I was talking to a friend about the stories I write, and what they have in common. When I said they all explore the shape and boundaries of intimacy, I found I’d taken us down a cul-de-sac of different interpretations, which was interesting.
To my friend, intimacy meant physical intimacy. To me, physical intimacy is an essential, but the least important part, of a romance. As I’ve posted before (in All you need is love and The Jude Knight Manifesto), I’m far more interested in creating connections between my characters that are emotional, intellectual, familial, and spiritual.
So what is the enduring appeal of stories about entitled alpha-jerks who accidentally discover true love with the woman they intended merely as a convenient shag-buddy? You know the ones I mean. The hero is a duke or a billionaire or a football star, and the heroine is unwillingly intrigued, but ultimately gives up her own dreams to make his come true. Such tales usually come with explicit descriptions of the sexual act that focus on the woman’s pleasure, which often seems to be directly associated with her helplessness.
The Guardian had an interesting article on why many leading writers are abandoning such story lines. Do you read them? Do you write them? Can you explain this phenomenon to me?
I have spent an afternoon clicking through the links in this entry, which led to clicking other links and reading posts I had missed, which contained other links… which eventually led to needing to order out for dinner because I had no time to cook.
Jude, you are brilliant. I know your books are brilliant because I’ve read them all, but I do not mean that descriptive in a British sort of way. I mean brilliant as in intelligent, smart, interesting, intellectual, informed. I mean, I am in awe. Your posts are magnificent.
I also mean that I have rarely laughed so hard as I did at the wonderful “Magic Penis” and “Magic Vagina!” Oh, my gosh– yes! I have read so many, ahem, lower-class romances that contained both, to the point that I questioned what I knew about human anatomy and physiology (and I am not only a well-loved wife of 36+ years, but a nurse, as well). I do believe that those two phrases have been added to my repertoire of scathing comments. Oh, dear. There goes the laughing jag again! I can’t wait for my husband to get home to share!
Jude, I look forward to all of your posts and am dying for The Realm of Silence to get here. I think you need to quit that day job and just start to give us admirers a book a month. Maybe more, since a Jude Knight book gets read in one sitting and re-read frequently.
I repeat: I am in awe.
Best Wishes,
Mary
Mary, I am in shock. What a wonderful comment! I am now printing it to go and show my husband. Thank you so much for your support. Realm is going to the final editor within the week, and I’m just firming up its May release date. House of Thorns is off to the publisher on Thursday, and due to be released in June, as is a contemporary novella in an Authors of Main Street collection. Hope that will help!