Fear is a Four Letter Word

Fear is a Four Letter Word

Samantha Nicole Trewyn

Remember a while back I wrote a post about trying new things and expanding into areas you've never dared venture to before? Well, I'm back with another long (or possibly short) blog post that goes right along that guideline, except this time we're talking specifically about that gorgeous yellow fruit (or possibly a graphic sex scene) known as a lemon and I'm not telling you to write it.

Lemons make me blush. Whether I'm reading them or making a horrible attempt at writing them. I blush, I look away a hundred times, I probably look guilty of committing murder and I can tell you that at least 50% of the time I don't finish it.

I don't write lemons.

Alright, scratch that. I wrote one lemon (really it was what people call a lime) but since then I haven't been able to bring myself to write any more. There's something about lemons that freak me out, and I know I'm not alone in this crazy boat. Most of our posts this week have been advice about how to write a lemon, but I can't honestly give you advice since I'm not comfortable writing lemons. But what I can do is help you NOT feel pressured into writing one.

One thing I hear a lot when I read a lemon inside a story is that people requested that the author write it. That's fine and dandy, but you shouldn't write a lemon if you aren't comfortable doing so or if you have no experience with sex. I promise you it will not work out for you. Giving into peer pressure isn't going to make that fear go away. In fact, it will probably make that fear stronger because not only are you trying to write one, you're trying to write one that's going to please your readers. My best advice to you is to go with your gut. YOU are the writer. If you don't want to write a lemon into your story, you are by no means obligated to do so.

Writing lemons is hard. You really have to focus in only on that piece and you have to feel it. That sounds really dirty, but you know what I mean. It's the same with any kind of writing, but something about lemon writing is so complicated that even the slightest drop in feeling is going to mess the entire thing up. If you're going to write a lemon, you have to be devoted to that lemon. It has to be your best friend until it's done. Take it from someone who has half a lemon sitting on her laptop; if you're not into it you won't finish it and it will just collect dust inside your computer.

Despite the fact that I'm about to totally contradict myself, I want to say that it is absolutely okay to NOT want to venture that far outside of your comfort zone. Some things are simply left untouched until you're ready to tap them out on your keyboard or write it out on paper. The bottom line is that no matter how many people want it, how much you want to do it because others are or how many people around you are doing it you shouldn't force something out just to get it done with. Like having sex, it's not supposed to be a 'do it to get it over with' thing. You have to feel it, to want it, to be totally dedicated to it from the first word to the last.