tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post2369023893034070868..comments2023-10-30T15:13:22.680+00:00Comments on Strictly Writing: Guest Blog and Book Giveaway by Jessica Ruston - Under the covers; between the covers...DThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-68266339536539502872009-07-09T05:09:23.109+01:002009-07-09T05:09:23.109+01:00Good advice, Jessica. My (unpublished) novel only ...Good advice, Jessica. My (unpublished) novel only has a couple of short sex scenes in it, but I have to admit they were the parts I liked writing least and probably don't work very well. I liked the analogy with describing a meal and I'll bear that in mind when I can stop cringing for long enough to attempt a rewrite.Sherrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18288574214855156268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-20915979210176104422009-07-08T20:52:25.504+01:002009-07-08T20:52:25.504+01:00I would be far too embarrassed to let anyone i kno...I would be far too embarrassed to let anyone i know read my writing if it contained sex scenes. I'd probably have to hire a PO box and submit it under a pen name.<br />Aeriously though, great tips, thanks. Julia AndersonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-85727918037315916532009-07-08T17:00:11.363+01:002009-07-08T17:00:11.363+01:00Sam, I'm not going there - although the goldfi...Sam, I'm not going there - although the goldfish did!<br /><br />Ssarah foxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-47392795502321026612009-07-08T16:15:15.592+01:002009-07-08T16:15:15.592+01:00Um...what happened with the goldfish? I must have ...Um...what happened with the goldfish? I must have led a sheltered life...Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-27750505681717248182009-07-08T16:06:14.933+01:002009-07-08T16:06:14.933+01:00oh God of course - no I definitely remember that, ...oh God of course - no I definitely remember that, I just was reading your comment out of context! Sorry.Jessicahttp://www.jessicaruston.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-43655992245355821702009-07-08T15:29:23.422+01:002009-07-08T15:29:23.422+01:00Goldfish...well, I'm embarrassed to admit that...Goldfish...well, I'm embarrassed to admit that the ref comes from Shirley Conran's book, Lace. This is a quote from the publishers website... <br /><br /><br />"Ask most women over thirty to name a bonkbuster and this is the one they’ll mention – swiftly followed by memories of one specific ‘goldfish’ scene."<br /><br />Am I the only one who remembers this? It zoomed to the number one slot, and I'm sure that scene did it!sarah foxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-10837137925674866852009-07-08T14:47:57.105+01:002009-07-08T14:47:57.105+01:00Josa, email me through my profile and i'll get...Josa, email me through my profile and i'll get back to you!Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-89226364198013202902009-07-08T14:15:21.835+01:002009-07-08T14:15:21.835+01:00VERY fast typing and a long period of thought befo...VERY fast typing and a long period of thought before I got going (while working for a slimming magazine!). Would love to do a guest blog here. any chance?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536884736928320856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-19895450008423294822009-07-08T13:59:11.642+01:002009-07-08T13:59:11.642+01:00Hey, Josa, that's a great article. And yes, i ...Hey, Josa, that's a great article. And yes, i think many of us forget that our parents were young once, are human, and therefore probably pretty unshockable.<br /><br />A first draft in 5 weeks, though? What's your secret?!Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-91207697061136877122009-07-08T13:27:45.731+01:002009-07-08T13:27:45.731+01:00Josa Young here: I am on my first novel too, and a...Josa Young here: I am on my first novel too, and addressed the topic in the Telegraph today http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5769928/More-sex-please-were-grown-ups.html<br />Julie Myerson emailed me while she was reading it, saying: "hey i have to say one quick thing: you write sex brilliantly! (hardly anyone does)" Which gave me a lot of confidence.<br />Now just waiting for the onslaught of the aunts.... Go to www.oneappletasted.co.uk for info.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536884736928320856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-86545284941018536932009-07-08T13:12:51.658+01:002009-07-08T13:12:51.658+01:00I think you'd be disappointed. It's in thi...I think you'd be disappointed. It's in this - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nice-Jumper-Tom-Cox/dp/0552770760/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247055075&sr=1-3 - in a chapter about a teen party. I think the best you could say about it is that it's an impressive exercise in "stripping down the detail" (although not really stripping down anything else).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14969078803595376434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-7232911999266040052009-07-08T13:07:40.862+01:002009-07-08T13:07:40.862+01:00You could always upload it in a comment here, Tom,...You could always upload it in a comment here, Tom, if you want readers...<br /><br />:):):)Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-12381383051261256702009-07-08T12:38:00.857+01:002009-07-08T12:38:00.857+01:00The lone sex scene I have written in one of my boo...The lone sex scene I have written in one of my books left quite a bit out PRECISELY because I was worried about my parents reading it. Then again, it did actually feature me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14969078803595376434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-9295958140975664652009-07-08T12:34:29.016+01:002009-07-08T12:34:29.016+01:00ha haaa, amazing. Mind you, the 'hybrid wolf/...ha haaa, amazing. Mind you, the 'hybrid wolf/alsation sex' was by a woman..Jessicahttp://www.jessicaruston.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-65525285337332001182009-07-08T12:32:05.482+01:002009-07-08T12:32:05.482+01:00Great piece, Jess!
I get asked about this a lot t...Great piece, Jess!<br /><br />I get asked about this a lot too too - though having a story in the In Bed With anthology was kind of asking to be asked...<br /><br />As you say the key is that it's like any other scene: it needs narrative drive, character and plot development, and writing as intolerant of clichés, overblowness, underwrittenness and so on, as you would be in any other scene. The only difference is that the path between the pitfalls is narrower, and the pits themselves are particularly deep.<br />You also don't need more of the action than actually serves those purposes: one very common pitfall is to insist on writing the whole damn thing, from first lit candle to last post-coital fag (=US cigarette), despite the fact that there are only two moments of actual change in the whole thing. You wouldn't write every last morsel of a dinner party, after all, and you don't need to either.<br /><br />In my limited experience, when men write sex badly it's because they lose sight of the characters and affective side of things, and veer towards blow-by-blow (shall we say) literalism, all the way to what I'm told they call the money shot... When women write sex badly it's because they're too conscious that their parents will read it, and take refuge in generalisations and abstractions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-47985545605480264692009-07-08T12:25:48.856+01:002009-07-08T12:25:48.856+01:00You mean like describing male genitalia as " ...You mean like describing male genitalia as " "leaping around like a shower dropped in an empty bath"? http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/dec/02/awardsandprizes.badsexawardAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14969078803595376434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-48546270433458450402009-07-08T12:20:37.164+01:002009-07-08T12:20:37.164+01:00Why are men crapper about writing about sex, Tom? ...Why are men crapper about writing about sex, Tom? Hmm - serious answer or flippant... ?! If they are, I wonder if it's because they do focus more on the 'mechanics'? Of course now I can't think of any examples, so I will go away and come back when I have done...<br /><br />Sarah fox - erm, fish? Sorry, am confused...<br /><br />Rosy - you're quite right, and that's why it's so difficult. It's like sunsets - there's pretty much no point, because it just sounds schlocky and cliched. That's why I think sex scenes are about so much more than the actual 'act' - there's a line in Luxury (I'll try not to give too much away here...) where two characters bump into each other in a corridor and have a brief but quite emotionally charged conversation - as one of them walks past the other to leave the other says 'You still smell the same.' Which for me is quite an intimate and sexually loaded sentence - it says an awful lot, without, on the surface, saying much at all. But it refers to an intimate past, and smell is such an evocative sense that it reminds them, and hopefully the reader, of hundreds of moments shared... Hmm, am babbling on now, but you get the point...Jessicahttp://www.jessicaruston.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-72308534720666009492009-07-08T12:06:11.860+01:002009-07-08T12:06:11.860+01:00It's my Aunt Sybil I worry about. Reading the ...It's my Aunt Sybil I worry about. Reading the rude bits, I mean.<br /><br />I agree completely with what you say, Jess - sex scenes should be just the same as any other sensual experience, and should be all about character. But it's so hard to say anything new about this, of all human experiences. Reach for an image - and the chances are it has not only been used before but reduced to the laughable currency of soft porn.<br /><br />I was trying to describe a kiss in my latest book and wrote that the inside of the kissee's lips were like wet silk. The insides of lips ARE like wet silk - and the woman doing the kissing works in fabrics so it's an image she'd use. Silk (and the history of the silk industry) features large in the book. But using this image in this context immediately transported the scene into something from Luciuous Lucy Likes Lingerie.<br /><br />Best of luck with the book, Jess!Rosy Thttp://www.rosythornton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-83068191895483170632009-07-08T11:54:28.059+01:002009-07-08T11:54:28.059+01:00All so true, Jess - esp the bit about parents read...All so true, Jess - esp the bit about parents reading it! A friend was recently shocked when she read my WIP because of the swearing - 'I've never heard you swear'. I do think though that you shouldn't write about what you don't know - get thee to a Bugatti! ;)Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-22731416838499467582009-07-08T11:54:04.785+01:002009-07-08T11:54:04.785+01:00Err...perhaps unsurprisingly, I've had a lot o...Err...perhaps unsurprisingly, I've had a lot of queries along these lines too. In fact I get the "sooo how did you go about researching fetish clubs?" dot dot dot. The thing is that being a comedy, my book isn't even that sex sceney - bit of a disappointment for those hoping for a titilating and voyeuristic excursion into a "freaky" world - which is just not what I was trying to do at all.<br /><br /> I had a rule of thumb that any sex scenes should be funny or reveal something about character which sounds a bit similar to what you're saying Jess. <br /><br />Good luck with the book. It is reminding me of those heady days where me and my friends (we were about 13 and felt very naughty and grown-up) were obsessed with Dallas and Dynasty. It would be great to see a real blockbuster for now.RosyBhttp://vulpeslibris.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-73649725759114376282009-07-08T11:50:28.993+01:002009-07-08T11:50:28.993+01:00Great blog, thanks, Jess. I enjoyed that very much...Great blog, thanks, Jess. I enjoyed that very much. I have to confess to almost enjoying some of the very worst bad sex writing - it's just so mind-boggling. If you add the occasional typo it can enhance the experience, I've found. I once read a scene that described two men regarding a third with "lusty stairs". Beyond price.Sarah Hilaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03379986260169703599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-69450114838377648692009-07-08T11:35:28.469+01:002009-07-08T11:35:28.469+01:00Nice piece, Jess. But what I want to know is: why ...Nice piece, Jess. But what I want to know is: why are male novelists almost always so much crapper at writing about sex than their female counterparts?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14969078803595376434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-8400064371531514012009-07-08T11:16:44.076+01:002009-07-08T11:16:44.076+01:00Rod, you have to work 3 months notice. I'm giv...Rod, you have to work 3 months notice. I'm giving you a written warning, though - you behaviour is not conducive to a team spirit.Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-24084249068743826812009-07-08T10:46:09.927+01:002009-07-08T10:46:09.927+01:00It is with great regret that I have to resign as a...It is with great regret that I have to resign as a member of the Strictly Team, effective immediately. The good news is that this makes me eligible to win a copy of your sexy book, Jess. Stick my name in your hat, Sam.Roderic Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06519267912305907364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-20262527881386070772009-07-08T10:45:28.641+01:002009-07-08T10:45:28.641+01:00I was really cringing at the thought of my father ...I was really cringing at the thought of my father and grandmother reading the sex scenes in my book (my mum wasn't so bad). They didn't specifically mention them, though, so I can only assume they were glossed over. Although my dad did send an email out to all his contacts encouraging them to buy it, and I saw that he had put that it was "rather racy in parts" - aarrghh! The scenes aren't even that explicit. <br /><br />I must say, I would fight shy of writing very explicit scenes, solely because of my family reading them, which is stupid really. Maybe going over-the-top and melodramatic is the answer. Cue plentiful references to "proud manhoods" etc...Rebecca Connellhttp://www.rebeccaconnell.comnoreply@blogger.com