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Archive for June, 2020|Monthly archive page

What makes a “dubious consent” story?

Hello, friends!

I have a question for the collective: What makes a dubious-consent/or non-consent story?

I ask because there have been a recent wave of reviews of Blade’s Edge claiming it has non-consensual or dubious-consensual sex scenes in that the heroine and the villainess are chemically altered during the act.

I had thought it was perfectly clear in both cases that the females had already made the decision to have the encounters before imbibing. If I did not, I’d be quite happy to go back and add it. In block caps. In bold. 🙂

There was also a review claiming that the main character only decided to make the relationship permanent while sedated, which also is not chronologically correct in terms of the plot.

Also puzzling, the first of these reviews appeared after the book had been in print for at least a decade. Why is the book being read this way now, as opposed to, say, five years ago during the height of the Me, Too movement?

I’ve always felt that, once a book is released into the wild, it has to stand or fall on its own merits. Reviews are opinions, and nobody’s opinion is wrong—although it could be based on misinformation or misinterpretation, it’s still their opinion.

However, right now I’m sorely tempted to respond to these reviews asking how the readers came to their conclusions. I know that’s an extremely bad idea, so I’m asking here instead. Did they miss the decision points? Was I being too subtle? Is this a delayed change in the general zeitgeist?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,
Val

That Face When…

You realize you need to completely replot your novel, because you’re at 40,000 words and have run out of things to do…and it’s supposed to be an 80,000-word book.

I don’t own the copyright to this, but it’s all over the internet and I couldn’t find the original to even give credit for it. If anyone knows, I’d be happy to pay for the image.

Every day for the past, oh, month or so, I have opened up my work in progress, the story of Beta Tanaka and Danae Childress’s courtship, and stared at it for an hour or so. Adding a sentence here, taking one out there. And I haven’t substantially changed the total number of words.

This week, I had an epiphany. I’ve told all the story I had. What I really need to do is expand the story, which is going to require expanding the plot, which is going to affect the character arcs and the relationship arc.

So I might as well just come out and say it—I need to replot the danged book. Luckily I’ve had a couple of ideas already that not only expand the external plot, but also both protagonists’ character arcs. They also make the relationship issues (and resolution of those issues) more realistic and satisfying. Well, satisfying to me at least.

So, for those of you waiting on Beta Test/Beta’s Test/Testing Beta (or whatever the final title turns out to be), I’m sorry, it’s gong to be a while longer.

But I think it’s going to be a much better book.

Thanks for your patience,
Val

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