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August 03, 2004

writing sex scenes

The first thing step in tackling this rather difficult topic is to make a list of examples. I'm going to start with a variety of sex scenes, some of which work and others that don't. My criteria (and this is, of course, totally subjective) are pretty basic: I judge such scenes as effective if they are evocative, fluid, true to character, and contribute to the development of the story. An effective sex scene can be written in a wide range of styles from minimalist to Proust-ish; the beauty of the prose may add quite a lot, but it's not an absolute necessity in this -- or any other -- kind of story.

Each scene was chosen because it illustrates something instructive, positive or negative. I have tried to construct a list which contains a range in matters of expliciteness, tone and approach. What I'm going to do is this: tomorrow I'll start discussing these scenes one by one on the basis of short excerpts. The idea is look at the choices the author made, the underlying mechanics and process, what works, what doesn't. By the time I'm done I hope to be able to articulate clearly some basic guidelines for effective sex scenes of different types.

A quick word about my personal take on these scenes: it's just that, my take. I expect that there will be differences of opinion. Finally, because it goes against the grain to hold somebody else's work up as an example of things going wrong, I resort, in some cases, to withholding author and title.

The scenes I'm going to analyze (in no particular order) come from these novels:

Welcome to Temptation, Jenny Crusie. A first sexual encounter that isn't working out well for Sophie until Phin takes drastic measures to prove to her that she does have some fantasies, after all, and he knows just what to do about them.
Faking it, Jenny Crusie. There's a scene in this novel which is the only example of a failed first sexual encounter that I know of that works on multiple levels.
Possession: A Romance, A.S. Byatt. In the Victorian era a famous poet of considerable standing, married, and a lesser known woman poet, unmarried, travel to Yorkshire to together in the culmination of an affair conducted by letter.
"The Well Known Act" Robyn Bender. Farscape fan fiction, NC-17. How to go to extremes, and still keep successful control of the story and the characters. The readers are on their own, however.
Endless Love, Scott Spencer. In a scene toward the end of this novel of obsessive young love the author takes some big chances.
Eleven Minutes: A Novel, Paulo Coelho. Maria, a young woman from a small Brazilian village, sets off on a journey of sexual discovery and ends up a prostitute. This is told from Maria's POV, which is... well, you'll see.
The Indiscretion. Judith Ivory. A historical romance which pulls off a number of risky manouevers.
[titles withheld]. Bad, bad word choices and the damage done.

As I go through this process I'll be touching on a number of related issues, including editorial input (there's an interesting comment to yesterday's post which raises the question of changing mores). Also, if anybody wants to suggest a scene from a particular book for discussion, please yell. When I'm done with this, if there's still interest, I may try to repeat the process with a sex scene in one of my books. Sauce for the goose, to quote Robyn.

August 3, 2004 08:18 AM

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Comments

Oh, good -- You do know how to cheer a girl up during an annoying week in the Real World. I'll dig through my collection of Helpful Hints and Bad Examples so as to have something pleasant to bring to the potluck .

Posted by: robyn at August 3, 2004 06:57 AM

I have to say, I think Jenny Cruise does sex scenes well. Now, for the most graphic sex scenes, I have to go with Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series. That girl gets around and it's always great. Of course, that's just my sick mind talking......

Posted by: Tracey at August 3, 2004 02:11 PM

oh no, we can't have the word 'sick'. This discussion won't work if we start censoring ourselves, okay? And I guess I'll have to check out Anita Blake -- unless you want to direct me to a good example of such a scene straight away?

Posted by: sara at August 3, 2004 03:18 PM

I like when an author can build in a lot of tension to begin with, so that the sex scene is all the more interesting/exciting/relieving when it finally arrives. I was just reading High Five yesterday, which is where Stephanie Plum finally, um, gets her man (one of them at least), and while I was glad Evanovich didn't play with us for the whole series on that, I was glad she waited a few books to make me wonder if she was going to. Just about any book that's going to have sex scenes in it will build up to the event in some way, and I suppose Evanovich's way is nothing terribly special in that regard (although later when Stephanie is interested in both Ranger and Morelli, that gets a bit interesting and unconventional; generally there's One Special Boy for the heroine, and that's all); hers is just one that came to mind since I just read it recently.

Posted by: Rachel at August 4, 2004 10:47 AM

Hi Sara,

I will delve into my Anita Blake series this weekend and pull an example for you.

Tracey

Posted by: Tracey at August 5, 2004 02:56 PM

actually its in four to scoure that stephanie gets some lol!i would know this because i have read the whole series and read the books multiple times its in four to score and its in the 160's...and janet evanovich does find a way to build up to those seens and i think it was awsome the way she had stephanie think during the first time...like about the rumors she has heard and she also used comedy in it(aka GOD BLESS THE ANIMAL KINGDOM!)also first sexual encounter with the "other man" isnt till the 8th book...but that series is funny......

also i was looking for a new series ill check out the anita blake series sounds fun!

Posted by: Nicotine at July 11, 2005 06:54 PM