Wednesday 6 August 2008

Sex scene, love scenes, or just dirt?

Tell Me a Story - advice

AJ, can you help me, does writing a love scene in my story make me a pervert? I read somewhere that fanfic people read love scenes like "geeky porn". Now I feel like it's wrong and dirty. Is it? How do you know when it's wrong?
Monique, the only criteria you should worry about, is are YOU comfortable writing love scenes. If you are, it’s fine. If you feel 'dirty', it’s wrong. There are no rules, no guidelines other than common sense. It really is down to you. If you write about something you would think of as 'dirty' in real life, then chances are, you won't ever be truly comfortable. Use that as your own guidleline.
You should certainly never write with someone else in mind. If you do, you’ll stifle your creativity. If you’re concerned someone might think badly of you, or they're reading it because it turns them on, your work will suffer.

YOU’RE the writer, if they don't want to read it, they'll put it down, if they enjoy it for whatever reason, then good. There will always be an element of people who are turned on to a greater or less extent, with love scenes or sex scenes. In the end, does it matter? The storyline should be the main concern.
On topic of storyline, what I will say is the sex content of your novel should never be principal (unless you're writing porn - in which case you wouldn't have asked the question). A sex scene should compliment the story, it should be a natural conclusion to prior events - just the same as it is in life.
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