Well, the Captain spoke about sex scenes on Tuesday. But, as I’m in the middle of writing my first one and that’s all I’ve been able to think about this week, I’m piggy-backing off her blog. (I know, PIRATE!).
I said that my sex scene is all I’ve been able to think about this week, but that’s kinda not the truth. I have spent this entire week trying not to think about my sex scene.
It actually started last week. I knew the scene was coming, but I’d been hoping when the time came, I could just go with the flow and let it take me.
Alas, that is not what has happened.
I got to “the point.” You know, where we (me and my characters) knew it was time for them to get it on. I got the whole scene set up the equivalent of writing foreplay, very romantic, but then, the awkwardness came.
I thought such things were left to real life first time encounters, but I was mistaken.
What do they do? How do they really feel about each other? If they were real people, how would they be reacting in this situation?
I didn’t know either.
I started to doubt myself. What if I’d been writing a romance novel and my characters weren’t even that into each other? It’s like that relationship where you invest all this time getting to know the other person on a metaphysical level only to find that they just don’t “do” it for you.
Wait, has that only happened to me? I digress.
Mostly, I fear writing my sex scene because I’m afraid that while I’m tearing down all the boundaries between my characters and stripping them raw for all the world to see, that I’m perhaps breaking down barriers between myself and every single person who reads my work.
I am silly, sarcastic my fair share of the time, and self-deprecating more often than not. When I write these things, I doubt I’ll be able to hide behind all that. Will people be able to see ME in my words?
In other words, am I doing the writing equivalent of running naked in public?
My answer: maybe. Probably a little, but maybe not. Who knows? And I don’t think we as writers can ever worry about it or we’ll paralyze ourselves, shut ourselves off from our readers and make our writing ineffective. If we want to connect with readers, we need to find those things that strike a universal chord. And love, well, that’s a big one, the one that’s most important to me. And sex, well, sex in my sex scene, if it’s with the right person (and my characters have found the right people) it should showcase love and get me closer to that goal.
Have you ever written a sex scene and if so, how’d it go? How about streaking? Not interested in that topic? Ok, well, how about telling me what about writing makes you feel the most vulnerable?
Mad Annie Mizzenmast…I mean, the incomparable Annie West is sharing two of her books with two commenters from yesterday’s fabulous blog! The winners are: