Way down inside honey, you need it.
Mar. 21st, 2005 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhThere's been a lot of talk (maybe, maybe too much talk) about het smut fic good and bad. When I heard about the "fanfic writer appreciation week" I realized there is one writer who pretty much embodies everything I look for in a smut fic, whose writing I can't wait to read. I'm not alone in this; when RS.org was in its pre-launch phase the organizers posted asking for help finding het smut for their opening, and nearly all of the replies mentioned this one author as a must-have. I can't think of a better endorsement than that.
This essay is not a rebel essay. This essay is an appreciation of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladycadey, het smut writer extraordinaire.
I've been on the verge several times of writing an essay about what I think is good and what I think doesn't work so well. After all, is there anything more frustrating than a smut fic with a lovely premise that simply isn't sexy? My fingers fairly itch to rewrite it; it seems more of a waste than if the fic was just bad at the start. Let's face it; it isn't that difficult to write the sex itself. It's like an action scene; you just have to remember your blocking and what's physically possible. What makes it hot, what makes people want to read it more than once, are the characters and the situation. Why are we seeing these people, and why are we seeing this sexual encounter?
Often in short romance or smutfic the pair are in a world of their own, and while Cadey's couples do attempt to keep a firm division between their public and private lives, the world around them intervenes. The couples and their relationship are always set in context, rather than suspended in a perfect world even of their own making. The sex itself is an expression not only of the love between the two characters, but it often shows a playfulness, a hint that these two people relate other than sexually.
"Under the Table" (Severus/Narcissa) is her first smutfic, and yet these themes are already evident. The outside world intervenes both literally and figuratively in the person of Lucius Malfoy, who has interrupted the lovers (forcing Narcissa to hide under Severus's desk) and is attempting to discuss Draco's future as a Death Eater (which both of them are trying to prevent). The sex is a shared joke, even as it is between two characters not usually seen as playful. That's why it's hot: they are telling us something about themselves, about who they are with each other, as a couple, as we watch them.
This method, this I will tell you who these people are by the way they make love is particularly evident in Cadey's Draco/Ginny stories. D/G is usually written as one of the more overtly sexy het HP pairings and Cadey does not disappoint; yet there is more to her madness than just the hot sex. In the Hogwarts fic "Bath Time" there is the suggestion that Ginny will not be like Draco's other sexual partners—he is both baffled and fascinated by her. "Addictive", set in wartime, shows Draco as a drowning man clinging to Ginny like a lifeline, and their lovemaking is similarly frantic and desperate. They long to shut the world out of their bedroom, but they cannot. Both of her slice-of-married life stories, "Planting Down and Dirty" and "Hot, Lazy Afternoon", reveal a playful affection just under the intense sexual attraction.
For Harry and Hermione, sex is part of the way that they discover parts of each other previously hidden. Of course, in "origin" stories like "The Game" and "Shouldn't Be Doing This" the discovery is the sexual attraction itself, an attraction that both Harry and Hermione seem genuinely surprised by. "The Game" starts out as a playful distraction from their punishing NEWT studying schedule (another instance of the characters being put in a setting that shapes the way they relate to each other) but soon it takes on a life of its own until the game itself becomes very serious indeed. In "A Good Wine and a Good Book" Harry is surprised by what Hermione gets up to when she's alone, perhaps surprised by her very depth of feeling for him. But in "Home Is Where the Heart Is" Harry returns the favor, surprising Hermione with his reaction to and understanding of her body. While both of these latter stories are short slice-of-married-life stories, they still derive their heat from the emotions that run between Harry and Hermione, and indeed, their comfort with each other.
"The Gazebo" unites all three couples at Draco and Ginny's engagement party, and uses that opportunity to contrast their very different reactions to such a public occasion. Narcissa and Severus are stepping out into public at last, but tentitively. Draco and Ginny, on the other hand, are relieved to be in the open, accepting of the attention of the partygoers, and relatively unconcerned with who might be watching their canoodling. But Harry and Hermione escape this public occasion as soon as possible, taking their refuge in the garden, though ironically it is they who make love in the semi-public gazebo.
I hope I've given you some insight into what I think makes for a good smut fic and sparked your curiosity about Cadey's writing. Nearly of the above can be found on RS.org (she very conveniently pops up as the first author on the "C" page). And I haven't even told you about her brilliant Albus/Minerva romances, the other Severus/Narcissa stories, the Ron/Padma tale, or her longer WIP Never Let Them See You Bleed, all of which are posted at Fiction Alley. Read them all, and I'm certain they will totally spoil you for anything less.
This essay is not a rebel essay. This essay is an appreciation of
ladycadey, het smut writer extraordinaire.I've been on the verge several times of writing an essay about what I think is good and what I think doesn't work so well. After all, is there anything more frustrating than a smut fic with a lovely premise that simply isn't sexy? My fingers fairly itch to rewrite it; it seems more of a waste than if the fic was just bad at the start. Let's face it; it isn't that difficult to write the sex itself. It's like an action scene; you just have to remember your blocking and what's physically possible. What makes it hot, what makes people want to read it more than once, are the characters and the situation. Why are we seeing these people, and why are we seeing this sexual encounter?
Often in short romance or smutfic the pair are in a world of their own, and while Cadey's couples do attempt to keep a firm division between their public and private lives, the world around them intervenes. The couples and their relationship are always set in context, rather than suspended in a perfect world even of their own making. The sex itself is an expression not only of the love between the two characters, but it often shows a playfulness, a hint that these two people relate other than sexually.
"Under the Table" (Severus/Narcissa) is her first smutfic, and yet these themes are already evident. The outside world intervenes both literally and figuratively in the person of Lucius Malfoy, who has interrupted the lovers (forcing Narcissa to hide under Severus's desk) and is attempting to discuss Draco's future as a Death Eater (which both of them are trying to prevent). The sex is a shared joke, even as it is between two characters not usually seen as playful. That's why it's hot: they are telling us something about themselves, about who they are with each other, as a couple, as we watch them.
This method, this I will tell you who these people are by the way they make love is particularly evident in Cadey's Draco/Ginny stories. D/G is usually written as one of the more overtly sexy het HP pairings and Cadey does not disappoint; yet there is more to her madness than just the hot sex. In the Hogwarts fic "Bath Time" there is the suggestion that Ginny will not be like Draco's other sexual partners—he is both baffled and fascinated by her. "Addictive", set in wartime, shows Draco as a drowning man clinging to Ginny like a lifeline, and their lovemaking is similarly frantic and desperate. They long to shut the world out of their bedroom, but they cannot. Both of her slice-of-married life stories, "Planting Down and Dirty" and "Hot, Lazy Afternoon", reveal a playful affection just under the intense sexual attraction.
For Harry and Hermione, sex is part of the way that they discover parts of each other previously hidden. Of course, in "origin" stories like "The Game" and "Shouldn't Be Doing This" the discovery is the sexual attraction itself, an attraction that both Harry and Hermione seem genuinely surprised by. "The Game" starts out as a playful distraction from their punishing NEWT studying schedule (another instance of the characters being put in a setting that shapes the way they relate to each other) but soon it takes on a life of its own until the game itself becomes very serious indeed. In "A Good Wine and a Good Book" Harry is surprised by what Hermione gets up to when she's alone, perhaps surprised by her very depth of feeling for him. But in "Home Is Where the Heart Is" Harry returns the favor, surprising Hermione with his reaction to and understanding of her body. While both of these latter stories are short slice-of-married-life stories, they still derive their heat from the emotions that run between Harry and Hermione, and indeed, their comfort with each other.
"The Gazebo" unites all three couples at Draco and Ginny's engagement party, and uses that opportunity to contrast their very different reactions to such a public occasion. Narcissa and Severus are stepping out into public at last, but tentitively. Draco and Ginny, on the other hand, are relieved to be in the open, accepting of the attention of the partygoers, and relatively unconcerned with who might be watching their canoodling. But Harry and Hermione escape this public occasion as soon as possible, taking their refuge in the garden, though ironically it is they who make love in the semi-public gazebo.
I hope I've given you some insight into what I think makes for a good smut fic and sparked your curiosity about Cadey's writing. Nearly of the above can be found on RS.org (she very conveniently pops up as the first author on the "C" page). And I haven't even told you about her brilliant Albus/Minerva romances, the other Severus/Narcissa stories, the Ron/Padma tale, or her longer WIP Never Let Them See You Bleed, all of which are posted at Fiction Alley. Read them all, and I'm certain they will totally spoil you for anything less.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 12:09 pm (UTC)Thanks, Clio. ♥
I'm serious, I'm blushing over here. And I'm giggling madly.
And I did notice the song. Very nice selection. ;) For that, you get a Percy!
no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 04:37 pm (UTC)