New writer: Plot

[MajorRewrite]

Of course, erotica is simple because you already know how it ends-- sex.

Except in “Loving Wives”, where stories either end in violent retribution or sitting at home while the wife is out on a date with her well-hung boyfriend. Hahaha.

 

[Sara2000Z]

I usually begin with the idea of a character and a situation that they are in - moving job and home; a new neighbour; at a friend's houseparty - and that comes with quite a clear image - a girl jiggling her legs with nerves at realising her brother's housemate is cute (Sweet Stella), watching a neighbour through the big Victorian windows casting light into the night (Watching You), being kissed at the kitchen sink (Heat). And it goes from there. I don't really plot it out much beyond that original idea/image. But I think a lot about what the characters would talk like, how they would feel and behave. As I write them, though, I do often do things like little biographies or family/friend trees, ages/dates of birth, that sort of thing, and keep a note of those so I don't make mistakes in chronology etc. That's for the stories that are published here. I've got some longer pieces of fiction (that I don't yet know what to do with) that I have done things for like draw out floorplans of where they live etc, where that's felt necessary. Like some of the others posting here, I write a lot of non-fiction for work, where it is much more controlled and structured as a process, so I like writing fiction to feel different - freer.

 

[Hypoxia]

I recently conversed with a sorta sister, a New York Times Bestseller lister who writes by contract. Deliver such-and-such for pay. To meet contracts, she organizes and outlines everything. Such doesn't matter for we amateurs, but when writing keeps you housed and fed, you go with the program.

 

[KeithD]

Of course, erotica is simple because you already know how it ends-- sex.

Mine can start with sex, continue with sex, and have sex near to the end. The resolution of my stories is rarely a graphic sex scene, though. The plot is usually more complex than "let's hop into bed" (unless they've already been doing a lot of that).

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Rather than worry about the process, worry more about writing. Get those words out of your head and down on paper (digital or otherwise). Especially if you don't think of yourself as a real writer, yet.

Write! Write! Write!

Bang your head against the keyboard. Give up and go try again. Scribble. Make mistakes. Use every trope and cliche ever created, just get those words flowing.

You can't find your voice or figure out your process if you're not writing.