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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/40327
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Usually a story will have a narrative arc of increasing suspense: obstacles become more and more difficult to overcome, setbacks more painful, complications more confusing, the stakes are raised higher and higher, hopes and fears become almost unbearable, until the plot culminates in a climax and the tension is released in the end. Basically, a good story has the structure of an orgasm.

But how does this work in an erotic novel? How do you increase erotic tension, when your characters already have crazy sex on page three and then once every chapter?

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For the purpose of this question, I'm using the following definition of "erotic novel":

_Something that you read as a mastubatory aid._

And because you don't read a whole novel in one sitting, each evening's amount of reading must provide a means for the reader to achieve orgasm. Which is why innuendo alone will not suffice, and there has to be some good climaxing sex going on regularly all through the novel.

I understand that others have other concepts of what an erotic novel is, but for **my** question, please respect my definition.

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I have posted a follow-up question: [Conflict and antagonist in an erotic novel](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/40908/conflict-and-antagonist-in-an-erotic-novel)

Original score: 9