Writing explicit scenes in fantasy

[Warren_Paul]

I'm working through polishing up the MS of my Epic Fantasy novel and was looking at some particular scenes that have a certain sexual context to them.

The antagonist of my book is an incubus, and being so uses his powers of seduction to do some rather inappropriate things.

I was wondering, when writing epic fantasy is there a line somewhere I shouldn't cross in regards to how much detail I should go into sex scenes? I know with urban fantasy it can get very explicit, right now my book is pretty close to that.

Should I be toning it down, or does it not really matter?

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Actually, no it doesn't matter. It can depending on the target audience, of course, but not genre. Of course, I wouldn't make it outright pornographic, but you don't have to shy away from details, either.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Great, thanks. I might just leave it as it is then, which is enough that you get the emotions of the characters and what they are feeling without it getting too close to being pornographic.

Just want to be sure I don't knock myself out of the epic fantasy genre because the sex scenes are a bit too 'steamy'.

 

[Boneman]

Great, thanks. I might just leave it as it is then, which is enough that you get the emotions of the characters and what they are feeling without it getting too close to being pornographic.

Just want to be sure I don't knock myself out of the epic fantasy genre because the sex scenes are a bit too 'steamy'.

Okay, I know he's allowed a bit more latitude than aspiring writers, but you should read the sex scenes in the Dark Tower series, by Stephen King...

I aim for realistic but not pornographic, m'self...

 

[J-WO]

Richard K Morgan gets pretty jiggy wid it, so I hear. Fantasy and SF.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I couldn't get through the second book in Dark Tower, not really a big fan of Stephen King's writing style, the first book was interesting enough, but I found the second painful.

But yeah, I've heard Stephen King is allowed to break the rules whenever he wants.

I just look at my bookshelf of fantasy novels and can't think of any with explicit scenes in them. Nothing comes close to say whats in Paranormal Romance.

People say George RR Martin's are explicit, but I would disagree with that, at least with his most recent book, I might have to look back at the older ones to remind myself of how explicit they got.

But anyway, what I've written so far is just shy of what you would find in Paranormal Romance.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Another thing to remember is that explicit in one country is not necessarily the same as explicit in another - eg Britain and America.

 

[hopewrites]

I think Earth's Children is an epic fantasy, and every volume has enough sex to be a romance novel in my option. Enough that I "wouldn't recommend it to my mom" at any rate. But then there are lots of reasons I wouldn't recommend that series to my mom.

most tasteful sex I've read so far is in Melanie Rawn's Exile series (incomplete) all the emotional trauma and scaring in a magical mind rape, with the scaring carrying through to other encounters by the victim. And loving illusions that leave more to the imagination then I think she intended making the office romance of a married senator and her husband even more tantalizing by it's vagueness.

 

[David B]

Getting the balance right is important. Too avoid alienating half your potential readership, ask your partner or a friend of the opposite sex if it works.

None of us are objective about our writing. That's why we need editors and beta readers.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I wrote my first one about 2 months ago and went off and hid in a hole for a week. Now, I'm getting a bit better about them; as BM says realistic (and let's be honest how many ways can you describe these things without risking an Alan Titchmarsh moment?)*

Interesting thing about sex and writing, whilst men like - um - certain types of magazines, if you get my meaning, women are much more driven by literary as opposed to pictoral stuff. Apparently. (this was legitimate research I had to carry out once, honest. )

So, if you're going to get some alpha readers, try to get a couple of each sex; I did, and I was pretty happy the women thought it was fine, the men who have commented on it didn't find them too mills and boonish.

*he wrote the most excruciating scene ever, it won awards for being just sooooo bad.

 

[Peter Graham]

Just want to be sure I don't knock myself out of the epic fantasy genre because the sex scenes are a bit too 'steamy'.

Why would this matter? There is no rule book setting out what is or is not allowed in "epic fantasy" and even if there was, you'd be making a mistake to read it.

Write the story you want to write without imposing any red lines or restrictions. Let folk call it what they will.

Regards,

Peter

 

[Theory5]

I take it you've never read any of Piers Anthony's books?
Seriously, his books are packed with adult content, but most scenes seem to stop just short of being pornographic.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I think Earth's Children is an epic fantasy, and every volume has enough sex to be a romance novel in my option.

Was going to recommend this as a reference for comparison as well - probably not the first book, Clan of the Cave Bear, due to the associated violence, but definitely Mammoth Hunters, and Valley of Horses, if you're looking for romantic sex. Worst complaint I've heard about the sex scenes in these is that they were boring and skipped!

I don't think A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin is really explicit - much is inferred, leaving the imagination to fill in the gaps, and frankly that's all the reader could probably handle, due to the violence associated with a lot of the references.

ADDED: Best sex scene ever is in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy - very funny.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I take it you've never read any of Piers Anthony's books?
Seriously, his books are packed with adult content, but most scenes seem to stop just short of being pornographic.

You would be right, I have not read that author. My book won't be packed with adult content but when it has those scenes it won't leave much up to the imagination either.

Why would this matter? There is no rule book setting out what is or is not allowed in "epic fantasy" and even if there was, you'd be making a mistake to read it.

No, I don't suppose it does matter for me personally, just matters when say I submit it to Angry Robot in April that they actually believe it is in the genre they are after, since the their requested genres for the open door is quite narrow.

Getting the balance right is important. Too avoid alienating half your potential readership, ask your partner or a friend of the opposite sex if it works.

Hear you there, and luckily I do have beta readers of the opposite sex. I've also been reading up a lot of Paranormal Romance recently to get inspiration for how to write sex scenes in my own books.

When doing research on the topic the most common problem I heard was that authors wrote their scenes really, really bad to the point that their descriptions embarrasses both them and the reader.

anyway, thanks all for your replies, I think I will relax a bit about that now and just go with it.

 

[Warren_Paul]

ADDED: Best sex scene ever is in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy - very funny.

*SPOILER*



Oh yes, very like real life I think, the fact that Logan was terrible at it... Loved how annoyed Ferro got at him because of it.

Joe Ambercrombie is definately on my favourite authors list

 

[J-WO]

Alan Titchmarsh? Sex? Gah!!!!!

 

[Mouse]

Alan Titchmarsh? Sex? Gah!!!!!

I tried writing a 'horroritca*' (that's right, it's horror/erotica. See what they've done there?) but it was pretty bad. Got my at-the-time other half to read it and he screwed up his nose.

Mostly I now just fade to black.


*for an anthology.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Alan Titchmarsh? Sex? Gah!!!!!

Yeah in his novels he is a lady gardner instead of a Supergardner - they are kind of written in the same style

 

[Gary Compton]

Alan Titchmarsh? Sex? Gah!!!!!

Why do I feel like killing myself?

I'd rather watch a farmer humping a sack of tatties

 

[Warren_Paul]

Why do I feel like killing myself?

I'd rather watch a farmer humping a sack of tatties

Don't worry, after watching that video Mouse posted, I feel like killing myself too.

Thanks for the nightmares Mouse.

Glad I missed that guy's books, as Anya said apparently the sex scenes reminded readers of planting gardens. Worst sex scene award!