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Literary sex scenes are interesting and maybe more of a challenge, no? You can't make it too sexy. In fact, maybe they work best when they are not sexy at all. I workshopped a story with a sex scene. Actually, there was no sex, but people called it a sex scene. We had a visiting writer come to workshop that day who said my sex scene was one of the best he'd read in a long time. He actually showed it to an editor who said I could send it to her once I had a final draft. So, I am trying to work on this short story a little more.
My sex scene is such a small part of the story, but it really captures what is going on with the rest of the story. However, that scene is very short. It is not a story that has anything to do with sex.
But this got me thinking about literary sex. Does it work best when it is awkward and not very sexy? Or can you make sexy sexy in literary fiction? Obviously there are examples of both, but I am wondering how you guys handle sex in your writing.
Here are some interesting links about literary sex. I actually remember reading this story a few issues back in the Paris Review.
http://readtowritestories.com/2014/10/28/how-to-write-a-sex-scene/
http://readtowritestories.com/tag/man-boob-summer/
And here is the story being talked about:
http://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/6165/man-boob-summer-david-gordon
My sex scene is such a small part of the story, but it really captures what is going on with the rest of the story. However, that scene is very short. It is not a story that has anything to do with sex.
But this got me thinking about literary sex. Does it work best when it is awkward and not very sexy? Or can you make sexy sexy in literary fiction? Obviously there are examples of both, but I am wondering how you guys handle sex in your writing.
Here are some interesting links about literary sex. I actually remember reading this story a few issues back in the Paris Review.
http://readtowritestories.com/2014/10/28/how-to-write-a-sex-scene/
http://readtowritestories.com/tag/man-boob-summer/
And here is the story being talked about:
http://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/6165/man-boob-summer-david-gordon