When Writing Sex
When reading or writing sex or any type of sexual contact on any level, I cannot help but wonder where most authors get their inspiration for such stories from. Do they actually go out and tie people up and hit them with riding crops? Or, is it all just a chalk up to imagination? I know one author in particular that writes from experience where whips and chains are concerned, which only makes me really wonder about everyone else all the more.
I know that when I write any two characters kissing, I write from experience. I write my characters feeling a bit lightheaded or breathless or having their lips and tongues sucked on. It feels good when you do it in real life, so why not in fiction as well? At least that is my thinking. And yes, I know that that might have been too much information, but considering all of the smut in my fandoms, I hardly think that this counts as a drop in that very, very large bucket.
On that same note, I think about the way my own body shifts when I take my clothes off or the way my breasts rise up when I raise my arms above my head. Hell, I even think about what it feels like when I get all hot and bothered when writing a character as they become aroused. It's all because I want to get the details right. To make the writing ring true to something that could actually happen. Sure, it would easier to write up some inane drivel about shining ponies and strawberry kisses, but real sex isn't like that. At least none of the encounters I've had with the various stages of sex have been that way. Maybe that's the section I am missing out on. Who knows?
My point is that because I write a great deal of all of my works (fiction and non-fiction) from either my own experiences or those that were told to me, I had found it hard to bring myself to write those words and thoughts down in the past. I found that they were simply too personal to share with anyone, no matter how much time I might spend thinking about it.
I am now nowhere near being a Smut Queen, because I simply cannot write that much porn all of the time, but there has been less of a reluctance to let Hermione cop a feel off of Cho. (Because we all know that they are seeing each other in secret, but that's another entry.) This lack of Smut Queen-ness, if you will, is also due in part to the fact that I have to read fiction sometimes, too.
And in this jumble of wondering about whether other writers write strictly from experience or imagination or a combination of the two, I cannot help but also wonder how long it took said writers to get over their initial reluctance to have Severus and Hermione or Cloud and Sephiroth or *insert other characters here* do the wango tango. Logic would insist that experience would make it easier to write sex scenes or kissing or a good, hard grope, but that rather closeted away bit of me that made me freeze up (and still does on occasions) at the point of actual intercourse insists that this is not necessarily so.
That shadowy part of me was rather adamant about not writing sex, after having done so all out quite a few years back. Sure, I got pretty darned good reviews for a beginner, along with a helpful tip about foreplay, but there hadn't been much in the way of smut attached to my name since then. Even though I always felt this pressure to write everyone and anyone having a honkin' good time if I wanted any of my stories to be read, I just couldn't then. Eventually, that feeling morphed into something else. A lot of that had to do with me joining fandoms that didn't have any smut written that I could read, or there was a pairing that was just begging to be written in that particular manner.
So after all of my babbling, my questions remain as such: Do your own personal experiences help you write smut, or do they keep you from doing so, feeling that it would be too personal? I would also love to hear how long and exactly how other people managed to get past that particular hump in writing?
No pun intended.
All right, maybe a little pun.
Danielle
Crossposted: My LiveJournal
Notes: Let me know if this is essay-ish enough and if I got the Tags correct. I can change them if I didn't. : )
ETA: Real life has decided to throw me for a loop, so I will answer everyone's comment as soon as I am able to. I am glad to see that other people got to thinking. : )
I know that when I write any two characters kissing, I write from experience. I write my characters feeling a bit lightheaded or breathless or having their lips and tongues sucked on. It feels good when you do it in real life, so why not in fiction as well? At least that is my thinking. And yes, I know that that might have been too much information, but considering all of the smut in my fandoms, I hardly think that this counts as a drop in that very, very large bucket.
On that same note, I think about the way my own body shifts when I take my clothes off or the way my breasts rise up when I raise my arms above my head. Hell, I even think about what it feels like when I get all hot and bothered when writing a character as they become aroused. It's all because I want to get the details right. To make the writing ring true to something that could actually happen. Sure, it would easier to write up some inane drivel about shining ponies and strawberry kisses, but real sex isn't like that. At least none of the encounters I've had with the various stages of sex have been that way. Maybe that's the section I am missing out on. Who knows?
My point is that because I write a great deal of all of my works (fiction and non-fiction) from either my own experiences or those that were told to me, I had found it hard to bring myself to write those words and thoughts down in the past. I found that they were simply too personal to share with anyone, no matter how much time I might spend thinking about it.
I am now nowhere near being a Smut Queen, because I simply cannot write that much porn all of the time, but there has been less of a reluctance to let Hermione cop a feel off of Cho. (Because we all know that they are seeing each other in secret, but that's another entry.) This lack of Smut Queen-ness, if you will, is also due in part to the fact that I have to read fiction sometimes, too.
And in this jumble of wondering about whether other writers write strictly from experience or imagination or a combination of the two, I cannot help but also wonder how long it took said writers to get over their initial reluctance to have Severus and Hermione or Cloud and Sephiroth or *insert other characters here* do the wango tango. Logic would insist that experience would make it easier to write sex scenes or kissing or a good, hard grope, but that rather closeted away bit of me that made me freeze up (and still does on occasions) at the point of actual intercourse insists that this is not necessarily so.
That shadowy part of me was rather adamant about not writing sex, after having done so all out quite a few years back. Sure, I got pretty darned good reviews for a beginner, along with a helpful tip about foreplay, but there hadn't been much in the way of smut attached to my name since then. Even though I always felt this pressure to write everyone and anyone having a honkin' good time if I wanted any of my stories to be read, I just couldn't then. Eventually, that feeling morphed into something else. A lot of that had to do with me joining fandoms that didn't have any smut written that I could read, or there was a pairing that was just begging to be written in that particular manner.
So after all of my babbling, my questions remain as such: Do your own personal experiences help you write smut, or do they keep you from doing so, feeling that it would be too personal? I would also love to hear how long and exactly how other people managed to get past that particular hump in writing?
No pun intended.
All right, maybe a little pun.
Danielle
Crossposted: My LiveJournal
Notes: Let me know if this is essay-ish enough and if I got the Tags correct. I can change them if I didn't. : )
ETA: Real life has decided to throw me for a loop, so I will answer everyone's comment as soon as I am able to. I am glad to see that other people got to thinking. : )