This is always one of my favourite annual reads...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/19/bad-sex-factor-prize-shortlist?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I think some of these writers were trying to get on that list.

Alex

Only one woman. Does that mean women don't write sex scenes, or women don't write bad sex scenes?

Or does it mean we need an Orange bad sex award

I think perhaps women have a less romanticised idea of sex, and perhaps therefore write more realistic scenes.

Alex

I didn't think some of them were tooooo bad - I remember last year's list being worse! I think the last one is the worst. Go Richard!

I have to say I hate this award. It takes stuff out of context and holds it up for mockery. I think it's anti-creative and anti-writing - only a philistine could come up with the idea. For me, writing is about people sticking their necks out a bit, taking risks. And writing about sex involves more risks than any other kind of writing. So, hey, let's have an award that makes writers feel even more inhibited. It seems very British to me.


There may be something else going on in the writing other than an attempt to render a realistic depiction of a sexual act. But denied the context, the samples obviously seem 'bad'.

That's just me. I know it's only supposed to be a bit of fun and other people find it funny, etc. I'm probably touchy because I can just imagine myself being on the receiving end of this sneering ridicule... except that I am so totally inhibited by the thought of being picked out for it that I won't ever write another sex scene!



Sorry. Rant over.

Roger, I do agree somewhat with what you are saying however

he knows at once that she has been with another man, and recently – faint as it is there is no mistaking that tang of fish-slime and sawdust

Hmmm ....

I think these sorts of awards would make me think twice about adding a sex scene which is a shame because they're brilliant fun to write

They're not all that British, I wouldn't say. The Americans have the Razzies, which hold entire films up to ridicule.

As to how I would react if anything I wrote ended up on this list - well, I think I'd be flattered that I'd been noticed enough to be worth putting on the list. I would also take the line, in any subsequent interviews, that "people should read my novel and judge for themselves." But then I've never been published, so I guess that colours my attitude.

Alex

Hi Sharon, well, again, that quote is severely out of context. I don't know, but it seems to be written to reflect the point of view, and voice, of the male character. And maybe the language is consistent with that. Of course, it's objectionable on the grounds of 'good taste' - but not all writing sets out to conform to good taste, nor should it.

Alex, it's particularly the 'bad sex' aspect of the award that I think is British. Plus, having a pop at a film, which is produced by a whole crew of people, and has producers as well as lead actors sharing responsibility for the finished outcome, is a bit different to holding up an individual writer's effort to ridicule. Writing is a very lonely business, and even when you've been published you still feel extraordinarily vulnerable and exposed. So as a matter of solidarity, I'm automatically on the side of the writers. You're entitled to say I'm guilty of a sense of humour failure. That's probably true. But the award has been going for a few years now. The joke's wearing a bit thin for me.

I think I'm with Roger on this one - way too easy to pull anything out of context and mock?

I also think that it is interesting that five male writers have been held up to ridicule and only one female - almost because criticising a sex scene written by a woman might be considered sexist but male writers are considered fair game?

It is likely to inhibit creativity?

Sarah

I didn't read every word of all of them, but some were very stylised and pretentious when taken out of context.

However, I actually found The Death of Bunny Monro one by Nick Cave to be quite erotic and I didn't feel like ridiculing that one at all! Maybe not to everyone's taste, but I liked it. I didn't understand the winding down of her dying heart but presumably I would if I read the whole novel.

As for whether such an award is a bad thing... I'm not published but I would have thought a vicious review could be equally or even more hurtful than a bit of fun-poking at a sex scene. But I don't know for sure.

So the logical conclusion therefore would be to ban book reviews in case they upset the authors and stifle their creativity. It's entirely possible to take risks with fiction which doesn't involve sex, so where's the difference? And obviously none of us would want that - even those who've suffered nasty reviews.

So maybe we should accept that this is just another form of review but at least with a tongue-in-cheek agenda.

Personally, my only embarrassment about writing sex scenes is the thought of my dad reading them. Other than that I don't see it as any more personal than many of the other things we write about.

Deb



<Added>

... equally hurtful or even more so...

(It is the middle of the night!)

<Added>

Damn, I should have read that more carefully before I posted it. I meant that none of us would want to ban book reviews - not that none of us would want people to take risks which fiction which doesn't involve sex. As I'm sure you realised.

I think the difference is that a reviewer would be attempting to present a balanced overview of the book as a whole - rather than focussing on a specific scene?

Sarah

Fair comment, Sarah, but if the balanced overview concludes that the novel is crap, then isn't that even more hurtful than just saying you think the sex scene is a tad clunky or OTT?

Deb

I don't know - I happily read the Lost Symbol reviews but I didn't like the one that took the book apart scene by scene - one is fair comment and the other is gratuitous?

I suppose if you say a book is crap you have to present chapter and verse to justify that view - and the reader can then go away and read it anyway and make their own mind up. Take a scene out of context and when the reader reads it's forever tainted by the hatchet job?

It's a fine line I admit - I've been asked to find something dire in my genre to read at an Xmas do - just a bit of fun - yet being a writer I don't feel happy about it. It was only after that I read Roger's comment and thought - yes - I see what you mean exactly

Sarah

One of the downsides of any activity which involves putting oneself or one's work into the public domain, is the willingness of many people to comment on and criticise that persona or work. Some of those comments or criticisms may be unfair and unjustified, but there isn't any way of avoiding that.

Alex