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

[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")