Keeping the Spark Alive

If you've been writing erotica for awhile, you might have reached a point where the sex scenes start to feel repetitive, and frankly a little stale. In my own work, I tend to focus much more on characters, relationships, circumstances (i.e. plot), and setting the scene, building up the tension that makes sex inevitable. To me, that's more erotic than the depictions of sex itself. Nevertheless, if it's an erotic story, sooner or later readers are going to expect a fairly vivid sex scene. The genre pretty much requires it. What do you do to keep the sex you're writing about interesting to read without falling back on tired (and often unrealistic) tropes and 'dirty talk' cliches?

With you, man. On the one hand, authors whose primary income is writing erotica will tell you it doesn't matter that much. On the other hand, it's really boring to rewrite the same sex scene time and again. I've been trying to read more, both the good stuff and the garbage to get a handle on how other writers describe sex and sensuality, and have attempted to incorporate some of the elements I like into my own writing. Aside from that, I'm switching up the reasons why my characters are out here fuckin', so that I enjoy the buildup to the actual scene.

I took a break for a few months ago. I did so not for any reason other than I felt like it. Sometimes, things happen that way. I'm not sure what I create will be any different from what it was before. I guess I'll find out. My and my wonky brain have never been easy to predict...I guess we'll find out😇

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know
In my own work, I tend to focus much more on characters, relationships, circumstances (i.e. plot), and setting the scene, building up the tension that makes sex inevitable.

As I am sure you know, I am like this, too. Sometimes to the point where I have story ideas that start as Lush ideas but end up over on StoriesSpace. In the end, I am a storyteller and sex is part of the story in erotic writing.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know
What do you do to keep the sex you're writing about interesting to read without falling back on tired (and often unrealistic) tropes and 'dirty talk' cliches?

Try to use my imagination. My own sexual history is so vanilla, you could use it as flavouring for a cake. But I've read and watched a lot and can draw on that. And I know that you can spice up a vanilla scene a lot by not just focusing on the sex but on the characters actions, reactions, feelings, and so on. It is why I sometimes end up with 500 words of sex in a 2000 word story. I just try to make those 500 words count both as a hot sex scene and in the context of the story.

Quote by JustForYou
I took a break for a few months ago.

I'm kind of on one now. Haven't written a single sex scene this year. Haven't finished any stories this year either.

Quote by JustForYou

I took a break for a few months ago. I did so not for any reason other than I felt like it. Sometimes, things happen that way. I'm not sure what I create will be any different from what it was before. I guess I'll find out. My and my wonky brain have never been easy to predict...I guess we'll find out😇

That's how it goes for me as well. I'll get into a creative spurt and write a bunch, and then I'll have periods where I don't feel like writing. I don't force myself. It's not like this is a job where I'm obligated to be productive. I write when I feel like writing, and when I don't, I don't.

Quote by Seeker4
I know that you can spice up a vanilla scene a lot by not just focusing on the sex but on the characters actions, reactions, feelings, and so on. It is why I sometimes end up with 500 words of sex in a 2000 word story. I just try to make those 500 words count both as a hot sex scene and in the context of the story.

That's where I'm at (and have been for awhile). Maybe that's generally how it should be - about 1/4 sex and 3/4 building up to it. Or better yet, I'm going to start concluding all of my stories with "...and then they fucked." Straight to the point, no filler, clean as a bone.

Although I'm in the midst of a creative spurt right now (although at least partly, it's a matter of spurting out some languishing Drafts that I created years ago), at times I have taken breaks of a couple months, or more. I'm not doing this for the zero money, so if I'm not feeling the creative juices, I don't force it. That's just drudgery, and usually when those feelings of repetitiveness seep in.

I did just take a monthlong break after Christmas, partly because of some huge IRL things going on. Even though consciously I felt uninspired, I think the wheels were still turning in the background. And then BAM! Ideas up the ying-yang. I may not have enough time on this earth to write them all down and get them to publication quality.

The "ideas" I'm talking about mostly aren't about who does what to whose body, although the possible combinations are nearly infinite. The juicy ideas are more about the who. Who are my characters? What is their motivation? What are they thinking - and feeling - as they steer (or stumble) into their latest sexual situation? How does it change them?

For me, the first decision I have to make when thinking about writing a new story is: 'Is this going to be a story with sex or is it going to be a story about sex?' Stories about sex are going to be shorter than stories with sex. There are only so many ways to describe fellatio, cunnilingus, and coitus without using words like 'hammering', 'pounding', 'nailing', and other tired old cliches. So writing a story with sex is, for me, far more challenging, creatively stimulating, and rewarding. Over the years here, I've read many well-written stories where the sex was minimal at best and, at worst, thrown in almost as an afterthought. I've also read others where the sex was so drawn out and laboriously written that it fell into a repetitive list of cliches. I used to fall into the trap of doing this myself, but these days, I've tried to avoid doing so in my recent work.