Sex In Fiction, Thoughts?

[crazyparakiss]

Fiction. Right so I'm compiling my thoughts and feels on things before I actually start, seriously, outlining my characters and my question to you guys is this:

How do you feel about sex in fiction?

Personally, I'm not against it but I'm against sex being the only key plot point. I don't particularly want to write a romance novel, on one hand but on another I want a realistic adult world with the many trials and tribulations of adult life...and that does include sex. After puberty it seems to me that most people are working their asses off for one basic need, sex. I don't want a key plot point to be sex but I want it to be a key factor in a character's personality. A sexualized creature without that being all that this character's life is about.

So I ask you good people (because you all write much better porn than I could ever dream of) how do you find the balance and how do you find a way to make porn more than what it is?

I apologize if it seems like I am being vague and still wanting answers. By now you guys know I fail at coherent thought XD

Comments

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. For the most part I think sex shouldn't be the ONLY point for the story (unless it's a PWP, although, even then, I need some sort of rationale for them to be together etc).
Now, when you have a long fic, I'd say anything longer than 15 to 20K, I think the reader expects some sort of 'reward' for slogging through all those words, so when I'm writing those I'll try very hard to include some sort of sexy times. Forcing sex into the fic is not good either, though, and is always obvious, so it is a tricky balance.
So, now that I was terribly vague.... :)
I hope that helps!

Late reply is late, damn LJ notifications

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

No that helps, and I get what you mean. I know a lot of readers of fanfic will feel "robbed" if they've read an epic length fic and nothing more than a kiss happens. Though I am not one of those people. I read porn and like it sure but I really do enjoy fics that portray a sexual creature without diving into the actual sex, it can be vague and simple--just a hint that the character isn't a total prude is enough for me.

Very tricky balance *SQUISHES* Thank you, hon! I hope you are well!