How to Write a 750 Word Story

Ah, here it is, the single most controversial story at Literotica today, the bastion of the unethical writer, the tool of the ruthless cheater and the downfall of the proud tradition of the Literotica Survivor Contest. Ladies and gentlemen, and wenches and rogues may I present the seven hundred fifty word story. Never has so much attention been wasted on a particular word count and yet here we are again.

The, by some definition, crappy seven hundred fifty word story has been so abused lately that I thought I might try and understand its crappiness. Strangely, the seven hundred fifty word story is something difficult to find, especially at Literotica. Yeah there are a few, ranging from Oggbashan's compilations of fifteen fifty word stories into an interrelated seven hundred fifty word story, to a few humorous stories about very fast lovers, but all in all it is difficult to find a story of this length.

Anyway, in an effort to propagate a better appreciation of this wonderful, but once again by definition, crappy short story length, I thought I would discuss how to write a seven hundred fifty word erotic story. Of course the duration may seem daunting to some, why I basically learned to write short stories by entering contests limiting the story length to no more than two hundred fifty words. Yes, after that, seven hundred fifty seems like a novel.

While at Literotica I have seen erotic stories of incredible length, with sexual escapades lasting for what seems like days on end, and while yeah I fantasize about an encounter lasting for hours, other than a significant few, the majority of encounters I experienced have been much shorter. I firmly believe that, for most people, sexual encounters are short and fleeting in nature. While the encounters are short, they can be beautifully intense, loving and very satisfying activities for the participants. Of course they can also be very ugly, hateful or simply unsatisfying. Both can be expressed in an erotic story.

All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, in the case of a seven hundred fifty word story, we can consider this a lead into to the erotic act, the erotica act, and the departure from the act. Now if you generally allow two hundred fifty words to each of these portions and you have your story, exactly seven hundred fifty words worth.

Sorry guys, it's not as simple as that. The lead in to the erotic act will need to generate some interest in the people involved and, depending upon the point of view of the story, will need to offer some motivation for the characters. Character development? Now that's a novel concept. We are only afforded the insight into characters that the point of view allows. The brevity of the story often will only give the reader a peek at only an aspect of a character's character. If you want to psychoanalyze each character you might be better off writing a novel instead of a seven hundred fifty word story.

Once you create the interest and establish motive you bring on the erotica, be it pretty or ugly, good or bad, satisfying or disgustingly unsatisfying. Here you will want to pay attention to description, but don't overdo it or, once again, you will writing an epic. Let your reader contribute something here: their imagination. Play upon their imagination... don't give them a bra size, don't go into detail about watermelon or lemon size breasts, unless the breast size is a pivotal part of the story simply call them large breasts, small breasts, tiny breasts, or enormous breasts. Leave out the fourteen inch cock that is seven inches in diameter, simply call it a large cock or a small cock, that is unless the size of the cock is central to the story.

When describing the sex you once again need to think about point of view. Consider what can actually be seen during the act, unless you get into your character's mind while they fantasize about what is happening. Either way, remember our premise that most sex, regardless of how sweet it is, is short. Of course if this is the sixth or seventh sexual act for each person in that day it may take some time, but if it's been a while between encounters it will probably be quick. If not, then write a novel.

Ah, then comes the finish, where the man or woman tries to figure out the quick, graceful exit. Hey, falling asleep happens a lot, especially for the guys. The man having an affair most likely is worrying about getting home before suspicions are aroused, while the woman who just had the worst sex of her life is trying to figure out how to get this fat, slob out of her apartment. Yes, the partners can kiss, and cuddle and coo and talk about the amazing act and their wonderful lives, but get real and read a novel. The people here, whether happy or sad, are in a hurry.

So what you have now in this seven hundred fifty word story is two people, for whatever reason, decided to have sex, they have sex and then they leave, with some things happening in between. Hey, that seems to describe the vast majority of sexual encounters in the world today. Yes, they can be wonderfully erotic and satisfying or just the opposite, either way it doesn't matter, if the story is compelling it will work.

There it is, a surefire way to write a seven hundred fifty word story. Yeah it sounds like a perfect disaster, which it is, just like a fifteen hundred word story, a three thousand word story or a thirty thousand word story. All are perfect disasters unless a writer with the ability to tell a story writes it, then all of them, from fifty words to thirty thousand or more can work out wonderfully. How do you tell the crap from the good stuff? You have to READ it, until then anything you say about the story is simply ignorant rambling.