Sex and Books
Reading has, as of late, become extremely important to me.
Maybe it is because I find myself with more time than I allowed myself to have in Texas. Or, maybe it's because I now reside in an extremely intellectual city and their mutual love for learning and becoming ever-smarter is spurring me to, at the very least, attempt to expand my knowledge pool.
My current reading average is completing one book a week. I work to alternate classic, contemporary, juvenile fiction, theology/biblical application, poetry, art, fiction, and non-fiction regularly.
I recently finished a book that is a collection of short stories by one author. In all ten stories in this collection, the act of sex or the implication of sex happening between paragraphs was implied or present.
It was never necessary to the plot of the short story. Characters were not further developed in the act of passionate love making, plot lines were not interwoven within those sheets... sex was just... there.
Because it could be?
There are better ways to tell stories.
There is a time and place for sex, and sex in writing, sure. But please, don't cheapen sex.
Don't use sex to cheapen your work and make it "sell."
Unnecessarily using sex to make something "provocative" is lazy writing. Make us angry by pointing out the need for social justice, infuriate us by bringing to light a call to action in an area where we lack, teach us a way to make something better, point out issues in life through your writing-art, draw us into your thoughts, into your longings, into your anguish!
The first definition of provocative is not sexual.
There are better ways to write captivating stories.
One doesn't need a girl to take off her clothing to compel an audience. In fact, I'm more annoyed when you cheapen femininity and insinuate that a girl is useful in a plot solely for looks, pleasure and temptation.
Go away with that.