Too many princes, not enough sex?
So, Too Many Fairy Princes is finished, and I love it. It’s one of the few things I’ve written to which I would quite like to do a sequel. (Maybe where Drake keeps killing people and our heroes get caught up in the police investigation.) But it has no sex scene in it. It has a love story, an awful lot of UST, quite a bit of kissing, and a fade to black ending, but no sex.
I’m torn. I’m sure it would be more widely acceptable to publishers and readers alike if it had a final sex scene, but I don’t want to write one, and I don’t really think it needs one. In fact, as it’s pitched – mood wise – around the level of a Dr. Who story, I think it’s almost suitable to be classed as Young Adult, and a final sex scene would be out of keeping with the rest of it.
Rather than angst about this, I guess the thing to do is to ask my agent for her advice. Can a writer get away with fade to black romance, these days? What do you think?
Other excellent news – the cover art I did for Erastes’ Junction X is a finalist in this year’s Rainbow Awards
I’m gobsmacked by how high the standard for covers has become in the last few years. I started making them at a time when cover art was pretty dire, because I thought ‘I can do better than this.’ But now I’m thinking of hanging up my Gimp (yes, I know, don’t say it) for good, because I don’t think I can keep up with this rapid advance of excellence.
Right. UK Meet is coming up this weekend. I suppose I should go and write my talk!
I love both reading and writing erotic fiction, but if the mood of a story is more romantic, and not around the sex, a fade to black could be the way forward. It would seem strange to have a more ‘delicate’ mood and then at the end – BAM!sex-scene.
(See you at the meet! 😀 )
That’s good to know 🙂 And yes, I think it would be out of keeping with the rest of it. To be honest, the more I write the less I want to do the sex scenes in general. It was an interesting challenge at first, but now I find them mostly boring. Perhaps I need a rest from the more explicit stuff.
See you tomorrow!
Just put a comment on Goodreads, which is where I read your post, about an interesting article by Sherry Thomas on selecting cover designs. New to me was the issue of what a cover looks like in thumbnail view.
http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/guest-post-brave-new-world-what-ive-learned-about-cover-designs-for-digital-publishing/
Hope you enjoy the UK Meet!
Oh, that’s very interesting, HJ. Thanks for the link! Yes, you have to think about what it will look on the white background of most blog posts too. Which is a shame, because white areas on a cover can be quite dramatic in real life, but they do look odd on a white page.
Thank you! My daughter is moving out the day after, to go to university, so UK Meet’s being a bit overshadowed by that for me this year. But I’m still looking forward to it.
Congrats on Junction X!
Keep us posted on your agent’s verdict regarding the fade to black. I’m hoping it’s acceptable because I’m aiming for passion & fun with foreplay but a fade to black with my historical fiction. I’ve attempted to right graphic sex and, while you & others have done it beautifully, mine always is short, clumsy, clunky, and worse. 🙂
Enjoy getting your daugher off to uni & the UK meet.
Hi Char! Sorry about taking so long to reply – my computer is broken and I’m having to borrow someone else’s. Strangely, I haven’t had a reply to my email even to say that the agent received the letter, yet, so that’s another thing I’ll have to chase up when I’ve got the computer repaired. I suspect that adding another 5K to take the book into printable size might be a good idea in any case.
UK Meet was great, thanks! But daughter in London = three days of sobbing.