I also skim or skip sex scenes regularly, although in my case, it's not because I'm not into porn at all. It just has to move the relationship, characterization and/or plot forward in order to interest me. It's the same when I'm writing. What I really want is the emotion, the passion; I want to see/get at the actual people through the act, not just the bodies.
It just occurred to me that perhaps part of the reason why I still haven't managed to write a proper sex scene in Guardian is that the relationship is so intense that taking it physical can't actually level it up. While I am convinced that they do have sex, its not at the heart of the attraction or the relationship in my eyes. After all, this is the canon that gave me the most intense, well-developed, passionate and satisfying m/m love story I have ever seen on-screen - all without a single kiss.
Maybe you enjoy writing porn more than reading it because then, you can concentrate on exactly what it is you want to get out of the scene? As an example, it might not be the mechanics, but rather the angst and need and surrender (or something else!) that interest you...?
And I was really interested by your switch between writing smut and angst, because: The same emotional pay-off that I get from a good sex scene can also be delivered in another way, because it's about showing the need and love (and whatever else) for me. So angst and porn can actually do the exact same thing for me as a reader, and it makes perfect sense to me that you would swap these out for each other when writing. ;-)
And: Oh no, poor Zhao Yunlan. I surmise that something has happened to Shen Wei, and Shen Wei is (still) underestimating the hurt that will cause ZYL...
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winterfish
writing sex and angst
Date: 2020-04-22 01:24 am (UTC)It just occurred to me that perhaps part of the reason why I still haven't managed to write a proper sex scene in Guardian is that the relationship is so intense that taking it physical can't actually level it up. While I am convinced that they do have sex, its not at the heart of the attraction or the relationship in my eyes. After all, this is the canon that gave me the most intense, well-developed, passionate and satisfying m/m love story I have ever seen on-screen - all without a single kiss.
Maybe you enjoy writing porn more than reading it because then, you can concentrate on exactly what it is you want to get out of the scene? As an example, it might not be the mechanics, but rather the angst and need and surrender (or something else!) that interest you...?
And I was really interested by your switch between writing smut and angst, because: The same emotional pay-off that I get from a good sex scene can also be delivered in another way, because it's about showing the need and love (and whatever else) for me. So angst and porn can actually do the exact same thing for me as a reader, and it makes perfect sense to me that you would swap these out for each other when writing. ;-)
And: Oh no, poor Zhao Yunlan. I surmise that something has happened to Shen Wei, and Shen Wei is (still) underestimating the hurt that will cause ZYL...