Stacia Kane - Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet

Copyright 2007-2010 by Stacia Kane

All rights reserved

http://www.staciakane.com

Most of this material originally appeared in a series of blog posts,

http://www.staciakane.net/2008/07/09/be-a-sex-writing-strumpet/

through

http://www.staciakane.net/2008/09/17/be-a-sex-writing-strumpet-afterglow/

Cover design by Stacia Kane 2010

Baileyd @ Demonoid.me

Introduction

Hi there!

In the late spring of 2008 I was a bit at loose ends. My new agent and I were working on edits for my novel UNHOLY GHOSTS, and I was holding off on starting any new projects until it had been submitted and--hopefully--bought (which it was, by Del Rey in the US and HarperVoyager in the UK, and the first book was released 5/25/10). Meanwhile, I'd stopped writing straight romance--I'd come to believe my voice just didn't quite suit it. I'd already turned in the second Demons novel and completed edits on it, as well.

So I was kind of adrift, as far as new projects went. Meanwhile summer was coming and I was itching to do another Summer Series on my blog to follow up my 2007 Summer Series on choosing and evaluating small publishers.

During the course of some random wanderings around the internet I found a discussion of one of my sex scenes, which inspired a blog post, which got me thinking. Despite essentially leaving romance, I still loved to write sex scenes, and still felt confident about them. And that perhaps I had some thoughts and opinions and tips to share on writing them.

So I asked my blog readers if they'd be interested in such a series. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we got started. The entire series lasted from July 9 th --September 17 th , 2008, and comprised thirty-one blog posts, of which six were critiques (which are not reproduced here) and one was a guest blog (also not reproduced here; both can still be found on the blog itself).

I've gotten more email from this series than any other post I've ever done. I still get emails about it, in fact, and requests to offer it as a PDF or book. Unfortunately, my lack of techie skills started to make me think I'd never be able to do that. Sigh.

But enter uberwriter James D. MacDonald, and his awesome computer-fu, and his offer to format somebody's work for them, and we're in business. Huge, enormous thanks to him for doing this, and to all of you for reading it and letting me know how much it helped you.

Stace

Part One: What does a sex scene do?

***Insert generic warning about adult language. We're talking about writing sex scenes here, guys. This is not for children. Despite my best efforts there is no way I can do this and not stray into adults-only territory.***

Okay. Before we beginas always, the little disclaimer. This series is about how I write sex/love scenes. It is not about the best way or the only way; its about MY way. I assume if youre reading it, its because you read my blog and therefore have at least a passing familiarity with me and/or my work (although thats not necessary) but, more to the point, that you actually find my sex scenes enjoyable and arousing and are therefore here to get some insight on them and how I write them, and what Ive learned from writing them. In other words, I assume we have some general basis for agreement about what is hot in a sex scene. If you dont like my sex scenes, why are you here? Seriously. We will also be touching upon a few of the things I wrote about in my Heroes series, specifically the bits on chemistry. Ill link to those when we get to them.

So. Writing sex scenes. How about that, huh? In my mind, a sex scene has four main purposes:

It shows us something about the character(s).

It shows us something about the relationship.

It advances the story. (there is a subrule here. Well call it 3a, and it is It increases tension . Sounds kind of funny, because youd think of it as a release of tension, but well get into that later.)

It arouses the reader. (Note: I am speaking specifically about sex scenes in romance/erotic romance/urban fantasy with romantic elements/erotica. I will later deal with sex scenes that dont have this element, but for now, this is where our focus is so this is what the purpose of our sex scenes is. Okay?)

That seems like an awful lot for one sex scene to cover, doesnt it? Especially the bit about advancing the story, because lets face it. There are lots of critics out there who claim romance or erotic romance is just a tiny story with a bunch of sex thrown in to pad it out. Theyre wrong (at least they should be; weve all read books like those, but do you really want to write them?).

And heres why. Because in a romance/erorom/romantic uf, part of the story, be it large or small, IS the relationship. How is it possible for two people to have sex and it changes absolutely nothing about their relationship? How is it possible for us as readers to see them together in the most intimate of situations and not know something more about them, not see their relationship change? How is it possible for us as writers to ignore the impact of that?

Its not. No matter what, once your characters have had sex, their relationship changes. Irrevocably. Actually, their relationship should change with every conversation, every casual touch, every glance, every kiss, even if its not readily apparent. But it is impossible for your characters to have sex and not see each other differently afterward. And that is one of the jobs of the sex scene, to show that relationship actually changing (before the readers very eyes! Just like one of those magic sponges that swells in the tub. Something should certainly be swelling in a sex scene, anyway. Heh heh.)

So. We know what a sex scene needs to do. If it doesnt do those four things, it doesnt belong in the book. This is true even for the most sex-filled erotic romances. If the sex isnt exploring, defining, and advancing plot, character, and relationship, it needs to go away. And in an erotic romance or a regular romance, you have a lot of room to maneuver in those strictures.

A brief example: When final edits on Blood Will Tell were complete, it went to the final readers, who gave the book a rating of S (Elloras Cave recently changed their ratings, btw.) S books are fine, of course, but they dont sell as well as E-rated or higher. I was given a choice. Sell it as S, or add more sex. It wasnt a difficult decision. But it was difficult figuring out where to add the scenes. I finally came up with two: the pool scene, and one of the hotel scenes (the one where Julian wakes up Cecelia). Now, adding sex is all well and good, but I had to figure out how to do all four things with each scene. Where did those areas need to be expanded?

It took me several days to hit on it, but I did. The new pool scene shows several things: How Julian feels about a decision hes made, which up to then the reader hasnt understood was a serious and drastic decision to make. In showing that, it also shows how important Cecelia has become to him.

It gives us an insight into her understanding of him, and his respect for her opinion (a big deal for someone used to being in charge and ignoring other people's opinions). It adds tension both by showing Julian lying yet again to hide his true nature and by showing their relationship grow increasingly closeand both of those things also advance the story. Finally, hopefully it was damn hot. I sure thought it was when I wrote it, and it remains one of my favorite scenes in the book.

The other addition, the hotel scene, works in a different way. It brings Julians guilt into clear focus and allows the reader to see what exactly is holding him back. Its the first time he admits to himself what his true feelings are. In doing those things, of course, it jumps the storyremember, the story here is ABOUT their relationship, and everything else is secondaryforward. Is it arousing? Well, I think so, but its certainly not the hottest scene in the book by any stretch. Its not particularly explicit. But if I did my job, it aroused the reader because of those emotions and feelings.