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Purple Poetry
Hi,
I thought I would add this info here, to spice up the school.
I seen there was no women teachers, lol, I don't claim to be, but
sure would be nice to have some,  , this applies to all writing to me.
I have deleted the bad words so fill in the blanks.
Let the rain fall, enjoy, ya'll,
(and check your
Is your poem intended for an adult audience when posting purple poetry.)
Corinthia Sugar
Guide for Amateur Writers of Erotica
by Andrew Nellis, aka the Poison Pen © 1997
Introduction:
There is a perception that writing short stories, particularly erotic stories, requires little or no effort. While this is perhaps literally true, the same could be said for erotic artwork -- yet few of us would dare to publicly display a poorly executed drawing.
With the explosion of narrowly-targetted sexual interest groups on the Internet, there has been an equal growth in the production of amateur erotic fiction to feed that interest. Many of these stories are as well or even better written than anything available from the commercial markets. All too often, however, such work stumbles into one of the pitfalls common to most novice writers. This guide is not intended for those with a professional interest, who have probably already discovered and overcome such pitfalls. Rather, this is for the use of the amateur, who likely has little interest in being professionally published, but who wishes to contribute to the body of work available in his or her particular genre.
THE BASICS ==========
Spelling and Grammar:
One of the main criticisms with most novice writers is a disregard for the proper spelling and grammar. Yes, writing is a creative enterprise, but before you break the rules, you should at least know what they are. Nothing will draw a reader back out of a story faster than a glaring spelling or grammatical error. Learn the basics first. Invest in a good dictionary and thesaurus, the paper kind. And not one of those little pocket editions either.
Quotation Marks:
Learn to use quotation marks properly. Dialogue is a crucial element in most fiction, and deserves correct treatment. "Remember," he said, "that closing quotation marks go on the outside of the punctuation, not the inside."
Paragraphs:
Always use proper paragraphing! Paragraphs are NOT optional! It is extremely difficult to read a story which is simply one huge block of text. Not only is it hard to scan, but the lack of paragraphing creates confusion for the reader. Each paragraph in a story is a series of related thoughts; every sentence in a paragraph should relate to a single subject. If there is a new idea, begin a new paragraph.
Dialogue should be separated by paragraphs. Each time a different character speaks, this should start a new paragraph, even if it is only a single word.
Pronouns should be avoided in the first sentence of every paragraph when making reference to a person, place, or thing for the first time in that sentence. Use the full name of each person, place, or thing being referred to. Not only is this grammatically correct, but it helps to avoid confusion.
Punctuation:
Punctuation is your friend. It helps the flow of the words in the reader's mind, and it helps make the meanings clearer. Too much punctuation, however, is as bad as too little. Some of the most common errors made with punctuation are outlined below.
Punctuation [commas]:
Commas should be used to indicate a very brief pause in the flow of a sentence, and are normally used to link two related, incomplete thoughts (that is, to separate clauses in a complex sentence), to separate a list of items, or to separate adjectives and adverbs when there is more than one. Use commas sparingly. If there is any question as to its appropriateness in a given case, it is probably better not to use it. Too many commas can draw the reader's attention away and make a sentence difficult to scan.
Punctuation [semi-colons, colons, periods]:
Colons and semi-colons are vastly underused in most amateur fiction, when they could be used to great advantage. Do not be intimidated by them; their function is not a mystery, nor difficult to grasp. Colons and semi-colons are used to represent pauses in flow much the same way commas are used. A semi-colon (the ";" symbol) is a pause of "two beats," or about twice as long as you would pause for a comma. A colon (the ":" symbol) is a pause of "three beats," or about three times as long as you would pause for a comma.
Periods, also known as "full stops," represent a complete halt in the flow of a sentence, and are used to indicate the completion of a single thought.
Punctuation [elipses and elides]:
The elipse is possibly the single most overused punctuation mark by amateur (and many professional!) writers. The elipse is represented by three periods (or "pips") in a row ("..."). It is NEVER less than three or more than three. It is ALWAYS three.
An elipse is used to indicate an incomplete thought, and takes the place of a period. It should NEVER be used to represent a pause! If you wish to indicate a pause, a comma, semi-colon, or colon should be used instead. Generally, gramatically complete sentences should not end in an elipse. Only sentence fragments (those sentences which do not possess a subject, verb, and object) should end in an elipse.
Punctuation [question marks and exclamation marks]:
After the elipse, the question mark and exclamation mark are the most overused punctuation. It is almost never appropriate to use more than one exclamation mark, and it is NEVER appropriate to use more than one question mark. If you find yourself inclined to use more than a single exclamation mark, try describing the loudness of the sound instead; it will likely make for a better story.
When writing a rhetorical question in dialogue, it can be effective to avoid using the question mark. This nuance should indicate to the reader that the speaker is not actually asking a question, but is making a statement in the form of a question.
Punctuation [apostrophes]:
The apostrophe (the ' symbol) is used to show possessiveness or that a word has been concatenated. It is NEVER used to show that a word is plural! If one wishes to show possessiveness in a word which ends in an "s" then one adds an apostrophe, by itself, after the last letter. For example, to indicate that something belongs to Jess, one would use Jess'.
In a concatenated word, the apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter in the word. So, for example, "do not" becomes "don't."
There are certain exceptions, the most important as follows.
"Its" is used to show possessiveness. "It's" is a concatenation of "it is."
The possessive form of "her" is "hers."
PERSPECTIVE ===========
The first thing you'll have to decide when writing a story is which perspective the story will be told from. For the beginner it is best to avoid the potentially risky literary trick of switching perspectives part-way through the story. The three major perspectives from which a story can be told are listed below.
Perspective [first person]:
In a story which uses the first person perspective, a narrator describes the action for us in his or her own voice. This can be a very effective technique when used well, but often reads like "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" if it is done badly.
Remember first that the narrator cannot describe what he or she did not witness or is not aware of. This is one of the weaknesses of the first person perspective. For this reason, it is recommended that beginners avoid the first person and stick to third person. If you are going to use first person, one tool which can be useful for avoiding this problem is telling the story in the first person from the perspective of more than one character, switching between characters as required.
In particular, avoid falling into the trap of beginning every sentence or paragraph with "Then I did this." If your story is nothing more than a laundry list of the narrator's actions, it would be much better to use third person.
Perspective [second person]:
In a story which uses the second person perspective, the story tells the reader what he or she did or is doing. "You did this, and then you did that," would be an example of second person perspective. It is with good reason that this is not an often-used perspective, since it requires considerable skill to keep it from sounding clunky and awkward. It is highly recommended that the beginner avoid using this perspective altogether.
There is a definite role for the second person perspective in erotic writing, however. Since the purpose of erotic writing is to sexually engage the reader, and since the easiest way to do this is to draw the reader into the role of participant within the story, second person enjoys a usefulness in the genre that it does not in most others. Be wary of overusing this tool, since its effectiveness diminishes with use.
Perspective [third person]:
Third person is the most common perspective used in stories, and is the easiest for a novice to master.
The most usual variation of the third person is known as "third person omniscient." With this perspective, the author writes from the effective perspective of God, able to look into each character's head and read his or her thoughts, moving from place to place and character to character with infinite speed. One weakness of this variation is that it removes the ability of the author to lie to the reader. Since the perspective is omniscient, all the statements made in the "voice of God" must be absolutely true. It is difficult, though not impossible, to maintain secrecy from the reader; this must be done by omission, and it must be done cleverly or the reader will become suspicious and any surprise or tension will be lost.
A second variation is the "third person semi-omniscient." In this case, while the author writes from the effective perspective of God, it is with limitations. For example, the thoughts and motives of the characters may not be available by the author. This perspective can be useful when trying to maintain some mystery in a story, since it allows characters to hide things from the readers without drawing attention to it.
The other major variation of third person involves a fallible, non- omniscient perspective. Using this voice, the author can actually state deliberate lies to actively fool the reader. For example, to keep the gender of a character a mystery, the author may refer to a "him" as a "her" and vice versa, until this subterfuge becomes known by the characters in the story. This can be a difficult perspective to use, and it is recommended that the novice avoid it.
TENSE =====
One of the most common mistakes of amateur writers is confusion of tenses. Make absolutely certain that you use the same tense all the way through. If your story is told in past tense, it should remain in the past tense. An experienced author may be able to get away with breaking this "rule" as a stylistic flair or literary tool, but this requires a great deal of expertise and should be avoided by anyone who lacks extensive experience.
Past Tense:
For the beginner, past tense is the best option. It is easiest to master, and is familiar to all readers. Having already happened, it allows the author to shift backward and forward in time as required to tell the story.
Present Tense:
Present tense can be an extremely effective tool when used right, since it drops the reader right into the action, and gives the story a sense of immediacy, particularly when combined with first or second person. This is a difficult ploy to use, however, as it requires a great deal of skill to maintain proper pacing and flow. It should absolutely be avoided by the novice. This is NOT a tool for the beginner to use, and in the wrong hands can make a story painfully unreadable.
Other Tenses:
While I have never seen a story written in the future tense, it is at least theoretically possible. Such a story would require incredible skill to write properly, and would always be awkward for the reader. Do not use the future tense.
STYLE =====
This is by no means a comprehensive guide to style, since every author will eventually develop his or her own. This section will lay out a few of the more basic elements of style, and point out a few of the most common stylistic mistakes made by novices.
Character Descriptions:
Describing the appearance of a character as if he or she was being written up in a police report is a common mistake. There are far better ways of telling readers what a character looks like than giving them a rundown of height, weight, build and hair colour all at once on first introducing them. One method many writers use is to have the character look into a mirror at some point, describing what the character sees.
One of the major tenets of fiction writing is: "Show me, don't tell me." By this, what is meant is rather than baldly stating a fact within a story, the fact should be shown to the reader through the actions or dialogue of the characters. For example, rather than stating that a character is rude, it is better to have the character ACT rude and allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. This can also apply to physical descriptions of characters; instead of telling the readers that a character is physically attractive, try having other characters within the story react to that character in a way that tells the reader the same thing. Your story will read and feel more natural.
Character histories should be handled in a similar way. Rather than simply informing the reader of a character's background, allow it to be revealed a bit at a time throughout the course of the story. This will heighten reader interest, and bestow a hint of mystery.
Erotica Versus Pornography:
Erotica is not pornography, though it can contain pornography. The primary difference is that the single purpose of pornography is to sexually arouse the reader, period. There is not much of a plotline, if any, and there is no character development. Erotica, on the other hand, tends to have a genuine story, which helps to emphasize the erotic elements. There may be character development through the course of the story, and there is a much greater emphasis on the thoughts and emotions of the characters. Make sure you know which of these you are writing before you start.
Story:
Remember that first and foremost, a story must be a good read. We read Homer's Iliad thousands of years later because it's a great story, not because it was a paragon of style, or sent the right moral message. All the clever wordplay in the world won't help you if you don't have a story which will capture the reader's imagination. And, vice versa, if you can capture the reader's imagination, a whole host of literary sins can be forgiven.
The temptation is to get right into the "good bits" and forget about the rest as unimportant. You will find, though, that the story which surrounds the "good bits" can help to heighten the eroticism. This also allows the sexual tension in the story to build, resulting in a more viscerally powerful experience for the reader when the "good bits" finally arrive.
Subject Matter:
Write what you know. If you write about things unfamiliar to you, it will show. There are plenty of things in everyone's life which will seem strange and exotic to others. Just because it's old hat to you doesn't mean it's of no interest to anyone else. If you work in a bank, for example, the day to day activities which seem so ordinary to you will be a fascinating glimpse into something mysterious for everyone else. If your hobby is model trains, including accurate, detailed descriptions of locomotives in a story can add an air of authenticity.
If you absolutely must write about something with which you have no experience, do not stint on the research. Learn more about it than you think you could possibly use. If you don't, your lack of knowledge will make those who know better justifiably furious, and your lack of confidence will bleed through into your writing.
As a last resort, if you're going to try and bluff the reader, do it with as much confidence as you can muster. State things with absolute assurance, even if you know it to be false. A reader may forgive you for flubbing a detail, but he or she will NEVER forgive you for destroying the suspension of disbelief with hesitancy.
Profanity:
If you're going to swear, swear. Do not play little games like replacing a few letters with dashes or symbols.( Unless your public like here, and check your
Is your poem intended for an adult audience when posting purple poetry) ( This will only draw the reader out of the story, and really isn't fooling anyone. Each writer will have his or her own style, which may or may not include regular use of profanity. Be aware that if you do not use profanity regularly in your stories, when it is used, it will have much more impact.
Explicitness:
Decide before you start writing how explicit you want your story to be, and maintain that level of explicitness throughout. This is especially important in erotica, where explicitness makes up such an important part of the story.
The most arousing stories do not contain anatomically detailed descriptions of "tab-A into slot-B." Rather, they draw the reader into the story, and then allow the reader to paint a picture for him- or herself. The reader will always be able to manufacture a more detailed and more erotic picture that you can describe, and the trick is to make the reader see this picture without painting it for him or her. There is no simple way to do this. Doing this right will require a lot of practice and a lot of skill.
When writing sexually explicit material, avoid euphemisms. Calling a penis a "throbbing gearshift of love" is not going to arouse anything but laughter. It is perfectly acceptable to use words other creative you know' when writing erotica, but if you do, use these words throughout the story. Don't suddenly switch to medically accurate terms like "penis" or "vagina." Likewise, if you use medically accurate terms, don't switch to colloquialisms part-way through. You want to avoid doing anything that will jar the reader and remind him or her that they are reading a story.
Sexual Accuracy:
There is no easier way to lose your reader than to make a hilarious anatomical mistake. The clitoris is on the top, not the bottom. Women do not exude "sperm." Men cannot ejaculate fifteen times in a row, and the amount of semen involved is measured in teaspoons, not gallons. All of these mistakes, believe it or not, I have seen made in stories by amateur writers.
When writing about sex, either draw from your personal experience, or study reports published by reputable sex researchers like Masters and Johnson. Try, when possible, to avoid cliches. Not all women are lesbians, and not all men have a nine inch penis.
Target Your Audience:
Most erotic fiction written by amateurs is for themselves first and their audience second. There is nothing wrong with this, and if this is the case, feel free to write your story while sexually aroused.
If, however, you are writing for your readers, it is a good idea NOT to be sexually aroused when you're writing. After all, you want to write a story which will arouse other people, and not necessarily yourself. Your own personal turn-ons might well excite others, but a clinical detachment and thorough knowledge of the sexual proclivities of your target audience will be far more effective at accomplishing your goal.
Completion:
Finish what you start. If you find that you are only inspired to write when you are sexually aroused and you can't complete the story before needing (ahem) gratification, then write the story over a number of sessions.
Unless your story is novella-sized or larger and each chapter can stand alone as a story unto itself, try to avoid releasing it in parts. Wait until you have completed the whole thing to release it. Your readers will thank you for it, and more people will be likely to read it. Collecting chapters over the course of several weeks or months can be frustrating, especially when so few amateur writers seem willing to devote the time and effort necessary to complete what they start. For this reason, many people will give your story a pass if it's not whole and complete on its own.
Format:
When publishing over the Internet, whether by website or newsgroup, ALWAYS use plain ASCII text. Formats such as HTML, Word Perfect documents, or RTF may make your work look pretty, but it will also alienate a portion of your potential readership. The only format which is even close to universal is plain, 7-bit ASCII. If you wish, you may also provide your story in other more attractive forms, but an ASCII version should also be available.
A story will live or die on its merit as a story. Not even the most attractive packaging will save a poorly written story.
Pen Names:
There are a number of reasons why you may wish to use a pen name when writing a story, particularly erotica. For one thing, you never know who will read your story: a parent, a teacher, a boss. While writing erotica is not a shameful thing, not everyone agrees with that, and by using a pen name, you avoid the risk of the wrong person seeing it. While my real name of Andrew Nellis is freely available, I prefer to use a nom de plume so that my real name does not become associated with stories that may damage my reputation as a "serious" author. Years down the road, I need not worry about being haunted by something I wrote early in my career, since few people will recall that Poison Pen is me.
Another reason to use a pen name is to make yourself more memorable to readers. A catchy name will stick out, and people will remember you the next time you write a story, allowing you to build a body of fans.
Unfortunately, one good reason to use a pen name is the spectre of censorship. Many of us live in countries with repressive laws which attempt to control what we are allowed to think and read. Hiding your true identity may be a necessity to avoid prosecution, persecution, or even, in some countries, execution.
Criticism:
Expect criticism. Often your story will be completely accepted by its readership, and when this happens you can sit back and bask in the glory of your accomplishment. From time to time, however, you will receive less than flattering reviews. Do not become angry or discouraged by this. Even the finest writers who have ever lived receive criticism. Anyone who displays the fruits of his or her muse to the public must be willing to accept the brickbats with the accolades. If you can't handle criticism, even and especially vicious criticism, then you have no business displaying your stories to the public.
When you do receive a bad review, read it with an open mind and ask yourself if there might not be something useful in it. Remember that even the nastiest, most brutal review of your story reveals that the person writing it had at least some interest in your story, or this person would not have even bothered to read it, much less take the time to comment on it.
Never take criticism too seriously. You will never please everyone, and trying to do so will only damage your work. Remember the old adage: "Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, criticize."
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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF WRITING
by the Deep
Simple tips that will help you write like a professional Web author:
SIN 1: Incorrect Punctuations
Punctuations are an important part of any story. It's funny how many writers forget how they work and why they're used. One of the more often made mistakes is the use of quotations within punctuations.
Example: Correct ("He loves you," she said.) Incorrect ("He Loves you", she said.)
All punctuations should be enclosed within the quotations, no matter what they are. (!), (?), (,), (.) Always inside the (").
Commas! When in doubt always use a comma. Commas help the reader to take a mental break, they help to keep the flow of the story going comfortably. Many writers under use this lowly little punctuation mark, but shouldn't.
SIN 2: Spelling
You'd be amazed how many writers don't use their spell checkers. Almost every computer comes with a word processor, and if the one you're using doesn't, you should consider upgrading your system.
No matter how much you try to proofread your own work (even with a spell checker), you'll most likely miss something. That's pretty normal. When you write a story, you see what you meant, not necessarily what you wrote. That's why a proofreader-editor can save a story.
Don't go it alone; hook up with another writer or someone from the proofreader/editor web site above. You'll have more satisfied readers, guaranteed.
SIN 3: Formatting your story for the Web
No one likes to read one long paragraph. Try to break up your paragraphs into manageable segments. And, since most visitors read your web stories on their computers (even when they download them), it is a must to leave white space between the paragraphs. That means an empty space between paragraphs. (It's much easier on the eyes.)
Good formatting is essential for easy reading. It is advisable to break out "dialog" as separate paragraphs, and/or sentences with white space between them too.
SIN 4: People speak naturally, don't they?
When you have dialog in your story, consider how people really talk. Use slang to make the characters more realistic. A stilted formal dialog kills a story almost as fast as bad punctuation or misspelled words. Consider substituting "they're" for "they are' or "she'd" for "she would" or "can't" for "can not" or "they'll" for "they will" etc. People don't talk in formal speech patterns, not in real life anyway. Neither should your characters, not if you want people to read your next story.
SIN 5: Over using names
Try not to use the same words in a paragraph - and never "over use" a character's name. A story where almost every story starts out with the heroine's name or has it where there should have been a less, redundant "he" or "she" will turn most reader off sooner or later. Throw in "she" or "he" - "hers" or "his" if it won't confuse the reader as to who you're talking about. A good rule of thumb is to only use a character's name once in a paragraph or less if possible.
SIN 6: Using more words than necessary
Don't use the same gimmick over and over again. The word "Then" is WAY over used. Example: "He then got up and moved into the other room..." (No reason to insert the word "then" but you'd be surprised how many writers do just that.) Consider the shortest sentence to tell your story, cut out superfluous words; it'll make for a better read.
SIN 7: Not re-read your story
ALWAYS RE-READ YOUR STORY! No one, no matter how many stories they've written should EVER pass on a story without reading it again at least once. Typos and misspelled words will jump out at you on a re-read. You'll even find whole words or sentences that don't make sense when you take a second look at what you've written.
While you're re-reading; be critical, look for words or phrases that you can eliminate. Many times a sentence will read much better when you remove extraneous words. If they don't add to the story they should be cut. You'll find that when you look at your work with a critical eye you can ALWAYS make the story flow smoother than it did in the first draft.
That's how the really great web authors produce what you have enjoyed reading. Those stories are what got you writing in the first place. Just remember the stories that you stopped reading because there were too many things wrong with them. Don't let that happen to your efforts. It's not that hard to produce a good story.
Easy Guide To Better Writing
by Wm_Sexspear
You've written a story, you want to post it. You're not an English major, but want your story to read well. I wrote the following short checklist to help you. It contains no jargon or technical terms. Much below reflects my opinions, not rules of grammar. Remember free advise is worth everything you paid for it.
* * * * *
Proofread your story by reading it out loud, slowly, to yourself. A trap for writers is they sometimes see what they meant to write, not what they actually wrote.
When reading a sentence, if it feels natural to pause, there's a good chance a comma goes there. A comma can also help the reader use your words the way you intended. EXAMPLE: He stood slowly ran to the door hesitated then opened it. SHOULD BE: He stood slowly, ran to the door, hesitated, then opened it.
Keep each sentence short. Three short sentences usually read better than one long one.
Keep paragraphs short. Paragraphs help the reader's eye not get lost. A paragraph is also a chance for the reader to mentally catch their breath.
Only use 'AND' when absolutely necessary. Too many sentences use 'AND' when using a comma or period will read better. Never have more than one 'AND' in a sentence.
Use ', AND' or ', THEN', but avoid ', AND THEN'.
Nine times out of ten, you can remove the word THAT, yet the sentence reads just a well.
I like contractions, I prefer seeing HE'D instead of HE WOULD. HE'LL instead of HE WILL. WASN'T in lieu of WAS NOT, etc.
Avoid begin sentences with these words: THEN, WELL, SO, NEXT, NOW, etc. If you remove the first word of a sentence, and the sentence still reads well, you probably don't need it.
PLEASE use your spell checker.
Remember your spell checker won't catch many typos or mental lapses. Example: writing TO when you should have written TOO or TWO. I often type FORM when I meant FROM, but both words pass a spell check.
Use TOO [not TO] when describing an extreme. Example: It was TOO small.
If a character has a name, use it from time to time. If a paragraph has a dozen SHE or HER's, consider replacing some of them with a name.
If more than two character's of the same gender/sex are involved, use names frequently so the reader can't get confused about who is doing what to whom.
If one word can replace three, fix it. Example: My hand started to move... vs. My hand moved... Or how about BEGAN for STARTED TO
Remove unneeded, distracting words. Example: He stood UP... Can he stand down? Therefore He stood... is probably all you need. 'He walked OUT INTO the kitchen', would read better as 'He went to the kitchen.'
Small words are often more effective than larger ones. Example: I started to NOTICE that her blouse was... could be written as 'I SAW her blouse was...
Your story should normally stay in one tense, past, present, or future. Many stories on this site are past tense, people writing about something that happened in the past. Therefore, words like WALKED, RAN, OR SAT would be used instead of WALK, RUN, or SIT.
Don't switch tenses as you go. 'I went into my room, I sit on my bed...' should be 'I went to my room, I sat on my bed...'
Many word processors have a Thesaurus. This means you can highlight a word, run the Thesaurus, and it will give you a list of other words with a similar meaning. Should you use insure or ensure? Further or farther? The Thesaurus MAY give clue which is the better choice.
Try not to repeat the same word in a sentence. Example: By this time it was time to time her. Could be: Meanwhile, it was time to record Sue's speed. Again, the Thesaurus can help here. If the word HOT appears 8 times over a couple paragraphs, the reader may well get bored. Each time you repeat a word, it can lose impact. You can probably remove half or more of the HOT's, yet improve the story. Can any of the remaining HOT's be swapped for another word? Fiery, sizzling, searing, steamy, warm, scalding?
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Grammatical Erotica Pt. 01-02
by Sappholovers
Grammatical Erotica, Part I.
Styles for writing erotica should vary just as our lovemaking should vary.
There should many times and places for hot, quick, fast, intense sex:
But there should also be many times and places for our love supreme: the languorous, luxurious lovemaking that begins early in the evening with a man looking a woman in the eye and listening to her attentively through a beautiful dinner, then a concert featuring Rodrigo's "Concierto De Aranjuez," then a slow removal of clothes in the bedroom by a fire, sipping champagne or wine, maybe a bath together by candlelight/
Then like a long sentence, with many twists and turns, the man's tongue travels all along the contours and curves of her body, stopping in a few places, one nipple and then the other, for a bit of punctuation, a semicolon of a suckle, and then a parenthetical expression (a finger or two slipped inside), then bodies kneaded by slow hands of massage, the woman softened and pulled apart, loins open, the man fully risen, and then all the lovemaking comes to a brief stop, a colon, for a change of position: two bodies sinuously entangled in 69, lost in pleasuring each other, like a reader caught up in a sentence by William Faulkner or Henry James.
Then the lovemaking becomes all Hemingway: No flowery prose. Just hard pounding sentences. One after the other. Fast strokes of the pen. Action verbs. Prose stripped naked. Nothing cute. Sentences pounded out on the typewriter like doing a woman doggie style. Drive each sentence home. Get to the point. Make her quiver. Do her with exclamation points!!! You've got her panting now. Short breaths. Shorter words. Do it to me. More. Don't stop. Yes. Yes. Yes. Ohh. Oh! O!!!.
The question is: What works the best for the most enjoyable reading experience?
Grammatical Erotica, Part 2
Here, let me offer three basic points of advice for invigorating prose--a triple dose of verbal Viagra, if you will:
1. Become master of five forms of punctuation: the semicolon, the colon, the parentheses, the dash, and the ellipsis.
The comma is to punctuation what the missionary position is to sex: It's basic, common, necessary, and overused. Although the English language offers far fewer possibilities for punctuation than the Kama Sutra does for sex, a mastery of four "positions"--the dash, the colon, the semicolon, and the parentheses--can do wonders for variety in prose.
The semicolon is like changing positions during sex; it provides for some change in direction, or a shift but without loss of continuity; for instance, we start out with cowgirl, and then shift to reverse cowgirl. (I was tempted to use an exclamation mark at the end of this last sentence, but the exclamation mark--despite its wonderfully phallic shape (!)--is my least favorite form of punctuation. The exclamation marks annoys me as much as underlining. It is like the way Oliver Stone uses music in his movies: he pounds the point into you, bludgeoning your ear, when something less loud, less insistent would be more effective.) (By the way, isn't it fun, when going down on a woman, to use all five fingers at the same time? It's almost as much fun just as trying to use my five favorite forms of punctuation in the same paragraph: the colon, the semicolon, the parentheses, the dash, and the ellipsis) (I particularly like inserting erotic bits in parenthetical comments.) The colon is neat: It grabs your attention for what follows. Here the shift is not from one position to another, but, say, from vaginal to anal intercourse: You need to be careful, however, not to overuse the colon or insert one more than once in the same sentence: Otherwise it gets too confusing for the reader.
I do like to think of punctuation as road signals for the reader, or musical directions for rhythm and tempo; they indicate when to take a quarter note rest (a comma) or a half note rest (a semicolon). My favorite mark of punctuation is the dash--it's like inserting fingers inside a women during cunnilingus: it adds some verve--indeed intensity--to a sentence. You can, like Faulkner, circle around and around with long sentences, sentences that just go on and on, as if you are writing them on a hot, lazy summer day in Mississippi, and you are writing as if to capture the rhythms of oral speech or tale telling in your prose, but the reader feels you don't know how to unfold the point and proceed more sharply, so then you need something quicker and faster--the dash--to speed things up (and, with some more vivacity, you can insert--for more enjoyment--at least two dashes, maybe even three or four, to a sentence, like adding, for tartness, wide cut lemon slices to a glass of lemonade). (Right now, I want to open you--unfold you--tongue you--and wiggle two...three...four fingers inside of you.)
Now the ellipsis is like wonderful lingerie.....breathtaking and suggestive. Better yet, the ellipsis is like when you are fooling around in bed in a hotel and the housekeeper knocks and then she enters...everything just stops, for a bit...or it should stop...but, with passionate, uninhibited lovers, it's just a comma of a pause, a suspended moment, as they are cool, natural, unashamed, and, if interrupted, they just wrap each other up in their arms, smile...and then continue. Or, to try another metaphor, an ellipsis is like when you move from kissing and sucking nipples in foreplay to lower down.....in a series of short, quick kisses..... from bosom to belly button.....a rapid line of kisses....that stops when you are all the way down there........between and below.
2. To write sexy, potent, thong-dropping prose, deploy strong verbs.
At a moment of passion, the writer of limp prose declares, "Sexual pleasure is the most wonderful thing in life." It's true, but the phrasing is pathetic: The writer turns to the weakest of verbs, "is," to make this declaration. He's got to pump up his prose at this point." "To be" verbs just deflate a sentence. It would be ok to use "is" in a sentence to make a more tepid point. For instance, "Like masturbation, reading 'The New York Review of Books' is a wonderful pleasure." But to use "is" in a sentence where you are describing the wonderful pleasures of sex conveys all the enthusiasm for sex that a married couple might summon up as they are about to make love on Saturday night from 11:20--11:35 pm after 20 years of marriage.
The only way I would allow a writer to get by using "is" in such a sentence about sex is if the writer declared, "Sex is great. Nothing beats it. Not even reading The New York Review of Books naked in a bath by candlelight." A writer needs to insert some added emphasis--some vibration, if you will--into a sentence if he is going to use "is": For example, "I feel that sexual pleasure, heightened by eroticism or love, is the most wonderful thing in life...." Or he could be at once more romantic and more eloquent and more humorous if he wrote, "I feel that sexual pleasure surpasses all other wonders of life; yet too often we let opportunity for this joy pass us by, constrained as we are by a host of social conventions (particularly marriage)."
Here's another phrase that needs some verbal Viagra: "My desire is to have sex with you tonight," say, "I want to make you sweat," or, more concise, "I want to **** you," or, be more suggestive, "I want to make love to you all night long." The best choice of words depends, very much, on the audience and the occasion, so that there are certainly times when "My desire is to make love to you" is the appropriate phrase, but other times, when the straight, bold, emphatic "Take me" (or "**** me") works best, and, yes, at times, you can and should be wordy, so that to get the point across repetition or verbosity is not a bad idea, as in, **** me. **** me. **** me....yes, Yes. YES."
3. To allure in prose, create original metaphors, as metaphor is to literal language what eroticism is to sex.
Literal language is naked, plain, stripped down, functional. Metaphorical language is nude: it's alluring, sensual, charged, electric--it's lovemaking as ecstatic union. Metaphorical language is bliss: it's bringing together differences; it's uniting opposites; it's the tongues of lovers twisting and twirling together; it's arranging the shape and sound of words in unusual but smooth and alluring ways, a linguistic 69. Plain language is routine, missionary. Metaphorical language is language at play. Metaphor renders words unchaste, promiscuous. They lose their bond to an old relationship. They assume new meanings, new relationships, new associations. Language has its rules of grammar and syntax. But the best writers become grammar breakers and dictionary defiers: they free words from their traditional meanings. So instead of telling someone "love is great," you write (as I steal from Katrina and the Waves), "Love is like walking on sunshine." But if you want to write a story that gets more than a 3, you need a storyline that is more complex than something found in most 3 minute pop songs. So keynote could be: "Love is not just like walking on sunshine; it can be like walking on broken glass [Annie Lennox]; it can be a battlefield (Pat Benatar)."
Of course, when it comes to the language of lovemaking, the best dirty talk is wordless, but not soundless, or as wordless and soundful as orchestral music or the non-verbal grunting of rap music or the scat singing of jazz music. So let us write to make words pierce us and curl up inside, and let us write, and let us make love, to take us beyond the limits of language, so that our words give way to the eloquent silence of eyes locking on to each other and hearts beating in unison (and everything curling up inside us right down to the toes, that wonderful little exclamation mark of sexual ecstasy). We must write for readers who use their spine....who read for the moments of bliss, of pleasure in the text, when language becomes charged up, special, unique, explosive--when you feel the words first in your spine, as if the spine is the wick of a candle, drawing up the wax, and your head the flame.
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Easy Guide To Better Writing
by Wm_Sexspear
You've written a story, you want to post it. You're not an English major, but want your story to read well. I wrote the following short checklist to help you. It contains no jargon or technical terms. Much below reflects my opinions, not rules of grammar. Remember free advise is worth everything you paid for it.
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Proofread your story by reading it out loud, slowly, to yourself. A trap for writers is they sometimes see what they meant to write, not what they actually wrote.
When reading a sentence, if it feels natural to pause, there's a good chance a comma goes there. A comma can also help the reader use your words the way you intended. EXAMPLE: He stood slowly ran to the door hesitated then opened it. SHOULD BE: He stood slowly, ran to the door, hesitated, then opened it.
Keep each sentence short. Three short sentences usually read better than one long one.
Keep paragraphs short. Paragraphs help the reader's eye not get lost. A paragraph is also a chance for the reader to mentally catch their breath.
Only use 'AND' when absolutely necessary. Too many sentences use 'AND' when using a comma or period will read better. Never have more than one 'AND' in a sentence.
Use ', AND' or ', THEN', but avoid ', AND THEN'.
Nine times out of ten, you can remove the word THAT, yet the sentence reads just a well.
I like contractions, I prefer seeing HE'D instead of HE WOULD. HE'LL instead of HE WILL. WASN'T in lieu of WAS NOT, etc.
Avoid begin sentences with these words: THEN, WELL, SO, NEXT, NOW, etc. If you remove the first word of a sentence, and the sentence still reads well, you probably don't need it.
PLEASE use your spell checker.
Remember your spell checker won't catch many typos or mental lapses. Example: writing TO when you should have written TOO or TWO. I often type FORM when I meant FROM, but both words pass a spell check.
Use TOO [not TO] when describing an extreme. Example: It was TOO small.
If a character has a name, use it from time to time. If a paragraph has a dozen SHE or HER's, consider replacing some of them with a name.
If more than two character's of the same gender/sex are involved, use names frequently so the reader can't get confused about who is doing what to whom.
If one word can replace three, fix it. Example: My hand started to move... vs. My hand moved... Or how about BEGAN for STARTED TO
Remove unneeded, distracting words. Example: He stood UP... Can he stand down? Therefore He stood... is probably all you need. 'He walked OUT INTO the kitchen', would read better as 'He went to the kitchen.'
Small words are often more effective than larger ones. Example: I started to NOTICE that her blouse was... could be written as 'I SAW her blouse was...
Your story should normally stay in one tense, past, present, or future. Many stories on this site are past tense, people writing about something that happened in the past. Therefore, words like WALKED, RAN, OR SAT would be used instead of WALK, RUN, or SIT.
Don't switch tenses as you go. 'I went into my room, I sit on my bed...' should be 'I went to my room, I sat on my bed...'
Many word processors have a Thesaurus. This means you can highlight a word, run the Thesaurus, and it will give you a list of other words with a similar meaning. Should you use insure or ensure? Further or farther? The Thesaurus MAY give clue which is the better choice.
Try not to repeat the same word in a sentence. Example: By this time it was time to time her. Could be: Meanwhile, it was time to record Sue's speed. Again, the Thesaurus can help here. If the word HOT appears 8 times over a couple paragraphs, the reader may well get bored. Each time you repeat a word, it can lose impact. You can probably remove half or more of the HOT's, yet improve the story. Can any of the remaining HOT's be swapped for another word? Fiery, sizzling, searing, steamy, warm, scalding?
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Choosing the Right Words
by Whispersecret
What’s so important about choosing the right words?
Even though you have a dynamite idea for an erotic story, if you accept mediocre word choices more often than not, then your writing will be as lifeless as Bob Dole’s pole when he’s missed his Viagra dose.
Every single word has a denotation – a meaning. When you look up a word in the dictionary, you find its denotation. However, the connotation of a word is what we’re really concerned with here. The connotation of a word is all about the nuances and insinuations of a word. For instance, the difference between a smile and a smirk is in the connotation. You move your mouth in approximately the same way for both, but you wouldn’t smirk at your newborn baby.
If you want to write well, grab your readers, you can’t skimp on your word choice. Take the time to find just the right word. If you do, you’ll be closer to distinguishing yourself from other amateur writers.
So, is it a crime to write, "He walked toward her?"
No, of course not. But why settle? The English language is like a palette of paints. Use it with care, and you can create images that are vivid and alive. Or stick with the basics, and run the risk of ending up with something bland and uninteresting.
There’s nothing wrong with that sentence. But if your entire story consists of third grade vocabulary, your writing is going to be flat and boring. Whenever I finish a first draft, I go over the entire thing, looking for words that are, what I call a tad common. In the example I just gave you, the words "looked" and "big" stand out to me as common.
Depending on the tone of your story, you might want to consider substituting these words for more descriptive choices.
Also, consider substituting descriptive phrases in the place of words:
Now that’s not to say I don’t ever use the word "big," or "looked." It’s all right to intersperse words like those into your writing. Like in all things, balance is the key. Just be careful you don’t go overboard the other way and have an adjective attached to every single noun and an adverb to every verb.
No writer should be without a thesaurus. I use mine far more often than I use my dictionary. Sometimes my brain cooperates and gives me the "perfect" word, but sometimes all I know is that the word on the screen is wrong. If I’m feeling lazy, I’ll press *shift F7*, which brings up my computer’s thesaurus. But the choices there are usually limited. The best thesaurus I’ve ever found is "The Synonym Finder," by J.I. Rodale. Because it’s set up alphabetically, it’s easy to use, and it contains over a million synonyms.
Okay, I got a thesaurus. Now what?
Start writing, of course.
Oh, and read, read, read. There’s no substitute for reading other people’s work if you want to improve your writing. But don’t just cruise the Incest category and read a random story. Find something that you like. And don’t judge it solely on its turn-on factor either; instead, see if it strikes you as particularly well-written. Then, divorce yourself from the content and analyze it. Find an author whose work you admire and read it. Believe it or not, the more you expose yourself to good writing, the more you’ll absorb the rules of grammar, the flow of dialogue, the vast differences between the written and the spoken word.
May you write a juicy story!
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Assorted Writing Tools
Some links to writing tools...I closed the old threads and just merged them here.
Miriam Webster Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/
guide to grammar and writing
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm
spell check
http://www.spellcheck.net/
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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF WRITING
Simple tips that will help you write like a professional Web author:
SIN 1: Incorrect Punctuations
Punctuations are an important part of any story. It's funny how many writers forget how they work and why they're used. One of the more often made mistakes is the use of quotations within punctuations.
Example: Correct ("He loves you," she said.) Incorrect ("He Loves you", she said.)
All punctuations should be enclosed within the quotations, no matter what they are. (!), (?), (,), (.) Always inside the (").
Commas! When in doubt always use a comma. Commas help the reader to take a mental break, they help to keep the flow of the story going comfortably. Many writers under use this lowly little punctuation mark, but shouldn't.
SIN 2: Spelling
You'd be amazed how many writers don't use their spell checkers. Almost every computer comes with a word processor, and if the one you're using doesn't, you should consider upgrading your system.
No matter how much you try to proofread your own work (even with a spell checker), you'll most likely miss something. That's pretty normal. When you write a story, you see what you meant, not necessarily what you wrote. That's why a proofreader-editor can save a story.
Don't do it alone; hook up with another writer. You'll have more satisfied readers, guaranteed.
SIN 3: Formatting your story for the Web
No one likes to read one long paragraph. Try to break up your paragraphs into manageable segments. And, since most visitors read your web stories on their computers (even when they download them), it is a must to leave white space between the paragraphs. That means an empty space between paragraphs. (It's much easier on the eyes.)
Good formatting is essential for easy reading. It is advisable to break out "dialog" as separate paragraphs, and/or sentences with white space between them too.
SIN 4: People speak naturally, don't they?
When you have dialog in your story, consider how people really talk. Use slang to make the characters more realistic. A stilted formal dialog kills a story almost as fast as bad punctuation or misspelled words. Consider substituting "they're" for "they are' or "she'd" for "she would" or "can't" for "can not" or "they'll" for "they will" etc. People don't talk in formal speech patterns, not in real life anyway. Neither should your characters, not if you want people to read your next story.
SIN 5: Over using names
Try not to use the same words in a paragraph - and never "over use" a character's name. A story where almost every story starts out with the heroine's name or has it where there should have been a less, redundant "he" or "she" will turn most reader off sooner or later. Throw in "she" or "he" - "hers" or "his" if it won't confuse the reader as to who you're talking about. A good rule of thumb is to only use a character's name once in a paragraph or less if possible.
SIN 6: Using more words than necessary
Don't use the same gimmick over and over again. The word "Then" is WAY over used. Example: "He then got up and moved into the other room..." (No reason to insert the word "then" but you'd be surprised how many writers do just that.) Consider the shortest sentence to tell your story, cut out superfluous words; it'll make for a better read.
SIN 7: Not re-read your story/poem
ALWAYS RE-READ YOUR STORY! No one, no matter how many stories they've written should EVER pass on a story without reading it again at least once. Typos and misspelled words will jump out at you on a re-read. You'll even find whole words or sentences that don't make sense when you take a second look at what you've written.
While you're re-reading; be critical, look for words or phrases that you can eliminate. Many times a sentence will read much better when you remove extraneous words. If they don't add to the story they should be cut. You'll find that when you look at your work with a critical eye you can ALWAYS make the story flow smoother than it did in the first draft.
That's how the really great web authors produce what you have enjoyed reading. Those stories are what got you writing in the first place. Just remember the stories that you stopped reading because there were too many things wrong with them. Don't let that happen to your efforts. It's not that hard to produce a good story.
CONCLUSION ==========
These documents are intended as a public service for novice writers of erotica, and may be freely archived and distributed, providing that it is not sold for profit, nor altered in any way. Over time, I hope that this guide will evolve, hence the version number.
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