Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Sex, sex and more sex...

Did I get your attention? Good hook word huh? Tuesday I read a great post by Wendy Crutcher on Romancing the Blog appropriately titled 'Toothache'. I am a writer. Okay. A romance writer...who cringes when it comes to a sex scene. HUH?! Whatever. Have you ever sat down and tried to write a sex scene. Not something out of Playboy, but something that was full of tension...emotion and credible words creating a real life sex scene. Not something so syrupy sweet that it makes my teeth hurt.

The 'Toothache' post was basicly a discussion about credible sex scenes in books the blog author had read. I agreed with her on several points because there is nothing more frustrating to me than loving a book and getting to a scene...especially a love scene...that doesn't fit the tone. I'm not reading romance for the sex. It's a bonus. If it's well written. I have never counted sex scenes in the books I have read. I can enjoy a book with alot of tension because it makes me WANT to see the characters interact. Compare it with foreplay. The more tension you build...the better it is. A scene that is.

6 comments:

Jennifer Shirk said...

HA! That's probably why I write sweet romances.

But I love a book where the sexual tension is so great that when they finally make love on page 150, you're like, "Oh yeah, I forgot they didn't have sex yet." It's like an added bonus.

Chelle Sandell said...

Definitely. Your writing isn't syrupy sweet though...it's humorous and believable. Yes, it's sweet but what is unbelievable is when a character is boring because she's predictable and when a sex scene is thrown in it stops the flow and doesn't match the tone. As an avid romance reader I love it when like you said...you hardly realize there wasn't a sex scene until the sheets are smoking and your clapping for her. Woo woo woo, go girl, go girl.

Anonymous said...

I love the sexual tension between the couple. That's my favorite part. Sometimes, I just skimmed over the sex scenes, but I love that tension.
Weird, huh? I love writing sex scenes. But then both my parents have past on.

Chicki Brown said...

My parents have passed on too, but I'm still under the scrutiny of my grown children! :)

Writing sex scenes are probably the hardest part of writing romance, especially if you don't want them to come across as raunchy or clinical. But I guess it's just like the act itself, the more you do it the better you get. :)

Some of the hottest, wildest sex scenes I've ever read were in Eric Jerome Dickey's "Genevieve." My fingertips were scorched from just holding the book!

Chelle Sandell said...

I read recently about an author whose husband was getting ideas and thinking his wife was wanting to have wild monkey sex in public and odd places because of the sex scenes she wrote about. LOL. My parents are still around but it's my auntie and family friends I feel more strange facing.

Angela Jefferson said...

I can so relate to your position. I read for the story and a great love scene is a bonus.