In this episode, Jo (@pebblysand) and her wonderful guest, @celestemagnoliathewriter talk about smut. A fic genre in and of itself, generally encompassing what is known to the rest of the world as erotica, smut is an integral part of fanfiction writing and culture online. They discuss the purpose of writing smut, the different kinds of smut and the appeal it can have for some of us who don’t necessarily relate to mainstream pornography. They also discuss the ethics of writing consent, the difference between writing sex and smut, and the level of detail required to write good smutty scenes.

Obviously, this episode contains explicit chats, so beware. Also, please note that Celeste and Jo generally write smut in the context of straight relationships, which is what we mostly discuss here. If you are a writer of LGBTQ+ relationships and would like to come on the podcast, please feel free to hit our ask box on tumblr or contact me through DMs. We would love to have those conversations as well!

This week, we mention:

• my dad wrote a porno (podcast)

Your recommendations for this week are:

• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• “The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic” by QuinnAnderson
• Smut Thesaurus on Tumblr
• A quick guide on what makes something mature/explicit (the envelope post)
• Reddit - if you type in “smut” to the search bar in the fanfiction subreddit, you can find a whole lot of opinions and examples of smut. Just today (7 Jan) there was a post about what folks would like to see more of in smut. Every few days there’s a smut related post. Read through them and see what you like and don’t like - and don’t take it personally when others disagree with what you like. Fanfic and smut is about curating your own experience, whether reading or writing, and you do you.
• Lewd Vocabulary

You can find us online at:

• The Fanfic Writer’s Craft: tumblr ; spotify
• Celeste (@Celestemagnoliathewriter): tumblr ; AO3
• Jo (@pebblysand): tumblr ; AO3