Erotic prose. Have you ever attempted to write anything of this kind? What do you think of this genre? Any favourite books, stories or poems? Is it an inferior genre? Too primitive, perhaps... Any comments appreciated.
Hells to the yes. Right now, I'm writing a novel with quite a few erotic scenes. I don't beat around the bush. I explicitly write the sex scene, and I have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. Writing sex scenes is kind of liberating. Now, that said, I don't write erotica. I'm not really writing romance, either, but sex is a part of this story, so I suppose that's what you mean by "erotic prose". I think the hardest thing about erotic prose is finding a good balance between metaphorical (bad) and anatomical (bad) sex. There's almost no way to refer to a vagina in a way that isn't derogatory, and even with a penis, you can only say "cock" so many times. "Dick" is a little bit on the derogatory side as well. I think I'm doing pretty well with the sex scenes I've written. It's not crazy pornographic sex or anything. It's just regular sex for the most part. I can't say that I've got any favourite stories that are erotic or anything, and I don't really read much poetry. Really, most of the sex scenes I've ever read were way too metaphorical, which weakens it, or it focused on character's thoughts, so there may as well have not been any sex anyway, since all the thoughts are complex and unrealistic. If anyone could help me find words to refer to a vagina that aren't derogatory, that'd be great. You can only use the word "cleft" so many times before it becomes kind of redundant.
Yes, as a matter of fact I have. I try to keep it more emotion based than physical, but of course, sex is a physical process as well as an emotional one. It's not something that writers should shy away from, at least not when writing intimate relationships between characters. It's not a part of the book to be ashamed of writing, or to be viewed as perverted. In fact, thinking of a perfectly natural process as wrong has always seemed a little unhealthy to me. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth or guess your opinion of sex. I'm just stating my opinion. I think that literature in general would be better off if there were fewer negative stigmas associated with sex. Maybe if people were more comfortable reading about it, writers and readers alike could concentrate on what such an intimate act between characters could mean for the story as opposed to thinking only of the stigma (and boobs). Edit-- Wow, upon re-reading my post, I realized that I sounded very chaste. Let me add this- I think that the physical part of sex is great, and I write that in as well as the emotional part.
yes, i wrote a series of x-rated short stories with surprise endings, in my old 'writing for money' life... if you'd like to take a look at a couple of them for reference, drop me a line and i'll be glad to send them to you... if done in good taste, i see nothing wrong with erotic prose... what i don't cotton to is the over-the-top, or bordering on/well into porn kind... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
I see it like this there are things words can't describe and there are things actions cannot explain. I see eroticism as actions rather then words. so I can talk about it but I can't actually write down in words I can possibly imagine plus I do not want to assume that I know more of eroticism then someone else's who does. so I don't write about it no.
I sometimes write erotic stories as a way of warming up before switching to my "serious" work. My erotic stories rarely contain actual descriptions of sex acts, though; I don't find actual sex very sexy, for some reason. I prefer to describe bodies in action - dancing, stripping, competing in certain sports, modeling, and so on. Sometimes just making breakfast or something like that can be very sexy. I write about that, sometimes. Rarely actual sex, though. That's kind of a yawn for me.
There are sex scenes, and I write them honestly, not with the goal of arousing the reader as erotic literature does but with the goal of describing truthfully. I don't describe physical details with anatomical descriptions, necessarily, but I might write a character's feelings as he/she performs certain actions, or I might make an analogy. My goal is to be truthful and hopefully fresh & unique while propelling the story forward and showing something about the characters.
Also: the one work of erotic literature I've really enjoyed was Zane's Sex Chronicles. Far from typical smut, it managed to be sexy but also with storylines and descriptions that were interesting and even funny.
I feel that building up sexual tension between my characters is sometimes quite enough! Or, writing a post-coital scene: you know, two/three people just laying around next to each other.... Seriously, going "down and dirty" in a sex scene can be as far removed from erotic as a zombie attack. I've read so much bad examples that the whole thing is now one of my least favourite themes to write about.
To be honest, I've never attempted this. Mostly because I think what counts is the emotional side, and I think I can convey my characters' love for each other without having them strip naked and get down to buisness. But whatever floats your boat.
I can't seem to write an explicit sex scene that isn't exploitative. I've written a woman being mind-control raped by an incubus, a child vampire leading a pedophile on and then biting him and a 4 year old girl getting sexually abused, all of them quite explicitly. But my consensual sex scenes are skipped over. Literally, one was simply 'They had sex.'
I wrote the beginning of a story called 'Captain Smegma and the Tranny from the Sewer of Sorrows', and the forum I was on put it in the erotic section. Personally, I thought it was as unerotic as cat vomit on your pillow, but the moderators differed in that aspect.
