Is This Sex Scene Too Intense? (nothing graphic)

Ken · Sep 5, 2008

It's between two women, and concludes with one of them sticking out their tongue for the obvious purpose of.... Is that too intense for a mainstreamer? No action described or anything graphic, but the implications are loud and clear. Don't want my novel to have to be stuck on a back shelf and wrapped in cellophane ;-)

CaroGirl · Sep 5, 2008

I should think most modern sensibilities could manage that without taking too much offense.

regdog · Sep 5, 2008

Doesn't seem overly intense to me.

veinglory · Sep 5, 2008

In my experience books are not shelved differently or shrink-wrapped for content unless it is pictorial.

Straka · Sep 5, 2008

the obvious purpose of.... licking a lolly pop? What's graphic about that? And the answer 3 licks to get to the center if you were wondering.

I think context has a lot to do with it, if your language and voice is consistent, it's less shocking than if you just drop oral sex in the middle of a children's book for example. Hope that makes sense.

NeuroFizz · Sep 5, 2008

anis said:
It's between two women, and concludes with one of them sticking out their tongue for the obvious purpose of...

...making a fart sound?

Oral sex can be mainstream. What takes it to the graphic genre is all in the way it is described and used in the story. Anyone who is going to toss the book just because of inferred oral sex is probably not going to get that far--they will probably toss it when they find out the sex is between two women. These people will represent an extremely limited slice of the readership pie. Very few authors, and very few stories, can satisfy all 360 degrees.

Go after the pie with a full tongue.

Ken · Sep 5, 2008

thanks. The build up to the scene is definitely in place. Not a children's book, lol. For adults, but wouldn't want to write myself out of the teen market, either. Not sure how that works or if I should be concerned about that.

thanks Neuro. You've put my mind at rest

wacker · Sep 5, 2008

If you are trying to corner the teen market also with your book, I would bee a little concerned in how I phrase the sex scenes. As it could be misconstrued as being offensive towards the teen market. With it being for the adult market only, you are less likely to offend people if your sex scene is graphically described in the way you are considering it now.

Hope that helps

nevada · Sep 5, 2008

Ummmm have you read romance novels lately? That's tame compared to some of them. No worries.

Shar-Jan · Sep 5, 2008

I have never read a sex scene that wasn't awkward and creepy sounding. Just avoid them or if they're crucial to the plot end it before it starts and just leave it up to the readers imaginations.

Red-Green · Sep 5, 2008

Boo to an absence of sex scenes. I have read plenty of sex scenes that were neither awkward or creepy. I like a good sex scene in a book and hate it when all sex is subtracted. I don't think what you're describing, Anis, is more intense than anything I've read in a variety of mainstream novels.

Shar-Jan said:
I have never read a sex scene that wasn't awkward and creepy sounding. Just avoid them or if they're crucial to the plot end it before it starts and just leave it up to the readers imaginations.

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 5, 2008

anis said:
It's between two women, and concludes with one of them sticking out their tongue for the obvious purpose of....

NeuroFizz said:
Oral sex can be mainstream.

Dang. I am so naive. Until I got to Neuro's post I was actually going to ask if she was sticking it out in the obvious way that I do, to give the other person the raspberries.

auntybug · Sep 5, 2008

Ed... my MC kisses her way down her hubby's chest... do you think you get where that is going or is going to give him tummy raspberries

Shadow_Ferret · Sep 5, 2008

Well, you helped me by describing it. The OP ...

nevermind.

Shar-Jan · Sep 5, 2008

Boo to an absence of sex scenes. I have read plenty of sex scenes that were neither awkward or creepy. I like a good sex scene in a book and hate it when all sex is subtracted. I don't think what you're describing, Anis, is more intense than anything I've read in a variety of mainstream novels.

Read Birdsong and say that. I swear I stopped reading that book when I could hear Sebastian Faulks masturbating with every turn of the page. I know why he made the sex scenes so graphic, but he couldn't make them sound anything other than bad fanfiction.

It had such potential as well.

And George RRRMRMR Martin or whatever the hell is name is. If you find yourself writing a scene where a twelve year old girl gets raped by Genghis Khan, and Ghengis is meant to be the good guy because he went down on her... then just hand yourself into the police, your dangerously disturbed.

Unless you are going to do it with respect, don't even try.

Red-Green · Sep 5, 2008

Not quite sure where you get the idea that because you can cite two examples of bad sex scenes that all sex scenes are bad. Why the presumption that Anis isn't going to do her sex scene with respect?

Shar-Jan said:
Read Birdsong and say that. I swear I stopped reading that book when I could hear Sebastian Faulks masturbating with every turn of the page. I know why he made the sex scenes so graphic, but he couldn't make them sound anything other than bad fanfiction.

It had such potential as well.

And George RRRMRMR Martin or whatever the hell is name is. If you find yourself writing a scene where a twelve year old girl gets raped by Genghis Khan, and Ghengis is meant to be the good guy because he went down on her... then just hand yourself into the police, your dangerously disturbed.

Unless you are going to do it with respect, don't even try.

Shar-Jan · Sep 5, 2008

I was talking about the GRR Martin school of sex scene there.

I haven't read anything that has changed my opinion that sex scenes, like dream sequences just don't work well in prose. Even the sex scenes in the 1001 nights are just plain weird at best and disgusting stuff at worst.

WendyNYC · Sep 5, 2008

Well, lucky for you, I blogged about writing sex scenes after I attended a lecture by Elizabeth Benedict (author of The Joy of Writing Sex.) I'm a total sex-scene-writing prude and her comments were incredibly helpful.

I don't think that scene sounds over the top at all, Anis.

veinglory · Sep 5, 2008

SharJan, that is clearly a matter of taste rather than fact, or the whole genre of erotica would not exist

IceCreamEmpress · Sep 5, 2008

Clearly the groups that awarded all kinds of international prizes to Birdsong did not share your view about the sex scenes, SharJan.

anis said:
It's between two women, and concludes with one of them sticking out their tongue for the obvious purpose of.... Is that too intense for a mainstreamer?

Not "too intense" but it seems odd to me, anis. I've been married and out of the dating pool for a long time, but I have to say that I have never encountered another lady sticking her tongue out at me as an invitation to oral sex.

Ken · Sep 5, 2008

Shar-Jan said:
I have never read a sex scene that wasn't awkward and creepy sounding. Just avoid them or if they're crucial to the plot end it before it starts and just leave it up to the readers imaginations.

I actually do just that, cutting away just when they're about to get down. I did this to stay in line with the overall theme of the work, though which puts forth an ephemeral reality, so that there's some doubt as to whether anything is actually happening in the work or not, lol. In all honesty, I am also very bad at writing sex scenes and the ones I might create probably would creep readers out, or put them to sleep. So it's good I had an excuse to avoid it this time around. Next time I think I'll have a go at it after checking out Wendy's blog. // Thanks again, everyone. Very insightful comments.

Ken · Sep 5, 2008

IceCreamEmpress said:
but I have to say that I have never encountered another lady sticking her tongue out at me as an invitation to oral sex.

she sticks out her tongue after they've got their clothes off and are in the sack, on the verge of initial contact. Still probably not how a scene like that would unfold in reality. There'd be some preliminary kissing and whatnot, but maybe not?

Ken · Sep 5, 2008

nevada said:
Ummmm have you read romance novels lately? That's tame compared to some of them. No worries.

...last romance novel I read was Anna Karenina.

veinglory · Sep 5, 2008

The same could be said about the range of sexual explicitness in speculative or literary fiction, or most genres. Even westerns sometimes come [sic] with sex scenes.

Telstar · Sep 5, 2008

I'm not really a fan of graphically described sex scenes.

Is This Sex Scene Too Intense? (nothing graphic)

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