The Write Stuff

by Ashley Lister

Three Top Tips to Improve Your Erotic Writing

With the end of 2010 in sight, and the dubious pleasures of another year looming on the next page of the calendar, I thought it would be prudent to provide a list of the top three things a writer can do to improve their erotic fiction.

1) Sit comfortably.  Writing is a sedentary occupation.  Make sure your chair is comfortable and offers good back support.  Make sure your working environment is ergonomically friendly.  There are no self-help groups for those heroes of the literary world who have injured their backs by writing whilst sitting with inappropriate posture.

2)  Write every day.  I talk with some students who claim that they don’t have the time to write.  “I’ve been busy with my family and my job,” they explain.  These people have been too busy to find five minutes to write during the entire week since our last lesson.  In each week there are 10,080 minutes.  These students, although they claim to be committed to learning the mechanics of creative writing, they haven’t been able to spare five of those minutes to work on a set exercise.

Consider this for a moment in financial terms.  If you were given 10,080 dollars a week, and you had a desire to improve your skills in creative writing, how much of a financial investment would you be willing to make?  Five dollars sounds like a small amount from such a vast sum, doesn’t it?  Five dollars a day (35 dollars a week) also sounds paltry.  It doesn’t even knock the initial sum below the 10,000 level.  It doesn’t knock the initial sum below 10,000 if the writer commits to 10 minute/dollars a day.

To not make this investment can be seen as tightfistedness.  It’s as though the student is saying, “I want to become a creative writer, but I don’t want to invest any time or effort.”  If I went into a store with the same mindset it would mean an argument with the cashier at the end of the shopping expedition.  I would explain that I wanted to walk away with a basketful of groceries, but have no intention of paying because I’ve already committed my resources to family and the job. 

I have tried this approach to shopping and it doesn’t work.  I can’t say I’ve tried this approach to writing because, technically, this is called not writing.  One of the most obvious ways of ensuring your writing is not successful is to not write.

3) Enjoy your writing.  One of the reasons why some students can’t find time to write is because they’re not enjoying the experience.  I can relate to that and I sincerely believe, if you’re not enjoying the writing experience – quit it.  Obviously you need to experiment with other genres; try different approaches to the craft; make an attempt to work out what’s not working with your fiction and see if the issue can be resolved.  I’m not suggesting, as soon as any writing experience becomes a challenge you should give up and invest your energies into water colours.  But if you’re regularly unhappy with the idea of writing, then it’s time to look at a different outlet for your creativity. 

If you don’t enjoy writing a story, there’s a strong chance your reader won’t enjoy reading your story.  More importantly, because writing is such a piss-poor-paying excuse for an occupation, you will have wasted an important part of a precious life doing something you despise. 

Ashley Lister
December 2010 - January 2011

If you have comments or questions about this column, please send them to Ashley Lister

Find more of Ashley's Write Stuff in ERWA 2010 Archive.

______
"The Write Stuff" © 201o Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Email:  Ashley Lister
Website:  www.ashleylister.co.uk

  E-mail this page

Copyright © 1996 and on, Erotica Readers Association, Inc.
All Rights Reserved World Wide. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or
medium without express written permission is prohibited.