Graphic erotic scenes in non-erotica?
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Why do people agonise over this so much? Few writers seem to fret over violence in quite the same way.
Violence is pretty dominate in our culture today. If you look at most of the popular shows on TV or movies, there is something violent that is happening. It just depends on the medium. Comedy's tend to get verbally abusive. I don't know about anyone else but I can't stand shows like King of Queens or Everybody Loves Raymond because of all the berating that goes on in those sorts of shows. I can't stand The Big Bang Theory at all and don't get me started on The Office or Park and Recreation. Or any show like that where verbal abuse is deemed as funny and it's fine to make fun of people in a mean manner.
It just depends on people's view points of what constitutes violence and what constitutes as a really graphic sex scene. And the thing about sex is that it is GRAPHIC. Just some people down play it, while others live it up for all to see.
I don't mind something graphic in a book, if it faded to black I'd be wondering it the author was going for a literary thing over a genre thing.
The difference between violence and sex though is that most people have tried the latter at least once. Maybe that is why people find it unacceptable or difficult to read in general fiction
I really enjoyed reading this discussion. Going to the opposite of the argument, there are some books that leave too much out. Sometimes I'm reading a book and I have to ask myself, "Did they just have sex?" because the door is closed even before it's really been decided.
I think a lot emotionally can happen to characters during a sex scene which is why I prefer more over less.
I think a lot emotionally can happen to characters during a sex scene which is why I prefer more over less.
there is really no reason why writing about sex should be different from writing about anything else - it's a (in my opinion very harmful) cultural bias.
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I think this depends on what you mean by graphic. If you are mentioning the primary body parts and the general movements, in order to say more than "they had sex" or fade to black, more people may appreciate the writing. For a mainstream audience, I think there is a limit. Describing detailed regions within the body parts, fluids, sounds (verbal and otherwise), motions, technique, may be too much for some. I am not talking about taboo acts, just highly detailed descriptions. A play-by-play interaction between a fingertip, another body part, a conversation of the ilk "do you like that?" may be an abrupt change for some people.
I think you need to set the tone early in your book. Not by being salacious, but by not sugar-coating anything else that would be considered controversial.
In short, I dunno. Post a sample in the NC-17 section and we can tell you more.
I think you need to set the tone early in your book. Not by being salacious, but by not sugar-coating anything else that would be considered controversial.
In short, I dunno. Post a sample in the NC-17 section and we can tell you more.
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I disagree that for a mainstream audience there is a limit. I have read a lot, and I have found a lot of explicit sex in a lot of genres. I have found absolutely hard core descriptions of sex in books that are treated as completely unremarkable examples of literary, thriller, mystery and especially sci fi. The presence of this hard core sex is not even mentioned in their Amazon reviews (I checked) so reader do not seem to be finding it remarkable. It is even in YA now, but that is commented on.
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I've read that some publishers for Romance, and particularly New Adult want some 'heat' between the characters. Maybe not to the level of erotica, but not fading out as soon as the begin more than kissing either.
To me it depends on the purpose of the scene.
if you cut the sex scene out, how does it change the story? If nothing changes, then it doesn't need to be there. But I am aggressive about pointless anything in books.
Personally I do not like sexual or erotic scenes in non-erotic content, simply because if I'm in the mood for erotica, I read erotica. It's not what I showed up to experience. It's like reading a medieval history story and suddenly a spaceship crashes in the middle of the scene (without warning to the reader there'd be spaceships in this book) or a comedy movie that without warning becomes a humorless horror movie for ten minutes. But then, I don't like romantic subplots period because I want plot, and action, and world building, and romance drags everything to a halt.
if you cut the sex scene out, how does it change the story? If nothing changes, then it doesn't need to be there. But I am aggressive about pointless anything in books.
Personally I do not like sexual or erotic scenes in non-erotic content, simply because if I'm in the mood for erotica, I read erotica. It's not what I showed up to experience. It's like reading a medieval history story and suddenly a spaceship crashes in the middle of the scene (without warning to the reader there'd be spaceships in this book) or a comedy movie that without warning becomes a humorless horror movie for ten minutes. But then, I don't like romantic subplots period because I want plot, and action, and world building, and romance drags everything to a halt.
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That said, there are many who do. Take romance readers for instance. Apparently a lot of romance readers get upset if there isn't sexual scenes in a romance story.
