What I won't write about...

I've disagreed with the importance of sex in stories. Is it necessary to share that characters have sex to the extent that the reader gets a glimpse of what actually transpired? The only purpose in that is for titillation, not for revelation. That and I don't plan on having a need for sex to be integral in any of my stories. It's a messy addition that really only adds...mess. The only exception I can think of is a romance novel...but then again romance is more relationship than physical and if there's too much heavy petting and not enough conversating (yeah not really a word, but it worked for context and, yes, rhyming)...well...it teeters on a boring precipice.

And for the most part I think it's added in a desperation to save a boring story line. Excitement garnered through arousal is best done in private not in public...for one by another. Romance novels are not my interest. Never will be.

This brings me to my reason for adding a post about it. I got on the conversation with workmates about my novel and the topic of sex popped up. Popped-up probably happened during that conversation, which is why I don't care for such discussions. I don't want to be the reason someone else gets that excited. They asked if there was sex because my character is sixteen. I said no. That sparked a discussion on how one did this and that when he was sixteen because he was so full of sexual need (I don't want to say that word).

I didn't and don't care. Jeremiah Jericho is sixteen. If someone who's NOT sixteen reads it and gears up for some sort of sexual moment...that'll be disturbing. If you're the same age, that's disturbing as well, but not as much as if you're twenty-something and wondering when he'll have sex. What kind of person is infatuated with when someone else is going to have sex? Are they going to ask to watch once they find out it'll happen?

Unless one is interested in having sex in front of others (which is essentially what Jeremiah Jericho would have to do), one wouldn't bother since they're under watch most of every second. Once you introduce sex in that context, it changes the story dynamic to something that I don't want. The focus becomes more when will the next time be than the actual story. Just like girls and women are far more than talking about boys and men, so I believe (and have lived) boys and men are more than their over exaggeration about their adventures with women. They're all women. Girls are what you don't like when you're in kindergarten.

"But sex is natural." So is crapping and peeing. I don't go into grave detail with either. Would you read a book that (and wasn't mentioned on the back cover it was even going to, nor is it part of the theme of the story) went into detail about each time the character went to the restroom? So why would I write about sex when sex isn't a theme or an important part of my story?

If you want something sexual, don't read my book. Or any of them. I'm not going to be that kind of writer.