Forum: Author Hangout

Stories hindered by sex

edcomet 🚫

I get that this a site for sexual stories. Fair enough. But there are some stories on this site that I think would be so much better with way less emphasis on the sexual aspect. I think the problem is that authors want to combine political and social commentary, cliff-hangers and heroism and violent excitement all rolled up with tender romance and then still make it massively sexy. I'm reading Tandra right now, which also has an alien contact element, which for me is the most compelling aspect. But the sexual aspects of the story just sometimes overwhelm the rest of the complicated story. There's urgent business that seems to get sidelined by other story elements and by the time we get around to the sex part, it's hard to remember that oh yes, there's other pressing business that we have to return to. What was it again?

Replies: ChiMi Ernest Bywater red61544

ChiMi 🚫

@edcomet

Yeah, this discussion is as old as the forum :)

Some authors don't know that they can just NOT include sex scenes every chapter or AT ALL.

The biggest issue is repetitive sex-scenes and the next issue after that is, that some authors try to change the formula with a revolving door of different sex partners for the MC.

If the story is not a stroke story, the Plot should determine the sex scenes and not the other way around. If there are chapters that are important for the plot or the character or there is an urgency, the author shouldn't sidetrack with sex scenes just because they think a chapter needs a sex scene.

Replies: Michael Loucks Dominions Son

Michael Loucks 🚫

@ChiMi

Some authors don't know that they can just NOT include sex scenes every chapter or AT ALL.

The biggest issue is repetitive sex-scenes and the next issue after that is, that some authors try to change the formula with a revolving door of different sex partners for the MC.

I discovered THAT doesn't work, and over time, in my series, the number (and length) of explicit sex scenes has diminished. There's WAY more story than sex. It just took me some time to get to that point!

My next two stories will be heavy on story, and light on sex, though the sex will be there.

Replies: ChiMi

ChiMi 🚫

@Michael Loucks

And I appreciate it :)
I found that I didn't really care about his sexual escapades in his later years anymore. I wanted to know what happens next in the plot, the worldbuilding, the "empire-building", etc.

I can appreciate that I know that he still has sexual adventures, but I don't need an account what happens exactly every time.

Dominions Son 🚫

@ChiMi

The biggest issue is repetitive sex-scenes

Any kind of scene in any kind of story can be repetitive if the author isn't creative enough. There is nothing that makes sex scenes particularly problematic in terms of repetitiveness.

Uther_Pendragon 🚫

The readers all seem willing to accept that.

Ny current serial, "Sparky's Dad," had no sex -- except hot kisses -- in the first 3 chapters. I got no complaints, and nice comments on those chapters.

Replies: REP Vincent Berg

REP 🚫
Updated:

@Uther_Pendragon

And you are doing a fairly good job since adding the sex. Personally, I usually skip over sex scenes. In your story and others, I'm more in the evolution of the relationship. It was interesting to see it go from both parties doubting the other would be interested in them to where the relationship is now.

ETA: The non-sexual aspects of stories like yours is what makes them good or poor. Too much sex and the author usually destroys the plot; assuming there was one to start with.

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Uther_Pendragon

Ny current serial, "Sparky's Dad," had no sex -- except hot kisses -- in the first 3 chapters. I got no complaints, and nice comments on those chapters.

It's long been noted that readers come to SOL for the sex stories, but after having been here for a while, generally get bored with the stroke stories, and eventually start looking for the stories with real plot (i.e. they slowly drift away from the sex stories). Thus the sex stories are a terrific introduction to the site for both readers and authors (who frequently start off with 'much sex' stories).

However, I think what happens is, for those who start a never-ending story, they feel trapped to maintain the same basic formula they started with, so if they started with sex every chapter, they're terrified to leave it out.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@edcomet

I get that this a site for sexual stories.

The home page for the corporate entity that owns SoL list several story pages, but it has this to say for SoL

Storiesonline.net
(all kinds of stories, mostly adult)

Also, the SoL splash page before you enter says (my bold for emphasis):

Stories are our focus, including sex stories and erotica. Storiesonline is the home of thousands of authors showcasing their erotic writing talents. Tens of thousands of erotic and non-erotic short stories, novels, and serials and ebooks are available through a comprehensive search engine, author homepages and blogs, and daily updates on new stories and features. With absolutely no advertising and FREE membership, this is the site for online fiction you've been looking for.

I agree that some stories seem to have sex scenes because they think they have to have them, while they could be dropped without any harm at all.

I've recently edited some stories for another author who asked me to cut out the sex scenes if I thought they didn't advance the story. I ended up removing most of them, but left a few in because they advanced the story in some way.

Keet 🚫
Updated:

For me as just a reader it's almost exclusively No Sex and Some Sex stories. Sometimes a Much Sex story if it's a long story with a description that appeals to me, has a decent score and knowing that usually the number of sex scenes drops dramatically after a few chapters.

red61544 🚫

@edcomet

Actually, if I'm not the one having sex, I'm not interested in other peoples' sex life! I wish our government was like that, too.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Stories hindered by sex

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