sex is not different
Jan. 3rd, 2004 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkThis is part of a comment I left over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chresimos's place:
[M]ost people (including pro authors) seem to see sexuality as somehow separate from other aspects of life, and erotic feelings as fundamentally different from other emotions/sensations. I see this division as arbitrary and basically false. If you're a writer whose style involves precise and meaningful descriptions of physical sensations, you'll talk about the feeling of a sweater against the skin, the scent of a new sheet of paper, and so on. Now, when your character gets into a sexual situation, why should your writing style change? Why should your approach to the characters' reality change? Shouldn't it be just as right and real to talk about the feeling of your lover's hand on your cock, and the scent of his arousal? Where's the difference?
As a writer, you hope your readers will be right there with your characters, feeling what they feel. When you can describe a sweater in a way that makes your reader feel the comfort and nostalgia the character feels, that's a beautiful and positive thing; it's part of what makes good writing. When that empathy extends to sex, and the reader feels the eroticism of the moment right along with the character, why is that suddenly negative and anti-intellectual?
*
On the word association meme, was I the only one who responded to "sex" with "love"? Of course, I also responded to "dude" with "where's my car?", so it may not be all that meaningful.
*
I'm really rather disappointed thathpbnfdeathmatch has gone missing. I was looking forward to getting the crap kicked out of me by some H/Der I've never heard of. (I actually *was*, is the thing.) Startlingly enough, I've just been friended by bnfwatcher as well. Swear to god, dudes, you're way off. Nobody knows who the hell I am.
chresimos's place:[M]ost people (including pro authors) seem to see sexuality as somehow separate from other aspects of life, and erotic feelings as fundamentally different from other emotions/sensations. I see this division as arbitrary and basically false. If you're a writer whose style involves precise and meaningful descriptions of physical sensations, you'll talk about the feeling of a sweater against the skin, the scent of a new sheet of paper, and so on. Now, when your character gets into a sexual situation, why should your writing style change? Why should your approach to the characters' reality change? Shouldn't it be just as right and real to talk about the feeling of your lover's hand on your cock, and the scent of his arousal? Where's the difference?
As a writer, you hope your readers will be right there with your characters, feeling what they feel. When you can describe a sweater in a way that makes your reader feel the comfort and nostalgia the character feels, that's a beautiful and positive thing; it's part of what makes good writing. When that empathy extends to sex, and the reader feels the eroticism of the moment right along with the character, why is that suddenly negative and anti-intellectual?
*
On the word association meme, was I the only one who responded to "sex" with "love"? Of course, I also responded to "dude" with "where's my car?", so it may not be all that meaningful.
*
I'm really rather disappointed that
hpbnfdeathmatch has gone missing. I was looking forward to getting the crap kicked out of me by some H/Der I've never heard of. (I actually *was*, is the thing.) Startlingly enough, I've just been friended by bnfwatcher as well. Swear to god, dudes, you're way off. Nobody knows who the hell I am.
