Let's talk about sex...

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I'm fine with it, providing some certain things remain taboo. It happens.

But if there's ever mention of, um...bathroom functions involved, too much blood, necrophilia, or animals, well...those scenarios are where I would chuck something across the room. Luckily, I've not come across anything with any of that stuff.

 

[Toby Frost]

Herbert ends up doing bum bum with Jane

I have never seen this expression before and it made me laugh a lot. It needs more use.

 

[ctg]

Herbert ends up doing bum bum with Jane

I have never seen this expression before and it made me laugh a lot. It needs more use.

You need to mix with Caribbean's a bit more. They and West African's have really colourful language - if you don't mind me saying so. So just be yourself and observe. I'll promise you start picking up things fairly quickly.

 

[hopewrites]

Sorry it's taken so long for me to drop back by. I voted that I wouldn't blink because 'early on' for most isn't 'early on' for me. If I make it past the first 100-200 words I'm definitely in. Most authors I read have me by the end of the first paragraph. So I've already made up my mind to trust them or not by the time I hit the first action. If I've decided to trust them and they don't betray that trust with the way things go down, then no I wouldn't bat an eye. If it was done in a way that really got me engaged in the characters and made me want to see how they felt with it, I would be more interested.

If it betrayed the trust I had decided to have I might go on with the story if the plot or characters made up for their creators faults. If they didn't I'd just walk away and forget the whole thing.

I don't read romance, unless it lied to me and said it was something else and then turned out to have a decent enough plot or I promised a friend I'd read it. I don't avoid reading sex, but I never go looking for it.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

So it's infohumping...?


(Or, as has been said of such scenes in Game of Thrones, it's sexposition.)

The POV character goes to a bar. The front window of the bar is a huge fish tank full of whiskey, with two naked women swimming in it. He ends up going home with the bartender and the two women. Completely casual sex, swapping partners before morning, and Our Hero doesn't think anything is unusual, it's just what happens in a world extrapolated from the swingin' sixties.

P.S. My super hero goes to the toilet. Phone booths are so hard to find these days.

 

[Ursa major]

At least your superhero isn't the Flash....





But regarding the change of clothing, your superhero needs... er... Batman's help.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

The POV character goes to a bar. The front window of the bar is a huge fish tank full of whiskey, with two naked women swimming in it. He ends up going home with the bartender and the two women. Completely casual sex, swapping partners before morning, and Our Hero doesn't think anything is unusual, it's just what happens in a world extrapolated from the swingin' sixties.

P.S. My super hero goes to the toilet. Phone booths are so hard to find these days.

Is he faster than a speeding bullet?


At least, to my knowledge anyway, Clark Kent has yet to show anyone his man of steel...which somehow comforts me.

 

[MstrTal]

The POV character goes to a bar. The front window of the bar is a huge fish tank full of whiskey, with two naked women swimming in it. He ends up going home with the bartender and the two women. Completely casual sex, swapping partners before morning, and Our Hero doesn't think anything is unusual, it's just what happens in a world extrapolated from the swingin' sixties.

P.S. My super hero goes to the toilet. Phone booths are so hard to find these days.

Two things: 1 Sounds like a world I would like to live in and sort of did prior to marriage and children. 2 Is he going to run into pay toilets and have to fork over some change to save the day?

 

[TheTomG]

But if it was a superhero who uses the bathroom, he wouldn't be The Flash, but The Flush?

 

[Darth Angelus]

I voted that I would not blink too much and continue but I agree with Theresa, if it was graphic just to be graphic I would probably put it down. I am not a prude by any stretch but unless it has value I prefer the sex scenes to be fairly clean. I guess I just don't have an interest in reading 50 Shades of Tremlock III but if a space opera or something had a sex scene I am ok with it.

This would pretty much be my answer, as well.

I would not put it down, right away. However, it is not what I am after, or I'd pick another genre, so it better serve its purpose and move on without too much delay. After all, why open with a long sequence of sex in speculative fiction, when that s not what these genres are about.
To be honest, I don't think I have actually ever read a novel in any of these genres that start with sex, and that is with good reason. After all, should not novels generally start with a tone that is at least somewhat representative of what the whole work is about? I think the first few pages in any novel convey important information to the reader, and the tone of a sex scene during this limited space is a bit unsuitable to these genres, in my opinion. There is plenty of room for that later, after all.
I don't know. It is not that I shy away from sex scenes (unless they are too extreme), but I would be struggling to see the purpose of having them right at the very beginning.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

This would pretty much be my answer, as well.

I would not put it down, right away. However, it is not what I am after, or I'd pick another genre, so it better serve its purpose and move on without too much delay. After all, why open with a long sequence of sex in speculative fiction, when that s not what these genres are about.
To be honest, I don't think I have actually ever read a novel in any of these genres that start with sex, and that is with good reason. After all, should not novels generally start with a tone that is at least somewhat representative of what the whole work is about? I think the first few pages in any novel convey important information to the reader, and the tone of a sex scene during this limited space is a bit unsuitable to these genres, in my opinion. There is plenty of room for that later, after all.
I don't know. It is not that I shy away from sex scenes (unless they are too extreme), but I would be struggling to see the purpose of having them right at the very beginning.

So, if the purpose of the whole first chapter is the introduction and depiction of the world and its people, with the culminating sex act the thing which will irrevocably change the world shown does that justify it for you?

Also, bearing in mind I write, basically, stories about people in the extreme circumstances sci fi allows me to build, could it be seen as an accurate setting out of my stall?

 

[Abernovo]

So, if the purpose of the whole first chapter is the introduction and depiction of the world and its people, with the culminating sex act the thing which will irrevocably change the world shown does that justify it for you?

I know the question isn't really addressed to me, but it brought something to my mind. Admittedly only told off-scene, but Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land has a similar scenario. The first long-term manned mission to Mars is made up of married couples, but an affair happens and a child is born from it, ultimately leading to homicide, the child being orphaned and raised by Martians. So, despite it never appearing explicitly (sorry, couldn't resist ) on the page, sex is integral to the story.

I think we've moved on now, though, and sex is much more acceptable on the page in genre. And, I trust you to write any such scene without going overboard, Springs.

 

[Darth Angelus]

So, if the purpose of the whole first chapter is the introduction and depiction of the world and its people, with the culminating sex act the thing which will irrevocably change the world shown does that justify it for you?

Also, bearing in mind I write, basically, stories about people in the extreme circumstances sci fi allows me to build, could it be seen as an accurate setting out of my stall?

I don't know. It may justify it, but you should be aware of the dangers, too.

They say those who interview applicants to a job on the part of an employer pretty much make their decision whether or not to hire the person within the very first moment...and I think that by the same token, readers judge a book very fast. It seems to be human nature to put great weight into first impressions, regrettable or not.
I am not questioning your work so much as suggesting caution (I didn't realize it was an actual WIP until now, in fact). Is there some way you could accomplish the same effect without too many erotic elements in the first chapter? Perhaps a chapter or two before the world change, so the reader can see the contrast?

Keep in mind that I am not at all familiar with your work, so I am guessing wildly here.

But anyway, sex scenes don't bother me much, unless they imply it is going to be an erotic novel.

Good luck!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You do realise this whole thing is entirely your fault? (that'll get themwondering.)

I don't know. It may justify it, but you should be aware of the dangers, too.


I am not questioning your work so much as suggesting caution (I didn't realize it was an actual WIP until now, in fact). Is there some way you could accomplish the same effect without too many erotic elements in the first chapter? Perhaps a chapter or two before the world change, so the reader can see the contrast?



Good luck!

I think the dangers are well highlighted from this thread, i will have to keep them in mind.

There is 3500 words before there is any hint of sex, so there is a slow build and the scene is absolutely not written as erotica. so hopefully the overarcing impression is one of the world and not the act.

And thankyou, I will need it, I think!

 

[Abernovo]

You do realise this whole thing is entirely your fault? (that'll get themwondering.)

Huh?

I've got broad shoulders.

 

[Ursa major]

I've got broad shoulders.

Is that why you live abroad...?

 

[nubins]

I would be more interested or not fussed, depending on how well written it was. Level of gratuity doesnt bother me.

Sex in sci-fi is something of interest to me as ive experimented with including it in a wip. However I ended up deciding that for it to fit the tone of the story, it needed to be toned down. Although it needs to be included still in a controlled way, in order to demonstrate that aspect of certain characters relationship. As others have said, sex is a hugely important part of everyones life and when you are dealing with relationships between adult human beings in unusual situations, it actually seems odd to me that it isn't in more sci-fi stories.

 

[hopewrites]

Everyone keeps saying sex is a big part of everyone's lives. I think that's an interesting commentary on society, why has it become a bigger part of our lives than other things? Because for so much of human history its been weaponized and now everyone with a gender and a gender preference is armed to hurt or control other humans? Or because we've come up with the duplictic ideal that although its a weapon now, it shouldn't be used as such?

I've chocked down some real trash because a friend recommended it (soft erotica if such a genre exists) where all the sexual tension was passive aggressive codependency running an emotional muck. Might have like it better if it hadn't been so melodramatic and depressing, and the sex hadn't all been faded out. 'he reached for her lovingly... the next morning' didn't even have kissing and the most explicit moment was a walk on the beach where they held hands. But that didn't stop the story being built around and filled with sex.

I don't think that world changing sex at the end of the first chapter would get me thinking I was in a romance posing as a sci-fi. (Unless the plot was weak and the sex happened out of the blue on pg 150.) I would personally be way too deep into the story by then to question the genre. Spring as a generally unknown author I wouldn't worry too much, but I can say that because your style is not wholly unknown to me and I like it.

 

[allmywires]

Everyone keeps saying sex is a big part of everyone's lives. I think that's an interesting commentary on society, why has it become a bigger part of our lives than other things?

I think that simply from a basic biological/evolutionary standpoint, the act of reproduction is the most vital for the propagation of the species (apart from, you know, staying alive, which is where violence comes in, and is why both of them are so emotionally intense for humans). So from an evolutionary standpoint, humans are fairly unique (not totally unique, but still fairly unique) in the evolution of the sexual act. We're one of very few species that do it for pleasure and not necessity. We're also one of the few species that fall in love and mate monogamously. (Or so society teaches us). This conflict between what we have become - confusing hotpots of pheromones and hormones who feel intense emotions towards our mates/sexual partners, have the intelligence and social structure to form gender identities, and no longer just rely on relentless banging to further our species - and what we were, ie using sex for power and forcible control of females/lesser males to ensure the propagation of the genetic line, is why sex is so important to us, still. It's just that with modern society we're able to vocalise and explore what this juxtoposition between animal and human means, although at the moment we're in a stage of hypersexualisation and overexposure. Sex is unquestionably, biologically, the most important part of a human's life - safely ensuring your genetic material will be passed onto the next generation. Of course it doesn't mean only that to us any more, but it still lingers.

Just my opinion, though. I'm probably very wrong.

 

[Boneman]

Despite voting otherwise, there are instances where I will put a book down where a particular sex scene happens along. This one did exactly that:

A few seconds later still, the clock of the Eglise Saint-Norbert in Zurenborg also began to strike midnight. Eldritch Swan was likewise deaf to the sound, but in his case because he was in the powerfully distracting midst of an orgasm as his ever more urgent thrustings into the gasping, bucking Mari-Louise reached a deliciously protracted climax.

Appalling syntax...

It's from Robert Goddard: 'His international bestseller' according to the blurb, and I kid you not when I tell you the book is entitled Long Time Coming.