Thanks to Gwenda for pointing out this post by Marianna Baer about sex scenes in young adult novels. It’s the most thoughtful consideration I’ve seen of writing sex scenes at all, not just in YA fiction (and if anyone knows of other good posts on the topic, please share).
These issues come into play for me particularly when writing the Mars stories, and I’m also thinking about writing sex in screenplays, and when I write my own YA novel there will definitely be sex (because it’s such a force in adolescence whether you’re actually having it or not). I don’t the brain bandwidth to be thoughtful about it myself today, but it’s mulching in my brain along with everything else.
[And with the word “sex” in the title and about ten other times in this post, I’m bound to get a whole new category of search engine hits (grin). The monthly keyword search post for November is coming soon.]
Well, the title brought me on the run… 🙂
Ha. Well I wonder what a title such as “Having Sex” would have you up to…
I remember movies for sex too. In the oldies, they kissed passionately, the scene faded to black, and then they were completely covered up smoking cigarettes, so that was easy. I also remember covering my eyes with my hands during love scenes, not because I wasn’t aroused, but because it was too private. I admire detailed erotic writing, but I like something to be left to the imagination. The whole subject of sex still has so much baggage, even though we are so much more open now in all the arts than when I was a kid in the dark ages.
There’s a series of great bits in an otherwise silly movie called “Blame It On Rio” wherein Michael Caine, addressing the audience documentary style, discusses his difficulties with, y’know, sex and stuff. One monologue in particular I think describes the attitude a lot of people have toward sex and toward displays, either written or filmed, of sex:
“I don’t have any problem with nudity, you understand, it’s just that sometimes when I’m undressing I want to leave the room.”
I think, in a bizarre way, some people have an attitude toward it akin to the wannabe author—that is, they wish to Have Written the book, but don’t actually want to write it.