Words are hard - different ways to describe pleasure?

[MayorReynolds]

I feel like, the longer a sex scene goes on, the less variety I have. I tend to describe sexual pleasure as a "surge, going up and down his/her body," "blooming outward." Orgasms "crash" into the main character, "raw, pure pleasure, intense." For virgins, I tend to recall the most insane orgasm I ever had (well, no shit, it was my first blowjob) and how it was so intense that it "almost scared me, and I was worried I was going to die."

But then the well runs dry. Say it goes on after the first, second, or third 'O.' The pleasure is still surging and still blooming. I'll try to throw in sensory input: the smell of sex, the way she looks in the dark, her moans and her breath." But then I return to the physical sensation and...I need more.

Help?

 

[lovecraft68]

The issue I have always had is words other than moan....there's groan, whimper, sigh, but during the course of a longish sex scene they can easily be overused. I've even caved to doing things like "emitting soft sounds of pleasure"

 

[Djmac1031]

My thoughts are generally that if I'm running out of descriptive words for a sex scene, the scene is going on too long.

I can appreciate a decently long sex scene, of course.

But if I'm finding myself repeating things over and over, I have to stop and ask why.

 

[AlinaX]

"Nice pussy. How would you like it stuffed?"
"Fuck - this is a taxidermy joke, isn't it?"

 

[AlinaX]

But, to be serious, my narratives tend to shoot off on tangents mid sex scene.

 

[jehoram]

"Nice pussy. How would you like it stuffed?"
"Fuck - this is a taxidermy joke, isn't it?"

He: "Do you still have your virginity?"
She: "No, I don't."
He: "Well, can I play with the box it came in?"

As for your question, I don't have much luck describing the feelings. Instead, I focus on the physiological aspects: clenching of muscles, sudden sweat slipperiness, vaginal clenches, irregular breathing, and so on. That usually seems to do the trick.

 

[MayorReynolds]

As for your question, I don't have much luck describing the feelings. Instead, I focus on the physiological aspects: clenching of muscles, sudden sweat slipperiness, vaginal clenches, irregular breathing, and so on. That usually seems to do the trick.

Oh hell yeah, I like that. Sex is a dirty, sweaty, clenching business. I didn't stop to consider all those elements.

 

[AchtungNight]

I mainly go with what one character is doing to another. Touching breasts, rubbing balls, scratching nails on back, kissing or licking body, etc. Let the reader’s imagination visualize that. Then the rush of arousal, the growing pleasure the lover’s caress brings on. When challenged, let the character’s desire take over and concentrate on how they respond to that desire. Or fall back on a character’s motivation. Are they a helper? Do they want to help their partner achieve orgasm? Are they selfish and into their own pleasure over their partner’s? Somewhere in between?

 

[Euphony]

Say it goes on after the first, second, or third 'O.' The pleasure is still surging and still blooming. I'll try to throw in sensory input: the smell of sex, the way she looks in the dark, her moans and her breath." But then I return to the physical sensation and...I need more.

Move away from the (you've already established) physical sensations. We do so in actual sex so doing so in recounting fiction is more than okay.

Context. What makes this coupling special and stand out from all the couplings these characters have had before? (why is this instance worth recounting?)

Physical markers as indicators of magnitude of pleasure are problematic at best. Many of us can recall times where our insides were drowning and our outsides had yet to give the game away.

I admire all those gods and goddesses who are peak USSR steel hard and Mariana Trench wet through the entirety of the experience but that's not me, not even during the greatest sex of my life. (in fact, that I wasn't yet was more present and desiring than in times my physical response overwhelmingly matched even further defined the experience as something I'd forever remember)

Physical descriptors are fun. Finding new ways to say essentially the same body processes is interesting. But not the defining aspect of coupling to me. Context gives me so many more tools and even allows me to subvert category/erotica expectations by building out a soft landing space for readers (who will trust fall into it) to cushion an unexpected fall.

Pussies are wet. Dicks are hard. Comparing crotches to Sequoias or Enceladus geysers can be wildly entertaining for the author but quickly degenerates into "too clever" for the reader.

Context is queen. Spare no expense in building, cultivating, and supporting it.

If physicality is what keeps you writing, at least consider opposite outcomes or even negative space. Negotiations/readjustments when dicks inevitably tire or kitties say "oh no thank you" to any more friction, even the good kind.

Word exploration is fun but as someone afflicted with the condition, I learned it is not the end all be all to succeeding in a scene. Doubly so in extended scenes.

Readers are clever. Trust in them to know the things we all know. Tell them all the character things you as the author have better access to and they will happily join you where you're at and reward your faith in them and even imperfect but honest prose.