Several weeks ago, I read a Dear
Abby column which was so entertaining I saved a copy of it to share with you
today. The Dear Abby reader in question said she was a happily married
professional woman who writes “romance novels . . . as a hobby and side
business.”
So far, so good.
The problem is her husband reads her love scenes and
becomes “sullen, withdrawn and angry.” He thinks everything she writes is
linked to an old boyfriend or actual event. His jealous behavior has her so
upset that she asks Abby, “Should I give up writing or should he learn to deal
with it?”
Abby’s answer is a hoot: “The man of your dreams shouldn’t sulk. If he
can’t accept that what you write is fiction, tell him to quit reading your
books.”
Now I realize most if not all of us here at NYUS are
not writing romance novels as such. Nevertheless, a little romance does creep
into our plots from time to time—a kiss, a rapid heart beat, an illicit
backseat encounter, a secret dinner meeting, an occasional tryst. The list goes
on. After all, we’re writing about human experiences not crime in a vacuum.
So when my husband comments about a sexy scene I’ve
written I respond in one of two ways:
a) I throw my hands on
my hips and ask, “Does Stephen King have a basement full of corpses?” Or,
b)
“Darling, you’re
the model for every love scene I ever wrote.”
You’ll have no trouble figuring out which one is the
more popular reply.
Have you, as a writer, ever encountered a jealous
reaction from a spouse or significant other for a love scene in your book? If
so, how do you handle it? Or him?
6 comments:
Jean, I can honestly say that I never encountered a jealous reaction from my spouse regarding my writing. Principally because he never read anything I wrote.
He's no longer my spouse.
I enjoyed this post, Jean. I totally, completely write romance. And suspense. Romantic suspense has to be about 50-50 on the romance and suspense elements, and it's a difficult balance. As to the intimate scenes, my husband doesn't get jealous—as long as I promise to use him as a guinea pig when I need to do research.
Marcelle, your answer is funny. "He never read anything I wrote." A lot of writers say that same thing.
Anne Marie, when the female in your love scenes really enjoys the experience, tell your significant other he was the model for that one. He'll love it! But you've probably figured that out already.
No. I didn't start writing until after DH died.
Oh, Rita, there's an untold story there.
A lovely post and comments LOL. My Hubby doesn't read my books either, and did once ask if I wrote romance because there wasn't enough already on my life! I reassured him there *was* - I just made up extra for the readers :).
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