SEX, DEATH AND TAXES – MARGARET TANNER
Everyone has to pay taxes; no government on earth is going
to let their citizens get away without paying taxes. Taxes on your salary,
business tax, death taxes, you name it, they will tax it. Even the humble hamburger doesn't escape the clutches of the tax man.
In romance novels, we don’t talk about taxes. I don’t recall
ever having read anything about tax collection.
Sex – yes in all its forms, sweet and tender, just a kiss or
two. Hot and spicy, no shutting the bedroom door here, and the really hot stuff
that Margaret Tanner doesn’t write. I do commend the talented authors who do,
and pull it off so successfully in their erotic romances.
Death – In novels, I consider death to be a great tool in
creating emotion and upping the drama. I don’t mean having the hero and heroine
die, but the villains and secondary characters. Of course, near death
experiences for heroes or heroines is always good.
I have been thinking about this in regards to my stories. I
write historical fiction with romantic elements, so death is probably easier to
include in these stories. Harder to justify in contemporary romance, unless it
is some villain who is hell bent on harming the heroine and to save her life,
he has to go.
In bygone days, death in childbirth was quite common. People
died of snakebite/disease/illness because they were miles from medical
assistance or could not afford to pay for it. Bank robbers, stage coach
robbers, cattle rustlers etc. the sheriff could quite legitimately shoot these
criminals down without fear of reprisal from their peers, or condemnation from
the public.
In war, on the field of battle, soldiers die or are wounded,
so we happily accept this in historical romance. We probably shed a tear or two
for the gallant warrior and the staunch heroine who waits in vain for him to
return. We wouldn’t throw the book against the wall because of this. We just
sigh with contentment when another dashing soldier rides into the life of our
heroine and she finally gets her happily ever after ending.
I have to confess that in all my novels there is some sex of
the medium to hot variety and someone must die. Never a main character, of
course, but someone invariably has to go, usually a baddie, but not always so.
As for taxes, I never mention the word in my novels unless
it is to say – the heat became very
taxing.
My novel, Falsely Accused, published by Books We Love, has
recently won the Historical Section of the Easy Chair Writing Competition. Yes,
there is a death or two in this story, but hey, the 1820’s were wild and
violent days in a young colony.
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