I was talking to a friend the other day who joked about one day watching Mirror Image on the big screen, but he would only watch it if there was a sex scene. At the time, I just rolled my eyes until I really started to think.
When I was shopping for a publisher on my beloved sci-fi romance tale, I had gotten feedback before about a lack of sex in the book. I was told I would always be considered a Young Adult author because my one scene in the book is so rated G it's almost sweet. The offer then came that if I would expand the scene, they would publish it.
Solely because of sex? Did that make the book more marketable? Does sex equal sales?
These are the thoughts that ran through my mind. But having an actual erotic scene in this story felt so wrong to me I couldn't even entertain the idea.
I have written many erotic scenes. Change the Stars (out June 4th) is an erotic historical romance. Color of Dreams (My ABNA contender) is also an erotic romance drama. I'm comfortable with it when it has a place for it.
I'm not one to just throw in a scene, regardless of content, for word count. I'm all about the story. Sex, to me, should only be in if it's necessary. Gratuitous is not in my nature.
With that in mind, when I haven't been preparing Mirror Image and Change the Stars for release, I've been working on the first in my other sci-fi romance series, Amethyst Chronicles.
When I'm not at my computer to write, I work by hand in notebooks. Lately I have been so busy that almost the entire work for Amethyst has been in my orange notebook (Thanks, Ashlee! sqcircleblog.wordpress.com is her blog if you're a wrestling fan, check it out) and the book is halfway full. Does someone want to suffer through my notes in the margins and transcribe for me? No? Damn. Anyway, without going into too many details, I have a...rather intense sex scene in my pages. The intent was more about Ember than the actual act. It's supposed to show how she is in the beginning of the story and compare to a scene later on how she changes and evolves as the story progresses. But the scene itself is highly graphic in nature.
The more I thought about it, the more I think I'm going to edit and modify when I put it into Scrivener. Maybe the scene will show up in its current form in a different book or even on my website, which is coming soon, as a 'deleted scene'. Some components will be there as it still has a purpose but I just don't feel a heavily hot and graphic scene like what it originally was fits with the mood of my book.
I may be in the minority as the saying goes, 'Sex sells' but in my sci-fi romance stories, you won't see it. Want erotica? Read Change the Stars and eventually Color of Dreams when it becomes available.
Coming soon I'll have cover art for both upcoming releases as well as the launch of my own .com :-)
1 comments:
That is a tough call to make when it comes to our writing. Erotica seems to be the trend these days, and it's been around forever! Fifty Shades of Grey just brought it to the forefront again.
As a writer, I choose not to put these scenes in my book. And not to come across as "holier-than-thou" or prude...I'm just not comfortable writing them. Also, being a mom of young kids, I want to be able to share my work with my little ones. (My husband is a former pastor, too...so there is that.) ;o)
It's always good to give your readers what they want. I applaud you for staying on top of that! :o) Thank goodness for so many different works out there. We can all reach different types of readers! :o)
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