Session 12
The Sun and the Moon by
After a heartbreaking tragedy, successful attorney Amelia Crowley numbed herself to the pleasures in life. Surfer Ryan Fielding lived only for sensual pleasures to shut away his pain.
She has rules. He'll teach her how to break them.
This is a stand-alone romance/erotica novel that is the first in a series that has yet to be titled.
WARNING: 18+ only please. No violence but lots of swear words throughout. Also explicit sex. Especially in Chapter 7. And just about every chapter after that. And, well, starting from the first paragraph. Whatever, you've been warned. Please only read further if you're of age.
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Discussion Questions
1) The first chapter, first paragraph intentionally begins immediately with sex, to weed out the squeamish. (No judgment against the squeamish, I used to be that way too.) I am having some trouble with organization, though. I want to convey Amelia's status before she goes on her adventure: bad sex, repressed rules, and a willingness to open up, as expressed to her therapist. (My theory is that, like in the movies, you have to show Wall-E in his environment before he can go on his adventure with Eva). I played around with this being a prologue or a series of prologues, and eventually settled on just calling it a first chapter with multiple parts. What do you think of the order? Do you have any suggestions?
2) I have received feedback that my hero isn't flawed enough. I justified his decency (to myself) as follows:
(i) he has worked through his past trauma and has learned and is there to help Amelia on her way,
(ii) story-wise, I wanted him to be a rock or an anchor for her to hang on to to work out her issues, and
(iii) he isn't perfect; he gets mad at her and teases her and isn't a wallflower.
That said, I would love to hear some suggestions for a flaw for Ryan.
3) I originally wrote the book switching POVs between Ryan and Amelia, but took out all of Ryan's words and left it as a single narrator, Amelia. This means that the reader does not discover certain things until later in the story than I originally intended, for example, that Ryan has had a crush on Amelia since high school. Did this cause any confusion or is there something that is not explained?
4) In Chapter 1, Amelia talks about her scars. If you didn't read to Chapter 13, or even if you did, what type of scars did you think she had when she said this?
5) Please provide any editorial feedback you might have, i.e. How can I make it better?
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YOU ARE READING
CBC: Under the Covers (a.k.a. The MATURE Review Book)
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