Kelly Lawrence - Passionate Plots: A Brief Guide to Writing Erotic Stories and Scenes

First published by Compass Books, 2014

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Text copyright: Kelly Lawrence 2013

ISBN: 978 1 78279 430 1

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Kelly Lawrence as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Lee Nash

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

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You would have to have been living in a hole deep underground to miss the recent explosion in popularity of erotic stories and erotic romances. Erotic novels have gone from being discreetly hidden in the far corner of your local bookstore to taking centre stage. In the summer of 2012 chances were that you were either reading the multimillion selling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, or talking about it, or listening to people talk about it. The author, E L James, helped open the door to erotica and erotic romances becoming mainstream again, and since Fifty Shades hit the shelves the market has been inundated with new erotic novels and repackaged and re-edited classics. Even mainstream authors have been upping the steam factor in their love scenes in every genre from chick-lit to thriller. In the UK, Black Lace Books have relaunched with a new look, and even traditional romance publishers Mills and Boon brought out Spice, a super sexy series where the characters dont necessarily have to live happily ever after (more of this later).

Commercially at least, there has never been a better time to write erotica. So should we all be picking up our pens and frantically scribbling about BDSM, mnage a trois scenarios and dark, brooding lovers with a penchant for kinky sex games?

Well, er, no.

Although, if you intend to write for profit as well as pleasure then you need to be aware of trends, its never a good idea to write something just because its in vogue. For example if youre a horror writer specialising in tales of the zombie apocalypse, I doubt you would suddenly turn to romantic comedies just because of the success of the Shopaholic series. So if your talents as a writer tend towards sweet chick-lit or sweeping sagas and you cant even read a love scene without blushing, erotica may not be for you. Ditto if you write in another popular genre and decide to chuck in some erotic scenes when normally your characters never so much as kiss. Remember the old adage write what you know? Personally I prefer write what you love.

You enjoy reading erotica and/or romance

You enjoy writing sensual description

Youre comfortable writing and talking about sex

With regards to the last point, although some past writers of erotica have used pseudonyms for this particular work and kept it relatively quiet, in this day and age authors are expected to promote themselves and engage with their readers, so unless youre planning on only yourself and a few select friends seeing your work you will need to get over any embarrassment pretty quickly. In the run-up to publication of Wicked Games, an erotic BDSM memoir, I was featured in the local paper, had to do an interview on BBC radio and even a reading at an erotica night in London. It was all pretty nerve-wracking and blush-inducing, and I love the genre and am proud to be part of it. If you would feel mortified to admit to others that you write erotica or even romance, then you should probably be writing something else.

Perhaps you do write something else, but you want to expand your writing skills and add a level of sensuality to your work. Sex scenes, whether romantic or otherwise, are notoriously difficult to write well, not least because the author feels unsure of how to handle the subject matter. This guide is intended to help all authors craft a sexy sequence that adds to the story. The importance of plot is perhaps most crucial here; after all if youre writing straightforward erotica or erotic romance it follows that the sex is going to be pretty intrinsic to the plot; not necessarily so if youre writing a thriller or American Western and feel it would benefit from added heat. The important thing to keep in well look at some examples of genres and authors that make good use of this.

Personally, I like to write across a variety of genres, but erotic romance is my first love. A good erotic scene will be both evocative and arousing, and this is nowhere more true than in the context of a good romance. I love to explore how two characters physically coming together changes things emotionally and mentally as all good sex should, in my opinion at least. Writing an erotic scene is fun, but also a challenge that I think any aspiring writer should attempt at least once. No matter how fictional the scene, you are to some extent exposing a very private side of yourself and although this can leave you feeling slightly vulnerable, it can make for some very powerful writing.

The aim of this guide then is to share some tips and tricks Ive picked up from my own writing experiences, and from other writers, editors and of course readers of erotica and/or erotic romance (well get to the differences in the first chapter). Ive tried to give an overview of the genre, tips for publication and of course specific advice for all writers for writing those steamy scenes. Perhaps the biggest piece of advice I can give you, and which this whole guide is focused around, is the importance of plot. Ill say it again: an erotic scene, no matter how arousing or well written, should be integral to the story, not just popped in between events in an attempt to spice things up, and in this guide Ill illustrate some ways to achieve this. Ill also be including writing exercises for you to try and a list of resources if you wish to take things further (pun intended).

In the first chapter well be looking at what erotica is, its background, history and sub-genres, examples of including sex scenes in other genres, and what you need to think about when you sit down to write your passionate prose. Before we get started, heres a little exercise to get you thinking.

Etymologically, the word erotic derives from the Greek erotikos, meaning of love. The World English Dictionary gives its definition as concerning or arousing sexual pleasure and the American Heritage Stedmans Medical Dictionary as of or concerning sexual love or desire. Fairly straightforward, you would think.

Except that sexual desire and arousal is very subjective. Before you attempt to write something erotic to arouse other people, you need to have a sense of exactly what the word erotic means for you. What words, images, situations and sensory experiences do you find arousing?