When & How to SMUT
DISCLAIMER: As a multi-published
author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is
publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and
occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all
means, IGNORE IT.
Less competition for me. :)
----- Original Message -----
I'd like to know how some smut writers write their smut, ...how
smutty our smut should be, [and] places to put smut where it [won't]
obstruct the actual plot. I also just want more smut to read...
-- Looking for Good Smut --
Before one Smuts...
The first thing one needs to know about writing smut is The Law of Erotic Fiction:
If you can take the Smut out of the Smut Story
and still have a viable story,
You did it WRONG.
This was derived from Issac Azimov's Law of Science Fiction:
"If you can take the Science out of the Science Fiction and still have a viable story, you did it WRONG."
This Law is true for
every genre of fiction, but especially true for Smut Fiction.
The point being; in order to write smut that won't obstruct the plot--
One creates a Plot
specifically for the Smut.
WARNING! Incoming Rant!
Do Not add Smut to an already existing story!
If
you already have a viable story, adding smut just to get readers to
look at your work is known as Pandering. This happens most often when a
writer gets impatient for views, or sales, and resorts to adding smut to
their work in hope of catching the attention of somebody, anybody who will look at their work.
If you have a half-way decent story, Pandering is the worst thing you can do to your work because it is a Dead End trick. Adding smut content to a story that was not
originally designed to have smut content destroys character cohesion
and creates massive plot holes almost instantly. In short, it destroys
whatever integrity that story might have had.
Pandering is a cheap trick no reader appreciates, especially readers who already know what good smut fiction looks like.
If
you think your readers won't notice you cheating them out of a properly
plotted smut story, you are Very Wrong, and your readers will let you know in ugly ways.
/Rant.
Now that I've gotten that off my ample chest...
Accidents Do Happen.
Sometimes
writers will write stories that start out as legitimate smut, but the
characters get carried away and the plot shifts focus to something that
isn't smut -- turning their smut story into something completely
different.
How can you tell if a Smut Story has changed?
Here's a test:
-- If you can substitute all the smut scenes with Kissing scenes, your
plot has probably shifted into something else -- and that something else
is what your story should be.
What to do about this?
First,
figure out what your story's new focus is. Is it a fascinating Mystery,
a rollicking Adventure, a tender Romance, intriguing Magic...? Next,
take out all your lovely smut, save those scenes in another file to use
in a different story, put kissing scenes in those gaping plot holes then
finish your story.
What about just...jamming Smut in there anyway?
NO! Absolutely Not.
All that will do is ruin a perfectly viable story. All you can do is
finish that story then try again with a new story -- hopefully with the
smut properly integrated into the plotline.
How do you Write a Story for Smut?!
Before one writes a single word of the story you plan to have smut in, one needs to know that there are major differences
between a basic smut story (Erotica), a smut Adventure story, (Adult
Pulp Fiction and Erotic Romance,) a story with with love scenes, (common
Romance,) and rape fics, (Bodice Rippers.)
Each of those types of stories all have different Plot Structures where the smut serves a difference purpose.
Erotica:
-- Smut IS the Plot.
Erotica stories tend to be short because their plot is literally; They met. They had sex. What happened after.
This sort of story is easily --and quickly-- written because the writer
merely needs to come up with a smut scene, then figure out how the
characters met to have smut, then what happened after they had smut.
They saw.
They conquered.
They came.
~ The End.
Adult Pulp Fiction/Erotic Romances:
-- Because the MC needed Smut, Plot Happened.
Believe it or not, Pulp Fiction and Erotic Romances are pretty much the same thing -- an Adult Grand Adventure. The only real difference between them are their target reading audiences. Pulp Fiction is generally aimed at male readers, where Erotic Romance, despite the misleading genre title, are aimed at the female reading audience.
The writer's job is to find a reason for their main characters to Need that Smut to Happen, then expand on how every time they succeed in getting it on, their actions complicate their grand adventure.
The beautiful
Omega deliberately seduced the rampaging Alpha to allow the others to
escape.
In female oriented Erotic Romance,
and BL novels, smut also actively demonstrates the level of emotional
intimacy the couple has reached, especially after a traumatic event.
The more poorly written Pulp Fictions
however, tend to use a Reward system.
After something happens,
the main characters indulge in smut.
-- The main character does something
Dangerous; a rescue, an escape, a heist, a fierce battle, and they
are rewarded with smut. (Ian Fleming, I am looking at you!)
This is a cheap-assed, bargain bin
version of the cliché 'Boy gets the Girl as
a Prize for doing something Brave' plot. This cliché
is older than the earliest fairy tales and twice as used. Think:
cave-man.
If you are aiming strictly for the Male
reading audience, go for it! They'll appreciate it enthusiastically.
However, I as an author and a female
reader, despise it. In fact most female readers intensely dislike
that cliché.
Why?
It's demeaning.
If a guy does something
life-threatening for my sake such as a rescue, I might reward them
with a hug, or a kiss on the cheek, or money, but never smut. Not
unless I was already in a sexual relationship with them.
The only type of person that will
reward a guy with smut when they are Not already in a relationship
with them, is either:
A woman being forced to do so. In
which case he better Not accept that reward or he will lose
all respect from every female reading his story...!
Or a woman looking for a sucker to
use. This kind of person will also toss him away the instant
they find someone stronger, richer, and more powerful. This kind of
person is known as a Skank and females Hate them. We certainly don't
want to read about them unless they come to nasty, nasty
ends.
Romance:
-- Falling in Love leads to Smut.
Many, many Romances have smut, but most of them don't really need
it. This is because what drives the plot in a Romance story isn't
Physical Love. The plot's focus is Emotional Love, and emotions are what make the story happen -- and need the most detailing.
However, if you truly want smut in your Romance story, to do it properly
each progressive love scene should demonstrate the increasing level of
Affection and Trust --the increasing level of love-- between your main
characters.
Bodice Rippers:
-- The classic rape fic where the victim falls in love with their rapist. AKA: Stockholm Syndrome.
Before we get into how to write one of these, the writer needs to know two things:
Number One: American female readers tend to HATE rape fics --this includes M/M rape fics-- with a burning passion, unless that story ends with a gruesome revenge scene that the rapist does not survive.
Bodice Ripper novels went out of fashion in the USA in the mid 80's
because of a massive cultural shift in the USA where 'having sex' and
'enjoying sex' were no longer considered shameful -- something
Nice Girls didn't do until after marriage.
Ahem... The authors no longer needed the excuse of a forced
seduction to get their Nice Girl characters into bed with their male
leads.
Number Two: Over 80% of the English reading --and book-buying-- audience is Female.
So,
if your English rape fic, or English translated rape fic, has a low
reader count, now you know why. It's because the largest denomination of
English readers --
females-- won't read that type of work.
On the other hand...!
If you are targeting
male readers this type of story will definitely appeal to them because rape is a very common male stroke fantasy.
Ahem! Please note the term Fantasy. Just because someone fantasizes about something does not
mean they have any desire to do such things in real life.
For example,
Stephen King fantasizes about gruesome murders all the time -- he even
writes them down so other people can fantasize about them too! However,
he has never harmed anyone in real life.
The key to writing Bodice Rippers successfully is to have some kind of smut content in
every chapter (every 2,500 words minimum,) even if it's just peeping at naked flesh.
However, there should still be a
decent excuse for every bit of smut to happen! It doesn't have to be a
good excuse, just enough of one to move the story to the next scene.
Detailing smut however, is
optional with smut scenes only being a
paragraph or three in length. This is because while male readers prefer
detailed descriptions of the
characters participating in smut -- female
and male-- they prefer to use their imaginations to detail the action.
The Bodice Ripper is the core of the Oriental Harem story.
In order to write a harem fic longer than 10,000 words (two to four chapters,) one needs more Targets to fill out that word count.
To make a basic Harem Fic, start by sketching out as many targets for your main character to seduce as possible. Seriously, make a list
with names, cliché character typecasting, and base descriptions. Change
targets every 20,000 (20k) words with a new location and a fresh excuse
to have smut.
How do you End a Harem Fic?
-- No idea. From what I've seen so far, the story keeps going until the Main Character dies.
How Descriptive
should the Smut Scenes be?
This depends on your target reading audience.
Female readers want descriptive details of everything -- inside and out!
The
people, the places, the action, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the
colors, the textures... Female readers want to see each scene clearly
in their minds better than in a movie. They want to experience it all;
mentally, physically, emotionally. They want to be those characters and live their lives from inside their skins.
Smut scenes range between 2,500 words to 10,000 words per scene.
However there is a limit to how much one should describe!
Good example of descriptive writing:
Laurell K Hamilton's early Anita Blake books. Her later books completely lost the plot.
Bad example:
JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. He was writing a travelogue and it shows. His Hobbit is much better, but still crammed with travelogue details.
Male readers prefer the Characters and Action Scenes as lovingly detailed as the Silver Screen.
They want to see
the participants and players in full technicolor in their imaginations;
skin tones, hair color, eye color, the exact softness of skin,
fragrances fair and foul, descriptions of body types, and exactly how a
bosom fits in the character's palm.
They like the messy details too; the
slap of skin and the squelch of wet flesh, musky damp scents, and the
taste of sweaty skin.
Location changes, scenery changes, fight scenes and other daring-do scenes should also be as detailed as a movie scene.
The emotional aspects can be skipped almost entirely -- unless Revenge
is involved. Apparently Hate, Rage, Anger, and Frustration are allowable
emotions for the main protagonist to wallow in.
Love and affection are
emotions they succumb to -- after fighting long and hard against them.
Everything else can be somewhat vague, including the smut.
Average Smut scene: 500 to 1000 words.
If you want to detail out the smut to 5000 words or more, your male
readers will definitely enjoy it, but a couple paragraphs of a rough
outline of what happened works too. This is because males like to add in
their own little details and dialogue while they're fapping to smut.
Good Example of descriptive writing male readers appreciate: Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series.
Bad Example: Ian Fleming's James Bond
series. Each female lead and all the action is lovingly detailed, but
the smut scenes are barely a paragraph in length and described very
poorly. I was so disappointed.
How much Smut...?
This depends on the type of story one is writing.
However...! Before we go into detail about how much Smut each type of story generally has, my definition of Smut needs to be addressed.
To many writers, Smut = Sex. My definition is a lot more broad.
As far as I'm concerned, Smut is anything sexual at all; from smoldering eye contact, to a squeeze of the butt cheek, to full on intercourse. I do however, define a Smut Scene as a scene were sex happens. Okay?
Okay.
Now...
How much Smut
should go in each type of Smut Story?
Erotica:
- Smut Scenes: One per 5000 (5k) words.
- How Smutty: Extremely detailed.
- Fetishes or kinks: Yes, please! Limited to what is legal to publish. Generally no scat, no bestiality, no watersports.
Euphemistic
language to start with, increasingly hardcore adult language until the
peak of climax for best effect. C-word used sparingly and only as a
compliment. F-bombs perfectly okay.
Erotic tension begins with the opening line of the story and every word
of description should add to that tension. The moment the two main
characters make eye contact Lust smolders into being and every word
after that should be erotically charged until the very last line.
Keep in mind, most Erotica is short; 5000 (5k) words to 20,000
(20k) words at most. It is agonizingly difficult to keep up the sexual
tension beyond 20k without changing participants. It CAN be done, but it
is not easy.
WARNING! Female readers Do Not like reading stories where the main character changes partners. Females consider that Cheating -- unless the story ends in a threesome relationship with all three participants sleeping with each other.
Adult Pulp Fiction/Erotic Romance:
- Smut Scenes: Eight to fifteen per 100,000 (100k) words.
- How Smutty: Hardcore detailed.
- Fetishes or kinks: Limited to what is legal to publish. No scat, no bestiality, no watersports.
Common
language with increasingly hardcore adult language during moments of
Danger. Also during rising sexual tension until the peak of climax.
C-word used only as a compliment. F-bombs perfectly okay.
Because these stories are in fact cross-genres of Adventure and Romance,
it is much easier to keep the erotic tension going between exclusive
partners by balancing it with danger and suspense.
Think in terms of a
roller-coaster ride with the high peaks being Smut, the deep drops being
Danger, and the sharps curves being Suspense.
