How to Write Good Smut

Okay, so I’ve been writing smut for a long time now. I’ve published several *smutty* books – some not so good, some great, all of them kind of poorly edited – but all of them with great smut scenes. I can guarantee you that I know how to write good smut. It’s the only part of my romance novels that no reader can complain about. I serve them good smut scenes. It can have poor writing, and poor editing, but not poor smut, this I promise. So, now I’m going to tell you how to write good smut. How I do it, at least. It’s fun, I love to write this, and I hope this will help you on how to write good smut.

How to Write Good Smut: Main Tips

• Controversial opinion: write about what you like
• Don’t try to reinvent the wheel
• Go slow – step by step
• Action and reaction
• Think about your end goal
• Keep it simple

How to Write Good Smut: Controversial opinion – write about what you like

I could write smut scenes about all kinds of weird fetishes and stuff that’s trending right now – but I don’t. I certainly envy guys like Chuck Tingle, who makes a ton of money writing books like:

Unfortunately, I can’t. To write good smut scenes, I write about what I like. Or, at least, what I don’t despise. There are certain boundaries that I can’t personally cross in my scenes because I found them too disgusting for me (like… you know, the three Ps – pee, poop, puke). Nothing wrong if you’re into it. If you’re, go for it. But if you absolutely hate something, personally, it doesn’t matter if it’s in fashion or not, just don’t write scenes about it. The thing about writing is that it gets in your head. You get super involved with that. You have to revisit it several times, read it over and over, edit it, etc. If you can’t stand BDSM, for example, just don’t try to write it.

Many people would disagree with me here. Many people would say, you’re a professional, do what you have to do, write what makes money, and go for it. And, yeah, okay, I agree with them, you could always TRY to write it. But if you don’t enjoy it, or, even worse, you absolutely hate it, do not try to write a smut scene about it. The scene will feel absolutely horrible both to the readers and to yourself. So, how to write good smut: write what you like – or, at least, you don’t absolutely despise.

How to Write Good Smut: Don’t try to reinvent the wheel

In the words of Mama Ru: “you ain’t got to reinvent the wheel. The wheel is fine, girl.” – What I mean by that is, yes, you can do what everybody else does. Yes, it’s okay that your characters rip each other clothes and end up in a bed, first kissing, then running their hands everywhere on each other bodies, then, sucking places, then, penetrating, etc.

Even better than that, why don’t you go and COPY some scenes that you get horny by? Yes, I mean porn. Or even scenes in other books. You won’t literally plagiarise word by word, but you can get inspired by the actions, and what they’re doing. Many times, I look for a good scene that makes me really horny for inspiration and then make my characters do the same in their own way.

You ain’t got to reinvent the wheel!

How to Write Good Smut: Go slow – step by step

Have you ever written a fighting scene? Or a dancing scene? It’s the same thing as a sex scene. Things have to happen one after the other, in an orderly sense. First, the clothes off. Then, the touching, then…

There’s a sequence of events, and you just have to write it one after the other. It sounds obvious when written like that, but, when we’re reading smut scenes, things can seem to happen all the same time, there are a lot of feelings, you get horny, you feel stuff. Not as a writer, though, as a writer you must have control of the scene. One step after the other. You can feel the feels and all, but you must have control. Go slow.

How to Write Good Smut: Action and reaction

If Hero 1 (h1) does something to Hero 2 (h2), Hero 2 has to react. If you tickle someone, the person has to laugh, punch you, cringe, ignore you, anything, but you have to describe their reaction (even if it’s not doing anything). So, remember – action, reaction. Even if the reaction is to ignore, it’s still a reaction that needs to be mentioned. I talk more about that here, how to write a sex scene.

How to Write Good Smut: Think about your end goal

What’s your goal? Is it to write a romance book, is it to write erotica, is it to write one smutty scene in your historical sci-fi fantasy book? How to write good smut will depend on the bigger picture. What’s the context of this scene? Because if you want to know how to write good smut to write a romance book, then that’s different than knowing how to write good smut to write a whole erotica book. The scene itself might not change, but the rest of the structure of the book will. So, figure this out first.

How to Write Good Smut: Keep it simple

You don’t need to write something out of this world. Literally, even when I write alien romance, which is my new thing, I keep it simple. Smut is simple, and the few different elements that you’ll incorporate will depend on the subgenre you’re writing (like my aliens who have dicks that can be morphed in size), but the essence is the same as regular human day-to-day sex. Remember that.

How to Write Good Smut: Final Thoughts

So, how to write good smut can be summed up by the same principles as any other scene – write what you love, go slow, describe the action and the reaction between the characters, keep it simple, day-to-day stuff is okay, and get inspired by things that make you horny. Have fun!