Let's talk about porn!
7/4/07 10:44![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schmericaSo ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
justbreathe80 had a really interesting post about writing porn yesterday, and it's got me thinking. One of the things she mentioned was the importance of word choice -- because, yeah, there are some words that are Just Not Sexy, and if your goal is to be writing something hot, maybe you should think twice about using them.
And the thing is, I agree with that in general principle, but not completely. Because the thing is, I think there are times when the judicious use of otherwise completely unsexy words in your smut CAN be amazingly hot, or effective, or just RIGHT. It all depends on the context and the characters. Sometimes the overly crude term or the overly clinical term, which is a complete turn off on its own, just WORKS in your story. And, oh man, when that happens? There are seriously few things I love more, because it just feels right.
Okay, so I just looked through my stories for example of what I mean. Obviously these are all totally matters of opinion, because isn't porn always?, and possibly totally turn off everyone else who reads them. But these are actually all bits of writing I actually really like, and the contrast and unexpectedness and character-specificity is part of that.
*****
Billy said, "Don't get jizz on my sweater--" It was the only one he had left without any holes or big stains; the last thing he needed to deal with was Joe's come.
"Should I aim for your face instead?" Joe grunted out, but he actually listened for once, pointing away at the last minute to shoot his wad onto the mattress.
[From here.]
*****
Most of the time we stay on the couch. Vecchio's always hard when I reach for him, and we've done it enough now that I can get his pants open real easy, push him back against cushions and kneel down between his legs and suck his cock. The first time we did it I screwed up at the end and ended up with his jizz all over my face, which was really fucking uncomfortable, let me tell you, but Vecchio made it up that time with a blowjob of his own. He still does that sometimes, but a lot of the time he'll just drag me up from the floor, sit me there between this legs, wrap his other arm around my stomach and jerk me off like that, leaning his head forward on my shoulder to watch his hand on my dick. I watch it, too, and it never takes very long when he does it that way.
[From here.]
*****
You shook your head, and said, almost resignedly, "Oh, *jesus*, Fraser," and then I felt your hand wrap around my erection.
I hissed in a breath through my teeth and you smiled at me, a little crookedly, and then you lowered your face to my groin. After a moment I felt your tongue, wet and gentle at the head of my penis.
I said your name and closed my eyes and groped desperately around, needing to feel you as you took me in.
[From here.]
*****
I'm not even giving a sample from this one, because the entire story is Fraser and Ray having dirty, dirty, dirty public alley sex from Fraser's POV. He uses solely words along the lines of penis, groin, semen, orgasm, climax, and erection. It's still one of the pieces of porn I've written that I find most arousing myself.
http://pearlo.illuminatedtext.com/fiction/old.htm
*****
Or, using other people's stuff for a moment, I know that some of the stuff that stays hottest in my mind, remembering things later, can be stuff that isn't intrinsically sexy on its own. I wouldn't not have guessed Fraser using the word "ejaculate" could be amazingly hot, but then I readkassrachel's In Uniform, and oh my GOD.
This is the point in the entry where I should make a conclusion and reveal my point, isn't it? But I have lost track of what it is. I guess that while I understand how certain words can be automatic turn-offs for others, for me it really is all about context. In the right situation, almost ANYTHING can work.
justbreathe80 had a really interesting post about writing porn yesterday, and it's got me thinking. One of the things she mentioned was the importance of word choice -- because, yeah, there are some words that are Just Not Sexy, and if your goal is to be writing something hot, maybe you should think twice about using them.And the thing is, I agree with that in general principle, but not completely. Because the thing is, I think there are times when the judicious use of otherwise completely unsexy words in your smut CAN be amazingly hot, or effective, or just RIGHT. It all depends on the context and the characters. Sometimes the overly crude term or the overly clinical term, which is a complete turn off on its own, just WORKS in your story. And, oh man, when that happens? There are seriously few things I love more, because it just feels right.
Okay, so I just looked through my stories for example of what I mean. Obviously these are all totally matters of opinion, because isn't porn always?, and possibly totally turn off everyone else who reads them. But these are actually all bits of writing I actually really like, and the contrast and unexpectedness and character-specificity is part of that.
*****
Billy said, "Don't get jizz on my sweater--" It was the only one he had left without any holes or big stains; the last thing he needed to deal with was Joe's come.
"Should I aim for your face instead?" Joe grunted out, but he actually listened for once, pointing away at the last minute to shoot his wad onto the mattress.
[From here.]
*****
Most of the time we stay on the couch. Vecchio's always hard when I reach for him, and we've done it enough now that I can get his pants open real easy, push him back against cushions and kneel down between his legs and suck his cock. The first time we did it I screwed up at the end and ended up with his jizz all over my face, which was really fucking uncomfortable, let me tell you, but Vecchio made it up that time with a blowjob of his own. He still does that sometimes, but a lot of the time he'll just drag me up from the floor, sit me there between this legs, wrap his other arm around my stomach and jerk me off like that, leaning his head forward on my shoulder to watch his hand on my dick. I watch it, too, and it never takes very long when he does it that way.
[From here.]
*****
You shook your head, and said, almost resignedly, "Oh, *jesus*, Fraser," and then I felt your hand wrap around my erection.
I hissed in a breath through my teeth and you smiled at me, a little crookedly, and then you lowered your face to my groin. After a moment I felt your tongue, wet and gentle at the head of my penis.
I said your name and closed my eyes and groped desperately around, needing to feel you as you took me in.
[From here.]
*****
I'm not even giving a sample from this one, because the entire story is Fraser and Ray having dirty, dirty, dirty public alley sex from Fraser's POV. He uses solely words along the lines of penis, groin, semen, orgasm, climax, and erection. It's still one of the pieces of porn I've written that I find most arousing myself.
http://pearlo.illuminatedtext.com/fiction/old.htm
*****
Or, using other people's stuff for a moment, I know that some of the stuff that stays hottest in my mind, remembering things later, can be stuff that isn't intrinsically sexy on its own. I wouldn't not have guessed Fraser using the word "ejaculate" could be amazingly hot, but then I read
kassrachel's In Uniform, and oh my GOD.This is the point in the entry where I should make a conclusion and reveal my point, isn't it? But I have lost track of what it is. I guess that while I understand how certain words can be automatic turn-offs for others, for me it really is all about context. In the right situation, almost ANYTHING can work.
