SPOILERS!
Have you finished reading the whole book? No? Then you may want to stop reading now so the story can unfold naturally.
Today I’m talking about some of the feedback I received in the editing and beta reading process on this book. I love it when readers and editors challenge my stories because it helps me understand my own writing better.
In the first version of this novella, a few people missed the time lines. In this version my husband has done great book design. He has even included maps to show where each cruise went. You can preview the book online to see the change.
Other points raised:
I knew that having Jazz hook up with Scott the engineer was risky in a romance novel. In case I didn’t realize that, my editor warned me but I left it as it was. In real life, this is exactly what many people do after a break up so I was decided to try to capture that self-destructive trend.
To me this twist makes perfect sense. Otherwise how could she know that Adam is ‘the one’ if she hasn’t tried to move on with someone else?
Several readers thought that Jazz was embarrassed about her kink in her last encounter with Scott. She is self conscious, it’s true. Her long association with the Black Hen has taught her to be discrete on the issue of kink. She hopes Scott will get the hint without her having to articulate it.
Why is she so cautious in a world where so many people are up front about their preferences? The continued patronage of the Black Hen depends on it remaining low key so her first instinct is always to approach the subject obliquely.
Besides, she knows that it’s not that long since kink was classified as mental illness: (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/bdsm-versus-the-dsm/384138/).
Jazz is savvy enough to realize that many people still think that critical way. When Scott looks at her with contempt it’s because he has that old-fashioned mindset. He thinks she’s mentally unbalanced.
It can be hard and sometimes humiliating for like-minded people to find their soulmates. I know how long it can take, doing trial & error. Whenever I get too comfortable with writing kink and question my need to be discrete about it, all I have to do is read some of the scathing reviews people drop on books in this genre.
Some people loathe them for the erotic content.
Worse still are the people who attack authors in the genre because the practices described in the books aren’t the way those readers believe things should be done.
***
Those are just a few of the issues around this book and the genre generally.
What are your thoughts on the book or on the genre?
I hope parts of this story touched in all the right ways.