Question: Use of explicit vs euphemistic language...

[beatrice_dreams]

I often envy other writers their ability to weave rather crude words into their stories, because face it, it can be pretty heat-inducing.

I don't use such words myself, but I think it's less about some lingering prudishness (don't laugh, I know where we are) and more about just not really knowing how to use them well. That or my characters are just prudes. Hm. Come to think of it, yes they are.

Next story resolution: Write raunchier characters!

 

[Anjasa]

vajayjay.

Makes me die a little inside.

And yes, definitely agree about setting the mood and using proper language to convey feeling and emotion.

 

[Feotakahari]

Seconding those who say it's contextual. My highest-rating story uses the phrase "his entry into her entry" at one point, and gets away with it, because the perspective character for that section thinks of sex as silly and is surprised at how much she enjoys it. A different character is mildly disgusted throughout, and calls the penis an "organ" and an "implement," while a third, who's very proper, just has a feeling "up her legs, and between them."

 

[sr71plt]

I wonder how the logistics of "his entry into her entry" works. Can't visualize it. She's ingesting his lips into her mouth?

 

[Boxlicker101]

I would assume you are asking about narrative. For dialogue, it depends on the personalities of the characters involved.

Personality, I write about people fucking, and they do it with cocks and pussies, and sometimes in somebody's ass. At the same time, you don't want to keep repeating the same words. What I would never do is use some of the strange terms I have been reading on this thread, unless I was going for comic effect.

That's for sex related words. For other bodily functions, I never use such words as piss and shit, except sometimes in dialogue. I am more likely to say: "She had morning wood until she sat down on the toilet and relieved herself."

 

[PennLady]

I often envy other writers their ability to weave rather crude words into their stories, because face it, it can be pretty heat-inducing.

I don't use such words myself, but I think it's less about some lingering prudishness (don't laugh, I know where we are) and more about just not really knowing how to use them well. That or my characters are just prudes. Hm. Come to think of it, yes they are.

Next story resolution: Write raunchier characters!

It can be. I actually wrote a story called "In the Red Parlor" just as an exercise to see if could use those words and write a story. It's not one of my higher-rated stories, although I don't think the words had much to do with it, I think other factors were in play. It can be a fun thing to try.

I tend not to use the raunchier words b/c I tend not to write raunchy stories. I fully admit I write "romantica," or romance w/sex scenes most times as opposed to "erotica." But people seem to like it.

 

[amofiga]

Hi there,

I'm brand new to lit and erotic literature in general. I'm writing my first erotic story and would dearly love some advice on the appropriate or best use of language when describing the more intimate scenes (please forgive me if this question has been answered or if this is the wrong place to post--I did search for similar threads, but am just getting to know my way around here).

So here's my question: is it better (e.g. more erotic, more exciting, more sensual, etc.) to describe various "intimate" moments in a euphemistic way ("He took his Tad Twilliger out and gollysopped Theresa's Lady-basket"), or in a more direct, explicit way ("He pulled out his raging hard...")? Does it depend on the tone of the story?

My feeling is that the more direct way is actually more exciting (like talking dirty in bed), but I don't wan't to ruin a classy story by using inappropriate language.

Many thanks in advance...

I think you need to select words and phrases based on the tone and setting of the story/scene and the characters. I personally prefer "gutter" terms like cunt, cock, twat, dick, etc. However, that can get boring and may also use things like "his maleness" "his hardness" "her slippery wetness" when it may seem more appropriate or consistent with the character. I would stay away from humerous/silly terms like "tallywacker" or "had a bedsheet bounce session" unless you are writing comedy. For me at least, I prefer to go for the erotic, "dirty" sex feeling particularly if the characters aren't married or othewise romantically involved. If there are tender feelings, then more tender terms should be used. HOWEVER, I hate and hardly ever use "medical" terms like penis, vagina, fellatio, etc. That, to me, comes off to "text book'ish".

 

[beatrice_dreams]

It can be. I actually wrote a story called "In the Red Parlor" just as an exercise to see if could use those words and write a story. It's not one of my higher-rated stories, although I don't think the words had much to do with it, I think other factors were in play. It can be a fun thing to try.

I tend not to use the raunchier words b/c I tend not to write raunchy stories. I fully admit I write "romantica," or romance w/sex scenes most times as opposed to "erotica." But people seem to like it.

Ooo - I will have to read that one...

I agree though, I think it might be the category/genre as well that dictates the type of language. I sort of gauge mine by the style used by some of the contemporary romance authors I like, and while there's an awful lot of rumpty-tumpty going on, it's usually fairly 'soft' in its description and language. 'Romantica' it is then

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I rarely have these problems, but my solution is to almost never have to resort to a sex verb.

What I do, is I describe entire acts in close detail, while trying to keep things more personal, and about the emotional dynamic. This is a bit from my story, 'The Slave Girl'

I let my hand creep down her flat stomach until I could feel her pubis through the thin fabric of the shift. I growled softly, the cloth had a spot of dampness on it. I reached lower until the fabric of the shift ended and I was touching her bare thigh. The muscles were lean and tight and trembling, and her skin was smooth and soft and tender. I rubbed her thigh gently, and she whimpered.

She turned her head slightly and I saw her blue eyes, glassy with lust and fear and curiosity. While she was looking back she squeezed her thighs together with the head of my cock in the small cleft below her buttocks. The pressure on the head of my cock made me gasp and made all of my muscles clench.

“Does that feel good? It looks like it hurts.”

I kissed her neck. “It feels incredible. If you do it again I may lose control. I am trying to show you how good it can feel.”


I feel like if I'm doing a sex scene right, then I don't have to worry about repeating 'cock' or 'pussy' too often. Because I spend more time on developing the mood.

 

[HeyAll]

In my humble opinion, it's best to used both direct language and the other thing, you mentioned, but stay away from awful nicknames like "tad twigler" or "mushroom"

Don't be afraid to call it a "hard cock," but also, use phrases like "manhood" or "erection" or "throbbing hard on." Stay away from the goofy nicknames.

Also, stay away from the screaming such as, "Fuck me!!!!! Oh Yessss!!!!!!"

Don't do that.

And when the characters orgasm, stay away from what one commentator called 'pirate sex', when is when a character goes "ARRGGHHH!!!!"

Don't do that either.

Just describe the moans and the actions of their bodies. If you want dialogue for that, just use "Oh...cum in me...cum inside me..." she moaned.

 

[sr71plt]

People do actually scream "Fuck me!" and "Oh, yessss!" in real life, so I'll use that to signal to the reader how intense it is--and how much someone wants it. These writing taboos can get pretty ridiculous. I try to reflect what happens in real life, so I'll use what I think is appropriate to the scene emotion I'm trying to evoke--from the intellectual/emotional level of the characters.

If I have a character not any more articulate than to be screaming "fuck me, fuck me, fuck me" and "yesssss!" in the throes of being poked really, really good, I'll use it. If I had a well-controlled literary maven, I might use "Oh, please do put that purple headed monster inside me"--but I've yet to have a character that literary and obsessed with someone's idea of the rules of writing erotica.

It's really all about helping the reader reach the emotional levels you're trying to depict, I think. It's not a New York Review essay.

 

[Anjasa]

In my humble opinion, it's best to used both direct language and the other thing, you mentioned, but stay away from awful nicknames like "tad twigler" or "mushroom"

Don't be afraid to call it a "hard cock," but also, use phrases like "manhood" or "erection" or "throbbing hard on." Stay away from the goofy nicknames.

Also, stay away from the screaming such as, "Fuck me!!!!! Oh Yessss!!!!!!"

Don't do that.

And when the characters orgasm, stay away from what one commentator called 'pirate sex', when is when a character goes "ARRGGHHH!!!!"

Don't do that either.

Just describe the moans and the actions of their bodies. If you want dialogue for that, just use "Oh...cum in me...cum inside me..." she moaned.

This all seems really arbitrary to me. Unless someone is calling a penis a 'weiner' or 'hotdog' or something else that seems really childish, I don't mind. I like fuck mes and oh yesses. I don't know why 'cum inside me' sounds more natural than 'fuck me'. I'm likely to use both in sex depending on what I want him to do.

 

[beatrice_dreams]

If I have a character not any more articulate than to be screaming "fuck me, fuck me, fuck me" and "yesssss!" in the throes of being poked really, really good, I'll use it.

I once had a real asshole of a neighbour (pardon my french) - some cocky boy with a pitbull for a pet. The walls between the apartments were incredibly thin, and I was kept awake until 4am one night thanks to his nocturnal activities with some dopey girl. The fullest extent of her sexual vocabulary was "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!..." and so on, repeatedly, on and off for at least two hours.

No one is that good. But if she was faking it, you'd think she would have had a bit of spare thinking time to vary the conversation a little?

 

[sr71plt]

No one is that good. But if she was faking it, you'd think she would have had a bit of spare thinking time to vary the conversation a little?

Obviously she hadn't been reading the stories here at Literotica that gave her all of the euphemisms she could try out in real life.

 

[lance gt]

I tend to write euphemistic in the body of the story and use explicit terms in dialogue. Real people say a great many things before, during and after sex that give a greater sense of reality to the person, without making the story too crude.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I tend to write euphemistic in the body of the story and use explicit terms in dialogue. Real people say a great many things before, during and after sex that give a greater sense of reality to the person, without making the story too crude.

What's wrong with being crude?

 

[oggbashan]

What's wrong with being crude?

You need to add some refinement.

Crude can be monotonous.

But over-refinement can be cloying.

 

[mynameisben]

You need to add some refinement.

Crude can be monotonous.

But over-refinement can be cloying.

That's right. Don't let your hero lick stale rat sperm off a men's room floor. Have him sip it at a romantic, candlelit dinner, fresh from the rat.

 

[lance gt]

That's right. Don't let your hero lick stale rat sperm off a men's room floor. Have him sip it at a romantic, candlelit dinner, fresh from the rat.

PMSLROTF

 

[Loring2]

No doubt. There was no Valvoline back then. Got to get the research right.

Come now, a millemium or so in the past, maybe as little as 300 years there was plenty of "Valvolene" but it just hadn't been named yet.

What happened was that 2 close buddies, very very close if you want to know the truth, were out lookin' for VASELINE and as they were riding their horses in eastern PA , Scranton area I believe it was, that they came upon a young scrawny guy digging in a pool of black sludge.

The lanky guy asked "What can I do for you fellers"?; and the big tall man on a horse looked at his buddy and hemmed and hawed and got red faced and finally patted his cute little buddy Harold on the cutest rear end you ever saw.

Ettienne down in the gooey hole got the the drift and quick thinker he was he said "Well this stuff is the slickest stuff I ever saw" and he gave big John a wink and a thumbs up and a fist bump.

Big John bought a quart for $12.95 and he and Harold galloped off to the nearest Quality INN and finished what they started out to do.

Oh ... , everything worked ok but cleaning up took about 2 hours ... at least until the final pain came when thay walked into ABU drug strore and found
a sign that said. VASELINE $ 2.98.

I always like to leave you with a moral is such serious cases and in this case as someone before me said "DO YOUR RESEARCH" and good night and sleep well,

 

[emipet]

I don't know if this is odd, but I sometimes use different terms to project the idea of size. For instance, in one story I wrote (and tossed out as stupid) a girl was in a gangbang and "sucked a dick, stroked a cock and had her asshole plowed by a shlong." The dick was her 19y/o son who had a 5 and a half inch fatty, The cock was her brothers at 9 inches and the shlong was the neighbor who was equipted with a 12incher that was rather slender looking.

When I refer to the vagina, a pussy might be a virgin 18y/o while a cunt (could) be that of a several times mother of 29-ish + years and an experienced lover. Or a cunt could be the fuck pit of a slut too.... It all depends upon the story and characters and how nasty I write it

 

[sr71plt]

I don't know if this is odd, but I sometimes use different terms to project the idea of size.

Whatever conveys to the reader is good to go.

 

[pakled]

I read a couple of Nancy Friday's books on female fantasies (mainly to determine what really turned women on....honest!), and the c-word is often a turn-off, but mileage may vary (plus the books are probably a generation old by now)

Genre (as mentioned), and character are the two biggies...this must be why there aren't more Victorian or Steampunk stories.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I don't know if this is odd, but I sometimes use different terms to project the idea of size. For instance, in one story I wrote (and tossed out as stupid) a girl was in a gangbang and "sucked a dick, stroked a cock and had her asshole plowed by a shlong." The dick was her 19y/o son who had a 5 and a half inch fatty, The cock was her brothers at 9 inches and the shlong was the neighbor who was equipted with a 12incher that was rather slender looking.

When I refer to the vagina, a pussy might be a virgin 18y/o while a cunt (could) be that of a several times mother of 29-ish + years and an experienced lover. Or a cunt could be the fuck pit of a slut too.... It all depends upon the story and characters and how nasty I write it

Funny, because I can't imagine a schlong being slender. Something like a baseball bat, that's what a schlong is to me.

I'm with you on "cock," though a virgin has a "cunny"-- a "pussy" resides between the legs of twenty-something girls fresh out of college, who are barista-ing while they look for a job in their field.

 

[sr71plt]

Yep, I think of shlong as hefty. I use cock for the generic (and straightforward).