Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Euphenisms?

I read a couple of ‘erotic’ novels when I was researching currents genres and I’ll admit that the sex scenes in them did absolutely nothing for me. I don’t want anatomical descriptions, more positions than the Kama Sutra or a surplus of four-letter words, I don’t want sex for the sake of sex. Far more erotic, in my opinion, are love scenes where I can empathise with the emotions and sensations of a couple who are in love.

Having said all that, I struggled to write scenes like that to begin with. My first novels were in the late 60’s and early 70’s when a chaste kiss was all that was allowed. They didn’t even go INTO the bedroom, let alone leave the door open!

A friend described my first foray into writing a love scene as ‘a bit like a 40’s movie, with the curtain wafting in the breeze while the couple get on with it’! But I became braver and less inhibited (thank you, Jed and Abbey Bartlet!) and another friend delighted me when she said I wrote ‘classy, not crude’ love scenes.

Having said that, I still struggle with the euphemisms – I don’t like the ‘clinical’ terms and cringe at the ‘coy’ ones ¬– and I think I need more synonyms for ‘thrust’ as I continue with the love scene in Chapter 10 of my WIP! :-)

5 comments:

  1. I wish you luck with the thrust search! It can be so difficult to escape the rude and the coy but we endeavour you and I, Paula, and yes do remember when the bedroom door was firmly closed. Bliss.

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  2. Maybe it was easier when the bedroom door was closed? Actually I quite like writing the bedroom scenes, but finding different words and phrases for different books/characters taxes my word power at times!

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  3. Just to be supportive, but not helpful,
    Thrust: drive, impel, jag, lunge, penetrate, pierce, plunge, point, poke, press, push, ram, shove....

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  4. I'm giggling at the thought of using some of those in the context where I want to use the word! I also found bulldoze and railroad - LOLOL!

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  5. Ah, yes, there always seems to be a lot of thrusting, doesn't there?!

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