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Book: "I Give You My Body . . .": How I Write Sex Scenes
Quotes of Book: "I Give You My Body . . .":
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  1. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Men have external genitalia, while women have internal genitalia. This simple difference makes a lot of difference in how they write about themselves-and how you might write about your characters. Male writers don't often address internal sensation in a character, because they don't experience it {and probably often don't realize consciously that it's there}. This accounts for a lot of Really Terrible sex scenes written by men {if you look at the "Bad Sex-Scene Awards" in any given year, you'll see that the vast majority are done by male writers}.
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  2. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    To some extent, emotions are universal and can be treated that way; no matter what the participants' orientation or preference, they have sex for the same reasons and can experience the same array of emotions in the process. But there are three important distinctions to be made: 1. The logistics of physiology 2. The basics of sexual attraction 3. Cultural impact on character and situation
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  3. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    But it wouldn't have half the power of a story in which Jamie and Claire truly conquer real evil and thus show what real love is. Real love has real costs-and they're worth it. I've always said all my books have a shape, and Outlander's internal geometry consists of three slightly overlapping triangles. The apex of each triangle is one of the three emotional climaxes of the book: 1} when Claire makes her wrenching choice at the stones and stays with Jamie, 2} when she saves Jamie from Wentworth, and 3} when she saves his soul at the abbey. It would still be a good story if I'd had only 1 and 2-but {see above}, the Rule of Three. A story that goes one, two, three, has a lot more impact than just a one–two punch.
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  4. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Okay. This has to be a credible threat. Ergo, we have to have seen {and heard about} the real damage Randall has done to Jamie thus far; we have to be in no doubt whatever that he'd do real damage to Claire. We can't just say, "Oh, he's such a nasty person, you wouldn't believe…" We have to believe, and therefore appreciate, just what Jamie is doing when he trades what's left of his life for Claire's.
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  5. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Almost everybody understands that you have to have something at stake for a story to be good.
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  6. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    One of the general patterns of good {i.e., striking and memorable} writing is the effect of repetition. If you use a certain element-a plot device, an image, a noticeable phrase-once, readers may or may not notice it consciously, but it doesn't disturb the flow of their reading. If you use that element twice, they won't notice it consciously-but they will notice it subconsciously, and it will add to the resonance of the writing or to their sense of depth and involvement {and if it's a plot device, it will heighten the dramatic tension}. But if you use that element three times, everybody will notice it the third time you do it.
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  7. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    This is why you use imagery when writing about sex; it's a means both of evoking immediacy and of distilling emotion.
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  8. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    For a different woman, a different relationship, a different situation, gentleness might have been the proper, the only approach-but not for this woman, in these circumstances. The only thing that will cleanse Claire {and reassure her: look at what she says at the end of it. She feels safe again, having felt the power and violence in him} is violence. And-the most important point here-Jamie pays attention to what she wants, rather than proceeding with his own notion of how it should be, even though it's a sensible notion and the one most people would have.
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  9. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Jamie's viewpoint is expressed almost entirely in metaphor: If she was broken, she would slash him with her jagged edges, reckless as a drunkard with a shattered bottle. He's using physical language, but he isn't talking about the physical details of the situation. Claire alludes to her emotion and shows it by her actions, but Jamie is thinking directly in pure emotions.
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  10. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Just as an effective advertisement or page layout includes a lot of white space, a powerful scene requires immense restraint. Show things as simply as possible.
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  11. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    Watch a good movie sometime without reference to what's happening but only with attention to how it was photographed; you'll see the change of focus-zoom in, pan out, close-up on face, fade to black, open from above-easily. You want to do that in what you write; it's one of the things that keep people's eyes on the page, though they're almost never conscious of it.
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  12. Diana Gabaldon _ "I Give You My Body . . .":

    If there's true emotional content in a situation between characters, all you do is reveal it.
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