Oh My God!

[BlackShanglan]

But still, you'd like to see the protagonists in some of these Lit stories feeling something a little more profound than "It was great!" or "It was the best thing I'd ever felt in my life!" I mean, there must be some of us who wonder about the nature of desire and the uses of sex.

Yes. When I like my own writing best, that's what I'm trying to do.

That's why I've kept the sex scene in "Will." It's hard on me, because part of me feels that with polishing and a little expansion, it could be a good novel - except no one would ever sell it. But it pleases me because the sex - once I pare it down, because right now I think it's overwritten - belongs there and does something (or will do, when it's tighter and finer) beyond physical sexuality altogether.

I do crave stories like that. Some of them are out there. I think that Rob's "The Abyss" does a very good job of that in the central character's relationship with his lover. And I agree that when it's really good, it's profound. Sometimes dark, often not "sexy" in the traditional sense, but deeply moving.

Shanglan

P. S. - Thanks for the kick in the rump. I was about to use my first day off in ages to vegetate; now I think I will go re-write that sex scene a bit.

 

[JamesSD]

You're right. It all depends on whether you're trying to write pornopgraphy or erotica.

For all its trangressiveness, porn is probably the most conservative and restricting kind of writing there is, and the form is very fragile. It just doesn't stand up to many human emotions aside from the sexual ones, and if you're trying to excite your readers, the last thing they want to read about are the very things that most literature usually deals with. Porn demands happy people having happy sex, for the most part. Even in the darkest BDSM, people are suffering quite happily.

Pornography is fantasy, and we really don't want reality intruding too much. And we certainly don't want have to deal with things like death and loss, which are about as anti-erotic as you can get. (True, death and loss can be milked for sentimentality, but sentimentality by definition is false and contrived emotionalism.)

But still, you'd like to see the protagonists in some of these Lit stories feeling something a little more profound than "It was great!" or "It was the best thing I'd ever felt in my life!" I mean, there must be some of us who wonder about the nature of desire and the uses of sex.

Wow, this is amazingly insightful. End of the day, I prefer porn, for the exact reasons you stated. I like happy people having happy sex

That said, some of my favorite stories have real character and emotion sandwiching porn scenes.