Yes, really. In certain circles, there seems to be a general malaise with the standard tropes of m/m sex. Anyone who's dabbled even slightly in the genre will know exactly what I'm talking about - a trope best described as 1-2-3-lube. If you don't know, don't ask!
Sometimes, it seems like every book contains the same damn scene. And while it might have been hot as hell the first time I read it, after the hundredth it's just...boring.
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There was a reason I didn't feature any penetrative sex in the first book of my trilogy (I was actually quite proud of doing it that way, even though it got me some "there was no rea sex" sort of comments, which made me steam at the ears a bit.) I made a very deliberate point of showing the characters having other kinds of sex and eventually deciding to branch out into anal. And then afterward I made a point of including scenes where those characters still engage in non-penetrative sex even after they've decided to incorporate that into their repertoire, to avoid giving the impression that it was some sort of peak they were working toward, the ultimate goal.
ReplyDeleteI do admit, so far in my books I've used some finger-stretching in a number of sex scenes, but that was because the character is new to teh buttsecks. But I've also made a point of bypassing stretching with characters who are experienced bottoms.
I recently had a fun time writing some fail!sex between two young men who were completely ignorant about lube. That was a good time. :D I also have a scene in a manuscript I'm presently at work on describing what happens when a character who is "hung like a bull elephant" is someone's first partner. Realism FTW!
lol is it TMI to say that's how one of my friends was, ahem, deflowered? Didn't walk right for a week...
DeleteFailsex is great when the partners involved are comfortable with each other, because I think we've all been there when something's not gone quite according to plan. You need to laugh at sex, not take it so seriously.
Yeahhh my boy with the hung guy isn't gonna be walking properly, either. The story, without getting into too much detail, is predicated on a fuck-or-die trope so he doesn't even have the option of taking a few days to heal up afterward, poor guy.
DeleteI feel terrible for him. Truly.
And I love coming up with reasons for characters to laugh during sex! It's one of the reasons why I was so glad Derrick decided he was a giggler in the afterglow. :D
*sigh* I do love those guys...
Delete*hugs* Thank you! I do, too. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I'll be done with them soon.
DeleteYou think you'll ever be done with them????? ;-)
DeleteSeriously, the closer I get to the end of my little fantasy series, the less likely I am to say "And that's it forever!" Doesn't help that half a dozen new characters came forward in the last book and all insist they have interesting stories of their own to tell, lol.
LOL well, if it were a book with any other characters, I would leave the possibility open, but the Impulse trilogy it's a little more complicated.
DeleteAs I've mentioned in a couple interviews, Gavin is actually strongly based on a roleplay character created by a friend of mine (my character was the one who became Derrick; we played this 'ship in the RP.) So as a matter of courtesy, I have to consult with her -- and, really, allow her veto power -- over anything I do with that character and thus, the pairing. Since we've already run into a couple issues that have made it clear I'm better off not giving anyone that sort of control over my creative process, I decided it would be better for our friendship and my sanity for Velocity to be the last book I write about the two of them. I might someday write some supplemental ficlets or short stories. We'll see.
So. Maybe someday I will have another pairing who lives entrenched in my brain as strongly as this one does, but yeah, I'm definitely done with writing stories about Derrick and Gavin.
God dammit, another RP-er! It seems I have missed out on something the rest of the world and his wife have all been playing behind my back *pouts*
DeleteI love your long, insightful essays.
ReplyDeleteI love that you call my little rants 'insightful essays' :-D
DeleteI started writing a book about an asexual man a couple years ago. I stalled out on it, thinking no one would be interested. I think you're correct, though, about backlash being the impetus to create compelling new characters. Writers, me included, should be brave enough to buck the trend, whether it's sexual or something else. That's how new ground is broken, and also how new bestsellers are made. ;/
ReplyDeleteI can't say that writing about the fringe will - at the moment - earn you a bestseller; it's still likely to put off more people than it attracts. I've lost count of the reviews from people disappointed that Fenton doesn't just "get over it" (as it were) and start making with the bunnysex. But if that's how a character comes to you - flawed but beautiful (IMO) - then that's how you have to write them.
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