Date Posted:12:04:05 07/20/20 Mon Author:JeffsFort Subject: Awesome Question In reply to:
River Acheron
's message, "(E) Sex in stories" on 05:27:50 07/17/20 Fri
I've always looked at it two ways. I personally haven't had an opportunity to flesh out a sex scene in anything I've written but, that's not because I don't approve of them. Not at all. I mean, there are different reasons to cover sex in a story and some of those reasons I just don't enjoy.
To me, either you are writing about love between two people in a realistic situation or, you are writing about gratuitous sex as the main focus. One is intended to add to the intensity of an already intense situation, the other is textual porn. And both do have their place.
I think it's up to an author what they want to share in a story. If an actual sex scene would somehow change the feel of a story negatively, in changing the focus for too many readers, then I can see situations like I've experienced where I felt too many people were concerned with "will they or won't they" when it comes to a possible relationship growing. In that situation, I was more concerned about that tension being lost if I were to let them pursue it too soon and get their freak on. (LOL!) The actual "Will they or won't they" became a tease. My readers were so much more concerned about the fact that these two were so clueless of what they had that they began asking for a relationship between the two for them. Which I thought was absolutely awesome. Not sex, a relationship. It started out with feedback that they should "hook up" which I didn't want. In that situation, I chose to begin a relationship with a single spontaneous kiss, in the final scene of the story. Their readers were just so excited that it finally happened that I got flooded with "I knew it!!!" emails and texts. Excited without me once writing about what they were doing behind closed doors. It wasn't my original plan but when the final words got typed out, I couldn't have been happier with how it all unfolded. And that reader feedback about the final realization was even more enjoyable than writing the story itself.
That doesn't mean I'm opposed to writing a sex scene. I'm not even concerned about the sex being focussed on as eroticism. I just haven't come up with a storyline to write about that needed to show that kind of intimacy. I do enjoy those kinds of stories, absolutely. Comicality is one of the best when it comes to adding sex to intensify without changing focus. You genuinely love his characters so when they finally share themselves with each other, you are absolutely drawn in to the entire illusion. Then there are the ones intended to focus on that sexually driven fantasy life that our inner teenager refuses to let go of... Those are fun as well but for a much different reason :)
JeffsFort