You read about S-E-X? Or what if you write about it?
Does she know you read about R-O-M-A-N-C-E?
How about H-O-T and S-E-X-Y W-E-R-E-W-O-L-V-E-S?
Or J-A-G-U-A-R S-H-I-F-T-E-R-S?
Or H-O-T B-L-O-O-D-E-D V-A-M-P-I-R-E-S?
Or B-R-A-W H-I-G-H-L-A-N-D W-A-R-R-I-O-R-S?
Does she?
I've read romance books since I was little--you know: Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Rapunzel, you name it. They were romances.
So when did romance become a bad thing? My mother read a lot of different genres, including horror by Stephen King, but when it came to romance, no way. And S-E-X, no, no, no. And the paranormal?
As long as it was horror, she loved it. She made me fall in love with Dracula. Way to go, Mom!
She read my books--the sexless ones, or I read them to her, skipping over the sexier parts. We brainstormed for a new vampire story--this one was for my Kiss of the Vampire which is about 4 vampire teens who take a cruise to get away from their league of vampires who are ready to terminate them.
So Mom says, "Vampires on a cruise would be great! They have all those passengers to suck blood from. They can throw the bodies overboard and no one will ever suspect."
Sweet romance, Mom. I'm not writing horror stories. And that's how it went. My werewolves would shift and eat people and then return to human form. Mom, romance. Not horror.
When she'd tell friends what I'd write, she'd wave her hand and say, "Oh, you know that far-out paranormal stuff."
She was also a Trekky. Got me hooked on Star Trek.
So it wasn't like she didn't like far-out stuff. :) She just didn't want to read about R-O-M-A-N-C-E and S-E-X.
Which brings me to wonder why women who abhor those two things were all agog about reading 50 Shades of Grey??? Even my daughter (so this is a reversal of does your mother know--does your daughter know what mother reads...or writes?)--picked up that book, but quickly discarded it. But I was still shaking my head because if you want to go to the extreme, that book is it.
My mother would have been aghast. I was aghast that my daughter had been reading it!
So...that brings me back to our enlightened mothers...or daughters...do yours not want to know?
I'm also here today talking about Self-Publishing or Indie Publishing.
Have a super Monday!!!
Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com
14 comments:
My mother reads nearly everything, and didn't censor my reading material, even giving me The Clan of the Cave Bear at age 17 or 18. She sent me off to college with my 1st Danielle Steele book, and didn't bat an eye when I read The Flame and The Flower at age 12.
I let Mom read my first two books, and the only thing she objected to was the prolific use of the 'F' word in the 1st.
When I 'fessed up about the erotic romance I was now writing, she simply nodded. "Sex sells." (I nearly fell over in shock!)
And she's read my ER, but I 'PG' them down for her, eliminating some of the sex scenes and changing some of the buzz and cuss words to tamer vocabulary. And she's enjoyed them all, but did note "They spend an awful lot of time in bed."
And she once told me, "I may not always be proud of WHAT you write, but I'm ALWAYS proud of your writing ABILITY."
Thanks Mom:)
Too funny, Molly, about sex sells. :)
Okay, I had a funny too with The Clan of the Cave Bear. My MIL! had it and she likes to read literary works, so when she passed it on to me to write, I was shocked! :)
But my mother read a really racy book in high school in Canada, can't remember the title, so I know she read stuff like that. :)
LOL, about them spending a lot of time in bed! I love it!!! :)
You have a great mom!!! Give her a hug for me! :)
I took COTCB to school and was reading it before class, when we had a substitute teacher who knew my mom (Mom was the HS nurse). She said, "Molly, does your mother know what you're reading?"
"Yes, she gave it to me."
Sub just shook her head, lol! And I devoured Valley of the Horses...it was MUCH more detailed about 'the act':)
And I shake my head over Mom's comments about the language. You'd think that being a HS nurse for 30+ years, she'd know by now that college students do not swear 'gee whiz golly gee'! But then again, I'm her daughter, who NEVER utters the 'F' word, ha ha.....(and if you believe that, I've got some swamp land for you....)
LOL, Molly, you are too cute! Good thing your mother had given the book to you!!!
My girlfriend was the first who had exposed me to the adult romance reading--her sister was ten years older than us and a librarian. I didn't read romances like that for years afterwards. LOL ;)
Hi Terry,
Your mom sounded like an awesome person. Horror is one of my favorite genres.
My mom doesn't read, but she does listen to audio books with my dad. They used to only listen to Harry Potter and books like that. I introduced them to Michael Crichton and Iris Johansen. So now, they're into suspense and mystery.
My daughters are in their 20's and think that they should only read stuffy literary books. It takes them months to read one. I told them it's because they're boring. Not enough conflict or just a boring subject. I have been trying to get them to read romance. I've even given them books that have a premise I think would draw them in. Still, they don't read them. It bothers me because they're missing out on the whole reason behind reading. Enjoyment!
They are prudes when it comes to sex and informed me that they will skip over any sex I put in mine. How could these kids be mine? Lol.
I think in general,romance books are under rated but I'm happy they're starting to get the credit they deserve. I hope it gets more and more popular as time goes by. There are so many fabulous romances out there.
Great post Terry. I always love to hear mother daughter stories.
Thanks, Bonnie. My mom and I were best of friends. I love Iris Johansen and Michael Crichton too.
Too funny about your daughters!!! That's what I wonder too! :) LOL
I remember reading where a fan of romance buried the books in her backyard after she read them because she didn't want her church friends to know she read them. LOL :)
Oh BTW,
I did introduce my SIL to Karen Marie Moning and LK Hamillton. He absolutely loves them. My daughter gets bent out of shape because she says I shouldn't be giving him books to read with Sex in it. It's not common Mother in-law behavior. Lol :-)
LOL, Bonnie. That's why our SILs should love us. :)
My wife, children & grandchildren got shocked by Immortal Relations, a paranormal romance novel written in response to a photograph found after my parents died showing dad had an tryst while overseas. I'd never considered sex "dirty" so was surprised the one bookstore that sells it (other than Amazon & Kindle) put "erotic" on the tear-tag. They classified my second in the series "general" since it has less "explicit togetherness". I have an Adult Content warning in both and the third (in work).
LOL, Vamp Writer. My dad wrote a racy short story that he shared with me, really shocking me too. :) I don't think we expect our parents to think thoughts like that. :)
Laughing, Sounds a lot like my Mom. In her day. She didn't read racy books. It was not part of her strong christian upbringing. And Christian Gray would have been tossed into the fire. But I don't like it either.
So true, Donna! :) Hope you are feeling better!
My mother isn't a reader. She knows what I read and that a lot of it is erotica. We've had a very open relationship since I was about 11. Sex hasn't been a subject to avoid, but to talk about. She, due to her past, isn't fond of sex in any form. My mom also knows that because of the less traumatic way I was raised (big praise to her) I love sex ;)
Tala, that's wonderful. It's great to have open and honest dialogue with family.
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