Yes I know that it’s been a long time coming. Apologies I’ve actually been writing and not focusing on this little known and little cared for section of my weblog. If you find any of this information useful please do let me know.
My focus on this Writer’s Corner is how to map out the literary architecture of a sex scene as compared to mapping out the architecture of a short story. While the terminology may seem complex, it’s easier than the long words may indicate.
Now let’s start off with the normal architecture of a short story. Below is an image I have copied from the following website.
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/course/amlit/unit1/shortstory.shtml
It does the job well, let’s examine and map out each part, all right? I’m going to use a rather famous story that most people know well enough, I hope, Cinderella. I’m going to opt for the Disney film from the 1950s rather than the original text version, for two reasons. First it is more popularly widespread than the book, and secondly I have read the book once and barely recall the major differences, and I have seen the film many times as a child. It’s what I think about when I think about the story, and I’m sure that this is true for many people of my generation as well as generations before.
Exposition occurs the beginning of a story, it is the section of a story that lets the reader pick up on information pertinent to the conflict or goal of the story. Things like the setting, events that have already transpired, who is in the story, what they look like, how old they are, where they are, what time it is, this kind of information is important. This can be done in any number of ways, from outright explaining the subject, descriptions, to subtle dialogue to more complex schemes likeb flashbacks or allusions. This generally does little to further the plot, but instead establishes information about tone, setting, and the characters that the story could not otherwise progress without.
The issue here can be what is called an information dump, where too much information is given, in an unnatural way. Try to say dialogue aloud and see if it sounds natural. In stories people talk the same way they do in real life. Try to say a descriptor out loud and then consider if it’s realistic. Describe something, you should describe something in real life the same way. Neither reveal too much nor too little at once in exposition, and always try to do things a piece at a time.
Of importance is the Inciting Act, that establishes the conflict and goal of the story, which usually sets up the Rising Action. The Inciting Action is usually when the audience begins to understand the point of the story. A mortal threat from an enemy, a need to save the girl, a desire to go home, the inciting act starts the piece into whatever the story is going towards, and can generally be seen as the line of demarcation between Exposition and Rising Action.
In using our example, Cinderella starts out without a mother, and her father remarries. Upon his death she is forced into a life of housekeeping, essentially as an unpaid maid, or slave. With little of the story actually being advanced we see a number of things about Cinderella. The prelude about her father doesn’t further the story, instead recaps the past actions. Her very name, Cinderella is taken from the word cinder, the fragments and dust left after a fire, and as a maid it would be one of her jobs to clean the fireplace. Her beauty becomes evident, particularly as her wicked stepsisters are envious of it and punish her because of it, being the one thing they couldn’t steal from her. Her kindness is evident, she helps save a mouse in a trap, and befriends him along with the other animals around the manor. Her humility is evident, because despite her father’s wealth and her birthright to live an easier and better life than what she is forced into, she doesn’t attempt to social better herself. If anything she accepts her forced job with little resistance.
The Inciting Act is the King, upset with the Prince not having taken up a wife, setting up a ball to find a suitable wife for his son to produce an heir.
Rising Action generally occurs as events in the story that shape the attitudes and actions of the characters, to build up suspense aiming towards the climax. Any secondary conflicts can be established here as well. However, the intended result is to complicate the goal or increase the conflict by adding obstacles, either in the shape of characters or in the shape of physical objects. This can be in the form of fights, either physical or verbal, it can be things as simple as winning a scratch ticket, going home from work early, staying late at work, finding a mythical dragon, learning to use the force, war being declared, anything that raises the tension after you know what is happening is included in the rising action. It can be positive or humorous things which often drive comedies. Much more often it is conflict, which often drives dramas, and some comedies. These actions shape the storyline and make the resulting climax make sense, because the reader has to understand and empathize and sympathize with the characters actions, emotions, and decision making.
In our example, a number of things happen to Cinderella that raises the action. When she wants to go to the ball her stepmother allows it if she does all of the chores, an almost impossible task, and has a gown, later crafted by her animal friends, which Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters rip apart. Cinderella’s fairy godmother comes to her aid, giving her a dress and carriage. The Prince falls for Cinderella. This sets up a desire for both Cinderella and the audience to see her work her way out of her sad life. Cinderella has to leave at midnight, and loses a slipper in her escape. The Prince begins a search for the woman who wore the slipper. Cinderella’s evil stepmother locks her in the attic. This establishes a concern for the audience that Cinderella won’t get out of her live of slavery. Then the mice find the key and free her, giving her and the audience hope that she may succeed after all. All of these acts heighten the anticipation that the two will fall in love, that Cinderella will leave her miserable life of servitude to her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and have a storybook ending.
Climax is the height of the Rising Action, it is what the action has built up to. The turning point of the story, it sets up the resolution of the major conflict(s) of the story. This occurs near the end of the story generally. This can, and is oftentimes the showdown between the hero and the villain, or the two lovers finally confessing their love, either to one, the other, or each of them to each other. Whatever the story was building up to, it’s the part where the action has reached its apex and begins to come down.
In our example, Cinderella, at the top of the stairs, asks to try on the slipper, after her stepsisters and stepmother fail to put it on. Her stepmother knows that it is her and tries to explain away that she is just a simple servant girl. The grand duke interjects and says that all maids are to try shoeing it. The stepmother trips the servant carrying the crystal slipper, destroying it and Cinderella’s hopes of escaping her life of servitude. Cinderella notes that she has the other slipper, and returns with it, and the Prince is ecstatic about the proof of her identify.
Falling Action is what occurs after the apex of the action has turned, and the characters begin to deal with the changes. This is oftentimes larger in plays and dramas than in short stories and films, where the falling action generally is very short, and usually sets up a happy ending. The hero walks away from the villain, the town is set to normalcy, the two lovers kiss after sharing their love for one another.
In our example, Cinderella and Prince Charming get married, with the King and Grand Duke celebrating. As I had eluded to the Falling Action is generally brief in this format of storytelling.
Resolution is the end. Literally, it’s the ending of the story, where ultimately, you are to feel that the story has been told fully, that everything that can be said about it has been said. Generally it’s happy, especially in American films, television, and literature. The lovers stay together, the hero begins life after overcoming the heroic deeds, usually with the love interest.
In our example, Cinderella and Prince Charming kiss, with the narrator giving the fairy tale cliché, ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ The end.
Now this is the standard means of mapping out or diagramming the structure of a narrative. This was created by Gustav Freytag, and is not without criticism. You can find a better synopsis of criticism for this structure of diagramming a story at various websites, so if you choose not to subscribe to it you are not alone. But I will continue on using this structure, so having a general working knowledge of the established concept will assist, if you are interested in paying attention to what I say.
In erotic fictionExposition is important in almost all kinds of erotic fiction, the only exception to this is fan fiction, which assumes the reader already knows the universe, characters, and setting. Much of the same exposition applies, including location, time, place, etc. Usually in erotic fiction what is key is establishing the two (or more) who will make love, and generally the place that they will make love. Emphasis is generally placed on the physical attributes, age, oftentimes breast size, buttock size, legs, as well as hair color and length, makeup, and clothing. What helps make erotic fiction much more interesting is establishing character personality and quirks, which make the story much more interesting and personable to the reader. Just making a blond bombshell with large breasts and perfect makeup on, wearing a flimsy red dress and a breathy voice creates an attractive character, but not an endearing one. It seems too cookie cutter.
Do be just as careful in exposing a person’s attributes to not dump information just as you would not dump information in exposing normal information.
The Inciting Act is usually the act that will spark the two(or more) lover’s romance. It can be a simple smile, a look, or a come on line. The line of change between Exposition and Rising Action can be different in erotic stories, oftentimes physical attributes can be explained as the two make love.
Rising Action is usually identified with the goal of the lovers meeting, either for the first time or meeting up again. This can be as long or as short as the author wants it to be. Usually it is longer for first time lovers, as they have to establish an undercurrent of emotion behind the eventual coitus. This can be in the form of meeting at work, going on a date, meeting at a bar, being saved from the evil knight, blasting a spaceship to save the other lover, just as the Rising Action that builds for non erotic stories.
Of course this is added by the eventual fact that the two will need to begin making love. Generally this should begin with kissing, but unfortunately many male writers skip the kissing, which is a big mistake in my opinion, not just from a realistic point but from an emotional one as well. A good kiss can establish an open and caring relationship between two lovers better than simple foreplay or penetration. This leads to eventually removing the clothes, sometimes fully, sometimes partially, all subject to the storyline and the author’s wishes.
After the kissing, or usually during, there is generally heavy petting, or foreplay, that is to say stimulation of the penis or the vagina either directly or through clothing. Many first time writers don’t understand that there are more erogenous zones to a woman than her breasts, buttocks, and vagina. This is a mistake, largely I think due to it being somewhat boring to see in pornography. Another point that some less experienced writers do not begin to understand is that foreplay consists of a little bit more than rubbing a vagina three or four times. While it may be erotic to some, others may find it erotic to strive for realism.
Next the author has their choice of how to go about it. Some will choose to go for oral sex, their sex scene may be finished after fully writing oral sex out to orgasm, or it may just be there for titillation or as a form of foreplay. Depending on the pairing things will change. Lesbian lovers will usually perform oral sex or require a dildo or strap on, or another phallic object. Homosexual male lovers may require to switch being a top or bottom. Straight lovers can proceed to vaginal or anal intercourse.
This of course should increase the sexual tension of the story, raising it with each act, not only building up the anticipation that the characters will orgasm but building up the same anticipation for the reader that they too will orgasm. The action must continue building up, and use powerful language to describe physical motion and emotion. Do not get sidetracked, do not get into anything other than focusing on the raw sexuality of the moment.
Climax in erotic writing is a double entendre of sorts, it is where the participants climax, or orgasm. No matter the pairing the two or more individuals will orgasm, either one at a time or together. While I am a fan of simultaneous, or near simultaneous orgasms, some prefer to give each person their just due, which is fine. The point is, of course, to make all of the sexual tension and anticipation worth the wait. This can be accomplished via simultaneous orgasms, splashy money shots, and/or arousing exclamations of the impending orgasm, among various other means. Try to focus on both the physical and the mental. Explore the sensory organs, whether it’s a penis ejaculating, a vagina contracting, bodies buckling or trembling, and so on. Explore the mental aspect, the pleasure that is being felt. Make every orgasm mind shattering, even if it’s not in real life.
Now there is a big point to make is when the couples engage in multiple orgasms. Whether they are just horny buggers or whether they have oral sex, followed by vaginal and then anal or any instance where there are multiple orgasms. The big point is to make the last one the best one. In this instance, it can be anticlimactic, or less satisfying, for earlier orgasms to seem better than the last. The climax happens in a figurative sense before it happens in a literal sense. The climax is not only their orgasm, but is also the turning point in the story, their lovemaking, so keep that in mind.
Falling Action in an erotic story is usually denoted by the characters orgasms finishing. This usually involves them collapsing into bed, or a chair, couch, hot tub, or any other kind of place to rest. Depending on the place and the time, it could mean any number of things. If they were lovers in an office building during the day they may put their clothes back on, and return to work. If they were lovers at night in a bed, they may collapse under the sheet after some pillow talk. Of course they could stay, leave, put clothes on, shower, together or alone, or lay in bed and just talk, cuddle, spoon, etc. This is all of the post coitus stuff that should normally happen after two people make love. Usually put an emphasis on exhaustion, and that post orgasm glow.
Resolution in an erotic story is usually more of a plot point than anything else. Do they stay together, do they exchange numbers, plan another rendezvous, go to sleep together, etc. This can either follow up the idea of romance, of one being used, of one being deserted, or can be left ambiguous to continue the storyline.
Thanks to the following wiki page for information on the Cinderella film I didn’t remember off the top of my head
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_(1950_film)
And thanks to this webpage I ripped the picture off of.
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/course/amlit/unit1/shortstory.shtml
I don't know what the future of Writer's Corner will be, but I'll try to do something once a month. Stay tuned for more.
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