1) Using words that aren't sexy. My favorite examples: moist, juicy, plowed, etc. Or referring to any kind of orgasm as ripping, pulling, or slipping through flesh. I was guilty of this in a lot of my beginning stories and now it's on the Watch-Out Edits list.
2) Keeping an intense focus on the action throughout the scene using all five senses. One of my favorite things to do is to use taste in a scene as much as I can. Don't recall where I read that writer's barely utilize this sense, but the notion stuck with me. It's a fun one to toy with.
3) Head-hopping. This can happen in any manuscript, but in an erotica piece staying in focused point of view makes all the difference. The reader wants to be in the situation with every turn of phrase, which is why sticking to one sole point of view of either the hero or heroine is the best choice. Don't try and do both unless it's longer than a novella so that a reader can become fully immersed in the sexy goodness and emotional intensity that each sex scene brings out.
4) Explaining the basic sexual mechanics without the passion. No tab A into slot B. If it's not working either come back to the scene when you're in the mood or cut it altogether. Half-assed sex scenes are worse than no sex scenes. The scene doesn't have to be dripping with emotion, but it takes a certain turn of phrase and involvement to make it sexy.
5) Leaving the sexual stakes on the side lines. Despite the fact that erotica doesn't have to a happy ending or even a definitive relationship, sex still changes people. This should be reflected in every single piece. No matter what happens in or outside of the bedroom with characters, they have a stake in the sex and that should be displayed and exploited at all times. The deeper an author goes, the more the readers will enjoy their story.
6) Purple prose. Believe me, I know finding different words for cock and pussy can be time consuming and tear out your hair inducing. But for the love of the erotica goddess, don't be swayed into using anything like man meat, love stick, or elongated shaft. If the basics and their normal acronyms aren't working for you then try restructuring your sentence and making it tighter. When in doubt, tighten, tighten, tighten. A valuable, if sometimes time consuming, lesson.
7) Don't write anything you're not passionate about because it's popular. Sometimes I think this is a no-brainer, but I've been known to dip my toe into the water and a lot of those manuscripts sit on my desktop in a folder--either unfinished or not up to my standards because I wasn't 100% into it. Don't take the time to write a story unless the premise turns you on, because when you get into the nitty-gritty of the piece and you're not feeling it, no one else will either.
8) Don't be afraid to push deeper no matter how deep you think you've all ready gone. And now I sound pretentious.
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