I'm starting this thread because I'd like to get a conversation going about this topic, and I don't want to hijack this other thread that started it.

You would think that authors of porn and erotica would have no problem writing the scenes that are central to the genre, but I personally don't like writing them. Sex scenes are usually the last part I write in my stories because I keep putting it off until I can't any longer.

Why? Because there's not a lot of room for creativity. Sure, writing about flirting, teasing, and foreplay is fun, but once you get to insert-tab-A-into-slot-B there's really not a lot to write about.

Do other authors experience the same thing with their writing? For those who have no problem writing these scenes, what techniques or tricks do you use to keep it interesting?

 

yea i am experiencing that problem now. it is harder i think when you never had sex before (don't judge, i am 21.) that and i have several ideas going on in my head at once no double whammy for me.

 

Those are the most dreaded parts of my stories. I hate them, I don't think I do them well and I'm always afraid of sounding the same in each story. There are only so many acts one can perform, unless you want to use not only a dictionary when you write, but the Kama Sutra, too.

I also think we tend to write what we know. I think the younger people are more sexually free and have experienced a lot more than I have.

 

that true. i feel that same way

 

Shouldn't it really be tab P into slot V, or maybe tab C into slot P?Just a thought.

Biggest problem I figure is how to write it so it seems original as you don't want to use the same words everytime you are basically describing the same act though with different characters. Of course that can be about writing anything as people don't really change, just our enviorment. A person from the past had sex the same way we do and the same range of emotions.
r5

 

I often dislike writing them as well, mostly because I read through them afterwards and wince, thinking "Why haven't I just won the 'Bad Written Sex' award for 2012?"

:I
Lots of awkwardness. So I usually try and change up the environment and the situation -- how those could come into conflict, and the characters, too.
Length can be an issue for me, but I sometimes put in heinous amounts of detail, so it's like a super-concentrated dose of written sexytime.

No real tips or tricks I can offer, as most of them work only for me, because I'm... weird.

 

It should be about as difficult as writing about your characters doing any type of activity. It's all in HOW you discribe it. Is it mechanical and going through the motions, or do you bring it to life with details?

 

FUCK.
YES.

 

No. It's the boring parts in the middle that I have trouble with.

 

As I said before, I find the sex scenes very cumbersome. I think it has to do with my writing style.
I like to describe what's happening "Mr. Cox did this". Or have dialogue "Get away from me, she said".
A good sex scene requires emotions; stating how the character feels about the actions. I like to just recount the actions...

:\

 

I'll go ahead and reply to my own question with a few tips that work for me.

1. realsexkitten256 is spot on. A good sex scene requires emotions. I use the narration of the physical actions as a skeleton, the supporting structure that holds the scene together. Without that structure, the scene falls apart. But the important part is what fills in the gaps. From the insertion to the climax, nothing much happens physically except for some repetitive motions. So I focus more on the emotions rather than the narration.

2. Sex involves physical closeness. Physical closeness allows more details to be perceived by the characters. So I sometimes add details about the characters that weren't readily apparent before, such as the smell of a girl's hair, the taste of her lips, or the softness of her skin. That gives me a little more to fill in the gaps and draw out the scene.

3. A lot of my earlier stories tended to be the same plot. It was all about the buildup to the sex, so once the sex was over, so was the story. I've been trying to get away from that style. One thing I've been experimenting with lately is shortening each sex scene but putting in more than one per story. That way I don't have to worry so much about making each sex scene a masterpiece, but I still give the readers plenty of satisfaction. This works for me because I tend to be overly verbose, so a "short" sex scene is usually plenty long.

 

One of the toughest things about sex scenes is the inherent repetition.
How does one say, "In, out, in, out." a hundred times without it getting boring.
I write songs, and just like sex scenes, there is an inherent amount of repetition involved, so it's all really a question of how you deal with it.
I think that this is where your characters, and story are really key because what's going to draw a reader in isn't just a physical description of the act itself but the thoughts, and emotions involved.
Who are these people, and why are they having sex?
That's one of the advantages to writing about sex as opposed to filming it, you can really get inside the character's heads.

If there is any trick to it I would say that's it.

 

I find that lately I try and avoid the cliche of the sex story. There really is no "in out, in out" as you don't pull all the way out. I will strive, in the future, to avoid cup size when describing breasts... they are large or small or perfect or cone-shaped but who really says, "she's a C-cup"? Avoid inches in cock descriptions and say he was big or small or avoid cock size altogether. Avoid "jet after jet". Try to think of new ways to describe the age-old act and you'll be surprised how fresh it might come out. As I have always tried to tell new writers, describe the sights and the sounds and the tastes and the textures and the smells of sex. Remember what your best sex session was like and try and describe all of that, to your reader, in a way that will allow him (or her) to actually share that sexual experience with you.

 

I think it is a matter of leaving who you are, and becoming the people you are writing about. Can you imagine yourself in that position, kissing that person, rubbing, loving, touching, squeezing, each other...um.

If I don't get up from writing a sex scene and feel the need to masturbate, I've failed. I'm not saying I do after each, but I should feel the need.

It's all about passion. You feel a passion for writing in general...your stories are passionate to you, so, get excited about the sex.

Imagine the sexiest person you know agreeing to make love to you...would you dread writing about it, recalling it to others? Hell no! So, infuse your story with that same passion and you will OWN your audience.

My two cents As you can imagine, I LOVE writing sex scenes!

 

Damn good answer bro!

You have to get in the characters head, you are dead on!
r5

 

I don't find it particularily difficult to write sex scenes, what I tend to do is either reminisce about things that I have actually done, or else delve into fantasies that I have.

I must confess I often pop over to http://www.xnxx.com/ and do a search for something similar to the scene that I have envisaged, just for a little added inspiration.
At the moment I'm writing a gangbang scene, and I've had a tab open featuring someone called Rebecca Linares doing just that. Ms Linares is a very beautiful and extremely accomodating girl, and her performance has been a great help to me! :excited::excited::excited:

What I do find difficult however, is avoiding repetition of nouns and adjectives -for instance, once one has used the words 'vagina', 'pussy' and 'cunt' in a scene how does one continue to describe the female sexual organs?

Whilst none of us here are ever likely to be lauded as the next William Shakespeare, I think that a successful piece of erotica is even more difficult to write than a mainstream piece, as we have to cope with the vivid descriptions of the sex act, as well as character development, scene descriptions and so forth which occur in a standard story.

 

I usually do not have too many problems with the intial writing of the love scenes; what I do with mine is often while developing the story I craft a basic scene and go back to flush it out where and how needed.

Mind you, I depend in mine mostly on the emotional and sensuous nature of the scenes. Describing the emotional play of the feeling of touch and taste; of scents carried on the breeze while a kiss is delivered upon the cheek of a loved one.

Sometimes it is the theme of the story - such as in the main love scene of my story 'assassins gambit' where the twist on it was not just the sex; but on how two professional killers who hated each other teased and seduced with descriptions such as "...she lovingly tapped his chest on the spot where, with just a bit more pressure, it would stop, killing him instantly..." and along those lines.

Now the assassins was like the courtship of a black widow spider and her mate - or of two cobras entering mortal combat/romance.

If you can come up with a slightly different angle on your stories theme then most of the times the scene will write itself.

Also as others have pointed out a thesarus can come in handy; plus what some comment on with my style is the usage of old world language and description within the story itself...you can be descriptive, literal and not have to be vulgar - and have a volcanic love scene.

Try to practice with a simple love scene - say two paragraphs. Then think on how to change it a bit here or there; see how one little change can make the scene come alive.

One story I am writing right now (its in a second drafting) stumped me for a love scene; then another book I read contained a story of a soldier carrying his wife around the house, from front door, porch then front to back - no sex, just kissing and hugging - he was holding her by the posterior in his hands, while she had her legs wrapped tight about him.

I got to thinking about that then - soldier becomes a sailing officer, house is a cottage along the sea; he sings to his wife a love song as he soon has to leave for his duty on the ship - and they end up as in the above example with the sex scene (the shortest part) occuring in the back while the neighbours watch.

Two sentences inspired me to write almost ten paragraphs (it got cut down a bit with correcting mistakes on this draft)

Never be afraid to think a bit outside of the box; you may find the magic that gets your stories and scenes going.:excited::excited::excited:

 

So that's what my problem is! I don't get into my characters' heads -- they get into mine. And sometimes, all I hear the women say is, "Not tonight. I have a headache."

I usually find writing sex scenes difficult, because there are only so many ways your characters can copulate without being contortionists!

For me, the sex scenes require build-up. Maybe that's because a lot of my sex scenes are more love-making than fucking. There's a lot of foreplay and usually some "after-play," and I just can't buy the idea that my people are going to be cumming together by the second paragraph. That's not the way it works in real life, so I can't write a story that way.

Sometimes I get to a point in a story where it seems logical to have a sex scene, so I try to write one. If the characters aren't ready, in my mind, it doesn't work. There have been times when I've forced it, and the results have been pretty much a waste of effort. When that happens, I often decide that I haven't created a proper situation for the characters, so I'll re-write the lead-in, or move the physical intimacy later in the story.

There have been a few occasions when my people have been subtly leading each other to bed all through the story. The woman is appealing to me, and the guy usually is me, so the sex works and is easy to write.

Another thing -- Horse is correct. When I re-read a sex scene I've written, if it passes the "sproing!" test, I usually let it alone. If I feel nothing, it's a safe bet the reader won't either, which means the scene must be redone.

Some of my stories stay on hold for months waiting for the moment when I can finally get my people to do the horizontal bop. The couples in other stories just naturally fit together.

 

I don't think you're the only one with that problem. Even in published erotica I often run across creative euphemisms from authors who are just plain trying too hard.

I cringe every time I read how he plunged his "fuck rod" into her "love tunnel.":wall:

 

I have a rule of thumb on this, and it is just me...not like it is a rule for everyone.

A vagina is something that a doctor examines. A cunt is something that a male character calls a female that he hates, like, "My ex wife is a cunt!"

I use neither of those terms for an erotic scene. It's always a pussy. By calling it ine thing, I avoid havin got switch back and forth and think why I'm calling it this or that, and, hopefully avoiding cunfusing my reader too.

I'm not writing something for the ages. I'm writing porn. I want people hard or wet, period. I may want them to laugh or cry sometimes, but I definitely want them aroused too.

To that end, it is a cock. It isn't a prick, nor a dick. It's a cock. I can refer to it as a member, or the shaft, depending upon what I'm conveying, but when it comes down to it...it is what it is, a cock.

Four cents now. I'm probably over charging.