Sex in Fiction: or Why are you yelling “Bad dog!” at my cat?

One of the consolations of being an author is knowing that so many of those trying experiences along the way are shared by your fellow writers. That moment when you realize you’ve chosen the wrong point of view and need to start over from scratch. The sinking feeling when you type “the end” and realize it’s just the beginning of revisions. The nail-biting period when your novel just dropped and you’re waiting for your first reviews. The embarrassed look on your friend’s face when you thrust a copy of your book at them and they mumble, “Sorry, I’m not really into porn.” The despair when a reviewer notes, “The writing was excellent and I really enjoyed the characters, but I only gave it two stars because there wasn’t enough hot sex.”

Wait—what? You don’t get those last two? Oh, right, perhaps because you write about straight characters.

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