The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers

The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers
by Elizabeth Benedict

The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers
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Book Summary Information

Author: Elizabeth Benedict
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-01
ISBN: 0805069933
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Book Reviews of The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers

Book Review: You can have it all!
Summary: 5 Stars

You can write serious literary works and have sex scenes as Benedict illustrates. Is it going to make our parents blush? Probably, but she even deals with those issues. She teases out some of the best examples of being specific and not necessary explicit--what are the sights, sounds and smells surrounding our characters, not just the body parts they are using. What are they thinking and what are they saying? I found great validation in my book, "Forever Retro Blues," that my sex scenes were not just gratuitous, but functioned as part of the whole story. I wrote with intuition because I did not yet have this book, but I know I will do better in the future for reading Benedict's book.

Summary of The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers

Twelve years after it was first published, The Joy of Writing Sex remains the classic writer?s resource on creating compelling sex scenes. Elizabeth Benedict covers all the issues, from the first time, to married sex and adultery, to sex in the age of AIDS.

Her instruction, supported with examples from the works of today's most respected writers?among them, Dorothy Allison, Russell Banks, Alan Hollinghurst, Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Shields, and John Updike?focuses on crafting believable sex scenes that hinge on freshness of character, dialogue, mood, and plot.

In this revised edition, Benedict addresses the latest sexual revolution, intimacy on the Internet; adds new interviews with Edmund White, Darren Strauss, Stephen McCauley, and other writers; and updates her selections to include examples from the best fiction of the past few years.

Even though writing about sex probably ranks on the joy scale somewhere between reading about it and having it, Elizabeth Benedict feels that many writers don't do justice to the act. So she has developed a novel idea: a guide book for fiction writers seeking to create better sex scenes. Benedict, a teacher in Princeton University's Creative Writing Program, doesn't concern herself with pornography but rather with a contention that sex scenes are pivotal in carrying the plot, story and character of some novels. Her point is emphasized through many interviews she conducted with authors on their experience with and views on writing about sex. Now, if she would only visit the film industry . . .

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