There are times I really hate sex – literary sex, of course – what else?
Everywhere I went this week, I was confronted with posters advertising the film version of 50 Shades of Grey. Not exactly unexpected, but it got me to thinking about sex in story-telling.
To be honest up front, I haven’t read the three 50 Shades books. I started but didn’t finish the first one… and it had nothing to do with the sex. I have no problems with sex, even explicit sex, in a book – if it’s right for the book and the story and the characters.
I hate gratuitous sex scenes. You know the ones I mean – it feels as if the author suddenly thinks it’s been two chapters since the last sex scene and therefore it’s time for another one.
I hate stupid sexual content. Here’s an example I read recently: Our heroine is lying weak and in pain in a hospital bed, with no idea what happened to her. A man in a white coat is talking to her – obviously a doctor. Three men burst into the room. Our hero grabs the doctor and kills him by breaking his neck. Our heroine is immediately overwhelmed by insatiable desire to have sex with this man. Really? Wouldn’t she be more likely to be terrified?
Then there was the action man hero – a bodyguard protecting his heroine under fire. They are sheltering as bullets fly all around them, and he drifts off into a sexual fantasy about the heroine. It’s nice that he fancies her – but personally I’d rather my bodyguard was thinking out getting me out of there without being shot.
And a personal favourite – the barmaid heroine who is working late on New Year’s Eve – busy, overworked and exhausted and coping with the drunks in the bar. In walks a cowboy she has never seen before, who grabs her and snogs the living daylights out of her. He then picks up two drinks without paying and walks off to join his girlfriend. Our barmaid immediately knows he is THE ONE. Personally, the closest I would get to a sexual interest in this man would be my knee into his groin.
I do believe in instant sexual attraction. I maybe also believe in love at first sight (or very strong like at first sight) – but that only works for me if the characters and circumstances are right.
My books are often described by reviewers as ‘sweet romance’ – meaning there is no on the page sex. Sexual tension – yes. But the relationships in my books are forged as the characters get to know each other. Love comes before sex….. except…
This week I wrote a scene where my protagonists meet for the first time – and there is instant flaring sexual tension between them. Stronger than I’ve ever written before. I hadn’t planned it. It just came out that way. I must point out they are in a bar – so the sexual tension is not out of place.
I wonder if this is the effect of all those 50 Shades movie posters…. but I’m looking forward to finding out over the next few weeks how this relationship grows. But I still have a feeling that they may have to wait a while before they get to act on the attraction…
