Advice on writing erotica

[NCJustWondering]

NC, obviously. I fancy having a go at writing erotica on kindle but want some advice from readers. I've downloaded a lot as research (ahem) - mainly short stories, mainly free - and have noticed that most of them included acts which (IMO) were mainly for male pleasure.

If you enjoy reading erotica, do you get turned on by reading something that is for the pleasure of the man involved or do you prefer to read only stories about the woman being on the receiving end (so to speak!)?

Just a quick and obvious example - are you happy to read about men receiving oral sex or would you prefer to read about women receiving it?

Also, if you are reading that kind of story, do you think it should always end in penetrative sex? Would you feel short-changed if it didn't, but if the woman was satisfied?

I am writing for a female market and am personally a bit sick of reading about women getting turned on primarily by doing things to men.

Thanks.

[Twiglet2015]

[mrspremise]

[judypoops]

[AnneofCheese]

[HoHoHappyDays]

It doesn't end with penetrative sex... It ends with the man dunking his penis in a beaker!!!

[NCJustWondering]

Oh come on, I wanted proper answers, not bloody biscuits! I'm halfway through it and not sure whether to rethink it. I'm a regular here.

[MistressMerryWeather]

I like trains.

[HoHoHappyDays]

Must contain a yoni massage!!!

[CurlyWurlyCake]

Oh dear.

[NCJustWondering]

Well, that's taught me not to post under a different name!

[ChinaTeaSet]

[RumbelowSale]

Your target market- a female market? Age range? Answers to both will influence the erotica content.

[shouldnthavesaid]

What sort? What's your ahem, focus? Are you catering for a niche market - bondage, domination, medical fetishism, etc, or just naice normal vanilla sex?

[Snowflake15]

I think it needs to be from female perspective - the woman's pleasure and sensations/feelings are more interesting to me... and I agree that there's way too many where the woman gets off on the mans pleasure. I don't know about the ending to be honest I think it depends, one important thing is to use correct spelling and grammar (it might seem obvious but can be very off putting and is surprisingly common!)

[annabanana19]

Not any help here but I find all this erotica writing a load of bollocks. Too many 50 shades people jumping on the bandwagon.

[DeliciousMonster]

One of my employees (i inherited her) used to slag off JKrowling's writing and go on and on about her own.

I read one of her stories.

It was erotica.

Think 'reader's wives, in polyester'. Horrendous. Absolutely terrifyingly abysmal. And she wanted feedback.

[AnneofCheese]

What turns you on? Write that.

[AnneofCheese]

And my biscuits were meant to be boobies!

[LuluJakey1]

I like a cup of tea and a crisp sandwich.

[SquirmOfEels]

This user name is homage to a Bad Sex Award.

[TheyLearnedFromBrian]

Why don't you just write both and see what gets more downloads or better feedback or whatever

Or, wouldn't it be better by default to just write what you can imagine, what you'd like - surely that is how it kind of has to work to be a good piece anyway?

It's like saying, I want to write a novel peeps, tell me where you'd want it to be set - Dorset, or the Faroe Islands? And what would you be more likely to read - a thrilling tale of international fraud and deception with lots of tense boardroom drama, or a heartwarming story of one zookeeper's fight to save the red panda enclosure?

'Write what you know' - even where BJs are concerned, I suppose.

[TheyLearnedFromBrian]

Anne of cheese - so boobscuits, then

[cabbagerose]

advice from a creative writing teacher aeons ago on how to write erotica:

if it ain't making you wet, it ain't working

I wish you the best of luck, it's very hard to write erotica well, and there is a balance to strike between the action itself, and the writing - personally I prefer less detail beautifully and sensually written than bald descriptions in one syllable words.

and as for the content, no penetrative sex isn't always required, and I'd be bored witless if it was all or even mostly about the man or his perspective, and sometimes it doesn't need a man in it at all...

[AnonymousKinkyCoward]

Twenty years' experience in erotica here, OP.

Top tips:

1. Know your reader. Picture her (in this case). Write as though she were your best friend.
   

1. Sex scenes work best when all the senses are involved. Invoke smells and tastes if you can do so subtly, as well as sights, sounds and touch - with the last, vary (eg silk v stubble v ice).
   

1. Don't describe anything too much - let your reader inhabit the female protagonist if she cares to. If you're too specific it might not be what she likes, whether it's wallpaper, chest hair or cunnilingus.
   

1. Erotica can be more highly written than other fiction. It should be "other". It can be perfection. Women might like men who empty the dishwasher and pick up the dry cleaning, but that's not always good fiction.
   

But most of all, write for yourself. Erotica requires integrity. Giving of your own most private thoughts can be too much for some people, but it makes the most vivid experience for the reader.

[trufflesnout]

I was going to buy myself a Kindle but now I'm not so sure.