You’re writing your characters doing *what*???? (or thoughts on why I write sexy scenes)

Hi all,

Reading erotica is a little like eating ice cream. There’s so many flavors and the box..um book usually just says ‘erotica’. So, it can be hit or miss sometimes on whether you will enjoy the book or won’t. And as a writer, one does have to keep their audience (and their characters) in mind when writing sexy scenes. What does their audience like to read? How erotic is too erotic to ‘put off’ your reader from either not buying the book or, just as bad, not buying your next book in the series? If this, as a writer, doesn’t give you a headache, you also have to consider your characters as you write. Though they only exist between the pages of your novel, while they take up white space, they are ‘human’ for that time. What types of things would they themselves (not you, you are not your characters but that’s a different entry) enjoy doing in bed? What do the characters consider sexy?

OK, so after you’ve thought about things and decided what your readers like and what your characters like, then, it’s off to write the sexy scene. And erotica is sort of comparable to action sequences in a way. Because one has to know where all the arms/legs/etc. are at all times. And things move around. Sometimes quickly. So, you have to take all this into account when you are writing your scenes. I’m a visual person and have to ‘see’ the scenes in my mind when I write. For example, when her hand is touching his chest, where his hands will be. And so on and so forth.

But then, some writers stop here and ask (and rightly so) why even write an erotic scene at all? Can’t one just do a ‘fade to black’ and then, the reader can put in their mind whatever sexy scene they want? Is that ‘good enough’ as a writer? I think it’s a personal decision and one that you, yourself need to answer. Because nothing is more personal than writing scenes of sex. And death. Yeah, they are linked and I’ll get to that in a moment. However, now, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on why I write erotic scenes.

I admit, mainstream fiction, much like clothes, is becoming sexier and sexier these days. Erotica is one of the best selling genres and it has become a big component in romantic fiction these days. I started writing as an amateur in my twenties and back then, erotica wasn’t as prevalent as it is today in the mainstream novels. So, much like the other writers that I was reading, I included very few, if any, sexy scenes in my work. But then, there was a gap in my work (I attended grad school) and came back to writing about seven years ago. Wow, what a difference! Writers were writing very erotic things and four letter words were the normal instead of the exception. The more I read, the more I thought about things and then, finally, decided to include the sexy scenes in my work.

As I’ve said before, sex is like death in fiction. You should never write a needless death scene. And, you should never write a ‘throw away’ sexy scene as well. In other words, both the sexy scenes and the death scenes need to be integral to both the story and its characters. It has to ‘feel’ right for the characters either to die or to be making love. Yeah, I know writing the word ‘feel’ is sort of a mushy area but the more you write and the more you write your characters/universe, you will get an intuitive notion as to what is ‘right’ for the fictional world that you’ve created.

As all of you probably know by now, I write an original Dracula-Phantom of the Opera universe. And, I write about two couples, Erik/Christine and Dracula/Mina. The vampirism notwithstanding (I dunno but it seems like vampires and sexy stuff just naturally go together), I think that understanding the couples’ relationships sometimes needs to be explored deeper and in more detail. And since the couples are lovers (soul mates), exploring how they interact with each other on the printed page (also, how they solve their issues) seems to work through the writing of sexy scenes.

Now, as a writer, sometimes, I’ve cut out the sexy scenes so friends or family could read the piece. But you know what? I’ve gone back days later and read both pieces, the one with the sexy scenes and the one without. IMO, most of the time, the one with the sexy scenes does help the reader to get a better sense of who these characters are, what drives them (motivates them) and why they are doing certain things. In other words, the sexy scenes help to flesh out the character for the reader, ie, the reader gets a deeper sense of who exactly these characters are. And really, then, if you look at things that way, you as a writer want the reader to know these characters intimately. Therefore, you can be doing your readership a disservice in a way if you take out the sexy scenes since you are not providing the entire ‘picture’ to the reader of what is going on between these characters. Therefore, the reader will get only a partial (or ¾ ) view of these characters and while the readers’ imaginations can indeed fill in the scene after it has gone to black on the page, the readers’ imaginations of what happens may not be close to the writer’s idea of what the characters experiences are. And that’s the important thing. Because it is the writer’s job to show as much of the actions of his/her characters so that the reader will want to know more about them and will want to follow their lives. And buy your next novel. Which is an important thing too.

So, I guess, to sum up, then, I do think in certain books/universes, sexy scenes (just like death scenes) do play a very important role. I think that through reading of these sexy scenes, the reader is able to get a better sense of the characters and know them much more deeply and intimately than if the scene was not present. Also, many plot type things can occur during sexy scenes which are important to the movement of the story forward. I always leave the writers who are writing my blog with a piece of advice. I think then, I’ll just end with this. If you believe that sex and love are integral to your characters’ relationships, give those sexy scenes a try. You can always take them out if you feel that they do not ‘work’ as well as you would have liked them to. But before you go cutting out those scenes (or censor them in your mind all together by just fading to black and not writing them), think for a moment about how much more ‘real’ your universe/characters may seem to a reader if you wrote them. I’m certain once you get past your initial hesitation, your universe will seem more rich (and more complex) with all those sexy scenes in them.

Until next time, do take care,
Chris