Fanfic Writer Blog

Ghosts (2021—) | Season 5, Episode 12 "The List" | Rose McIver as Samantha "Sam" Arondekar, Rebecca Wisocky as Henrietta "Hetty" Woodstone and Danielle Pinnock as Alberta Haynes

1-2 weeks: maybe 400 words

The four whoresmen of writing Smut:

Position

Motion

Emotion

Sensation

Fun fact: you can apply those to fight scenes too.

Position is pretty straightforward - who’s on top, who is on the bottom, who’s penetrating who if penetration is happening. Is a leg lifted, tied, pushed back? Is someone’s hand pressing against someone’s sweaty skin?

Motion can be pretty cut and dry too - hands sliding over skin, fingers caressing, lips kissing, changing from one position to the next. How fast is the thrust, how much impact is behind a strike? Is it a bruising pace, or is it languid?

Emotion can take the same scene and change the tone. Are they both happy to be there? Is someone not as into it? Is there so much tangled up between them that it’s hard to clearly comprehend other aspects?

Sensation - is the kiss wet, soft, rough, dry? Are hands soft or calloused? Are the position changes taken with care or does the rough bite of stone beneath them scrape their skin?

Mixing these up can help you avoid a sense of repetition while you’re writing any dynamic scene. But also omitting one entirely can impact how the scene reads as well. (Ah when I say omitting, I don’t mean you must avoid it 100% - though you can, but just leaning back is enough)

Omitting position, and leaning on sensation and emotion can provide a chaotic, harried, almost desperate feeling. It doesn’t matter WHERE the hands are, so long as they’re gripping the other person. It doesn’t matter if someone is screaming into the bedding, just that they’re cumming so hard they’re screaming.

Omitting motion can leave the scene feeling disconnected. It’s good for if your perspective is coming from someone who is drugged, or exhausted or otherwise disoriented. The sensations might be making it through, but their too addled to understand what’s causing them.

Omitting emotion can leave the whole scene feeling disconnected. Performative. Business over love. An obligation. Not necessarily unwanted - noncon is most certainly emotionally charged - but omitting the emotions vs describing them as neutral helps it hit better imo. (Emotional disconnect can also be used to show defeat, acquiescence, etc. you gave in and just don’t care anymore).