Just because they are a werewolf doesn't mean you have to do it "doggie" style.
A popular sub-genre in romance is “Monster” or “Shifter” romance; often categorized under “Paranormal” romance. This sub-genre panders to those who enjoy a romantic werewolf story or the trope of a beast falling in love with a human. Now as with all romantic plots, there is a fine line between what is acceptable and what is not. Bestiality is a no go. So this sub-genre has to dance on a very thin line – and that line is consent. “Monster” romance is often a romantic plot that has the beast or monster falling in love with a human and that human uses this love to achieve a certain goal. In 1933 King Kong debuted and focused around the use of a woman to lure in and trap an enormous gorilla. The gorilla, King Kong, met his demise because he became obsessed with the woman and could not fight off the planes that were gunning him down. In many “Monster” romances, this is typical. You will often find a monster or beast pining for a human and the love is never reciprocated in the same manner. The human could care for and adore the monster or beast, but they would never become physical with the monster. This is largely due to the consent factor. Animals and monster can not give consent to any romantic relations because for the most part they either cannot communicate nor understand human language or they are a being of lesser intelligence which would give any intimate scenes written between the two a creepy or rapist feeling. In 1740, Villeneuve’s La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast) was published. The tale that’s old as time describes a woman falling in love with a literal beast who at the end of the story becomes a man. Now while Beast was able to communicate with Belle, he still did things and held tendencies that made him more beast than man. It wasn’t until Beast became an actual human that Belle then decided to act on her affection that had been growing steadily throughout the story. In my own personal opinion, this is the best way to dance around the “Monster” romance. “Monster” romance would 100% be considered bestiality but “Shifter” romance isn’t because the beast transforms into a human form before anything is ever done. Yet, as it is with “Monster” romance, it is true of “Shifter” romance – More times than not the shifter will have to be taught how to be a decent human-being before anything happens between the two otherwise would give any intimate scenes written between the two a creepy or rapist feeling. Now it’s important I mention that there are stories out there who would let King Kong and the woman be in an intimate relationship and there are stories that have a shifter giving into their “primal urges”. But I am talking about ROMANCE books, not erotica. Remember back to “Does my novel fit in the romance genre?” One of the rules of writing romance is that there cannot be abuse in it. Having sex with a being of lesser intelligence or one that cannot consent is abuse. Allowing your partner to aggressively have their way with you, and more often than not hurt you, is abuse. Thus, this is a huge no go in the romance genre. So if you want to write “Monster” romance, remember that if the monster cannot give consent a relationship should not be formed. Likewise, if you are going to write a “Shifter” romance, make sure the shifter is in human form and isn’t forcing the relationship on the other person to fulfill some “primal desire” in an aggressive way. Anyone who knows me knows that I love “Shifter” romances, so if you know of any really well done stories let me know! Otherwise, if you want me to go more into detail on how to specifically write these types of romances or you have any questions about these sub-genres that you want me to answer in another blog post, please feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me via email/social media!