Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[AceTrainer14]

Interesting responses. It seems that most of us are on the same page; I would be interested to see if anyone has written a scene with sexual violence and why they did it. I do think that, whilst haunting and unpleasant, it can add if handled well; I thought the way it was done in the English version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did add to the story for me moreso than if it had just been stated.

Personally though, I could never bring myself to write something like that. It would be so immensely difficult to handle properly, and I do think that only very certain storylines would ever require a mention of it let alone trying to do something more graphic. I have never even written a sex scene so I would not even try this.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I think that context is king. Sexual violence is too complex an issue to be tacked on, to make a backstory instantly tragic or a villain instantly evil. That would be cheap, and cheapen the whole topic. Similarly, it should fit in with the general tone of the story - sexual violence coming out of nowhere is worse than sex coming out of nowhere, particularly if it triggers off something nasty for one of your readers.

That being said, I've noticed some moralising going on about that episode of Game of Thrones (Not here specifically, in general), which I think misses the point. In historical or fantasy settings (And let's face it, Westeros is a little of both), sexual violence should be portrayed as appropriate to the culture you're trying to describe. So yes, the intelligent prostitute can end up dead at the hands of a client. A farmer can be concerned as much for his daughter's safety as his herd. I think criticising showing this is rather tarring the writer with his character's brush

 

[AetherX]

There was some backlash against the most recent Metal Gear Solid game because you could find an audio tape that depicted some prisoners getting raped (the main point of the game was to save said prisoners). A lot of people thought it was some kind of sick fetish thing, or was just generally unacceptable, but I feel like it did a great job of illustrating the hell that these prisoners had to endure. It makes you sympathize the characters and hate the antagonist (assuming you aren't caught up in moralizing).

I don't know if I could ever write a scene with sexual violence, let alone sex, but I can definitely see myself using it as an "off screen" tool. This would avoid the whole triggering issue for possible victims among your readership. I definitely don't see it as something that should be avoided though. I think we've talked about the value in having your characters deal with racism, sexism, bullying, homophobia, etc. I don't think this is any different. In my next fic I plan on including characters dealing with depression, PTSD, and other issues that really aren't all that different from the fallout of sexual violence.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I hate making arrows. A burnt thumb from hot glue's bad enough, but now my fingers are sore from twisting arrowheads, I've run out of Loctite Gel again and there's still another ten arrows to fletch.

This has nothing to do with anything, I just wanted to complain

 

[AceTrainer14]

I think you make some fair points there Aether; there are a lot of issues we probably avoid discussing for fear of upsetting some people, but I think it would be alright if things were handled properly and you had several points you wanted to get across.

For those that have not seen, Rule Two has been altered again; full rule is in the Rulebook, but largely we have lowered the word count for first chapters/prologues and thread closures will be done by moderator discretion at the quality of the fic.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Circling back round the earlier discussion, has anyone tried incorporating a sex scene into their works? I haven't dared touch tackle the subject yet, not least because I have been writing pen-and-paper RPGs for the past few years and promptly banned my RPG group from visiting any brothels, anywhere, in any game system. There are some NPCs I will not portray, thank you very much.

 

[Dorothy]

I'm incorporating sexual content into my novel, though not of a titillating nature. The scene I'm planning now isn't meant to be arousing or erotic in any way.

 

[GastlyGibus]

No, and I don't intend to. Ever.

Simply put, in my opinion, unless you're writing erotica, there's no reason for it. It's just baseless debauchery. Implied sexual content I'm okay with, or maybe even some light romance that escalates but then "fades to black" as it were (once again implying that it has taken place) but full-on description of the act? Uh, no, thanks. I just don't see a reason to write an in-detail sex scene in any genre other than erotica.

 

[Misfit Angel]

I have a half-written scene that I worked on about a year ago for Storm Island (since the plan was to have it switch to mature nearly halfway through). It's so strange to write and the description is sooooo awkward that I'm very, very likely to have it cut and possibly just imply that it happened through dialogue and description of how the characters are treating each other.

I have written it before, though, even had something published. I don't see a future of me writing it much more, though.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Half my problem is that my usual literary tricks would be of no help at all in the midst of a sex scene. Usually if I'm unsure about dialogue, or a reaction, I can just mine my memory. If that doesn't work, people watching of some sort will. You can see where I'm going with this

 

[Caite-chan]

I've written sex scenes in my other versions of my main story and it doesn't bother me. My story kinda has a core in sex as the main character has had a bad sexual past. I think sex is okay as long as it's 1. written well and 2. has a point to the chapter/story. I mean it's hard to see a sex scene in a Pokemon story.

 

[Dorothy]

I think that a detailed sex scene can avoid being straight erotica. In my story, the scene I've referred to serves the thematic purpose of highlighting how far into despair my character has fallen.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I just went and read back over the only current explicit mention of sex in the GalacticVerse and god it was awful - completely awkward, incredibly poor language. In fact, that entire story was really stupid looking back on it, but let's not get into that.
I am open to including sex if it was to serve a purpose to the story that references afterwards could not adequately portray, as I think there are a lot of connotations, metaphors and themes you can portray through sex. A lot of the stuff I read that includes sexual content is usually pretty unnecessary, but some scenes serve a purpose and I think the important thing to keep in mind is handling the content well, writing it properly and making sure it needs to be there.

 

[Flaze]

Hmmmm...well I mysef haven't exactly quite involved sex per se, it has been implied in the last few chapters of my fic with 6 of the characters getting into relationships and 2 of those relationships going into the next phase and all, and two other characters kind of having something else. But I pretty much just cut to black for two of them and the other one I kind of stopped halfway through it. I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the inclusion of sex becaue I'm trying to see how far is too far and how to kind of work it out, it can be pretty awkward to figure out the words to use at times.

 

[System Error]

There's various resources out there that you can refer to in order to write good sex scenes. I'd link some of them, but most of the ones I know of are on sites that aren't allowed to be linked. A few things to keep in mind though from memory, are getting your characters naked (apparently a big thing), character emotions, and the words to use and when depending on the mood (dick, manhood, and cock all give very different vibes). Not that I _PLAN_ on having any in my fic or anything, but the information is nice to have.

As an unrelated aside, the next chapter in my fic is basically just one battle. One insane battle that basically sets the tone for what's to come. And it's 41KB in this Wordpad format.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Care to write an Academy article on the subject @System Error?

Anyway, after reading attempts at sex scenes in pokémon fanfiction it astonished me what stupid description people get away with using. I'll restrain myself to saying that I consider the usage of the word "eager" to describe any body part to be a hanging offence

 

[AceTrainer14]

I'll second that idea; we don't have a June lesson planned yet, and having a lesson on sex would be pretty unique

 

[Dorothy]

(dick, manhood, and cock all give very different vibes)

for example, "manhood" gives off a vibe of utter cringeworthiness

 

[Caite-chan]

I'll second that idea; we don't have a June lesson planned yet, and having a lesson on sex would be pretty unique

I third that idea. It would be different and it would be nice to have something that we don't have to stick to G or PG all the time.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Y'know guys, I wasn't actually being serious ... and hold on, we can write Academy lessons above a G? Damnit. Dr Imogen had quite a foul mouth till I realised I was supposed to be writing a lesson