Except for romance novels (where it is, after all, the focus and intent), I feel sex scenes in fiction almost never add to the story and almost always pulls you out of the story as a reader.
Or, maybe it is just me.
It could very well be me.
I’m no prude, but I don’t really want to be foisted into the role of voyeur to your character’s hot and heavy lovemaking.
Romance? I can get behind romance. (Not all that interested in writing fiction about it, but reading about or seeing, experiencing? Certainly).
Apparently, this makes a story more “edgy” to get those details about a character’s life by moving beyond romance, but it is mostly a wasted effort as far as I am concerned.
I tend to skim sex scenes in books. I possibly miss important plot details (I wouldn’t bet on it). In most cases, when I have not skimmed such a scene, it can almost always been a “fade to black” scene and let those poor characters have a bit of privacy. Knowing their visceral responses to “bumping uglies” is not essential to the overall plot.
Unless… they are into that kind of thing. Being watched and all.
Do you think sex scenes in novels are additive, subtractive or are just storytelling?
In your opinion, are they sometimes/always/never essential to telling a tale?
29 responses to “Half-penny thoughts — 04nov25”
I think it’s hard to write sex scenes. Sometimes (in my opinion) they actually take away from a story line. For example, James Bond doesn’t marry. Unless he’s trying to save someone’s life. But it worked for John Wick. Maybe because we came into the story when he was grieving?
Most people are imaginative enough that if you say, ‘Roy guided Grace to the bedroom’, you know what’s next. In the end that decision is yours. Does it help or hurt your story?
I don’t think you have to include the act of sex in romance. When you get super descriptive, I think you’re treading in erotic fiction territory.
I agree. Again, I take no issue if it really adds to the story, but when it gets into “erotica” territory, then it feels like the author is trying to prove something. Imagination can be a powerful tool, let the readers free to imagine it — they can usually imagine things better than what they read anyway 🙂
Thanks for the comments, Jolene 💙
You’re welcome.
Sometimes blooming authors see such successes as 50 Shades of Gray as the example they need to follow in order to reach their moment in the sun.
Let’s be honest. Sex sells.
LOL, yes it does. But I prefer my smut and my literature to be in separate boxes. 🤣
😂
I would tend to agree. I would say that it’s very hard to do well. I’ve tried it; I even think I did okay with it in one book but I stayed away from physical stuff and stuck more to the mental side. I would never say it can’t be done well, I just think it takes an enormous amount of skill, and hinting and letting the reader’s imagination take over is probably even more effective 99% of the time, like Jolene says.
My thoughts are not so much that can’t or shouldn’t be done, but that I think it is overdone and rarely adds value in terms of story when it goes into explicit territory.
I recently read something where I asked myself, “Why was this included? Great, we get two people are attracted to each other, but why did we need to read the details?
That’s probably true of a lot of writing; the author thinks they’re being clever, when a straight up edit would’ve been much cleverer. Is that really a word?
It’s the bestest word for the occasion.
Most writing of all types tends to be better when the adage “less is more” is applied.
Hi Michael! It depends how it’s done! Too many graphic sex scenes, then that’s simply erotica!! Please move along to that section dear reader!!
I read a brilliant novel called ‘The Horse Whisperer’ many decades ago, where the most significant sex scene was at the very end of the book! It was delicately and tastefully handled. It needed to happen between those two characters. Great book.
Interesting post!
Sometimes a single sex scene is too much of a distraction, but you are very right when you say that it is sometimes essential.
I sold a lot of copies of Horse Whisperer back in my retail bookstore days back in the 90s, but never read it myself. I should probably fix that eventually, but my to-read tower is threatening to tip over as-is. 😂
Adding it to the mental overflow shelf along with a reread of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Personally I feel that they tend to distract and very rarely add anything storywise. Rather like older movies, the suggestion is far more powerful that something that has been foisted upon you.
Perhaps, like long, drawn out descriptions of scenes they are used merely to fill out pages…or maybe writers/publishers feel that we, the reader, have lost the capacity to create visuals in our imagination.
Like yourself I do find myself skimming through such passages as I feel them as being superfluous to the story – yes, I get the picture, people have sex, but then they also spend time shitting and yet I’ve yet to read a 250-300 page description of that. If you know of one DO let me know!!
Genet didn’t go to quite that length, but he did go on quite the monologue about it in “The Screens” [scene 16]. The sergeant is waxing poetic about it in the afterlife after getting shot with his pants down taking a dump. It is about 2 pages worth of how the act of taking a dump is the great equalizer, blind to position and rank.
Say what you want about Genet, he didn’t shy away from what most folks considered profane.
I’ve had ‘The Thief’s Journal’ on my shelf for about 3 months now and it’s a couple of books away from being read!
Be forewarned, he can get graphic if you weren’t aware of it. Not unnecessarily so, IMO, as it is fitting with the content. But when I saw a production of The Screens, some season ticket holders were not prepared for Genet and walked out of the production at intermission. If I recall, Thieves Journal doesn’t hold any punches either. It’s been 25 years, though, so…
Cheers. I’m semi-aware of the nature of his writing (and his lifestyle), but willing to give it a go!
I found some of it quite rewarding when you get over the initial shock. Good luck!
I’d go with it’s a story telling tool – everyone mostly likes a ‘happy ending’ 😅
🤣
When you put it that way… 🤔
If you ever around to reading The Horse Whisperer you’ll see what I mean. The final love scene completes the story. Very good book!
Did I just read Les Liaisons Dangereuses???!!! Michael, it sounds like a long book and would stretch anyone’s TBR pile or re-read pile to breaking point!!! ☺
I’ve read it several times. It is expertly written as an epistolary novel. My favorite screen adaptation was the Close/Maklovich/Pfeiffer version, as it didn’t stray much from the source material.
I’ve never read it!! But maybe I should add it to my pile, if you have read it several times! The film was fantastic! I wouldn’t mind watching it again. Great cast!! Thanks!
I’m weird in my tastes. And it’s been years, but I was fond of it a few decades back. It might very well have been “a phase”.
Let me know if you do read it.
It’s on my list and I will certainly let you know. Thank you!😊 Ps; there’s nothing wrong with having ‘weird’ tastes in literature, it just sounds to me like you enjoy a wide variety of books! 📚
I guess I should say then that it is possibly an acquired taste and for all I know I may no longer have such tastes 🤣
😊
I always skim sex scenes. They’re all interchangeable. One book I’ve written has to contain some sections of that nature, but I keep things as minimal as is possible. Otherwise I close the door firmly and let readers use their imaginations – which to my mind is part of the function of reading, to help develop the imagination.
Exactly. I’m not all that interested in having my story interrupted by smut. Likewise, I’m not all that interested in having my smut interrupted by story. 😉
😂😂😂