by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson
I think we all agree we live in a sex-saturated society. Everywhere
we turn there is sex - social media, movies and television, books, even
advertising. Yes, we all know sex is used to sell everything from coffee
filters to motorcycles and just about anything you can think of in between.
These days it's difficult to find books or movies that don't
drip with explicit, graphic and sometimes gratuitous sex, but it is possible.
The writers of this blog write what some call 'clean' books that don't have
excessive sex or violence... but be careful of saying that. The word 'clean' is
a trigger for lots of writers and maybe even some readers, especially those who
like their reading explicit. It implies, they say, that sex is inherently
'dirty.'
Well, that argument is way above my pay grade! Besides, what
constitutes 'sex' is really a very grey area, open to all manner of
interpretations. To some readers, a kiss before an engagement is salacious,
while to some others getting to know the other person's name before the characters
have sex is not really necessary. Most readers - and writers - fall somewhere
in between.
So as writers what do we do about sex? Ignore it? Allude to
it? Something else? There are those who say that sex is an integral component
of romance and of life itself, and that to ignore it is dishonest. There are
also those who say that some things should be private, and not everyone regards
premarital sex or even descriptions of marital sex as an indispensable part of
romance. And many mystery readers believe that sex - except perhaps as a motive
- has any place whatsoever in a mystery.
What's a poor writer to do?
First, we must accept that whatever we do there are some
people who won't be happy about it. Second, we must always remember that it's
our story and our people, and what they do is at our decision and command.
There are all kinds of options open to us. We can write a
story where sex is not only not mentioned, it's never even thought of. We can
write a story where a couple (married or unmarried) have sex, but it's most
definitely off-screen, with nothing but the most careful allusion to it having happened.
Some writers get so graphic in their descriptions of The Act that it might as
well be advertised as an instructional manual.
So - do your characters do 'It'? Or not? It's up to you -
and your readers.
