Sex in Horror Novels

Writing YA historical fantasy I keep clear of it. It's not needed in my stories but I could imagine, as you say, beautiful sexual scenes could highten the horror of all that is happening in the horrible world outside. It could be the reason beautiful young woman falls for a poor, not at all handsom older man. Lots of possibilities. Also it can highten the reader's loathing for the evil character/s if they force sex in an innocent person.

In Twisted Oaks I have quite a bit of bizarre sex (along with a string of spectacularly bizarre deaths) but the writing of these scenes is about as understated as I can make them because there is so much of it and I don't want it to come across like "wow look at how disgusting my brain is" but focus more on the tragic implications these events have on the characters' lives. The sickest one is the teenage midget who gets boinked to death by his pet goat. The most graphic one (so far) is a teenage homosexual rape.

In my current WIP, The Kavenaugh Effect, I'm actually stalled near the end of the first act. The hero and heroine are supposed to have a nice, tender love scene (and also awkward since it's a first time for each of them) so I can kill the hero two scenes later and get on with act two. Am I comfortable with it? No way! They are nice, normal kids. I guess if it was bizarre or taboo I'd tear right into it, but I've been dragging my feet for days!

I can't think of a literary equivalent but one of my favorite alltime sex scenes is in The Ice Storm when Joan Allen and the other woman's husband have sex in a car during the ice storm (the infamous Key Party scene). It's so awkward and embarrassing, not at all like the typical R-rated soft porn stuff Hollywood usually hands us.

I wouldn't count rape as 'sex' but as a particulalry violent act that would cause me, personally, to generally stop reading the book immediately if the scene is written to be sexually arousing (ditto sexual torture, child abuse etc). If it is a real horror scena nd written that way then okay.

I have read several books that have sex and horror either seperately or combined, but the simulatneous sex/horror is normally not particularly titilating, that takes some doing. One example that comes to mind is the anthology Alien Sex.

I tend to use sexual tension rather than sex in my stories--and that only if it is needed or if it adds something of value to the story itself. This is not to say that tender, beautiful sexual scenes don't work. It all depends on their context within the story.

Much like humor, sex can lighten the tension--or at least shift the tension--so that when one of the lovers suddenly gets an axe through the forehead two pages later, it makes that seem even more horrific.

I have only used forced sex one time (that I can recall), and the intent was not to arouse, but rather to disgust. As VG says, that is violence, not sex.

I prefer it if the sex is outside of the horror. I'm OK with a couple having hot lurve before the evil kicks off. I don't like sex AS horror. It put me right off Matheson's 'Hell House'.

I'm in the "sex is ok" but "sex AS horror is not so much" camp (other than as a commentary on my social life, that is ).

Though i did read something recently that was definitely sex AS horror... icky, squicky horror, but it worked really, really well.

Mostly I think it's the same question as with any other scene you're writing: does it fit, does it belong?

I think if it's done well, it works. During my life, there were moments when death kicked off a deep need to escape into carnal oblivion. It's a natural reaction, a reaching out to reaffirm life. I think this kind of thing works well in horror and is accepted by the reader for the same reasons, you just don't generally need all the graphic descriptions.

starrykitten said:

How do you like your sex in horror novels? How do you feel about writing sex in horror?

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Actually, I like sex in horror novels more than I like it in many other genres (e.g. detective or fantasy stories). In a detective story, sex is typically about conquest, or a prelude to a betrayal or a shameful confession. In a fantasy story it's typically about a moral lapse, or else more conquest or some sort of symbolic reward -- and I find it dull. (The romance is fine; the sex for me, generally is not.)

In a horror story, sex is usually about intimacy - which is of course what sex is really about in real life. That intimacy might be a prelude to horror, or a respite from it, but because it's intimacy it peels away the veils of deceit. I think that's a good thing dramatically wherever it occurs.

It's only in splatter horror that sex is not about intimacy, but anatomy and mere titillation. Then I find it dull and stupid. My advice: avoid that. Make it psychological. It's perfectly sensible in that mode.

I describe horror as suspense of the unthinkable. Sex too has suspense, and (at times) an unthinkable element to it. In moving from being reserved social creatures to less reserved sexual creatures humans experience something of a personality shift. That's inherently frightening and exciting too. How far is too far?

Then too, fear of our own mortality hightens our desire to procreate. Over all I think they're a good match - if done tastefully, psychologically and dramatically, rather than anatomically, detached and merely for titillation.

Hope that helps somehow.

I'm into sex. I mean, this is a therapy forum, isn't it?

Sex has its place in any genre. It should never be thrown in and should come as a natural progression in the story. And the level should fit with what you want to display and are comfortable with. The earlier example from Underworld was spot on. It took two movies and a lot of ground between the characters to get to that point and it wasn't "nasty". It was rather lovely.

I recall reading an article that discussed sex in horror, citing that there was a need for release after a person's nerves have been taxed above and beyond. There isn't a better release, IMHO.

So don't worry about sexing it up or down. Write what you like and it'll flow just fine.

Pike

If it fits the story use it. If not, lose it.

It's my belief that the sex should be as explicit as the violence.

So, if you've got an over-the-top violent book then it'd seem strange if you got all chaste with the sex scenes.

Just as it would seem strange if your violence was largely off-screen so to speak but your sex scenes were almost pornographic.