Dialogue. I hate sex scenes where people forget to talk. I know that mums the word after a certain point, and rightfully replaced by gaspy panting, but the sex scene has to be a seduction. I like words, so risque conversations can be a turn on. Not dirty talk, just flirting. And laughing. People enjoying themselves, dammit. So many books it's like a friggin' marathon mission. And because the goal is for the sex to help advance the plot/characters, it's a nice place to do a little soul searching for them. People have sex in different ways -- different styles, techniques, speeds -- and for that NOT to show up, for every scene to be cookie cutter perfect, just annoys me. I like to see a couple's sexual learning curve. Done rambling.

Every sex scene is different, and depends on a lot of factors. How long has the heroine and hero been apart? Did they think they'd never see each other again? Did either of them just come to the conclusion they love the other person? Are they angry, sad, worried about losing one another? Have they just met, and are they in a rush to get to the big O?

The surrounding story plays a big part in the love scenes in my books, and I never compromise what I think "should" happen in a love scene for the sake of "getting it right". Certainly, people don't alway run the entire gamut of naughty activities when hitting the boudoir. Environment and timing is also a factor.

Not too long ago, I got a review stating there wasn't enough foreplay in one of my scenes. I nodded in agreement. There wasn't much foreplay in there for a purpose - the H/h had just belated joined an orgy. *snicker, snicker*

Think about it. Are they going to come into a room full of grasping, writhing people and spend a half hour holed up in a solitary corner getting each other ready, or are they going to jump in with the other folks and go from there? You be the judge. I imagine I'd be searching out the guy with the buffest ab, and be pulling up a mat near him!

I agree I don't like cookie cutter sex scenes, but at the same time I don't like an author throwing in oral/anal or BDSM for shock value. There are other rules that apply in that as well, but you kinda have to ask yourself what is the goal of the love scene. Are the characters just there to get off, or are they trying to please one another in a way that shows they care about what the other is feeling?

A person could go on and on about this, when I guess, really, it all boils down to the perspective of the author. Uh, what's that saying? Different strokes for different folks? ^_^

(Ok, that was horrible. I admit it. *evil grin*)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dialogue. Yeah, Carrie has a "talking" scene in Serenade that could set the sheets on fire. The book is worth reading for that bit alone. *fans self*

I come at this two ways.

(Okay, bring on the double-jointed jokes.)

From a reading standpoint, Shelby Reed and Bonnie Dee write some of the hottest sex it's ever been my privilege to read. It's not that they're the most explicit or the most shocking, the most threesomes or whatever, but something about the way those ladies put the words together turns my crank. Perversely, I also enjoy the dirty twisted shit, which is why I was disappointed when LKH did the bait and switch in Book 1 of the Merry Gentry trainwreck and there was no Sholto tentacle-loving fortcoming after all. (heh heh, I said coming)

From a writing standpoint, I don't have any particular formula, I just think about the two characters, their circumstances and their hangups. Go with what feels right.

And as a NY editor said about my work: "The sex was the strongest part of the writing."

So apparently I know my way around a bedroom. Or a truck. Or an alley... *wanders off, thinking of all the places her characters have done it*

"From a writing standpoint, I don't have any particular formula, I just think about the two characters, their circumstances and their hangups. Go with what feels right."

I'd say you--ahem--nailed it!

As did Carrie: "People enjoying themselves, dammit. So many books it's like a friggin' marathon mission."

I've read so many books where its almost like the character gets dropped at the bedroom door and only the anatomy actually enters the room. Blah.

Which also goes along with what Cora said:"Every sex scene is different,"

So, apparently I'm just in 'yes' mode and have nothing new to contribute :(

Double-jointed. Hmm haven't done that yet...

And YO! I did call your name. Go ahead...give me weird!

I definitely don't have a formula, but one thing I *do* think is important (even in erotica) is that the love/sex scene isn't gratuitous. It has to move the romance in some way. It could move it forward (more likely) or backward (not as common, but it happens in the new book I'm working on). Even in my foray into erotica (which is all Annie's fault!), the sex was very character-driven and motivated by the plot/romance. There was just a lot more of it *g!

Of course, I'm not published yet, so I don't have any reviews of my work to tell me whether or not I'm doing a good job. One of my CPs, however, told me that the sex in my erotica gave her the first case of love scene envy she'd ever had reading a CP's work and another asked me how the editors at Ellora's Cave read this stuff all day (I think her exact words were "They must keep vibrators in their desk drawers."). So maybe I'm doing a decent job. My CPs are a pretty tough audience.

And Annie/Carrie, I want to read Serenade now *g. Where can I get it?

I agree it's all about the characters...but I tend to not write too much talking in sex scenes, because I'm not a talker, Sometimes my characters talk, but it's not dialogur. It's lines like, "He was talking, crooning soft words in her ear, into her skin..."

Stuff like that. Because I think most sex dialogue sounds hokey. I have written chatty characters who speak directly, but even they have non-talky sex sometimes too. One of my favorite scenes ever has only one line of dialogue in the whole thing: in the beginning the hero says softly, "Get on your knees."

Hope you'll be able to buy it from Medallion at some point in the future, JB. *knock wood* Carrie is still shopping it around.

I just thought of something else. I don't write sex scenes unles I'm in the mood. If I'm all disaffected, just rolling my eyes and typing away, I can totally tell when I go back and reread. I just can't write those scenes when I'm disengaged from it. It's palpable.

So maybe it's dirty to confess that I need to be in the mood for a good shagging in order to write the hottest sex but it's true. And yeah, if I've done it well, I'm quite horny by the time I'm done. If it doesn't flip my switch, then it probably won't anyone else, either.