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Here’s fun topic: spice in books, or as readers put it today 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️.
To be clear: I’m for spice and against censorship. If spice is not for you, let it be, but let others read and write free.
I’m amused by this topic because it seems like in every era, the pearl-clutchers complain about oh the women are reading and gasp, writing books that could injure their moral turpitude! LOL. Reminds me of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady character.
The term spice amuses me too because it conjures up whispered conversations and passed around in secret pulp fiction paperbacks and Gothic romances in the 50s and 60s with the good parts marked.
And oh, when I was in school, there was Flowers in the Attic.
By the 90s, romances branched into different genres of historical, contemporary, futuristic, time travel and while some went mild, many more remained hot with plenty of good parts. I know because I read them. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series remains in my memory as the breakout to mainstream title in the romance genre then.
Jump ahead to the 2010s for a more progressive era of identities and expression. M/M romances became a hot trend, leading the way to what’s now called queer romances.
As a reader, yes, I like spice up to a certain level but I’d like a plot and character development to go with it. For that reason, queer romances are my current go to reads because these stories tend to be more about the slow pace and the yearn which is more fun to engage with as a reader…
…and as a writer too! In my stories, I love writing “meet cute,” flirtation, kissing, arguments, breakups, moaning over the separation, joyful reunions, parties, daily life routines, all of that! Then my characters want their privacy, and I respect that.
Will I change that? Oh I don’t know. I’m of the mindset that writers go with what feels most authentic or most fun.
And that’s just me. I don’t tell other writers how they should write or what they should write.
When it comes to reviews, I prefer to focus on things I like or find meaningful or useful. If something is not for me, I let it be.
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I'm an author, photographer, and musician. I write about music, photography, books, as well as menopause and being 50+.
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Speaking of generations...
I’ve tracked my dreams for much of my life and some linger in my mind, like this one:
I’m at an airport waiting for a taxi. When one stops and I get in, I notice the driver seems both old and young. We talk as we drive and I also notice he has a distinctive scar on his face. He states that he was a World War I veteran.
While we drive I think to myself it’s remarkable to meet a vet from the First World War. He seems to pick up on my thought and says, “All generations have a scar, all generations have a mark.”
A message from the spirit of 1918/Lost Generation? And what kind of scar would each generation have?