Edited…
Also titled…. *Wince…Please don’t*
Over at Ilona Andrews’ blog, she had a post up on Sunday that got to discussing sex in stories…adding more in, having enough, not enough….
There really is no doubt that sex can sell. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have that little phrase… “Sex sells.”
But using sex just to make a project more likely to sell? I think this is actually a common assumption. Just going by some comments I see on twitter, message boards, etc. I hear/see the question, “How much is too much?”
Well, you put in what the story calls for. If the story calls for no sex-don’t put it in there.
The problem with adding it in just for the sake of selling a book? Well, unless the book really calls for the sex, you’re discrediting your book…and assuming that putting it in there will make it more likely to sell, well, it’s not going to help. If a book is already done, you can’t just add in one or two sex scenes and assume that will do it, because what you’ve done is added in some token sex.
Does this mean you can’t make sexual tension work for your book?
Of course not. But for a book that’s already done, what you’ll have to do is rewrite it. From the beginning-start working in the sexual tension, building it up, and then when (and if) the time is right for the story, you add in the sex.
I’ll be the first to admit that I love a good sex scene. But if it seems like the book is one long sex scene with a bit of storyline thrown in, it turns me off the book real quick.
I’ve seen my fair share of books that appear as though they would’ve been fantastic on their own, but they tossed in a few sexy times in to get the book to sell better… And that just makes me sad.
I agree with you 100% on this one. I think the sexual tension is what makes or breaks a book where sex is involved. It’s like foreplay for the reader. We like alot of foreplay.
Also, I realize I have never disliked a book for lack of sex but I have disliked a book for too much of it.
I love an open door policy for the sex in my reads but pages upon pages of sex does nothing to move the story along and I’m really more interested in the story than the sex.
I would have this author rethink the story and maybe touch it up here or there, constructive criticism… Get feedback to see if someone else sees something that is missing or just not working.
I agree that the sexual tension should be woven through. Some stories probably lend themselves to less sex than others. I don’t think it helps if you add it like a topping rather than an ingredient than goes in from the beginning.
Julie James is a master at sexual tension. Her first two books had hardly any sex yet they were rated “hot”.
The complaint I hear out there: a romantic suspense that has too much romance or too much suspense. It has to be a good balance.
In other words, it should be “hot with a plot”.