I was talking with Kylie the other day about the fact that I don't write sex scenes in my stories. She pointed out I do okay in chats with her in that regard, so why can't I write them in fiction? Anybody else struggle with them?
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I don't write explicit sex scenes
In my stories sex is inplied rather than described. I tend to make it obvious where it takes place but I wouldn't have a clue how it feels or anything; I've never had sex - in either role. Not my choice; it just never happened. Heavy petting as a woman - yes; sex - no.
S.
I don't either
My characters are mostly underage teenagers and I, personally, feel it's inappropriate to describe sex between underage individuals. If I ever do write about adult characters, I really don't know if I'll include explicit sex scenes or not - if the plot should lead to them. I imagine I will feel conflicted about it.
Lisa
I don't do sex scenes
I usually find them tedious to read or to watch in films, so much of mine is implied or a bit of teasing/titillating with my readers but never quite describing the act. I'm sure for those who want to read it, there are better describers of sex than I.
Angharad
Angharad
I write amazing Sex Scenes!
Like Angharad, though, I really don't like putting them into my stories.
First of all, I think that the quality of writers here are nothing less than
amazing, and I would feel badly to resort to such a vulgar device amongst
them, in whose great company I as yet need not feel ashamed.
I did put sex in several of my stories, but in each case, it was for a very
specific reason. In The Unicorn's Gift, there is a scene that is meant to
resolve all doubt as to what physical transition the protagonist has undergone,
as well as to demonstrate her mental confusion. It threw some people, but
most understood the intent.
When it is appropriate, to develop some character or plot in a story, I do
like to tread lightly. There is a fine line between sharing a character's
important physical relationship in a plot-line, and the gratuitous use of
the Vulgar descriptives tending toward titillation.
Those I keep for Myself!
Sarah Lynn
It is one thing to joke ...
I can crack jokes about some big strong man pinning me down and making me gasp and scream, but as far as writing specifically about the um wet ans slopply part, well there are lots of people out there who describe it in full gory detail. I do not care to try.
:)
K
Hinting at Is Usually Close Enough
When dealing with intimate relationships, I am a firm believer in allowing the reader in using their imagination. If the characters are sufficiently developed, all a writer needs to do is take the reader right up to the moment, then cut to the next scene.
I opened ‘Caitlin’ in a very uncharacteristic way for me, trying something a bit racy in order to let the reader know this isn’t Caitlin’s first rodeo. The following is about as explicit as I get, (From the prologue of ‘Caitlin’);
Slowly, reluctantly, Caitlin rolled over and faced William. Placing a gentle hand upon his cheek, she ran her thumb across his lips. “Tis time, my love.â€
Cracking open an eye, Greaves regarded the winsome ginger across from him. “You Irish really do know how to ruin a perfectly good dream, don’t you?†he whispered as he reached up, took the hand from his cheek and brought it over to his lips, kissing the delicate but calloused hand as he did so.
Unable to help herself, Caitlin graced William with a mischievous little grin as she slipped her hand away from his, slid it under the covers and rooted about until she found what she was after. With a gasp, the captain’s eyes flew wide open. “I thought you said we needed to go?â€
“The war will wait,†the bright eyed Irish lass murmured seductively as she cast aside all thoughts of any consequences and turned her full attention into loosing herself once more in a waking dream, one that would be over soon enough.
If a reader wants more then this, there are plenty of other writers who will gladly entertain the one handed keyboarders out there. Me, I’ll stick with being a prude who allows the reader to use their imagination to fill in the blank.
Nancy Cole
www.nancycole.org
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Very good show my Dear!
Very British.
What was that saying, 'close your eyes and think of England, and it will be over quickly'?
But you're right Nancy!
LoL
Rita
Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
(Mark Twain)
LoL
Rita
As in my life
what little sex there is in my stories mostly takes place offscreen
("After a month of not seeing each other our reunion last night was passionate, to put it mildly.")
There's some kissing in some, and once I had two cars rubbing their tailpipes together
( http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/8817/dt-body-work );
but even my adult characters are usually busy with doing something else besides screwing,
and any lurid sex scenes in these stories would seem tacked on.
I don't worry about the frequency or infrequency of sex in my stories or what it means,
I write about what interests me; and the one time a highly detailed sex scene was called for
(a body-swapped individual missing her lover who was several states distant and lapsing
into a fantasy of what sex with them would be like in her unasked-for new body...)
I just tapped into my own fantasies, and did okay. Or at least nobody laughed.
Maybe because there was a strong emotional element in it. I wouldn't want
to write about fucking just for the sake of fucking. Like Gary Oldman
said in SID & NANCY: "Booooooor-ing!"
~~chaste platonic undersexed hugs, Laika
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
I really try and not
to write sex scenes that are just about the sex. But to me there's part of me that likes to put the steamy in the moment. It's part of the persons life and there are a whole lot of us who want to tell someone, anyone about how happy something can make us. Sometimes it's in gory details.
Bailey Summers
I can see that.
Maybe I'm wrong (can that happen?), and in your stories I've not seen anything I find unacceptable. Oh, a few situations, but those weren't actually about sex-more about the horrible situations your characters find themselves (like Hunter's "PARENTS". Ugh!). I guess you're right-presented correctly, it can be more about the joy than anything else.
Wren
Mostly off screen
I mean let's face it, unless you're right there in the moment as it were sex is pretty boring. Now and then it's sorta nec to include a bit, but mostly allusion is the go. I think I have one 'close up' in a story and even then I cut away before we get too intrusive. Too much and I think most would mentally turn away, I know I do and not out of prudishness. It's simply tedious most of the time. Depends on the story and how the author goes at it.
Kristina
I never do sex scenes. I've
I never do sex scenes. I've hinted a few times, but not even much of that. I wouldn't have a clue how to write one as I have absolutely no experience in that arena. I'm sure I screw up what romantic/intimate stuff I do write since I don't know how these things go in real life. I mean, I don't even know what a kiss feels like! :(
My lack of romantic experience kept me away from writing that sort of thing at first. Somehow I haven't been burned at the stake since venturing, somewhat, into that area. But sex scenes would be far too much for me in all sorts of ways.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Most of my characters are too broken :-(
My characters tend to be 'damaged goods' when it comes to their approach on sex. It's not really an intentional thing, and I'm not just talking Robin/Nicole either. Kelly and Margie are still adjusting to the "I'm dating my best friend/dating a woman" dynamic for example. But it's also a matter of it just not adding anything to the story.
Sex is like duct tape - no, really, bear with me here ;-)
Some people believe duct tape is the perfect patch for every situation and every repair job. They'll patch a floor, plug up a leaky pipe, and wrap a hand laceration with duct tape and never do anything else with it.
Have you ever seen a gigantic floor patch made out of duct tape? It's hideous and tacky. But when used for its intended purpose, duct tape works very well. It does its intended job, and nobody laughs at you for using it.
Don't be afraid to use duct tape; just be sure it's the right tool for the job at-hand. ^_^
I saw a great example last night
I watched Black Swan last night (If you're into psychological thrillers, WATCH THIS MOVIE :-) Even the "boo" scares made me jump), and there's an apparently infamous lesbian sex scene that at first, I thought wasn't going to add anything to the movie... Until {Highlight to read} Lilly denied the whole encounter, claiming she was with the guys they met at the bar. She was genuinely shocked when Nina confronted her. {End Spoiler}
It was put there to further reinforce just how far the character's mental illness had gone (As well as her submitting to her darker impulses and passions), and it did so spectacularly. While definitely not a scene I'd want a kid to see, that pretty much describes the entire movie in the first place. :-)
Yes, I do!
I know that some people prefer more sex scenes, bit I generally try to stay away from explicit sexual scenes (except on some older stuff I posted on Fictioneer). I don't see a great need for it, and most of my favorite stories have not needed it. It happens, but I don't feel the need to go into great detail. I don't write porn, I write about feelings, desires and I try to project my dreams onto reality. Maybe I don't do so well sometimes. I never said I was a great writer, I just try to tell an entertaining story.
Wren
I'm with the majority here, Hinting, and leading up to the act
should usually be enough, unless there is a specific reason it must be covered. I have not written any, but I do edit stories that have explicit sex scenes, but they have almost all been an important part of the plot. I mean, c'mon, I think I'm adult, being at retirement age. But I do not see X-rated for the sake of titillation as wanted, leave alone needed.
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
writing sex
Go to the drugstore and browse the rack of paperback books. Pick out one labeled "romance." Give it a read and chances are you'll see what a sex scene written for the mass market looks like.
Strange Parallel
Almost as if deliberately parallelling this blog and its comments, in today's SKIN HORSE (the comic, bottom of this page), Unity the patchwork girl is reading a romance/fantasy paperback aloud to Sweetheart the talking dog. She quotes this passage:
Deep in the royal boudoir, Ambyrr stroked the gnarled thews of the Goblin Prince.
Kheen shied from her touch. He cried, "No, M'lady! How could you love one so monstrously strange as I?"
"Because you're super hot!" said Ambyrr.
Then they totally had sex.
The zombie-girl and her canine friend/co-worker agreed that this was a great book.
Such a wonderfully odd, imaginative and funny comic, I'm so glad it's here...
~~viva SKIN HORSE! Veronica
,
(Of course it also appeared below many blogs that it had no relevance to...)
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
Radio drama had it right
the imagination is KEY to a sucessfle story.
Enguage a listner/readers imagination and they will to the rest better than you could ever imagine.
Plus graphic depictions of sex are so ofter tacky and well, not sexy.
I mean how sexy is "They inseted tab A into slot B again again and again, harder harder... OMG! UG!"
Versus say the young lovers come down to breakfast after their first ever night of passion -- of which NOTHING was described other than they slipped into eachothers arms and ignored everything but each other. On reaching the kitchen the first comment they hear is his mother say,
"Dear, you really do need to keep it down when you two are, um, doing it. You woke the whole house up with your ... enthusasim. The guard in the gate shack thought you were being assaulted until I informed him other wise."
"The State Patol knows? I am like sooo dead!"
Or so a certain heroine of mine might say... if I ever get that far."
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
*gigglesnort*
I love Skin Horse, and that particular episode had definitely tickled my funnybone. I did write what I thought was explicit a while ago in a couple of my All of You drabbles. Based on some of the comments people had left, I guess they weren't as explicit as I'd thought they were.
As has been said, quite well, so far...
I tend to let the reader imagine the sex and just set things up to hint at it in my stories. Less work for me, more fun for the reader with an imagination and all that.
The old time strippers had that one down. What you don't see but imagine is better.
Maggie
Yummy
They were about to pass the restaurant when they realized that they were getting hungry.
---
They walked into the dining room hand in hand. The delicious aromas made their mouths water. They ate their meal slowly, savoring each bite and enjoying the love that they shared.
---
They were so hungry that they couldn't help themselves. They pigged out, stuffing food into their mouths with gay abandon.
---
She stabbed the country fried mountain oyster with her fork and teasingly waved it in front of his mouth. His tongue darted out, knocking the fried morsel into the air. He snagged it deftly with his lips, then slowly nibbled and sucked it into his mouth. He savored the rich, musky flavor as he slowly masticated the dead animal part. Her ruby red and oh so kissable lips were slightly parted as she awaited his attention. Sparks flew as their lips met. Lips pressed together, they shared the finely masticated mush back and forth, their tongues intertwined.
Romance
I think most people want a journey of discovery
with romance, but no sex. But that is so hard to
achieve unless you're a writer with great talent.
BCTS has a few such authors and I will not mention
their name in fear of leaving some one out. I think
Boy's School is a good example of a well written
story that has a journey of discovery.
Nooky
[AA announcement]
My pen name is Cyclist and I am a romantic
[/AAA]
I have written two explicit willing sexual encounter, because the stories in question needed them. I have written a number of rape scenes in one series because they were integral to the plot. Everything else is nuance, hint, suggestion and romance. I don't really see the need for anything more.
Just posted one
My motto has always been that when asked about your sex life, smile and say nothing, they will think you are getting plenty, if you aren't then it's none of their business. Either way the asker will make up their own mind.
However, I have just posted a chapter of Alternative Release where the two main character finally end up talking about love as opposed to sex. I hope that the scene I have painted does not offend people but instead encourages readers to think about how they approach the act of 'making love'. Sex can be mechanical, in more ways than one, but like fine dinning it should be taken over time with care and good company.
I guess it depends on our own experience in the bedroom as to how we communicate the activity.
So smile frequently and leave them guessing
Kerry :)
Sex Scenes...?
Okay...
Yah, I write them. I've even used a lesbian 'how to' manual as a reference! (Not actually having been a lesbian myself...)
Having years of experience though, is the best I can do for what I write.
Wholeman
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.