If you've been around my blogs long enough, you'll have heard this before: I don't write sex. Flip open any of my books - even Fertile Ground - and you won't find more than the barest hint that anything sexual has occurred.
And that's me. It's a choice I made a long time ago. It's not that I have anything against books with sex in them. Personally, though, I can live without the down and dirty, nitty-gritty of sexual encounters. When I'm reading, I scan through those scenes anyway. Oh, once upon a time, I read every word of them, so I get it. I really do. It's just that as I got older, I got bored with reading the sex scenes. I craved the plot. I wanted the characterizations. I needed the scenery. Sex scenes? Yawn.
So when I began writing, I left the sex out. I felt like it wasn't exactly germane to my books anyway. I mean, when my characters are fighting for their lives, sex ain't exactly on their minds. Fighting for their life, hunting down a killer, trying to solve a mystery... Ain't got time for no game of slap and tickle.
I like to think I'm not the only reader who is happier without the sex scenes. I like to think I'm providing a niche for those readers with my own books. Quite possibly, I'm losing sales because there isn't any sex in my books. Oh well. I already know I'm losing sales because I am a hermit. It's about choices. Some people write books with sex, some people write books about sex, and I write books without sex.
I did try to turn one of my books into a romantic suspense. It was
flat and forced, and I deleted it. The book was better without it. In
my opinion, of course.
I could probably do it. I could sit down and write sex over and over until it came out natural and interesting. But I don't want to. I hope you'll understand.
I'm not apologizing. I'm just explaining. And hoping that, at some point, those no-sex niche readers will find my books and love them. Okay, just one apology: If you were expecting Jo and Zeke to get hot and heavy at any point in the Once Upon a Djinn series, I'm sorry to disappoint you. If at some point Jo and Zeke resume their romantic relationship, any intimate acts will be completed behind closed doors.
Oh, and if you know someone like me who is looking for books without sex scenes in them, send them my way. I promise they'll get all the other good parts of a story. =o)
You know I'm rooting for Jo and Zeke but they can take it behind closed doors. I have a vivid imagination. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat said, my own sex scenes are evolving to be more about the emotion than the physical act, though there is some of that. Okay, a lot of that. LOL No. I take that back. I think there's just enough but that's me. I read a book for the story. I write it that way too. And sometimes, stories need to keep the door open. LOL
Still, I love your books and I try to push people that way whenever the subject comes up!
I quit reading the sex scenes years ago. NOOO interest in reading or watching others. I completely gave up on a series by a formerly favorite author because she went from a great story with a little sex to one long porn novel with little or no story. I learned things about kinky sex I *really* didn't want to know!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you handle romance in your novels. I recommend you whenever I get the chance. :-)
I went brought a phase when all I wanted to read was erotic fiction and I don't mind admitting I love my collection of Lora Leigh / Emma Holly / Shayla Black / Maya Banks books. I've read them so many times I can quote dialogue, but what I loved most about those authors is the stories are good enough to carry the sex, if you see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteNow though I'm happy enough to skip the heavy pages looking out for quotations marks in case I miss some key piece of dialogue. Its the story that drives my interest, so if there's in there and the story is good I can live with it. Sometimes if the sexy bits are written well I read every word but it's not essential to my choice of book. My favorite author of all time is Georgette Heyer (sorry BE / Silver) and you're lucky to find hands holding in her books and they are still thoroughly enjoyable. If you haven't read any of hers, my favs are The Grand Sophy and Frederica.
I apologise for missing words out of my comment, my spelling errors and bad grammar. Having been classically trained on an old Remington manual typewriter back in the early 70s, I really struggle writing on my ipad / iphone with one finger - I hate it!
ReplyDelete