Young Writers Society

I've been posting here for a while, but what I have found unclear is the boards tollerance of sex in a story. I mean almost detailed sex, not over the top flat out erotica, but more like "He did this to my that, and I did that his whatever." "It felt like..." Things like that.

I know that there is such thing as an "R" rating, but will that necesarrily stop the younger members from reading things such as that.

How much sex should be discouraged? Should it not be posted at all, or should it be censored out?

What do you think?

As long as it is rated R, I think you can pretty much write whatever you want. I mean, writing a porn scene that lasts from beginning to end of the story is ridiculous, but if the scene is just a small part in the middle of a novel or something then it really isn't a big deal. But, obviously common sense is expected to be used.

We tolerate all written works, as long as it's not plagiarized and stuff. Just make sure you use good grammar and spelling. Otherwise, it will sound very weird when you talk about his log pens.

I think you should be able to write in as much sex as you like. If it's important to your story, and as long as it's not outright porn, then why should it matter?

The 'he did this to my this' sort of thing is a bit weird. I've never seen any of that. That can border on porn. In fact sex scenes are notoriously difficult because of this. It can easily turn out cheesy or pornographic.

I have a few sex scenes in my recent novel, and doubtless I'll have a few in the next, as they both include relationships between people and sex is usually a natural part of a serious adult relationship. I find them difficult to write though; it's very hard to get the balance right between necessity and literary merit and going too far and creeping into porn territory. Maybe posting on here can help people to keep them tasteful.

And if you're not grown up enough to read material with sexual scenes, or would rather not, then don't.

Teenagers are generally more sexually aware than people like to think anyway. I'd have no problem letting my little sister (who's 14 now) read a previous novel of mine which includes some vague sexual scenes. It's not graphic after all, and pretty much everyone on YWS is of the age where they're aware of the realities of sex.

A romance, after all, can be centered around the sexual aspect of it. If you want something to be realistic sometimes, it can be impossible to completely omit it.

It can be unclear though on forums such as this, what is acceptable and what is not, but as long as there is a rating system, so it can be rated 'R' then I don't see any problem.

I agree with Via, Suz, and Heidi. I think if there's an R rating, it's ok. But don't try to get too detailed over a sex scene. That can make it seem like porn. I believe that people have the right to write sex scenes in their stories, but it has to have an R rating and should be kept to a certain limit.

-Rick.

YWS doesn't censor literary items. Anything to do with sex, though, should be rated R. (Adding a 'warning: contains sexual content' or something similiar at the begining of the story would also be helpful.)

Trust me. I don't care what you wrote; there's been ten times worse already posted on the site. Heck, the most commented on poem on the site is nothing but extremely vulgar language.

Just make sure it's rated R is all; if younger readers do read it, they've been warned.

Okay. Thank you. I was just wondering what the rules were. Personally, I've read a lot of novels with sex in them, and at a point it got to be too much (beastility. gross). Personally, I don't mind, I've written it, and in some cases it does help the plot move forward. Thanks for clearing this up a bit.

-JC

I agree with everyone. Keep it to what your common sense says that's the limit, give it an R rating if you're not sure about the rating, just to be safe.

I agree that it should be allowed as long as it has the R rating. But, and this may just be me, if the writer put "graphic scenes" or something like that in the summary, it would give better warning. I can handle blood and gore much better than I can sex scenes and giving that warning would better brace myself for the content.

But otherwise, as long as it has an R rating, we have been warned.

Writing sex scenes are excruciating. They are ridiculously difficult to write, let alone to set the mood without going overboard with descriptions. Ugh... descriptions. Yes, let's all describe every little detail right down to the clothes on the floor, which is why I hardly write them. XD

My newest can be found in HF called British Love, Boston Affection and it was incredibly annoying and disturbing. After all, I've been working with those characters for three years, and now I'm forced to watch... THAT!

With that story though, I never went into extreme details, since I generally deplore descriptions, but I left just enough for the reader to know my chars and feel the atmosphere. Hehe...

Well, it's definitely okay, i've see other sexual things on here, but if anyone has ever been on fanfic sites, there is some pretty erotic and, if I may say so, revolting stuff. Me, being young and very virgin. But, if young kids don't want to read that stuff they wont if you put a 'sexual content' warning or something of that sort

Trust me. Whatever you write, Brad's posted worse. You're fine. R is the strongest rating we have here, and like Nate said, if the younger members read it, well, they've been warned.

Otherwise, it will sound very weird when you talk about his log pens.

*snorts* Oh Snoink...

In any case, it's cool of you to be concerned about the younger members reading it. Basically, if you don't feel comfortable posting it, then don't. But if you want to post it, that's cool too. We won't send you angry PMs or anything. Promise. ^^

I have a different question, but relates, none the less (grammar?). If your sex scene is about two sentences long and not detailed at all could you post it in the PG-13 section?

Just about anything to do with sex should be rated R. As a rule of thumb: if you're unsure what to rate a story/poem, go for the higher rating.