I have heard it said, 'never complain, never explain,' and in many ways I can agree with that, but I thought perhaps it would help readers to understand how I see writing--and my stories.
So, as I have just submitted chapter 2 of 'The ReVerse of Amy' in which our try-again lass begins to uncover more of her puzzling return to her former teenage years, I thought I would take the opportunity to explain a little of my approach to story-telling. This, incidentally, was prompted by a reader who asked why I did not go deeper, or give more detail, of a sex scene.
It was a very good question and I am grateful the reader communicated it to me, but it highlights from my point of view how I think the stories I write should unfold. In short, they are stories with sex rather stories about sex.
To me there is a big difference. On SoL there are countless excellent authors who explore stories their way, as they should. We are all inspired by many other story-tellers but in the end we grasp the nettle as it were in our own way. It is an awesome collection on these pages and I can see why so many readers come here to discover so many aspects of the human condition. In all this I am just another scribe here beavering away (no pun intended), and I can see many of SoL's talented writers recount sexual episodes in wonderful detail. I am not sure however I should try to match their prowess.
This is partly because my approach is to explore the 'inner self' of my characters and how they think and feel and react to events (some sexual, some mundane), rather than how they have sex. As a writer I believe that once I furnish the outline then the imagination of the reader kicks in and they 'fill in the gaps' or at least visualise some of the finer detail.
My characters have doubts. They are not omniscient: they realise things, sometimes slowly, and they have to come to terms--however long it takes--with who they are and what they want both in their sometimes complex relationships with others as well as understanding what drives them in their personal sexual life.
They will have sex, but with various outcomes, repercussions and perhaps even regrets.
This means sometimes I will seek to provide an outline rather than any fine detail. In other words, I would prefer to use at times a broad brush to suggest action rather than tell the reader everything. I do accept this may well be a turn-off for some readers, but so be it. I accept some will pass by what I write and dismiss it, as is their right.
This is not an apology nor an attempt at providing an argument why I do what I do. I like stories, and enjoy a story that in a sense completes a circle: the protagonist faces a problem and finds a way out, or comes to terms with it. The traditional three-act format was in effect: set-up, issue, resolution. (You can sum this up as, say, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl.) But we might see it as a world/situation that exists, gets broken and is repaired. Nor is it just rom-coms that follow this pattern; you can see it in thousands of stories and plays and movies.
So that is what I am striving for in what I write. Of course, sex is there, but as I say my writings are more stories with sex (often a very important 'with') but do not focus solely on sex for its own sake.
I hope in some small way this helps.