On writing erotic stories

[Brandie69]

I'm glad it feels like a lecture

As sad as that is, that's sort of what I intended.

B

 

[sun_sea_sky]

I must admit I had to look up "Iambic pentameter" in Wikipedia to know what you are talking about.

Having said that, I try to use rhythm myself, yes. During a build-up phase, long sentences, with commas and all that stuff. Then when things are getting hotter, shorter sentences. Then single words. Pushing. Thrusting. Grunting.

That sort of thing. Trying to make the rhythm of the words convey the rhythm of the moment. Do I succeed? Don't know.

 

[TxRad]

As i told someone just the other day: Write it and they will come.

 

[PayDay]

I must admit I had to look up "Iambic pentameter" in Wikipedia to know what you are talking about.

Shakespeare?

 

[sun_sea_sky]

To quote from Wikipedia:

Moreover, iambic pentameter, instead of the steady alternation of lighter and heavier beats of four-beat, permits principal accents, that is accents on the most significant words, to occur at various points in a line as long as they are on the even–numbered syllables, or on the first syllable, in the case of an initial trochaic inversion. It is not the case, as is often alleged, that iambic pentameter is “natural” to English; rather it is that iambic pentameter allows the varied intonations and pace natural to significant speech to be heard along with the regular meter.

When I'm writing a sex scene my brain is not working at quite that high a plane. It is thinking of ... other things.

 

[Brandie69]

I must admit I had to look up "Iambic pentameter" in Wikipedia to know what you are talking about.

Having said that, I try to use rhythm myself, yes. During a build-up phase, long sentences, with commas and all that stuff. Then when things are getting hotter, shorter sentences. Then single words. Pushing. Thrusting. Grunting.

That sort of thing. Trying to make the rhythm of the words convey the rhythm of the moment. Do I succeed? Don't know.

Exactly! I remember even writing a scene where the guy, slows. down. And then starts thrusting again.

It may not mean I'm not crazy, but at least it means I'm not alone

B

 

[susurrus]

Not necessarily iambic pentameter, but while editing, I'll often read through a sentence over and over again, trying to figure out why it's so damn clunky (of course, part of that might be that I tend toward a lot of fairly complex sentences), and wrack my brain for a better way to say what I'm attempting to. It ain't always easy... Fortunately, I have a fairly decent vocabulary, but the trick there is to use a word that other people are going to understand


And as far as it being like a lecture... well, yeah, that's sort of how the thread started out. So get out your notebooks and pay attention... And get that gum out of your mouth...

When I was in high school, I was a real geek. There were times where I'd sit and read the dictionary, looking for new words I could use in my stories (no, I wasn't writing erotica then). I also tracked down information on editing, and that's where I learned the bit about reading your work aloud to try to figure out if it sounds right. That bit of research also told me that something to do is to write what you want to write, then let it sit for as long as you can stand it. That way, when you come back to it, what you wanted to say isn't still fresh in your mind, so if you filled in gaps in your head as you wrote, there's a greater likelihood you'll catch them.

 

[susurrus]

As i told someone just the other day: Write it and they will come.

you hope, anyway...

 

[TxRad]

you hope, anyway...

Hey, it worked with a baseball field. There is always hope.

 

[susurrus]

Exactly! I remember even writing a scene where the guy, slows. down. And then starts thrusting again.

It may not mean I'm not crazy, but at least it means I'm not alone

B

No, you're not crazy, or alone. As the action gets more and more frenzied, I often find the choices of words and pace of them changes. Then after everybody's had his respective denouement, the tone tends to become more languid and easygoing. It's the best way to portray the action when you can't show it.

 

[susurrus]

Hey, it worked with a baseball field. There is always hope.

Oh, sorry, I thought you said "they will cum..."

 

[TxRad]

Oh, sorry, I thought you said "they will cum..."

Uh, yeah, that too. otherwise, what is the point.

 

[Balke7612]

You're right, I know you are. I know I should write, walk away and come back to re-read with a fresh mind. However, I'm impatient, if I've got something that I think I've finished I want to show people. Partly that desire to share is because I like that little bit of attention I get from it and partly it's like I'm handing over something precious which I think I'll break if I hold on to it any longer. I also paint and I'm guilty of exactly the same thing there: I have to get a second opinion on if something is finished or not, it's like I don't want the responsibility of displaying something half-done. I'm basically a coward.

In general I find that the writing I'm most proud of appears in my first chapters, because that's when I'm writing for myself. I take my time with those first chapters, knowing that I can abandon them or change them entirely. Due to my impatience and need for attention I almost always submit those first chapters as soon as they're done and then despeprately start trying to satisfy the call for more, haste which results in writing of a lower quality. I know some writers manage to finish a story before submitting any of it and clearly that makes so much sense, I just can't do it.

I know that as a writer, the writer my mother would like me to be, I should slow down. I would love to have the restraint to write my story, re-read it some time later, and then focus of rhythm. I have considered that before, getting every sentence perfectly balanced so that as a whole it flows pleasingly. I don't think I'd go as far as iambic pentameter but getting closer would be nice.

 

[jehoram]

Every piece will let its author know when it is complete. We just don't always listen

I'm of the school that no work of art is ever really finished; it is simply abandoned.

When I re-read something of mine for the umpteenth time and don't make any more changes, it's usually because I realize that it just isn't going to get any better. All the subsequent changes to the story don't move it forward; they just keep me from working on something else. That's when the story is finished. If it works on some level, I'll publish it. If it sucks, I'll stick it into an inactive folder.

Every once in a while, I'll re-visit it after a few months. I'm sometimes able to discern what parts worked and what parts didn't, and rewrite the story in a way that actually improved it.