The News From Poughkeepsie - Day 36 - Adult Content Warning!

May 27th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

hah! I’m caught up.

Settings Tuesdays:

Robin Williams once quoted that he wished porno had better dialogue - they needed better writers. “Cmon you stallion you know you’re the best… sigh…” should become “Martha, I will part you like the Red Sea!”

In that mindset I don’t know why we can’t merge strong writing with hardcore sex. Because in “mainstream” novels, the heroes have sex. They may even have dirty sex, but it’s still not described in the way that catches your breath in your throat. Sure, sure, “some people don’t want to read that,” and yes, it it totally in their power to NOT spend money on that kind of writing.

But why do we have hot fuckbooks OR good plots? Why can’t people merge them? And I don’t even mean erotica - I mean stories that do not have sex as their main force, but still, if there’s a love scene, you know they’re seriously going at it, rattling the windows, and waking the neighbors and walking stiff the next day because they’re so damn sore. Why can’t we have that?

So there’s my setting. Woman moves to big city. Gets a job as a dog walker. The barista at the local coffee place is cool, but he doesn’t make much money, and so she sets her sights on a hot client. She’s going to hook up with one of them and end up with the other (and come on, who the hell are we kidding, the charming poor guy always beats the hot doctor. I have an essay about the hot doctor brewing - fear it.), but whatever sex is involved is going to be graphic, and hot, and leave the reader as breathless - if not as sore - as the heroes.

Who will be walking rather stiffly to work the next day.

The News From Poughkeepsie is a daily blog post featuring an idea for you to take and do with what you will. Read more about it here. This post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You can take this idea, change it, make something new, and even make money off of it. All I ask is if you create something - anything! - that this post inspired you to make, please link back here.

There Are 7 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Nobilis on 27 May 2008:

    Hallelujah.

    The more I look at my latest work, it might just go that way.

  2. Comment by Arkle on 27 May 2008:

    Considering the fact that my Mom is my editor this would not be a good idea for me.

  3. Comment by Helen E. H. Madden on 29 May 2008:

    See, I face the opposite problem as an erotica writer. Why can’t I include plot and characterization in my stories? Explicit sex is the serious taboo in writing, and you can either have the sex or you can have the story, but apparently you can’t have both. Or so I have been told. Like I’m going to play by anybody else’s rules, right?

    But I thought you did a lovely job with what I heard you read at Balticon, so keep at it.

  4. Comment by solak on 31 May 2008:

    Apparently, (the editors/publishers think) that folks who want porn or erotica don’t want to waste any more pages than necessary on non-sex scenes, so there’s no room for a real plot. More orgasms per dollar, or something.

    I think you’re right and they’re wrong. In The Plitone Revisionist, Paul S. Jenkins seems to have done a good job of this, but one example won’t turn the tide.

  5. Comment by Jared Kardos on 1 June 2008:

    I’ve thought of that, too. I’ve written both, so why can’t I combine them?

    I might very well try to work this into what I plan to do for NaNo this year. :D

  6. Comment by Michael Andrews on 1 June 2008:

    You raise a great point. In the hundreds of books I’ve read, even the “erotic scenes” are not graphic enough. I’m working on a novel at the moment with a sex scene that is a main plot point; I’m stuck walking the line between a watered down scene to make it mainstream, or a real “window rattling” scene that will be the “red line” for some agent in the future.

    BTW: Just started listening to ISBW. I have a lot of catching up to do. Thanks for the encouragement.

  7. Comment by Julie on 24 June 2008:

    I struggle with this as well. I thought I would have to place my writing in erotic only publications, but the plot/happenings are way too serious for that. I decided I’m not dumbing the sex down, and I’m doin’ it my way. It’ll break through one day..

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