I definitely started reading m/m because it was new. It was stuff I didn't know, er... method and procedure, as opposed to the same old same old tab A slot B of the romances I was reading. Plust I'm familliar with het and the workings of my own body, so I could immediately tell when something being described was preposterous -- takes me out of the scene more immediately.
Plus the "forbidden" nature that m/m still holds, whether it's stated, or an actual plot point, or just a subtext, gives the whole thing an emotional intensity that het can't match any more -- we can read about "forbidden" het love, but it doesn't really happen in Western societies. By and large (although not universally of course) we can do as we please and so we can't grasp the pathos in the same way. The biggest rule of a romance is that something has to stand in the way of the protagonists getting together, and by far in the ones I've edited (quite lousy ones, to be honest) that "reason" is just... STUPID. It's never more profound than "I'm not ready!" or "I'm a playa, I want freedom!" versus "I want babies before I'm old!"
Plus, really the only thing that gives a written sex scene any real power is what's going on in people's heads. The physical stuff is played-out by definition. Not there's anything wrong with that! But it doesn't necessarily make for good entertainment.
And now I think I have gone full circle and ceased to make sense. Bedtime.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-12-29 07:57 am (UTC)Plus the "forbidden" nature that m/m still holds, whether it's stated, or an actual plot point, or just a subtext, gives the whole thing an emotional intensity that het can't match any more -- we can read about "forbidden" het love, but it doesn't really happen in Western societies. By and large (although not universally of course) we can do as we please and so we can't grasp the pathos in the same way. The biggest rule of a romance is that something has to stand in the way of the protagonists getting together, and by far in the ones I've edited (quite lousy ones, to be honest) that "reason" is just... STUPID. It's never more profound than "I'm not ready!" or "I'm a playa, I want freedom!" versus "I want babies before I'm old!"
Plus, really the only thing that gives a written sex scene any real power is what's going on in people's heads. The physical stuff is played-out by definition. Not there's anything wrong with that! But it doesn't necessarily make for good entertainment.
And now I think I have gone full circle and ceased to make sense. Bedtime.