BooksGoSocial summer Magazine
Love and Sex: The Challenge John Reynolds “Love is a matter of Chemistry, but sex is a matter of Physics.”
Describing in detail intimacy between two human beings is often a difficult challenge for the fiction writer. After all, even in these liberal times where sex is discussed openly, personal details of lovemaking are not generally an accepted topic of normal conversation. Yet sex and love are human activities of crucial importance and therefore your fiction writing, at some stage, is likely to require the characters to indulge in some form of physical intimacy. Such scenes should be integral to the development of the characters – not just raunchy sex to titillate the readers. The scenes should not only provide your readers with a greater insight into your characters, their emotions (hidden fears, guilt, passion) and their relationship with one another, but should also advance your plot – in terms of the difference which each love/sex scene will make to the future direction of your story and its characters.
An Important Distinction
It is important to make a distinction between sex and love. Sex without love is common enough – prostitution being an obvious example. In this case the coupling is a commercial arrangement between the prostitute and their customer. In other cases couples can engage in sex as a result of alcohol or drugs, or as a means to an end.
Wide Variations
Rape is a brutal sex act. Lovemaking, on the other hand, is a physical expression of strong feelings between two people. There are, of course, considerable variations between these two extremes. (Consider the controversy of E.L. James’s bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey – described by some as ‘mommy porn’.) Variations depend on variables such as the environment and the emotional circumstances. Yet always remember in 44
