Just a quick one.
what are your thoughts about sex scenes in Fantasy novels? I'm currently experimenting with expanding on the cut away scenes when my characters get lucky.
I guess I'm a bit of a prude when I'm writing, but I love reading a good sex scene.
So what do you think? do they add or are they a distraction?
I write Fantasy. I write sex scenes. So yeah...I don't have a problem with them:)
However, they must be written well. There is a veritable slew of bad sex out there right now, don't just include it for some strange idea of bonus points (and hey in this particular genre the division between sex/no sex is only just starting to be eroded...a few years ago you may very well have stumbled over some quite heated debates!)
Even last year I started a very good debate on the NaNoWriMo boards.
A word of caution: If you don't want to show the nitty gritty by want the reader to be aware of the sexy direction...beware of fade-to-blacks. It's a boring, repetitive trope. Mix it up. Have a post sex scene, or remembered pleasure during an otherwise unsexy scene. Fades are ok, when used with other methods.
Oh and be aware that not all sexualities are hetrosexual.
Like Victoria, I have written sex scenes into my stories and then largely taken them out again. In the few places where they remain, I have edited them down quite ruthlessly so that they are more erotic than explicit. I found it useful to remember a key quote while I was doing this, although I forget who said it, which was "Erotica is created using a single feather, not the entire chicken." On the other hand, I often find it easier to use the whole chicken in the first instance, then remove everything except the single feather. Generally for me I find it easier to remove things than add to them.
It doesn't matter what the genre - the issue is - why is the (more-or-less) explicit sex in there?
If it is to shock or to titilate - it very soon gets in the way and becomes a negative...
It's like the period of using "fuck" in stand-up comedy some years back... There was a shock value for a short time, in a few jokes the word was appropriate and part of the humour - but - mostly - it just wore very thin - and very quickly.
From a practical point-of-view... What is the sex in the writing for? does it serve some (any) purpose for the story/plot... If it doesn't I would always leave it out.
I could easily write a whole book of sexual short stories, I could also write a sexual novel... except that I would probably keep falling asleep when editing either.
If anyone wants to write sexual material, whether it is light erotica or hardcore descriptive/mechanicl that's up to them... I don't think that it should be dressed up as any other genre - and also - in any other genre more than an essential amount is likely to be intrusive - and - simply - to waste word-space.
There is another potential issue...
Does a writer think that anything from light erotica to hardcore is necessary to spice up their story - or even to just make it "interesting"? This would suggest at least a lack of confidence or, worse, a lack of substance in the story itself.
Why would a good story need more than a gentle indication that characters have a sexual element in their make-up?
Let me put it this way... In a public place a glimpse of something (possibly just an attractive face) can be extremely stimulating - but - overt (and especially confrontational) displays of affection - and more so - sexual activity - are severely off-putting to most people... Most people, however sexually adventurous and active, don't usually want to see much (if anything) of other peoples' sexual activity displayed in front of them - except - and this is important - except when it is by mutual consent.
Therefore - if a book/story is set out to be overtly (even aggresively) sexual - that is okay... That is what it is clearly doing - anyone picking it up is consenting to some degree of involvement with its content... it is not, however, appropriate to impose material - and especially not by initial stealth.
Then, if a writer has commercial intent, there is the question of practicality... What is the point in spending time on material that an editor or publisher will just cut out? Or not publish? By all means write such material for private entertainment - and, possibly, the entertainment of a few friends - but don't expect it to make the top of the sales charts - if it gets published at all... "Shades of Grey" has achieved this... It has possibly spawned several immitations and rip-offs - but it has not opened up a whole new genre that is crowding everything else off the shelves in Tesco and Asda.
Just a few opinions...
David