Sex and fiction

In any story where there’s a man and woman as characters, any writer would be hard pressed not to acknowledge the cultural, physical, or sexual dynamics. After all, they describe, right? To ignore this just makes the relationships in the story unrealistic. So, I dare say, that in all good fiction where the opposite sexes show, where is some reference.

In romance there’s a lot of references, lol. They rate heat levels from 1 to 10 in chili peppers. 1 is a sweet romance. Ten burns down the building. I was asked if I write sex scenes or do I close the bedroom door like they try to do in ABC’s The Bachelor franchise. What if there is no door and no sex? Is that possible? Yes, it depends on the characters, but absolutely no man and woman involved in a romance does not at least think about it. That’s the beauty and also the responsibility of writing romance and the truth in any type of novel.

Writing sex for sex’s sake is way different than romance, even opposite. Romance is about love or the search for love. If a sex scene is written it must be written with that in mind, otherwise put that book down. To do otherwise, once again, would be unrealistic, or bad fiction.

Yes, I write sweet romance and sometimes steamy romance at perhaps a five on that 1 to 10 scale. I know I can write erotica (sex) and make a lot of money, but I won’t because I don’t find it realistic. It is true that some guys or gals are players, but even then, they run away from love, and for what reason. There’s no getting around it. It’s like painting a Zebra so there’s no stripes and how are going to sneak into a zoo, huh? Give me a break.