Authors Blog 1 - On Sex And Fantasy

When I was writing the first draft of this book, Normal People by Sally Rooney had just been adapted for the BBC in the UK and across the board, it was being praised for its explicit sex scenes both in print and on the TV adaption. It struck me then, that I had never once heard of a fantasy novel with sex scenes that were lauded with anywhere near the same degree of vigour. I know that fantasy as a genre and the Litrpg/progression fantasy subgenres within that are looked down on as childish, both in the publishing industry and in the eyes of the general public.

When I look at the work that we as authors produce, I can’t help but think that this attitude isn’t entirely unearned. It is hard to say who exactly is to blame, the publishers for green-lighting novels that fit the mould, and then us indie authors who follow what we ‘know to work’, or authors as a whole for producing a great quantity of childish drivel only for the publishing industry to then select the cream of the crop. I have my opinions on this, but I’ll save that for another blog post.

If I read the epic fantasy greats, or even just the well-received fantasy novels and web-fictions, where the protagonists are usually young and socially awkward. They will typically have a crush that will culminate in a kiss, a confession of their shared love, only for the love interest to then die dramatically or otherwise be whisked away in the next chapter, usually at the end of the book. In Litrpg’s/Progression fantasy this trend is often much worse, the sexual tension just builds and builds and ...builds. The author usually going out of their way to describe how two people are sexually attracted to one another, both physically fit, single, often rich and magically powerful and yet nothing ever happens. I’m not saying that every web-fiction should be turned into a romance story with explicit sex scenes, but what I am saying to my fellow authors is to stop making POV characters so attracted to each other if nothing is ever going to happen between them.

I understand that writing sexual tension is an easy way to justify why two characters care for one another and keeping that relationship at such a nascent state lets you avoid having to create convincing relationships or write sex scenes that can be challenging to craft. Something which is even less appealing to devote your energies to when the audience for it is so uncertain. But it is also lazy writing, which breaks immersion in the realness of the characters when everyone is acting like a nun for no apparent reason. I’m not going to name any series or books that I deem to be particularly bad offenders at this but in my personal experience the vast majority of people (who are not asexuals) like sex and romantic companionship. Creating two people who are perfectly suited to each other, who spend all their time together in high-stress situations and then do nothing to act on their obvious and shared feelings is unrealistic.

I’ve lived in student halls, so trust me when I say, that two people wholly unsuited for each other with a little alcohol and a lot of youthful exuberance will have ill-advised sex. Add in superpowers, life and death scenarios, and an author literally pushing their soulmate in front of them and it just becomes ridiculous that something as facile as ‘not wanting to ruin their friendship’ would stop them from tearing each others clothes off.

To close: Love is messy and stupid. Smart, rational people do insane, idiotic things for it all the time, especially in high-stress situations. So to me, having beautiful teens, 20-something adventurers, immortal dragons or hundred year old elves, go out into the world, risk their lives slaying monsters and then not make stupid decisions when the pressure is off and the wine is flowing is lazy writing. With the resulting lack of adult, messy relationships being damaging to the maturity of the genre as a whole.

How can we expect anyone to take our work seriously when the characters we create consistently lack one of our fundamental drives or the maturity to act on it?

I do not believe for a moment that this story or blog post will do anything to change that, but I will be damned if I will let that stop me from trying my best to include adult relationships and explicit sex scenes where I deem them appropriate to the story. It’s scary in many a sense, I know what my audience wants, and as I have mentioned multiple times, sex scenes and romantic drama is hard to write well. I could fail, my story could fall flat, the relationships could appear shallow and the sex cringey. Sticking to magic and violence is safe, but it is also unambitious, and if my stories fail, it will never be because I lacked ambition.

This post has barely been edited for consumption.