What's your thoughts on sex scenes in novels?

[LunarScyphozoa]

Why not use Victorian words for it

[djourner]

Not saying you can't, but it for todays standards, it would probably read silly xD

That and... You will see those words a few. hundreds of times on an nsfw story, you kind of have to go for as many variables as you can.

[Puck]

I don´t think more graphic things should be censored in novels and I like writers who have an extreme style.
When you make it steamy, make it crazy steamy. Most stories and comics are too prude for me, too many
topics which make me fall asleep instead of making me interested how it continues. I can understand
every person who is not interested in sex scenes, to each their own, I personally don´t like violence or
car chases and things like that

[MeltingCORE]

I personally enjoy writing them if they have relevance to the story and don't come up every five seconds! (ie not just mindless sex for the sake of it, I'd rather have my characters have a romantic connection that is being revealed) ...I had censored my own work for quite awhile because I let myself be influenced by the prudish behavior across the internet. ("Your work must be watered down and safe for everyone to consume or you're a bad,bad creator!") But I've thought about it and my work was never meant for children anyways. I don't write safe YA fiction. I don't write soft, sweet stories. (Maybe soft, sweet scenes within the work sometimes but yeah.) That wouldn't be me being honest with myself. When I realized I felt free with my art/writing as a teenager but not now... I felt sad. I've been allowing myself to put more of my feelings into my work and if people don't want to read it because of dark themes or sensuality, well - that's okay. That's why I put warnings. My creations are my passion and that includes putting myself into them (no mater how "scary" or "sexy").

In the words of Madonna: "Oops, I didn't know we couldn't talk about sex." 🤫

[TL_Nonoke]

Bonding sounds like a great reason to me. LOL. Have a great day and good luck with your writing!

[BAFr]

I'd say it's more for the people with a good sense of imagination, and the author also has to have good and detailed writing in order for the reader to bring out that imagination more clearly.

[AnimeKitty]

@Puck I'm honestly fine with either, steamy or more of a fade out. Just depends on the scene itself. Everyone's got their own tastes!

@MeltingCORE That's a good point. I've never been a fan of mindless sex that happens all the time either. Every five seconds is too much for me. I honestly considered censoring mine too, especially with how sexual content gets treated on these sites anymore. It's a lot harder to censor sex scenes in writing, but they come across as more "unprofessional" to some even when decently written. It's more common to have them as fade to black moments. It's so weird that it's required to water down sexual content but not violence. Like, it's totally fine to show a murder but having a dick out? No way. That's too far!
It's great how you're writing what you want to now too instead of following prudish guidelines. As long as it's consensual, I honestly feel like showing sex scenes is perfectly fine. No need to shame it. If I've showed the awful side of my character's addictions, why wouldn't I show this side of them too?

@TL_Nonoke Thank you!

@BAFr Also, a really good point. I'm sure the scenes I wrote won't compare to some professional erotic writer, but I did my best with them to show intimacy and bonding between the two characters.

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

This is where I tend to stand on the subject. Sexual interactions between characters tells me little about them at best, and at worst, absolutely nothing. I don't need to see them 'being vulnerable'--for a some people, sex isn't vulnerable at all, it's just sex. For others, they're bound to be be vulnerable about other things in addition to sex so why do I have to read about that specifically? Everyone wants to say "It's natural and part of human life", but so is farting (which you can also be vulnerable about!), and no one gleefully writes about that.

(I can understand if someone includes them to garner views. That's fair. The online world, especially, is a tough code to crack when it comes to keeping viewers.)