Writing About Sex, Strawberries and Cream

How much cream do you add to your erotic writing?

This article about writing erotic fiction was first published on Medium. This is the revised and extended version.

I once knew a girl who adored squirty cream, she would fill her mouth with it, decorate herself like a cake and then lather herself in it. (Pictures here if you want to be distracted).

Most people simply squirt or pour cream over their strawberries or other food of their choice.

So what has this got to do with writing? Imagine your story, the plot, the characters, and their emotions are the strawberries and the sexual elements are the cream. Some people like a little blob of cream, others like to slap it on all over and flood the dish.

Which do you like and, more importantly, which do your readers like?

For the sake of this analogy, I am going to imagine that everybody loves strawberries and cream. Strawberries on their own are nice; cream is nice - combine the two and the result is a much more enjoyable taste experience.

Some time ago when Twitter still tweeted I ran a poll asking this question: In my stories and books I try to weave graphic sex into a plot. Some erotica writers go straight for the sex in paragraph one. Which do you prefer?

The results and the comments were interesting:

Plot, sex, plot about right 50%

More plot less sex 25%

More sex less plot 15%

Who needs plot 10%

One comment that stood out was: It’s not even that plot is important; I like believable, rounded characters with at least the veneer of an inner life who move in a world I can relate to. But that’s just me (Outrepen).

I agree. There seems little point in writing about sex, even very kinky sex, if it is not performed by believable characters. The story is even better if the characters are entwined in and stimulated by a plot.

I have written about the plot or lack of it in most porn videos. Many include at least a bit of chat before the action which the producers seem to have realised at least gives the performers a veneer of humanity (OK, I’ll admit to watching them - strictly for research purposes you understand). There is more about this in, Why I Don’t Watch Porn (When I Am Writing).

Sex in erotic stories should be character driven. Even the most libertine characters have some motivation for their actions. People indulge in, take part in, sex for a variety of reasons; desires, needs, even boredom (maybe not a great motivation for an erotic tale).

If, as a writer, you provide your characters with motivation they will tell you what they want sexually.

I set out to write Painted Stripes as a supernatural story and a homage to The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. The original idea was that the painting would have all the fun and Jocelyne, the main character, would suffer the consequences (a reverse of Wilde’s story). She would have to resolve this by following the painting’s lead.

Jocelyne would have none of this. As soon as I started writing about her first kinky experience she was off. She wanted her cream, and she wanted it double, whipped, soured and with sprinkles. The only thing she did not want was vanilla. You will have to read the series to discover her motivations.

A character’s motivation might just be enjoyment. But would you read a short story about a woman eating a piece of chocolate cake, even if it’s the most delicious, succulent chocolate cake ever without some back story or change, other than she is presumably hungry for chocolate cake when she starts and full of it when she finishes? This is the premise of a lot of sexy stories.

There is nothing wrong with this type of story - I have written some; The Car Wash and In Car Entertainment are about couples having a quick nibble to satisfy their appetites.

In one of my stories, Strawberry Garden, the strawberries play a very minor role but there is a lot of cream. The link here is to Medium but I will be adding it to my Substack soon. Update: Strawberry Garden on Substack

To grab a reader and make a story engaging something needs to change between the beginning and the end of the story. That can be the character’s feelings, their relationships, there may have been obstacles that have been overcome to achieve something.

If you want to read a series that explores the consequences of lust and dives deeply into a characters feelings and emotions Cheating by Juniper Less on Medium is a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Here are two plots for the same story.

Man wants to watch his wife with another man. They go to a bar/party/recruit a friend and he fucks her. The husband watches. They both enjoy it.

This is a narration - what a publisher I was speaking to eloquently referred to as, ‘A jerk off piece’. Nothing has changed unless the writer introduces the effect it has on their relationship.

Readers like hurdles placed in your character’s way. The above is all rather easy.

A story might be:

Man wants to watch his wife with another man (Why? Because it turns him on or he’s insecure and wants to see if she enjoys it more or…). She wants to/doesn’t want to do it because… She decides to surprise him on his return from a business trip/work/fucking his mistress/Mars. If, initially, she did not want to do it, what changed her mind? What motivates her to go ahead?

She goes to meet a man, she doesn’t fancy him but his friend is a hunk (a hurdle overcome). Hunk leaving town so it’s now or never (second hurdle related to the first). She takes him to a location. Phones husband who is on his way back to her in a taxi — get here if you want to see it.

Taxi is stuck in traffic so she makes a video call showing foreplay (tension building). Husband sits in the back of the taxi watching and trying not to jerk off. Video switches to a large cock about to go into the orifice of the writer’s choice.

Taxi stops at their house, husband rushes in just in time to see the final action (he has overcome the hurdles to achieve his goal and/or his reaction illustrates a change in their relationship) Alternatively he finds the house empty because she is in a hotel/alley at the back of a bar/on a trip to Mars (bigger change).

There is no more sex in the second version, it is merely strung out for longer and there is rising tension before the finale.

There is also more opportunity for the characters to take over in the story version and introduce a twist; the wife runs off with the hunk (negative consequence), the hunk has a sexy girlfriend and they live happily ever after as a foursome (positive consequence)

Feel free to use the second version as a prompt — I’d love to read the results.