Rachael Eyre's Blog - Posts Tagged "book-blog"
Love and Robotics: Taboo Busting - and what people think when you say "a love story with robots"
For the record: I never set out to bust taboos. I created the characters, then wove a story around them. I honestly believed that in a time of purported equality, a romance between a man and a male identified robot wouldn't be controversial.
I soon learned otherwise. Practically the first thing people say to me, after hearing a thrifty synopsis, is: "Wouldn't it work better as a straight couple?" When I ask them to justify this dubious piece of reasoning, they duck behind phrases such as 'mainstream' and 'commercial'. Few are willing to admit to their own homophobia.
Another quibble is that Alfred would have made a brilliant 'strong woman' character. Although I understand why they might think this, he sauntered into my head as a man, and I don't see why I should overhaul him to fill a quota. My stories are chocka with tough women already.
As previously mentioned, I always saw the anti robot lobby as analogous to the anti gay lobby. They make the same hysterical assertions and use religion to back their arguments - generally a sign that somebody's losing. Since equal marriage seemed impossibly remote in 2011, I wanted to put a gay relationship front and centre. There is no gay equivalent to Jane and Rochester, Meggie and Ralph, even Bella and Edward. To further underline the point, the beta couple are Alfred's niece Gwyn and her on-off girlfriend Pip.
As far as I'm concerned, any romance worthy of the name should feature a healthy sprinkling of sex. The days of a coy 'dot dot dot' are long gone; you need to prove your lovers are compatible, and where is that better demonstrated than the bedroom? My aim was to create love scenes that not only illustrate the connection between the couple, but - hopefully - make the reader hot and bothered as well.
Problem is, put the word 'love' anywhere near 'robots' and you're in for a world of nudge nudge, snicker snicker. One colleague had a Gay Robot routine he'd wheel out, complete with staccato voice. It seems that while people have no trouble imagining red hot sex with angels, demons and aliens, they struggle to do so with a robot. Even when I insisted that Josh resembles an incredibly beautiful man, they still pictured a dodgy Transformers slash fic. Another chum used the phrase "living dildo" - thanks for that.
It can be seen that I had two assumptions to overcome. Firstly, the idea that a gay relationship is somehow less relatable. Everybody's been in love with someone 'unsuitable', whether it's a bad boy or someone of the same sex. Second, that a love story with robots is automatically an unmitigated sex fest. Yes, there are love scenes, but they're born out of a genuine emotional attachment and never mere filler.
Next time: further imperfect, or creating a dystopia.
I soon learned otherwise. Practically the first thing people say to me, after hearing a thrifty synopsis, is: "Wouldn't it work better as a straight couple?" When I ask them to justify this dubious piece of reasoning, they duck behind phrases such as 'mainstream' and 'commercial'. Few are willing to admit to their own homophobia.
Another quibble is that Alfred would have made a brilliant 'strong woman' character. Although I understand why they might think this, he sauntered into my head as a man, and I don't see why I should overhaul him to fill a quota. My stories are chocka with tough women already.
As previously mentioned, I always saw the anti robot lobby as analogous to the anti gay lobby. They make the same hysterical assertions and use religion to back their arguments - generally a sign that somebody's losing. Since equal marriage seemed impossibly remote in 2011, I wanted to put a gay relationship front and centre. There is no gay equivalent to Jane and Rochester, Meggie and Ralph, even Bella and Edward. To further underline the point, the beta couple are Alfred's niece Gwyn and her on-off girlfriend Pip.
As far as I'm concerned, any romance worthy of the name should feature a healthy sprinkling of sex. The days of a coy 'dot dot dot' are long gone; you need to prove your lovers are compatible, and where is that better demonstrated than the bedroom? My aim was to create love scenes that not only illustrate the connection between the couple, but - hopefully - make the reader hot and bothered as well.
Problem is, put the word 'love' anywhere near 'robots' and you're in for a world of nudge nudge, snicker snicker. One colleague had a Gay Robot routine he'd wheel out, complete with staccato voice. It seems that while people have no trouble imagining red hot sex with angels, demons and aliens, they struggle to do so with a robot. Even when I insisted that Josh resembles an incredibly beautiful man, they still pictured a dodgy Transformers slash fic. Another chum used the phrase "living dildo" - thanks for that.
It can be seen that I had two assumptions to overcome. Firstly, the idea that a gay relationship is somehow less relatable. Everybody's been in love with someone 'unsuitable', whether it's a bad boy or someone of the same sex. Second, that a love story with robots is automatically an unmitigated sex fest. Yes, there are love scenes, but they're born out of a genuine emotional attachment and never mere filler.
Next time: further imperfect, or creating a dystopia.
