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Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Tasteful sex scenes

What does this mean? Tasteful sex scenes. Is there such a thing? My novella, WHITE ROSE OF AVALON, was originally supposed to be erotic, but now I need to tone down the sex scenes. I still want it to be sensual, but it can't be as explicit as it was because I changed publishers. This is tricky because what offends one person may not be that bad to another person. The first changes I made were to the terms referring to certain body parts. Some terms are more offensive than others. I don't mind toning downs some of the scenes, but I still want it to be hot because I have never read a sensual version of the Arthurian Romances and I thought it would be cool to write a sensual version. The story is still strong without the sex scenes, but they do add some spice. I don't want the final version to end up being too 'vanilla.'

How many more ways can you describe the female genitalia? My sister has been a huge help with this. I don't know what I would do without her input.

Anyway, this is much more difficult than I thought it would be. It will take me a few times to get this right. Are there guidelines on tasteful sex scenes? Anyone?

1 comment:

Tempest Knight said...

Someone told me that in order to make my sex scenes tasteful I had to use purple prose. Otherwise, it was pure erotic romance. I was like "o-okay." I still wasn't convinced.

Although purple prose can make a sex scene more poetic, not every one will like it anyway. Like you said, what it's okay for one person, it's not for another. Besides, sex is sex. How wild your heroine/hero are during intercourse can't exactly determine if it's tasteful or not. It's just sex for crying out loud. *lol*

Guidelines for tasteful sex scenes? I don't know of any, but if you find them, let me know. I'd love to see them. *g*