Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet by Stacia Kane

Author:Stacia Kane [Kane, Stacia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Reference, Writing Skills
ISBN: 9781456494827
Publisher: CreateSpace

Part 13: More on chemistry and character

Now. Several people pointed out to me last time that the Sharon Kay Penman scene didn’t do it for them. Several more mentioned that if they knew the characters better, it probably would have.

Which is exactly the point that I’ve made here, a few times (and I’m not being bitchy; I was really pleased to see those comments because A. It proved me right, and I do so love to be right; B. It shows y’all are really paying attention; and C. It shows you guys are really absorbing and feel comfortable speaking up—you’re really getting your own ideas on what works and what doesn’t, and what you would do differently, and why something does or does not work for you. Which is AWESOME).

Remember the “bold statement” in the “Chemistry” post? There were two of them, actually; the first was

“A sex scene is the culmination of everything the hero/heroine have done, said, and been through together from the moment they meet (or the moment the reader meets them).”

The second was

“Your Hero/heroine should react to and interact with each other. If they don’t do that, nobody’s going to be interested in seeing them have sex.”

This is where erotic romance has a bit of an advantage, simply because it is so graphic, and the more graphic a scene is, the easier it is to turn someone on with it.

But every sex scene is hotter if the reader is involved, and I chose those two examples to illustrate that point. You can—and should—involve them with evocative language, with rhythm, with imagery (we’re doing that soon), with a little dialogue, with emotion, sensation, and thought; there are lots of ways to do it and lots of little tricks you should be using. But the number one most important point is to emotionally involve the reader before the sex occurs.

Now, I appreciate this is my blog, and my work, and I’m obviously not posting it for critique—what would be the point? Blood Will Tell was published over a year ago; Eighth Wand ten months ago (at the time of this writing). It’s not like I’m going to go back and edit them at this point, not when they’ve each already sold several thousand copies in ebook format. BUT. I expect that each and every one of you noticed something missing in the scenes I’ve quoted (perhaps not as much with the Eighth Wand scene, as it was a dialogue-heavy scene and I gave you some background first.)

But certainly Monday’s BWT scene—especially as it too was a very emotional scene, actually—suffered for lack of your personal emotional involvement with the characters.

Remember what we said the other day, about the difference between pornography and erotica/erotic romance? The difference is emotion.

A sex scene without emotion, no matter how well written, is just a cheap thrill. You must involve the reader first. You must make them anticipate. Now, again, we’re starting to really reach a point where the topics are so intertwined it’s hard to separate them.

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