Writing Sex
Sexuality is a vital aspect of human life, from desire to pleasure, romance to tragedy, politics to power. Yet sex in literature is often treated as an inappropriate obscenity, or worse: cringe!
In defiance of this, join Tina Horn for a combination lecture & workshop on how to use sex to be joyful, horny, and heartbreaking in your writing, whether you’re working on creative fiction, journalism, memoir, entertainment, or simply journaling and letter writing in your personal life.
Learn to enjoy the juicy dramatic potential of bodies, methods for illustrating the symbolic potential of fetishes, and how to develop an erotic prose style all your own. Mystery, world building, concrete detail, abstraction, aesthetics, story structure, character arcs and archetypes, tease and denial, irony, and yup, even penetrating puns are all in play for this one-of-a-kind craft class.
The workshop will include a craft lecture from Tina, followed by collaborative exercises where attendees will have a chance to write from a prompt and workshop one another’s work. You’ll learn techniques to bring to future projects, get recommendations of great sex writing, and have a chance to participate in a live Q&A. We’ll discuss how to draw from your own experiences, how to use your imagination to experiment, and how to value the erotic elements of your creative life.
Tina’s background ranges from BDSM porn to a Masters in Creative Nonfiction, from zine-making to mainstream political journalism, from university lectures to podcasts and sci-fi comics. Join AORTA films and Tina for this unique opportunity to gush all over that blank page!
Rising Action: imagining narrative structure, fetish symbolism, and character archetypes to satisfy our desires and experience better fantasies
Most of us have imaginations alive with erotic fantasies; and, we could all use some practical creative methods for experiencing these abstract dreams with others. In this workshop, we’ll synthesize craft techniques of unforgettable genre storytelling — melodrama, action-adventure, horror-thriller, romantic comedy, and more — with the fundamentals of the erotic experiences you want to have, and to share. From the Three Act Structure of BDSM communication, to consensual nonconsent as the dramatic catharsis of pity and fear, character archetypes, fetish symbolism, and emotional metaphor in kinky role play, narrative arcs and the sexual response cycle, and much more, let educatrix Tina Horn guide you to developing your own creative kinky style.
Tina Horn combines 20 years of experience in professional BDSM and pornography with her career in literature, journalism, performance, and podcasting about queerness, fetishes, dirty talk, and erotic fantasies to bring you a workshop as pragmatic as it is fanciful, always with an eye towards de-mechanizing oppression through community and making the world a better place with hedonism.
Hustle the Blank Page: The Craft and Business of Writing About Sex Work
Not to be too obvious, but writing about SEX WORK means writing about both erotics and labor. These challenging topics are highly personal and extremely political. Whether you’re writing for artistic self expression, journalistic investigation, or simply to get a bunch of stuff off your chest, sex work writing by sex workers can be fraught with misunderstanding even as it has the potential for liberation.
Join Tina Horn, longtime pro-domme and pornographer, as well as high profile published writer of both nonfiction and fiction, for a workshop about sex industry writing. We’ll discuss some vital questions like: Are you writing as the same persona you use for clients? Do you want your writing to be a turn-on? How do you defy stereotypes even when they’re sorta true to your life? What if you want to discuss federal policy, grassroots organizing, or whoremother history when your editor wants you to utilize tropes?
The class will address topics of publishing, genre, craft, and more:
What are motivations for writing memoir, and what are some options beyond autobiography?
What anonymity can we expect in today’s world of surveillance?
What are the book, podcast, magazine, self-publishing, and public speaking spaces really like in 2026 in terms of payment and exposure?
We’ll discuss how to draw from your own experiences, how to use your imagination to experiment, and how to value the erotic elements of your creative life.
Comedy and tragedy, mystery, world building, concrete detail, abstraction, aesthetics, story structure, character arcs and archetypes, tease and denial, irony, client dialogue, pulling back the curtain to the locker room, the good bad and ugly of coming out, shoes, doctor’s appointments, taxes, social media, and more are in play for this one-of-a-kind craft class. We’ll include collaborate prompts and an optional chance to share your work with one another.
You will leave this workshop with a better understanding of why you want to write about sex work, tools for developing a prose style all your own, techniques to bring to future projects, recommendations of great writing by sex workers, and a chance to participate in a live Q&A.