Okay, so as I’m sure most of you have noticed I’ve drifted away from my early roots of graphic lemon writing. It wasn’t a conscious decision, I think you just sort of grow out of things like that, or move through phases of how you depict certain scenes.
Anyway, there has been an air of general discontent surrounding my lack of lemony goodness in stories such as The New Boy and Rowan & Justin. I’m not gonna write things I don’t wanna write just because people want to read them, SO instead here are my tips for those of you who want to read good lemons but can’t find them – write them yourself!
1) Responsibility
Take responsibility for your lemons if you’re going to write them. Don’t replace the “o” in “cock” with a zero just to avoid giving your story an R rating. It is absolutely necessary to rate your story according to the content. I cannot express how ignorant it is to include a lemon in your story just for higher stats because you know people will read them. The ratings are there for a reason and if you wanna write smut, embrace the R.
2) a) The difference between lemons and erotica
Make no mistake; there is a clear difference between writing a sex or love-making scene because it’s fun, it fits with the story, and it makes your readers feel gooey and warm inside – and writing a sex scene because it’s dirty, nasty, and makes people want to touch themselves! There’s nothing wrong with either, in my opinion, but learn to differentiate: the former are a-okay for Wattpad, the latter belong on other sites. I’m not trying to sound like a prude here, the simple fact is that you will be at risk of having your story removed or your profile shut down if your smut is too smutty. JUST SAYIN’ IS ALL.
2) b) Phrasing
The level of smuttiness is all in the phrasing. You can heighten the sex factor with a few simple adjectives, for example:
i) I wrapped my hand around the base and took him in my mouth.
ii) I wrapped my hot hand around the base and took him in my wet mouth.
That’s a fairly crude example but it serves my purpose here. It’s all in the adjectives. The more descriptive your lemon, the sexier it’s going to be. However, be careful not to overdo it – if you’re too descriptive of every little thing the scene will become mechanical and your reader will start to skip ahead.
2) c) Keep it emotional
This can be interpreted as loosely as you like, depending on the situation – if it’s two strangers who’ve just met it will obviously contain less emotion than if it’s the culmination of twenty chapters of these boys lusting after one another.
Regardless, this will help with lessening the mechanical aspect of lemon-writing. While description of the act is obviously important, it’s good to scatter phrases such as, “When his lips brushed my soft spot a bolt of electricity shot through my body and I clutched at his hair tightly, pulling him closer, holding him tighter, never wanting to let go,” or some such emotional bullshit so the scene will seem less cheap. The last thing you want is your lemon to feel cheap!
3) Know what you’re doing
One of the most fun parts of lemon-writing is the research. Read plenty of them so you know the logistics of it, and if you’re over eighteen and so inclined it doesn’t hurt to watch some videos either. The worst thing about reading lemons is when the writer clearly doesn’t know jack about gay sex. Important things to know are:
- where the prostate is and how far in
- the most sensitive parts of the penis
- how the male body reacts to titillation
- the erogenous zones of the male body
- it hurts for the guy on the bottom
- most common/best positions
4) It’s all a learning curve
Don’t worry if you don’t get it right first time around. As with any new venture in writing it can be difficult to get into the zone of something you haven’t done before and therefore aren’t fully comfortable with. Personally, I’ve broken the guidelines I just set out countless times. When I first started, my lemons were pretty erotic, such as in I’m Gay, He’s Straight where they are just blatant erotica if I’m being honest lol. Some of my one-shots are ridiculous, where guys get hard and start leaking pre-cum just from being talked dirty at. It can take time to slide into a place where you’re fully at ease writing lemons, where you find your citrus-y niche, and that’s okay.
If you guys have any questions or would like some extra tips just comment below or private message me if you’d be more comfortable! :)
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Honest To Blog: My Misadventures
General FictionNot a story, just me ranting and raving really. Not expecting you all to read this or anything, though I can guarantee humour and alarming self-righteousness.
