Feb 17, 2009 01:13
A fact is not the truth until you love it. I don't remember how exactly this phrase got stuck in my head, but it pops up to the surface, every time FFR goes into virgin smut frenzy.
Most of the rants share a basic intuitive understanding that the experience comes first. Then the ranters jump to conclusion that without having that experience it's impossible to describe it. But any experience contains not only the bare mechanics of the process, but also emotional component. It's fairly easy to research the mechanics (and then tear each other apart in the neverending battle at FFR over to lube or not to lube). However, most of the smut fails on the emotional side. Having the necessary experience doesn't guarantee that this experience will be internalized. Without internalization, any experience is useless. The opposite case holds true as well. If there's nothing to internalize, the probability of failure is just as high. One needs to have some sort of emotional bank to make withdrawals to compensate for the lack of experience.
But regardless of the starting point, if the author doesn't shoot for emotional honesty, all their careful research will amount to nothing. (Or rather to that PWP #32411 that starts washing away from your memory as soon as the characters reach their inevitable and simultaneous orgasms if not earlier.)