How can watching porn get in the way of a good story?
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OK, yes I do, sometimes and I’m in good company; according to the BBC half of UK adults watch porn. I just do not watch porn when I am writing.
Why - because there is no story.
Boy meets girl or girl meets girl or boy meets boy or androgynous person meets androgynous person and they have sex. In some porn they do not even meet; they are already located in an anonymous hotel room and ready to go. There is no story, the setting is bland and nothing about the characters has changed; they often do not even look particularly happy afterwards.
Globally the porn industry is worth around $97 billion with $10 - $12 billion of that coming from the US (Earthweb). There are a lot of writers who tap into this market and earn a lot more than I do writing solely about people fucking. There is nothing wrong with this; their readers are happy as they finish their stories with wet knickers or a hard-on; but I want more. I want a story.
I wrote about my definition of the difference between a narrative and a story in What Do You Want From A Sexy Story?
I write about sex - a lot. My stories have sexual scenes that are explicitly described, but, I try to entwine these within a story that has other interesting themes.
People have sex, it is a natural appetite. Once they are fed and warm they start thinking about some form of entertainment and this often includes sex; either doing it, reading about it or watching it.
So what is the problem with the depictions of sex in the media?