More than once in recent weeks, I've gotten the question of whether or not the sex in "1 More Chance!" is necessary.
On the one hand, the sex garners the story an M rating, which takes it out of the general listing. This no doubt reduces the number of readers who would just stumble across the story on their own, affecting hit statistics and review numbers and general feedback. That's a bad thing.
On the other hand, the sex in the story is central to the way that the two main characters interact. One of my goals is to create a realistic approach that a couple would take to sex: from the initial sexual exploration, through the early tentative and exciting trysts, as well as through the testing of limits and boundaries as each person starts to realize the kind of sexual being they can and want to be, to an examination of acceptance and equality between two partners based on their own desires. That's a good thing. Chie and Yousuke are about halfway to two-thirds in this progression (Chapter 36 posted on 2009 October 28 - link will take you to the Fanfiction.Net version).
On a side note, it is occasionally amusing for me to see how the chapters with the notably more "mature" events seem to be - consistently - more active in terms of statistics. There's not really any outward clue that anyone would have for these events based on chapter title, so I'm guessing that it's mostly past or current readers who have read that particular chapter before and just go back for more.
I recently considered removing the more explicit sexual moments, to bring the story down to a "T" rating. But as I was reading through some of the previous chapters, I found it difficult to take out the sexuality, and not just because those moments are fun to read over again. They're inherently important to the development of the characters' relationship as both friends and lovers. I think that if I were to remove the sex scenes altogether to make the story more youth-friendly, it would change a lot of the nuances of the story itself.
And I'm not certain I'm willing to make that change just for a higher reader count.
Sexuality is integral to the game, as well. Nearly all of the characters' Shadows are linked somehow to the character's sexuality. This is probably most likely because sex and sexual identity are such important parts of a young person's development, no matter what their preference or orientation. [SPOILER - rollover to view] Kanji's ambiguous sexuality in particular, especially given his acceptance of it at the culmination of his Social/Community Link, is notable for its lack of definition, as well as his acceptance of it. When he tells the Protagonist (Seta Souji in my story) that his Shadow is who he is, that articulation speaks volumes for his own sexuality. It's also the reason why the Kanji in "1 More Chance!" is perhaps the most adult of all of the Investigation Team - his sexuality doesn't scare him, anymore. Some other characters aren't so lucky. [END SPOILER]
I'm not going to go back and rewrite all of "1 More Chance!" in a T-rated version just to get myself more readers (though that thought is occasionally very tempting, especially when the feedback flow is slow). But I do have to wonder if readers are willing to accept some real sexuality in their stories, or if they just enjoy the prurient and pointless sex that's sadly too typical in the wide-spanning genre of fanfiction. [EDIT:] There's a third option, of course: that readers don't like sex at all in their stories. (That's a little sad to me, personally, especially in a story that is most definitely centered around a relationship growing between two adults who are romantically and sexually interested in each other...but that's just my opinion.) [END EDIT]
Thoughts? Comments? I'd like to hear them!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Honestly, to me, sex in a story is kind of a detraction. I tend to just gloss right over it (though if I see any dialogue, I usually skim close enough to get the gist) and go on to the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteWhich is probably why I sometimes have to go back and re-read a chapter.
No offense to your writing skills or anything. Sex just isn't that much of an attention-getter in stories. For me, at least.
I guess what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter too much to me if you removed the sex or kept it in the story. I'd still read (it's an excellent story), regardless of the sex or lack thereof.
Somebody else said pretty much the same thing. That's cool; I do understand that there's a lot of dreck out there, or that it just doesn't pique a reader's interest, for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteI do sometimes skim stories, myself, and the reading of dialogue does at least help to catch the basic gist of what is going on in a particular scene.
I'm curious whether it's the text or the idea itself that causes the disinterest. For example, if a character is having sex but the prose in the story is not about the sex act but about his or her thoughts or memories, would that be just as uninteresting? Or is it the text that talks about body parts that's distasteful?
Thanks for these thoughtful comments, by the way. They do help as I write through the story, and I'll try to tweak what I do in future chapters from feedback like this.