Ever written something... steamy?

You know... Something... Spicy. Titillating. Intriguing. Too hot for TV. Frictional. Now in delicious lemon zest flavor.

You know. Porn.

Or erotica, or sex scenes, or anything else like that. Basically, anything with the intent that someone somewhere might find it hot. It might even be plain old intentional fetish fuel, even if it's in the form of Crap Gotten Past The Radar.

I actually have a half-finished Plot With Porn story sitting around, but I chickened out before writing any actual sex scenes into it because I knew they'd probably turn out dumb. Still, I like the story idea, and I kinda wanna keep it around in case I ever decide I'm brave enough to tackle it. I think I'm too, uh, inexperienced to write it properly at present.

Caution: Please don't be overly dirty in this thread or link to NSFW sites. We don't want a moderator to have to interfere.

Now back to the "normal" discussion.

I had tried to write original slash two or three times, but I don't have the guts to finish them. Only one got completed, but from what I know, I ripped into pieces and threw it away so my family wouldn't find it.

That reminds me. I still have to start on that Dana/Shannon slash fic.

edited 1st Jul '11 7:43:35 PM by chihuahua0

Yes, I am entirely guilty of doing this. But not fan fiction. No, I may write filth, but I have standards in my filth

But yes, most of my writing has a smidgin of erotica. Some has an awful lot of it. Most of it is quite mediocre, and occasionally these scenes collapse into comedy (this is not good)

On the other hand, I have taken steps to improve my 'erotic' writing. I do 'research' by reading the type of story I'm trying to write, and analyzing them and trying to figure out what works, and trying to rewrite it and make it mine.

Mind you, I also do editing work for other writers, so I'm learning on that front too.

Oh yeah.

Negative. I'm neither skilled at writing porn/sex scenes nor interested in writing them.

edited 1st Jul '11 8:14:36 PM by MajorTom

Here. *blushes* It is nothing like saying Dunn puts his "Y" in Eva's "X." In fact it makes me chuckle more than anything about the ways you can describe that act.

I prefer focus on the passion, and the emotions - leaving what is really happening up to you.

I've done quite a bit of "research" on vanilla sex, but I have no interest in writing vanilla sex. Woe is me.

Like I've said elsewhere, if you want to get read on the Internet, you need to write either porn or fanfiction, and I'm no good at writing fanfiction.

Actually, this is currently a bit of a problem for me—a character in a novel I had planned has certain issues, so I wrote up her backstory and submitted it to Literotica. I'm now debating whether to add sex to the rest of the story and put the whole thing on there. Most authors are being metaphorical when they say they're prostituting their work. (On the plus side, threesomes would actually be in-character for most of the protagonists.)

oh god, no

id rather leave that aspect of my characters life well enough alone. sex scenes in books will always be awkward for me to read, i can only imagine it would be 10 times worse actually writing them, and far too embarassing to actually upload anywhere

edited 1st Jul '11 8:44:45 PM by Tarsen

I find steamy sex scenes in novels (Altered Carbon, anyone?) really disturbing to read, and as such will skim over them. I have some characters who are promiscuous and had concubines and stuff, but that's as close as I'll get to writing about sex.

edited 1st Jul '11 8:50:44 PM by CrystalGlacia

^ I'd argue that Altered Carbon actually has pretty good sex, if perhaps a little too detailed. (Well, it has pretty good sex and pretty bad sex—Richard K Morgan writes sex scenes like he's contractually obligated to fit them in, whether or not they make sense in the storyline.)

edited 1st Jul '11 8:53:48 PM by feotakahari

I write softcore scenes for self-indulgence, but I would never include it in the actual draft.

No.

It's debatable which is lower - my interest in sex scenes or my ability to write them - but what's not in doubt is that I've never written one and probably never will, unless there's something the scene that's plot-relevant beyond just "X and Y have sex". Which, obviously, has not happened.

You guys don't ever think "wouldn't it be really weird and funny if [insert characters] had crazy awkward sex?" Maybe it's just me, but I feel like a good part of the "steamy" stuff I've read was written at least partly For the Lulz.

there's that. There's also funny sex and screwed up sex and lots and lots of different kinds of sex. Not all sex is plain sexy sex.

Huh. Crack Pairing.

-imagines writing sex between MC and his roommate that has an implied gay crush on him-

For the sake of my sanity, no.

I do often think that, but don't write it; my protagonist's Power Perversion Potential is so great that it would be too easy, and might detract from scene quality.

And that's no fun.

Yes, it involved a teenager, his slightly older female cousin and a chess game bet. When I realized it was just the plot and actual prose that makes lemons funny or bad, I kept the character design and atmosphere as I wrote more.

I have. I tried to focus more on the emotions than the act. I think I did well considering my lack of expertise. I likely won't do it again; Old Shame or Bleached Underpants or something.

As part of getting to know characters, I write sex scenes between them and their significant others or their first time or some other important sexual relationship. I often find I learn about the characters' natures and personalities or silly details about their lives.

The steamy bits don't make in into the story but small incidental details and personality quirks do make it - along with confidence of writing about someone I know really well.

If I ever have people become involved with each other in the course of a story, I write the full initial sex scene to see what revelations it gives me but leave it out of the story itself. Maybe something might come up that the participants can allude to later if relevant to the plot or characterisation but for the most part, what goes on in the bedroom (or lounge, spa, kitchen, hall cupboard, whatever) has no relevance to the plot and would come across as a Gratuitous Sex Scene, breaking the main narrative.

Sufficient to show the characters falling for one another and heading off together to do something about it and voila! they're a couple so far as the story is concerned.

I very much doubt any story I write is going to have the explicit details of a person's sex life being relevant to the plot and it can be much more fun to leave something to the reader's imagination.

I would not have any qualms about describing the characters as being extremely turned on by the presence of someone for whom they've developed romantic/sexual feelings - dial up the UST or use it to illustrate things about the character (especially if the prospective partner is not someone with whom they'd normally consider a relationship), perhaps showing them flirting or dancing around the issue but would divert attention elsewhere once it was clear that something was going to happen.

edited 2nd Jul '11 1:45:14 AM by Wolf1066

Working on it.

I sorta had to skip for now because, well, because it wasn't turning out very well. But it's too important to the character arcs of the two people involved to skip over it entirely, I feel.

I don't get why so many people dislike the idea so strongly, though. Is sex not a thing that happens with pretty great regularity in the real world? Are people that afraid of screwing it up?

I guess I just don't like the implication that there are "taboo" subjects, esp. ones that are incredibly common. If there needs to be a sex scene, write a sex scene.

I don't think it's a taboo subject, but I question its relevance in some plots/stories and I'm a firm believer that if it doesn't further the plot or characterisation/character development, it doesn't belong in the finished work - no matter how well written or how much fun it is for the author.

In one work, a couple of characters who had been FW Bs on and off over the years are in a situation where they have to stay together in the same bed. They cuddle up and sleep but I make it clear that the woman (POV character for that scene) is extremely horny and can't stop reminiscing of their past and would love to "jump his bones", which leads her to an epiphany which becomes relevant later in the story.

If a guy's having to shift uncomfortably to hide an erection or a woman feels herself getting hot in the loins because of growing desire, I'll include that in the story to show how they're responding to the immediate situation but once that's been established, there's not a lot of need to include the "insert Tab A into Slot B" details in a story that's predominantly about a couple trying to survive some form of hardship and for their own reasons became involved somewhere along the way.

I also don't go into details about brushing teeth, getting dressed or going to the toilet - unless there's something plot-worthy about it.

edited 2nd Jul '11 2:11:09 AM by Wolf1066

it's definitely the case that not all sex scenes are supposed to be a turn-on; it's a fairly common device in literary fiction, for instance, to have tawdry, unsatisfying sex as a way to have a character hate themselves even more.

In genre, it's also done; Joe Abercrombie's works are very notorious for having sex almost always only be messy, awkward, and generally a distraction from something important the characters should be doing instead of fucking, like keeping watch.

I've thought out some scenes a little, but I don't write them. Partially because I don't think I know enough about it. Partially because I cannot find words to describe the body parts and acts themselves that do not sound A) rude and tawdry, jarring me out of something that's supposed to be tender and sweet, B) excessively precise and medical for the situation or C) downright ridiculous.

edited 2nd Jul '11 3:43:05 AM by LoniJay

I've written steamy stuff. dialogue and scenarios so steamy that it clouds the 'window' of the scene, requiring window wipers