Ladies Don’t Write Sex Scenes

Every now and then, I dust off and read an actual paperback written by Jennifer Crusie when I need a break or a laugh or something with a dog in it. This time it was Welcome to Temptation, and a passage struck me as very interesting and true. The heroine, Sophie, is attempting to write a sex scene for use in a movie, but she keeps deleting the scene and rewriting it. Then she realizes why:

The problem was trying to write a love scene and stay a lady at the same time. It wasn’t possible. The minute you started thinking that writing sex was cheap and disgusting, your mind froze up and you wrote boring dreck. It was sort of like having sex. You either threw everything you had into it, or it wasn’t worth the bother.
–Sophie Dempsey, Welcome to Temptation

Of course, Sophie gets to solve that problem by “accidentally” telling Mayor Phineas T. Tucker to fuck her, gets exactly what she asked for, and then writes like every muse on the planet’s behind her. Not all of us have that kind of available inspiration, but I do believe we have to throw ourselves into our sex scenes with every bit of gusto we’ve got. There is, after all, no faking it in fiction.

So, my fellow authoresses, stop being a lady and embrace your inner slut when it’s time to get the MCs knockin’ boots. Everyone will thank you in the end.