Words it pleases you to use

[HectorBidon]

Once you send a reader to the dictionary you've broken whatever erotic spell you were trying to weave.

So to some extent word choice involves a tradeoff between the word that seems most appropriate to you as an author (and that hopefully will be appreciated by at least a portion of your readership), and a more workaday word that perhaps gets the job done but without the same panache. I get paid the same either way, so I usually go with the word I like. In fact, I've used many of the words mentioned above. (Not "callipygian" though.)

If that sends some readers to the dictionary, well, at least it's not as hard these days as it used to be. I was once quite enamored of the work of Anthony Burgess, and I tried to read everything of his that our local main library contained. He employed quite an extensive vocabulary, and when I came across a word I didn't know I would make a mark in the margin and then go back later and copy it into a notebook, along with its dictionary definition. This broke the spell of the story to some extent, but it was a worthwhile endeavor in its own right. This is the way I learned the words jism, steatopygous, and decolletage. Two of these have served me well on this site.

 

[KeithD]

Breaking the spell in erotica is a bit less desirable than breaking it in a historical romance.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Loads of nacreous things in my worlds. If its not nacreous then it's iridescent, or opaline, or opalescent, or pearlescent. If it's got that mother-of-pearl luster, I can't help but point it out.

 

[RachelWalsh]

Caveat: I have a respiratory infection and a mild fever, so if this sounds delirious, then sorry.

I was doing a little writing last night before I got more sick. I got to use “frenulum” in a story. I’m kinda amazed that I haven’t before. Such a lovely word for such a lovely piece of anatomy. I guess I have been with more uncut guys than average.

Now I know it’s maybe a bit exclusionary to use medical terms (I have had people complain about me using “glans” and “mons” before as well), but it’s such a nice word, it just rolls off the tongue .

Do you have any words you like using, despite, or maybe because, they are recherché, abstruse, recondite or arcane?

Em

Poor baby. I hope you are all fixed .

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Once you send a reader to the dictionary you've broken whatever erotic spell you were trying to weave. Afraid I have no idea what some of the words that have been offered up here mean--and I have a pretty good, educated working vocabulary.

If a word is guessable from context, it shouldn't detract from a story. I certainly learnt many words from erotica over the years.

 

[KeithD]

Guessing the meaning of a word or just skipping through it without knowing how it fits? If you take time to guess it, you're being thrown out of whatever erotic spell was being weaved. If you just zip through it, it might as well not have been there to begin with.

 

[EmilyMiller]

If a word is guessable from context, it shouldn't detract from a story. I certainly learnt many words from erotica over the years.

I wonder sometimes about the “use simple words” brigade. So we ignore Conrad?

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

I struggle with writing that is overly full of tiresome flowery prettiness. I loathe having to wade through endless paragraphs of run on complexity that has been included purely to:

1. boost word count or
2. show off the writer's sense of superiority.

At the same time, I really struggle to get involved in written versions of "THAG AM BANG ROCK" - unless they're ironic and hilarious(ly bad).

I like words. I like using frisson instead of shiver; I like using gripe instead of grumble. I like using words that lend themselves somehow to what I'm trying to describe.

But, and this is important - big words are strong seasoning. They must be used with care and in the correct proportions. That proportion varies based on your recipe and what you're trying to create, but if you go and spread copious quantities of glistening nacreous secretions during an unanticipated ejaculatory emission all over your contemporaneous, contemplative meretrix's alabasteresque mammati... well, you might end up with a bun in the oven somewhere but it's not going to be a very nice cake.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I struggle with writing that is overly full of tiresome flowery prettiness. I loathe having to wade through endless paragraphs of run on complexity that has been included purely to:

1. boost word count or
2. show off the writer's sense of superiority.

At the same time, I really struggle to get involved in written versions of "THAG AM BANG ROCK" - unless they're ironic and hilarious(ly bad).

I like words. I like using frisson instead of shiver; I like using gripe instead of grumble. I like using words that lend themselves somehow to what I'm trying to describe.

But, and this is important - big words are strong seasoning. They must be used with care and in the correct proportions. That proportion varies based on your recipe and what you're trying to create, but if you go and spread copious quantities of glistening nacreous secretions during an unanticipated ejaculatory emission all over your contemporaneous, contemplative meretrix's alabasteresque mammati... well, you might end up with a bun in the oven somewhere but it's not going to be a very nice cake.

Your (exaggerated, I realize) example is clearly appalling. Using the recherché for the hell of it is problematic. Then setting aside the perfect word for fear that it dent a hypothetical reader’s opinion of their own vocabulary also seems like a recipe for drabness.

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

Then setting aside the perfect word for fear that it dent a hypothetical reader’s opinion of their own vocabulary also seems like a recipe for drabness.

Oh entirely. I simply prefer Gothic to Rococo. Also, I had to look up recherché - thank you!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh entirely. I simply prefer Gothic to Rococo. Also, I had to look up recherché - thank you!

I like self-reference

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

back on topic - corsage in terms of parts of a dress. I love the word in that it relates to the bodice, which is another fantastic word.

Ooh, ooh, and alabaster. I don't know why, but I love the word.

 

[YANKEE DAN]

I struggle with writing that is overly full of tiresome flowery prettiness. I loathe having to wade through endless paragraphs of run on complexity that has been included purely to:

1. boost word count or
2. show off the writer's sense of superiority.

At the same time, I really struggle to get involved in written versions of "THAG AM BANG ROCK" - unless they're ironic and hilarious(ly bad).

I like words. I like using frisson instead of shiver; I like using gripe instead of grumble. I like using words that lend themselves somehow to what I'm trying to describe.

But, and this is important - big words are strong seasoning. They must be used with care and in the correct proportions. That proportion varies based on your recipe and what you're trying to create, but if you go and spread copious quantities of glistening nacreous secretions during an unanticipated ejaculatory emission all over your contemporaneous, contemplative meretrix's alabasteresque mammati... well, you might end up with a bun in the oven somewhere but it's not going to be a very nice cake.

I'm 100 percent the opposite, I love flowery language. It is a struggle to create something like an erotic prose poem but in my current series I'm attempting very poetic descriptions of the sex, just a paragraph here and there, not to insult the reader tho lol, hopefully it pleases some people's romantic sensibilities.

 

[yowser]

Kayla gave him an exasperated look. "Puissant? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Demarcus loved this word, nobody outside of some obscure English lit major would know it. He couldn't remember where he had first heard it, but its charm had stayed with him.

"Potent. Possessed of or wielding power. What could I possibly be talking about?" he asked, wagging his pelvis.

"You could look it up in the OOH - EE - DEE," he continued, exaggerating the letters, pretty sure Kayla didn't even know what the Oxford English Dictionary was.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I struggle with writing that is overly full of tiresome flowery prettiness. I loathe having to wade through endless paragraphs of run on complexity that has been included purely to:

1. boost word count or
2. show off the writer's sense of superiority.

At the same time, I really struggle to get involved in written versions of "THAG AM BANG ROCK" - unless they're ironic and hilarious(ly bad).

I like words. I like using frisson instead of shiver; I like using gripe instead of grumble. I like using words that lend themselves somehow to what I'm trying to describe.

But, and this is important - big words are strong seasoning. They must be used with care and in the correct proportions. That proportion varies based on your recipe and what you're trying to create, but if you go and spread copious quantities of glistening nacreous secretions during an unanticipated ejaculatory emission all over your contemporaneous, contemplative meretrix's alabasteresque mammati... well, you might end up with a bun in the oven somewhere but it's not going to be a very nice cake.

I think much of it hinges on your target audience. Yes, yes, the audience is 'Lit readers', but that's a lot of people and there are a lot of different wants out there. One can write 2,000-word strokers using Grade 8 vocabulary and get wonderful results. On the other hand, there are a lot of readers who like more literature in their smut.

Every follower is a person who approves of your vocabulary and such.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Kayla gave him an exasperated look. "Puissant? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Demarcus loved this word, nobody outside of some obscure English lit major would know it. He couldn't remember where he had first heard it, but its charm had stayed with him.

"Potent. Possessed of or wielding power. What could I possibly be talking about?" he asked, wagging his pelvis.

"You could look it up in the OOH - EE - DEE," he continued, exaggerating the letters, pretty sure Kayla didn't even know what the Oxford English Dictionary was.

Or if your speak a little French…

Em

 

[djrip]

Or if you read The Scar, Mieville can't seem to stop using it

 

[Zootonius]

Any mellifluous word. Of course, 'mellifluous' is self referential.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Full.
It's a great word. And in the context of erotica can be used so many wonderful ways.
Smile
It conveys so much.
Scream
In fear, pain, or pleasure, it perfectly captures what the character is feeling.
And my favorite is
Kiss - no explanation is necessary.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Purr

 

[Bazzle]

juxtaposition- I just like the sound of it...not particularly erotic mind you.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

meters, kilograms... Just to give a finger to the Americans!

 

[MrPixel]

meters, kilograms... Just to give a finger to the Americans!

Then how about "stones"? Useful in multiple contexts.

 

[EmilyMiller]

meters, kilograms... Just to give a finger to the Americans!

What if the American likes to be fingered?

And don’t you mean metres and kilogrammes .

Em

 

[AwkwardlySet]

What if the American likes to be fingered?

And don’t you mean metres and kilogrammes .

Em

See, you can't even spell them right. You are so corrupted Em