Five Tips for Writing Erotica

Needless to say these aren’t the only five things to keep in mind when writing erotica. And these five things aren’t always going to be applicable. They can be useful on many occasions, however.

1. You don’t need to show every twitch.

Concentrate on gestures that embody the most sensuality and emotion in the tone you’re going for, and choose words to match. Obviously, this will vary according to the story and the characters. For instance, if you want to portray a building romantic relationship, you might focus more on eyes and faces and tender gestures. Alternatively, there could be body positions that indicate power relationships, more violent verbs, etc.

2. Word choice matters.

Some words, and I don’t mean words for genitalia, stand out more than others. If you’re going to use one of those, make sure it’s in a place you want to emphasize. Read the line aloud to see how it falls.

3. Sentence structure matters.

There are a lot of things going on in a sex scene. The reader is trying to parse her mental picture of the setting, characterization clues, emotional cues, etc.. Make sure to point the reader towards the erotic elements in every possible aspect, so they aren’t lost in the shuffle of limbs flying around, extraneous thoughts about England, etc.. Don’t suddenly forget this is meant to be erotic.

4. Eschew perfection.

Perfection is boring. Perfect sex is boring. Remember that scene in the first Iron Man movie, in which Tony Stark and Christine Everhart fell off the bed?

5. Eschew patterns.

Don’t always follow the same pattern in sex scenes. For example, 1) kiss; 2) caress breasts; 3) intercourse. Mix it up, lots and lots. Add, subtract, change stuff around (especially if you write a lot of sex scenes). The unexpected is hot.

Need more? Check out my Writing (Erotic) Short fiction FAQ or my For Writers page. Size Does Matter might help. Or try some of these books: How to Write a Dirty Story: Reading, Writing, and Publishing Erotica by Susie Bright; Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet by Stacia Kane; or The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict.

The erotica I’ve written is listed on this page.

About Victoria Janssen

Victoria Janssen [she, her] currently writes cozy space opera for Kalikoi. The novella series A Place of Refuge begins with Finding Refuge: Telepathic warrior Talia Avi, genius engineer Miki Boudreaux, and augmented soldier Faigin Balfour fought the fascist Federated Colonies for ten years, following the charismatic dissenter Jon Churchill. Then Jon disappeared, Talia was thought dead, and Miki and Faigin struggled to take Jon’s place and stay alive. When the FC is unexpectedly upended, Talia is reunited with her friends and they are given sanctuary on the enigmatic planet Refuge. The trio of former guerillas strive to recover from lifetimes of trauma, build new lives on a planet with endless horizons, and forge tender new connections with each other.
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2 Responses to Five Tips for Writing Erotica

  1. Elenya Lewis says:

    Wise words, well spoken. Especially about perfection. I wrote a scene where some characters tried to get it on in the back of a car and at some point my brain went “that’d be really uncomfortable” and then one of them got their foot stuck. It was a really sweet moment.

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