Turning Up the Heat

Since I began this blog I have been reading as much erotica as I can put my hands on. I wasn't really all that obsessed before, I just liked reading the odd bit and writing the odd scene, but I have been devouring things lately, and now I'm curious about what makes a good sex scene.

I'm not much of an expert, I just like what I like, but I've found a lot of erotic writing to be very bland. Boring almost. Lacking passion and excitement. The characters were excited and passionate, but the scenes were not. The fact that there is a bad sex prize proves that a sex scene must have a certain something to make to it sizzle, or else you will not be turned on, you will just laugh.

For me, a sex scene must leave enough to the imagination. If my character puts her hand down a man's pants, I know what she will find there, you don't have to tell me. Tell me what she thinks of his manhood and my imagination will extrapolate that he is excited. I want to know what a person is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing. Turning sex into an analytical exercise isn't going to make me want to rush to my lover and get on with it. Teasing me with delightful and pleasurable experiences is much more interesting. I want a sex scene to make me feel like I am the one having sex, not that I am simply observing someone else doing it, as if it were a science experiment.

I'm interested to see if anyone else reading this shares my opinion, or if sex scenes are a more personal thing? Is there a formula for a good sex scene, or will it differ depending on circumstances and characters?

Posted in: musing