When eroticism is not pornography

Request

How does one learn to write erotic language without cliché?

She waded in the shallow surf till we stood facing each other and then allowed the beach towel to drop from her breasts, and smiled, showing her nakedness in the moon’s light. Delicate shivering’s crept silently over the shore, themselves wearing only the faintest of white sashes, frayed around the edges, their sound soft in my ears.

It was 2:00 a.m. on a small Hawaiian island, but my first reaction was to look around, embarrassed as she smoothed her hands over her breasts, then down across her stomach. My eyes followed until I wanted to touch the warm mystery beneath her fingers.

Okay…okay…what the fuck! Does anyone on Medium write eroticism without pulling on every erotic cliché known to man? The following paragraph of the above was to be full of words like sucking, stroking, deeply, currents of pleasure, tongue flicking, moaning, bloody hell, it drives me insane.

I’ve read several (supposedly) erotic pieces on Medium, for the sake of learning, of course, and nothing, not one piece taught me anything about the way to write good eroticism. I’m bored and pissed off with moistened lips, surplus fluids, shafts, and glands?

A couple of years back, I wrote a piece called A Saucy Tale. Lady Sarah Bellington, saved by an infamous pirate from the clutches of Drake’s motley crew, was, while at the same time terrified, aroused by the pirate’s muscle and dominance.

I have since dropped the story to edit and rewrite, I hope, a better version. It will be better because I’ve learned more about the way I want to write. But I always fall foul of cliché.

Just wondering if I’m alone.