Let’s talk about sex…

Moving along with thoughts from yesterday’s post, the comment trails in Justine’s post, and a discussion on one of my email loops about our responsibility as authors…

On one hand, I remember learning a lot from the books I read when I was younger. But on the other, I was not some blank slate whose view of life was formed entirely by novels. Mostly, I found I identified with the moral stances in novels that matched the one I’d formed through the usual channels: family, society, religion, etc., and found the others interesting, but didn’t overhaul my personal philosophy after the effects of a good story. Let’s put it this way: I read Stranger in a Strange Land when I was sixteen. I did not become a proponent of free love. I read The Magus for a school project in tenth grade. I did not set up sexually manipulative games to get back at my ex-boyfriends. I was totally obsessed The Mists of Avalon when I was fourteen, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I have never acted like the characters in that novel! (So scandalous!)

My current reading tends towards the “edgy” end of the YA spectrum, in keeping with the tone of my own YA novels, so I’ve read a lot of books that do deal with sex, whether the characters are having it or not. Sexual politics and sexuality are at the forefront of my upcoming YA novel.
The entire book hinges upon it. I think, however, that it’s perfectly realistic to have characters in a YA who aren’t having sex. None of mine are. They are all virgins, by necessity! 😉

And just as writing about sex should be based on the needs of the story, so should including an actual sex scene. For instance, in my adult books: in the first one, characters had sex, but I closed the door. Literally. They went into the bedroom and closed the door, and in the next scene, it was morning. I didn’t make that choice because of any moral or censorship concerns, but because that was what was right for the story. The details of what happened in that bedroom were not important to the book. It was enough for the reader to know that they slept together.

In the second book, I included a more explicit sex scene, because in that case, it was what was right for the story. The characters had a very sexualized relationship and it was important, given the promise to the reader from the build up, that they see the payoff as well. The decision was made based on the needs of the story, first and foremost.

It’s been gratifying to me to see people react positively to the sex scene in my second book, and to the choices I’ve made for the characters in all of them, but I know not everyone is going to like them. My father wasn’t the happiest camper around, for example. (Love ya, Dad!) I’m also happy to discuss those choices. As mentioned yesterday, I think Amy has made some very poor choices. Amy would agree with that herself (and does, in the book). But I also think she’s made some great choices, even if they are choices that I would not make, because they don’t fit into my personality or moral code. I’m not my characters. I don’t only write about mistakes I make (or would) or triumphs I’d pull off (or have). But I do try to write honestly — to have my characters make mistakes that, even if they are not our own, are something we can understand.

And I’m not interested in writing perfect people. There’s no place to take them but down.