So you have an idea for an erotic story. It might be a fantasy you want to write down for your own enjoyment or to give to a lover even to publish online for free or on paid platforms like kindle. Maybe you want to be bigger than EL James, so where do you start?
Now that’s a good question. All writers approach writing differently, some plan everything down to the nth degree others, like me, just sit down and write and see where the ride takes us. Do what makes you feel comfortable. Write out the plot, the characters and the story arc if you want or just get cracking it’s up to you.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you as a published author is:
START WRITING
It sounds simple but it is the biggest step in any story and once you start keep going. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or things making sense you can check all that in an edit. Just get it down on paper. Now, if this is all for your own fun, you might not want to edit. You can leave it in its raw state but if you’re sending it on to anyone, even if you plan to only show your lover, I think it is worth taking the time to read back over your work. You not only will catch spelling and grammar errors you might notice a huge plot hole or a continuity problem. It’s all too easy to acquire an extra limb in a sex scene you know, especially once you get into multiple people being involved. Also clothes can magically disappear or appear and you don’t want your reader wondering where the bowler hat came from when they’re meant to be enjoying the rumpy-pumpy you’ve lovingly written about.
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A good way to check if your story or poem makes sense is to read it out loud to yourself. If you use a particular word too often or if your sentences are too long to read without taking breath then you will soon find out and be able to correct it. You might pick up on missing words, easy to skim over when reading silently because your brain fills in the gap for you, or notice things that just don’t sound right. Pick your time to do this though, probably best not to read your raunchy tale when grandma could walk in at any moment for example.
Now you have your story, written and lovingly edited, all ready to rock. Where do you go next? If this is a gift for a lover then give it to them to read or even read it to them. You will soon know if they like it and I can bet you a pound to a penny that just knowing you’ve written something for them will be a huge turn on.
But what if you want to share it with the world?
I’m happy to encourage your exhibitionist streak! You could put it out there for the world to see on a blog or your social media. There are sites like literotica.com designed for you to share your smutty words with the world. You can publish it anywhere you like really.
This is fine if you just want to share. Be aware though you might not always get helpful or constructive comments this way. You are opening yourself up to critique and we all know how nasty people can be on the internet. And not the fun kind of nasty we approve of around here! Also more and more publishers won’t take stories that have previously appeared online for free so if you are planning on submitting it to a publisher then your best bet is to do that straight away.
Please remember once you put something on the internet it is out there for anyone to see. Yes, you can delete it at any time but people will save it, keep it, even the websites keep cached versions of your writing sometimes and once it is out there it is out there. There is even the risk of plagiarism and piracy. I don’t want to scare you off from sharing, it can be a really exciting experience and you can get lots of very positive feedback, but as always you need to be aware of any risks before you try out a new kink.
If you’re planning to make money with your writing be ready to put some hours into researching publishing options and be ready to edit, edit and edit some more. There are a lot of authors out there writing erotica. This can seem daunting but many of us form a supportive and caring community that will help you out with promoting and selling your erotica. Make contacts, use social media to talk to authors like myself. Many of us are glad to help out.
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Whatever you do with your writing, enjoy it. It is a brilliant way to express and explore your kinks and fantasies.