Smut-writing tips
Someone with impeccable taste in smut asked:
So I just read Ticks, it was absolutely delightful, and I’m interested in if you have any dos and donts for smut-writing. I have one in its drafting stage […] So I feel clear about the general elements, but do you have pointers for the specifics?
Oh, how lovely. I’m just going to preen for a moment.
Okay, that was fun. To the meat of the question!
I’m new on the scene and have only written a few really smutty fics; that said, they’ve been well-received. I also know what works for me and what doesn’t when reading. So I’ll do my best to answer taking all of this into account. I apologize in advance for what I don’t know that I don’t know.
(This will, of course, be NSFW.)
1. Keep track of the hands! (Or legs or lips or…)
Look, you don’t have to draw a diagram or anything, but it knocks me right out of the story when A was just caressing B’s neck and suddenly he’s tickling her toes. It’s not physically possible unless he flipped himself 180 degrees without it being mentioned, and that seems like the sort of thing worth mentioning. Similarly, if A is making love to B from behind, A probably cannot thrust his tongue down B’s throat unless A is a snake-necked being from Antares. Which, you know, could be the case; I don’t know your setting. Just please make sure that, no matter who’s fucking who, the positions make sense and are physically possible.
2. Don’t tell me: show me!
There is a world of difference between
A sucked on B’s prick. It felt amazing. He moaned.
and
A’s mouth was cool on B’s prick. His tongue was sliding against the tip, teasing it, and his lips rubbed against the shaft; oh, God, B wanted to thrust, and he couldn’t help but moan.
Which one is more fun to read? Which one puts you inside the character’s head (no pun intended)?
This leads neatly into–
3. Pick a brain and stay there. (With the addendum that you are welcome to switch brains if you make it clear you’re switching.)
It’s really hard to follow a fic written in some kind of mysterious third person that keeps dipping into the thoughts of each participant. One minute A is savouring the feeling of B’s smooth alien skin; the next minute that skin is scaly and hard, and I’m confused because I haven’t realized that this sentence is suddenly from B’s perspective. Pick a person and tell the story from their eyes. If you want to switch, paragraph break and ellipsis is a good way to do it. Scene switch is also good. But God, make it clear somehow; otherwise, your audience is gonna find it hard to keep track of whose genitals are whose.
Those are the biggies. They are important no matter what.
A couple of personal addenda, which may not be as important to some writers, but are important to me as a writer and reader:
1. It’s rare for the person being fucked to come from that stimulus alone. A kind partner will devote attention to that person’s clitoris/penis/xeno equivalent. Another option is for the partners to trade off on orgasms: A first, then B. This is how real sex often works, and it’s nice to see it in fic as well.
2. Anal sex requires lubricant. I don’t care where it comes from. It can be from a bottle or from a gland, thick and goopy or thin and copious, it can smell of roses or taste of the bottom of a shoe but it is not optional. (At least if you’re fucking a Human.)
3. Tongues lave. They don’t lathe. Dear God, do they ever not lathe.
And that appears to be all I have to say on the subject, although I’m sure given time I could come up with more. However, I’d like to summon some other writers who’ve consistently made my eyes widen:
ladydrace! crowdog66! airyairyquitecontrary! If you’re willing, would you mind adding to this post or making your own? I’d love to have your input!
chequerootlurks
