Are Writers Shying Away From Sex Scenes?

Don't concentrate simply on the mechanics or you'll have an awkward "tab A in slot B" scene that will make readers collapse with laughter. – C. Margery Kempe

I have recently discovered that the one award in writing I don’t mind not winning has been awarded once again. It’s Britain’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. I posted a blog on this last year, when the 2008 winner was Rachel Johnson for Shire Hell.

For those who don’t remember, the award (a plastic foot) was created in 1993 by literary critic, Rhoda Koenig and then editor of the Literary Review, Auberon Waugh, "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it."

The winner for 2009 was The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. According to the Literary Review, “The judges used the occasion to praise an ambitious and impressive novel. They said: ‘It is in part a work of genius.’ However, a mythologically inspired passage and lines such as "I came suddenly, a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg" clinched the award.” The author was not available for comment, but the article said, “We hope he takes it in good humour.”

To read the entire winning exert, click here. You can also read clips by the runners up who included Paul Theroux, Nick Cave, Philip Roth, Amos Oz, Anthony Quinn, John Banville, Richard Milward, Sanjida O'Connell and Simon Van Booy.

According to a separate article I read on guardian.com by Tim Adams, “Sex disappears from the British novel as authors run scared of ridicule,” this award may be scaring authors from writing steamy scenes. The article states that former poet laureate, Andrew Motion, after reading through 138 novels to come up with the shortlist for the Booker Prize concluded that, “… no one was writing much about sex anymore.” Motion said, “It's as if they were paranoid about being nominated for the Bad Sex Award…” He is also quoted as saying that "there were a lot of people writing about taking drugs, as if that was a substitute for sex."

It’s an interesting article about the obscenity trial for Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence and “lust” highlights in literature. Adams says, “In 1961, the year after Lady Chatterley's Lover was allowed to be published in the UK, the book outsold the Bible, with two million copies bought (200,000 on the first day).” He goes on to list books on “Literary Lust: 10 Milestones,” such as Fanny Hill by John Cleland, Ulysses by James Joyce and Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, which had a part in changing the history of acceptable sex in novels.

The articles left me wondering if authors are shying away from writing about sexual encounters because they’ve all been done before; they don’t have the shock value that they once did; they are too difficult to write; they’re worried about the Bad Sex in Fiction Award; society is reverting back to the puritanical values of our ancestors; drug scenes have become the new sex scene; or they aren’t backing away at all. What do you think?

If you have trouble writing sex scenes and want to be sure you don’t win the foot trophy, check out last year’s guest post by C. Margery Kempe for her tips on writing these difficult scenes.

Other helpful articles I found are:
20 Steps to Writing Great Love Scenes, by Karen Wiesner at writing-world.com
How to Write a Fictional Sex Scene, by Catherine Chant at eHow.com
How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program by Steve Almond on Nerve.com

Do you have trouble writing sex scenes? Have you read a scene you think might deserve the Bad Sex in Fiction Award? Do you think drug scenes are surpassing sex scenes in fiction?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.


Tags: C. Margery Kemp, bad sex in fiction award, writing sex scenes, Jonathan Littell , Lady Chatterley’s Lover , D. H. Lawrence, Fanny Hill, John Cleland,Ulysses ,James Joyce, Philip Roth,

Thank You Time

“I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.” - William Shakespeare

I have been a bit remiss in acknowledging the kind bloggers who have presented my blog with some very special awards, so I am using today’s post to catch up.

First, I’d like to thank Helen Ginger for the lovely You Are My Sunshine Award. Don’t you just love those yellow galoshes! If you haven’t visited Helen’s Straight From Hel blog, you need to rush right over. Every day Helen, a writer and freelance editor, offers interesting and informative posts on all things about books, publishing, and editing.

Next I’d like to thank Karen Walker who bestowed the same award upon me. It’s great to feel appreciated. Karen’s blog, Karen…following the whispers, like her memoir, Following the Whispers, is full of honesty and emotions about her past and her current spiritual journey through life. This is another blog I try to stop by as often as possible, and recommend that you pay her a visit, too.

The You Are My Sunshine award is given to acknowledge those who have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other bloggers get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there.

How special to be singled out for this prestigious award more than once. I do enjoy blog hopping – I find it becomes addictive. I know how much I enjoy receiving comments and therefore I do try to reciprocate whenever possible.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roz Morris of DirtyWhiteCandy.com for the different Sunshine Award and the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award. Roz is a professional writer of nearly a dozen published novels. She lives and works in one of my favorite cities, London. Her site abounds with tips on the basics of writing and blogs covering all aspects of writing from inspiration to creative provocation. Be sure to check it out.

If, like me, you’re curious about where the name Dirty White Candy comes from, you will find the interesting answer on the sidebar of her site.

For the Sugar Doll Award, I’m supposed to tell you ten interesting things about myself. The main reason I write fiction is because my life, though I enjoy it immensely, is not all that interesting. I didn’t want to bore you to pieces so I reduced it to five somewhat out of the ordinary things.

1) I once signed my own death warrant. It was required as part of the paperwork for our move to Saudi Arabia. My shaking hand made my signature hard to read. Fortunately, I did nothing to make the Saudi officials feel the need to carry it out.

2) During my 39-year marriage I’ve lived in six foreign countries. They were Taiwan, Korea, England, Holland, Italy and Saudi Arabia.

3) My favorite family vacation of all time was a safari in Kenya. We took about a gazillion pictures (give or take). Developing all those photos (in London) increased the cost of the trip significantly. Needless to say, the vacation was before the days of digital cameras.

4) I truly believe that I once saw a ghost in our home in Dallas, Texas, after I had gone to bed one night. She was non-threatening and produced feelings of awe rather than fear. However, I never slept on that side of the bed again.

5) While visiting an area of burial mounds in Korea, I felt like a real celebrity when a busload of young Korean school kids were more interested in the “foreign woman” than the historic site they were visiting. Each asked me, in nearly perfect English, for my autograph. How could I refuse?

Oops. I'm not quite done. This past Sunday, I learned Helen Ginger had also awarded me with the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award. Thank you again, Helen.

I’m trying my best not to let all these accolades go to my head…but it isn’t easy.

I'm supposed to pass these award along. I‘m doing that by saying THANK YOU to all of you who take the time to visit and to those who go a step farther and leave a comment and/or become a follower. You make the work that goes into blogging worth it and keep me motivated to improve my writing. Please feel free to help yourself to one, two or all three of the awards. Don’t be shy. You deserve them, for without you, writing this blog would be a rather unrewarding exercise of futility.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Shakespeare, awards, Helen Ginger, Karen Walker, Roz Morris, blogging,

Writing a Sex Scene

“If the sex scene doesn't make you want to do it - whatever it is they're doing - it hasn't been written right.” - Sloan Wilson

I decided, after posting the “Bad Sex in Fiction Awards,” I wasn’t the only one who found writing sex scenes difficult. C. Margery Kempe is quite accomplished in this area, so I asked if she’d consider doing a guest blog to give us all some pointers. I’m excited to say she agreed. Even if you are not a writer, I think you’ll find the information interesting.

C. Margery Kempe is the author of the erotic thriller Chastity Flame and a bunch of short stories. Coffee Time Romance has called her novel “…one thrill ride after another” and Wetwork author Philip Nutman says, " I wish I'd created this character… Erotic and witty, this is a page-turner."

I’ll turn the blog over to Ms. Kempe without further ado.

Thanks, Jane, for inviting me along to your blog! I offered to share my experience for writing a sex scene that won't make your readers cringe. It is a difficult thing to do, as the very existence of the Bad Sex Awards demonstrate. I think in large part this comes from the very writerly habit of going to metaphor when covering sensitive subjects. For a good sex scene, that often invites hyperbole if not outright guffaws. I'm going to show this while keeping everything PG-13, too, as Jane requested. Writing can be hot without being explicit.

The real key to a good sex scene is sensuality. This might seem obvious, but it's also something that our rather Puritanical society shies away from. Yes, I know we're bombarded with sexualized images constantly in the media, but they're teasing and usually rather sterile ones, too. Airbrushed and posed perfections stimulate without satisfaction.

When you start thinking about a sex scene, think about the set up. With characters who engage us, we're already interested in who they are, so we want to feel the attraction that draws them together. A sex scene isn't just a physical encounter: it's part of your character building. Don't concentrate simply on the mechanics or you'll have an awkward "tab A in slot B" scene that will make readers collapse with laughter. Consider how your characters would act at a moment like this. How do they make their first moves and what does it reveal? Does she go for an immediate, deep and lingering kiss? Or does he want to bury his hands in her hair first and nuzzle her cheek. Every move should add to the picture we've been building all along.

In chapter 3 of Chastity Flame, our heroine has an encounter on a train which tells us a lot about her life, her job and her attitudes toward sexual opportunities. When an older man offers to buy her a coffee on the Eurostar, it immediately turns into an opportunity for flirting:

Her gallant returned with coffee and all the accoutrements and she gratefully added a helping of cream to the rich black brew.

"Simon Chalk," he said by way of introduction, offering her a smartly manicured and surprisingly large hand to shake.

"Masie Diamond," Chastity offered, picking one of her stock names at random and reminding herself to keep to it. It was not, however, the name on her passport.

"Do you make this trip often? Or is that far too dull of a question?"

"How about 'what did you want to be when you grew up?'" Chastity asked with a smile. It was always one of her favourites.

As expected, he laughed and blinked a little at her. "I wanted to be a milkman," he said, his grin betraying a good bit of embarrassment at his sudden revelation. Chastity was sure he had expected to be the one leading the conversation.

From this exchange we find out that Chastity has done this many times, uses many aliases, and that she reads people quickly. As the conversation continues, they each reveal personal information that allows for the introduction of more overtly sexual innuendo:

"I wanted to be a circus performer," Chastity said, no longer sure if it was a lie or the truth. "I wanted to ride bareback on a horse and do pirouettes and stand on one leg."

Simon smiled at her. Unlike his initial predatory grin, there was a genuine warmth to it. "I can see you doing that. On a white horse with bells and shiny silver buckles on its bridle."

Chastity sipped her coffee and regarded him closely. "Maybe that's why I like leather… and straps and buckles."

His intake of breath was audible.

She's thrown out a nakedly sexual remark in order to gauge his interest and it has surprised him. Will he be intimidated by this or intrigued? Chastity watches him closely to see. Of course, he can't resist, but they’re on a train with other people, so at this point they can only talk about what they might do together. Simon knows that he has to prove himself to her and labours to do so, trying to prove what kind of lover he would be:

"I would start with the toes, yes, I'm sure of that," he said, his eyes caressing what his hands were denied. His voice lowered in both tone and register. "I would start with your toes in my mouth, happy to suck each one and enjoy the salty savour of them. And then I would run each fingertip along the muscles of your calf, needing to feel the interplay of the flexing tendons. I would caress your knees until I was sure I had memorized their shape. Only then would I consider your thighs. All right so far?"

Not surprisingly, Chastity is impressed. Why? Attention to detail, the kind of thing that makes a sex scene work, too. Simon concentrates on the sensations -- his and hers -- as he envisions the scene. He creates both a sense of urgency and a leisurely appreciation of their encounter. Arousal makes his voice change. We see what he's concentrating on, too. As the scene goes along, we see, hear, and feel Chastity's warm response to him.

Too often people pull back from a sex scene and then it feels impersonal. Picture every step, imagine every sensation: what does a kiss really feel like? Don't think of the ways you've read it described. Close your eyes and remember a really good one. Write it exactly as it was. Consider the rest of your body: What are the sensitive parts of your skin? What gets you going? If you feel embarrassed because writing a sex scene turns you on, DON'T. It probably means it's going well, because I can assure you, if you're not excited by your description, no one else will be either. That's the real secret!

Thank you C. Margery Kempe. I not only learned from this post, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. You make writing these scenes seem so easy with the wonderful examples from Chastity Flame. I have a feeling it may take some practice on my part to progress from “an awkward "tab A in slot B" scene” to “embarrassed because writing a sex scene turns you on,” but I’m looking forward to trying.

Please feel free to leave questions and/or comments for Ms. Kempe. Also be sure to visit her website.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Sloan Wilson, Bad Sex in Fiction Awards, C. Margery Kempe,how to write a sex scene

Bad Sex in Fiction Awards

“I sometimes think novelists write about sex in order to avoid boring themselves to death.” – Walker Percy

While writing The Ride, I came to a place in the story where the next logical step between two of the characters was a steamy sex scene. This is going to be fun, I thought. With my hands poised above the keys, I froze.

“You don’t have a clue what to do here, do you?” I heard my Muse mutter.

She was right, I didn’t. Each word sounded forced or hokey. I deleted a few of the words immediately. “Your mother is going to read this," I reminded myself. Though no easy task, I finally worked my way through it and was pleased with the outcome.

After running across information about Britain’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award, I feel even better about the scene. I didn’t make this award up. According to LibraryThing Beta,

“The Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award is an award given annually to the author who produces the worst description of a sex scene in a novel. The award is in the form of a "semi-abstract trophy representing sex in the 1950s", which depicts a naked woman draped over an open book. It has been presented each year since 1993 by the Literary Review, a London literary journal. The award was originally established by Rhoda Koenig, a literary critic, and Auberon Waugh, then editor of the Literary Review.The given rationale is "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it".”

The 2008 award went to Rachel Johnson for Shire Hell. From guardian.co.uk,

“Johnson was singled out for her novel's slew of animal metaphors, including comparing her male protagonist's "light fingers" to "a moth caught inside a lampshade", and his tongue to "a cat lapping up a dish of cream so as not to miss a single drop".”

Also according to the article, her prize was a plaster foot and not the trophy of a woman draped over a book. I’m trying to keep this a PG so you’ll have to read the article in the guardian.co.uk for more details. You can also read about the other nominees and Updike’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Entire “nominated” passages for previous years can be found at Literary Review. But, here are excerpts of a few of my favorites (that I could print without blushing too much).

From I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe winner in 2004: “Hoyt began moving his lips as if he were trying to suck the ice cream off the top of a cone without using his teeth.”

From Bunker 13 by Aniruddha Bahal, winner in 2003: "She's taking off her blouse. It's on the floor. Her breasts are placards for the endomorphically endowed.”

And from Kissing England by Sean Thomas, winner in 2000: "She is his own Toshiba, his dinky little JVC, his sweet Aiwa. Aiwa - She says, as he enters her slimy red-peppers-in-olive-oil ****(word censored by the author of this blog) - Aiwa, aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh"

Have you read any scenes that should be nominated for this award? Do you have any advice for writing sex scenes?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: The Ride, writing sex scenes, Bad Sex in Fiction Award, Literary Review, Rachel Johnson, Updike, Tom Wolfe, Bahal, Sean Thomas, Walker Percy,