Setting the Mood in your Mature Roleplay

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DawnsLight

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What makes sex so sexy? Something that makes your toes curl and your breath come quicker, something that makes your heart race and gets the juices flowing? It's more than just two impossibly good looking characters coming together and bumping uglies. Ask Barry White and he'll tell you that you've got to set the mood. It's more than just describing the scene, it's describing how the scene feels.This article will hopefully move you in the right direction to setting up your steamy scenes versus just writing out a bare-bones pinch and squeal session, baby. Aww yeah.


The first step to setting the mood for your mature roleplay is super basic and something that you should be doing in ANY roleplay on the forums: character development! Let the reader know who your character is and what their motivations are. Why are they with the other character? What is driving the attraction? How do their emotions effect the situations they are in? Describe the emotions and motivations before you even get to the sexual encounter and lay the groundwork for a realistic and believable scene. It should be more than just they think the other is hot and want to do them; that's where you get into cybersexing territory. Nothing wrong with that,but this is a roleplaying and writing community. Make it hot and enjoyable for everyone else to read, too!


Now that your characters are developed, their relationship fairly well-defined and seasoned with a little sexual tension, we can move on to laying the scene! This can be a little difficult at times in my opinion. It's easy to derail the mood with description of the surroundings, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, focus so much on the interactions of the couple that you're left with a “white room” scenario. Neither of these is particularly sexy for anyone to read about! So instead, use them both to your advantage! Let the interaction feed off of the scene, and let the scene give shape to the interaction. For example:


“John laid Sue down on the bed and climbed on top of her, kissing her throat as he ran his fingertips along her sides.”



Here,we're in that white room scenario. When we include the scene, it becomes:


“The bed creaked quietly under their combined weight as John laid Sue down upon the quilted coverlet and positioned himself above her. The soft light streaming through the window was diffused by the sheer curtains, making the skin of his lover seem to glow beautifully. He kissed her throat as he ran his fingertips along her sides.”



Not a whole lot of detail needed; now is not the time to describe the crown moldings around the room! Just enough to let the reader see how the couple interacts with their surroundings while interacting with one another.


So you have your characters! You have your scene! What else do you need?How about those emotions? Just because your characters have dropped their undies at the door doesn't mean that you have to drop the internal monologues and all the things that make your characters well-rounded there too. This is a huge part of setting the mood foryour sexy scene. In the scene above, John and Sue are pretty one-dimensional. They don't even seem to be alive besides moving. Are they in love? Are they angry? Is one hiding something from the other? Don't be afraid to use your mature scenes to continue character development. It's a time of incredible intimacy with another person, something rarely felt otherwise, so don't let this little storytelling goldmine go untapped!


Continuing to build on our example above, let's add that character depth to the mix:


“The bed creaked quietly under their combined weight as John laid Sue down upon the quilted coverlet and positioned himself above her, his heart tripping in his chest. They had waited so long for this moment and he was going to finally show her how much she meant to him. The soft light streaming through the window was diffused by the sheer curtains, making the skin of his lover seem to glow beautifully. Drinking in the sight of her, it was like seeing her for the first time all over again. A warm smile spread across his face as he kissed her throat. John's fingertips trembled slightly as he trailed them lightly over Sue's sides, listening for her reaction to his attentions with bated breath.”



Now that's sexy and romantic! But that's easy given the scene, right? Let's just change up the emotion and see how that can make a change in the mood.



“The bed creaked quietly under their combined weight as John laid Sue down upon the quilted coverlet and positioned himself above her with a snarl. He had waited so long for this, and he would be damned if she was getting out of it this time. The soft light streaming through the window was diffused by the sheer curtains, making the skin of the woman seem to glow beautifully. His eyes raked her hungrily, breath coming quicker in anticipation of what was to come. Ignoring her protests, he kissed her throat roughly. John raked his fingertips along Sue's sides with a wicked, possessive growl.”



Pretty intense! Despite the scene and the actions remaining the same, the shift in emotion changes the entire mood of the encounter.


Hopefully with these simple tools and tweaks, you're able to heat up those steamy roleplays with more depth and detail. I've seen a lot of really interesting-sounding plots devolve into bland one- or two-sentence cybersex sessions a few posts in because the players didn't take the time to develop their characters, had them go at it like bunnies in a white room, and give them no more emotion than paint drying. Even if the purpose of the plot is just to get it on, at least get it on well! Write erotica, not just glorified sexts under the guise of a character; your writing skills and your readership will thank you.
 
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