Jenny Bitner

SATURDAYS, Nov. 9th - 23rd | Does writing sex scenes make you nervous? Sex in books can be awkward - in fact, it's the awkward, the unusual, the failed sex that is often the most powerful writing. But writing sex shouldn't be awkward. Some writers like the "fade to black" approach to sex, while others like writing about it in the broad daylight. 

What makes good sex writing, and how can we learn to do it? Good sex writing, like good sex, starts with learning the basics (in this case, by reading others), experimenting (playing and getting messy), and making it your own - making it your unique style. 

In the first of the three classes, we will read sex scenes and talk about them as literary devices. How do they move forward the plot, the story, the character development? And in the second class, we will share our first experimental try at writing a sex scene. For the third class, we will revise and make the scene our own.

Even if writing about sex makes you nervous, you will leave this class with a better understanding of how you want to write about sex and how sex, like every other aspect of a book, is an extension of character and narrative. 

Please note that this class covers adult topics and is only open to students 18 or older.

Asynchronous learning materials for this class will be available online (via the Wet Ink platform). Scheduled class sessions will take place via Zoom. Registered students, please contact the instructor directly for Zoom details. Instructor contact details can be found in the order confirmation email.

Jenny Bitner’s fiction and poetry has been published in Mississippi Review, The Fabulist, The Sun, Fence, Corium, Fourteen Hills, Mid-American Review, and PANK. Pine Press published a chapbook of her poetry entitled Mother. Her story “The Pamphleteer” was published in Best American Nonrequired Reading. She earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Virginia. She is also a certified hypnotherapist and teaches classes combining hypnosis and writing. Her novel Here Is A Game We Could Play was published in 2021 from Acre Books.