Twelve years after it was first published, The Joy of Writing Sex remains the classic writer's resource on creating compelling sex scenes. Elizabeth Benedict covers all the issues, from the first time, to married sex and adultery, to sex in the age of AIDS.
Her instruction, supported with examples from the works of today's most respected writers-among them, Dorothy Allison, Russell Banks, Alan Hollinghurst, Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Shields, and John Updike-focuses on crafting believable sex scenes that hinge on freshness of character, dialogue, mood, and plot.
In this revised edition, Benedict addresses the latest sexual revolution, intimacy on the Internet; adds new interviews with Edmund White, Darren Strauss, Stephen McCauley, and other writers; and updates her selections to include examples from the best fiction of the past few years.

Elizabeth Benedict is the author of five novels, including Slow Dancing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the national bestseller, Almost. She writes nonfiction for many publications, including The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Allure, Tin House, and Daedalus. She has taught writing at Princeton University, the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, Barnard, and MIT, and lives in New York City.