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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: LizW65 on June 19, 2009, 06:17:59 PM
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Click here:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.callahans/msg/647f523abd7581ee?dmode=source&hl=en&pli=1
for some hilarious ruminations on how to write a successful erotic scene.
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At least he's successfully crossed the dreaded Sock Gap.
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OMG, I have got to wait until I'm home before i open that! I'm sure it's a blast.
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*falls out of her chair laughing*
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Oh that's hilarious! And it's aptly timed. I'm currently writing a scene and trying to decided how to word all of it because it's an urban fantasy not smut.
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So what I want to know is what MDS or MSL is doing posting that on another forum! LOL Classic. Great laugh!
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:: Snerk-snerk-snerk:: I'm minded of Neil Gaiman once confessing that it took him four years to write one bit of erotic fiction, because it was so embarrassing to write.
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four years! Good heavens, new image of Gaiman. Why did he write it then, I wonder?
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four years! Good heavens, new image of Gaiman. Why did he write it then, I wonder?
It was supposed to be for an anthology of erotic fantasy, but he missed the deadline....
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me thinks his agent got him drunk or he lost a poker bet or something. obvious not in his chemical/genetic makeup.
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me thinks his agent got him drunk or he lost a poker bet or something. obvious not in his chemical/genetic makeup.
The whole story about the incident is in the introduction to his short story collection "Smoke and Mirrors".
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Got to admit it's a classic, but it's also a great commentary. If you want to do something that goes into the same amount of detail as a Dresden book or a Blake book (I'm using those as contrasts, not suggesting they're the same), it becomes almost easy. It's trying to be inbetween/your-own comfort level that sucks. If you're actually writing a 'real-time' erotic scene and trying to set the mood, your choice of adjectives [and choice of where to use them all] can really set you apart.
To expand upon the given article: 'Pulsing' and 'Throbbing' are used. Thing is, word connotation and synonyms are you friends, so maybe consider gentler things like 'trembling' or a more time-distinct thing like 'tremor'. But, no mattr what main adjective you use, throw in a 'gently' in front of it and you have a, er, better image. I can't say I've seen such in the real world, and must admit I hope never to, but take it for what it is. The idea is that the occasional addition of an extra flavor adjective, or concious choice not to use it, can help set the mood without ruining it with strictly accurate scientific descriptions :P
A conscious style choice actively uses the referred to 'cop out' but doesn't make that the end of it. Without actually describing the erotic [or smut ::)] scene there are many fun ways to tell what happens through character interaction that can be erotic in a different way. A specific example I'm thinking of comes from the "Wheel of Time" series. Without spoiling things in case you haven't read them and are into epic fantasy like me, one of the male characters references how he'd enjoy staying to have his back clawed again with a pointed heat in his eyes. This brings a profound blush and fidget from his partner who quickly changes the subject. Without once having an actual bedroom scene between them, a moment of definite heat (and possible humor, depending on the reader) has been introduced. You'll notice this is also a Hamilton writing trick, and doesn't have to even hold a hint of humor. The erotic mood is set simply by Anita imagining/remembering sensations that don't require a full explanation of the nasty.
In case you can't tell, work is WAY boring right now. So there's my $2 : ;)
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Gotta love Mat... anyways. I have to say I just can't really anything really explicit. It just gets annoying and kinda ooky for me. I guess I'm just old fashioned by I like the vague references and fill in you're own blacks scenes in my reading. Although smut does make for some laughs.
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Gotta love Mat... anyways. I have to say I just can't really anything really explicit. It just gets annoying and kinda ooky for me. I guess I'm just old fashioned by I like the vague references and fill in you're own blacks scenes in my reading.
Gaiman wrote a preface for a recent reprint of "The Stars My Destination" pointing out that, had that venerable book been written in the past decade, there are several scenes that would have been written out completely, rather than allowing the reader to, as you say, "fill in their own blanks". I, too, subscribe to the theory that readers' own imagination can hook themselves rather effectively when the writer uses the technique properly. Unfortunately, if the story is in an anthology of erotic fiction, there isn't much room to use that dodge.
Although smut does make for some laughs.
To quote Mike Pondsmith: "By itself, sex just isn't funny enough, even if you are wearing a clown suit at the time. Frustration, on the other hand, can be hilarious." I'm probably missing a few details. Would anyone with a copy of the "Teenagers From Outer Space" RPG care to post the exact phrase?
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To quote Mike Pondsmith: "By itself, sex just isn't funny enough, even if you are wearing a clown suit at the time. Frustration, on the other hand, can be hilarious."
This is great and so true!
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It's not an easy one, because the way people generally talk about sex in English wants to fall into one of three options, depending which words you use; crude vernacular; anatomically clinical; or somewhere lost in the forests of overblown metaphor. Steering between these is difficult indeed.
A lot depends on what you are actually trying to do, too. I'm of the opinion that a sex scene, like any other scene, should be there for a specific purpose; ideally more than one. And, well, if what you are trying to write is "A works for B, and B suspects A's loyalties are flagging, and B is sleeping with A thinking it will bind them more closely, and A's loyalties actually were not flagging but A is kind of insulted by B thinking this will help and so B is achieving the exact opposite of what B is aiming to do", so much of making that work is focused inside people's heads and on what they say that the "insert body part X in orifice Y" is not really the foreground of the scene. (I have nothing against sex writing that exists to titillate the reader, I just rarely find it works well with characters whose in-world motivations I am connected to.)
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A lot depends on what you are actually trying to do, too. I'm of the opinion that a sex scene, like any other scene, should be there for a specific purpose; ideally more than one. And, well, if what you are trying to write is "A works for B, and B suspects A's loyalties are flagging, and B is sleeping with A thinking it will bind them more closely, and A's loyalties actually were not flagging but A is kind of insulted by B thinking this will help and so B is achieving the exact opposite of what B is aiming to do", so much of making that work is focused inside people's heads and on what they say that the "insert body part X in orifice Y" is not really the foreground of the scene. (I have nothing against sex writing that exists to titillate the reader, I just rarely find it works well with characters whose in-world motivations I am connected to.)
In an instance such as this I would stick with motivations and leave the explicit eroticism for another story, as what matters is that sex between A and B happens and why, not that both or one experience earth-shattering climax, blah, blah, blah. The problem I have with many sex scenes is that they're usually poorly written (and often physically impossible) and all sound alike after a while, or worse, the author tries to be creative and comes up with bizarre metaphors that have nothing to do with sex and leave you wondering about his/her psychological state at the time of writing.
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In an instance such as this I would stick with motivations and leave the explicit eroticism for another story, as what matters is that sex between A and B happens and why, not that both or one experience earth-shattering climax, blah, blah, blah. The problem I have with many sex scenes is that they're usually poorly written (and often physically impossible) and all sound alike after a while, or worse, the author tries to be creative and comes up with bizarre metaphors that have nothing to do with sex and leave you wondering about his/her psychological state at the time of writing.
I must admit, when I have had a sex scene to write, I have kind of enjoyed doing something that looks on the surface like an odd metaphor and is in fact a clue to one of the participants not being entirely human.
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I must admit, when I have had a sex scene to write, I have kind of enjoyed doing something that looks on the surface like an odd metaphor and is in fact a clue to one of the participants not being entirely human.
Things like this are the way I think sex scenes should be used, like any other scene. It's a well constructed story that has scenes which always in some way forward the plot, and so in my own writing, I only include a sex scene if I can do something relevant with it. The way two characters relate to each other can be shown by the way they are during sex, in the things they do, say, etc. Things can happen during sex that move the plot along. Life doesn't always happen with one's clothes on, you know? So, I don't necessarily skip sex scenes altogether, but at the same time there are times when I'm reading, and I get the image of Meryl Streep in She-Devil in my head questing for a euphemism and coming up with a phrase that still makes me snortgiggle, love button. So, I'll read or write a love scene, but I avoid love button scenes like the plague. Unless, of course, I'm feeling goofy. :D
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Things like this are the way I think sex scenes should be used, like any other scene. It's a well constructed story that has scenes which always in some way forward the plot, and so in my own writing, I only include a sex scene if I can do something relevant with it.
Agreed absolutely.
Life doesn't always happen with one's clothes on, you know?
No; there's the whole span between June and September where it's too hot for clothes, frex.
Unless, of course, I'm feeling goofy. :D
Making a Disney gag here would be superfluous, wouldn't it ?
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Only if you can't find the relevant link to Disney slashfic with BDSM tags.
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Oh, look. My ride to hell's here!
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Only if you can't find the relevant link to Disney slashfic with BDSM tags.
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Oh, look. My ride to hell's here!
Tell me it's a handbasket!
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With bigass wheels and gingham restraints. :D
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With bigass wheels and gingham restraints. :D
Please.
Everyone knows that -that- ride is properly a sleighride.
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I must admit, I am quite impressed. You'd think a sleigh ride to hell wouldn't be so comfortable. Cup holders, plush leather seating, multiple air conditioning vents, surround sound radio and HD televisions... wait a second... air bags? WTH?
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Please.
Everyone knows that -that- ride is properly a sleighride.
Santa is after all only an anagram.
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Tell me it's a handbasket!
With bigass wheels and gingham restraints. :D
That is just so wrong. Have I told you today that I love you guys!? Thanks for the laughter!
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just read sailor jim...
....and actually cried laughing.