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There's been some discussion lately, on my friends list and beyond, of smut, of what is sex and what isn't what's sexy and what's not, and stuff like that, specifically in slash.
I don't find anal sex to be particularly sexy. It's not that I'm squeamish about it, it's that most of the time, it's boring. Insert Tab A in Slot B and pump. Blah. Watch me skim. Sure, I've seen writers make anal sex really hot, but in 99.9% of the times, I get the feeling that it's only being inserted (no pun intended) because the author felt she needed to have sex or it wouldn't be slash, and of course, without penetration, there's no "real" sex.
When I'm reading a story, and I come across a sex scene that doesn't have anal sex, I go back and really read the smut. And then I usually read it again. Because to me, "no penetration" = "this author put in the smut because she wanted to, not because she had to, and at least tried to write non-cliché smut." And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that that's probably not true in all cases, but still.
To me, purely mechanical sex scenes are boring and unsexy as hell. Picturing two bodies going through the steps, time and time again, does nothing for me. After repeat #214 of One Finger, Two Fingers, Three Fingers, Cock, I start thinking about how anal sex is actually pretty gross, and ew, all the sweat and the panting and the noise and the sore muscles and why do people do this, anyway?
Good smut, on the other hand ... Good smut makes me think of slick, sweaty bodies, of breathy voices, of love and lust and pleasure, of taking it slow and moving fast, or friction and sliding and pain that's just the right side of pleasure, or just too much. There are so many things to do with two (or more) bodies that give sexual pleasure, that can turn a reader on. You're supposed to be writers, people. Use that imagination of yours. Think of fun sexy, disturbing sexy, weird sexy, hot sexy, drive-by sexy, lingering sexy, surreal sexy, fucking sexy situations and positions you can put your guys in. It doesn't have to be penetration. It doesn't even have to lead to orgasms, or even really be sex.
Good smut is, above all, about language. Having a sexy image isn't enough. Well, it's enough if you want to share it, on LJ or AIM or whatever, but it's not enough to make me like it in a story. You need to make me see it, you need to make me hear it, and you need to make me love hearing it. Language is sexy. Language is the tool you use to get the sexiness from your head into mine, so use it, and use it well. Use it instinctively or deliberately, but use it.
I want smut to turn me on, to leave me breathless, to make me squirm in my seat, to leave me speechless and craving for more. I don't want smut to bore me.
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As a smut-skimmer who actually really likes smut, I agree completely. I want to read it, but if it bores me I'd rather skip it and just read the story. If that makes sense, which it might not because after typing smut twice and thinking it several more times, my brain is completely focused on how weird it sounds when repeated a lot.
Mmmm...pretty smut.
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Hee! No, but that's a good thing, cause hearing that too much would give me an ego. (Thanks. :)
And, yes. This is why I hardly write pure smut anymore, myself. Because if I can't make it interesting to write, it's definitely not gonna be interesting to read, y'know? Realising that I didn't have to write the sex even if it did happen was one of the most freeing experiences in my writing life. Ironically enough, I wrote Lust almost immediately after that, heh. Taking away the pressue made me free to write what I liked to write, and right then, that was smut.
I mean, since then, I've written about a dozen sex scenes, and most of those were two paragraph deals. My biggest "masterpiece" to date (Sin) has one sex scene in almost 5,000 words, and that's a rape scene. I've read stories that really didn't have any explicit sex in them, but were still hotter than hell.
Okay, getting off my tangent now.
after typing smut twice and thinking it several more times, my brain is completely focused on how weird it sounds when repeated a lot.
Heh. I had to do data entry last week, and let me tell you, even "yes" looks and sounds weird when repeated enough times.
Mmmm...pretty smut.
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ew
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So of course what I want to know is, uh, whose play thing IS it? Because if it were, like, JC or Nick or Eliza Dushku? I would be so okay with that. Really.
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Why do we feel pleasure if we're supposed to deny it? I don't understand that philosophy. I'm not saying that we should seek out pleasure to the detriment to our well-being, but what is wrong with feeling good?
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