The Art of Writing a Sex Scene, Part 2

[zelda_zee]

Thanks again to elliotsmelliot and to everyone who responded to the first part of this essay. My apologies for the delay in posting the conclusion of it.

Warning: essay 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

Comments

[haldoor]

Hey Zelda Zee! I cannot for the life of me think of a single thing to say right now, other than awesome essay. I know I probably do/should have things to say about sex writing, but right now, I cannot focus my brain on what exactly, so I'm hoping to come back later and add something. I never got around to saying anything in the first part either, and believe me, it wasn't due to lack of interest. I need to read through all the comments there, and do some re-reading of the essay, I think, so give me time and we'll go from there. (not that I'm an expert, but I do approach things slightly differently from you, so it's my 2c worth, and probably worth something, I hope!)

[zelda_zee]

Thank you, hon.

I'd love to hear anything you have to say, cuz you write smut with a fair amount of regularity and I'm sure you've got opinions about it. I'm especially curious about anything you approach differently than me, that'd be really interesting to me to learn about. But whenever, you feel like it, no hurry! :)

[falafel_musings]

Great great essay once again, zelda. This is all excellent advice that I shall definitely be taking on board!

If two characters are having sex and your POV character is ruminating about something about the relationship or her/his sexual history or her/his partner’s sexual history it can be distracting.

*blushes* Okay, I totally did this in my Baltar/Gaeta sex scene and I'm sure I've done it before. Yup, I did it in my Charlie/Bonnie/Greta threesome too, with a flashback to the old Driveshaft orgies *shakes head*. I don't know why I feel compelled to throw flashbacks into my sex scenes. Actually in my original fic many of my sex scenes come in the form of flashbacks or ruminations. I never really considered that it could be distracting and ruin the 'in the moment' feel of the sex scene. But you're right. I'll keep it in mind.

The best bet is to simply pay careful attention to your characters and your story and if you do, the rhythm of the scene will naturally take over. If you pay attention to that rhythm, it will carry you

[zelda_zee]

Thank you! I had a bitch of a time with parts of this one, so I'm glad if you found it interesting

[falafel_musings]

With your Baltar/Gaeta fic I'm torn as to how that worked - you're talking about Baltar's vision, right? Because I do have to admit that when I was reading that it threw me out of the scene pretty completely Well, with my Baltar/Gaeta there was also a flashback rumination on how Baltar had lost his virginity. As for the vision scene with Baltar, yup, you would need to watch the show to really understand that part. It's a major part of Baltar's character that he sees visions of the cylon Six almost constantly. She's like his imaginary friend and she often invades his mind at inappropriate times. It IS jarring. Even on the show it's jarring. It can bug me too. But it's a big part of Baltar's character so I try not to ignore it. From a story perspective it was important for Six to undermine the sex between Gaius/Felix (*sigh* it's a very doomed pairing). If you're reading for the sex I can see why it'd be v. frustrating! Yeah, it probably would've worked just as well post-sex. Maybe this comes down to my silly climaxing issues again?? *

[zelda_zee]

I went back to your fic and the virginity bit was only a couple of sentences. I don't think it was that distracting. Plus, your POV character appears to be very self-centered. It doesn't seem a stretch that he'd tend to be thinking about himself when he ought to be thinking of his partner.

Really, I didn't have an issue with the vision. It's not like I need sex-focused porn all the time. I respect a story that uses sex as an important plot element. I think the only thing that really niggled was wanting to know if Felix had had an orgasm or not. It seemed kind of important to the dynamic between the two to know that.

Oh, Withdrawal was so fun. And dirty! It was my first time reading Sayid as a Dom. Needless to say, I found the idea captivating.

I adored that scene on the show where Charlie disses Ana and hands Sayid the gun. God bless Dom, he really is brilliant at imbuing pretty much anything he wants with sexual subtext.

There are 5 Withdrawal fics (I think that's all of them) linked at ficonastick, themoononastick's fic comm. Click on her Charlie/

[zelda_zee]

I'm glad you've figured out you like writing sex. You're good at it, that's for sure. I love it when you do. :)

Well, that feeling of embarrassment just adds to the fun. Having an element of 'omg, I can't believe I'm saying that' makes it kind of exciting. I wish it happened to me more these days. I think I've used up most of my embarrassment at this point! I do have a kink for having my characters be embarrassed though - or reading it in other people's fic. I wonder it that's related?

The caring side of kink is something I adore as well. gemjam wrote a whole fic on that theme yesterday which just sent me to heaven. I've always referred to the kind of kink I like as emo kink - I like established relationship, affectionate kink, even if it's quite harsh. I particularly like it when the writer goes to the trouble to make it caring, no matter what's being done and to establish that even something like one character hurting another is being done because it's what they both need to happen. And then I love the aftercare, yes, it makes me all

[janie_tangerine]

does anyone else find that it's easier to write sex when you have an 'excuse' for doing so?

*raises hand* here! When I say comment porn it just really comes so much easier! I swear that it took me four (long) gen fics before I went and slashed Desmond and Sayid all the way, but in that comment porn post I did ages ago two people asked for it and I went, wrote full on sex and didn't have a problem with it. *shrug* we must make some comment porn/fluff kinks club ;)

[elliotsmelliot]

Thanks for posting this and using such helpful examples from your own fic and others to illustrate your arguments. As someone who only writers fade to black sex, I still enjoyed your commentary because a lot of the points I think are relevant to writing in general, or I found interesting as a reader.

Actions are the hardest for me to describe. Seriously, I can be at a loss to describe how someone is fidgeting. I’m worried about a scene I’m working on right now that has people standing there and talking for the longest time. Is that in character or am I just being lazy by not having them move around more? I admire anyone who can choreograph the logistics of a sex scene because there is just so much going on. I’ve resorted to blocking things out before in person or with stick figures and have used Mr. E.S. (knowingly and unknowingly) as a participant, just to see if what I was imagining would make sense.

It’s important to keep the emotional story focused throughout - not to be distracted by possible (and possibly tempting) tangents

[zelda_zee]

Oh, no problem and thank you. I'm sorry this got delayed. Life got in the way and then I really had a hard time with some of this part

[elliotsmelliot]

Sawyer grunted and came. 'Awesome,' he mumbled. The next sound Sayid heard was a snore."

Ha! It sounds so crackish when it is put that way! Poor Sayid, no post-coital cuddles!

I am a big fan of re-writes. Every time I open my fic, I read from the beginning and make big and small changes. I only know it is ready to post when I can read through it and not fix anything. Sometimes when I am stuck on the action amid dialogue, I just write the conversation first and go back to add in the descriptive stuff.

I know you are helping Falafel with her story, and possibly others, but would you have time for another beta this week? I was not going to take you up on your offer mid-series, but I am concerned about the pacing of my Desmond looks for Penny series.

[gottalovev]

that was fascinating. very clear, articulated, you know what you are doing and what works for you, that much shines through!

I agree that there are several elements needed for a sex scene to work. and i found fascinating the examples you used for showing how a character can be recognizable even in situations where he's probably out of his own comfort zone. because let's face it, a lot of character we slash probably never had any adventures with other men. right there, we have to use a bit of imagination to sell it to our readers.

but when it works? a good sex scene will just smoke and there is probably nothing more satisfying (as a writer it's quite an accomplishment to get some "gah! so hot!" and as a reader, to be all hot and bothered ;) )

[zelda_zee]

Thanks, hon. It's definitely just what works for me. I kinda wish everyone would write a big, long writing meta on their own particular process. I'd be up for reading that!

It's definitely an aspect of writing slash, making the case for it to the reader. It's part of the fun of it too, finding ways to bring the characters together in a plausible way. I like that part of it anyway. Usually.

It is incredibly satisfying to go for the hot and get that fb that says you hit it right. That's a thrill that never gets old!