The...ahem...Sex Scene

Any element of a story - from description to character to plot -- is essentially a point of information. The job of the author is to control the flow of information to the reader. Each scene is constructed to convey important data in an interesting way. Scenes that do not are probably not helping your story any.

So, the love scene... In a very, very broad, general sense, there are two types of information to be covered here. The first is binary: do they do it? yes/no. Are the people in question, in fact, lovers? yes/no. This is essentially a character point. The second datum is how do they do it? In other words, how much detail does the reader get?

The first point, the binary one, is fairly easy and also usually fairly significant. We can clearly establish that our heroes are about to do (or have just done) the deed, with all the action taking place discretely off camera. You knock on the door and someone who doesn't live there answers, wrapped in a bed sheet.

It is also possible to be intentionally unclear on this particular point, if that's what serves the story. Easier, I think, on stage or screen, where the characters involved simply exit the scene together with nothing implied either way about what happens next. But generally, the viewers want the character point. Are they or aren't they?

The second option presents much more of a decision for the writer. How much to show? A sex scene, like any other, can convey important plot and character points. It's a great place for a character to say the wrong thing, for example, or to show the reader just how well (or poorly) aligned the desires and interests of the characters are.

But all that is just whipped topping. I said above that every scene should convey important and interesting information. Sometimes the interesting outweighs the important. So maybe your sex scene doesn't exactly advance the plot. It's a sex scene! You wouldn't pay money for a kung fu movie and not expect to see some martial arts. You wouldn't pick up a romantic comedy and be surprised that it contained kissing.

Oddly enough, in the US at least, its more acceptable to admit liking a good exciting portrayal of violence than it is to admit enjoying a depiction of sex, but you know, we're all human here. A sex scene can exist primarily for its own inherent entertainment value.

Is that something you want to do in your book? Is that something you want to do with your characters -- and will it change how the reader thinks about them? It's another line item on the list of things the author needs to think about. It's a rather long list, I'm afraid.