I will admit right now that I like a good sex scene or two (or four, or 10) in my romance novels. And the juicer the better. In addition to the obvious voyeuristic enjoyment of reading about two hot people getting it on, I think these scenes can bring a lot to the reader’s understanding of the couple’s relationship and their individual personalities. If done well, the intensity of these moments can lead to big emotional impacts – realization of love, an understanding of each other in a different way, a trust or bond forming, etc.
So I am always bothered when I read a book with Imaginary Sex. These scenes typically show up as dream sequences, or sometimes fantasies, where one character imagines a sexual experience with the other. The worst offenders are the fake outs. It is like the Bobby Ewing in the shower of romance novels. You are reading along, enjoying the hotness and suddenly… the character jerks awake only to realize it was all a dream. Ha! Nothing you just read was real! None of the emotion, none of the dialog, none of the meaning. It makes me crazy because I feel like the whole thing was a waste of time because it wasn’t really happening.
I find these scenes seem to show up most often in books where circumstances keep the main characters apart and the author seems to be looking for a way to get some sexin’ in earlier in the story. They seem to crop up less in m/m, probably because most of these guys hop in the sack pretty fast (or at least are getting some good action). But it still seems to be a fairly common device to get the loving started early.
Now one thing I don’t mind is Imaginary Sex’s close cousin, the Remembered Sex. This usually occurs when we have faded to black on the actual sex scene and one of the characters recalls it later (usually during some “alone time” in the shower!). In some cases these scenes come across a bit passive – you are reading about it past tense rather than in real time. But at least the memory has really happened.
So what to you all think? Do you like the Imaginary Sex? Get bugged like me? Take the hotness any way you can get it? Think I am crazy for even thinking about these things?
>LOL! I should go see if we've read some of the same things lately, because I feel as if I've been encountering this more than usual… and yeah, I find it annoying. Usually the book has way more than enough sex without such scenes.
>I don't hate imaginary sex, but I don't love it either. I think it can definitely work well in a story where dreams are an integral part of the plot.
I'm actually less in favor of the remembered sex unless the actual sex took place outside the confines of the story (for example, they had sex in college and the story takes place ten years later). Fade-to-black-then-remember-it-later annoys me. Unless the character is analyzing the sex, just show it in the first place.
(Of course I say that, and I'll probably be guilty of using all of them at some point.)
>I always thought of imaginary sex as revealing a lot about the dreamer. I like it when the dream has a purpose besides the sex, though. If it's just an excuse for a sex scene then like all gratuitous things, feels pointless.
>"It is like the Bobby Ewing in the shower of romance novels."
Haha! Awesome post, JJ! Love the bit about the close cousin, Remembered Sex. For me, that is far more satisfying than Imaginary Sex.
I recently read a book in which the male protag happened upon his love interest while she was napping at her desk and he imagined waking her up, throwing her over the chair and taking her. It ending up being such a "Ewwwwww" moment, I had to put the book down. Thanks buddy, but no thanks.
>Lucy, yes, I see what you are saying. You can get some insight into the character by what they imagine. I guess I just feel like the words and feelings are all fake (at least the ones from the "dreamee" versus the dreamer). I want to know what is really happening. But I get what you are saying completely.
Missie, I like Remembered Sex much better too. At least we are talking about something real. I do see Seleste's point about why not just make it happen in real time. Although sometimes it is a nice surprise when you think it is a fade to black and then you find out you are going to get the good stuff after all!