BK Jackson got me thinking with her comment on Friday's post (What is it with sex?). She said in a question, "Maybe people who write don't KNOW how to bridge that gap between vulgar and non-existent or dry?"
Interesting concept. The reason being because some authors/writers appear not to know how to bridge that gap, others definitely want to maintain a wide gap and prefer non-existent sexual intimations in scenes where they would appear natural or authentic while still others want to push every titillating sexual button with their words and descriptions. Between the prudish and the vulgar, there should be an acceptable middle ground, but there is not. And I would venture there never will be. Those who prefer to use zero sexual words or references and those who write explicit sexual scenes have only one thing in common and that is story. How they set out to write the story purposely differs.
Inherently different in their approaches, they're appealing to totally opposite audiences. And any writer who's done any serious contemplation of their desired readers knows what they want from their audience and what their readers will want from them.
I cannot imagine why readers desire to read sexually graphic fiction. The only thing I've been able to come up with is for them to be able to fantasize the experience - to allow the explicit descriptions to virtually turn them on. If you have another reason, I'd love to hear it because apparently there are an abundance of readers who seek secular fiction for this purpose. If that's not the case, then why would they continue to read the enormous amount of literature with those scenes in them?
In the opposite camp are those readers who somehow have concluded that anything sexual or sensuous in literature is sinful and shame on the author who includes any mention of a sexual attraction or action. The market for those novels may not be as large as those who read secular/general market fiction, but they're a powerful lobby in Christian fiction and can find an ample supply of their purist novels.
If you're a reader and/or a writer, I'd love to hear your opinions on this topic.
Father, you created sex and mankind perverted it. You are the author of everything good and perfect, beautiful and trustworthy. And we pervert it all. Please forgive us, Lord, and help each of us who write to seek after beauty, truth, grace, and mercy with our words. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.