How to write a romp that avoids a Bad Sex in Fiction award

Catherine Cole Professor in Creative Writing, Liverpool John Moores University Academic rigour, journalistic flair The annual Bad Sex in Fiction award is enough to put any writer off writing a sex scene. This year’s examples are as cringeworthy as those of previous years. It’s not that the authors aren’t trying to get it right; a good sex scene is just very difficult to write. Writers often find themselves caught between the cloying pages of a Harlequin romance and the thrust and grind of porn.