Where to put sex scenes

Like most things, it depends on your story, i.e. how is the sex scene advancing the plot/characters? If the sex is just to show that they've achieved their HEA or HFN (happy for now), then, sure, put it at the end. It's just part of the story wrap up.

However, if there is any character development or consequences to the sex, then you'll want to put it early enough to be able to explore the consequences/aftermath. IMO, if you completely wrap up one plot point and then have a lot of story left (sex plus consequences), your book might feel a little disjointed, like it's two separate stories slapped together.

I agree with Jules, it depends on how the sex actually plays into your story.

I think readers will only be annoyed if you are marketing it more as erotic and not romance since more sex is expected in erotic. Since romance is mainly about the relationship and how it develops the sex (while thoroughly enjoyed) isn't the focus and not always 'needed' throughout the book.

Um, off the top of my head I believe Gabriel's Inferno is done this way. They have moments, but the actual deed isn't done until the end.

Echoing. No right answer there. The amount of sexual tension should rise during the book, so I'd say better to have it in back than one early scene and that's it. I've had books with the one full sex scene being last, but there were sexual scenes prior, each ramping up the action and tension.

*Waves* Hi, Evelyn (Karenna Colcroft here.)

I have at least a couple of books out where the actual sex doesn't happen until at or near the end of the story. Plenty of sexual tension, and at least one of the stories has some fantasy/masturbation stuff going on (because the publisher asked for it), but the final, real sex scene for the main characters didn't happen until the end.

In part it depends on what works best for the story and characters. It's definitely better to put the sex off until the end than to force scenes because they "should" be there. If your characters aren't inclined to get into bed together, then that's how it is.

However, it can also depend on the publisher. You and I have a publisher in common, and that one is open to more sensual/less sexual stories (though speaking from experience, the sensual-not-sexual stories don't tend to sell as well). Other publishers require a certain heat level for their books, so if all you have is one sex scene, that might not be acceptable to them. On the other hand, adding heat can be accomplished, as I said above, by including a ton of sexual tension and maybe a fantasy scene or two.

Of course, if you're self-publishing, the requirements of publishers won't be a consideration at all...

As for how readers might take it, there's a market within romance for everything from completely innocent, no on-page sexual content whatsoever, right up to so scorching you need a cold shower after every other page. It's just a matter of tapping into the right market for your book.

Yeah, JGP has been great to me as a publisher. I have both romances and YA novels with them. They're definitely willing to go a little outside the box as far as what they'll publish, even if it's something that won't necessarily bring the big bucks.

As a sequel, I would say your current work in progress should at least have a comparable heat level to Through the Paintings. If it were an unrelated book it wouldn't matter so much, but I think readers expect sequels/series to have essentially the same heat level throughout.

I look at it this way,I'm writing a "romance", sometimes sex isn't the end result. If your sex scene is towards the end of your book,maybe it should be there. So, again, I'm writing romance, not a book thick with sex scenes

Don't think of it as a sex scene. It's a scene, like any other scene, and it's got to do what all scenes do: characterize and/or move the plot forward. It belongs wherever it's needed to characterize and/or move the plot forward. If it's not do one or both of those things, it doesn't belong in the story.

Jules Court said:

Like most things, it depends on your story, i.e. how is the sex scene advancing the plot/characters? If the sex is just to show that they've achieved their HEA or HFN (happy for now), then, sure, put it at the end. It's just part of the story wrap up.

However, if there is any character development or consequences to the sex, then you'll want to put it early enough to be able to explore the consequences/aftermath. IMO, if you completely wrap up one plot point and then have a lot of story left (sex plus consequences), your book might feel a little disjointed, like it's two separate stories slapped together.

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I think this is very good advice, and something I learned the hard way. My story was disjointed because of sex scenes, and I simply removed these scenes, with a view to putting one single sex scene near the end.

GinJones said:

Don't think of it as a sex scene. It's a scene, like any other scene, and it's got to do what all scenes do: characterize and/or move the plot forward. It belongs wherever it's needed to characterize and/or move the plot forward. If it's not do one or both of those things, it doesn't belong in the story.

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This is also great advice and something my writing teacher told me!

The advice I've been given is that if your romance has plenty of other plot stuff going on too, like a mystery to solve, or a bad guy to defeat, etc, then you wrap that up first, before wrapping up the emotional arcs of the character. However good the other plot events, it's a romance, and the readers are there mostly to see the resolution of that. So yes, they'll keep reading after the other plot points wrap up, as long as there's still something to resolve emotionally between the characters.

It probably needs to be more than just getting around to having sex though. That would indeed be an important development in their relationship, but there had better be some tension to relieve leading up to is, so it feels like a resolution. That has to be the ending of the book. Think of it as the denouement after the climax.