There seems to be a rubric for writing sex in novels. I remember an obituary for Barbara Cartland. It said her heroines didn't have sex until the end of the novel - the glorious union, on her wedding night. I'm sorry but when has losing your first sexual experience been a glorious union? Two hapless virgins fumbling about like they're working out what the buttons do on a new toy. Men need to sow their oats a bit and read a few books, get some practice in before settling down to monogamy. And Alan isn't exactly Casanova. His lack of sexual prowess and experience is something my editor baulked at.
When I got my first sex scene back from the editor I wanted to puke. It came back full of slush, the two become one scenario, Alan filling her with his body and loving. The couple are pretty disconnected. He's rusty to say the least and is more shocked and bewildered by the invitation than about to become the next Casanova.
A lot of people say they like my book because the characters are real. I sacrifice the archetypical hero for realism, so the sex is also real. Not gimmicky, and there to give the reader a bit of sensationalism. It's there to reveal very human characters, who have their flaws, and crack up when under too much pressure.
Sex is something my characters have to work at. It's very lust driven but that doesn't mean it hits the spot every time. Over time they get better at it and learn how to become connected. A strong personal connection doesn't necessarily result in it being manifest in the physical side of the relationship. My characters move towards this as part of their journey.
Showing posts with label Fifty shades of Grey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fifty shades of Grey. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 June 2014
Friday, 6 June 2014
The cover - more than Fifty Shades of Grey
Take a look at the cover of 'Beneath the Perfect World' and you'll see a nothing but shades of grey. The shot was taken by Michael Horsfield, a friend of mine and amateur photographer. I took an interest in his photography after he posted some of his pictures on Facebook, many of them taken whilst out cycling in the Dales. I had a look through his Flickr page. The obvious connection between the location and protagonist made this the likely place to find a suitable cover photograph. I thought the black and white shot captured the bleakness of the protagonist's situation and also the shadow hanging over him.
The image depicts the opening scene of the book. Susanna North suggested superimposed the bike, although I would have been happy just to use the original photograph. I was told the bike would arouse a bit of curiosity in the reader. Why the hell is that there? You find out in the first chapter. The cover picture is Fleet Moss, about fifteen miles from where the fictional location of Clayton is meant to be. It's the middle of nowhere, the nearest major town being Skipton, which isn't that big, and the nearest city being Bradford, some thirty miles away.
So, the more than fifty shades on the cover represent the sinister edge to life in a seemingly gentile village. No bondage gear allowed there. At least if you had it, you would have to be ultra discrete because the locals like to gossip and it's very difficult to keep your life private. Alan doesn't have to anything too outrageous to rock their world. Where the police don't intervene, a deputation of neighbours will.
The inspiration for the community came when I was living in Bradford. I lived in the Urban village of Heaton, in the centre of Bradford opposite the local church. The residents of Clayton were based on the church community. In 2001, the vicar decided to put a mobile phone mast in the spire. The jury was still out at that stage as to whether or not these things were safe and the local community opposed it. What struck me was the outrage the church community showed when the local residents challenged the vicar. It was like, how dare you challenge a man of the cloth. Most surprising was being told no one had ever challenged the vicar before or spoken to him in the way we did. Eh? We were a group of educated, sensible people voicing a concern. We were far from the riotous militants we were made out to be. Yet the slightest dissention caused uproar within the church.
We staged a few peaceful protests outside the church during Sunday worship hours. Mortified by our antics, one of the congregation came out of church with a camera announcing, 'I'm going to take a photograph of this!' What was he going to do, show the world this bunch of infidels? The vicar saw sense and didn't publish it in the church magazines.
They got their mast in the end. I felt as though the thirty or so people who attended the church thought they were the whole world. So I stuck them in the middle of nowhere, where their self-importance could reign, and wrote about them. My protagonist is the rest of us rolled into one. He can't fight them; he just has to go elsewhere.
The image depicts the opening scene of the book. Susanna North suggested superimposed the bike, although I would have been happy just to use the original photograph. I was told the bike would arouse a bit of curiosity in the reader. Why the hell is that there? You find out in the first chapter. The cover picture is Fleet Moss, about fifteen miles from where the fictional location of Clayton is meant to be. It's the middle of nowhere, the nearest major town being Skipton, which isn't that big, and the nearest city being Bradford, some thirty miles away.
So, the more than fifty shades on the cover represent the sinister edge to life in a seemingly gentile village. No bondage gear allowed there. At least if you had it, you would have to be ultra discrete because the locals like to gossip and it's very difficult to keep your life private. Alan doesn't have to anything too outrageous to rock their world. Where the police don't intervene, a deputation of neighbours will.
The inspiration for the community came when I was living in Bradford. I lived in the Urban village of Heaton, in the centre of Bradford opposite the local church. The residents of Clayton were based on the church community. In 2001, the vicar decided to put a mobile phone mast in the spire. The jury was still out at that stage as to whether or not these things were safe and the local community opposed it. What struck me was the outrage the church community showed when the local residents challenged the vicar. It was like, how dare you challenge a man of the cloth. Most surprising was being told no one had ever challenged the vicar before or spoken to him in the way we did. Eh? We were a group of educated, sensible people voicing a concern. We were far from the riotous militants we were made out to be. Yet the slightest dissention caused uproar within the church.
We staged a few peaceful protests outside the church during Sunday worship hours. Mortified by our antics, one of the congregation came out of church with a camera announcing, 'I'm going to take a photograph of this!' What was he going to do, show the world this bunch of infidels? The vicar saw sense and didn't publish it in the church magazines.
They got their mast in the end. I felt as though the thirty or so people who attended the church thought they were the whole world. So I stuck them in the middle of nowhere, where their self-importance could reign, and wrote about them. My protagonist is the rest of us rolled into one. He can't fight them; he just has to go elsewhere.
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Sex scenes - by no means Fifty Shades of Grey
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.
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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