Is my book too rude?
April 10, 2014
In between proofreading The Second Time I Saw You and writing more rude bits for Third Time Lucky, I ventured onto a BIG review site this morning to see the latest reaction to The First Time We Met. I try not to go there, as a rule, but I’m only human. To be fair, the reviews so far have been very positive.
I’m frequently surprised by the things people see in your work: occasionally, you’ll get a review that is so spot on what you were thinking yourself that you actually weep. Once in a while, you wonder if the person has actually read your book or got it confused with a car maintenance manual. Mostly, though, I find readers highlight aspects that you didn’t know was there.
So, this morning, I came across a review that made me smile and then think – wait because one of the phrases stood out for me.
I kinda loved it. Made me giggle, but I definitely would not read this out in public. A bit rude!!
It definitely has a lot of sex in it; because Alexander and Lauren are young, fit and passionately in love with each other (even though neither of them wants to admit it!)
Thing is, while the series is red hot and sexy, I wouldn’t actually say it’s erotic… and it definitely isn’t kinky (although I have no objection to kinky books, it isn’t 50 Shades of Grey)
My conclusion is that the series probably isn’t quite rude enough, so maybe I’d better fix that in Book 3. I say this tongue in cheek, of course, because actually, I think my books are exactly rude enough for the characters. I try hard to make them as sexy as the tone and development demands. The sex scenes are, I hope, in keeping with what Alexander and Lauren want and need. If I made them any hotter – or any less spicy – then it wouldn’t be their story any more, it would be mine or an editor’s.
What do you think?
Back to the Rudeness!
Posted by Phillipa @ 5:00 am | Leave a Comment
Chanpreet Says:
Phillipa I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet. So I can’t tell you personally if the book is too rude or not. What I can tell you, is to be true to your characters and the story in your head. Some level of rudeness is expected in a NA novel. If it isn’t, and the characters aren’t Amish, saving themselves for marriage, etc., it doesn’t come across as two people madly in love/lust with each other.
In fact I’ve seen authors change the way they write going from a cleanish NA with a little sex to straight up raunch because that’s what many readers wanted and that doesn’t always go over too well with everyone either.
Therefore, in conclusion, write what you want and is true to the story in your head as well as Lauren and Alexander. You can’t win ’em all, but you can be, and should be happy and satisfied with what you did. 🙂