Tales of Mediocrity
Nov. 16th, 2014 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elspethaurilieWell, I managed to finish my chapter. It still needs some heavy editing, but with some discipline and time management, I should have time to edit and post it this afternoon. My small cadre of regular readers will no doubt be happy for the update.
This chapter includes a bit of smut. I have a love/hate relationship with writing smut. On the one hand, when it works, it's exhilarating and exciting. On the other, trying to convey the all emotions tied to physical intimacy is difficult. Trying to capture a tone that doesn't deviate from the apparent style my story has taken on is even worse. Sometimes it's easier just to write a straightforward, explicit romp. Indeed, my first draft paragraphs often alternate between romantic erotica and straight-up, hard-core banging. This story tends toward the former though my next one, a Dawnguard-based fiction, will definitely embrace some of the latter.
And to this point, not all the sex in my story has been romantic. It's just that my language tends toward the erotic and suggestive, rather than the explicit.
But in this last chapter, I decided to pair my protagonist with a popular canon character. And the results are...awkward to say the least. And why shouldn't they be? Unremarkable, average sexual encounters are part of life, no? And it's not as if there is a dearth of exciting smut featuring this guy.
But sweet Dibella's tit writing mediocre sex is difficult. And there isn't exactly an abundance of writing advice out there. There is plenty on how to avoid bad sex writing, but not on how to write bad sex well. In the end, I employed most of the same advice I've always used, with occasional tips taken from the DON'T column. At some point, when I don't have a thousand things on my To Do list, I may write a comprehensive post with some advice on this.
This chapter includes a bit of smut. I have a love/hate relationship with writing smut. On the one hand, when it works, it's exhilarating and exciting. On the other, trying to convey the all emotions tied to physical intimacy is difficult. Trying to capture a tone that doesn't deviate from the apparent style my story has taken on is even worse. Sometimes it's easier just to write a straightforward, explicit romp. Indeed, my first draft paragraphs often alternate between romantic erotica and straight-up, hard-core banging. This story tends toward the former though my next one, a Dawnguard-based fiction, will definitely embrace some of the latter.
And to this point, not all the sex in my story has been romantic. It's just that my language tends toward the erotic and suggestive, rather than the explicit.
But in this last chapter, I decided to pair my protagonist with a popular canon character. And the results are...awkward to say the least. And why shouldn't they be? Unremarkable, average sexual encounters are part of life, no? And it's not as if there is a dearth of exciting smut featuring this guy.
But sweet Dibella's tit writing mediocre sex is difficult. And there isn't exactly an abundance of writing advice out there. There is plenty on how to avoid bad sex writing, but not on how to write bad sex well. In the end, I employed most of the same advice I've always used, with occasional tips taken from the DON'T column. At some point, when I don't have a thousand things on my To Do list, I may write a comprehensive post with some advice on this.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-17 01:30 am (UTC)I'm so incredibly happy that you wrote a 'realistic' sex scene. Not saying that the hot, steamy passionate stuff isn't realistic, but I think people don't really realize that sex that is bad, or boring, or awkward, or whatever can be just as interesting and just as important. It's something I haven't seen any of.
I'd be interested in your advice list! Although, I always take things like that with a grain of salt, because what works for one person may not work for another, and often, the lists that pop up on Tumblr have this obnoxious smugness about what's 'right' and that just annoys me, especially when another list contradicts them.
Anyway, yay/boo for smut!