It’s time for “the TALK"

By Wanda Ottewell, Senior Editor Superromance

We’ve been chatting here together for a while now, right? We’re comfortable together, have shared some laughs…a few secrets. We know each other well enough to let down our hair, yes? Good. Because it’s time to talk about S-E-X.

No, not that part of sex. As close as we are, there really is some personal stuff I don’t want to know, LOL. I mean the role sex plays in a Harlequin Superromance book.

Remember in my first blog I talked about variety? How the editors who work on this series look for different types of stories, different tones, different voices? Well, the same is true for the sensuality level. And no, I don’t necessarily mean we have to see the hero and heroine do that thing in that place—especially if it’s not really possible to put those body parts in those positions.

I mean that the some of our stories are sweet with little or no sex. Some sex happens behind a closed—and locked and barred and bolted—bedroom door.

Other stories are, well, much steamier. As in, is-it-hot-in-here?-I-think-I-need-a-cigarette steamy.

So with that kind of range, how can we ever guide writers about what to include, or readers about what to expect, from our books?

In my mind, it’s a matter of intent and degree. First, the intent. The sex in a Superromance book isn’t for the sake of sex. It’s not gratuitous—there simply to titillate the reader. The sex needs to bring the hero and heroine together, even if it complicates their relationship. The sex serves a purpose—other than physical gratification—in the story. It improves situations and might set up the characters for a bigger fall later. Or it makes the situation worse and the characters have to work to improve it. It should be the next logical step for the relationship and it should move the relationship forward. (That’s true even if the characters just met and this is a one-night stand.) Above all, the sex has to be accompanied by emotion in the characters.

Now, for the degree. A description that you would read in an erotic romance novel probably wouldn’t fit in a Superromance novel. That’s probably above the degree of explicitness we’re comfortable with. We try to avoid euphemisms—I like to think we’re all old enough to call parts for what they are. And I don’t know about you, but some euphemisms are so cringe-worthy, I put the book down. I do like there to be some physical connection between the hero and heroine because sex is such a fundamental part of life and love and romance that a story feels incomplete without it.

There is another aspect to sex that I’m barely touching on here. And it’s a big enough component that it could be its own discussion: sensual tension. I’ve read books where the sensual tension is so high, I didn’t notice that the hero and heroine almost never touched each other, shared only a handful of kisses, and there were only one or two love scenes. Whew! Sex does not have to be about Tab A in Slot B. Good sensual tension is showing the characters’ awareness of each other, but not in the expected or stereotypical ways (you know the ways I mean, the descriptions you’ve read so often you could quote them in your sleep). It’s building the sense of wanting in the characters so that the reader is on the edge of her seat waiting for them to finally give in. And when the sensual tension leads easily and naturally into the sex, it rarely feels gratuitous or unnecessary. Without sensual tension…well, I gotta ask why bother? Maybe some of the Superromance authors can be persuaded to share their secrets for creating tension….

As always, I want to hear your opinions about sex in romance novels. When is it too much? When is it not enough? Do you skip over it? Do you earmark those pages to return to? I suspect this topic will also generate a lot of questions for me to answer about Superromance, so bring it on!