Wendy Risher's Blog

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sexual Content

I realized that I haven't blogged in a while, so here's a topic that's come up recently. I've had some interesting conversations with people, and I've listened to other authors discuss their views on sexual content in books. Let's just say it's a fun topic. :) I'll start with a conversation I've had with others about some books that have a LOT of explicit sexual content. I do not view these types of books as trashy, and I feel very strongly about that. Just because there is a lot of sex doesn't mean that it's not a good story. And I admit that I love reading about the sex too! From an author's standpoint, sexual content is not easy to write. The intimate scenes in my books were some of the most challenging to write, though it was a lot of fun! Especially with young adult books, I wanted to say enough, but not too much. I wanted it to be good and not sound cheesy. I believe I accomplished my goal. This leads me to the next topic, a really cool panel discussion by young adult authors about crossing over from young adult books into adult. What was one of the biggest differences they discussed? You got it! Sex! It was cool to hear their viewpoints. I recall one author saying that she wrote the sex scenes first when starting her first adult book, because she was so excited to finally have the freedom to really write them! In conclusion, a good book is a good book - young-adult or adult, little sexual content or a lot. I love to read them all! What are your thoughts?