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{Main } / Promotional Text Style Traps

Good copy is game of percentages. No one gets everything right every time, and only the most experienced writers get many things right the first time. Here are some thing to look out for.

'He' and 'His'

Beware of 'he' and 'his.' In most gay porn everyone in the scene is a 'he.' That is not such a problem in solos, but when there is more than one guy, confusion may result. Call your characters by name often (which in much material will be the model's name). Give the full name the first time you refer to the model, Then choose one version of the name and stick to it.

Before long we have a model named Cameron Austin. Call him by the full name the first time. Then you may call him Cameron, Austin, or Camm, but make it the same throughout. Porn names being what they are, models may have similar names. Then it is especially important to use the distinctive parts of their names and refer to a given model by the same distinctive part throughout.

This is not an English exam, so you do not score points by arguing that in a particular case your pronoun reference was correct. You score points by not confusing the reader. Repetition of names is not so boring to the reader as it may be to you.

Beware of this and that.

Many times "Phil's ass" is much more helpful than "that ass." "Yeah, fuck that ass," or "Suck that dick" may sometimes be effective dialogue, but it is lousy narrative.

No More Cowgirl

A certain part of the gay market, perhaps a small part, will find any feminine reference boner wilting. We could write a small book about why this should not be and how wrong they are to react that way. But you know, their money is the right color. So let's avoid sending them away with all of it. "Cowgirl" is really insider language anyway. It might be useful in writing a scenario. People who are not offended by feminine references will never notice if you write "bull riding" instead.

Do Not "Start" to Do It

The only reason to mention someone's starting to do something is if he is stopped from doing it. So no: "Ashton starts to suck Austin's dick." Make it "Aston sucks Austin's dick."

You must choose one tense and stick with it. In describing scenes, the present tense is often used, but in some case the past tense (as is used in most stories and novels) will also work—I you use one or the other consistently.

Willful Body Parts

Okay, we are well aware that some parts have minds of their own. (And outside of porn sometimes they are very stupid minds.) However, body parts acting of their own accord is a metaphor that gets threadbare fast. Let's save it for sexual spasms and reflex that possibly are involuntary.

So not: "Phil's hands began to grope…," but "Phil groped…."

"Imagine"

Most of the time "imagine" occurs in promo text, it seems to suggest something like "you can imagine something hotter than this shot," or "you'll have to imagine the shot we did not get," Don't invite reader to imagine. Invite them to (join and) watch.