What do you want from a sexy story?

What makes a story a turn on for you?

Some readers enjoy stories with graphic descriptions of all the squelchy details, for some, a little light romance with a hint of gentle fondling is a turn-on.

As a writer, it is always useful to know what engages you, the reader. What makes you go, ‘Ooo, I want to read that and, even more importantly, what makes you go, ‘Nah - next.’

When I read a story, I want writers to bring their characters to life. Even in the craziest situation I want to be cheering them on. I want to feel some empathy with them as they send erotic shivers through me.

A lot of writers write about sex so there is a lot of competition for readers. A story that tells me A goes out, meets B, they fuck, the end, is not going to grab my attention, even if the sex is kinky, in an odd place and with a brass band watching (OK, so a character bent over a supermarket checkout during the Christmas rush and getting spanked with a celery stick might make me think, what the f...).

To me, this is a narrative, not a story. It can still be a fun read but nothing has changed, the characters have not evolved and their life has not changed (Unless the couple above have been arrested and are doing jail time or are starving to death because they have been banned from every local supermarket - now that’s a story).

One of my stories The Carwash is really just a narrative. I still love it, it’s fun, it’s sexy, but nothing has changed at the end, apart from James having a big grin on his face and Suzanne is not as frustrated

Maybe that is what some readers want, but then they can pull up a video on their phone which is quicker, easier and probably more graphic than reading about it. Us writers have to do a little bit more.

To persuade readers to choose the written word over the visual we writers need to grab you, the reader. We have to offer you something a video or still picture cannot.

We need to stimulate your imagination.

Characters and their motivation

Writers can do this by creating believable characters and describing something of their motivation; why do they drop their knickers and bend over for a spanking (Read Enjoying A Good Spanking to find out); what sort of a kick do they get out of taking on the local football team? (I haven’t written that one yet but Millie takes on three strangers in The Dark Passage. Available on Medium)

This is not easy for writers and is especially difficult in a short story. It is a lot to get into 500 or even 2000 words and tell the story as well. But we humans are clever, we have imaginations, we can read a lot into people’s actions, the way they speak as well as what they say.

A story is about change

In a story, something needs to change. This was hammered home to me by several of my tutors during my creative writing degree course. The change can be circumstances, the world is saved, the protagonists become rich, go to jail or the characters experience a change in outlook, feelings or the way they think.

This is called a story arc.

Fortunately, sex has its own simple story arc. There is the exposition, the writer tells you, where, when and who. Then there is a trigger, something that fires them up, why they want sex, which leads to rising action, a climax and then decreasing action and a wrap-up.

No More Virgins is a humorous tale of a frustrated demon who sends a virgin sacrifice back to her village (the trigger) and as a result acquires a hareem of women (there’s lots of action) which definitely changes his outlook on life (or in his case immortality).

Here’s my recipe for a hot, sexy story. Mix together where, when and who plus a dollop of why and heat. When simmering add the rest of the why trigger and bring it to a frantic boil. Allow to cool, decorate and serve.

The question here is how much detail do you like as a reader? Do you want to know what his cock felt like the smell of her pussy, the taste of his cum? Or do you want to know what it felt like, the characters’ emotions? Or all of the above?

I usually write about the first but give more prominence to the second.

Let me know

As writers, we can go anywhere and do anything on a pitifully small budget that probably would not fund ten seconds of a porno movie. We can take you, the reader, inside our characters’ heads to experience their thoughts, feelings and emotions without the need for actors.

I want my stories to engage you as a reader, to make you care about (or even hate), my characters. I want to give you some understanding of their motivations and tell you a good story, but will not forget to add the kinky sex.

Paid subscribers will get:

• The Donnington Chronicles. A serialized full length novel about lesbian and bisexual domination and submission set in the 1980s.

• Serialized short stories starting with The Mistress’ Pet Show previously published in the Naughty Invitations anthology and not previously available online, Painted Stripes and At the Edge of Dreams.

• Exclusive sexy short stories.

Want to start writing erotica? When I am not wearing my Simone Francis hat I am a creative writing tutor so will also be publishing articles on writing sexy fiction.

Not sure? Subscribe for free and read more sexy stories. There’s a full list of free and subscribers’ stories on SimoneFrancis.com plus more articles on writing erotica.

---