When I wrote my first book I was a bit frightened of writing sex scenes as I know how easy they are to get wrong - and for other people to make fun of! But when I started writing my new novel, Nothing But Trouble, I thought I'd have a go - and found myself enjoying it so much I ended up writing a bonkbuster! I know it's unusual for men to write this kind of book for a female audience so here's what I learned along the way…
Nothing But Trouble
- Yes, people expect great sex scenes from a bonkbuster but make sure your sex is relevant to the story you're telling. If your characters are having random sex just for the sake of it then this isn't going to work; people can get this kind of thing from porn with just one click of a mouse. And remember that the vast majority of viewers of porn are men. If you want to engage female readers I suggest concentrating on giving them a great story - and weaving the sex in and out of that.
- When writing sex scenes, focus on the emotions your characters are feeling and not just what's going on anatomically. Again, if people want an experience that's purely physical they can very easily watch porn. What you can offer them in a novel is something different - a sexual experience that's linked to an emotional one. Remember that the Fifty Shades books may have been bursting with great sex but it was the love story that really drew people in.
- When you're out and about, pay attention to the differences between the way men and women behave - and don't be afraid to make notes. If, like me, you're gay, you'll be lucky enough to be invited into both male and female social circles and this is a really privileged position to be in. It can give you great insights into the differences between male and female approaches to relationships, which you can then work into your book.
- Having said that, don't ever pretend you know what it feels like to be a woman. There are already plenty of brilliant female authors out there and you won't be able to get inside the head of a female character as well as they can. But what you can offer readers is a man's perspective on life and relationships. So in Nothing But Trouble I mix up scenes told from the point of view of my female characters with others than come from the point of view of my men. And what straight woman wouldn't want to be offered a glimpse into what's going on in a man's head?
- Make sure your female characters are real. OK, you won't be able to create women as well as female authors but you can concentrate on exploring some of the universals that make us human. And your female characters won't just have had their personalities shaped by their gender but their backgrounds and experiences too. Were they neglected by their parents? Dumped by their first love? Bullied at school? Concentrate on what you have in common with them and how this will motivate their behaviour. Without giving too much away, this is what I did with Lola Grant, the lead character in Nothing But Trouble - and I really hope it pays off.
- Play to your strengths. I have to be honest, I don't know anything about women's clothes and jewellery and am constantly having to look things up online. But, like many gay men, I am good at camp, risqué humour. Perhaps because we're identified by what we do in bed, people expect gay men to be sexually frank and share with us all kinds of intimacies. It's no coincidence that the TV series Sex and the City was created and written by predominantly gay men for a mainly female audience. I try hard to make a similarly outrageous sense of humour burst out of my novels.
- When you've finished your first draft, ask a woman to read it. Make sure she's someone you trust and listen to what she says as she might be able to point things out that you haven't even thought of. Is your sex too clinical? Is your lead female character too smug or cold? It's really important that female readers like her and she's the kind of person they'd want to be friends with if you're asking them to invest their time in reading her story.
Remember that women make the best, most emotionally engaged readers - and they're the most loyal too. I hope you enjoy writing for them as much as I do!
Nothing But Trouble is published by Pan Macmillan on 16th July. For more information visit www.mattcainwriter.com.