McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Boingy boingy boingy
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
It's not an easy one, because the way people generally talk about sex in English wants to fall into one of three options, depending which words you use; crude vernacular; anatomically clinical; or somewhere lost in the forests of overblown metaphor. Steering between these is difficult indeed.
A lot depends on what you are actually trying to do, too. I'm of the opinion that a sex scene, like any other scene, should be there for a specific purpose; ideally more than one. And, well, if what you are trying to write is "A works for B, and B suspects A's loyalties are flagging, and B is sleeping with A thinking it will bind them more closely, and A's loyalties actually were not flagging but A is kind of insulted by B thinking this will help and so B is achieving the exact opposite of what B is aiming to do", so much of making that work is focused inside people's heads and on what they say that the "insert body part X in orifice Y" is not really the foreground of the scene. (I have nothing against sex writing that exists to titillate the reader, I just rarely find it works well with characters whose in-world motivations I am connected to.)
LizW65:
--- Quote from: neurovore on September 04, 2009, 06:59:07 PM ---A lot depends on what you are actually trying to do, too. I'm of the opinion that a sex scene, like any other scene, should be there for a specific purpose; ideally more than one. And, well, if what you are trying to write is "A works for B, and B suspects A's loyalties are flagging, and B is sleeping with A thinking it will bind them more closely, and A's loyalties actually were not flagging but A is kind of insulted by B thinking this will help and so B is achieving the exact opposite of what B is aiming to do", so much of making that work is focused inside people's heads and on what they say that the "insert body part X in orifice Y" is not really the foreground of the scene. (I have nothing against sex writing that exists to titillate the reader, I just rarely find it works well with characters whose in-world motivations I am connected to.)
--- End quote ---
In an instance such as this I would stick with motivations and leave the explicit eroticism for another story, as what matters is that sex between A and B happens and why, not that both or one experience earth-shattering climax, blah, blah, blah. The problem I have with many sex scenes is that they're usually poorly written (and often physically impossible) and all sound alike after a while, or worse, the author tries to be creative and comes up with bizarre metaphors that have nothing to do with sex and leave you wondering about his/her psychological state at the time of writing.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: LizW65 on September 07, 2009, 09:17:48 PM ---In an instance such as this I would stick with motivations and leave the explicit eroticism for another story, as what matters is that sex between A and B happens and why, not that both or one experience earth-shattering climax, blah, blah, blah. The problem I have with many sex scenes is that they're usually poorly written (and often physically impossible) and all sound alike after a while, or worse, the author tries to be creative and comes up with bizarre metaphors that have nothing to do with sex and leave you wondering about his/her psychological state at the time of writing.
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I must admit, when I have had a sex scene to write, I have kind of enjoyed doing something that looks on the surface like an odd metaphor and is in fact a clue to one of the participants not being entirely human.
Noey:
--- Quote from: neurovore on September 08, 2009, 02:23:43 PM ---I must admit, when I have had a sex scene to write, I have kind of enjoyed doing something that looks on the surface like an odd metaphor and is in fact a clue to one of the participants not being entirely human.
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Things like this are the way I think sex scenes should be used, like any other scene. It's a well constructed story that has scenes which always in some way forward the plot, and so in my own writing, I only include a sex scene if I can do something relevant with it. The way two characters relate to each other can be shown by the way they are during sex, in the things they do, say, etc. Things can happen during sex that move the plot along. Life doesn't always happen with one's clothes on, you know? So, I don't necessarily skip sex scenes altogether, but at the same time there are times when I'm reading, and I get the image of Meryl Streep in She-Devil in my head questing for a euphemism and coming up with a phrase that still makes me snortgiggle, love button. So, I'll read or write a love scene, but I avoid love button scenes like the plague. Unless, of course, I'm feeling goofy. :D
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Noey on September 08, 2009, 02:43:20 PM ---Things like this are the way I think sex scenes should be used, like any other scene. It's a well constructed story that has scenes which always in some way forward the plot, and so in my own writing, I only include a sex scene if I can do something relevant with it.
--- End quote ---
Agreed absolutely.
--- Quote --- Life doesn't always happen with one's clothes on, you know?
--- End quote ---
No; there's the whole span between June and September where it's too hot for clothes, frex.
--- Quote --- Unless, of course, I'm feeling goofy. :D
--- End quote ---
Making a Disney gag here would be superfluous, wouldn't it ?
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