Now that I have a few books under my belt I’m starting to notice some things about myself. As a writer, I mean ::clears throat:: Obviously, romance authors write what appeals to us—heroes that haunt our imaginations, heroines we enjoy identifying with, locations that we want to hang out in—at least mentally—while we’re writing the book.
And I’ve noticed that my characters like to have sex outdoors.
There, I’ve said it. And the evidence is in print.
In my first book, THE BOSS’S DEMAND, my hero and heroine made love for the first time by a mesquite fire in the dark Nevada desert. In my second book, SEDUCED FOR THE INHERITANCE they make love under a blossom laden tree in one of the hero’s Florida orange groves. And in BLACK SHEEP BILLIONAIRE (out now!) they get wet doing it in a sandy Maine inlet under a summer moon.
I guess I just love the idea that the sexual tension is so taut and snapping and the characters are so wrapped up in each other that they just can’t stop.
Of course, sex outdoors in real life is fraught with problems: mosquitoes, nosy neighbors, grit, biting winds. The classic cliché of lovers going at in a hayloft makes people shake their heads and mutter “but hay is so scratchy!”
Who cares? It’s fiction. If you can’t have sex on a beach in a romance novel, then where the heck can you? I try to soothe potential nay-sayers by pointing out that yes, the heroine in my first book was worried about roaming coyotes and snakes (not until after they were done, of course, but still!). I was careful to point out in my current book that Maine was warmer than usual but that the ocean was still chilly (because the ocean off Maine is NEVER going to be warm), and that yes, they were all sandy afterwards.
And, let’s face it, people have been making love outdoors since the beginning of time. For most of human history, there was no indoors J
Do you enjoy reading about people making love in interesting places? Or do thoughts of the uncomfortable realities distract you from enjoying the scene? Is there an outdoor lovin’ scene from a book that sticks in you mind? One commenter will win a signed copy of BLACK SHEEP BILLIONAIRE.
Jen
Tranquility in an uncertain environment 