1. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    This is an awkward question but I'll ask anyway.

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Link the Writer, Apr 12, 2011.

    Okay, suppose later on in my Colonial Detective stories with Amos, I wanted to write a sex scene between him and his love, Lucy. Since he's blind and the stories are from his POV, I'll...have to describe it in other ways.

    Basically, how would I describe a sex scene from his perspective, but without sounding nasty about it?
     
  2. Daggers

    Daggers New Member

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    Go sleep with someone blindfolded and take notes afterwards?
     
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  3. katica

    katica New Member

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    What helps all sex scenes be less nasty is being vague. Don't actually SAY body parts, imply them. And keep it short if you don't want it to be focused on.
     
  4. WastelandSurvivor

    WastelandSurvivor New Member

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    I've actually been tempted to write something like this for a while, but I haven't done it as of yet. In my mind I think of a blind sex scene as the most sensual type because you can't take any visual shortcuts with your descriptions--everything has to be done through touch, smell, taste and hearing. Describe the feeling of skin-to-skin contact (softness, warmth, slick, the tickle of hair against the fingertips, etc), the smell (sweat and arousal, as well as any environmental scents), the taste (sweat, saliva, skin, anything on the skin, etc.) and the sounds (moans, gasps, murmurs, etc.). Focus on those sensations and cut out anything related to visuals--just be aware that some visuals like "swollen" and "pursed" could be hard to avoid, and the same goes for descriptions of where bodies and body parts are. Remember to show through senses other than sight and I think you'll get the feeling you're looking for, but if you get too much into telling you'll be a bit too explicit and start naming body parts and such.
     
  5. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    This would work. ;)

    I would start out just by writing the scene and seeing how you feel about it. Don't assume before even putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, if that's your preferred writing method) that writing a sex scene from the perspective of a blind person will turn out to be nasty. Get it all on paper, get a feel for writing about it, and then rewrite and improve from there.

    Just because he can't see doesn't mean your scene has to be full of raunch.
     
  6. popsicledeath

    popsicledeath Banned

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    That's what confused me about the question. How raunchy or nasty a sex scene is shouldn't have anything to do with whether a character is blind or not (or do all blind people use the most profane words possible? lol).

    My advice is to simply write the truth of the moment as experienced by the character. If you do that, pretty sure it'll all work itself out. Meaning, if you're staying true to a shy, reserved woman character, the scene is only going to be nasty or raunchy if you're incredibly contrived in your prose and representation of the character.

    Then again, if your character is a macho, sex-crazed playboy, pretty sure it'll then seem contrived and wrong if you aren't a bit raunchy.
     
  7. popsicledeath

    popsicledeath Banned

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    Hah, I read that as blind folding your partner, and then interviewing them afterward! Awkward, lol.

    Yeah, better to blind fold yourself, I'd say. :p
     
  8. prisonchild

    prisonchild New Member

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    get a blind person to edit your sex scene. or just get a blind person to describe it for you.

    if you dont want to/cant do that then focus on the other senses like wastelandsurvivor suggested
     
  9. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    since many sex scenes take place at night with no lights on, there'd be no difference... haven't you ever done it in the dark?... if not, do so and then you'll know how to write it...
     
  10. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    I didn't mean to imply that blind dude having sex=raunchy sex scene. I would've asked this even if Amos could see.

    I guess I should focus more on the feelings that Amos is having emotionally-wise while he's boinking Lucy.

    Questions I'll have to ask myself:

    #1- Is Amos already married to Lucy? Are they doing it in the heat of the moment?

    I should be careful to not include a "omg is Lucy preggers?" sub-plot because (a) I'm sick to death of that and (b) it's been done to death.
     
  11. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    I think that responsible sex can be summed up in half a sentence, maybe a full one. I almost-scared my sudden boyfriend by liking weird food even though our protection at the time was two layers of denim and two more layers of flimsier cotton. (At least I think he was wearing underwear underneath his jeans.)


    Anyway, just focus on the sensations. If you don't actually have sex IRL, you're going to come off as one of those many barely-menstruating chicks who vent their frustrations through fiction. (Assuming that it is just girls that don't resort to candles, vs boys always going the Rosy Palms route.)

    If you don't do the research, be vague. My favored pairing (reading, I don't actually share my sex scenes,) works best by skimming over the physicality of their relationship.
     
  12. WastelandSurvivor

    WastelandSurvivor New Member

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    Emotions are always a good way to go with sex scenes, regardless. Your questions, now, can only answered by you. Does it make sense for them to be married at this point, or does it motivate the story further for them to not be married? As for the sub-plot, I actually have not seen much of the "Oh my god, is she pregnant?" scenario--more often I see the "Oh, that was amazing, let's move on with the story" or "Oh, we're pregnant, let's move on with the story" and I think that the psychological stress of a "surprise" pregnancy could be good for a story. That said, maybe I just haven't read enough stories with sex in them :p
     
  13. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    ^ That's no fun ..... ;) I mean lights make it better imo, but if he's blind I guess that wouldn't matter
     
  14. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    You're lucky. I've seen movies where the woman realizes she's pregnant and starts angsting about it. (See Hellboy II: The Golden Army.)

    I just think if Lucy wounded up pregnant with Amos' child, then it'd be jumping the shark so much that it'd won't even be the same.

    That's why the sex scene is toward the end of the last book. :D

    I had written a scene where they begin to do it. Amos removes his shirt and begins to unlace her gown, all while they're kissing and groping, etc.
     
  15. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    Link, in real life, if they're really passionate about each other, chances are she'd take his shirt off instead of him taking off his own shirt.

    Also, here are some words to AVOID during sex scenes. Whenever I read these words in a romance novel I always think the writer has no experience whatsoever:

    Swollen
    Lump
    Turgid (I kid you not, this has been used)
    Hole
    Sopping
    Bristly
    Slurped
    Core
    Man-root
    Flower
    Desire (when used, not in its proper purpose, but as a noun for a body part)

    Using any of those words will KILL the effect, so don't.
     
  16. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Well, I think that just shows how woefully unexperienced I am with that. :p Good thing that scene won't be written until years and years later. XD Maybe by the time I write that scene I'll have been married and had children.
     
  17. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    Which one of them is blind, BTW?

    If it's the woman.... Well, I don't see so good anyway, more of a visual sorting process that is great with text but lousy at telling if a ruler is straight. Anyway, sex is more touch and temperature in my case. I still can't properly describe the difference between a phallic object and a penis despite open gawking and multi-contact exploration of both. (Well, eating a carrot is a whole 'nother animal than phallatio, but still...)
     
  18. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    Amos is the blind one.

    I figured I'd imply less, feelings more.
     
  19. Aeschylus

    Aeschylus Member

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    If you're not writing this for years why are you asking for advice now?
     
  20. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    This question is just so that I know how to do it when I finally get around to doing it.
     
  21. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    Hypothetical is a good time to start. Research can grow in your mind even after it is done.

    Or perhaps research is hard to do once it reaches the point that you need to do it.
     
  22. popsicledeath

    popsicledeath Banned

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    Which doesn't mean you'll have much more experience with sex! Heyoooo! (don't tell my wife I said that)

    More seriously, I think you'll be fine, so don't worry about it. The imagination is an amazing thing, and in some ways what you invent regarding sex may be more powerful for your story than drawing from research anyhow. ;)
     

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