Ask the Author: Gabriel Hargrave
Answered Questions (2)
Gabriel Hargrave
I must have missed this! I'm sorry I didn't see it before!
The hardest scene to write in book two was actually the "sticker scene." I spent a good week working on it--setting it aside and coming back to it and setting it aside and coming back to it--before I was satisfied with the first draft of it. But that scene also underwent about a billion revisions before the book was finally published, too.
I wanted it to be a perfect combination of sexy and sensual and sweet and touching. As much as I wanted it to have filthy, kinky sex, I also wanted it to show the depths of who Laith and Dorian are to each other when they're in a good place and feeling safe. Given all the struggles the two of them go through (both in this book and in the rest of the series), I wanted readers to see that they really can be good for each other, that they're hopelessly in love and eternally in lust and just need to get their heads on straight so they can have a healthy relationship.
Without getting spoilery, the readers need to see this side of them so that they know it's okay to root for them as a couple and that they're not doomed. There's a real foundation there; it's just really rocky at the moment.
With all of that on top of the sexy parts of the scene, it was A LOT to handle, which is why it took me forever to get it exactly where I wanted it. Given the responses I've gotten from readers to the sticker scene, I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. It's actually one of the things I'm most proud of as a writer.
The hardest scene to write in book two was actually the "sticker scene." I spent a good week working on it--setting it aside and coming back to it and setting it aside and coming back to it--before I was satisfied with the first draft of it. But that scene also underwent about a billion revisions before the book was finally published, too.
I wanted it to be a perfect combination of sexy and sensual and sweet and touching. As much as I wanted it to have filthy, kinky sex, I also wanted it to show the depths of who Laith and Dorian are to each other when they're in a good place and feeling safe. Given all the struggles the two of them go through (both in this book and in the rest of the series), I wanted readers to see that they really can be good for each other, that they're hopelessly in love and eternally in lust and just need to get their heads on straight so they can have a healthy relationship.
Without getting spoilery, the readers need to see this side of them so that they know it's okay to root for them as a couple and that they're not doomed. There's a real foundation there; it's just really rocky at the moment.
With all of that on top of the sexy parts of the scene, it was A LOT to handle, which is why it took me forever to get it exactly where I wanted it. Given the responses I've gotten from readers to the sticker scene, I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. It's actually one of the things I'm most proud of as a writer.
Gabriel Hargrave
A great question! I have two. In chapter seven, there's a bit after Dorian and Laith have negotiated their D/s contract where Laith turns Dorian's questions around on him in order to ask for his consent. The other is the "heist" scene in chapter fifteen. It was a suggestion from my critique partner, and I took it and ran with it. It's sexy and snarky and oh so Dorian and Laith. LOL
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