What makes a good Lemon?

As a Lemon writer, I'm always trying to improve what I do. The only problem I see is that when people post their commentary, sometimes it's just a "good" or "bad" with no specific detail. But then again, some people do post detail about what they liked, and what they didn't.

So I'd like to know something from both sets of people - In your opinion, what makes a good Lemon? Is it the fappability factor? (Yes, that's a word.) Is it proper grammar and spelling? Is it only good if your favorite series/characters are involved?

I wanna know, and I'm sure other writers would like to know this as well.

Good is such a vague term for lemons, since that is very different for most people. The content is the most important part, and different content will attract different people. You could write an awesome lemon about twincest, and one guy would think it awesome while another would just go 'meh', so you can never please anyone with simply writing a 'good' lemon. That said, things like spelling are a must, since it's hard to take people too seriously when they can't spell the illicit activities they are trying to write about. Character/Series also matters, but this is once again a preference thing; perhaps the best thing to do in order to appeal to a mass audience is making it an original.

To me, a good Lemon/Fanfic has the characters behaving in character. RavenDrake's first chapter of Are Friends Electric has Mio acting very Mio-like while being raped by Mugi. Grammar is not supremely important but readability is important.

Like most stories out there, my Lemons do have a few grammar errors and typos here and there, but that's never been that big of an issue. I think my problem is that I only do a small variety of series, mainly because I don't watch/read many others. I suppose I'd better start downloading something a little more mainstream.

Besides spelling and proper things like that, I try to keep the characters in-character, so I don't think that's really my issue (although it was at one time.)

What do you guys think story-wise? Do you prefer 100% shameless smut, or do you like a plot tossed in somewhere? Or do you prefer erotic literature, a story with sex sprinkled in once in a while?

If I was looking for shameless smut, I'd just as soon rather watch hentai or something. Best to have an interesting plot, something to really draw in the reader before you get down to the dirty tidbits.

A good lemon? Here are some things I would look for.

1. Story setting - setting the mood and tone of a well-written lemon is key
2. Character development - if it was shameless smut, all lemons would be the same, and I'd rather watch hentai for that.
3. Story pacing - pacing becomes important, either as a one-time sex climax or sex spread throughout the story.
4. Sex scenes - as much as the other elements are important, if your sex scene can't arouse either my attention or my dick, it fails as a lemon but works for a simple romance.
5. Bondage - my personal liking ftw.

g-money, you made me figure something out when you mentioned bondage. Like tsuyoshiro said earlier, opinion/preference is a big thing to whether someone finds the lemon good, and g-money's bondage preference is a perfect example.

Sad part is, I like bondage too and I've only involved it in one story ... I need to start figuring out more peoples' fetishes.

I hoped you looked at my first four points because that's what really matters in a lemon. It can be anything from bondage to incest to normal sex to rape, but as long as those four elements utilizeds well in the story, it'll make for a hell of a compelling and sexy read. (Unfortunately, a lot of people are indifferent to bondage... for shame for shame.)

I gotta see your work on bondage, must share!

Chapter 16 of my Pokemon story. It's both tentacle (well, vine) rape and bondage.

Woahh...
bondage, tentacles and pokemon...that one seems to be really hardcore.

but I suppose that a good lemon is one, which can arouse people and arouse them for good without being too brutal.

I remember that one book..."Emmanuelle" I think it is called.

That one was sweet. After I read it I had to go and *cough cough* "buy" some love for a couple of hours...

I actually enjoy most Lemons provided they are more then a one shot.

Becuase, meaning no offense to anyone, but lets face it. A one shots ending usually involves sex. So theres no real need for filler.

Although.. that one i read that was about 10,000 words long wasnt bad...

Heres my major factors:

1: Plot above all else. I couldnt really care if the characters are acting, as long as the plot and story are good.
2: Setting the mood is a key factor. If you set the mood for sex right at the begining I tend to not read it. I dont mind smut, but I dont want it to be thrown at my face
3: If I know the series, I tend to care about whether or not the characters are acting somewhat in character. But ive noticed this can be percieved differently by others, so its not a huge case to me.
4: Writing the smut smoothly. Making it into something close to poetry you could say. Not something incredibly simple.
5: Spelling doesnt really matter to me, or grammer, unless its so noticable that a 3 year old who can barely read or speak can tell. I can usually sort out what the person meant...

Actually.. I tend to replace the word or fix the grammer before I conciously notice its there.

And as for this chapter 16 pokemon thing... either give me a link to its location elsewhere or post :P I must read!!!

Diction, diction and more diction.

I enjoy writing lemons myself, but I only ever show them to my close friends because I have very poor diction. My writings come off as very monotonous and bland because I use the same terms to describe relatively every situation of every story I've ever written. You can't be afraid to use new and unique terms. Never allow a story to become bland by common and mundane word choice.

Many things are a factor here.

1. Of course every male (and sometimes us females) go looking on one of these topics to, well you know what i mean. So keeping a certain kinkyness and such to it is definately important. To keep this up try something new or even strange. Be surprised how many people will like it.

2. Every person, male or female, loves a good story to go along with it. It has to flow while not being too stocky in the beggining or afterwards. Something new should happen often but not to the point where its new every sentence.

3. Grammer is always important as well as spelling. Its something that catches the reader's eye and momentarily pulls them out of the fantasy world youve sucked them into. Its happened to me many times online where i notice a typo on anything im reading and if its a really good tale then im totally out of it and dont feel it with as much intensity (Boys, i want no bou chika wa wa)

Thats the best i can serve up at this point. Ive been meaning to write a story for here for forever and never got around to it. Its hard meeting up motivation and freetime. I ussually just end up playing halo or something. (Yeah preordered ODST yesterday X3 )

"...good plot..."
"...good story..."


Wow. Now I am curious.
What do you mean by "...good plot for a lemon..."?

A good lemon has intimate scenes that are well written and descriptive. Yeah....

I've written a couple and I've gotten good reviews by the few who've read them... Ah hah... Still not that good of a writer... x.x

like what most people said it's easy to write smut, but you need to finesse it, keep it at a smooth pace, don't let people know hey this is a lemon right off the bat. work it into it.

Keep it smooth, and simple yet complex and descriptive. Just take everyday situations and think how can I make this sexy?

One thing you have to think about is that you need to be calm and focused when writing it. I've often seen lemons start out well, but then the writer got hasty/excited/horny/whatever and the quality dropped. It's good with imagination - you certainly would want to visualize yourself into the story to get a good grasp on how to write it, yet you still need to have some control so you won't go overboard.

Other thing is I like is lemons to be more sensual, not hardcore rough'her'up sex - for that, I can just watch some hentai or a porno flick, not read a story about it. Stories can get much closer to your senses than a pornographic pic or movie, imo, so I like to see some more tender/romantic moments in lemons.

Hmm, what else? Choice of words is also very important. Can't write 'pussy, pussy, dick, dick' all over the story. That's a big turn off for me, at least.
Good environment/character descriptions is useful too, so it won't be plain and won't leave too much for the reader's imagination.
Describing the actions the characters make carefully is needed as well.

Well, that's some of the things I can think of. Hope it's somewhat useful ;)

Repetitiveness in a lemon is also a huge turnoff and can, a lot of the time cause a reader to "quit" on a story and find something better to read. Especially in the sex scenes, which are the prime factors in a lemon, writing the same scenario and experience for every time sex is mentioned or happens can cause a person to loose interest fast.


Also as many others have mentioned plot and diction play a major role in all writing. That being said, even if your lemon writing isn't up to par, readers will still take an interest in your story and continue to read it up to the very end earning you more promising reviews.

I've written to date, 11 lemons, all on FF.Net.

And I've come to know that what makes a quality lemon fic is plot, staying within character as much as possible, setting and minimal grammatical/punctuation errors.

I can write about the most unimaginable pairing and yet somehow, bring them together but keep the fic within boundaries without sounding too unbelievable. It's really all about style and approach. Plus, if the lemon is in good taste, it'll come around when the time is right.

I'm not a PWP writer because I like my lemons to show progression. And when a fic shows a story can be developed, more readers tend to pay more attention and appreciate the fic, including the lemon. :]

The most important aspect of writing is consistency in characterization and pacing, so I'd guess a lemon would be no different. Personally, I don't write lemons because I'm no good at writing about sex in detail, but if you can produce a competent romantic plot between two characters then all you need to do is really concentrate on the act itself.