REAL erotica

greedyandneedy

Don't take this to mean that what's written here isn't 'real' erotica - of course it is.

I'm thinking about the length of stories though... erotic stories sell as ebooks, but the guidelines for submitting them to most publishers is a minimum of at least 15,000 words - many seem to prefer upto 60,000 words.

I didn't really realise what that represented, so I've just run word counts on some of the stories here and that's LONG! Most of the single stories on this site are about 2,000 - even the 'Very Welcome Guest' 3-part story I wrote only adds up to just under 9,000 words.

I just read Rotsen's story '24 hours in Prague'. On this site it's 17 pages long, and we all consider that long - but it isn't. By the way - it's AMAZING. If you've not read it... get on with it.

I've given thought to how I'd go about writing longer stories and it seems that most of the stories here are really just an excerpt, or a scene from a longer story. But, if you're going to fill 50,000 words, it's not all going to be sex. It just can't... it needs an evolved plot, a beginning, middle and an end, and a number of characters who you really grow to know and love. So, not only do you have to make all of that happen, but you then need to balance the narrative and 'real life' stuff with the erotic content, or your story moves from 'erotica' to 'romance' or just 'saucy fiction'.

Has anyone here ever done it?

Then on top of that, there seem to be pretty specific guidelines for what people want to read in an erotic novel, but I don't think I want to worry about that... you just write the book you've got inside of you, right?

I often tell myself that I have lots of ideas for erotic short stories, but when I come to it, they're just ideas for scenes, or for short stories like the ones that I always write... a nice situation that could lead to a great sex scene or two... that's not really an erotic novel is it?

I really want to to try, but find the idea of tackiling something so very long pretty intimidating... with big jobs like that, I normally try and attack them by breaking them down, dismantling them into little pieces and starting with small steps, but I don't know where to start here. I think the biggest issue is that I don't really feel confident that I'm good enough, but that's not all - laying out the plot of a long story for example - not the play of each scene, but the actual whole overall story... do you work all that out before you start, or does it come together as you go along? i'm sure it's a mix of both, and a real writer would consider that intuitive, so perhpas I only have to ask that because I'm not one, but I still want to have a go.

Anyway... what a lot of waffle... but any thoughts would be gratefully received

G&N
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peppercorn

Happy holidays, Greedy!

First I'd like to say that you've made some excellent points. Many of us are new to writing and also share a bit of the 'am I good enough?' feelings you describe. I know that most of my stories stay under 1500 words. It wasn't until this year that I wrote a three part, mostly non-erotic story. It was the longest piece of writing I had ever attempted. It takes a great deal of time and devotion to your characters to be able to put together a long piece of writing. Since most of us do not write for a living, we may not have the time or inclination to devote that much mindspace to our erotic stories. They are often bits and pieces of fantasies that we would like to make more real by typing them onto the page. Incorporating them into a larger story takes a great deal more effort than many of us are willing or able to give.
And by the way--I agree with you about Rotsen's story, '24 Hours in Prague'. Not only is it a GREAT story. I thought it was his very best one.
This is a super topic for discussion, Greedy, and I hope we will get a bunch more responses from our members here.

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greedyandneedy

I like what you said there Pepper ...

"They are often bits and pieces of fantasies that we would like to make more real by typing them onto the page."

I think that's very insightful. Most of my stories, and I dare say it's applicable for most of the stories on this site, they have a structure that follows a single fantasy... an encounter, a situation or a place, and then a run of events that lead to a huge fiery conclusion. I invent them by fantasising, so of course it's natural for them to grow and crescendo, and then explode in a major final scene, and then end.

That of course allows for huge and fascinating variety, often with the stories having a number of highs, but a final 'money-scene' normally ends it, with the intention to allow the reader to culminate in a high of pleasure (or climax) as it ends. Rather like a porn magazine - a reader would eventually want it to stimluate them to climax, and then probably move on.

A longer novel can't work like that. I haven't read many erotica 'novels' or even 'novellas'.
I don't feel so sure about the motivations of people who read erotic novels... what do they want from it? Surely not just 250 pages of the same stuff we put in these short stories...?

I guess when you read a 'book' you imagine yourself in it, and you escape from your life into the book... is that fair? So, the picture needs to be complete - the story needs to capture you. It's a different thing all together really.

I totally LOVE what's on this site and don't look down on it for a moment - just so that's very clear.

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