Gratuitous overuse of the frog analogy

[geoviki]

A recent book review in our newspaper read:

Wallace Stegner writes ... that the difficulty with explicit sex in novels is that it invariably usurps all else that the author is attempting to accomplish:

"The trouble with excessive sexuality, in novels or in life, is that it is so compellingly interesting and attention-holding that it makes everything else seem tame or dull; it crowds off the page whole areas of human experience and human feeling that belong there but can't maintain their foothold."

Such is the case in Sue Miller's newest novel, Lost in the Forest. Although Miller's exploration of grief and self-discovery is both compelling and insightful, the sexual trysts of 16-year-old Daisy are so unforgivingly explicit that Miller's attempts to uncover the depth of who Daisy is are muddled by a nipple here and an arched back there....

I thought this over and decided that somewhere, I had crossed over to where this wasn't true for me. I've noticed that after reading fan fiction for nearly two years, I no longer find excessive sexuality all that distracting. It's like the classic analogy of the frog in slowly heating water: little by little, I no longer notice the erosion of my ability to be shocked, tittilated, or even surprised by graphic writing. I have become comfortably numb.

How about you?

Aside: Does anyone have an mp3 of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven that I can, er, borrow? Got it. Thanks, Paula!

Comments

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

You know, I think I've become comfortably numb, too--great way to put it! When I first discovered fandom I couldn't get enough of the sex, but now I'm kind of "eh" about it. A lot of times I'll actually skim/skip the sex so as to get on with the good stuff, and I'm much more inclined to fade-to-black in my own writing than I used to be. It's actually a bit sad, I think, as it's become very, very rare that I'm titillated by sex scenes anymore. :-/

Sad that you are so rarely moved by the sex

[gilded-kage.livejournal.com]

Then why read slash at all? That would be my question. Why not read books instead?

Not a criticism in any way, just a question. I often read slash for the great writing, myself.

Re: Sad that you are so rarely moved by the sex

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I read slash (and het, too) because I adore romance and mainstream entertainment just doesn't have enough for me. (I suppose romance novels would, but I think I'd had my lifetime quota of that genre when I was 13 years old!)

Romance, yeah!

[gilded-kage.livejournal.com]

I like the romance, too, and the desire. When the sex is just body parts, it's no fun for me...it's got to be mixed in with issues of desire, personality, and, sometimes, power, for it to be interesting and compelling.

Romance novels have desire, but it's usually so cliched. Good slash fanfic is constantly trying to write desire in new, fresh ways. The whole subversiveness of same-sex pairings helps with that, of course.

Re: Romance, yeah!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I agree with you so much. I'm looking for compelling stuff. I never read many romance novels - a few of the classics at the time when I hit high school, but then I lost interest. But recently I leafed through a book on how to write a romance novel, and it seemed so restrictive. It didn't offer much room for innovation. Everyone was stuffed into a role, and the reader's expectations of what was permitted seemed to be overemphasized. In other words, no squidfic allowed.

Re: Romance, yeah!

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

The romance genre is *so* restrictive! I read so many of them during my early adolescence that I know the formula by heart. I think it's possible to break out of the box though--I think I did when I wrote my romantic novella. I think it ended up being a combination of all the things I liked about romance novels and the exact opposite of the things I hated. I don't know that I could've sold it to one of the formula romance publishers, but it did get a few positive reviews!

Re: Sad that you are so rarely moved by the sex

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

If there were more novels out there like At Swim Two Boys, I'd probably read less fic. Great story, wonderful romance, good sex. That book had it all. Pretty rare, though.

The main reason I read slash, though, is because I want to read more about my favorite characters, so there's no comparison between fanfic and an original novel. The latter will always be lacking if what I want to read is more about certain characters.

here through d_s

[likeafox.livejournal.com]

At Swim Two Boys was the first thing I thought of when I read the opening quote! Because in At Swim it doesn't usurp the other parts of the story, but fits in perfectly with the rest of the story. Deliciously smutty at times, but the sex is always there for a reason.

*sigh* I love At Swim so much....

Re: Sad that you are so rarely moved by the sex

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the book rec - I've never read it (or even heard about it) but it sounds like somethking I'd enjoy.

The note about characters - yeah, one of those things that was so obvious I missed it. But you're right - that's got to be a prime part of the fic to interest me. A lot of my LJ friends write in other fandoms that I'm clueless about. And I know the writers; they're good, but I can't read the story becasue I don't know who these guys are.

Even in HP, there's one character *coughluciuscough* that's really hard for me to read about sexually. I've tried. And I know some superb writers use him in their stories, but...

Re: Sad that you are so rarely moved by the sex

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

It's a really great book!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

A lot of times I'll actually skim/skip the sex so as to get on with the good stuff

See, that's what I've noticed myself doing more and more. Especially if it's more description of methodology than emotion. I'm really looking for that emotional hook to pull me in. If I don't think the build-up is there, I feel cheated somehow.

I like unique things in sexual description, though. But lately, it seems as if rimming is the new black. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't do anything for me.

I notice in my latest writing, I don't even go with penetration at all. Mutual masturbation and frottage get to come out and play.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

Me too! The last few sex scenes I've written have been quite purposely off-kilter, I think because I was quietly rebelling against the same-old-same-old, you know? I'm intrigued by frottage, and fingering just for the sake of fingering, and maybe letting one person get off while the other chooses to wait and save it for later. And I totally agree with gilded_kage that it's the emotion and personalities that make or break a sex scene for me. Tab A meeting Slot B may have lost all of its titillation power, but I'm still hooked by a scene that lets me in on what the characters are thinking. For example, to my mind it's far sexier to know how Harry feels intellectually/emotionally about the sight of Draco on his knees, about to suck his cock, than to know how Harry feels physically, all turned on and hard and ready, knowing that his cock is about to be engulfed in Draco's hot mouth. (If that makes any sense??)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

It makes worlds of sense!

how Harry feels physically, all turned on and hard and ready, knowing that his cock is about to be engulfed in Draco's hot mouth.

Because that's exactly the kind of thing I've read over and over and over (and sometimes even in those precise words) so that it's lost its impact. Whereas the intellectual/emotional background is where the author takes the story and makes it sing. Or cry. Or whinny for that matter.

[stinksap.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, definately all about the 'mind game' side of sex, and I agree completely that simple touch is far under appreciated in fic.

Friended you- love your taste in fics and was delighted to discover that I have read, and enjoued some of your work before- I'm looking forward to rediscovering it, and any I have missed.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Welcome! (now I'm singing the John Lennon song, "Mind Games")

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you mean. Even though I primarily write het and have usually faded to black when it comes to slash sex (I keep getting mental images of my gay friends pointing and laughing at anything I might write in this regard), my experience has been that many readers--whether pro-sex or anti-sex--feel inordinately distracted by the sex I've written, regardless of the fact that it is R-rated sex, not NC-17, and that it's a minute percentage of my output. The point that I think they've missed is that I've never included sex when it wasn't important to the plot/characterization, chiefly by illuminating one or both of the characters involved or foreshadowing something important, but the character illumination and plot foreshadowing seems to fly over most people's heads while they are either thinking, "All right! More sex!" or "Good grief! Why can't this woman lay off the sex?"

What I've written isn't ABOUT the sex, but loads of folks (pro and con) don't seem to get this. As a result I'm fading to black with the het sex now as well, because what I'm writing about has always been ideas bigger than slot A into slot B. I think it's possible that if the reviewer of the book in question had looked a little deeper into the character having all of the sex he/she would have seen that there is a reason for the sex (at least I hope there is). It could be that the author thought that some people would be drawn into the story to be titillated and leave with a lesson that was slipped into the story in a stealthy way. I think that that is a valid use of sex in writing, as much as drawing a reader into a story for the adventure, mystery, etc. Unfortunately, for the reviewer, the big "idea" seems to have been lost amidst all of the moaning and orgasms, but then I'm getting the impression more and more that JKR's big ideas are being utterly missed by a load of folks who are fixating on the adventure and mystery of it all. The ideas are being served by that stuff, not the other way around. Ideally the same should be true in a story with sex, and if the reviewer is that distracted by something that is the author's means to an end there's either something wrong with the balance in the story or (more likely) with the reviewer's ability to analyze literature without being distracted by window dressing.