Thursday, December 1, 2011

When Sexytimes Aren't Sexy

I know a lot of readers compliment romance writers on their ability to write sexy sex scenes. But I have a confession. There is nothing as un-sexy as writing a sex scene. Don't get me wrong, the finished product is always thigh-clenching, pulse pounding, oh-my-God-that-was-sooooo-good. And there is an initial buzz when (at least for me) I craft up how I want a sex scene to go. However, getting to that point isn't easy.

I myself can read a particular sex scene in one of my books countless times before I ever turn in a book for consideration for submission. I pick apart every scene, dissecting it down to the last little nub just to make sure I have everything the book needs as a whole to work. This includes the sex scenes. Oddly enough, sometimes there's a lot of choreography involved in writing a sex scene. Not only do you have to make it sexy for the readers, but you have to make sure it's something physically possible. Writing "tab B into slot A" just ain't going to cut it. Well, I guess it can in some instances, but the majority of the time...nope.

Not to say I don't absolutely love what I do in any way shape or form. But reading something over and over and over, adding things here, taking things away that don't work sort of takes some of the ... afterglow away from writing sex. It's like watching your favorite movie back-to-back non-stop. Eventually it loses some of its luster.

Luckily, the finished product always shines--but it's always hard work getting there. *g*

2 comments:

Hailey Edwards said...

Sex is always the hardest part for me to write. So much importance is placed on that moment (or moments) and it has to fulfill reader expectations.

I'm getting better at facing the writing head-on now. I used to write [add sex here] and move on. ;)

Sara Brookes said...

Hailey, I still do that. It's nothing to look at a early draft of mine & see the [insert sex here] tags. LOL