Workshop: Writing sex scenes that sizzle
Saturday October 7 at 6pm CEST: A 2 hour online workshop with Deirdre Mendoza
Greetings, fellow literature enthusiasts!
Are you ready to dive into the intriguing world of sex in literature? Join us for a two-hour workshop led by author, teacher, and journalist, Deirdre Mendoza, as we explore the art of passion, power and surprise in intimate scenes.
🕒 Workshop Details 🕒
Date: October 7, 2023
Time: 6pm CEST
Duration: 2 hours
Location: online
🎟️ Get Your Tickets Now! 🎟️
Don't miss this opportunity to gain confidence about writing intimate and graphic scenes that serve your story. Tickets are available for just 24€.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Read on for more details about this workshop!
We’ll explore intimacy in selected scenes created by writers such as Carmen Maria Machado, Mary Gaitskill, Sally Rooney, Taffy Brodesner-Akner, James Baldwin, and D.H. Lawrence, and look at the ways in which a well-crafted sex scene can inform character, advance narrative, and add layers to your story. Together we’ll answer the question: What makes a sex scene sizzle instead of fizzle?
Some of the ideas we’ll explore in this interactive workshop:
Are your characters driven by love, passion, obligation, or simply desire?
Which story elements or details make a scene particularly sensual or erotic?
What happens in the shower, or the backseat of the car, or the empty tennis court, that changes the power dynamics between characters, or adds to the readers’ understanding of authorial intent?
Why is it often funny when two people can’t quite connect?
And then there are the anatomical parts: how does word choice impact our ability to imagine the dynamics of a sex scene? And how do elements of surprise add layers to this type of scene?
We’ll use imaginative exercises, brainstorming, and prompts related to scene building to write a rough draft of a sex scene.
By the end of the workshop, you will have:
New ideas about how to approach future sex scenes and what you might want the reader to feel or experience when reading them.
New or familiar anatomical phrases and metaphors you can share with your friends! (Or ones that might work in a variety of scenes).
More confidence about writing intimate and graphic scenes that serve your story.
The bones of a great sex scene.
📚 About Deirdre Mendoza 📚
Deirdre Mendoza is the author of the short story collection, Real Lives of Married People, published in 2022 by 8-Fold Press. Her culture stories and essays have graced the pages of Ms. Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, WWD, Variety, TheBeet.com, and The Miami New Times. With a background in film and television writing, Deirdre brings a unique perspective to the craft. She currently teaches Creative Writing at Woodbury University and Glendale College and resides in Madrid, where she's hard at work on her next novel.