Plotting Your Erotic Fiction Stories

I read a lot of erotic fiction stories, or at least I try to. As an erotica writer, I firmly believe that reading stories written by other writers helps me improve my own craft. Deconstructing good and bad stories shows me which writing techniques work and which ones are likely to result in my story languishing in the slush pile.

One of the things I see erotica writers struggle with most often is the actual storytelling. There are two sides to writing an erotic fiction story, the story narrative (what happened) and the plot of the story (how it happened). On the surface they seem like the same thing. Though subtle at times, there is a difference between the two aspects which you need to understand if you want to write hot and compelling erotic fiction stories.

The Erotic Fiction Story Narrative

The narrative is the story you want to tell. If your story were a house, the narrative would be how you described it.

Currently, I’m writing an erotic fiction series for my blog about a society of vampires who live on an Earth-like planet in another part of the universe. The main character is viciously attacked in a random mugging. When he awakens from his brief coma, he starts looking for the person so he can extract revenge.

This is an example of a story narrative. It is what you tell people when they ask you what your story is about.

The Erotic Fiction Story Plot

The story plot is how the events of your erotic fiction story play out. They are the scenes you choose to include in your story that carry the narrative. Going back to the house example, your story’s plot would be the architectural plans that detail exactly how the house will be built.

The first scene of my vampire story is of the main character masturbating (it is an erotic story after all). However, his ultra religious sister walks in on him and her reaction has a strong influence on his decision to seek revenge against his attacker later in the story.

This is an example of plot. Just like the architectural plans influence the building of a house, your plot drives the unfolding of your erotic story.

Story Plot Separates Erotica from Porn

There is lots of bad erotica out there. I know this for a fact because I’ve written bad erotica. And it’s out there. So you can’t say I’m 100% wrong. Anyway, one of the main offenses that erotica writers make, especially new ones, is failing to develop the plot of the story. Instead, they end up doing some form of narrating that quickly gets their characters to the bedroom where various holes get filled and 20 gallons of semen and vaginal juices are squirted all over the sheets. This is not erotica. It’s porn.

You may recognize this type of story setup:

Jill had always been attracted to Jack. After all, they were coupled in one of the most famous nursery rhymes of all time. But no matter what she did, Jack never returned her obvious advances. She was beginning to think he was gay. That was, until they day they got stuck in the copy machine room because of a faulty door…

Boom chaka laka! Queue porn music and begin sex scene.

Now, this is fine if you want to write a porn story where the reader only cares about the sex. However, you can’t call it an erotic fiction story. Why? Because erotic stories have a plot and characters that are developed. All of these elements set up a sexy atmosphere that makes your stories more satisfying to read. If you want to get published in the erotica industry or make money with your erotica writing, then it would be a good idea to learn about story structure and plot.

Tips for Plotting an Erotic Fiction Story

Now I’m no expert on plotting a story so take these tips for what they are: one writer sharing what she has learned over the years of writing erotic fiction stories.

* Start with the Ending: Knowing the outcome you want in a story will be immensely helpful in determining how to plot the erotic story so that your characters arrive there. Remember, in erotic fiction stories, sex does not always have to be the end goal (although sex should be a part of the story otherwise you can’t call it erotica). Your story can end anyway you want it to. Just make sure the scenes you select support the ending.

* Write It Down: Each writer has their own opinion about outlines. Some can’t live without it and others deplore them. For me, it depends on what type of erotic story I’m writing. The longer the story, the more I find having a loose outline of the scenes I want to include helps me organize my thoughts. It saves me time, too, because it is easier to change the outline than it is to rewrite entire scenes.

* Get to Know Your Characters: The actions of your characters determine what happens in the story which, in turn, influences the plot. Knowing your characters and how they are likely to react to the wrenches you throw at them will make it easier to plot the course of the story.

* Make a Timeline: For longer stories, it is a good idea to make a timeline of the events. I don’t know how many times I’ll be editing my work and find that my characters have to use a time machine in order for the events to have happened the way I wrote them. Seriously, timelines are your friend.

* Keep It Simple Sexy: I find that the shorter your story, the simpler the plot should be. You only have a few words to convey your story’s narrative. Choose those scenes and elements that convey the maximum amount of information the reader needs to know in the shortest amount of words possible.

About the Article Author

Daria Black is a fiction writer, gamer, and avid coffee drinker. Visit her website Daria Black - Words By Daria to read fiction stories, talk sex, society, games, and writing, or giggle with her at life's quirkiness.

Writing Erotica Blog Content that Makes Readers Stick Around

By far the most common question I see raised in blog forums is how to get people to visit a blog. There are tons of ways you can market your site and drive traffic to your erotica blog. But it’s not getting people to your blog that you should be worried about. It’s keeping them around.

Readers who come to your blog on a regular basis are the ones who will most likely click your affiliate links and buy your books. Therefore, writing content that encourages readers to stick around and come back for more is crucial to your success with your erotica blog. All the traffic generating tips in the world will do you no good if you lack the quality content needed to make your visitors stick around.

Below are a few tips to help you create solid content for your erotica blog that’ll keep your visitors sticking around like fly paper.

Stay On Topic

Before we get to this point, let’s ask the million dollar question. What is your topic? Treat your erotica blog like it is a show on public access television. What are you going to be showing your readers every week? Deciding on the focus of your blog will help you filter out irrelevant content. Readers often luck on to your blog often via a search engine or social media site. They will stick around your erotic blog as long as you continue to provide them the content they want.

Make Sure Your Writing Skills are Up to Par

Your posts should have a beginning, middle, end, and a point firmly planted amidst the whole thing. Unless it is cleverly written, random rambling on a blog is just plain drivel and no one will tune into that for very long. You will also retain more erotica blog readers if your posts are easy to read. Run your writing through a grammar and spell check program. Countless good ideas have been drowned in unreadable writing.

Show Some Personality

I’ve mentioned this before and I will say it again. There is a lot of competition out there in the erotica writing and blogging sphere. You must stand out if you want to develop and maintain your erotica blog readership. One of the best ways to do that is to display your personality in your writing.

Some of the most successful bloggers out there let their brand of quirkiness ooze through with every word. People are attracted to people. Letting your personality shine through is the duct tape that will keep your readership sticking around.

Mix It Up Occasionally

Now I know I said earlier that you should stay on topic when writing your erotic blog but it is okay to mix things up every once in awhile to avoid falling into a monotonous rut. Variety is the spice of life or something equally clever like that. Try adding a few quirky tidbits like a meme, a random quiz, or even a poll to liven things up.

Keep Posts to a Reasonable Length

This is a topic of much debate in the blogging niche. How long should your posts be? Of course, if you are writing fiction stories, then the stories will be as long as they need to be to get the point across.

However, if you are writing blog posts on non-fiction topics I favor keeping posts between 500-1000 words. The average attention span isn’t what it used to be. We’ve become a bunch of surfers and skimmers. Readers are more likely to stick around if you keep your posts at easily digestible words counts. It is best to experiment, though, to find out what works for your erotica blog and your audience.

Link to Other Posts on Your Erotica Blog

If possible, link to other posts on your blog. This benefits your blog in two ways. First, it helps the search engines find and index old posts which improves your site’s overall SEO performance. Second, it keeps your readers on your blog by offering them other stuff to read.

Personally, I like the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin on my WordPress blog which creates a list of blog posts similar to the current post and puts it at the end of the article. There is a similar widget for Blogger. I have not used it so I cannot say whether or not it is good.

Creating quality content for your readers is, by far, the easiest way to attract and keep readers on your erotica blog. If you need help marketing your blog, view my previous tips on generating website traffic.

Daria Black is a fiction writer, gamer, and avid coffee drinker. Visit her website Daria Black - Words By Daria to read fiction stories, talk sex, society, games, and writing, or giggle with her at life's quirkiness.

Can You Make Money Writing Blogs About Erotica?

I see it happen so many times that it’s almost become cliché. Erotica writers listen, doe eyed, to stories of super successful probloggers who have managed to carve out a six-figure income writing about different topics. They get the idea that they can make money writing blogs about erotica and promptly launch a Blogger blog filled with all sorts of mad scribblings about sex.

But sooner, rather than later, the dollar signs fade from their eyes as they realize that making money blogging is not as simple as the probloggers make it seem. Their posting slows, or stops altogether, and these newbs begin to wonder what the secret to six-figure blogging success is. Well I can sum it up for you in just one word and I won’t even force you to read to the end of article before I bare all.

Hard work.

Okay, so that’s two words. If you are still reading this article rather than clicking away, though, that means working hard doesn’t scare you. That’s good because if you want to make money blogging like the big dogs then you must be willing to spend hours pounding away at the keyboard.

Make Money Blogging About Erotica? Impossible…?

First of all, if this is the first time you are hearing the term, problogger is a portmanteau of professional blogger. It is a person who blogs about a niche topic and lives off the earnings generated from it. So if the internet was a television station like the USA Network, then blogs would be the individual television shows and the problogger would be the show’s creator or director.

It is possible to make money blogging about erotica. The only problem is you have to compete with the terabytes of free porn already available on the internet. If you can find a way to set yourself apart from other free erotica sites and develop a loyal readership then, yes, you can make money writing blogs about erotica. But the real question is:

Do you have what it takes to be a problogger?

As a problogger who makes money blogging in the erotica niche, your job is to draw in a decent sized readership. Why? Like television, the bulk of the money you make will come from advertisement, reader purchases through affiliate links, and maybe even sales of books you have written. The more traffic you can generate to your blog, the more attractive it looks to advertisers and the higher the chance a reader will make a purchase.

Of all the things involved in creating a profitable blog, building a readership will be the hardest and most time consuming thing you will do. It will require ingenuity, dedication, and persistence. Lots and lots of persistence. I mean, your level of persistence has to be off the charts for you to see the six-figure income you are dreaming about.

If you are still determined to become the problogger of erotica, here are a few things you can do to get started making money writing about erotica:

Read blogs. Lots and lots of blogs. What differentiates them? What makes one more popular than another? What can you learn from them in order to help you succeed and avoid the pitfalls that lead to obscurity?

Write up a game plan. Seriously. Without a map we often end up walking in circles. Unless you are planning to create some type of blogging empire, your game plan doesn’t have to be fancy. Simply write down your goals on a piece of paper and list what you need to do to achieve them.

Test your idea by setting up a blog with a free host like Blogger, though I do recommend spending $10 and registering a domain name. If you find the idea is a success, you can then move it to a regular web space. This will give you greater control over the blog.

*Note: If you are looking to make money blogging about erotica, I absolutely do not recommend registering a blog on WordPress.com. Adult material is against their TOS and they will delete your blog.

Treat your blog like a business. Carve out time for working on your blog. Enlist the help of friends and family by letting them know what your goals are and what they can do to help.

Increase your knowledge. You need to know about marketing, SEO, HTML, and writing for the web. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Luckily, there are tons of places on the internet where you can learn all you need to know about these topics.

You can make money writing blogs about erotica. Find a niche where there is interest and work consistently to build an audience. Before you know it, you’ll be earning cold hard cash for your hot erotic stories.

Daria Black is a fiction writer, blogger, and avid coffee drinker. Visit her website Daria Black - Words By Daria to read fiction stories, talk sex, religion, and writing, or giggle with her at life's quirkiness.