Sex optional?

[oggbashan]

In or Out?

I needed a story in a hurry for a competition. I could submit three stories for the same entrance fee. I wrote two but I was stuck for the third and the entry date was getting close.

Then I had an idea. I took one of my Literotica stories and deleted the sex. I needed to cut the story down to the competition’s 1000 word limit so taking the sex out helped.

A few re-written paragraphs, an amended sentence or two, a lot of savage cutting because all my stories are too long, and I had a story under 1000 words that could be read by any audience.

I printed it, enveloped it with the other two and mailed it.

As I walked away from the mailbox I started to have doubts. If I could take the sex out of that story so easily, was the sex essential? Could I take a non-erotic story and write the sex in? If I could do both, what did that say about my stories?

I think that if the sex is optional, then the story is not erotic, it is a story with erotic scenes as added extras. If the sex is not essential then the story is not a good erotic story.

What do you think? Would your stories work without the sex? If so, is that good or bad?

Og

 

[Svenskaflicka]

It all depends on the story, I think. I have a few stories that could do well on their own, without sex, and I have a few that would be totally pointless without the sex.

I think that the ideal is to have a story that can not be altered in any way without destroying it.

 

[SexySoBeChick]

For me, it depends on what audience I'm targeting.

There is no way the one erotic story I wrote for Literotica—or the others I have planned—would work without sexual activity of some sort. Seeing how 90% of that story involved sex, there wouldn't be much of a story left if I cut the sex.

That's the point of erotic fiction in my opinion. Otherwise, it would be some other genre . . . like romance, suspense, science fiction, etc. . . . where sex scenes are optional. Sex scenes could be present to enhance the story or make it steamier, but their existence isn't entirely necessary. There are other ways to show chemistry and a growing relationship between characters.

When I wrote literary fiction and political humor, there were no sex scenes, because they would have been inappropriate. Now that I'm writing romance and chick-lit, I do include sex scenes—although, nowhere near as graphic as my Literotica work—because it is appropriate and usually expected by the reader. Sex scenes are like ice cream—it isn't necessary, but it sure does taste good.

--SSBC

 

[Guest]

The sex scenes in my Lit. stories, and as tied to my characters, are their raison d'être. I tried to give the sex interesting participants, atmosphere, even poignancy at times, but it was the thing that drove the content; without the sex I can't see anything special about the pieces, nor would they stand to minimal scrutiny.

Ten years ago I wrote a novel-length memoir on the great love of my life. I wanted to remember every detail of that time and experience so I had lots of sex scenes, but after the need for personal recollection faded, I found myself with a pretty good text.

I edited it as if someone else had written it. Most obvious to me at the beginning of the rewrite was that the graphic sex was jarring within the context of the whole 'story'. There are erotic elements in the finished work, more evocative than graphic, and most often embedded in the language and its structure vis-à-vis my vocabulary and style.

Perdita

 

[MlledeLaPlumeBleu]

I think there are cases where the sex is so integral to the story at large that it cannot be excised, however, if a story has considerable depth and exposition as well as sex, it can be equally erotic, or effective, without those descriptions.

In your case I would take it as a testament to your ability that the non-sexual parts of your writing are compelling and cohesive enough to stand on their own.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

It's very common to see stories here in which the erotic part is tacked on or is entirely gratuitous to the story. It's a lot like some of the holiday contest entries where you have a perfectly generic sex scene made contest-worthy by mentioning that the scene happened at an Xmas party or on Valentine's Day (see "Mom's Submarine Anal Surpise" by the DurtGirl Nation for a brilliant example of this ploy at work.)

One of the hallmarks of porn (or erotica as it's practiced here) is the depiction of the details of the sexual act. The fact is, that the details of what goes on in the bedroom between people rarely has a bearing on the rest of their lives, and so that stuff doesn't integrate well with a non-sexual plot, and most of the plots here tend to be generally non-sexual overall. We throw in a few naughty bits for the fans is all.

---dr.M.

 

[oggbashan]

I think that the ideal is to have a story that can not be altered in any way without destroying it.

I wish I could write a story like that.

Thanks for the comments which have been helpful.

My latest, Opera, for which I give no link, seems to have achieved an ambition. The target audience think it is great and the best I've written but it has had two votes here and is standing at 1.5.

It is a fetish story. The sex is implied and only works if that fetish is meaningful to you.

So I have deliberately written an erotic story that the general reader doesn't find erotic at all.

As to why I should have wanted to do that? Where's the psychiatrist?

Og

 

[Dirty Slut]

Know your target audiance...

I don't know how many times I've heard that, but it always applies when writing a story. Erotica is a fantasy state of mind. To make it feel more real to the readers we have to put in a little reality here and there, or it's just two people slapping flesh together to get their rocks off. What makes the flesh slapping interesting enough for the reader to get to that part is what brings it all together. A little plot here, a pinch of drama there, and so forth, and so on before getting to the big sweaty deal. Sex for sex sake is mostly incidental to any story, what brings it about is what the story is all about. I'd venture to say that any good story at literotica works without the sex, but if you advertize erotica, ya gotta deliver the old in, and out poka.

DS

 

[sirhugs]

without the sex, I'd have no story left

 

[oggbashan]

Update on "Opera"

3 votes - 1.33

Og

 

[sirhugs]

Re: Update on "Opera"

3 votes - 1.33

Og

posting it at 'fetish' is a double edged cheat- it really isn't without sex, since the whole fetish is the eroticism of the encounter, psychologically sexual.


The other edge though is that readers looking for more explicit scenes will vote down.

I gave it a 5

 

[gauchecritic]

Paraphrasing advice I've seen given on these very boards on editing: If you can cut it out it doesn't need to be there.

I take this to mean, if you can take the sex scene out of the story it's not a sex story, which isn't to say it's not erotica.

Gauche

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Re: Update on "Opera"

3 votes - 1.33

Og

Considering the high scores your contribution for TWCSE got, that must be One Bad Ass Story!