Interesting post--the tumblr post she's referring to is awesome too. The thing is, even the hate-sex, messy-sex, didn't-go-quite-right sex, awkward sex starts to sound the same when you read a lot of it.
It is an awesome post. You have a point about all sex starting to sound the same, but I guess I'd have to expand that to all fic in general. Same plots, same sources of conflict, same assumptions about the way lives go (or should go), over and over. Our grooves, they are comfy. The effort to comment count ratio is satisfying. Most people actually aren't in fandom to bust their own asses, and you know, that's fine, I can't judge, even when it's annoying when there are no new works of staggering genius to read on a Saturday night.
I do hope people's private fantasy and/or sex lives are a bit more exciting, though, for their own sakes. :P
Not that people write enough awkward sex to really get tired of it.
Glee has a whole damned meme, bless 'em. A kink meme, an angst meme, and an awkward meme, I kid you not.
But sometimes I feel like a large majority of fandom 1) inserts sex scenes because they think they have to, and 2) sits back and has a knuckle crack and a shot, gearing up to the, "Okay, now it's time to write sex," and it feels like a pause in the fic, or like slightly other characters are doing it. I feel like if you plotted scenes of most fics, most dots would be on this conflict-resolution arc, and even many great sex scenes are just slightly . . . off of that line.
This, exactly this, is my single most frequent comment in ten years of beta reading. Most recent incident was mere weeks ago, actually:
Lis: Wah, Stulti, I can't figure out how to make this sex scene work. Stulti: *reads* You don't need that sex scene at all, but did you know you've got thirty thousand words of science fiction plot lurking under the rug? Lis: YOU'RE RIGHT. FUCK YOU.
I think the root of both matters is a desire for writers to think about actual real people--even if they're characters
Ayup. And also to not be afraid of messiness and conflict and postponed resolution! Like, how many scenes have you read where brand new lovers are perfectly in sync and know exactly how to touch each other? Isn't it sexier, more real, and narratively more interesting if there's a learning curve? Meh. YMMV.
no subject
That's not a bad habit!
It is an awesome post. You have a point about all sex starting to sound the same, but I guess I'd have to expand that to all fic in general. Same plots, same sources of conflict, same assumptions about the way lives go (or should go), over and over. Our grooves, they are comfy. The effort to comment count ratio is satisfying. Most people actually aren't in fandom to bust their own asses, and you know, that's fine, I can't judge, even when it's annoying when there are no new works of staggering genius to read on a Saturday night.
I do hope people's private fantasy and/or sex lives are a bit more exciting, though, for their own sakes. :P
Glee has a whole damned meme, bless 'em. A kink meme, an angst meme, and an awkward meme, I kid you not.
This, exactly this, is my single most frequent comment in ten years of beta reading. Most recent incident was mere weeks ago, actually:
Lis: Wah, Stulti, I can't figure out how to make this sex scene work.
Stulti: *reads* You don't need that sex scene at all, but did you know you've got thirty thousand words of science fiction plot lurking under the rug?
Lis: YOU'RE RIGHT. FUCK YOU.
Ayup. And also to not be afraid of messiness and conflict and postponed resolution! Like, how many scenes have you read where brand new lovers are perfectly in sync and know exactly how to touch each other? Isn't it sexier, more real, and narratively more interesting if there's a learning curve? Meh. YMMV.