Getting the tone right

I write romances and mysteries, both contemporary and paranormal, cozy and a bit edgier. When I first started publishing, I had two pen names to keep the genres from getting mixed up. But at some point, it felt easier to combine everything under one pen name, and so my genre selection became a bit eclectic.

When it comes to romances, whether contemporary or paranormal, my books always have at least one sex scene. They’re fairly explicit, though never terribly long. They are romances, after all, not erotica. But not all books with romances need sex scenes.

When I started writing P.I. Tracy Hayes mysteries, I knew that there would be a slow-building romance between Tracy and Jackson, her boss. It took until book 7, Valentine of a P.I., before the pair ended up in bed together. And when they did, I closed the bedroom door. For me, it was enough to know that they’d reached that point. There have been four more books since, and the bedroom door has stayed closed.

I made the same decision with my paranormal cozy series, House of Magic. That, too, has a slow romance between Phoebe and her boss Kane, but they only waited until book 4, Magic by the Book, to get in bed together. And I closed the door again.

It’s not like I don’t know how to write sex scenes. I chose not to.

However, my readers aren’t entirely happy. Twice now, I’ve had reviewers specifically mention the disappointing lack of sex and tell that they’d lowered the rating because of it. As a reader, I get it. You’ve waited long enough and deserve some spice. But as the author, I have to get the tone right. And sex would ruin it.

It’s not always about sex either. I’ve had reviewers complain for my use of f-word in my cozy mysteries. And I understand where they’re coming from too. However, my mysteries aren’t entirely cozy. That’s especially true with my crime caper series, The Reed Files, where the male MC, Eliot, is a former mafia enforcer from New Jersey. I simply cannot imagine he wouldn’t use the f-word. So those will stay.

Violence, too, is a balancing act. A writer asked on social media the other day, how much violence should there be in a historical fantasy. Readers might expect some of it, but others might be put off. At the end of the day, though, it’s the writer’s world and they get to decide. For every reader they might lose for not meeting the readers’ expectations—and readers are so diverse, it’s impossible to meet all of them—they might gain two.

And sometimes I want to push the genre a bit too. So, very likely, The Reed Files at least will have an explicit sex scene or two in the future—once the slow-burn romance reaches that far. And I wouldn’t put it past some characters in the House of Magic using the f-word too. The readers who find curse words too much might be outraged by the sex scenes, but the readers who want the sex will be happy. Most importantly, I’ve written the book that I want to write.