I miss your lovely face every minute of every day I can’t see you.

Write it, brother. Write it.

A novel about crime and mystery... says tension to me - very exciting. What's wrong with adding a bit of sexual/romantic tension to the recipe. All the better in my opinion.

But I agree, strike the right tone or it could fizzle the friction of the rest of the novel right out.

Pornography is about bodies. Love/sex scenes are about people. I don't write pornography, and neither do my fellow erotic romance authors.

You can write a very hot scene without becoming graphic, if it's graphic language that makes you think it's pornography. Again, I don't agree; I don't consider myself a "pornography" writer even though my scenes are very graphic. But saying something like, "They fell on the bed, and he showed her without words exactly how he felt" isn't graphic but still conveys what you mean.

Ultimately, if you think you're writing pornography when your characters physically express their feelings for each other, it's best not to write it. If you're not comfortable, your readers won't be either.

Romantic events can be extremely intense from the emotional side, not to mention the physical side. Too many writers jump from a heavy kiss right to the post-coital cigarette, totally missing an excellent opportunity for developing characterization. After all, an excellent way to show something about a character is through his/her reactions to emotionally intense situations. If you use the situation to develop story, character, theme, or any number of subtle story characteristics, there is no problem. I wouldn't go overboard in the description of the physical events, and word choice can make or break a love scene. But, I agree with Kevin. Write it and see how is shakes out.

Write and see what happens. The worst that could happen is you take a red pen to it later.

I'd suggest a slight modification to Azura's suggestion. Think about the scene--whether or not it moves the story forward (contributes something to the story other than the graphic action). It never hurts to think out a scene before writing it. What do you want to accomplish with the scene? How will it be integrated into the story? How can it be presented to best maximize the desired accomplishments? Now, write.

GPatten said:

Alright, a little romantic, but what does one do when he mixes a little romance with fighting crime, rape and murder with street language and absolute sexually filthy language?

Does he tone it down a little, or let it all hang out?

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I write my characters as if they were real. Real people have sex. Real people experience romance. Even if they do fight crime for a living. They need a social life.

Dinner and a movie and some coffee back at the apartment are nice.

GPatten said:

Later on in another chapter, I think I’m alright too, it’s the love scene where it gets a little descriptive and hot.

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A hot erotic scene isn't the same thing as writing porn. If it was, then most of the romance section of the bookstore would be hidden behind a black curtain and accessible by adults only.

GPatten said:

I miss your lovely face every minute of every day I can’t see you.

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Well, first of all you gotta stop telling and start showing. How do I know it's lovely?



Seriously though a great example of this very thing is the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. The Romance (and I use the capital R with reason) between Spenser and Susan Silverman is incredibly Romantic. It borders on the Victorian chivalrous courtship idea. Of course, the couple do have sex and you tend to get a flirty lead-up, followed by a sweaty, contented, post-coital aftermath. However, the level of love between these two characters is very evident and for all the Mallory-esque language and idealogy that can creep in, it is also a very modern and believeable relationship between two complex adults.

If you haven't, definitely worth a look.

Also, as the series progresses, Parker becomes more and more sparce with his words. The Goodwulf Manuscript (as well as being very dated) is filled with dense paragraphs of prose. Compare that to any of his most recent books and you see a staggering amount of white space. I completely unrelated observation there.

Does it serve the story? Write it. You can always revise it out or down in the cool aftermath.

MFM

GPatten said:

I’m not sure I can post some of my hot stuff on Absolute Write

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Isn't there an erotica subforum?

I alwayslet it all hang out, and you should too.

Wow..you look just like Hugh Laurie(sp?)! He's so sexy-- in an obnoxious way!(House is, I'm not sure about Hugh)


BTW I think you can write very hot, sexually intense scenes tastefully.
Remember in Jaws, it was better letting your imagination reveal the shark. Steven should have left it at that.

Branwyn said:

Wow..you look just like Hugh Laurie(sp?)! He's so sexy-- in an obnoxious way!(House is, I'm not sure about Hugh)

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Hugh Laurie is sexy on a whole different range from Greg House. For one thing, he's got a really wonderful British accent, and he's a great writer.

Oooh Hugh Laurie - he was a magnificent Bertie Wooster!

And he made "Maybe Baby" which was actually a very cool movie.

And anything with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie is not a bad thing.

maddythemad said:

Isn't there an erotica subforum?

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Yes, but not in SYW for open critiques. Most of that occurs through PM's and email.

Okay, go to the romance section of the bookstore and check out books by Shannon McKenna, Kat Martin, Suzanne Brockmann, Tara Janzen, and many others. All mysteries, thrillers, suspense novels with plenty of sex. Hot sex and in the case of Shannon McKenna, just a hair short of erotica. Nothing wrong with sex in books. People like it. A lot.

I agree, it keeps the story interesting and shakes it up a bit... shake it!

I like writers who aren't afraid to tell the truth about society, and don't tone down their work because of appeal to the public.

GPatten said:

What does the average public think of that and what about you?

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There's no such thing as the "average public". There are many readers who love a red hot sex scene in every book they read, and will be frustrated if they don't get it. There are just as many who dislike hitting on a sex scene when they are eager to get on with the story, or just don't like reading sex scenes and skip them, or close the book. I belong to the latter group; apparently I'm in the minority!

What I don't think is that one should throw in a graphic sex scene just because "readers expect it". That's hack writing. Sometimes a sex scene just does not fit the story or the characters or the situation. Hundreds of excellent books have become bestsellers without them. Neither Dan Brown nor John Grisham have them; I haven't read anything of Stephen King so I can't comment there, but if he does write them I've never heard it. And of course the classics - including the eternal Jane Eyre and Jane Austen's novels - have never had them.

I can count on one hand books I loved where I thought the graphic sex was necessary to the plot, otherwise it's just there for titillation, and not only do I not read for titillation, I just am not titillated! For me, a graphic sex scene is of no more interest that a scene describing in detail how a person eats a meal. I would skip both.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it if you feel you should; just that you shouldn't think you must because it's the cool thing to do or because you think it adds spice to your book.

In a nutshell: an excellent novel will do fine without a graphic sex scene. A bad novel won't be improved by it. Make the writing good, and see if sex fits in. Or not.

One of my pet peeves is that very often, hot sex scenes are used as a shortcut to show the "state of love". The careful and subtle building of a relationship is circumvented along the lines of, "they had GREAT sex! That shows how much they love each other!" Which is nonsense. A beautiful and moving love story needs a lot more than hot sex make it memorable or to make readers care; and can even do without completely.

Just my 2c; take it or leave it!