When I started writing 'Beneath the Perfect World' I was in a bit of a quandary about how much sex I should put in it. How explicit should I make it? The advice on the net was don't overload it. Making a book too erotic limits your target audience. You might be decimating your potential readership. No sex pleases everybody, and a bit of sex won't offend too many, but loads of sex might put people off. Then 'Fifty Shades of Grey' came out. For everyone of the 100 million who bought fifty-shades, think of how many would have bought it had it contained no sex. I can see that's a bit flawed, really.
In the end, I didn't conform to any rubric when I put the sex in. The reader needed to know that the characters had a sexual relationship, and how far it enhanced the emotional bond between them, but there is this thing called too much information. Sex in my novel goes beyond the physical act. It impinges strongly on the psyche of my main character, but probably not far enough for the novel to be a psycho-sexual thriller. It does form part of the psychological elements.
My protagonist is by no means a Christian Grey; in fact he's the opposite. He's self-abnegating when it comes to sex, if not baffled when his partner's response indicates he has some sexual prowess. He doesn't know his ability to satisfy a woman and watches, kind of metaphorically scratching his head while she wanders of into the realm of the orgasm.
There is a detachment between them. He ponders over her gratification while she appears to be somewhere else. There is a disunity between the two characters during sexual engagement, which is more orientated towards achieving a goal rather than sharing a journey.
It confirms, however, that the relationship between the two is based on a genuine bond of affection rather than lust.
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