SORRY, NOT SORRY

By Kasie Witener

I like the sex in the story.

I read romance novels almost exclusively and I’m not embarrassed to say I like the sex scenes.

The characters are important, of course, and the tension leading up to that point when they finally give in, but it’s the intimacy of the sex that keeps me reading.

I’ve been known to stay awake into the early hours of morning reading romance novels.

I’ve abandoned books that had terrible, awkward, or clinical sex scenes.

I’ve read entire series of books by authors who made dozens of sex scenes seem original every single time.

I’m not alone. Romance is the most popular genre on Amazon. It’s the single biggest genre of fiction accounting for 23% of the overall fiction market in 2016 and growing exponentially. While 83% of the readers are female, Romance Writers of America estimates 16% are male, with the average age between 35- and 39-years-old. I’m 44 and I’m not the oldest romance junkie I know.

Like most genre fiction, romance is governed by reader expectations, chief among them is the HEA (happily ever after) which is what separates the romance from a love story. Split into dozens of subgenres, Romance also meets readers where their desires are: contemporary, erotic, historical, dark, paranormal, “spiritual elements” or Christian romance, romantic suspense, sweet or “clean” romance, and young adult with teenaged or early-twenties characters.

Writers have also embraced the tropes: billionaire, boss, athlete, rock star, outlaw (motorcycle, mafia), and military. Like I said, they meet readers where they are.

What this teaches me, as a writer, because I don’t write romance, is to focus on those moments in the book that I want to become the reader’s favorite.

For example, in After December, my first-person male protagonist has a couple of really great moments. There’s the time he cold-cocks a former high school rival for calling his ex-girlfriend a slut. Then he takes the bartender home and … well, it’s a moment some readers have said made them throw the book across the room. Writing important moments—the scenes that will stick with the reader—that’s what I want to do. I don’t write romance, but I don’t back away from the sexuality of my characters, either.

My second novel, Before Pittsburgh, is out this week (August 17) and I have dozens of favorite moments. One of them is when Brian is teasing his ex-girlfriend with a cookie in his hotel room. It’s not sex, but it’s a sexy scene. One of dozens.

Revision, for me, focuses on solidifying those scenes. Making each moment impactful, meaningful, memorable. So, when my readers flip through the book, they’ll know what it was they loved about it.

Maybe it will be the sex. But I hope will be the vulnerability around Brian’s mental health, the deep forging of friendship bonds, forgiveness of his parents, or the delicate untangling of bad decisions.

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it’s the sex. And I’m not even sorry about it.