Quarantine Chronicles April 16, 2020

Story Sex

I don’t like gratuitous sex scenes in movies or what I read. Now, I’m not slamming anyone who enjoys a bit of voyeurism to get the engine primed, but those vamped up scenarios have a specific goal—and a specific audience. Sex scenes within the framework of a literary story are a horse of another color.

When I’m engaged in a story, I want the physical action between the characters to mean something. I want their carnal relationship, their chemistry, their emotional connection, or lack of one, to tell me something about them as a couple, and as individuals. Done with intent, authors can use a character’s behavior in the bedroom as a creative avenue for character development, an intimate place to reveal either truths or falsehoods.

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Literary Love

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