‘That Scene’ in Context

V. ‘That Scene’ in Context

1. ‘What’s with the rest?’ – ‘That Scene’ in Your Story

During the first part of the current ‘There and Back Again’ SMUT Workshop the most striking result was just how much context mattered to the vast majority of participants. Out of context, nearly all scenes we compared fell flat. And even the best scene was considered more ‘evocative’ than ‘arousing’ or ‘erotic’. There is more to that lesson than the obvious limitations of comparing excerpts:

Context matters!

‘Stay with the plot and stay with the feelings,’ says Jessica Barksdale Inclan on her blog about teaching a class on writing sex scenes. In romance novels, ‘the sex arrives out of [the characters’] connection or growing connection.’ In other words: ‘That scene’ has to fit the plot of your story, the characters of your story and the emotional atmosphere of the story.

What is the purpose of the romantic relationship between your characters in the story? Why is sex happening between your characters in your story? Why at this point? Would other characters in your story also have sex in a situation like that?
Who are your characters? What is their sexual history/experience? What is their attitude towards sex, their hopes, fears, expectations? Why?
What is the emotional atmosphere in your story before that sex scene? How do your characters feel? How do you feel? How do you want the readers to feel? How is that going to change because of the sex scene?

2. ‘Let’s have some perspective here!’ â€“ ‘That Scene’ in the World of Your Story

But not only the special aspects of your storyâ€”your plot and your charactersâ€”matter, but also the ‘world’ of your story at large. Sex is not just a ‘biological’ phenomenon, it’s also cultural phenomenon. It’s not just the precise constellation of plot and characters that form the context of your story. Time, place, and circumstances matter, in ‘real life’ and in your story.

The ‘world’ of your story matters!

Culture, law, religion, economy, all of that and more affect when and how and why people have sex, their experience of and with sex, their attitudes and expectations where sex is concerned, as well as the attitudes and expectations of other characters towards those characters having sex in the first place.

For example: In the early Middle Ages celibacy was not yet firmly entrenched. So a bishop having sex, a mistress and children was not really unusual. Nowadays a Catholic bishop having sex is a cause for scandal. Or an epic novel and a TV mini-series-see Coleen McCullough’s ‘Thorn Birds’.

Virginity wasn’t quite the big deal in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance either, at least not the way some romance novel writers would have it. ‘Between one-fifth and one-third of all brides were pregnant on their wedding day. A child born between troth plight and marriage was considered legitimate. The main objection to premarital sexual activity seems to have been practical rather than religious. The birth of a bastard created an expense for the community.’ (â€”from Everyday Life in Renaissance England from 1485-1649 by Kathy Lynn Emerson)

Another example:

Statistically speaking^[1] it is quite likely for Muggle-born Hermione Granger to have sex before she reaches the age of consent and it is extremely unlikely for her to want to wait with sex until marriage. It is even statistically not unlikely^[2] for Hermione Granger’s mother to have been sexually active before she reached the age of consent. Additionally, Hermione Granger’s mother is a dentist-a medical professional.

What fits these characters and the UK at the end of the 20th century better: Mrs. Granger giving advice to her daughter about safe sex, or threatening her with eternal damnation if Hermione doesn’t stay a virgin until marriage?

So when is your story taking place? In the Middle Ages? In the Swinging Sixties? Today?
Do your characters live in a fantasy realm? In a European, American, African or Asian culture?
What kind of religious influences are present in your story?
What about the influences and expectations of class? Or age groups?
How do all those influences affect why, how, when, and with whom people have sex? How do those influences affect how people feel about sex? And do those influences affect how people think about other people having sex?

Research recommendations:

3. Fucking, Fornication, or Indulging in the Pleasures of the Flesh-‘That Scene’ and Your Writing Style

In her post ‘Writing sex scenes versus writing porn’, Kit Whitfield points out that ‘Overly graphic sex scenes in otherwise fully-clothed books…characters suddenly changing style and going from Regency eloquence or lyrical melancholia to porn-speak…[that] is as disconcerting as if the vicar poured a cup of tea and then started talking dirty’.

The vicar with his cup of tea is an impressive example.

Or imagine the effect of your old maths teacher suddenly undressing and masturbating on the desk in the middle of the lesson. Jarring, huh?^[3] To work well, ‘that scene’ has to fit the style and tone of your story, as well as the level of descriptive detail.

How detailed and realistic are your descriptions in general? Have you described other private or intimate moments beyond sex in your story so far?
How much time and space have you devoted to non-intimate, private interactions between those characters?
How would you describe the style and tone of your story? Does your ‘voice’ change in the course of the story? How? Why?

But: Some contrast is good!

That’s where things get tricky: A certain contrast to the rest of the plot, to how characters behave in other scenes, to how your narrative voice sounds in other parts of the story and to just how descriptive you get elsewhere is not only okay, that kind of contrast can be an extremely effective stylistic device.

People act and talk and feel differently in intimate situations than in public. The clichÃ©d jokes of the shy and prim secretary turning into a hungry lioness at night who enjoys being chained to the bedposts or loves to get out the whip have at least some basis in fact!

Intimacy allows you to discover new and different aspects in characters. You get to explore facets of their personality they would never show otherwise. That’s one of the reasons why writing out intimate encounters in some detail instead of demurely dropping the curtain is a powerful writing tool.

Summing up: ‘That scene’ has to fit into your story!

It has to fit into the plot of the story.
It has to fit the characters of your story.
It has to fit the ‘world’ of your story.
It has to fit the tone and style of your story.
It has to fit the level of descriptive detail of your story.

^[1]A 2008 survey of the British Channel Four showed that 40% of all 14-17 year olds are sexually active in the UK and that only 6% of British teenagers would consider waiting until marriage before having sex.

^[2]See the relevant article at Wikipedia, HERE.

^[3]Of course it is possible and perfectly acceptable to use a jarring (sex) scene on purpose, for example as an element of parody or humour. Obviously, in that case many of the questions raised in this chapter don’t apply.