Thoughts/Guidelines/Recommendations for Explicit Vocabulary/Terminology?

2 Apr 2019

[Apologies if this was discussed elsewhere - I looked through all of the posts here and didn't see it, but might have missed it]

I recently started writing my first erotic story (working on settling a bet - I argued I would be a better lesbian than my female friend would be as a gay man) and realized that I was struggling significantly with terminology. I watch some porn but don't read much of it and found myself somewhat befuddled by word choice.

Does "pussy" have a vulgar connotation vs. "vagina"? Is labia too medical? How about "clitoral hood", or just "hood"?

I find description of the smell of "pussy juice" to be overly graphic personally, but is that considered fairly mainstream?

I suppose my ultimate goal is to write explicit erotica that is generally accessible to, perhaps, the Game of Thrones-watching crowd. The question then is: is there any sort of guidelines or even rough classification of words by their "hardness"? For example, this is pretty well-established in movies visually:

G:
- Shirtless men in swim trunks
- Women in bikini swimsuits
- Kiss on lips

PG:
- Men in small underwear or thong
- Lingerie
- French kissing

PG-13:
- Bare breasts
- Bare butts (M/F)

R:
- Non-close-up vagina
- Flaccid penis
- Sucking on nipples
- Simulated sex

NC-17:
- Close up vagina
- Erect penis
- Low-detail oral sex
- Non-simulated intercourse

XXX:
- Graphic / close-up sex
- Ejaculation
- Rule 34
- The rest of the internet

Thanks so much for the help!

2 Apr 2019

I don't mind vulgar words being used to express and paint visually what you've written.
It definitely depends how you want to set the mood.

For Example:
•Is it a first timer w/ an experience sexual partner?
•Kinksters being playful in sex shop trying out whips?

It all depends where you want to take the reader with your writing.

All in all have fun and of course, there's lush writers who will give more insight on how they go about verbally setting the view.

2 Apr 2019

You are overthinking this just a bit. You have a target audience (see: "Game of Thrones watching crowd") and that's fantastic, but there's no magic formula, no certain combination of words, that will guarantee you readers. A word or phrase that works well in one setting may be jarring in another. Writing, specifically writing well, is not something that can be done by following a recipe.

Watching porn--watching television or film--will not help you learn what works with words, and by your own admission, you've not read much literary erotica, if any. I would strongly recommend first reading more and watching less, and read not just erotica but a wide range of genres, with a healthy mix of writers and writing styles. In my own case, I do not watch, and have never watched or seen, visual porn. I might be missing something, or it might just not be relevant to writing porn.

Feel free to peruse my profile and take note of my very partial list of favourite writers--each has influenced, in some way, how I choose the words used to describe a given situation in a given story. Feel free also to reach out to the moderator/story verification team here at Lush; we love to help new contributors to the site. Good luck.

Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!

Drill Day - Tension
Double Oxer - Beribboned And Bowed - Blood Lust - Losing It - My Favourite Word

3 Apr 2019

Thanks so much! That makes a lot of sense, that it's contextual and something you'll start to intuit as you read and write more.

3 Apr 2019

imo, pussy is a great word and not vulgar at all. Vagina, in an erotic story sounds kind of dry and technical. That's how you talk to your GYN, not your lover. smile

And I talk about the smell and taste of pussy juice with friends, it's not at all overly graphic. Sex is beautiful. It's not something you should ever uncomfortable talking about. :)

I'd love it if you read my story for the Notorious Competition.

The Temptress of Tanner Street

9 Apr 2019

Say what feels natural. I like the basics: cock and cockhead and shaft, pussy and pussy lips and clit. I try to mix it up to avoid too much repitition, but stories going way out of their way to do so (his hard desire, her soft flower) get silly fast. Leave the serious filth--fuckhole, cumslut--in the dialogue. It's hotter that way.

10 Apr 2019

What Verbal said: choose a tone for each story and stick with it. If it's a discovery/first time piece you could have the language become stronger over the course of the story as the character becomes more comfortable with their sexuality and the situations. This can also be used for effect to heighten tension or show the depravity with which a character has reached towards the end of a piece compared to its beginning, but keeping stuff like that in dialogue is usually way more effective.

Again, this'll depend on your characters. I've written pieces where the main character swears a lot in his inner thoughts and uses coarser language as a result. That can be hot if done well - in character - or a complete failure if it's done badly.

On the opposite end of the scale, I've written a Flash piece (The Zip) without a single cuss word. I think the strongest word in there is 'breasts'! It was just a stylistic choice to try and paint the picture with a different vibe. Did it work? Who knows, but it was fun flexing the ol' cerebrum trying.

Please browse my digital bookshelf. In this collection, you can find 127 full stories, 10 micro-stories, and 3 poems with the following features:

* 30 Editor's Picks, 85 Recommended Reads.
* 16 competition podium places, 12 other times in the top ten.
* 23 collaborations.
* A whole heap of often filthy, tense, hot sex.

10 Apr 2019

Nothing but good advice above!

In terms of narrative description, I try to match any “weighted” words with similarly weighted scenes. Like cunt, for example. I tend to use sparingly and only in moments of high intensity. If it’s got a little shock to it, use the shock to highlight the tone of the scene.

As far as dialogue, listen to your characters. What do they sound like in your head? Some of my characters have said things that I would (probably) never say! If your character would swear, they fuckin’ should swear.

Bonus My 2 cents

: Just, whatever you do, don’t refer to someone’s genitals as “his sex.”

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public.” -Paulo Coelho

10 Apr 2019

You'll have to experiment to find what your comfortable with. Using the same words over and over can get boring though.

I'm a big Game of Thrones fan and l enjoy vulgar nasty hardcore erotica, and l use as many dirty words as l can when l write. But mostly contain that in dialogue, however, the text sometimes begs for vulgarity.