Writing Sexual Tension Across the Genres
The Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction program requires its students to deliver a teaching module on a topic of their choice. I chose to team up with fellow student Candy Lyons to teach sexual tension. The following files, hosted on my personal website, are those I created or worked on. They do not include Candy’s handouts, and they do not include the excerpts I scanned from popular fiction novels.
What’s Sexual Tension Got to Do With It? (PowerPoint presentation)
Body Language Cues (Word document)
How Not to Write Sex (Word document)
Sexual Tension Exercises (Word document)
Jincy Willett’s The Writing Class: Creative Writing
The following questions are tailored to small- and large-group discussion related to the craft of writing (SPOILERS AHOY).
How does Willett handle stereotype? Do you think her approach is effective?
Do you think this novel fits well into the mystery category? Does it cross genres? Explain.
Does Willett effectively use the setting? Does it play a role in the story or is it scene dressing?
How do you feel about Edna being the Sniper?
Describe how/whether you believe Willett increases the stakes and what you think is Willett’s intent (e.g. create a sense of horror, create tension, raise more questions, develop character, etc.)?
Discuss the scene when the Sniper describes ___ death. Was it an effective scene? How did you feel about the final class discussion regarding this scene?
How did you feel about the final class and Edna’s revelation?
Dwight Swain encourages writers to give characters what they have earned by the end of the novel. Do you think Amy earned her ending? Do you think Edna deserved what she got?
Consider these questions again, but ask yourself what Amy would say.
Jincy Willett’s The Writing Class: Literature Study
The following is a list of small- or large-group discussion prompts related to the novel The Writing Class by Jincy Willett.
The Book
Would you consider The Writing Class a mystery novel? Why or why not?
Discuss the significance of hands and spiders.
Amy relates her belief that San Diegan drivers tailgate to cure their sense of loneliness. What do this statement and her other setting-related details tell you about Willett’s opinion of her home town? Why do you think Willett set the novel in San Diego?
Amy admits that she views other people almost as stereotypes, and until she learns something surprising about another character, her representation of the character is a stereotype. How does Amy come across as a stereotype, and what surprising information does she reveal to deepen her character?
Carla calls her home the Birdhouse. Amy wonders why until she sees the shape of the house. Why else would Carla use this name?
How does the description of Amy’s home reflect Amy’s life? Consider how infrequently she leaves her house.
What is the significance of Amy’s marriages?
Writing
Amy says that all stories are autobiographical and that all writers are liars. Do you see evidence of this advice in the novel?
What advice would Amy give to Willett?
What do you think caused Amy’s writer’s block, and what about her experience with the Sniper unblocked her by the end?
Discuss Amy’s lists, especially those on her blog. Do you think she really believed nobody would find her blog?
Sexuality and Rape in Urban Fantasy
***This unit study contains references to and readings dealing with rape, which may be triggering.
Urban fantasy with a paranormal romance heritage often features the ‘kick-ass heroine.’ As post-feminist (“feminism is dead and everyone is an equal”) and third-wave feminist (“equal rights and equal treatment for all, regardless of class, race, gender, sex, etc.”) thought become more mainstream, the action heroine in a fantasy world brings up interesting representations of sex and even rape.
A primary issue in these urban fantasy novels is portrayal of sex. Considering favorites within this branch of the genre, it’s hard to name any novels that do not contain guilt-free sex – a claimed sexuality, in other words, that has long been a right of masculinity and the blight of femininity. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to name novels wherein the heroine has survived either physical or metaphorical rape. What is the message urban fantasy authors wish to convey with the heroine’s sexuality, and what is the role of rape in these stories?
The Activating Event
In the book Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Dawn Heinecken discusses a woman who has combined femininity and masculinity to become a popular and powerful mainstream icon:
The November 2000 issue of Playboy features a muscular woman dressed in black leather, standing with hands on hips, glaring out at the reader. She is not the typical cover girl. Her aggressive stance, her confident and direct gaze out at the reader, and her muscular body do not conform to the idea of femininity usually promoted by Playboy. The woman is Joanie Laurer, otherwise known as World Wrestling Federation superstar Chyna. (181)
As an activating event, having students watch decade-old clips from a female wrestler among a lot of male wrestlers can help to introduce the idea of the kick-ass woman who began to gain ground in popular culture at the end of the 90s. One interesting clip from December 27, 1999, in which Chyna calls out a male wrestler and then kicks his ass:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp1dT3Ge5Os)
This clip shows some of the attitudes and comments that showcase ideas in the Heinecken article. Specifically, the questioning of Chyna’s gender and her sexual objectification. Another clip, beginning at 5:30 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gFOxcoyxho#t=5m30s), shows another male wrestler making lewd comments while she’s restrained on her knees in the ring:
This dichotomy – questioning her sexuality and simulating an attempted sexual assault – segues well into the introduction of the strong heroine of urban fantasy and the sexuality and rape present in the novels.
Articulating Underlying Assumptions
After reading Heinecken’s article “No Cage Can Hold Her Rage? Gender, Transgression,and the World Wrestling Federation’s Chyna,” students break into small groups to discuss the ideas in the article and how they pertain to the urban fantasy novels on the market today. Example discussion prompts include:
- How do heroines of urban fantasy fare in regards to their sexuality? Do their choices ever have a social impact on their lives?
- Rape, whether actual or symbolic, is a common element of the genesis of an urban fantasy heroine and is also sometimes used as a plot point in a novel. Is rape really necessary? Do you think it gives the reader permission to enjoy the heroine’s denial of feminine social norms or integration of masculine social norms? Do you think another traumatic event – something that does not bring in sexuality – might be as or more effective?
- How is rape portrayed in these books toward male characters? For example, rape has in war been considered an offense not just against the female victims but as a means of insult to the men and genetic “cleansing” of offspring. Do you see similarities in urban fantasy today?
- Consider an urban fantasy that does not include or revolve around a past sexual assault of the heroine or one of her friends or family members. How is her sexuality portrayed? Is that portrayal due to a paranormal nature (e.g. she’s a shape-shifter, vampire, succubus, etc.) or is it separate? Do you think this is an important distinction?
After groups break out and gather responses, group leaders will present conclusions for further in-class discussion.
Critical Self-Reflection
Students will free-write about the role of sexuality and/or rape in their own writing. How is sex portrayed? Is it used as a weapon? It is used as a tool among a preternatural species? How is it used on humans, women particularly? Do gender norms appear in the writing, and do they parallel contemporary American society’s norms? These questions will hopefully get them to look more deeply at the context of sex in their own writing and compare it to the portrayal of “action chicks” in popular culture.
Critical Discourse
Two short stories will be discussed. The first, “Untitled 12” by Caitlin Kiernan, appears in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance in spite of a complete lack of anything romantic. The story details the results of a woman’s search for a vampire who finds her first and changes her. The change process includes a kiss described as “a sudden etheric rape” and then intercourse. The vampire is described as having an “organ hanging down between her legs. It almost looked like a small penis, almost, a stunted penis sheathed in bone or horn, barbed and ridged and misshapen” (Kiernan 507). The queering of the vampire, as well as reference to rape, will add a new facet to class discussion.
The second story, “Seafoam” by Mark Henry (http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2010/04/short-story-seafoam-by-mark-henry/), tells the story of a criminal fetishist who stalks and then breaks into the home of a ‘Neather – an alien race that rose from the sea – in order to assault her but ends up regretting his decision. Though Henry’s style in this story and his zombie series falls more into the noir-fantasy branch of urban fantasy, the story still provides an interesting look at sexuality and assault.
Apply New Perspectives
Students will complete a writing assignment of their choice from the following options:
- In your current urban fantasy work, replace a rape (symbolic or actual) with a different kind of traumatic event. Write an essay that discusses the effects on the plot and characters (500-1000 words).
- In your current urban fantasy work, change the sex/gender of the protagonist (cis-gendered or transgendered). Write an essay that discusses the effects on the plot and characters (500-1000 words).
- Write a short story (~2500 words) in which sex is not a moral concern but is an ethical concern – your character(s) should be confronted by a sexual dilemma and respond to it.
- Write a short story (~2500 words) that queers a common urban fantasy trope.
- Write a short story (~2500 words) or character and plot outline for a novel in which the heroine is ultra-feminine in an ultra-masculine world or vice versa. Tie gender issues into sex.
Because this topic could potentially be triggering for students, I would make it clear in the syllabus that students should be prepared for a hard subject.
Works Cited
Heinecken, Dawn. “No Cage Can Hold Her Rage? Gender, Transgression, and the World Wrestling Federation’s Chyna.” Action Chick: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. Ed. Sherrie A. Inness. USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Henry, Mark. “Seafoam.” Apex Book Company. 6 Apr. 2010. <http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2010/04/short-story-seafoam-by-mark-henry/>.
Kiernan, Caitlin R. “Untitled 12.” The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance. Ed. Trisha Telep. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008.
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