Re-post from GRETCHENSINISTER
There have been a couple of posts going around about how smut writers have the challenge of keeping a sex scene interesting when there's only a few different actions and a few different body parts to talk about
And yes, funny jokes about writing, but when I see posts like these I want to scream
If you feel like the sex scene you're writing is repetitive, no number of synonyms for "thrust" will help you. Synonyms for "cock" or "cunt" will REALLY not help you.
Sex scenes are character studies as much as they are action scenes. What are the characters' frameworks for what they're doing? Emotions, thoughts, specific physical sensations. If there are metaphors, do the metaphors make sense with the characters' experiences/the story's theme's/the setting? Is the sex scene completing a character arc, even a small one? Is there a character arc within the sex scene itself, even a small one?
A really good sex scene is specific and grounded to the physicality, emotions, and thoughts of the characters involved. Even if it's a PWP!
It's been said that the largest sex organ is the brain, and this is not a joke, especially when we're talking about the medium of the written word!
My opinion-
I saw this post, and I couldn’t help but agree with it. Not that I’m an expert in writing smut… I only have a few ideas.
Sex and death are the powerfully transformative forces of human psyche, symbolized by Pluto in astrology. When observing the synastry chart of 2 people, it is Pluto rather than Venus that is the significator of sexual tensions– sex acts like primitive catalyst of power dynamics between a couple. Venus being the ruler of both Libra and Taurus, almost never brings any tension or discomfort to a situation- Libra is the diplomatic side of Venus, whereas Taurus the laid-back enjoyments.
Whether or not it is BL/YAOI smut, I’d interpret the penetrating party as Mars in action–controlled aggression, and the receiving party the channel for Pluto. There’s got to be some sort of clash of personality, the dissolution of waking consciousness, digging out traumas and self contradictions, and finally, the small death and eventual transformation/sublimation.
The healing process happens after the sex.
I really dig myself too deep into WWII fandom ngl.
Monty x Rommel works so well for me personally. Rommel sees Montgomery as sworn enemy, surrendering to him is not only betrayal, but also akin to losing his whole identity. Monty adores his enemy. In this lonely British general’s eyes, the Fox seems closer to him than his American allies precisely because they are enemies. Both men are forced into this war situation, both are ill adapted in civilian life– a life riddled with battles is the only life they know of, it renders them perpetual outsiders. The Fox occupies Monty’s whole mind, and he knows it is the same for Rommel. Rommel knows the commander of 8th army understands him well. He hates this fact, because it makes him feel weak; yet he loves it secretly, because he is able to feel weak.
Their positions are so irreconcilable, so different yet so similar, so much is impossible to put into words. The sex, the touch, smell, even the language barrier itself, are the only viable language left for them. Such intimacy is not supposed to be, each thrust is fatal, each kiss feels like the last. I’d say these themes are truly Plutonian.
Another pairing that I think of from time to time but never wrote anything, is Konstantin Rokossovsky x Fedor von Bock. See this post if you wonder what it is. My little crazy friend quite likes this pair, but the dynamic is even more intense, borderline offensive, I don’t know how to deal with these two. Here’s a snippet to show you how bad it can be; here goes nothing-
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“Dying on the battlefield is the greatest pursuit of all Reich’s soldiers”– this adage is not mere war time propaganda for von Bock; he practices what he preaches since WWI, long before the Nazi party ever took power. He wholeheartedly welcomes his death when the young Red Army general Rokossovsky captures him in the middle of Barbarossa. Bock nonchalantly ponders to himself: “the Soviets would hand me to NKVD. Stalin would have me tortured and hanged. Very well.”
But Konstantin decides otherwise: he wants to keep him for himself. A Nazi deserves something much worse than death.
The young Red Army warrior makes it very obvious and humiliating to the older Generalfeldmarschall that he is being r*ped as a worthless Nazi… yes, this slender beauty is a Nazi, he totally deserves what is done to him. Despite always maintain strict self control, when the boundaries between sex and death blur, Fedi couldn’t handle this burning desire for the enemy above him.
When Konstantin later learns that not all Wehrmacht generals subscribe to Nazi ideology– it is rather their moral incompetence that gives in to Hitler– he becomes disgusted with his behavior. Von Bock gives him a smile of contempt: “You are so naive, marshal Rokossovsky, that you allow room in your heart for guilt. Stalin should’ve seen through you and purged you.”
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yes, you see, offensive cold-blooded hot sex, makes me shudder. At least it is never boring.
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