Insight

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby

In the past there have been things that I said I would never write about or have in my fiction, and over time I proved myself to be a liar.

One thing I distinctively remember saying I would never write was sex scenes. I had this conversation with Nikki back in 2002. I told her that I just didn’t think that I would be able to write the kind of thing and not feel weird about it. But not long after that I wrote my first sex scene. It appeared in Something That Can’t Be Explained. I never set out to have that in the story, but as I was writing, it became pretty apparent to me after a while that I did in fact need to go there with that story. Why? you ask. Well, from the beginning I think the physical attraction between Trip and Zac was pretty dynamic to the whole story. Things began to change in their relationship because of one kiss. And by the time I started to bring the story to a close, I thought that by the way things were going in Trip and Zac’s relationship that they would end up sleeping together. Of course when I first wrote the chapter, I felt a little uneasy about it. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to let people read it, so even after I finished that chapter, I didn’t let anyone aside from Nikki and Steph read it until a month later. I was actually very relieved when the chapter was well recieved.

Since then there have been more sex scenes in my stories. Not that I’m some kind of sex fiend and feel the urge to write those types of scenes in all of my stories, but I feel like since I have grown as a person and a writer, I should be able to write about adult situations - especially since my characters are older as well. And, honestly, I think I have a reasonable explanation for ever sex scene that has appeared in my fiction at this point.

I’ve already explained why it was important in Something That Can’t Be Explained, and the same explanation followed through to its sequel, Buried Beneath.

As for Happily Ever After Doesn’t Exist, I thought that the sex scene was very important. After the ordeal that Taylor and Eden have undergone, I thought that they needed that element in their relationship to bring them fully together again. Some have said that they thought there should have been some sex scenes in Bed of Lies, and while the whole plot spun out from the fact that Taylor and Eden slept together and she got pregnant, I didn’t feel like there needed to be any vivid descriptive scenes in the story because Eden was more or less drunk when she slept with Taylor; therefore, she wasn’t fully aware of her actions and only vaguely remembered what happened.

In Distorted Blessings, I originally had no intention of there being a sex scene; however, when I started to think about it, I felt like the readers needed some insight into how Julie got into the situation she was in. Yes, I could have just said that she had unprotected sex and left it at that, but I really felt like the sex scene was needed to show Julie’s frame of mind. Julie really is a smart girl, but she made a stupid decision. She knew that she could get pregnant even if Hadrian did pull out, but she was too caught up in the moment to care. I also thought that the scene was a good way to introduce Hadrian as well.

Somebody Told Me

Some people have told me that they can see some of my characteristics and personality in my characters. And that always surprises me because for the most part, the situations that my characters are going through are so different from my life. But then again, I do realize that even without trying I do put a lot of myself into the characters. I mean, you write what you know, so I guess it’s only natural.

I think the character that’s the most like me is probably Trip. Her personality is a lot like mine, but I’m not saying that she is me! Not at all. There are some major differences. She is a much bolder person than I am. But all of her sarcasm is definitely a prominent characteristic we share, and I probably do have some of the same insecurities as her, but that’s about as far as it goes.

Set Aside

These are just some random facts about some of the stories.

Originally, the main male lead in Something That Can’t Be Explained was going to be Taylor. The initial idea for the story was the same - Trip didn’t get along with the guys, but then things are going to start to change and one of them is going to fall for her. But looking at it now, I think the whole story would have turned out completely different with Taylor as the lead guy. The only reason why I decided to change that was because when I finally decided to pick the story back up, Taylor had gotten married. I debated over the idea of just going with my original idea and leaving Natalie out of it, but there was so many rumors circulating about why Taylor and Natalie got married that I couldn’t help but bring that element into the story, so I just went with it. In the end, I’m glad that I decided to change it to Trip and Zac. I think their personalities compliment each other the best and that’s what really made the story.

Distorted Blessings was originally different as well. I wrote the first two chapter back in 2002 for starters, so when I started it, Taylor was the one who was Julie’s age in real life, and he was going to be the one she was at odds with. But when I finally picked the story back up this year, I had to update some of the concepts of the story. I didn’t want to change Julie’s age, so I just switched to Zac instead of Taylor. Seems to be a trend with me, eh? Anyway, I think that Zac works better in that story.

In Bed of Lies I actually did consider having Eden cheat on Taylor with Zac. I’m so glad that I didn’t take things that way though. For one, I don’t think Zac would do that to his brother. And I don’t think that Eden would do that either - especially after she caught Taylor cheating on her and was upset with him for being unfaithful to her. Of course, I could have gone with the revenge scenerio, but in the end I really didn’t like that idea that well.

I wasn’t sure who was going to be the one that was trying to kill Eden in Bed of Lies until the end. Audrey didn’t cross my mind until the chapter where she and Eden went to the spa. It could have just as easily been Tracie or Walker.

I thought about having a sex scene in Truth Be Known. It probably would have been between Zac and Victoria, but I didn’t think I could pull it off, so I scrapped the idea. Besides, Zac was only 15 in that story and Victoria was 21. That would have been a little pervy …

Dreams Will Fade is the only story I’ve ever killed off a Hanson brother in. And it was hard for me to do too!

In Bed of Lies Eden made of a recording of herself singing ‘Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry’ by Chicago for Taylor, and later I found out that that was my parents’ song.

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