Erotic Writing Muyang
“In touch with the erotic, I become less willing to accept powerlessness, or those other supplied states of being which are not native to me, such as resignation, despair, self-effacement, depression, self-denial.”
– Audre Lorde, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
“...properly a noun, eros acts everywhere like a verb. Its action is to reach, and the reach of desire involves every lover in an activity of the imagination.”– Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet
“Imagination is the core of desire.”– Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet
WARM UP EXERCISE
make a list of words that are sexy to you
EXERCISE 1: FANTASY
write down a recent fantasy or experience that you found incredibly erotic
write down three things you find hot about that fantasy or experience
in what ways did this fantasy or experience satisfy you? in what ways did it leave you wanting?
EXERCISE 2: PHYSICS DON’T MATTER BUT WORDS DO
• Social realism is a genre that tries to deconstruct moralism
• Believability in this genre usually relies on relatable characters
• Social realist stories don’t have to teach but usually try to be relevant in some way
• The fable is a genre that tries to educate or teach
• Believability in this genre usually relies on moral continuity
• A fable can be elemental or mythic but the characters usually stand for something
• Erotic stories don’t have to be realistic or moralistic
• Erotic writing is a genre on its own
• Your characters don’t have to be relatable or stand for anything
• Believability in this genre usually has to do with whether someone is willing to be turned on by your story
WHAT IS THE TEXTURE OF A WORD?
some words that are used to refer to bodies. Choose a word from the list that sparks your physical or emotional interest. Share, by unmuting or in the chat, how you experience the texture of that word when you encounter it on a page.
leaking, ass, knot, muscle, nub, shaft, thrust, cock, cunt, pussy, coo, moan, drool, broad, lips, clit, clitoris, clitty, mound, slit, stick, nudge, jerk, fist, spank, open, gaping, twitch, rigid, hard, soft, long, muffle, strict, urethra, perineum, vagina, penis, cunnie, tdick, bussy, please, pleasure, good, bad, scream, yell, whisper, wet, spill, release, suck, suckle, buzz, vibrate, anal, anus, finger, loose, tight, stroke, rub, nudge, pull, push, feet, foot, palm, sole, gasp, hug, kiss, tongue, split, cling, edge, cum, come, orgasm, hot, cool, sticky, slime, mechanical, flinch, swell, blood, rush, head, belly, stomach, heat, hump, rut, cycle, phallus, oral, dick, big, penetrate, skin, inside
EXERCISE 3: CHARACTERS GIVE OUR DESIRE FREEDOM
Erotic writing allows us control over how we experience our own desire and how we process experiences. As a writer, we determine all the coordinates. As a writer, we have complete agency.
What is wonderfully freeing about writing through characters is that characters can do things we never would and be who we have not yet become. Characters can have bodies that we long for but don’t yet have the means to access (e.g. flat-chested, different genitals, possessing the ability to shapeshift between genders).
Characters can experience sex in a way that we might not be comfortable doing so IRL. We might write from the POV of a character who loves bottoming greedily, when we ourselves have trouble receiving. We might be asexual, and prefer to experience desire through writing and reading erotica rather than direct sexual stimulation with another person. Writing can be a tool for exploration, a way of imagining infinite possibilities for pleasure and embodiment.
Erotic writing allows us to shapeshift.
SHIPPING AND TRIANGULATION
“Writing about desire, the archaic poets made triangles with their words.”
–Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet
The use of the term “ship” in its relationship sense appears to have been originated around 1995 by internet fans of the TV show The X-Files, who believed that the two main characters, Mulder and Scully, should be engaged in a romantic relationSHIP.
Shipping comes in two main forms:
1) the shipping of the self with character(s), most commonly known as Y/N (your name self insert)
2) the shipping of two or more real or fictional characters with each other. For the purposes of exploring character writing, today we’ll be focusing specifically on this kind of shipping
EXERCISE 4: CHARACTERS WHO PLAY IMPERFECTLY
SHAME
• Characters who don’t believe in another character’s playfulness might expect shame
• They fear that their own playfulness is too messy or inappropriate
• They fear that other people will judge them
ENVY
• Characters who don’t believe in their own playfulness can envy another character’s apparent playfulness
• They fear that someone else’s pleasure will compete with their own
• They fear that they won’t be enough
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PHRASES AND IMAGINE A SCENARIO AROUND IT:
“You don’t want to play with me”
“Your greedy ____”
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PHRASES AND IMAGINE A SCENARIO AROUND IT:
“Look at me”
“Look at you”
EXERCISE 5: EDGE THE READER
Think of the pacing of an erotic scene as narrative edging. Just as if you were edging a partner, edge your reader. As the writer, you determine the pace of the scene, the narrative point of view and how the action is revealed or told. As the writer, you are the Dom/me (if you wish to be). Play with your reader’s expectations. Experiment with withholding full satisfaction from them, to make the resultant pleasure or emotion greater at the end.
You decide how much information to give your reader, and when. Maybe you want to give them everything all at once? Maybe you want to drag it out, make them pay attention to a richly detailed scene of political intrigue whilst only hinting at a character’s innermost desires.
If you’re only interested in writing for yourself, then how do you want to edge yourself narratively?
Intense horniness is often the motivation behind erotic writing, but restless erotic energy can be frustrating to harness as a driving force. Writing requires a specific kind of prolonged focus, and horniness is impatient. As horny writers, we may want to rush through the build-up of our stories or scenes in order to get to the fucking or peak points of eroticism. There is nothing wrong with this, but longer form erotic writing takes stamina and patience. We must edge ourselves in order to fully flesh out our desires.
BEATS (moments brimming with eroticism)
INTIMATE
• hands brush • the characters laugh together for the first time • one character is emotionally vulnerable/ confides • the characters almost kiss but don’t • a gaze is held • crying • humiliation is witnessed
SEXUAL
• one character moans for the first time • one character asks for permission • begging/pleading • a term of address is used, e.g. “Sir” • orgasms • moments of penetration • the use of a safe word
NARRATIVE ARC OF A STORY
To think about how to pace our writing, we first have to think about the structure of the story, or scene. Narrative arcs describe the path a story follows. Drawn visually, a typical narrative arc forms the shape of a hill or a pyramid, gradually ascending and then more sharply descending.
I want you to think of the structure of an intimate or erotic scene as having its own narrative arc. This need not follow a typical narrative arc like the one above, which is meant after all to describe the journey of a story in its entirety.
We’re simply going to use the idea of an arc to think visually about how the intensity of a scene should build or decline, and how to structure the ‘action’. This might not even be a traditional hill shape - it can be any shape you wish.
NARRATIVE ARC OF A SEX SCENE, INCLUDING EROTIC BEATS
EXERCISE
> write a bullet point plan for an erotic scene between your chosen characters, using a list of “beats”,
the scene can be sexual or non-sexual, but must work with intimacy
EXERCISE
> draw a narrative arc for this plan, plotting erotic beats at the peaks and troughs
EXERCISE 6: RULES AND FAILURE
YOU DON’T HAVE TO WRITE “SUCCESSFUL SEX” TO CONNECT TO THE EROTIC
IMAGINE
what is “successful” sex?
IMAGINE
what might failure in sex be like?
WHAT AM I TRULY INTERESTED IN EXPLORING?