The Art of Writing a Sex Scene, Part 1

[zelda_zee]

Thanks to elliotsmelliot for encouraging me to write this and post it here.

Warning: Includes frank discussion of sex and porn and lots of naughty words. Look on it as NC-17-rated meta.
Disclaimer: This essay is entirely subjective. I’m not trying to tell anyone how they ought to write, I’m just offering my own opinions based on my own experiences.

Comments

[janie_tangerine]

*cough* We're two dorks, actually I'd totally quote you on #7 *coughs again* ;)

[janie_tangerine]

My icon is awesome!! ;) seriously, as soon as I saw it I had to have it.

-high fives back-

[dustyirish2003]

Count me as the third dork ... nothing's more beatiful to me or more of a turn on than those sweet, comfortable moments of fluff. And I adore hand-holding ... sometimes it's the little things like that that say so much more than all-out shagging.

[dustyirish2003]

Dorks unite! And cuddling is an absolute must. : )

[dustyirish2003]

Dorks unite! Cuddling is an absolute must. : )

[zelda_zee]

Thanks, hon!

1. I think it's great that you don't let the embarrassment hold you back. You write lovely, hot, character-driven sex scenes, and if the language is a challenge, it doesn't show in the finished product. Kudos to you for just powering through that embarrassment!

I know het sex scenes are problematic for a lot of people. Personally I prefer when writers use their words over using euphemisms, but I may be in the minority. When writers get to oblique or metaphorical about female body parts I have to roll my eyes and quickly click away, but I have suspected that maybe my long acquaintance with slash fic has given me a different attitude toward that than the average het reader/writer.

2. I understand about that. A lot of times I let the characters drive the sex scene rather than having it all plotted out too. It doesn't always work, but more often than not it seems to.

3. Thanks for the nice compliment! I do read smut for smut's sake, but even in a PWP I like to have something bubbling under the surface. It intensifies

[zelda_zee]

I'm actually glad you mentioned that about alcohol. I'd never have thought to warn for it, but I actually have a fic I may post sometime where one character is wasted and the other isn't, and now I know that I should warn for it.

Drunk people are stupid. I've been one of them lots of times, but when you're the sober one it's no fun.