I'm not that comfortable writing sex scenes. That's why I stick to sweet romances, where they're not a requirement unless the couple is married. Very good article, Shelley. My wife should read this post. Morgan and Marvin, I find it very difficult to write a good sex scene because the number of body parts involved is rather limited. I recently did some desensitization training reading several Nora Roberts novels. It didn't work. Give me a cozy mystery any day.
Ironically, Nora Roberts work holds up without the sex. Why she hires staff to add it is beyond my comprehension. That's the only way to do it though, if your fans insist. Marvin, you could consider sub-contracting. Hand it over to the experts. Tell 'em to say away from your wife though. I'm going to save it. As a reader, you can "see" these steps in the book, but, when the writing is done well, you don't think about them. I LOVE writing sex scenes. My critique group thinks I'm a little too good at it, and loves to see me pop in the door with one.
I only write them when it's absolutely essential to the story, tailor them to the characters' personalities and to the tone of that story. Blatant gratuitous stuff reeks. Thanks for the post! I hope to hear from a new Romance publisher this week about whether they pick my story up, then I can offer the 2nd.
As one commenter mentioned, write what you know, well the male characters have a lot in common with me, because I know me very well. My female reviewer of 1st draft called my book "The Next Notebook" and literally couldn't put it down. I have used her perspective to spice up the sex scenes to fit a woman's desires.
I can only hope to be successful at this, as my current self-published works have minimal sales. One of my pet peeves is stories that include several looong love scenes. I don't care how much the main characters love each other, I just don't need that much detail.
