Smart is the new sexy!
A few years ago, a literary agent read my manuscript (Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife) and said that she loved it…but that I should spice it up, and not be so subtle. Sex sells, she said. It was clearly good advice coming from years of experience. But, that is easier said than written. After all, who wants to be on the short list for Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award?
Among writers that I have read, Jonathan Franzen is guilty of the most gratuitous use of sex. It appears randomly and frequently, jumping off the pages at unsuspecting readers. Among the old school, D. H. Lawrence spent considerable time on that subject writing with poetic passion and intensity.
South Asian cultures are quite uptight in this respect. It takes a very talented writer like Hanif Kureishi to create a raucous world filled with bawdy humor. There are many others without his skill and wit who just come across as coarse and vulgar.
The romance genre is even more challenging. Chemistry is the beating heart of a great romance novel. How do you build that chemistry between the hero and the heroine without being sickeningly coy (as Indian stories and movies used to be) or utterly in poor taste by letting it all hang out (some music videos)? How do you write a classy romance without dumbing down the characters, plot and quality of writing? Without condescension, or worse, manipulative marketing tricks?
I personally believe that much of chemistry is cerebral. That’s why the romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice is so compelling. To quote from Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, “Smart is the new sexy!” In the hands of a master like Marquez, that bright human intelligence, combined with incandescent passion verging on madness, turns into magic.
“Tell him yes. Even if you are dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life if you say no.” — Love in the Time of Cholera