The Secret Sex of Books: A Writer's Guide

What do books have to do with sex? Are the paperbacks having title-to-title contact with the hardcovers in the aisles of the bookstore? Are stacks of books getting it on in some massive literary orgy? Could the two books pressed up against each other in the corner be having more fun than we imagine? Can we even contemplate what might be going on in the library?

No. Let's not go there. Books don't have sex with each other, or gender, for that matter, so what's this secret sex about? It's true that many books are about sex or involve sex in some way, but we're not talking about content. Why then the Secret Sex of Books?

Why do some books "work," while others don't? Yes, there's all that stuff about plot, character, style, rising action, voice, dramatic moment, scene, mood, pace, momentum, fatal flaws, saving graces, theme, character arc etc., and all of this matters and is part of this book, but at rock bottom, the most important thing about books is that people read them, and the most basic "part" of a book is its structure. You could almost call it its soul, and that's what this book is about.

Deborah Greenspan has been writing since she was twelve and after many decades has learned enough to want to share. She has published six other books and is working on several others. In 2000, she founded Llumina Press and has been helping other writers with their work since then. She has a Master's degree in Communication.