Have you come across this demarcation—a description of a novel with peppers to explain how “spicy” the writing gets? It’s a handy indicator.
Have you come across this demarcation—a description of a novel with peppers to explain how “spicy” the writing gets? It’s a handy indicator. If you don’t know, according to farofeb.com:
0 – Cozy, no heat (otherwise called “clean” but that sounds judgy regarding the rest of them)
1 – Low Heat, kisses and some intimation with a fade to black
2 – Smoldering, sexual tension, some spice but not graphic, mild language
3 – Hot, more detailed spice and language
4 – Scorching, very detailed spice, graphic language to describe sexual acts
This is all without venturing into erotica, but sometimes the line between scorching and erotica can be blurry in my opinion. For the record, I don’t mind spice in my reading and sometimes I prefer it because it means it’s likely not a YA book, which I’m currently not interested in.
But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about being a writer when the peppers loom. Some of the people who read books 1 and 2 in my Enchanted Path series didn’t read book 3 and likely won’t read book 4 because of spice. One of the subplots of my series is a growing relationship between the MC and her childhood friend. I’d call it slow burn, but then some readers expect that to happen within one book instead of an entire series. It starts between 0 and 1 then grows over the series to between 3 and 4.
How do I account for this at a time when readers essentially want to know everything they’re getting in a novel? Is this a case of the journey being more important than the destination? Do we really need signposts for a meander? These aren’t textbooks or dictionaries. I read for relaxation and to disconnect with the outside world. Then again being an avid reader, I sometimes count on those quick trope descriptors to save time.
There’s no easy answer. Reading is a personal pursuit and so is how you approach it. In the meantime, I hope those of you who don’t mind 3 or 4 peppers, grab some milk and read A Mage’s Path coming November 30th.
