{"id":5641,"date":"2015-02-08T07:02:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T07:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5641"},"modified":"2015-02-08T07:02:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T07:02:02","slug":"on-the-subject-of-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5641","title":{"rendered":"On the subject of sex\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"fiftyshadesofgrey\"<\/a>
It’s a fairly compelling poster – but maybe a bit much for a bus stop?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are times I really hate sex – literary sex, of course \u2013 what else?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

To be honest up front, I haven\u2019t read the three 50 Shades books. I started but didn\u2019t finish the first one\u2026 and it had nothing to do with the sex. I have no problems with sex, even explicit sex, in a book \u2013 if it\u2019s right for the book and the story and the characters.<\/p>\n

I hate gratuitous sex scenes. You know the ones I mean \u2013 it feels as if the author suddenly thinks it\u2019s been two chapters since the last sex scene and therefore it\u2019s time for another one.<\/p>\n

I hate stupid sexual content. Here\u2019s 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 \u2013 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\u2019t she be more likely to be terrified?<\/p>\n

Then there was the action man hero \u2013 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\u2019s nice that he fancies her \u2013 but personally I\u2019d rather my bodyguard was thinking out getting me out of there without being shot.<\/p>\n

And a personal favourite \u2013 the barmaid heroine who is working late on New Year\u2019s Eve \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

I do believe in instant sexual attraction. I maybe also believe in love at first sight (or very strong like at first sight) \u2013 but that only works for me if the characters and circumstances are right.<\/p>\n

My books are often described by reviewers as \u2018sweet romance\u2019 \u2013 meaning there is no on the page sex. Sexual tension \u2013 yes. But the relationships in my books are forged as the characters get to know each other. Love comes before sex\u2026.. except\u2026<\/p>\n

This week I wrote a scene where my protagonists meet for the first time \u2013 and there is instant flaring sexual tension between them. Stronger than I\u2019ve ever written before. I hadn\u2019t planned it. It just came out that way. I must point out they are in a bar \u2013 so the sexual tension is not out of place.<\/p>\n

I wonder if this is the effect of all those 50 Shades movie posters\u2026. but I\u2019m 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\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Of course, my sudden interest in literary sex may have something to do with finding myself sharing an Amazon top 20 with the 50 Shades movie tie-in edition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are times I really hate sex – literary sex, of course \u2013 what else? Everywhere I went this week, I was confronted with posters advertising the film version of 50 Shades…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1sZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}