writing

Writing believable erotica illustration

How To Write Believable Erotica

Writers

It might be erotic but is your reader going to believe it?

Writing believable erotica should be easy but as writers of erotica, we find ourselves placing characters in evermore kinky or outlandish situations, adding more partners and taking our readers into a fantasy world. But to create that illusion the story needs to be believable.

Star Trek defies many of the laws of science but a lot of fans follow it. It is set in the future where new things might be possible but characters generally react to situations in a believable way (well, to the legions of fans anyway).

A lot of erotic writers want to get to the sex as quickly as possible. Not unreasonable as a lot of readers want the same. They can always skip straight to the action but this leaves writers with a problem. Do we reiterate some of the introduction and risk boring some of the patient readers or do we adopt the ‘sod you, if you cannot be bothered to read the first bit you might not know what is going on approach’? Make the introduction interesting and both types will read it.

What happens if either type of reader reads the bit where the action is hotting up and thinks ‘no, I wouldn’t have done that’, or even worse, ‘I don’t think anyone would have done that in that situation.’
If you place a character in a situation where ninety percent of your readers would be reaching for the nearest heavy or sharp object you need to furnish the reader with a very good reason as to why they are feeling horny instead.

The best writers use the conflict between the two reactions to create an engaging story and have added little clues in the introduction as to why the character makes the final decision. Whatever you write, your ideal reader needs to find it believable or they will stop reading your stories.

The Character

Characters need some serious motivation to act in that way and it is up to the writer to provide plausible reasons for their characters’ actions.

A lot of cuckold/hotwife erotica seems to work to the formula of man/woman discovers partner/husband/wife fucking another man/woman and decides to join in. I even read one where the husband said, “I’m fucking her because she’s younger and you’re crap,” and she still joined in rather than reaching for the aforementioned heavy object.

At this point I decided not to read any story that had the words cum, fuck or hotwife in the title but then I’m probably not these stories’ ideal reader.


The Setting

What the characters will react to as credible. and how they will react is defined by their surroundings which includes the time they live in.

A lot of my supernatural stories are set in an undefined time, although they hint at happening sometime in the past. This allows the reader to place the stories in their own imagined settings which (I hope) makes them more believable.

Bringing these stories into the present changes the character’s perception of an event. A character in a modern setting may be less scared of a demon as they may think of it merely as a ‘movie special effect’, whereas a one in a medieval setting might be terrified as the supernatural is part of their folklore.
The great thing about being a writer is that we can change history.

It is called editing. A scene is not really believable – go back, change the setting, subject the character to an event in their past that would change their motivation or the way they react. It does not have to be a major rewrite, sometimes just a subtle hint, a change of tone or a suspicion works.

How To Write Believable Erotica – Violation Before the Vows.

The best short stories start in the middle of the action. Starting in the middle of the bride performing oral sex on a man she is not going to marry definitely fits that criterion. But, within those first hundred or so words we get our first clue as to her motivation. The opening also sucks in both types of reader (pun intended), the straight to the action one and the long-haul one.

The author also never tells us who she is fucking but this becomes obvious as the story jumps from the action to the wedding ceremony and back to more action. There are also a lot more clues as to why she is behaving the way she is.

Just as the reader is on the edge of thinking, would she really do that? there is a final twist that takes us deep into all the characters’ thinking and leaves the reader with a sense that, not only have we just read about some very hot sex but that the story is plausible.

Read Violation Before the Vows by Jordan Riley on Medium

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Writing about sex. Title photo

Sex, Strawberries and Cream

Writers

Writing about just sex is like eating the cream without the strawberries

Writing about sex, I recently ran a poll on Twitter asking this question: In my stories and books I try to weave graphic sex into a plot. Some erotica writers go straight for the sex in paragraph one. Which do you prefer?

The results and the comments were interesting:

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What do you want from erotica?

What Do You Want From Erotic Writing?

Erotica, Writers

What do you want from your erotica? This is not solely about whether you want graphic descriptions of all the squelchy details or a little light romance with a hint of gentle fondling, although that is always useful to know. It is about whether you want to be engaged as a reader.

I do, I want writers to bring their characters to life so I feel some empathy with them as they send erotic shivers through me.

A lot of writers write about sex so there is a lot of competition for readers. A story that tells me A goes out, meets B, they fuck, the end, is not going to grab my attention even if the sex is kinky, in an odd place and with a football team watching.

To me, this is a description, not a story. OK, so maybe that is what some readers want, but then they can pull up a video on their phone which is quicker, easier and probably more graphic than reading about it.

To persuade readers to choose the written word over the visual we writers need to grab you, the reader. We have to offer you something a video or still picture cannot.

It’s called a USP (Unique Selling Point (or proposition)). Writers have several of these at their disposal.

Characters and their motivation

Creating a character in a few words and describing something of their motivation is not easy for writers. This is especially difficult in short fiction, it is a lot to get into 150 to 500 words and tell the story as well. But we humans are clever, we can read a lot from people’s actions, the way they speak as well as what they say.

Writers – Make your characters say and do things that are part of the story, but suggest their feelings and motivation.

I recently read a story where the female narrator had just gone down on a woman when a man appears in the room. It really was sexy writing and the curious motivations of the male and female secondary characters were beautifully alluded to and woven into the story by their actions and dialogue. Then it lost me as the narrator’s reasoning for allowing the, as yet unseen, man to have sex with her could be summed up as, ‘might as well’.

There was a wonderful opportunity here to engage me as the reader in the excitement of experiencing the unknown, taking a risk in the pursuit of pleasure, or doing something new, which leads me to the next point.

A story is about change

In a story, something needs to change. This was hammered home to me by several of my tutors during my creative writing degree course. This can be circumstances, the world is saved, the protagonists become rich, go to jail or the characters experience a change in outlook, feelings or the way they think.

In my stories, The Voyeur in the Room and The Voyeur Takes Control (available on Medium.com) the female narrator changes from (spoiler alert) a meek divorcee into a bisexual dom. (I am not quoting these as examples of great literature but because it’s only me who suffers the comments if you disagree). None of these changes are told, hopefully, you, the reader perceive this from her dialogue and sexual antics.

The story arc

Remember Kipling’s mantra, “I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who. (Poetry.com) This is usually applied to journalism but is valid fiction as well.

Fortunately, sex has its own simple story arc. There is the exposition, where, when and who, followed by a trigger, why, which leads to rising action, what, a climax, decreasing action and a wrap up (The Narrative Arc).

Here’s my recipe. Mix together where, when and who plus a dollop of why and heat, when simmering add the rest of the why and bring to a frantic boil using what. Allow to cool, decorate and serve.

The question here is how much detail do you like as a reader? Do you want to know what his cock felt like the smell of her pussy, the taste of his cum? Or do you want to know what it felt like, the characters’ emotions? Or all of the above?

I usually write about the first but give more prominence to the second. My books, The Iron Tongue of Midnight and The Bookshop contain quite graphic sex within, what I hope, is a good story that builds engaging characters. The Donnington Chronicles is more of a BDSM sex romp.

In my latest short story, Riding Natasha I decided to get more graphic.

Let me know

As writers, we can go anywhere and do anything on a pitifully small budget that probably would not fund ten seconds of a porno movie. We can take you, the reader, inside our characters’ heads to experience their thoughts, feelings and emotions without the need for actors.

I want my stories to engage you as a reader, to make you care about (or even hate), my characters. I want to give you some understanding of their motivations and tell you a story, but will not forget to add the kinky sex.

Footnote: This article is based on my own opinions but draws on comments by my tutors during a creative writing degree course and ideas from one of my favourite books on writing, How to Write a Short Story (And Think About It) by Robert Graham.

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The Iron Tongue of Midnight

An Adult Erotic Fairy Tale

Rebecca Mason is queen of her empire; she uses men and then discards the husks. No one is going to turn her into a whining sub. Then she meets two men she desires; the problem is one is cool and distant, and the other is not human.

Get you copy

Warning: This novel features graphic sex scenes, some of which include fetishes. These scenes are all consensual and integral to the story.

Marketing Your Book – A New Author’s Tale

Writers

Writing a book is easy. OK so I know it’s not but, if you thought writing was hard, marketing your book as a new author is going to drive you toward madness.

We are all either inherently lazy or short of time

As writers, if we are awake, we want to be writing or living life; even if that just means drinking wine and having sex. There are a lot of people out there who want to sell you their books about how to market your book. Anything that promises a quick fix is going to be attractive (if you are looking for a quick fix stop reading this and go and write a book on marketing your book).

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Setting Up An Author Email List

Writers

‘You need to set up an author email list. It’s easy – right – err no’

Having been monkeying around with another email provider for a year and still unable to figure out how it worked I was starting to loose hope that I could ever set up an author mailing list; at least without having to pay a professional $150 dollars an hour. Being honest, as a new writer with one book and a lot of short stories published that’s probably a month’s, OK a years, royalties. What I needed was an e mail provider that was easy to use, cheap (preferably free to start with), and that could be integrated into my WordPress sites. There followed a lot of research into marketing and email list with several false starts.

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