:) Excellent insight - and well done for the forthright put-upp-ance of inevitable innuendo :) Jericho's Festival of Writing has a "how to write sizzling sex scenes" session this year. I'm attending for the primary reason that I think it should be a hoot to sit in a room of (mainly) English people having to talk about writing about sex! I'm going to hopefully pick up some great characterisation moments (from the audience watching I plan to do, as well as from the lecturer!). :)
Ha! That's going to be fun. I find that if you acknowledge how ridiculous it all is (after all, sex IS very ridiculous, looked at one way) then no one gets too embarrassed, and the giggles don't get in the way.
:) looked at from one way - I guess it's all in the angles! Can't remember which comedian it was who said how excited he was to record a sex video with his beloved, only to watch it back and realise they both looked like peeled baking potatoes bumping around!! :D Someone posted an erotic novel excerpt on a writer's forum recently and it was all "Hardened members for 'Ardleigh, wet dreams". Oh dear, oh dear :D
I have a very painful disclosure to make. A few years ago, after my third novel was published (The Naked Name of Love, which has been republished with my title, The Priest and the Lily) I found a sniggering answer phone message. I'd been shortlisted for the Bad Sex Awards. I was too embarrassed to respond to the journalist who'd left a message, but I was outraged. My character was a priest in the 1800s who was having sex for the first time whilst high on drugs (hallucination-inducing lilies). Of course it was going to be bad sex! Of course some weird stuff was going to happen! Oh boy. I'm still cross... (I hope it wasn't badly written, just a very strange and emotional experience for my priest...)
Oh, where’s a hug emoji when I need one? I do think there’s an almost-impossible line to draw between good writing about bad sex, and badly written sex. And some Bad Sex Award extracts look to me as if they might be absolutely fine in context, as you say. It’s as much about the mood the judgey reader is in, as the actual words.
:) Excellent insight - and well done for the forthright put-upp-ance of inevitable innuendo :) Jericho's Festival of Writing has a "how to write sizzling sex scenes" session this year. I'm attending for the primary reason that I think it should be a hoot to sit in a room of (mainly) English people having to talk about writing about sex! I'm going to hopefully pick up some great characterisation moments (from the audience watching I plan to do, as well as from the lecturer!). :)
Ha! That's going to be fun. I find that if you acknowledge how ridiculous it all is (after all, sex IS very ridiculous, looked at one way) then no one gets too embarrassed, and the giggles don't get in the way.
:) looked at from one way - I guess it's all in the angles! Can't remember which comedian it was who said how excited he was to record a sex video with his beloved, only to watch it back and realise they both looked like peeled baking potatoes bumping around!! :D Someone posted an erotic novel excerpt on a writer's forum recently and it was all "Hardened members for 'Ardleigh, wet dreams". Oh dear, oh dear :D
*snigger* And oh, so true!
I have a very painful disclosure to make. A few years ago, after my third novel was published (The Naked Name of Love, which has been republished with my title, The Priest and the Lily) I found a sniggering answer phone message. I'd been shortlisted for the Bad Sex Awards. I was too embarrassed to respond to the journalist who'd left a message, but I was outraged. My character was a priest in the 1800s who was having sex for the first time whilst high on drugs (hallucination-inducing lilies). Of course it was going to be bad sex! Of course some weird stuff was going to happen! Oh boy. I'm still cross... (I hope it wasn't badly written, just a very strange and emotional experience for my priest...)
Oh, where’s a hug emoji when I need one? I do think there’s an almost-impossible line to draw between good writing about bad sex, and badly written sex. And some Bad Sex Award extracts look to me as if they might be absolutely fine in context, as you say. It’s as much about the mood the judgey reader is in, as the actual words.
Thank you ☺️