Writing Sex Scenes: The Art and the Danger.
Well then.
You’ve got two characters (or more) who have flirted/argued/paid/drank/drugged/lusted their way to the precipice of a sexual encounter.
The first crucial step is making your characters earn the encounter (in whatever manner your choose).
No setup? No payoff.
How a writer handles the encounter itself is of course all important. The good news is that avoiding the dangers of sex scenes is easy. Simply avoid the following…
High definition descriptions of body parts moving in accordance or discordance with other body parts , use of the verb “thrusting,” use of euphemisms for body parts such as throbbing member, shaft, sword of Africa (cut from one of my sex scenes hehe), pearl, mounds, globes, etc., any phrases found in a Mills and Boon novel, any phrases found in a book with Fabio on the cover, any comparisons to fruit.
Ignore the paragraph above if you are Ron Jeremy or if you have a thick mustache.
Whats left you ask? Plenty. Sex scenes are great opportunities to add characterization and build suspense. What kinds of characters make love in a meadow or in a stall at Wal-mart. Are they making love at all? If the setup is done properly, delaying the sexual encounter through starts and stops can be a sweet suspense for the reader.
Perhaps the greatest argument for “less is more” when it comes to sex scenes is the reader’s imagination. Every individual has an existing collection of sexual references from personal experience, movies, music, or books. Writing a great sex scene is about guiding the reader to the encounter properly and allowing the reader to fill in the crucial moments with any combination of their sexual references. Audience participation people.
Even if your sex scene is out of the ordinary. Even if there are unicorns, orcs and Jello involved, Even if your scene is so alternative that most readers will never have seen or heard anything like it. Lead the reader and all the ingredients (characters, unicorns, orcs, jello) to the encounter and trust that the reader will imagine the actual acts to be as beautiful, depraved, innocent and batpoop crazy as you intended.
Some more links on writing great sex scenes. Writing Sex, 20 steps to Great Love Scenes, How to Write Sex: A Man’s Tips.
What makes you barf, cry or laugh in the middle of a sex scene?
Related Posts:
