Wow, a plot...

I was reading this book, part of a series, by a well known paperback writer and I was about four pages into it when I found out a character died.  Just like that. He's dead. I flicked back a couple of pages to make sure I hadn't missed anything and that pages weren't stuck together. I checked the series number of the book to make sure I hadn't skipped a book in between - but no, the character was dead. I avidly read on trying to work out what had happened, how the heroine was coping and wondering what she would do next now that this person had left her life. I liked that the heroine was pretty stoic, albeit heartbroken, about it and that she was getting on with her life wondering what she was supposed to do as I was wondering what she was going to do. 

To me, this is a good writer and a good book. Make me think. Make me wonder. Too few people write those books and when you find them, that's golden for a reader. It beats the hell out of shag the heroine for 99 pages with a plot on one page to suggest credibility.

Sex with your story…

…or story with your sex? Sometimes too much sex does not fit a story. Yes. Shock. Horror. If the hero and heroine are not fucking like bunnies in the most bizarre ways then the story can’t be much good can it? Ah, no, that would be wrong. Sex is good but a plot is golden I think it’s much harder to write a story with plot and less sex than a sexed up story with two/three/57sexual partners who have been bonking each other silly and you’re reading it and thinking what they hell is this story about other than sex and is anyone going to be able to walk straight tomorrow? Yes, my hand goes up. I have written books with a high sexual content. They are what the realistic call in the business ‘fuck books’ and not great literature as the unrealistic is-my-book-number-one-please-vote-for-me-or-die would call them.

Yes, yes, yes, sex in books is fantasy and generally bizarre and improbable and we like to wonder what he will do to her next and are his friends going to join in and what’s that the tattooed one carrying in his hand and is it legal but who cares as long as there is enough batteries. Fantasy. It’s wondrous. Reality. I would bet my arse, and I have a lot of arse to bet so it’s a sure thing, that 97.5% of readers want to read about love and emotion. Sure, sex completes those feelings. While you can be in love forever, I doubt you can be in sex forever…but what do I know?