Does Your Romance Novel Need a Sex Scene?
Continued
A note about romantica. There is a popular romance subgenre that is all about the sex, but is still a romance. Some people call this romantica or erotica, and the distinctions are still being debated. Most people say that regardless of how sexy it is, a romance is primarily about relationships. And erotica is primarily about sex. In both kinds of stories, the sex is frequent, detailed and often unconventional. But a lot of romance writers believe that erotica should not be considered a subgenre of romance. Hence the temporizing term romantica to describe stories that incorporate a lot of sex but still have a strong romantic backbone. How a publisher wants to market the book may determine its official category, regardless of its actual content.
Does your romance novel even need a sex scene? You might not know in advance how much sexual detail you are comfortable writing, but you must aim for some sexual expression in a romance. Kissing, at the very least. Your characters should want to kiss and embrace. Or more. Whether they do it or not is up to you. But a romance is a courtship. It depicts how two people become intimate. Your story should establish both an emotional and a sexual link between the main characters. Every romance needs a sex scene, however mild it may be, to prove that these people are meant to be together.
What if your sex scene feels tacked on and unnecessary? After you have written the complete novel, here’s a way to test if you have fully integrated the sex with the rest of the story: remove the sex scene in question. Is anything different? Did anything happen during the sex scene (and remember, it might just be a kiss) that changed the main characters’ relationship during the rest of the story? If so, the sex scene is necessary. If the removal of a sex scene changes nothing about a romance, then it is unnecessary. If you find that you are constantly writing removable sex scenes, then you’re writing the wrong kind of sex scenes. Sexual intimacy should be deeply emotionally involving to both of your romantic leads. It should ask or answer questions they have about themselves and about each other. Feelings are what make a sex scene necessary in a romance.
Is the heroine allowed to have sex with anyone else? It is no longer conventional for a romance heroine to be a virgin, nor for a romance hero to be a womanizer. Still, the past sexual behavior of the heroine or the hero should always be in the past. During the action of the story, neither of them should have an ongoing sexual relationship or any other significant sexual contact with anyone else. Sexual exclusivity is expected between lead characters in a romance novel. Other allied genres and some developing subgenres of romance do push this rule, but the majority of romances are firm about fidelity.
With these guidelines in hand, you’ll be able to confidently include just the right amount of sexual expression in your romance novel.
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