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Sara_Wilcox the editors said it more than once, but since there's no type of punishment, people just disregard it.

About the 8x12 inches thing... I guess it's just because the world, but for 3 countries, uses the metric system and some people don't know inches and centimeters aren't equivalents...
Anyway, 8 cm thick hmm
Are we talking about the diameter or the circumference...? If diameter, it's...
LOL, I'm so curious now.

Jo_J it doesn’t necessarily, but physical intimacy is one of the most universal ways to express emotion. It’s in everything, from all forms of art, to every culture(both ancient and modern). And I say ‘express emotion’ because love is not the only emotion that can come into play. Sex can be anything from a basic emotional outlet, to a way to connect on a higher, spiritual level with another person(depending on the bond, cultural and religious beliefs, etc.. ).

The point of this thread is to help authors that struggle to write such scenes. The considerations for writing content of sexual nature are vast, and not easily worded. Some writers are just flat-out embarrassed to create such scenes, and this thread also lets them know that they are not alone in their struggles. Sex isn’t a necessity for a romance novel, but for many stories, it is. The general natural progression of a relationship usually leads to sex. We are biologically programmed for it, and it is an everyday part of life(not physically having it everyday, but we hear/see/etc.. about it every day). So if an author wants to write about it, but doesn’t know where to begin, or how to go about it; this thread is here to help(at least that was my hope/intention behind making it).

Sorry for the rant

DarkGamerZZZZ We're talking about high quality sex scene in proper romance here, not some random crappy sex scene in hentai/porn kind of story like what you had written.

GWEN and Anyone Else Reading the Thread:

I respect your opinion. Thank you for your input You are a perfect example of why I say writers need to figure out what type of scene they want in their book(s). It helps them not only determine the content for the scene, but which type of readers they’re seeking to entice/draw in with their work. My personal opinion is vastly different from yours, and that’s ok. Everyone is entitled to like what they want.

I understand your meaning about ‘being molested’, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the scene itself is bad, it’s just not specifically your cup of tea. I see the sculpture of David by Michelangelo as beautiful art, but there are people out there that see it as nothing more than a vulgar statue. To each their own, I say. But my point is that the same perspective applies to books.

In my personal opinion:
This is why authors need to specify which type of scene they’re going for. Sex has many forms and emotions connected to it. To say that SEX is strictly about love, and only for a Married Man and Woman, in my opinion: is extremely narrow-minded and more than a touch bigoted. Personally; I don’t want readers like that. And there are Many writers that don’t either.

A book or scene might be vulgar to you, but it might be a beautiful work of art or connection to many more. It’s up to the author to give you ‘the art’, but ultimately the interpretation is always up to the reader. So it’s important for the author to articulate themselves based off of what type of scene they want.

HARD FACT: NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE YOUR WRITING! AND THAT IS COMPLETELY OKAY!

Edit: Also, in my personal opinion; being embarrassed to write a sex scene doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be one/they shouldn’t write one. It means that the writer understands the depth and importance of said scene. Or, like many; they are simply embarrassed to write it because friends/family will eventually read it. Sex is a part of life. It has ALWAYS been an integral part of culture/religion/etc.. This isn’t anything new. Just that media and technology have made it easily accessible.

Thank you

I think there is also a huge diffrence between male and female authors and audiences tough.

Your suggestions need to be accounted for from the start of the novel.

Especially for male authors, because you can't write an emotionally dead novel and suddenly expect to be writing a good love scene, and let's face it, we men shy away from emotionally descriptive novels, and the few who dont favor depression, self harm and angst genres.

In my opinion, if love scenes are on the planning for future chapters, with a male target audience, then the author needs to be more emotionally descriptive from the start.

If a novel is not emotionally descriptive from the start, it is better to intentionally keep sex to smut only because a love scene even if we'll written in an emotionally dead novel just doesn't work.

Likewise, the genre of the novel needs to be considered from the start. Take 'The Mech Touch' for example which is primarily scifi engineering and design oriented.

It does well mostly because there is more emotion in it than most such genres as part of the design processes, and whilst a fantastic read and having emotion from the start, it is better to insinuate that there was sex than write a sex scene there because a sex scene wouldn't fit in the story when there hasn't been a shred of romance within the first few hundred, and by now thousand chapters.

So Target Audience, Genre, and Emotional levels of the story need to be considered from the start, to even determine whether there should be sex in a story at all, and if yes, if a love scene is even remotely viable as an option over smut if the story has had no or little emotional charge thus far.

But that's just my opinion, which many may differ on, but I believe is worth sharing and considering for male authors.

PS. I'm being actively censored over this post and can no longer post on the forum:
[Media]https://i.imgur.com/M3E5GHO.png[/media]

Hatake_Shirou I really like your line of thought, and agree with your general opinion. This is why I stress that writers need to figure out(if they want such a scene to begin with in their book), which type of scene they want before writing.

As I stated in my first point on the original thread post; authors need to ask themselves questions while researching like:

1. What kind of emotional connection do your characters have? Is it reciprocated? Etc..

These questions cannot even be posed until the base of the story has been decided on/created/etc..

I specifically made this thread about helping authors to get started on their intimate scenes because going any further into the development of their actual story lines starts to step on the creative toes of others.

Personal opinion:

Writing is a beautiful art form to me. I wouldn’t tell an artist how to paint, or what colors to use, but I’m happy to tell them what kinds of brushes will help create certain types of lines, patterns, etc..

I’m not here to tell people how to write their novels(and I know you’re not either), I’m just suggesting how to get started creating an intimate scene; whether it be smut or love. Where to find the resources, and what questions they should be asking to find their own words.

I talk about how the scenes should connect and flow, but I don’t like to actually go into too much detail about it. Not saying you are or anything like that, and I understand your point(generally speaking), about males having a harder time writing love scenes. But I didn’t want this to be gender-specific in any way because everyone struggles sometimes(even I do, which is why I LOVE the thesaurus link I posted above).

Plus, I’ve read/seen books, movies, TV shows, etc.. Where the MC starts out less emotional, but the addition/introduction of a FC later opens the character(s) up to development. It all depends on the writer’s vision.

Thank you for your thoughts and opinions though! Please know that they are Greatly appreciated as it gives those reading this thread food for thought as they develop their stories. I appreciate your input

Sara_Wilcox Thank you for this wonderful writeup.

Light_ray you’re very welcome

This was very well written :D
I'm a very open person, so I like to write raw, if that makes sense. I'm rewriting a story I've had in my head for years and one of the thing I noticed there was too much in was the sex scenes. There's 3 of them at the moment and only one feels.... Connected. XD

The aim of my story is that the main character likes the idea of sex and is normally surrounded by men (she's a mythical human siren XD) so she has a lot of flings and stuff. But I think I made the chapters too long or the feeling we're somewhat disjointed XD
So reading this now, I'm glad I'm rewriting the story to make it more inclusive. I've had no real life experience with this yet, so I rely on my vivid imagination
Thank you for writing this little article as well :D

Sara_Wilcox Regarding your comment about being narrow minded because I stated sex is for the marriage bed. All I see are novels about contract marriage or marriage for convenience the majority of the time. As I said it was my opinion only and I wasn't speaking for anyone else. However, I'm not narrow minded, far from it! I am tired of smut and sex, per se and if that makes me narrow minded and bigoted so be it!
Children have been used to gratify sexual cravings of both men and women in our society. It has become a very casual and common thing, therefore, I feel justified in what I said. Overall, Sarah, my comment was a complaint about how today's society has literally sexed most of us out. I understand what you're saying but to call me narrow minded and bigoted is going a little too far just because I stated a distaste for the sexual perversion bombardment in our society today. Sex has become so glorified that very young girls (ages seven to nine) are having sex because that's all they see in movies, commercials, these books and there are very few authors writing about married love, waiting until marriage to have sex, etc. In my humble opinion, the condoning of premarital sex is the reason so many young girls are pregnant at an even earlier age today and massive abortions. I respected your opinion but you made it clear that I'm narrow minded and bigoted because I desire married sex without the very graphic details. If our society wasn't so perverted, I might agree with you but too much is happening in the world today to keep quiet about the sexual issues facing the young and impressionable boys and girls in 2021 and beyond!
I'd like to add one other thing: influence. These stories influence those impressionable children to have sex. I'm just looking for something more than just sex. I like a good sex scene as well as anyone else but all I see in the majority of these stories is smut and yes you can feel molested after reading about someone being raped aggressively and descriptively. No offense, but there are only a few of us who truly would like a change!

GWEN First and foremost: as stated in the original post, this thread is about helping writers write sex scenes. It was not titled ‘Do you think sex scenes belong in books?’. The First line of your post was “I am a woman who hates graphic, pornographic sexual descriptions!” Which, right off the bat is counter-productive to the conversation, considering the context of the conversation. A commenter named Towel up top said that he doesn’t like romance period, but then actually gave constructive alternatives writers could use. You were more morally grandstanding than actually contributing to the conversation.

You were also literally discouraging writers from following their own vision at the end of your post. Saying that if they’re having difficulty writing it, then they shouldn’t. Writers get blocked or hung up on certain plot points, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t write it if they feel it’s important to their story.

All authors are told to put content warnings on their synopsis and/or the chapters that have trigger content. It is your choice to read those books. If an author failed to put a warning on, then by all means: contact customer service and lodge a complaint. That is what they are there for.

As I said, in my personal opinion: that you are narrow-minded and bigoted mainly because you said sex should be between a Married Man and Woman. I have many friends that are members of the LGBTQ community, and there are MANY on Webnovel. Not to mention the fact that I have two beautiful nieces, and their parents have been together for almost fifteen years: not married.

They pay WAY less in taxes that way, and they don’t believe a piece of paper is what actual love is about. On the other hand; I am married. I wanted the wedding, honeymoon, etc.. TO EACH THEIR OWN, I SAY. That is why I said you were bigoted and narrow minded, not JUST because you think it should be reserved for the marriage bed.

Now, as to your reply:

Again, this thread was made to Help writers create sex scenes. No to be a place for you to morally grandstand on your wobbly pedestal. How can you say, in your original post that ‘you weren’t speaking for anyone else’, but in your second post literally say:

GWEN Overall, Sarah, my comment was a complaint about how today's society has literally sexed most of us out.

Of course some might agree with you, and that’s fine. But that was not what this thread was about...

Second:

....When/why did kids get brought into this?

GWEN I'd like to add one other thing: influence. These stories influence those impressionable children to have sex.

This was a post about helping WRITERS. What PARENTS AND GUARDIANS allow their children to see is generally up to them. All technology now adays has parental controls, age guidelines, and content warnings. Not to mention actually being a PARENT OR GUARDIAN, and having vital discussions with their kids.

My overall point:

You came to morally grandstand and troll instead of providing any useful insight or content. Don’t come here and complain about author content when you don’t contribute anything but negative opinions.

Complain to parents, TV stations, etc.. But leave the ARTISTS alone. Don’t like it, don’t read it. Super Simple.

P.S. It’s Sara, not Sarah...