How PEMS Sexual Intimacy Shapes Your Characters — Dr. J. | Donna Jennings, Ph.D.

#5 FWSG Blog Series

PEMS Sexual Intimacy is this week’s topic in the Fiction Writer’s Sexuality Blog Series. If this is your first read in the series, I’m highlighting content from my upcoming release, The Fiction Writer’s Sexuality Guide. You can look here.

I want to introduce you and help you understand the complex interplay of PEMS in sexual intimacy, its implications for personal growth and storytelling, and practical advice on weaving these elements into compelling character narratives. It begins by considering the bigger picture of sexuality for your characters, understanding how sexuality is an integral part of your story, and then delving deeper into your characters to explore how they experience sexuality in their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects.

Understanding PEMS and Its Role in Sexual Intimacy

When any sexual event has happened for you personally and for your character, it registers in four areas of your body: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. This will always have the component of what has happened before during sexual explorations. The responses in these areas inform what is going to happen next. Since these will live in memories, you will get them from…