is there a such thing as too detailed?

[qui]

Most if not all of us are working with adults in our stories. With adult sims comes adult situations. In the last week, I've seen the words "sim porn" all over the place and a lot of people saying they don't write it and won't read it.

I am a detailed person and like for my readers to be able to see, hear, and feel everything. If you can't imagine it, then to me, it's not good enough and I need to add on.

My questions are:

What exactly would you say is sim porn?
AND....
Is there a such thing as being too detailed when it comes to the intimate moments?

[laura]

Awww, honey, well you should feel right at home here!

A bunch of us added our examples of writing sex to this thread. I think we've got a good range of writers here, from just a little bit of detail, to a lot, to anything in between.

I wouldn't say I write porn, because even my sex scenes are very heavy in story still. But I do write sex. And I will include just as much detail as you'd find in any mainstream adult novel, which is enough

Sim porn? I can't say that I've ever seen it. But I have seen a lot of great writing, with a lot of great sex in it, lol! Ain't no shame in it! Plenty of us here write a lot of sex, but I wouldn't say that any of us write porn. Or erotica even, really. As long as the details serve the story, I say it's all fair game!

In my own work, I wouldn't include all the details, just the right ones. Every sex scene is different, and is trying to accomplish something different. Sometimes the perfect details might be raw and gritty, sometimes not.

[mmmcheezy225]

For me, detail is no issue. If the content makes me squirm in my seat, then that means the writer is very good with detail. For others, however, I'm sure there is a such thing as too much. When it comes to love scenes, illusion and mystery are powerful tools. To be honest though, I'm not very good with love scenes (and I usually shy away from writing them), so my advice may very well be pointless.

To me, the definition of "sim porn" would be the equivalent of really raunchy fan fiction, with lewd descriptions of genitals, sexual acts, and the like.

[thelunarfox]

I'd say porn is just sex for sex's sake. I don't think it's tied to level of detail. Though if you do have a lot of detail and it's about how the act is done (like any describing of trusting organs) you're probably closer to porn.

But if you're talking about the details that paint the picture like sounds, smells, touch, then I wouldn't automatically count that as plain porn.

[Stacy]

I've seen Sim porn. It wasn't a story, with plot and characterization and context. It was a porn site, but with Sims in the pics instead of real people. Sims with very extremely detailed custom skins, lol.

I can't speak for anyone else, obviously, but I'm cool with explicit pics and writing when the story calls for it and I don't consider that Sims porn. Like your short story earlier this week - that was cool. And very well done, I thought.

I don't know. Like I've said on here before, my orientation is demisexual - a variant of asexual. I'm not very interested in sex as a general rule and I don't look at human porn either. If you haven't committed yourself to me for life, I don't need to see you naked.

So yeah - I don't see myself ever writing anything really detailed, but not because I'm all "Oh noes sex is bad and wrong and dirty!" More just because it's not a topic I feel a need to explore in depth. And with reading it - I admit I'm probably going to skim unless you've got some really amazing sentences going on and/or major emotional drama, because to me the physical act by itself is boring.

And yes, I hope that if I ever do get around to that hardcore Sarah/Seth scene it will have amazing sentences and major emotional drama.

Oh - reading over this again and seeing the contradiction - I didn't go looking for the Sims porn. A friend linked it as part of a conversation once.

[celebkiriedhel]

Sim Porn, like any other form of hard-core porn is where the the writing/pictures are concerned only with sex, and not with anything else.

It's written/pictured just for people to get off - and usually includes less mainstream forms of sex. Not so much in TS3 - we don't have animals yet. (Actually to be honest, I haven't seen any TS3 porn yet - although I have seen TS2 and TS1 porn).

The way people write about sex here is NOT sim porn. The sex serves the story (and yes I get my perves on as well - but within context! LOL) There are details they include that serve the story.

And I think that's really how you measure it - does this detail serve the story? If yes - then do it, if no then don't.

And that's true for any detail - whether it's about sex or not.

[qui]

I am definitely going to look through that thread!
I was thinking the same thing. I had no clue what sim porn was but noticed it topics throughout LJ. I've never ready anything that describes genitals or anything like that. If anything it was more along the lines of reactions, sounds, and feelings.

If the content makes me squirm in my seat, then that means the writer is very good with detail.

*shakes my head* I know what you mean! lol

It just get's to the point where I second guess posting things because I'm not for being trolled over "sim porn" that I wasn't even clear on.

I did a short story about sex addiction and the ts2 pictures were graphic. Though I strayed away from going deep with details, I have the strangest feeling that people will call that porn.

[qui]

Dec 2, 2010 21:43:05 GMT -5 @celebkiriedhel said:

Sim Porn, like any other form of hard-core porn is where the the writing/pictures are concerned only with sex, and not with anything else.

It's written/pictured just for people to get off - and usually includes less mainstream forms of sex.

sorry for double posting but this stood out to me after I'd already posted. That makes a lot of sense! I did not know (over here is la la land) that people would actually get off on it. What I had/have in mind is not for the purpose of arousing my readings but to express the emotion felt between the two that I'm writing about.

Thank everyone for their opinions and helping shine light on this! I really had no clue!

[raquelaroden]

Something Kiri said made me think that the context distinction might be hashed out like this--to get the full effect of Sim porn (or any porn, really), it doesn't matter how much you know about the characters or their particular life situation, etc. (in fact, those things are likely not present). But to get the full effect from a well done sex scene in a story, knowing about the characters, where they are in the story, why they are there at that point anyway will heighten the whole reading experience of the intimate scene. I'm not saying it can't be arousing to read a sex scene in these stories on their own without knowing the characters, but that emotional "oomph" that I feel makes any sex scene truly interesting just isn't going to be achieved without knowing those other details.

That's one reason why I try to go back and read archives of stories when I start reading a new story--I want to know the whole history and why I should care that sew-and-sew are getting it on, and what it brought to the story. I can't just jump in at some point and start reading.

[qui]

I definitely agree with that because I have read a story or two or three that had me feeling like "damn!" after reading the through the sex scene.

Now that I think about it and you put it that way, I have never come across a story where the details surrounding the intimate moment wasn't present. When I think of porn, I think of something stages, fake, emotionless. I have never read anything that didn't have emotion so I'm wondering if people are just going off of the images.