Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be

[lunabee34]

Let's talk about sex, y'all. In specific, sex scenes in fanfic.

I have some theories (could be bunnies) followed by some questions.

I admitted recently to crazydiamondsue that I often skip or skim over the sex scenes in fanfic. I don't always do this: if the sex is hitting my narrative buttons or my kinks or if it's unusual or interesting, then yeah. I read. But sometimes I skip even well-written, interesting sex scenes because I'm more interested in the plot or the dialogue or whatever else is going on. This is a 180 from my early days of fandom when I would avidly read every single word of every single sex scene I came across, and boy was that a lot of Xander's chocolatey orbs staring at Spike's marbled chest than I care to admit. In the beginning, fanfic was all about the porn for me as a reader. Over time, it's become far more about characterization and plot and being *surprised* by what I'm reading than anything else. (And let's be honest. There's very little in the world that's less surprising than the old "one finger, two finger, three finger, ho!")

As a writer, I have on occasion, more so as a newbie than currently, included sex scenes in a fic because I feel like they are expected from stories labeled slash, femslash or het by the fandom at large. I also get the general sense that stories with sex scenes get more attention from fandom on average than those that don't. My personal philosophy as a fanfic writer has shifted almost as much over time as my reading philosophy. I began somewhere about, "OMG THIS IS SO COOL I WILL DO ANYTHING TO GET YOU GUYS TO READ ME YAY!" and have ended up here where the things that I'm most interested in as a writer are canon compatibility and the exploration of peripheral characters. I'm interested in porn as a writer, but mostly (unless I am totally yanking down my imagination pants and wallowing in a good long wank of Sheppard is Caldwell's sex slave indulgence fic) as a vehicle for characterization. What does the kind of sex and how and when and with whom that these characters are having tell me about the kind of beings they are?

So I'm wondering how you guys approach sex scenes in fanfic. Therefore, I poll. Certain questions would not lend themselves well to a poll: What should a good sex scene do? What should the purpose of sex in fanfic be? What do you do to keep sex scenes fresh and original as a writer? What would you like to see more of in sex scenes? What works best for you as a reader and/or writer of sex scenes? Got any links to sex scenes that you think work really well?

I want to know ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS SUBJECT!

*chin in hands*

[Poll #1521360]

Comments

[zillah975]

On that last question, my feelings about them have changed but I don't think it has anything to do with my fannish involvement, but rather to do with ways I'm changing that have little to do with fandom.

Also, I wasn't sad to include the sex scenes that I included because I felt they were expected of me and I think they were necessary to the story. But upon reflection, I think the story might have been better if I'd chosen to write gen instead of smut. And I'm not saying what fandom it was. :)

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

*nods*

This is a generic comment, not one aimed at you directly, for I've greatly enjoyed all the fic you've written that I've read. I think you have a deft hand at characterization and plotting, and I haven't noticed this problem in your work. But I have noticed many times in fanfic that a lot of stories seem either

a) built entirely around the idea of the two characters having sex rather than the other way around; that the sex is the point and the story just a wee bit of scaffolding to allow that to happen (and I'm not even talking about PWP)

or

b) perfectly interesting good stories with sex tacked on in various places in ways that don't serve the plot or characterization.

[snorkackcatcher]

(Linkfollowing from your MF'd post) I have a suspicion that (b) may well often be the result of the writer starting with (a) and then getting really interested in the 'scaffolding', but then, having explored that in more detail, not trimming down or altering the sex to match the new form of the story. Which is as good a reason for skimming as anything!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense.