In many ways, I’m the odd (wo)man out here at WriteSex. After all, I don’t write erotica or even romance. I write the Jane True series: mainstream, mass market urban fantasy for Orbit Books, a publisher famous for its Sci Fi/Fantasy rather than its sizzle. Here’s what I write:
So why am I here?
One reason is that, while I don’t write romance, I do write sex. Urban fantasy is a fantastic genre in that it’s like a pick and mix: authors of urban fantasy get to cobble together whatever elements of fiction they like, as long as somewhere, somehow, they have some mixture of the “real” world and some element of the supernatural, paranormal, or magical.
When I started putting together my world, my version of UF, I knew that one of the elements I was definitely going to utlilize was sex. Not romance, per se, but I knew I was definitely going to have sex. The reason being, quite frankly, that I think sex is important. And not merely because I’m a lascivious little wench; it’s also because of my philosophies regarding sex.
Before you roll your eyes, let me assure you that, when I say “philosophies,” I mean philosophies. For one of the other reasons I was asked to participate in WriteSex is that I am a Ph.D. in English literature, whose academic background includes the conjunction of sex and power in contemporary British and American fiction.
As any literary theorist can tell you, sex has never been just about pleasure: not in life, and certainly not in fiction. Humans have sex for so many varied, complicated reasons, most of which we can never understand, nor even know exist.
That said, as thinkers such as Freud, Lawrence, and Nietzsche understood, we reveal so much about ourselves in the ways that we conduct ourselves, sexually; how we communicate about sex; and how we think about sex.
So when I sat down to write my first book, it was important for me to write about my protagonist’s sexuality because my whole book is rooted in her character. Of course plot is important, but Tempest Rising is as much character study as anything else. I couldn’t bring Jane to life without including her unique view of sex and sexuality.
And yet, as I’ve said, this book was published to be shelved, as it says on the spine, in either Fantasy or Horror, not in Romance. So, when it came to writing about sex, I had to make a lot of interesting choices, and defend those choices to myself and others, along the way.
These issues, and why I make the choices I make when writing sex for mainstream publication, are what I’m going to be talking about in my future blog posts for WriteSex. I’ll talk about such topics as how much is too much (learned that one the hard way); why none is too little for me, personally; building, or reducing, character through depicting sexuality; and there will definitely be something on the Dreaded Euphemism: or, “When a Lotus Blossom Should Remain Just a Lotus Blossom.”
Sound good? Let me know if there are other issues you’d like me to address and don’t be shy. I am here for you. 
Nicole Peeler
Good first post hon! Sorry about the theme upgrade mess. We’re working on all that!
Hi:
Looking forward to seeing what you have to say, and you may be planning to address this already but I was wondering:
Do you write the cast or their sexuality to serve the plot of your book, the plot to serve the cast, or try to find a middle ground? For example, unless your main character is promiscuous with multiple partners (and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that), they need a regular partner to have sex with. Which seems to require writing that partner into the story, which can be a problem if the partner doesn’t have any other purpose to the plot beyond serving as a sex partner. I’m sure there are ways around that, such as letting the main character monologue or fantasize about sex, but again, unless that is somehow tied into the plot it feels artificial.
I guess the short version of this is, ultimately what is your priority when writing: plot, character, or sex?
And thanks, looking forward to reading your thoughts, and the blog in general.
Vague
can you address the issue of sexual vocabulary? as a reader, i find when i’m reading a book, the mood can be totally broken if the wrong word is used for a female part or parts. i’ve seen it less with male sexual parts and the names some authors use to describe them, but for the female characters the author usually hits or misses completely. as a writer (just a hobby), i find i get totally turned off what i’m doing if i have to write a sex scene and the words just aren’t there to describe what i’m trying to say. most often, the words that are the most difficult to pick are the actual body parts (again, more so for women than men.)
Hey Kate T,
We’ll definitely be addressing sexual vocabulary. I can understand your points and will publish post on them in the future!
Vague, Thanks for following us. Nicole will be here to answer your question soon. We had a few hitches getting this set up and those were my fault
Thanks the both of you!
Hi Vague! Sex would never come first for me, as I write mainstream fiction. That’s a really interesting question, though, and you’ve raised a number of issues within that question that I’d like to think upon and address at length. (I do love length . . . and I mean that in a “long-winded,” not euphemistic sense.
But my gut reaction would be that at least for me, as a mainstream writer, sex has to further the plot or the character. I’m wondering how the erotica writers would handle this question? But over all you’ve raised a number of interesting issues, and I’ll think more on your questions and put together a proper blog post.
Thanks for responding I really appreciate the feedback.
Kate T: great question! And I hear you on the vocabulary. The word that always gets me is when they talk about “cream.” As in “she creamed.” I’m all, “ANYBODY GOT SPINACH? We can make us some DIP!” So this is an issue I’ll DEFINITELY be writing about in future. Thanks so much for your feedback!
I do write romance, but I guess you;d call it romantic sex. because no matter how erotic it is, the romance is always there. But that’s just me. I’m a sucker for a HEA! ?what can I say!
Nicole: Interesting, looking forward to hearing your longer thoughts.
Sascha: No worries, hitches happen.
Hi Sascha! Awesome blog!
And Nicole, I am so psyched beyond belief to hear a PhD in Lit writing in the genre slums… you have no idea (being a simple bachelor’s peon, I have nothing but bowing and genuflecting for smart, educated people who “get” mainstream fiction, especially dealing with sex.
I write erotica and erotic romance in lots of subgenres (plus other stuff) –UF/fantasy/paranormal and historical being my favorites. I particularly like historical beucase of the different external attitudes about sex and sexuality. But I like the sub genre not becuase it’s kinky (although there is a certain fun in that LOL!) but in that it’s so true that a character can use and be used for sex for so many psychological reasons. For those of us in erotic romance, specifically, there’s a difference in the focus of the character’s process throughout the plot… it’s not just a romance with graphic sex scenes scattered throughout that you could just as easily write as mainstream love scenes or delete all together. What happens and how it happens and why it happens matters to the character and the story.
I will definitely be checking out your books!
Fiona Vance
Thanks Fiona! You are obviously a woman of outstanding intellect and good judgment.
You can probably teach ME about writing sex, but I hope I say something of interest for you.
And yay sex!