Framework And How To Plan A Sex Scene

So, welcome back to How To Write a Sex Scene. I’m sure you’re all wondering where I was. Well, I was **** by aliens and had to fight in a giant gladiator pit on Mars. But it’s all okay because I got a fucking awesome sword and was declared queen of the moon people. But that’s another story.

Or maybe I just got busy and didn’t have time to update for a bit. Your choice, but I prefer the more exciting option!

Anyway now that we’ve covered Mechanical and Emotive writing, you have a basic framework for how to write your sex scene. Don’t worry if you’re not confident with them yet. That’s natural, they can be subtle and it genuinely takes a lot of repetition before you really pin them down.

Today, we’re going to take one step further. Now you know the method, we’re talking framework. Specifically, how to format a sex scene.

‘’But Bronze,’’ I hear you say, ‘’You just write what you think is sexy, don’t you? That’s how a sex scene works!’’

Well, yes and no. That can work and is the natural way that most people start. But one thing I have learned is that most people have a certain cadence, I guess? A certain series of things they like and given no other restriction, they’ll tend to loop back to it again and again. So writing that sex scene once may be fun! Twice, okay, yeah, you can spice it up. Three times? Four times? Eventually, you’re going to start realising you’re writing the same scene with minor variations.

Not only this, but if you want your sex scenes to have variety and contribute to your plot as well, setting out some kind of formatting may be a smart idea.

So let’s start with the basics:

Sex vs Plot

People are here for the sex. That’s a given. That’s why you’re reading this right now. But humans also like a story, we like to see things develop and evolve. We’re naturally story-tellers and we enjoy it when a scene engages us on multiple levels.

That means that while your sex scene should focus on the sex, if you get the chance, you should show other things as you do! And I don’t mean to break up the action with random cut-aways. You want to make it natural, so it adds instead of detracts.

Ideally, what you want to do is use your scene to show, solidify or reveal something new about your characters or world. It doesn’t have to be a lot. It doesn’t have to be some big revelation, but feeling as if they’ve learned something new helps readers to enjoy it more.

Let me give you some examples of what I’ve done on various commissions. Again, most of these are low key, not beating it in your face. Many people will never even realise this is what you did, but that’s okay.

For a character who was abandoned by his father and family, I decided to make him dominant in the bedroom. Because that’s hot, yes, but there was more to it. As the scene went o, I built up the fact that it was because he wanted to feel needed. He wanted to feel wanted, so he wanted his sub to beg for him, to tell him how much she needed his cock, loved his touch, how much she enjoyed being with him.

This was all spiced together with typical bondage stuff - ropes, cuffs, punishments, insults and degradation towards her - but the core of the issue was that I was using the scene to show that he was, well, empty. Trying to make up for how he felt by basking in the affection of his sub but ultimately unable to do so because he wouldn’t acknowledge to himself what his problem was.

Of course, I didn’t spill that to the reader. But a smart reader will notice how he often puts himself in a position to be praised, how he goads her into saying things like that, how it seems to matter to him just as much as the sex itself.

And with that, we learn more about our character and what matters to him, as well as the kind of issues the story will be about him solving. (He’s lonely, he’s afraid to reach out because he was abandoned. He is naturally dominant, but uses it as a shield and a mask. He’s scared to be genuine even if it would get him the praise he wants because what if she turned away?)

In my free ebook, The Curious Case of Richard Gearheart, the sex scenes are used to provide emotional closure. While they are hot and very fun, the ones between Richard and Kara - the main characters - are also used to display their trust for one another.

Again, bondage comes into this, but Kara is actually the one who is more into it at first. She’s the sub and Richard is initially **** because of the situation around her. She was trafficked as a sex ****, brainwashed, and programmed to act to please her betters. At first, he worries he’s taking advantage of her and even she isn’t totally sure. But over time, their scenes get more wild as they begin to trust one another, and you can see the **** melting away. You can actually measure their relationship growing by how much they are willing to do together.

In this case, what’s being told on the down-low is the personality of both characters and their bond. Richard styles himself as a mercenary, and the sort of guy who will shoot you in the back the moment it’s useful for him. The first few sex scenes are our initial indication that maybe this isn’t totally the case. After all, a guy like that wouldn’t be **** to take advantage of a woman at all. Especially one who seems willing!

For Kara, it goes a bit deeper. Her inner turmoil and struggle between wanting sex and being afraid that she is just programmed to seek it out is a key part of her character, though it’s never mentioned directly. Outwardly, she plays the fun, sexy tease, but it’s only through her words and actions when she’s most **** that she lets herself be seen. Most of these scenes are sex scenes because that’s when she’s able to drop her guard.

It’s not a lot. She doesn’t have a ton of speeches or anything. But small words, small gestures. How she reacts, what exactly she says, what she offers and how far she goes. All of those paint a picture for her mental state and show her growing relationship with Richard.

The point of this bonding is so that later in the book, when that relationship is threatened, you care. You’ve seen them together, you’ve seen them happy. Now that’s threatened.

More than this, the intimacy and trust between Richard and Kara during their consensual bondage scenes means that later, when Kara has **** scenes with her rival and captor, you can see the difference. It helps to highlight how much the first thing mattered to her.

I could go on. I have a bunch more examples from previous work. Even work I’ve posted here! But I don’t really feel like you guys need beaten over the head with the concept. You get what I am talking about.

Does this mean there’s no real reason to use mindless sex scenes with going deeper? Well, no. Those also have their place. Sometimes you don’t want to do a dive into a character, or you want a hot scene without too much thinking required. In those cases, springing for a mindless sex scene absolutely makes sense.

Just always be aware of your options here. Choose the best one for what you want to do. Do you have a bunch of space and your character could use some extra depth? Consider using your scene to further solidify them to your readers.

Building a Framework

So now we know why we might want to do it. How do we actually build a framework? Well, it’s honestly pretty simple and easy. IMO, it’s something every commissioned writer in particular should know how to do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good for every writer to know, but for us specifically, it’s a godsend.

This is because we write a lot of sex scenes. Like, a lot. And you can’t always promise that you’ll be in the mood or want to write them when you have to. The client has paid, after all. That means their work takes priority over most other things. You gotta respect that and you gotta respect that someone trusts your skills enough to give you actual, real money to give them a fantasy. And this means that sometimes, even if you really want or, or you’re not feeling it, or your life is hell, or you’re sick, well, you gotta sit down and write that hot scene.

During such times, you’ll have low energy. Little motivation. You won’t want to do it and even simple shit becomes impossibly difficult. Writing as a job is genuinely hard at times, even though I love it. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s just easy sailing and pouring our words from a magic bottle.

So, how do we deal with this? Well, that’s where frameworks come in. A framework serves as a guide, helping you to orient and navigate yourself through a work even if your natural feel for it is disrupted such as by lack of motivation. By using your framework, you can maintain your pace and momentum, avoid getting distracted and still produce quality writing even when you’re just not feeling it.

Note, frameworks work for most kinds of writing, not just erotic stuff. So what I am about to teach you here can be applied universally. I’m just talking about it in a lewd comment because, well, look where we are.

Here is how you make a framework. Sit down, think about what you want to write. Now, you don’t want to go too in-depth here. There’s a such thing as distracting yourself from writing by planning about writing. So keep it vague. Outline roughly what you want to happen.

Here is an example:

Framework: Lost Bet Story

-Cynthia loses bet to Derrick

-Has to strip for him, pose, masturbate,

-has to follow humiliating commands.

-He tells her that he’s going to make a video, she begs him not to. He decides to do it anyway.

-She cums during it, and is **** to spread herself so everyone can see how wet she is.

This is a simple framework. Extremely so. Most of you have probably seen one like this or done one like this.

Here is how it works. You can see it reduces the scene into a series of bullet points to be hit. This is to help your navigation and motivation. Because of this, you can see just how close you are to finishing the scene, you can see what progress you are making as you move through the list, and you can time and pace yourself properly so you will always know roughly how much there is to do.

By sketching out things in advance like this, you’re not relying on your creativity in the moment. This means that energy and brainpower can instead be used to write the scene itself. Which isn’t to say that spontaneity doesn’t have a place! Let me tell you a secret. I would probably change a bunch of those bullet points as I wrote. They’re a guide, not a requirement! Once you get to one, if it’s not working for you or you can think of something better? Shift it! Change it! Twist it into what you want it to be.

The point of a framework is just so that you have SOMETHING there you can draw upon. It’s exactly what its name implies: a frame for you to build off. Its sole and only purpose is a navigation tool to help you control the flow of your work and the pacing. Don’t treat it as ironclad law because if you do, your story will feel lifeless and dead. Just run with the general feeling, use it when it’s good, change it when it’s not, don’t be afraid to deviate, but when you don’t have any ideas, it’ll be there to give you a helping hand.

Now, that framework I showed is a very basic and simple one. The sort of frame I’d use if I was hired to write a short, erotic scene without much else to it. Usually, they’d look more like this:

-Cynthia and Derrick make a bet. Derrick’s always had a crush on her and this is his chance.

-Figure out what kind of bet it is. Maybe have him cheat? Add drama.

-Derrick wins, Cynthia is suspicious, but he talks her out of it somehow. (Maybe using past history? Implying she’s a coward? How manipulative do I want him?)

-Derrick orders Cynthia to strip, commenting that he’s wanted to see her naked for years, ever since she was the girl next door. She does it reluctantly. Big focus on embarrassment.

-Cynthia taunts Derrick, makes him angry. He decides he’s going to make a video to punish her. She begs him not to and he is torn, but his horny side wins over. After all, as long as he doesn’t share it, it’s fine, right?

-Cynthia is **** to masturbate, to cum on camera, she uses a dildo, her fingers, and even is **** to grind against a table to humiliate her further. Despite her words, she’s very aroused.

-Derrick starts to get a bit suspicious. He realises that every time he tried to go easy on her, she taunted him into going harder. Maybe the loss wasn’t as unintentional as he thought?

-Scene ends with Cynthia worshipping Derrick’s cock, and even though he enjoys it a ton, he figures he probably just got played and is going to have to get her back. But how can he get back a masochistic little slut like this?

And there you go. This is actually the sort of framework I’d use for one of my smashwords books. You can see it’s more in-depth, but it works by the same principles. I’ve created a series of points to hit, as well as options, possibilities and thoughts that I could use or discard when I get to that point. Thanks to this, I have a vague idea of where I am going at all times and what I am aiming for. That means in turn that I’m not stumbling in the dark, which helps maintain motivation, pacing and generally make you feel like you’re accomplishing more.

And that’s how frameworks operate! Even if you end up not using it, I’d advise anyone who wants to write erotic scenes to give it a shot. It really can help a lot, especially when you’re on a time crunch, you need to motivate yourself, and you’re staring at a blank page that needs to be filled.