Am I being the last prude standing when I do a double take when I read about heroines who sleep with the hero five minutes after meeting him. And am I being the one thing I hate more than a liar, a hypocrite, if my writing reflects such a state. I won't even kiss on a first date, but the female characters I have dancing in my head wouldn't hesitate to go after something or someone they wanted, and that includes sexually. I, on the other hand, am nothing like that.
When I write from a character's perspective I tend to infuse a lot of myself into them. All my characters have a piece of my personality in them, except in this aspect. Maybe deep down I wouldn't mind for once throwing caution and upbringing to the wind and indulging in the fantasy of succumbing to a sexual attraction with a hot stranger.
I've never really thought any less of a heroine who sleeps with the hero "on their first date" but I admit to feeling differently in real life. Is that a double standard? Or is it that I already know the heroine ends up with the hero, while real life isn't always that easy.
What do you think of the heroine who sleep with the hero within a day of knowing him? Is the idea a little bit of a turn on or are authors portraying women in a bad light?
And that's my naughty thoughts on giving it up in the first chapter.
Later Loveys
P.S. Don't forget to share/google+ this post if you liked it.
"Maybe deep down I wouldn't mind for once throwing caution and upbringing to the wind and indulging in the fantasy of succumbing to a sexual attraction with a hot stranger."
ReplyDeleteThis is fantasy. When we write, when we read, we indulge in imagination and fantasy. It is the place we ultimately want to take our readers.
Personally, I do not read romance. Occasionally a little erotica creeps into a novel I may be reading and if in context of the story, it is acceptable.
The fact the heroine goes out to seek that which she wants, from a male perspective, is interesting and fantasy. The norms of everyday living and the risks involved in participating in this sort of forwardness, 'usually' put the brakes on.
Do we want to wait a few dates for the first kiss when we are reading, or a year before they jump each others bones. It depends on the story being written. Is it in context? Is the leading man getting his thrills elsewhere? or in a historical novel, is he or she parted for years, separated by continents.
You pick up a book, a story, with certain expectations. If it is for 'turn on' then you expect them to be at it in short order. If you pick up a book for a good story where two people meet and 'eventually' get together. It is a different thing.
After a youth in the swinging sixties, travelling the world. I thought no less of a one night stand as I did of a night not standing. :)
I don't pick up romance novels for a turn on or I wouldn't read a lot of regency and even some historical. So it wouldn't me if the only sex scene was in the last chapter...I'm asking why suddenly is it now in the first...are some writers trying to appeal to some hidden fantasy that most women wouldn't act on..the fantasy of sleeping with a sexy stranger.
DeleteIf it was possible to answer why a genre/theme becomes the latest fad in reading, then we would have the key to a fortune.
DeleteA certain type of novel gets huge publication, good or bad, and people gather interest. The truth we are told is, no publicity is bad publicity.
We are told, grab your audience in the first lines and perhaps the message has been taken too literally, I cannot answer. What appeals to wide audience changes constantly. What was unacceptable in the '50's is now considered laughable. Women have a greater input in what they want to read and see, and unfortunately in todays society, so many youngsters grow up thinking everything they see, hear or read, is true and the way it should be.
I enjoy many of your posts, unfortunately I commenced a conversation within which I have no answers. JB
Thanks for the back and forth...I'm glad you enjoyed my writing..hope to hear form you again
DeleteOk first things first, real life, nothing wrong with holding your powder dry to make sure the other person is worthy of your attentions having said that you don't want to let it lie there so long it no longer works. You should listen to your own body it will tell you what you need not what society dictates. If we were to listen to the opinions of the moral majority without question there would still be wifes flinging themselves onto funeral pyres to show love and devotion to a dead husband!!! (It is still a custom)
ReplyDeleteThis is what is so fantastic about writing, it is fantasy made real or at least alive, but we excerpt control. Your female lead may well grab some tall dark stranger and pull him into the bushes for the best sex of her life, try it in real life you will get an ass full of nettles, at best a disappointing fumble and more than likely the attentions of a very angry wife. Stick with the impetus kinky stuff in the story world it is much safer.
PS liked the post and the blog. Squid
Thanks...I think you see my point...are the romance novels being written like this so we can experience the impetus kinky stuff in the safety and comfort of our imaginations.
Deleteyou're giving your female characters what you lack and it's dying to come out...this is a well hidden alter ego;)
ReplyDeletemaybe....
DeleteI think it's natural for you to infuse part of yourself into your characters, you're the creator of how you want them to be and act. As for judging a book based on how much sexual activity they have after meeting, I think it's based off of the person. Personally, it is a bit of a downer, so I agree with you on that! :D
ReplyDeletePersonally I like the novels where the hero has to work for "it"...nothing bets sexual tension....
DeleteHey Illyana,
ReplyDeleteThat is usually what I am thinking too, "what the..." but I think it all depends on your reader. I myself prefer a working up to that sort of thing, and I think books are all the better for it, if the author strings the reader along making them wonder if it's even going to happen.
A good novelist has to kick their protagonist around a bit, and them getting what they want immediately is never good for the readers. It could work if they get this aspect of what they want (sexual freedom in the beginning of the book) and then cause a struggle in another aspect, but there has to be tension somewhere.
That is my perspective,
Thanks for making me think about it.
Lori
I agree...tension is always great... sometimes I find myself thinking do "it" already, the sexual tension is so high
DeleteCall me old-fashioned, but in my romcom, Loosely Translated, the couple don't jump into bed until about page 230! AND I don't even show it! I couldn't seriously write a sex scene - I'd laugh too much. I think you need to create tension and that disappears if they go at it like rabbits within the first chapter. Would that also really come under the genre of Romance, or Sexual Titillation? What happened to true love? Part of the idea of my book was to show how a womaniser has to learn to fall in love with the person inside, not fall in lust with superficial beauty. As I said, call me old-fashioned.
ReplyDeleteSo true...there's something to be said for old fashion...
DeleteI agree with Simon. Are we writing "romance" books or "how to screw" books. Sorry, but I like the tender moments - as someone said - we are more than rabbits. Of course, I think that the jump right in there approach is just a tool sometimes to catch the reader and stroke his/her libido. We all want to be instantly desirable.
ReplyDeleteYour character can be instantly desirable with have to sexually involved to show it...I'm reading a book right now where the heroine is a seerer and she's already seen herself and the hero making love...but it hasn't actually happen yet..and the sexual tension is now really charged between them
Delete