It’s so hard to come across a well written sex scene. And for me, well written means not trying to sugarcoat the real nature of sex. It’s messy, gets disgusting sometimes, bodies do things we can’t control, accidents happen and these are so human. Here comes in the emotional aspect of it. How the aforementioned topics are treated, resolved or left unresolved by the pair gives us a peek into the characters souls, and a general idea of their compatibility. Including these elements when writing erotic scenes, while trying to maintain the right atmosphere is remarkably difficult, in my opinion this is what makes the genre so challenging to write for.
I believe keeping these in mind is 100% necessary for writing extra spicy and unforgettable explicit content.
Any author who does this out there, I can’t thank you enough, keep up the good work!
Have you read books like this? In your opinion, what makes a good sex scene?
by Just-Ad-8050
8 Comments
Any tips? I have never read any
Hard to say. One person’s good sex might not be another’s. Even if it was with each other.
I prefer when it’s simply alluded to. Explicit sex scenes either come off as needlessly pornographic or out-of-place. I have never read a “good” one.
One of my favorites was the four-word sex scene in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams, where Codi and her boyfriend hiked to an isolated mesa. She told him that if he had a condom in his wallet, it was his lucky day. The scene: “He did. It was.”
*Fumbles, knocks over candle, sets bedroom ablaze.*
I’d rather they were just like: then they had sex. I don’t need anything more than a sentence dedicated to sex in my horror novel thanks. No ‘becoming one beneath the dappled shade of the apple tree’, no tugging on anyone’s pubes, no mounds or gently parting of any lips, gtfo.
What about that one book with evil clown and Maine and stuff?
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney and The Blood Miracles and The Rules of Revelation. She knows how it’s done.