So here be answers to the questions appropriated from
1) Of the body of fic that you’ve read during your time in fandom, roughly what percentage includes sex scenes, and how many of those scenes contribute to plot advancement or character development?
Since I read fanfic mostly for fun, I don’t exactly keep track of percentages. 😉 Before I even try to answer this question, I need to explain my reading habits:
- I am not interested in gen.
- I am not interested in conventional romance
What I go for is fantasy* : romance
*or adventure or mystery or drama…
And if possible, balanced 50 : 50 or at least 60 : 40.
So OF COURSE most of the stories I read contain sex scenes. They’d better!
Concerning plot advancement or character development – actually most stories I’ve read do that.
(Reason: I don’t read bad!fic, so I don’t get to read very many “bad” or pointless sex scenes.)
As a sidenote regarding “pointless”, “plot advancement” and “character development” – a story may contain quite a number of scenes that are not absolutely essential for either “plot advancement” or “character development”. But that doesn’t make them “pointless”. You actually need “breather” scenes to slow down your pace now and again, or to heighten a certain mood.
Actually, the nature of smut in stories is a lot like smut in real life. And probably like your own sex life, too, I guess – or do you only have sex when you’re actively trying to have a child, i.e. when you’re concerned with “plot advancement” in your life? (But of course that’s the striking difference between life and fiction – in fiction, everything must make sense.)
2) If you’re an author, do you ever include sex scenes in your stories? If so (and please be honest), do you always do it strictly to advance your plot? Or do you sometimes do it because it’s what your readers want/expect you to write …
Yes, I am an author.
Yes, I do include sex scenes in my stories.
No, not all of the sex scenes I write advance my plot.
Sometimes, they just fit the mood and they are just there, because the story is about those two persons who love and desire each other, and then those two persons end up doing what two people who love and desire each other do now and again.
Fuck like little bunny wabbits, that is.
If you’re an author, do you ever include toilet scenes in your story? Do your characters ever eat or sleep? And do those scenes always advance your plot?
I LOVE me a tight plot. But if there’s nothing non-essential left to a story, you’re usually looking at a modern literary novel and more often than not that thing will be damn difficult to read.
Basically, I believe that a story meant to entertain needs untidy corners. Scenes that allow me, the reader to simply relax and enjoy. And when I’m reading a story in which one of the main plot lines is the romantic relationship between two characters, then sex scenes in all their variety can be not only vital to the plot, but also simply very enjoyable.
I never write anything because my readers want it or expect it from me.
I write my scenes the way I do because my story requires it of me.
As an aside: I recently read somewhere (forgot where, sorry) a very smart observation on the plot of PWPs. How, even if sex is the only plotline, there IS a plotline. Even if the narrative consists of nothing but the act of sex. Arousal and petting – actual intercourse – the climax – and then the post-climactic afterglow or drifting off. Those ARE plot elements. 😀
3) Do you enjoy writing sex scenes? Or do you struggle for every word …
I enjoy writing erotic scenes very much. And usually they come easily to me. Of course there are exceptions that prove the rule …
4) Do you believe in your heart of hearts that most romantic stories should include sex?
Here I have to quote
“Do you believe in your heart of hearts that most banquet scenes should include eating?”
If one of the main plots of a story is the development and consummation of a romantic relationship between adults and if this story is aimed at an adult audience, it better had some smut!
5) If you read a story with strong sexual overtones, do you feel cheated if the author does a fade to black? Why or why not?
If I read a story with Strong Sexual Overtones.
If I read a story in which accordingly the sexual, passionate relationship between two characters is supposed to be one of the essential plot elements, and I never get to see more than a chaste kiss … then yes, absolutely, there comes a moment when I can’t suspend my disbelief any longer.
When I will throw the book at the wall.
Or click away and won’t come back.
6) If you’re an author, do you feel a subtle pressure to write smut even if you aren’t really comfortable with it?
Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ and Merlin’s purple knickers on a piece of pizza.
If someone bows to peer pressure such as this, they have a problem. And it’s not being uncomfortable writing smut.
Would these same questions [as the ones about sex scenes] be asked about including an eating scene? A birth scene? A battle scene? A death scene? Why or why not?
Hmm. I didn’t really read 6) as *bowing* to pressure but *feeling* a pressure to write smut.
And I’d say, looking at comments people leave to random stories, there’s a lot of – not very subtle – pressure, or complaints, whenever a story doesn’t get explicit. Doesn’t seem to matter whether it would have needed to get explicit or not – there’s a subset of readers who seem to want every story, if it includes a romantic relationship, also to include explicit, graphic descriptions of tab A into slot B.
Now if an author does give in to that and start putting in explicit sex scenes for no other reason than “but the readers want me to”, that would be a problem, yes…
You know, I’ve been in two big fandoms for four years now, and so far I have not encountered the kind of comments you speak of.
What I see is a fairly big crowd of readers who will read nothing rated less than R. And another fairly big crowd who will only read gen.
Both groups complain about the stories written for the other’s genre and make a big drama of it. Which is something I really don’t get.
Don’t like smut? Then read only fic labelled “gen” or with really low ratings. Want nothing but smut? Then go read only at AFFNet or only NC-17. Etc.
It’s not exactly rocket science.
I admit I read random stories’ comments a lot when I’m bored… or want to know how other people have reacted to something. Or before I leave a comment myself. So I’ve come across a fair share of those.
Don’t like smut? Then read only fic labelled “gen†or with really low ratings.
Except that this would leave out a lot of great stories, especially in the SSHG corner of fandom, which often have some graphic scenes included but where the smut isn’t “the plot”. I prefer to just skip/skim those scenes and read the rest of the story (and no, I won’t complain to the writer about having included them). But I do pay attention to the rating so I’ll know what to expect.
It’s an interesting poll, anyway, and I’ve had to ponder these issues quite a bit the last few weeks, with regards to the SSHG exchange, having to decide whether the story I was writing required actual sex scenes or not, and if so, how graphic. Finding the right balance certainly isn’t easy!
Definitely.
I always end up writing rather less smut than more, because I have too much other stuff going on in my stories.