A review by ninette
The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict

4.0

I especially liked the acknowledgment of the difficulties and anxieties in approaching sex scenes in general, and found this to be a very helpful guide for writing many different kinds of sex scenes.

To my great satisfaction, Benedict does stress the fact that a good sex scene doesn't necessarily equal good sex or vice versa, because I really wasn't looking for that kind of guide book. In a nutshell a good sex scene is a reflection of the character's dynamics and their circumstances. Now, while you'll obviously have to figure out your characters yourself, this book can provide some pointers as to how certain circumstances might play into the scene.

I must say though that I did miss a chapter about questionable or all together non-existent consent, since that is a rather common scenario in literature after all. Another interesting chapter topic would have been the dynamics of role- and power play. Maybe they'll consider this for future editions given the current relevance of these things in popular literature.