Rachel Kramer Bussel

Being late for work

Being stuck in traffic

Forgetting something at the store Boring office meeting

Package delivery

Interaction with a stranger

Getting aroused in an unlikely or inconvenient setting

Waiting in a doctor’s office

Waiting in line at a store

One partner is home, one isn’t yet

the makings of an erotic story.”

I want you to look around at the regular things that happen in your daily life for at least one or two days. Which situations have the potential to be turned into erotica? What everyday encounters take on a new angle when you look at them through this lens? Suggestions:

Morning or evening routines

Being late for work

Being stuck in traffic

Forgetting something at the store Boring office meeting

Package delivery

Interaction with a stranger

Getting aroused in an unlikely or inconvenient setting

Waiting in a doctor’s office

Waiting in line at a store

One partner is home, one isn’t yet

There was a little setup of the sight. For sound/smell/taste/ touch, what noises are happening? Is there music? Are people laughing? Talking? Moaning? How does it feel to Jack and Jill? What does it smell like? What is the atmosphere? How well-lit is it? Are there mattresses or blankets? Is it welcoming or intimidating? When Jack and Jill greet each other, do they hug? When does Jack take his clothes off and how does that happen? Does he go do that off in a changing room, or does Jill help him? Does he take everything off or leave his underwear on, and why? It’s not about just reciting a long list of facts, but about setting that mood that will enhance the overall erotic tension of the story.

Each of the five senses may not come into play in each story, but every little bit of sensual detail you can add will enhance your story, so if you are talking about a character eavesdropping on a racy conversation, for example, tell us what they’re hearing and how it makes them feel. What are the risks they’re taking to overhear that conversation, as well as the risks the other people are taking for holding their intimate discussion where they might be overheard?

from “Chemistry” by Velvet Moore from my anthology Orgasmic that does a wonderful job with one particular sense:

The smell of science makes me horny.

I narrowly resisted shoving my hands down my pants and rubbing myself to oblivion during my niece’s science fair. My stomach dips with pleasure every time someone lights a match. Each July I’m aroused by the vapors of the noise-making novelty fireworks called “snappers.” Little do tricksters know that when they crack one on the pavement at my feet, I shiver out of excitement, not fear.

Smell is the sense tied most closely to human memory. So when I sense any use of potassium chlorate, a white, crystalline compound well-stocked in science laboratories and often used for combustion, I remember how it feels to have the fire of orgasm sizzle its way

Emphasize What’s Sexy for Your Characters

One of the mistakes I sometimes see erotica authors make is dropping their characters into a scenario and assuming the readers understand why it’s sexy for them. This is a missed opportunity, because the reader doesn’t know your characters, save for what you’ve written about them, so doesn’t know what turns them on generally and then what turns them on specifically about this moment in time with this particular person or people (or themselves).

You don’t have to beat the reader over the head with this, but simply emphasize what’s at stake for your protagonist(s). Show, don’t tell, what’s turning them on (and why), because what’s arousing to one character could leave another character feeling confused, neglected, or even aghast.

Don’t assume the reader knows what you’re talking about, no matter how simple the act. You don’t have to explain what holding hands means, but you do have to tell us what feelings holding hands evokes. Maybe a couple is holding hands in a movie theater, or under a table where nobody else can see (or so they think). Maybe they’re on a roller coaster. Maybe they’re holding hands and using their other hands to masturbate each other. Give the reader some context

Who your character or characters are, What kind(s) of sex they’re going to have, When are they having sex—both as in what time of day, and how far into their knowing each other are they having sex, Where are they having sex, and, perhaps most importantly, Why are they having sex? As a little extra detail, I encourage you to throw in: How are they having sex?

Have you built in tension and anticipation? What’s gone on before the sex scene, and how does it help lead up to it?

Not only does adding tension

What’s happening physically

What’s happening emotionally

. Do we know about what’s going on for all the characters involved?

Obviously in first person