So, I just recently realized (like... last night) that not only will my book have a sex scene, but said sex scene will be incredibly important to the story (as well as its themes and symbolisms).
Literary fiction, at least from those that I've read, seems to be unable to exist without at least one sex scene. So this brings up my question. How many of you are going to have at least one, and is it (are they) going to be important to your overall story and how things turn out?
For instance, my story takes place in this mystical village (off a Texas highway). In the village, there's a House of Maidens, young girls who had died before they had a chance to live and are now given a second chance. On the flipside, as Maidens, they are forced into a life of celibacy. My MC is an outsider, and he falls in love with one of the Maidens (which is forbidden for multiple reasons; one, she's trapped within the village for her second life while he is not, and two, she's supposed to stay single and celibate). But they'll end up making love toward the end, a scene full of symbolic descriptions and whatnot. This scene is important to show that MC continues having trouble following rules (which will shortly lead into the climax--no pun intended), while Maiden begins her downfall by breaking her covenants.
So what about y'all?
----------
46,409 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 06 39
The pivotal scene in Nabokov's Pale Fire involves the narrator's daughter drowning in a lake. Other than an oblique reference to it in the 500th line of a poem, there is no description of the accident. In other words, you can go around and around your pivotal sex scene without providing the gory details if you're not comfortable writing them. On the other hand, like sex itself, with practice, you'll probably find you get better at it, the more you do it. And NaNoWriMo is all about practicing.
20,343 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 09 18
I've done it before, but may not get around to it this year. Sex is not a major issue in the protagonist's life, and he's an honest and loyal man, who doesn't get along with his wife very well. That does cut into the likelyhood of a sex scene, don't you think?
Then again, there may just be an opportunity for it, and then I really won't mind writing it.
----------A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. - Oscar Wilde
70,184 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 10 20
I wasn't originally planning on writing a sex scene in my novel, but as I developed my plot, I decided I wanted to include one - if for no other reason than to boost my wordcount! Actually, I think the sex scene will be very important to the plot. If it was going to be totally superfluous, I wouldn't do it. I also wanted to write a sex scene because I've spent the past 6 months developing my erotica, and while I'm not doing an erotica novel, I don't want my skills to get rusty in November! Plus, I'd like to honor and incorporate that facet of my writing life into the novel.
Anyway, said scene is going to occur between Mary Magdalene and Jesus . . . . just another bit of blasphemy in this already-blasphemous work.
----------www.allysonwhipple.com
My Lulu.com storefront
2005-2007: Epic fail!
2008: Winter White Lights (Winner!)
2009: Loveless Gospels
546 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 10 44
I will almost certainly have a sex scene. It isn't going to be vital to the plot, but I feel that it's something that is necessary in my story.
6,641 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 10 55
I will have at least two. One is important because it shows the boredom, and lack of chemistry, in his relationship with his girlfriend. This will probably be a few lines long and culminate in one or both rolling over or getting up for a piece of pie. The other sex scene is much more important, because it shows the moral ambiguity of the MC as he makes love to his best friend's fifteen-year-old girlfriend (he's twenty-seven). There's a big contrast because on the one hand he's basically sleeping with a child, and on the other, this relationship has more passion and mutual respect than his mature relationship with his girlfriend. I don't want to get too nitty gritty, but I do want it to be a little scandalous.
----------0 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 14 37
My novel is about the (f)art of skirt-chasing. How could it not?
I think the most important part of my novel will be the narrator.
32,191 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 16 44
I know I'm going to have at least one sex scene (between the MC and her professor), maybe another one (though I'm not sure of that yet). Along with the sex scene, I'm probably also going to have a rape scene (or two), since part of the novel will follow the characters as they're disappeared and taken to secret prisons (the novel's about Argentina and the last military dictatorship, aka "the dirty war"), which is going to be 10 times harder to write :(
----------45,099 / 50,000
Okt 31, 2009 - 18 37
Considering that my story is about 6 individuals who,eventually, become prostitutes, yes, there will be sex scenes in this story. Last years entry was 'Roads', the sister story to this years, and it is quite sad to note that that story is 500,000 words long right now and is filled with plenty of sex scenes, yet only one, in the most recent chapter, is consensual. So, I guess the real question is, will there be any consensual sex scenes in this story? Actually, despite Roads' reputation, yeah, I'm going to try for a mix of non-con and fluffy sex scenes. And yes again, all of these scenes will be important to the plot. Writing sex, no matter the fetish, consequence, or sexuality, has never really been a problem for me, but I'm proud to say, this will be my first time really taking a crack at a girl on girl scene. Yes! (Yeah, I'm gay and I like to challenge myself, so that's a good combination for this story)
3,650 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 04 30
My writing generally always centres around human existence, and whether we accept it or not, sex is a big part of human day-to-day living. So yes, there'll be sex scenes. Judging my track record, probably a lot.
And the whole gamut of sexual experiences too: drunken, godI'vewantedyoubutI'vebeentoopussytodoanything sex, awkward and painful first time sex, grief sex, cushy 'we've been together for ages and you feel like home' sex, angry sex, revenge sex, 'who, I wasn't expecting that' sex, friends with benefits, light and easy sex, 'old married couple, we're talking about house chores while we're doing it' sex, passionate sex, and the 'amost not quite, I'm not really ready' un-sex.
10,103 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 08 23
My whole plot builds up to this almost unavoidable moment when the MCs are going to have sex, so yes ... I'm going to have at least one explicit sex scene and probably others that are not going to get quite the same amount of attention .... we'll see.
writing sex scenes really isn't that hard, once you get into the story and get your characters down ... it's just come normally. I imagine writing erotica is much harder since it focuses more on the act itself ... in general, I like to pick apart my characters when they're having sex so ... It should be fun.
----------22,042 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 07 37
probably. and on paper just like in real life, it will be awkward, messy, and too short for anyone to get any real enjoyment out of it.
----------"the difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
- mark twain
33,102 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 08 36
Mine's going to have quite a few: my MC is rather sexually weird and unable to make any connections with people beyond a physical basis. As she shits out bad romance novels, much to her displeasure, I think I might include a few little "turgid manhood" type of sex scens for my personal amusement.
39,210 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 10 50
Sex in a story is never EVER superfluous. It drives the entire Old Testament for God's sake.
If a piece of shit has a gratuitous sex scene, it's always the best part.
----------Beauty is truth. Truth beauty
50,063 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 17 41
The sex scene will be the pivotal moment for my characters, and as such I need to hone my sex-writing skills.
----------51,406 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 26
There may be a sex scene between my MC and the primary romantic interest. Or their may not.
After the romantic interest moves on with her travels, there will definitely be a sex scene with MC and another woman. The converse and realize he did so to vent his angst from missing the now-departed romantic interest.
--------------------------------
""Your job is to pay attention to this person who needs to be respected by somebody. That's what you did all those years as a teacher... You paid attention to those kids. That was your job. Anything you taught them was bonus.
5,097 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 01 08
I seem to always have a sex scene in my stories. I think that's because I like to write about things I am interested in, and human sexuality fascinates me. In my nano novel I do have a sex scene, and it could be replaced by any number of other potentially embarrassing situations. I chose sex though because there is a big theme of sex as an undeservedly embarrassing subject of society.
50,707 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 04 28
I have one sex scene ( with explicit yet tasteful details) and I have debated on keeping it or throwing it out, but I find that it is very important to the plot because this is a love story. My only concern now is will they make love before or after they marry. I have it before so far but that may change as time goes on-- not sure. All I know for sure is that a sex scene is needed.:)
26,085 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 20 54
I suspect I am going to have one, but it is mostly up to my characters as they develop. One of the issues one of the main characters is dealing with is an ongoing not-quite-relationship. The relationship and things he realizes about it drive many of his actions—but the relationship is less important than his reactions to it (most of the relationship happens off page). If they go at it, they will likely be drunk (she's an alcoholic, and he is trying to 86 her from his life and would need to be intoxicated) since that is how it would happen for them so it won't be hard to write.
48,393 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 22 05
I'm not actually doing sex scenes, at least not explicitly, but all of my characters' sex lives are integral to the plot, i.e., who they sleep with, who they don't sleep with, why they sleep with who they sleep with or don't, etc. Yikes, it's starting to sound like a soap opera. :(
----------it all ends in tears anyway
40,068 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 23 37
sounds like a cool idea, ceramiccoconut.
I've already had 1 unfortunate sex scene- it also happened to be the funniest scene so far (I don't know why my attempt at Literary Fiction is turning into a ribald series of interconnected jokes)...
----------I don't know if I'll have another sex scene, though-- it depends on the choices my main character makes in the distant future.
www.drunkduck.com/The_Optimist/
15,405 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 06 50
A word of advice for Coconut -
Careful with the symbolism. That stuff should come as a result of writing concrete, real-world descriptions. If you start out with the intention of laying on the symbolism, your story will come out heavy handed and pretentious.
As for sex scenes, go for it. Write about what turns you on, and be as descriptive or as elliptical as you want.
16,669 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 16 15
Careful with the symbolism. That stuff should come as a result of writing concrete, real-world descriptions. If you start out with the intention of laying on the symbolism, your story will come out heavy handed and pretentious.
I only have one main symbolism, and it goes with the title of the book. If I didn't have it, it would be like reading "Hills Like White Elephants" without the hills.
In the case of my Maiden character, the paper tiger symbolizes the covenant she made to stay a virgin. When she's losing her virginity, the paper tiger is destroyed. The Master soon after comes into the picture and has the pieces of the paper tiger, and then uses it as a moral example for the MC.
The only other symbolism I've thought of doing isn't involved with the sex scene, but with rain (when the rain spirit forgives the MC and it rains on the MC, the plot begins to look upward for the MC, like a new beginning or baptism).
And both of these are at the major turning points in the plot.
46,533 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 20 14
My main character has an extramarital affair. She's attracted to her new foreign lover, but I think she's even more fascinated by what she thinks he might know that she doesn't know. Maybe like Eve and the snake? The tree of wisdom. I just described in four words half an hour ago the sex scene with her husband before her affair takes off: "So they had sex." After ten years of marriage, are there better descriptions? I've never written any explicit sex scenes, so her affair will be a new writing experience for me.
9,961 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 01 37
My novel will be divided into five parts, each part focusing on a different set of characters. About half the characters work at an underground brothel in NYC, so suffice to say there will be a lot of sex in my novel, albeit none of it explicit. Well, I can see a romantic sex scene coming to fruition in part four, but it'll probably be held off until the second book No point in ending a they're story for this installment with sex -- where's the desire to read the next book after that, eh?
I think it should be an interesting journey, trying to portray the lives of prostitutes without focusing on the sex.
----------Midnight - 7AM drabbling : 2/6 days
Writing cubbyholes : 3
Most words in one sitting : 1596
Currently listening to : Portugal.The Man
33,102 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 08 48
I've had two sex scenes so far, and I think they are conveying what I need to convey: that my MC doesn't really like sex all that much, but that she enjoys the way her brain switches off during the moment of orgasm.
I have to have a book-within-a-book purple prosey romance novel one at some point. It's going to be great fun, as it will be written in a completely different style to the other ones. My goal with that one is to put in so many weird adjectives and metaphors that it's virtually impossible to work out what's going on.
47,184 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 00 36
My book has lots of sex scenes. Sex is central to my FLC's psyche. Some people think she's a nympho.
12,800 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 09 24
I've never written a sex scene and I wasn't considering it until I read this and now it might be the turning point for my characters.
My characters have all forgotten what love, affection, happiness or anything remotely positive is. Literally, their world has stopped because they erased this from their common consciousness. Now, two characters that used to love each other are stuck together, knowing that they had something to connect them before, but not actually knowing what. So, they start exploring and trying to figure out what it was about them. (One of my characters is now making a huge deal because the other character winked at her and she felt that it was tremendously significant). I'm thinking now that it could end up in them exploring so far that they end up sleeping together. Though that sounds cliché now that I write it out. Thoughts?
35,003 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 17 18
I wasn't intending to write one, and I feel really awkward doing so. It's just really embarrassing, but I still want to give it a shot. Actually, it surprised me when two characters just jumped in and decided they were there, and started forming a little romance. I'm just not really sure what to do...how much detail to put in, how to go about it, and most importantly, how to get around feeling so darned shy.
----------Characters killed -- 2, several more implied
Characters jailed -- 1
Characters busted out -- 1
Lost sanity -- Priceless
For everything else, there's MasterCard. (?!)
11,978 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 20 51
I WANT (need) to have a sex scene in my story this year -- two, in fact, one of which might be a rape scene. I already feel uncomfortable with writing the sex scene -- I've never written one before -- but I feel doubly uncomfortable with the rape scene. I don't want to... but it might be necessary because of what it symbolizes.
torn.
----------40,068 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 06 55
I had an epiphany in the car this morning, and my epiphany was: rape scene! My story is very sexual, although it's not a sex story (but why pretend guys don't wake up with boners?) and so far has had one full-fledged sex scene, a (very, very short) masturbation scene, and a hilarious failed attempt at mutual masturbation.
----------But there's some sexual tension going on between two characters, and a lot of power-play underneath their interactions. It suddenly makes SENSE for Walt to rape Peter. It would be the only way for them to have sex because Peter's married and super-closeted. And it would add much more friction to their relationship.
www.drunkduck.com/The_Optimist/