Two questions for fellow writers

[luciazephyr]

1. What do you do when you've written a lot for a scene and don't like any of it?

2. Do you have any tips on how to write a sex scene?

:rubs face tiredly:

-Lucy

Comments

[sarken.livejournal.com]

I don't have any tips on the latter, but when I write something and don't like it, I usually start over from the last line I liked in the story. I don't straight up delete what I dislike -- because I might want to grab a line later, even if I hated it the first time through -- but I insert enough line breaks to get it away form my eyes for a while. Sometimes I even start the scene over in a new window, or on paper instead of the computer, like it gives me some sort of new perspective on what I am writing.

[karose.livejournal.com]

1. Axe it? It's less painful to toss it than to explain to someone else why you left it in when you weren't happy with it.

2. How do you figure out how to write any sort of scene? You read other people's writing and observe what works for you. Then you forget where you got it from.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

2. See, I've been trying that, hitting all my usual inspirations, keeping Res's How to Write a Sex Scene in a tab, but, christ, I'm apparently writing something so weird and can't relate it to anyone else's work and I'm just floundering. :face in hands:

[karose.livejournal.com]

FTB isn't possible? What's being accomplished in the scene that can't be accomplished outside it?

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

FTB for this... I do FTB a lot because I like it, but this time I can't. The sex is important and is supposed to do something.

It just all sucks. :sighs: I'm mostly whining right now, sorry. Frustrated.

[karose.livejournal.com]

Welllll define "not communicating"? I'd offer to give concrit but I can be kinda overly direct so you might not get much from it.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

I just. I have no idea how to explain it. Gah, nevermind.

[moonlitsiren.livejournal.com]

1. Send it, and I'll tell you if it's crap or not. Sometimes you need another set of eyes.

2. Self-insert and walk through it step by step in a character's shoes. Or failing that, pretend that the character is telling you the story. Pretty much everyone I've read and been in contact with uses either of those two methods. Failing that, write what you think is hot/does the job of conveying what you want.

Is it a technical issue or an emotional one that's blocking you?

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

1. Seems like I constantly need a new set of eyes. :sighs: I feel so lazy.

2. I might have to try it like that from Hal's POV then. He has to do something and getting him to do that thing is what the problem is.

Technical is emotional here since I need to pull something very emotional off with maybe an ounce of subtlety. As I've been told before, my writing generally lacks subtlety.


I'm gonna work on it after work today, hopefully make some progress with it.

[firefly99.livejournal.com]

2. How do you write anything? at all? Just because a sex scene is sticky doesn't mean it's any different functionally to, say, a scene where they sit down and drink tea. It has to do something and mean something just like any other scene.

Don't fuss about whether it looks like what someone else is doing so much. That's the best thing about writing, there's really no wrong way to do it*.


* well okay maybe there is, but if it works emotionally you're not going to get marks deducted for USING TOO MUCH DIALOGUE or whatever

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe I'm just deficient, because to me nothing is harder than a sex scene. This is why a generally avoid them, but this time I can't.

[daniela-lynx.livejournal.com]

I'm not an expert in sex scene fic writing, but I've RPd a lot in prose lately, and learnt a couple of things about their structure.

The thing with sex scenes has to do with finding a balance between things you like (wording, kinks, small details) and things it's IC for a character to like. Let's take Revolver Ocelot as an example:

1- Wording: He would tend to use harsher words than, say, Otacon.
2- Kinks: While there's not canon evidence saying he wouldn't enjoy something more vanilla, it it's canon that the guy gets off in making people suffer.
3- Small Details: As a soldier he would have scars, it would be likely if he had some issues with intimacy and touch, he wouldn't like being completely vulnerable or too far away from his revolvers, etc.

The other thing with a sex scene is that it has a pacing of its own, separate of the fic's (unless the scene is the fic). Whatever its rhythm is, it needs to go "in crescendo", have a climax, and then relax.

Is this useful to you?

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

Not to me, no, but those are good tips.

[daniela-lynx.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm sorry they aren't, in this case. It's true they're very basic.

I can't think of anything better right now with so little info, though. Is it for a MGS fic?