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I’ve used my potter fanfic as an example because it’s always intended to have a low/high road type of feeling, a plot-focused and more sex-infused versions, but with FF.net’s shenanigans regarding explicit material, and a review, I had shifted to plot-focused only. After my disastrous edit (the one that produced a 107kword CHAPTER), I had dabbled with “smutting it back up”, using styles/colors in libreoffice. And TBH, that felt tacky, because it was, as the sexual bit is an afterthought, not part of the process. When I returned to revise and realized it needed to be rewritten, I of course, flexed my programmer hat, created my little utility. As I rewrite, I can consider the implications of both the sexual and plot sides of the story, together; so in a discussion with Dumbledore over a new breed of bats, it can be an ordinary conversation (well, ordinary for the story) … Harry’s stark naked in the explicit, so comment on his todger, whereas he’s implicitly dressed in the cleaner version. Explicit’s become more than smut, it also allows for me to go deeper. So, Harry’s scar, after Voldemort learned of its existence, Harry had trouble keeping Voldemort out… he learned he had the strongest power to repel Voldemort by having gay sex. After a while, Harry learns to keep it in balance with memories of it, however, in a scene I wrote yesterday, I had Voldemort go stronger than ever; not sure who was more surprised by that scene, myself or Fred Weasley. I can explore Ash’s (OC) little nudist group, one that arose because of Ash’s insecurities and his steadfast belief in Harry’s innocence. I can explore Ginny’s fangirl lust for Harry, to the point of schemes to snag him (Ron’s accidentally bitten that bullet more than once for Harry). I do worry about the cleaner becoming a second class story to the explicit one, given the efforts I put in. Though I find it easier and less tacky, overall to clean up an explicit scene, versus smutting up a clean scene.

Hi, @Deadman, @Desiderius Price, and all. I would have to agree with Desiderius more, though I also see your point. We’ve been talking more about the explicitness of sex, sexuality, and sexual tension versus whether to have any “s, s, and st” at all. There are some stories where “s, s, and st” just don’t belong. There are others where you can’t possibly avoid at least some of that. But, how explicit do you want or feel the need to get? In “Star Wars Episode Two,” the screen writers don’t show what Annikin Skywalker does to the Tuskan Raiders. Instead, they have a deeply traumatized Annikin relate what he did to them to Padme, in the very scene after they show him cut his way out of the tent where he held his mother while she died. In that case, the violence was made even more real by not being directly shown to the viewer. In the case of your (potential if not already written) stories, you don’t need to remove, and probably should keep the “lead-up” to the sex scenes, and even include the sex participant’s internal thoughts about their circumstances, however explicitly you describe their assignations. This would, if you do it right, increase both the eroticism and drama of each scene, whether you got to near-clinical explicitness about ‘how each of her pubic hairs curled differently when anointed with the dew of their passion,’ or how he was packing ‘double-Peroni-Bologna that anointed her between her belly button and sternum before he planted it vigorously in...’ or simply faded to black while they kissed passionately even while unfastening each other’s belts and jeans. Explicit sex without any explanation or leading tension is not just pornography, it’s typically mediocre pornography at best, even in print. So, Elliot and Karen started randomly and explicitly copulating on the courthouse steps. Okay, why did they start doing that where and when they did? If you try to answer that question, then you’ve bridged the gap between the ‘wank-o-thon’ and an actual story. If you do it well, people will want to read it. Or, if you’re only going for the ‘wank-o-thon’ readers, leave the ‘excess’ prose in the bit bucket of your word processor of choice. Cheers!