Learning to Write the Erotic: Workshop Methods

Fantasies are common, but putting them into words is a step many people never take. Workshops on erotic writing exist for that gap, giving participants a group setting in which to try material they might never show anyone else.

A one-day session in Toronto, led by a poet and editor and held in the offices of a small literary press, offers a useful picture of how such classes are often built. The details below come from the leader's own description of her method and are presented as an illustration of the format.

Fear of sounding foolish

According to the leader, the biggest barrier for beginners is worry about sounding ridiculous, whether by hinting so shyly that nothing is said or by being so blunt that the page turns crude. She described having felt the same reluctance herself, until she noticed the comic side of sex and found that laughter made drafting easier. In her view, erotic writing does not need to be grave, and amusement can sit comfortably beside desire.

The exercises were built to lower that guard. One piece in her own book started from an invented fetish and a task to sketch a film treatment for it. Another grew out of a personal challenge to write a threesome. She described the process as unmysterious: the work consists of pushing past self-censorship and putting an imagined life down honestly.

Finding words for desire

A main goal was to help participants locate a vocabulary of their own. Writers were encouraged to widen their range of sensual language and to notice which terms felt natural and which sounded borrowed. In poetry, one image or line with a sexual undertone can shift an entire poem, and she gave an example in which a single stroke of colour carried the memory of a night together. In prose, the craft depends on scene, time, place, dialogue and character, and in both forms specific detail does most of the work.

Two related ideas

The leader drew a distinction between the sensual and the sexual. Sensual writing dwells on touch, clothing, scent and small gestures, and it can prepare the ground for what follows. Sexual writing is more direct and treats the act as the centre of the scene. She saw the two as parts of one spectrum, so that a writer at ease with either could grow by experimenting with the other.

Originality came up as well. Stock phrases and familiar scenes are quickly recognized by readers, which makes fresh, concrete detail the surest way to avoid cliché.

Sessions like this typically welcome writers of every level. Fees, schedules and venues belonged to that single event and do not describe any ongoing programme.