Nothing is worse than the gratuitous sex scene, right? We’ve all been there-skimming the pages to get back to the “interesting” stuff that advances the plot and transforms the characters. But that’s not the sex scene’s fault. It’s the writer’s! Done well, a sex scene, from mild to steamy, should move the story forward and-most importantly-drive a change in the characters.

In this course, students will learn what makes a sex scene sing and what makes one sag. Working with the model of character transformation, the class will lead students through the concepts of sexual taboos and the mental, emotional and spiritual impacts of breaking them. Students will explore the concepts of intimacy and personal barriers and practice tools for using them to move their characters forward on every level. Writers will be able to submit short scenes to the instructor or the group for feedback.

Instructor Bio

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has won the prestigious RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America (RWA), has been a finalist twice, been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as a Director at Large.