The choir of sex scenes

[RicoLouis]

While I love writing sometimes I get to a sex scene and my brain is like... nope. Okay I will come back to it later. I can get into an action scene and just get carried away but sometimes sex scenes just feel like I have to be in that mood to do it any real justice. The last two chapters I have written on my current project both have sex scenes but I get there and my brain just doesn't feel it so I skip over it for the moment. Any one else ever feel this way.

 

[Warden-Yarn15]

Yep. In my case, it's waking up with an idea, or going to bed and visualizing it.

Then, when it comes to writing the chapter or scene, then the mind is a complete blank, or it's disgusted at the idea from before. Meanwhile, when I force myself to actually sit down and write, nothing feels correct or just plain uninspired.

 

[SeriousBrainDamage]

Sometimes I kind of managed to write a sex scene while not inspired.

Suprisingly enough, it came out, well... uninspired.

It's like sometimes I can't wait to get to the sex scene. In my mind, it all stems from there, and I have actual problems in reaching it logically by moving in the plot I was already weaving, and often find myself so engrossed with it that I start writing it down before I have managed to lay down the path to it.
This more than once resulted in having to let that scene sit there unused for month or even years.

Sometimes it's the other way around. Maybe I had a few ideas back when I started that line or that story, but I restrained myself, kept my head on working on the set up, maybe just jotted a few notes down, toiling my way up to the fun part and then, poof, everything has vanished from my brain or suddenly feels silly. And for the life of me, as much as I try, I can't manage to remember why I was so eager to get to that point anymore.

And then I try to reignite the spark, write a few horrible drafts, but yeah, I think there's nothing worst that writing a sex scene with your engine turned off.

 

[Mordredaggrfall]

Slightly.

I found that playing videos in the background helps out with sex scenes.

I pick ones that fit the theme and the genders of the characters. For example, if its a vanilla lesbian scene, I'll use a lesbian playlist for that. If its a kinky one, I use one of the lezdom playlists for that (I have more than one for separate kinks). It helps me a lot, since the background sound adds flavor to the scene, even if the reader can't hear it. Only issue is description of actions and the moans.

 

[SeriousBrainDamage]

Slightly.

I found that playing videos in the background helps out with sex scenes.

I pick ones that fit the theme and the genders of the characters. For example, if its a vanilla lesbian scene, I'll use a lesbian playlist for that. If its a kinky one, I use one of the lezdom playlists for that (I have more than one for separate kinks). It helps me a lot, since the background sound adds flavor to the scene, even if the reader can't hear it. Only issue is description of actions and the moans.

Meh, generic porn doesn't do much for me. I can get one idea out of one specific video once in a while, but that's hardly replicable just as I sit staring at the blank page.

 

[Warden-Yarn15]

Meh, generic porn doesn't do much for me. I can get one idea out of one specific video once in a while, but that's hardly replicable just as I sit staring at the blank page.

All those emotions, the verbs, and actions replicated and put into words?

Sometimes hard, I agree, though I suppose some have a knack for it more than others.

 

[SeriousBrainDamage]

All those emotions, the verbs, and actions replicated and put into words?

Sometimes hard, I agree, though I suppose some have a knack for it more than others.

It's not that. I mean, if I am stuck, I'm stuck on a particular situation, and looking to a random porn video won't help at all. A video with a similar situation could help, but actively looking for it would mean wasting more time than trying on my own on the average.

 

[Zeebop]

Speaking for myself...if you don't feel the sex scene, then focus on what the people feel, emotionally; what they're thinking, how this fits into their relationship. Is there some episode in the character's backstory that they might flashback to, some particular event which has relevance, even if only in their own mind, to what is happening now? Sex by itself is very mechanical, and it can be hard to describe the motions in a way that feels erotic to read, but if you focus on the emotional resonance and get in the character's head, sometimes that'll lend you the impetus you need to do the sex scene justice.

If you're running up against uninspired prose, set yourself a little challenge - how do you show that a certain action feels good, without using the word "good?" How would you show a climax without using the word "orgasm?" Read back to another sex scene you've read, and think about how you could rewrite and expand those sentences.

 

[yournewbestfriend]

Absolutely. Happens all the time. I bring up the story thinking I'm going to write something hot and then finding I'm not in the mood. My story is all twisty, turny, so I often find that I can just pivot to another part of the story and write some set-up scenes if I want to write, but don't feel like writing a sex scene. (or start writing a bunch of sex scenes when I really just want to do that). My strategy comes with a warning, though: If you branch out your story just to fit your mood, you may find yourself with more branches to close and extra work on your hands.