Sunday, December 04, 2005

What is it about #12?

Keeping in mind I was at my annual "girl's christmas party" where I had some wine - more than I usually drink - I'm not a drinker by nature but once in a while I do cut loose -but what is it about #12?

Refresher

#12 was where I insist on having books with sex in them these days -but I often skip reading them. It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense does it? It seems I'm not the only one who feels this way. I suppose it comes down to the fact that while we may not want to read sex scenes, it's nice to know they are there if we want them. And while I am not an author, it seems to me they are rather difficult to do well. There aren't that many I've read that I felt were damn good. It's not that others were not done well, but some were so well written, I just couldn't skip them. Off the top of my head 3 books come to mind that I read almost every word. Passion by Lisa Valdez and the two Crazy books by Tara Janzen.
It occured to me it takes a special talent to write a good, hot believable sex scene. I know for me, I don't want a lot of silly euphamisms. Can we say Betrice Small. Sometimes I just want something earthy and gritty. That's why the Lisa Valdex book worked so well. The sex scenes were well - raw. They offended a lot of readers but I wasn't one of them.
And I can't put my finger on exactly what Tara Janzen did right - but she did it.
I just finished a couple of books by the same author where the sex scenes almost appeared tacked on at the end - as if the author was following romance novel writing 101. I very much enjoyed the rest of the books, but the sex scenes almost appeared to be an add on. That seems to happen quite often. But then - I suppose that's to appeal to people like me. Those who want sex scenes in their novels - whether they read them or not.

Anyway, that's my thoughts for a very late Saturday night.


'til later

8 comments:

ReneeW said...

Sometimes it's the sexual tension that is the best part, so no need to read the actual 'act'. :)

Tara Marie said...

I think there are a few reasons some of us skip sex scenes. 1. I think you're right sometimes it's the quality of the writing and it doesn't seem to be blending well with the rest of the story. 2. Sometimes the story is going so well, I want to get back to the plot instead of taking a side road to a sex scene. 3. Occasionally there are a plethora of sex and it seems rather overkill and 4. Renee is right too, the sexual tension is better than the act.

Just my thoughts...

Karen Scott said...

I've heard from a few erotic romance authors that good sex scenes are incredibly hartd to write. Having read much drosss when it comes to love scenes, I can well believe it.

Like you, some of the best sex scenes, I've ever read was in Lisa Valdez's Passion.

Sometimes I skip the sex scenes, when they get in the way of an other-wise awesome book.

Karen Scott said...

Can you tell I didn't bother re-reading that before I clicked on publish? *g*

Suisan said...

Renee's right on the button to point to sexual tension. That's what I read most of these for.

But there's something about pacing too. Sometimes a sex scene pops up out of nowhere--it doesn't feel like the right time for the characters to get it on. Or, even worse, is when the pacing seems to point to a long foreplay, and the author gives you a quick tumble. Those are skip-worthy because it kills the mood.

I'm sure they're hard to write--I've tried a few and they are really unintentionally funny--but the reason I skip most is because in most books there's at least one that throws off the pace of the book.

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