HOW MUCH SEX IS TOO MUCH? - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T08:22:28Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/how-much-sex-is-too-much?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A234028&feed=yes&xn_auth=noYeah. Obviously the example I…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-05:537324:Comment:2344042010-05-05T17:48:52.513ZRobin Spanohttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RobinSpano
Yeah. Obviously the example I gave is a fill-in-the-blanks scenario. But I think it's important for a sex scene to have a double purpose, unless you're writing erotica. It doesn't have to be overtly about solving the crime, but it should move the characters along in their journey toward crime-solving.<br />
<br />
I think the golden rule is: Above all, entertain. Sex scenes, if written well, are a great way to keep a reader entertained.
Yeah. Obviously the example I gave is a fill-in-the-blanks scenario. But I think it's important for a sex scene to have a double purpose, unless you're writing erotica. It doesn't have to be overtly about solving the crime, but it should move the characters along in their journey toward crime-solving.<br />
<br />
I think the golden rule is: Above all, entertain. Sex scenes, if written well, are a great way to keep a reader entertained. If I get that scenario, it ce…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-05:537324:Comment:2343992010-05-05T17:40:27.443ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
If I get that scenario, it certainly attests to the fact that the crime they are investigating is an overruling interest next to which all other activities pale.
If I get that scenario, it certainly attests to the fact that the crime they are investigating is an overruling interest next to which all other activities pale. I think sex is like setting.…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-05:537324:Comment:2343562010-05-05T15:20:11.946ZRobin Spanohttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RobinSpano
I think sex is like setting. Yeah, the audience has to know it's happening, but just like they don't have to see every fold in every drape in the room, they don't have to have an anatomical play-by-play of anyone's love life.<br />
<br />
I use sexual actions as dialogue tags: "Blah blah blah." So and so stroked the other person's cock. "Let's talk some more about the crime we're really here for." So each scene is about pushing the plot forward, but the sex, like a crowded bar, can be the backdrop.<br />
<br />
I…
I think sex is like setting. Yeah, the audience has to know it's happening, but just like they don't have to see every fold in every drape in the room, they don't have to have an anatomical play-by-play of anyone's love life.<br />
<br />
I use sexual actions as dialogue tags: "Blah blah blah." So and so stroked the other person's cock. "Let's talk some more about the crime we're really here for." So each scene is about pushing the plot forward, but the sex, like a crowded bar, can be the backdrop.<br />
<br />
I wouldn't shy away from being graphic--we're not Victorians who need euphamisms--just say enough so the reader has a sense of what's going on. And say it vividly, so you only need a line or two in an entire chapter for readers to know it's a sex scene. Most mysteries I read and enj…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-02:537324:Comment:2341082010-05-02T15:09:15.485ZJulie Lomoehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/julielomoe
Most mysteries I read and enjoy have little to no explicity sex, and that's the way I like it. On the other hand, I'm not a prude, and I can't think of anything I've read that crossed the line. One writer came close when the first page featured a gynecological examination with graphic description of the patient's STD - but that was about disease, not sex. The author redeemed herself in the rest of the book (and she may well read this, so it's up to her to give her name if she wants to.)<br />
<br />
In my…
Most mysteries I read and enjoy have little to no explicity sex, and that's the way I like it. On the other hand, I'm not a prude, and I can't think of anything I've read that crossed the line. One writer came close when the first page featured a gynecological examination with graphic description of the patient's STD - but that was about disease, not sex. The author redeemed herself in the rest of the book (and she may well read this, so it's up to her to give her name if she wants to.)<br />
<br />
In my own novels, ELDERCIDE and MOOD SWING: THE BIPOLAR MURDERS, the protagonists are between relationships and/or burned by past ones. There are attractive men around - including a couple of villains - but my heroines don't act on the attraction. Not yet, anyway.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://julielomoe.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Julie Lomoe's Musings Mysterioso</a> More than men. Consider the d…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-01:537324:Comment:2340752010-05-01T14:08:35.865ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
More than men. Consider the difference between the action novels preferred by men, and the steamy romances for women.
More than men. Consider the difference between the action novels preferred by men, and the steamy romances for women. More than what?tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-05-01:537324:Comment:2340732010-05-01T12:56:34.268ZJon Loomishttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JonLoomis
More than what?
More than what? Hi Sunny, this is an entry I…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-30:537324:Comment:2340282010-04-30T20:50:10.549ZJohn Mosshttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnMoss
Hi Sunny, this is an entry I posted on my blog (<a href="http://www.johnmoss.ca" target="_blank">www.johnmoss.ca</a>) and on DorothyL a couple of days ago. Hope it's of some help.<br />
<br />
Sex, Violence, and Other Mysteries<br />
This was something I posted on a DorothyL listserve discussion (April 26) which I thought might be of interest:<br />
<br />
Long before I started writing mysteries, I published a book called Sex and Violence in the Canadian Novel. After a brief flurry of sales, it died a merciful death. In the…
Hi Sunny, this is an entry I posted on my blog (<a href="http://www.johnmoss.ca" target="_blank">www.johnmoss.ca</a>) and on DorothyL a couple of days ago. Hope it's of some help.<br />
<br />
Sex, Violence, and Other Mysteries<br />
This was something I posted on a DorothyL listserve discussion (April 26) which I thought might be of interest:<br />
<br />
Long before I started writing mysteries, I published a book called Sex and Violence in the Canadian Novel. After a brief flurry of sales, it died a merciful death. In the first of my Quin and Morgan mysteries, Still Waters, there is a strong sexual component. A rape scene, crucial to character and plot, is presented with retrained brutality that underscores the lasting horror. The description of a male’s first affair is emotionally graphic and a subsequent fantasy tryst is emotionally empty; in the latter, the sex is graphic, in the former it is muted, tender, and fraught with innocence. My point: sex is character, sex is plot. When it’s neither, as in life, it’s just sex.<br />
<br />
The third novel in the series, “The Gibraltar Coordinates” which is due out next spring, is more of an action-packed thriller (the second is gothic, the fourth a drawing-room puzzle). There’s lots of intimacy and affection but little on-stage sex; there’s violence enough to keep the wheels moving fast, but never separable from character-in-plot.<br />
<br />
There are no rules, each representation is different, an integral part of the composition. But if sex is difficult to write, or awkward to read, it shouldn’t be there. If violence titillates when it should terrify, it’s extraneous. I've read a couple of JD Robb…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-30:537324:Comment:2340232010-04-30T18:43:56.234ZMelissahttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/MelissaEiselein
I've read a couple of JD Robb's " .... In Death" books (ie: Naked In Death; Glory in Death; etc.) and, as I recall, there was a good deal of sex that bordered on erotica. Some of the reviewers on Amazon complained about the gratuitous sex scenes.<br />
<br />
I think it's perfectly acceptable to write a great mystery plot around a bunch of sex scenes as long as the book is marketed as erotica instead of mystery. In fact, I'd be interested in trying my hand at this market (under a pseudonym, of course).<br />
<br />
I…
I've read a couple of JD Robb's " .... In Death" books (ie: Naked In Death; Glory in Death; etc.) and, as I recall, there was a good deal of sex that bordered on erotica. Some of the reviewers on Amazon complained about the gratuitous sex scenes.<br />
<br />
I think it's perfectly acceptable to write a great mystery plot around a bunch of sex scenes as long as the book is marketed as erotica instead of mystery. In fact, I'd be interested in trying my hand at this market (under a pseudonym, of course).<br />
<br />
I also think it's fine to include a touch of sex in a mystery, so long as it fits the story and isn't thrown in gratuitously every 75 pages and it isn't written with so much detail that a 15-year-old boy could use it as a sex manual.<br />
<br />
Personally, in crime stories, I prefer scenes with sexual tension that makes my heart race with anticipation, the kind of tension that is drawn out and leaves me begging for a sex scene that may never actually take place on or off the page. Hmm. Possibly, women think mo…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-29:537324:Comment:2339592010-04-29T13:52:53.987ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
Hmm. Possibly, women think more about it.
Hmm. Possibly, women think more about it. Candy yes--mind candy maybe n…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-29:537324:Comment:2339262010-04-29T04:51:39.728ZJon Loomishttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JonLoomis
Candy yes--mind candy maybe not.
Candy yes--mind candy maybe not.