I want to personally thank Judy Blume. I loved her books when I was growing up. My world changed when I stole my mother's copy of Wifey and learned all about sex from it. For me and my girlfriends, this was like a treasure trove of information and we were hanging on every detail. What we thought we knew, was far different than the words on those pages.
I thought about Wifey while I was writing Madhouse. I wanted to "pay it forward", so to speak. There are plenty of books out there boasting the pleasures of Pandora's Box (yep that's what I'm calling it). I cannot help but cringe when I read those romance novels that speak of the cataclismic orgasms young virgins are having their first time out. That is so far from the truth, it's disappointing to readers. I wanted to be truthful, to give young women honesty instead of false hope.
I vaguely remember the feelings of teenage lust. The hours of rolling around kissing and feeling like I could go on forever, I remember the warmth of hands on my body gave. I also remember the total lack of satisfaction from my first encounter.... I was sorely disappointed. My so-called experienced, older (he was 16) boyfriend was so excited to finally be "doing it", that it lasted about 3 seconds. I should have been mad, but I didn't know any better. Of course I told my friends it was wonderful, just as they had done when telling me! Foolish youth, we should have been plotting together on how to get a more satisfying experience from our boyfriends.
So in my writing, I wanted to give boys who may come across my book a lesson in pleasuring a woman, and vise versa...and girls the vision to show them how. I do not think you need to settle for sweaty, awkward encounters just because you're young. Looking back, I now know that I shouldn't have been in a hurry to get the deed done, when there is so much more you can do that actually feels better for the female without the risk of pregnancy!
Some mom's are saying I shouldn't have put sex in a teen fiction book at all..to them I say, be realistic. They are experimenting, they've grown up in a Bill Clinton world where a blow job is common place, and expected according to my young sources. It's a different world out there than when we were young. Victoria's Secret commercials, prime time programming and the internet have made everything accessible to our kids.
So to my young friends, there's hope for you. Opening Pandora's lid just a little is a better way to go. Who wants to have to deal with mayhem, unless of course he looks like the actor on the All State commercials.
