Res ipsa loquitur

I absolutely disagree! I only read slash for the detailed descriptions of (step-one) against-wall-shoving, mouth-smashing, lip-grinding, then one pair of chapped lips taking the route A1 along the soft-spot-behind-ear -> hollow-at-throat -> collar-bone licking (only in that order), to be followed precisely by the same route of right nipple, then left nipple licking, and of course the hole needs 1-2-3 fingers, two cannot ever be enough, what are you talking about, woman! Pshaw.

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sanj.livejournal.com

Thank you for this series -- I can't tell you how many times I've referred to it in conversation already. (A lot, though.)

And I am *all for* a session with demonstrations by David Hewlett and Partner. I think I'd go anywhere in the country to see that. ;)

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namastenancy.livejournal.com

Why am I not surprised? You are the woman who puts up page after page of loving detailed body shots complete with arrows pointing to the relevant parts. Or not, as the case may be. I'd like two fingers next to either JF's or DH's "relevant" part for comparison, please

LOL!

Great series! I remember painfully the only detailed sex scene that I ever tried to write. Ouch! Somehow what was in my head never got put on paper in any way other than awful and awkward.

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*gasp* Gorram woman, I expected a stranger to pounce on me, but you cannot possibly give me an even worse reputation here!

Plus, I'm a man.

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Didn't you always want to be famous?

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<.<

>.>

NO!

I just want to be rich.

And happy.

And loved.

Erm.

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namastenancy.livejournal.com

ooppps.....sorry. me bad. Plus no more hijacking of resonant's LJ.

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Erm. I was still kidding.

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lillyjk.livejournal.com

I'm a details person. I don't need graphic details, but I wanna know what's happening, and I want the details that I would notice. Like smell - smell is a huge thing for me along with the usual touch, taste, etc. For example, instead of John smells good. I would want: Rodney pressed his face into the curve of John's neck, breathing in the smell of cheap soap and expensive hair gel, but it was the hint of sweat underneath that made his heart beat a little faster.

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Yum.

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Ah, how we're all different! This is the one and only thing where I have my doubts in

resonant8's adorable and wonderful and teh hot series: that if it turns me on, it's likely to turn others on. In my experience, alas: not necessarily so! The writing of something is not the same as the reading of it. The writing of something can be incredibly sexy and the readers all pick this up and drool, also. But the writing of something can also press a particular kink that not many others (or at least not those clicking on the 'read me' link) pick up. But it's still hot for the writer! On the other hand, and here I agree 150 per cent with Res: if it doesn't turn the writer on, it is certainly unlikely to turn anyone else on.

Back to your comment about the smell. See, smell irritates me in fic. It is so often trotted out as an obligatory thing. And the arsenal of smells is only about five smells thick: there's the shampoo smell, and the clean sheets smell, and the tasting of coffee smell/taste, and one or two others that escape me now. And they always pull me out of the ficverse and dispell my dream.

I just don't think sex smells of shampoo, is all.

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P.S. Soap! That is the other ubiquitous smell! The guys are forever smelling of soap!

Now, this is just too clean for me. Sex is not clean, it is dirty. And anyway, I don't like all those artificial soapy perfumy smells; they make me sneeze!

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20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com

Thank you -- I know it's been said before, but this series is actually really helpful, not just for writing sex scenes but for writing in general.

I agree with you about brevity! You can pack a lot of heat into a very few lines (I know Astolat (www.livejournal.com/users/astolat) is an expert), and there can be gigantic emotional punch in it, like if your narrating character's main thoughts poist-coitus are along the lines of "What the fuck just happened?"

It doesn't really count as porn, but have you ever read Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx? The initial sex scene is, like, one sentance. All right, it's sort of run-on, but still -- one sentance.
And it works, because the whole point is the how abrupt, unexpected and clumsy the whole thing was.

So, yes. Brevity can certainly work very well. *blush* I'll leave your comment page alone now...

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The sex scene in "Brokeback Mountain" were more of the kind I could unpack in my mind afterward. I do like that -- just one specific bit of description, sometimes, but it's the right one.

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megselv.livejournal.com

You're talking about that sudden "groping is for sissies, I fuck you" scene? As I remember it, it's crucial - I hope they show it in the film. Of course it can't be explicit (omg, why can't actors at least have prOn stand-ins, or something *whine*) but yeah.
-- passerby via metafandom

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caligryphy.livejournal.com

Hey! I totally loved this series; it's probably going to go into so many memories as a great crash-course guide to writing smut. It's funny how many times I read in someone's journal (and it was the case for me, too) that at first they wouldn't write graphically--not because they didn't want to, but they felt the need to ramp up to it--like sex scenes are the triple lutzes of the fic world. Few people talk about the mechanics of writing it--they'll talk about the subject, and about turn-ons and staying in character, but it's like the nuts and bolts are left to secret conversations between writer and beta. So, anyway, thanks. :) I don't really have a point to make, just here to nod in agreement.

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I personally have always found sex very easy to write. Action is much, much tougher for me. Though of course every scene could be better, and most of them, pre-beta, were much worse.

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http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/

Use too many details that have no significance, and one of two things will happen: I'll start skimming, or I'll start laughing because the whole thing sounds like Wild Kingdom

This is one of my deepest fears when writing. I'm in medicine, and I have been trained to deal with bodies and stuff they do in a clinical way. Sometimes I think writing and reading p0rn is a way to therapeautically distance myself from that, but nevertheless the fear stands. I worry a lot about using words like perenium or prostate. Would these two men in this state even be able to remember these words, let alone pronounce them? I rarely think so.

Wild Kingdom? Oh no, I fear Doctors Office connotations. And really, there are more than a few reasons for the brain to make that connection, so please for the sake of Pete don't lose the moment by getting clinical (my mantra <--).

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Too much anatomical detail is very risky -- sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, it really really doesn't. Partly it's because we really don't have good words -- everything sounds like either a medical text or a bathroom wall -- but also, generally I've found that if I'm trying to specify on a level where I have to distinguish between shaft and glans, odds are I'm focusing on entirely the wrong things.

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This is an interesting one, and I think it depends on the characters and the prose style. If the characters are doctors themselves, then it could work! If the character is an alien and doesn't know about human sexuality and is groping his (its?) dazed, disbelieving way towards it, then it might work too!

Plus, if the prose style is detached, and uses stilted, Latinate words all the time, then it would fit, too! Or to create humour.

Plus, I just like precise words. And what other word is there to describe precisely that area between balls and anus? That is the perineum! And if ficwriters can use phrenum, well, then they can use perineum... *g*

I would love to read a medically-informed fic! That is nevertheless also teh hot. *is curious*

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sophia-helix.livejournal.com

Someone somewhere was asking for sex-writing tips a month or so ago, and this was my biggest advice -- give detail, BUT: chop it down to the essentials. Keep editing and cutting until you have the absolute jewels left, no chaff.

Is there anything better than a tightly-written piece of smut that's not too long, not too short, but every sentence, every word is perfect and perfectly arousing? It's hard to hit, but it's what I aim for, and why I love certain writers who do it every time.

Right now I'm writing a piece of explicit smut for the first time in months and months, and was having a hard time making it good until I remembered this advice. So I'm just writing the whole thing out, boring details and all, and then I'll go back and snip snip snip until all I have left are the good parts. The interesting touch, the best parts of the blow-job, whatever is sparkliest. :)

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Oh, I throw away two-thirds of every sex scene. I write in insanely high detail, sometimes button by button, and then anything that bores me when I'm typing, I delete it. (I am getting better, but I still tend to err on the side of telling too much.)

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Oh, this is brilliant advice, thank you!

Sorry, Resonant, I'll stop spamming your LJ now. I just love this discussion!!

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commodorified.livejournal.com

I do that. I think of it as blocking. Most of it will go, but what's left will make sense and work better because *I* know what happened.

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stultiloquentia.livejournal.com

Here via

metafandom...

These are four of the most sensible, well-written and usable posts I've ever seen on this subject. Thanks a lot. Bookmarking.

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meri-oddities.livejournal.com

Excellent series of essays. I enjoyed them very much. Must memory the whole thing.

I think most writers think of bit and pieces of this all along the way, but you've managed to articulate it very concisely. I love subtle and concise. Now, if only I could write that way. :-)

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Yes, it's obvious to me that a lot of writers already know all this stuff -- thank heaven! They may not know how they do it, but they do it just the same.

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mgsmurf.livejournal.com

Nice series of info. I tend not to write much erotica fanfic, and had mostly figured out your help advice as a reader, but must remember to look it all over again if I ever do post myself a NC17 story again.

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I'm secretly hoping this will result in more smut, but I'm afraid it may have the opposite effect.

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elfiepike.livejournal.com

these are excellent, and exceedingly helpful. :D thank you for indulging yourself.

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I'm so glad! It was surprisingly fun, writing this. Maybe I should consider it my Christmas wishlist.

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retrofit88.livejournal.com

Thanks for writing these. They are cogent and brief enough to make me think maybe I -can- do it. Plus, lots of good advice that will help with the non-smut parts of writing, too. Now I want to revise like, all the fics I've ever written (which is three, so, not too bad.)

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