expected to be excited but it was extremely boring until... the last bar was a burlesque bar and that was by far the most arousing of any of them. The point of course is that what I didn't see (or what I saw slowly revealed) was infinitely more exciting than a straight-up naked female dancing in front of me.

A story always elicits emotion in its descriptions and narration. Explicitness can play a big part but it's not necessary and there are plenty of writers who nibble around the edges of explicitness and still tell a great story.

Amsterdam? Bangkok?

 

[rthnck]

Amsterdam? Bangkok?

Nothing as exotic as that. Just an northeast coast city in the U.S

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Here I am, rocking in again on my "simple erotica" hobby horse. I maintain that it is possible to write 3k words of sex eloquently.

I agree. I've never said otherwise.

(or, I think even eloquent un-simple erotica, the kind you're advocating for).

I'm not advocating for anything. I'm just relating the objective observations of the vast swamp of lit stories and their readers. All that I am saying is, if you want to write more story, more depth and less smut it will take you longer to find your audience (or more accurately: your audience to find you) before you start getting consistent high praise and 'good' scores. Yes, you can get that. People do, but it takes more time and patience.

If you just want the shortcut to accolades and popularity, then pander to category/formula and keep the smut ratio high by cutting things like conflict motive and characterization - you know, that stuff called depth.

 

[AG31]

I agree. I've never said otherwise.



I'm not advocating for anything. I'm just relating the objective observations of the vast swamp of lit stories and their readers. All that I am saying is, if you want to write more story, more depth and less smut it will take you longer to find your audience (or more accurately: your audience to find you) before you start getting consistent high praise and 'good' scores. Yes, you can get that. People do, but it takes more time and patience.

If you just want the shortcut to accolades and popularity, then pander to category/formula and keep the smut ratio high by cutting things like conflict motive and characterization - you know, that stuff called depth.

I continue to disagree about your distinctions.