Sex scene length?

[Pen_Dragon]

To me, a decent erotica story has sex, and a plot-line driving the sex. Perhaps the plot is interesting in, and of itself, but I think the sex is why many of us come here.

That being said, how long should the sex be in comparison to the rest of the story?

Should there be page after page of description regarding sexual acts and positions, or does that get boring to you?

Should the sexual explanation be short and sweet? Should it just be a brief conclusion to the erotic set-up of the situation? Does it frustrate you if they are not long enough?

If there are pages, or even just paragraphs of non-sexually charged backstory, do you lose interest or does it make the sex itself more intense? If you enjoy this, would you expect the sex scene to be long and drawn out, or are you satisfied with a shorter "fade to black" style ending to the sex?

Personally, I like my sex scenes short, since the situations and circumstances involved in the sex are more important to me. My first story, which hasn't been approved yet, is built like this. Unfortunately, it's likely that few share my oppinion though, so I was hoping to get some discussion going on this!

What do you think?

 

[cloudy]

I think you're probably wrong in thinking that people in the AH don't enjoy a story.

Elsewhere on Lit? Who knows.

To me, personally, reading blow-by-blow sex scenes is boring. My imagination is active enough that I can "write" my own sex scene. What interests me is the story.

 

[rgraham666]

With me, it depends.

Some of my stories are what I call "short pieces of smut". They describe a single sex scene. But they're still a story with a beginning, a middle and an climax. Well, more than one climax usually. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

I also have longer stories. They're more conventional in that they have character development, conflict and other standard plot pieces. The length of the sex scenes in those varies.

My longest piece, about 23,000 words, also had my longest sex scene at about 8,000 words. It was also my most read and commented on piece as well.

Shrugs. You do what you have to to tell the story. That takes as many word as you feel are necessary.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Personally, I think too many authors cut their sex scenes too short. They have all of this buildup to a moment that they cut down to two paragraphs, or sometimes even a sectence. "Then they went off and did it all night long." Why even bother submitting to the site if you are going to short change us on the actual payoff of the story? Yes, there are stories that work without have a long drawn out gratuitous sex scene in them. That's fine. But don't build to a sex scene that would properly end the story and then give us that kind of bullshit.

 

[cloudy]

Personally, I think too many authors cut their sex scenes too short. They have all of this buildup to a moment that they cut down to two paragraphs, or sometimes even a sectence. "Then they went off and did it all night long." Why even bother submitting to the site if you are going to short change us on the actual payoff of the story? Yes, there are stories that work without have a long drawn out gratuitous sex scene in them. That's fine. But don't build to a sex scene that would properly end the story and then give us that kind of bullshit.

um, maybe because there's a category here called "non-erotic"?

And maybe, just maybe, we all aren't here to jerk off?

 

[CharleyH]

To me, a decent erotica story has sex, and a plot-line driving the sex. Perhaps the plot is interesting in, and of itself, but I think the sex is why many of us come here.

That being said, how long should the sex be in comparison to the rest of the story?

Should there be page after page of description regarding sexual acts and positions, or does that get boring to you?

Should the sexual explanation be short and sweet? Should it just be a brief conclusion to the erotic set-up of the situation? Does it frustrate you if they are not long enough?

If there are pages, or even just paragraphs of non-sexually charged backstory, do you lose interest or does it make the sex itself more intense? If you enjoy this, would you expect the sex scene to be long and drawn out, or are you satisfied with a shorter "fade to black" style ending to the sex?

Personally, I like my sex scenes short, since the situations and circumstances involved in the sex are more important to me. My first story, which hasn't been approved yet, is built like this. Unfortunately, it's likely that few share my oppinion though, so I was hoping to get some discussion going on this!

What do you think?

Each story requires its own time and therefore I am reluctant to say anything about time lines. I do agree that people come here to read sex ... as for how long and how much sex and what kind of sex they want? That depends on the reader. In my case? If it is not a novel, then long back story disinterests me.

Actually I am going to edit to add here ... it's not that back story bothers me ... it's just that backstory is easily weaved into the sex and it bothers me that in looking for sex ... I might have to skip through needless backstory to get to it. I believe in form and content (not in my chain stories) but the other two ... and I believe in poetic brevity.

 

[bluebell]

A little of what you fancy

I think there's lots of different goals and drives for the people who read here. The fact that there are non-erotic categories is a testament to the fact that Lit is based on more than just your average stroke material, though that has its home here as well.

I guess because the site itself is so diverse, that lends diversity to both the submitted writing and the people reading it. No matter how picky you are, you can usually find something that fits the particular mood you're in.

Most of the time I'm more in the mood for a quiet, building hum, where a well-written and interesting plot is really appreciated.
Sometimes I just want to read about the most raw, dripping, sweaty, grinding, pulsing, fevered lust possible, which means that lots of plot can be cumbersome.

Everybody wants something different, and most authors are capable of catering to those whims. Whether that means shorter or longer sex scenes, I suppose it's up to the discretion of the author and what they ultimately want out of the story. It's great to take feedback, but the one writing is the one writing, you know?

People will respond to that. I mean, if it doesn't suck.

 

[rgraham666]

People will respond to that. I mean, if it doesn't suck.

In the immortal words of Han Solo, "That's the tricky part, isn't it?"

 

[CeriseNoire]

Each story requires its own time and therefore I am reluctant to say anything about time lines. I do agree that people come here to read sex ... as for how long and how much sex they want? That depends on the reader. In my case? If it is not a novel, then long back story disinterests me.

But it seems no one agrees as to what constitutes "long" for back story. I've received email feedback on the same story where one reader said there was too much background, and the other said there wasn't enough.

To the threadstarter, I guess ultimately you have to write what you want to write and hope there's a reader out there who's looking for just that.

 

[CharleyH]

But it seems no one agrees as to what constitutes "long" for back story. I've received email feedback on the same story where one reader said there was too much background, and the other said there wasn't enough.

To the threadstarter, I guess ultimately you have to write what you want to write and hope there's a reader out there who's looking for just that.

A long backstory is anything that does not move the sex along. As a reader looking to get off ... I don't give a shit who Joe blowed 5 years ago ... unless it matters to the story at hand. Backstory in A SHORT STORY is only instumental and should be kept as short as to be only instrumental.

 

[bluebell]

In the immortal words of Han Solo, "That's the tricky part, isn't it?"

Yeah. It's the difference between bedding Princess Leia and just blowing a Wookie.

 

[S-Des]

A long backstory is anything that does not move the sex along. As a reader looking to get off ... I don't give a shit who Joe blowed 5 years ago ... unless it matters to the story at hand. Backstory in A SHORT STORY is only instumental and should be kept as short as to be only instrumental.

As a reader looking to get off...I REALLY give a shit what happened to the characters, leading up to the sex. MY-Erotica had a brilliantly sexy story called North Shore, which had one of the hottest (IMHO) sex scenes on Lit. It took almost 8 pages to get to the sex, then it was a very long scene. The backstory made me feel like I understood the character and develop a sense of what she was feeling (the real emotions...Desire, fear, uncertainty, etc...). This made it far more erotic than some random sexual encounter.

You really have to remember that not everyone thinks the way you do. We all have different turn-ons and things we enjoy. If more people wrote the way you're telling them not to, I'd actually read a story from Lit now and then.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

um, maybe because there's a category here called "non-erotic"?

And maybe, just maybe, we all aren't here to jerk off?

Did you see the part where I said they lead up to it and then rush it? A non-erotic story wouldn't even include that much of a sex scene. I am talking about stories outside of non-erotic that have three good to great pages of buildup that appear to be fully intending to have a sex scene and then degrades into terrible writing that looks like they gave it to their teenaged son to finish up, only he doesn't know the first thing about how to write a story, erotic or otherwise, and it just looks tacked on and worthless.

 

[CeriseNoire]

As a reader looking to get off...I REALLY give a shit what happened to the characters, leading up to the sex. MY-Erotica had a brilliantly sexy story called North Shore, which had one of the hottest (IMHO) sex scenes on Lit. It took almost 8 pages to get to the sex, then it was a very long scene. The backstory made me feel like I understood the character and develop a sense of what she was feeling (the real emotions...Desire, fear, uncertainty, etc...). This made it far more erotic than some random sexual encounter.

You really have to remember that not everyone thinks the way you do. We all have different turn-ons and things we enjoy. If more people wrote the way you're telling them not to, I'd actually read a story from Lit now and then.

Hehe. Guess that proves my point

 

[CharleyH]

As a reader looking to get off...I REALLY give a shit what happened to the characters, leading up to the sex. MY-Erotica had a brilliantly sexy story called North Shore, which had one of the hottest (IMHO) sex scenes on Lit. It took almost 8 pages to get to the sex, then it was a very long scene. The backstory made me feel like I understood the character and develop a sense of what she was feeling (the real emotions...Desire, fear, uncertainty, etc...). This made it far more erotic than some random sexual encounter.

You really have to remember that not everyone thinks the way you do. We all have different turn-ons and things we enjoy. If more people wrote the way you're telling them not to, I'd actually read a story from Lit now and then.

Apparently you did not read my post, S-Des ... You tell us your story is the hottest? One of the hottest on LIT? LOL cool, I like your vanity, but I am pretty certain your story is not THE HOTTEST

PS: I have never once asked people to think like me, nor have I asked many to read my writing.

 

[CeriseNoire]

Apparently you did not read my post, S-Des ... You tell us your story is the hottest? One of the hottest on LIT? LOL cool, I like your vanity, but I am pretty certain your story is not THE HOTTEST

PS: I have never once asked people to think like me, nor have I asked many to read my writing.

Um, I think "MY-Erotica" is the handle of a writer on Lit.

 

[CharleyH]

Um, I think "MY-Erotica" is the handle of a writer on Lit.

Very likely! lol

 

[FallenMorgan]

Well for me, for example, in the story "Angel in Darkness" it has sexual content in it, such as a lap dance scene and some other things. But it then has one kinda short sex scene. Since it is in first person, the narrorator (me) mentiones alot of sexual related stuff like "I got an erection" or something like that

Chapter 2 is alot more sex packed though...

 

[CharleyH]

Stop trying to promo stories ... give a real example.

 

[FallenMorgan]

Stop trying to promo stories ... give a real example.

I WAS giving an example

 

[CharleyH]

you gave a story... not a good one.

 

[Pen_Dragon]

To the threadstarter, I guess ultimately you have to write what you want to write and hope there's a reader out there who's looking for just that.

Just one reader? I was hoping for an army.

 

[JamesSD]

To me, a decent erotica story has sex, and a plot-line driving the sex. Perhaps the plot is interesting in, and of itself, but I think the sex is why many of us come here.

That being said, how long should the sex be in comparison to the rest of the story?

Depends on the story, your writing style, the category, and other things. To try to quantify, if the "ideal" story/chapter is 1.5-2.5 "Lit" Pages long (~10-20 MS word pages), and every posting has a sex scene, I'd say that scene should be at least half a Lit page. It really varies though. Group sex and Anal categories should have much more descriptive sex scenes than Romance.

There are many other threads that have discussed at length how much backstory you can have before the first sex scene. The general agreement as I remember it was you need to at least start building up towards sex in the first Lit Page.

So yeah, there's no absolute ideal. Just never assume that your readers will be glued to every word you write, and try to write the sort of story that you'd want to read.

 

[S-Des]

Um, I think "MY-Erotica" is the handle of a writer on Lit.

Yes...one far better than myself. I brought up her story in particular because it was everything that Charley dismissed (yet very successful). I objected to your point, sweetness, because you didn't qualify it by saying it was an opinion...you stated it as if it was a fact. Trust me, I read your post. I think you have a keen wit and interesting opinions (despite being a pain in the ass most of the time), so I always stop to read them. You didn't say that "you" didn't like stroke stories to be a certain way, you said,

Backstory in A SHORT STORY is only instumental and should be kept as short as to be only instrumental.

I was just pointing out that we all have different interests, and no one should assume they have the answer for what a writer should or should not do. We all have opinions, but they are our own (no matter how educated they might be). I've seen far too often AH authors write stories that acted as if the readership were a bunch of rubes, far inferior to themselves. Then there is the inevitable, "Why don't these stupid readers like my story," thread.

 

[CeriseNoire]

Just one reader? I was hoping for an army.

It starts with one. The rest is just glitter (because I'm not fond of gravy).