how long is too long for a sex scene?

[NaughteeDragon]

So I just finished writing a threesome scene. Older couple has gone to Vegas for a conference and the wife takes her husband to The Chicken Ranch for a threesome with one of the lovely young ladies there. It took me all day to write it. I cut the spanking scene to two paragraphs, I cut the discussion about how to explore the wife's interest in sexual submission to a sentence. The is scene is 6900 words long in a 40k word story. Below is a short excerpt from the story to give you an idea of how I write.

Once she had sole access to his cock, Alejandra began by worshipping it with her tongue, licking up his length, teasing his sensitive areas, and slowly stroking him with a bit of a twist in her wrist. He looked down to see her soft brown eyes looking up at him adoringly. A glance to his wife showed that her eyes were glued to what the other woman was doing. “Deep throat me, Alejandra,” John asked without actually asking.

Without a pause she sank down the length of his dick, her lips were soft and wet and her tongue hit all the right spots. There was a slight pause, then he felt his tip being squeezed by her throat. She held him there for several seconds, her throat occasionally flexing. Her eyes were starting to water when she pulled off of him. “Fuck me,” John groaned. “That was amazing.” She smiled up at him and did it again, holding it even longer, then one more time after she took a deep breath. He looked over to see his wife looking at the other woman in awe.

“Would you like to learn how?” Alejandra asked, noticing the look on her face. Monica nodded. He was directed to lay down on the bed at an angle. “Is he good at licking pussy?”

“Very,” Monica said with a bright smile. “You should definitely take his mustache for a ride.” She chuckled and John knew she was thinking of his ‘Mustache Rides 25¢’ hat that she bought him after he shaved his beard.

John smiled and waved her over when she looked his way. She rocked her hips back and forth as she slowly slid off the lacy black thong she was wearing. She was shaved, and the only tattoo he had seen on her was a thumb-sized heart above her clit. It was pink on top, blue on the bottom, and had a purple stripe through the middle. Her dark brown labia distended slightly and John’s mouth was almost watering in anticipation. She planted a knee on the bed and swung her other leg over him. He slid his hands up the backs of her thighs and rested his hands on her perfectly rounded ass. He squeezed slightly and held her in place.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Depends who is reading it.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

What PSG said. I've done sex scenes that were half a chapter, whole chapter, a paragraph or few...

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Seriously though (not that my first comment wasn't serious), your sex scene length won't please everyone but longer is generally more popular.

 

[Anon_shy]

What they said, everyone is different. Personally and probably a less common opinion for a woman, I get bored of long drawn out descriptive scenes. Completely the opposite to the normal books I read.

But it matches with the porn I watch and how I prefer sex, short intense scenes opposed to long slow sessions or storylines

 

[StillStunned]

It depends how it's written.

A whole Lit page or more of "she leaned close, her lips almost brushing against mine. I could feel the heat of her body against my chest, taste her breath on the air I breathed" will keep me engaged.

Half a Lit page, or even a paragraph, of "I rammed my cock inside her, then flipped her over and fucked her until I came, then I pulled her on top of me and she rode me while she climaxed over and over"? I'll skip past it.

 

[nice90sguy]

I think it should take as long to read as it takes to perform the act. So, anything from 15 seconds to five minutes

 

[Cagivagurl]

How long is too long????
I don't know. Personally I skip all the sex scenes. How many times can you read "A goes into B." Before it gets boring???
Erotica isn't always about sex. For me erotica is all about what goes before and after.
I like most here include sex scenes because it's implied, or perhaps even expected... Not because I wanted to...
So how long is too long... Yep, that long.

Cagivagurl

 

[BobbyBrandt]

How long is too long????
I don't know. Personally I skip all the sex scenes. How many times can you read "A goes into B." Before it gets boring???
Erotica isn't always about sex. For me erotica is all about what goes before and after.
I like most here include sex scenes because it's implied, or perhaps even expected... Not because I wanted to...
So how long is too long... Yep, that long.

Cagivagurl

This is me as well.

In the vast majority of my stories there is significant steamy sexual tension between characters with only implied performance of the actual sex itself.

 

[Pabiporffor]

I follow the rule of "match the snatch". I lf she's inexperienced I'll write more in the foreplay section but for someone promiscuous I'll skip quickly to the actual sex. Regardless I like to concentrate on what they're thinking as much ad the physical side.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you can keep it exciting, and avoid spending too much time on any one act or position, I don't think there's a limit. I have sex scenes here from the first touch until the climax can go two lit pages.

 

[Trionyx]

I’ve written a story which told of their meeting, getting closer and some making out but the scene ‘faded to black’ when she invited him to her bed. It was well received, though I did warn the readers in a foreword that there would be no description of intercourse.
I would never write nor read a sex scene of 6,000+ words so for me, the sweet spot is somewhere in between. But that is just my opinion and as you can see from other responses, there is no one size fits all answer.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

You know the old saying - a picture is worth a thousand words. If a porn video can go 20-30 minutes, I can totally see a scene going 5-6k words.

 

[StillStunned]

Of the stories I've published here, "Pas de Trois" seems to have the longest sex scene. It's around 3500 words, with a voyeur watching three dancers.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I have one story that is approx 12k words and the sex is over 5k of that. It gets no special praise or great score for all of that smut but unlike some of my other stories with much lower smut ratio, it gets no complaints. However, it did get a complaint that I snuck in a little bit of plot at the end. The reader felt that it spoiled all the sex.

 

[alohadave]

You know the old saying - a picture is worth a thousand words. If a porn video can go 20-30 minutes, I can totally see a scene going 5-6k words.

Most porn videos could be cut down by at least half and still be fine. 30-45 minutes of a woman moving from position to position and the stunt cock being silent can be a little much.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've never received a complaint that a sex scene was too long. I've received some complaints that sex scenes were too short. I tend to favor economy in writing more than some, and that goes for sex scenes. But my sense is that as long as it's interesting and there's a reason for it to be long that there's no absolute limit.

 

[mirafrida]

I think it's like everything else here - erotic tastes vary widely and are highly particularized. I actually have received "too little" and "too much" critiques, along with comments ranging from "the sex scenes are so hot" to "the sex scenes are stupid and/or boring." All you can really do is write what you like, and try your best to keep it fresh and interesting.

 

[nice90sguy]

"she leaned close, her lips almost brushing against mine. I could feel the heat of her body against my chest, taste her breath on the air I breathed

I seriously thought that was written by AI for a moment. I've been spending way too much time playing with AI written porn recently, and it tends to churn out stuff like that easily. Whereas the other, supposedly overly explicit example is actually more likely a human's attempt (and equally unexciting, by the way, in isolation).

I can feel someone's lips almost brushing against mine, and be highly aroused by it, or revolted by it, or fascinated or bored by it. The act is meaningless out of context, as are sex scenes.

 

[StillStunned]

I seriously thought that was written by AI for a moment. I've been spending way too much time playing with AI written porn recently, and it tends to churn out stuff like that easily. Whereas the other, supposedly overly explicit example is actually more likely a human's attempt (and equally unexciting, by the way, in isolation).

I can feel someone's lips almost brushing against mine, and be highly aroused by it, or revolted by it, or fascinated or bored by it. The act is meaningless out of context, as are sex scenes.

To be fair, I churned it out too. It was only intended as an example of phrasing that tends to make the writing more immersive than simple "we fucked". Without context, yes, it's flat and shallow.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

It depends what it's telling us. We know how tabs Dick, Tongue and Fingers can go into holes Mouth, Vagina and Arse, and other buttons that may be worth pressing. But what do A or B feel when the other does something to them? What do they want to do? How do they look and sound and feel? What scents and tastes are there? How comfortable are they, physically and mentally? Are they talking to each other while they're in bed together?

Just don't get too repetitive in the same scene or the same story. Sometimes you need another sex scene, but it doesn't necessarily merit more than half a sentence.

 

[Naughtylit81]

My lowest scoring story is also the one with the lowest smut-to-story ratio.

That is the one story I got feedback saying there was not enough sex and by word count it was a little under 10%.

While there is no right answer what works for me is a 15-20% smut by word count and that tends to get split between a "tease" and the "main event."

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I don't think I've ever checked my stuff on a word count smut to story angle. I tend to think of it as scenes. When I first started, I was keeping it short - my partner always got on me about being more concise, trying not to make things too long, and I decided I would preemptively follow that advice, until I started getting feedback that people wanted things longer. My first stories all focused on one sex scene, with plot wrapped around it. Eventually I got to my current place, where each chapter is something between 13k and 20k words, and I do my best to have a minimum of three sex scenes, and never more than two scenes of story without a sex scene or at least something lewd to keep people's attention.

I've been wondering why one of my chapters, one of the ones that had plenty of sex in it, hasn't done as well as the rest, and I realize now I forgot to have the characters do safe words when they were experimenting with BDSM, and that probably pissed some folks off. You live and learn.

But I do think, one part sex to every two parts story is a good ratio.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I think it should take as long to read as it takes to perform the act. So, anything from 15 seconds to five minutes

Oh no, time it to be equal to our own real life sex scenes?

I've got some serious editing to do....

 

[grey228]

how long is too long for a sex scene?

I read Sarah Hawke's Amazon's Pledge series, and the sex, while titillating, became more of a hinderance to the rest of the story as the plot became more convoluted.

I was speed-skipping through the naughty bits to find out more about her world-building and setting.