Writiing about sex.

 

 

I've written 17 books, but I've never been able to write about sex well.

In my first novel Chickpea Lover: Not a Cookbook the sexual account was after the heroine cleaned a chimney and was soot covered. After that I wrote around it.

I always thought one of the sexiest scenes in movies was in Gone with the Wind. Rhett carried Scarlett up the stairs and the next shot is of her in the morning with a huge smile. My imagination did more than any camera.

It's not that I'm prudish, it is just that so many sex scenes are boring. There's not that many ways to describe the same actions.

I do remember decades ago, a comedian describing his first bedroom experience. As a virgin, he thought maybe he could get advice from reading romance novels. Describing his experience he said, "My manhood filled the room." Now that's original.

That is why in reading Evan So by Lauren B. Davis made me smile.

Lauren and I started our writing careers by attending regular workshops with the Geneva Writers Group. From the very beginning, I loved her writing. Her first published book, Rat Medicine, was a collection of short stories. I could almost hear her reading the stories. 

She found an original way to describe an encounter.

"What is there to say about a first kiss that hasn't already been said? Was there a new word for the sensation of breath against cheek, for the scent in the hollow of a man's neck, for the rug of his fingers in a woman's hair, or how a woman felt when claimed by a man's hands?"

I shouldn't be surprised by her writing. It always has made me say, boy is she good.