Is this believable to you?

[Guest]

 

[Wildcard Ky]

Sounds perfectly plausible to me.

 

[Guest]

 

[Wildcard Ky]

The premise is fine. I can see that happening with no problems at all. Most all of us have found ourselves turning to a safe place after a bad event. Many times the safe place isn't what we would normally do.

Timing is a personal issue. Different people move at different paces. I don't think timing is something that can be put into a right or wrong category. Regardless of an amount of time, some people will disagree with it, and others will think it's fine.

The best example of that would be the death of a spouse. Sometimes the survivor waits years to start dating again, in other cases the survivor may be dating within a few months and be re-married within a year.

Is either right or wrong? It's all a matter of what makes the individual tick. No matter which timing route you choose, some will like it, and some won't..

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[Guest]

 

[JustaJerk]

Sounds certainly plausible to me. But being a guy, the female psyche is completely baffling. To be honest, you could write anything and I'd believe it. But I do recognize that you'd want it to be believeable to a woman reader as well. I think some of the ladies here need to chime in.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I know women like this, all the way along the spectrum- from still straight, to completely gay. My dear friend Marya, the quintessential dyke, says; "I love men- I just can't get... you know... poked."
It's not so much a matter of trust, I don't think- It's a post-trauma syndrome that kicks in. For some women, habituation can dull or end the syndrome- like phobia therapy- but it never ends and just comes back over and over for other women.

 

[angela146]

Very believable, as long as it's handled well.

The man has to give her a protected space in which she can deal with the emotions and gently prod her at times along the way.

I wasn't the victim of rape but I've had to go through the same kind of thing in getting through the anxiety left over from my childhood.

A female relationship can get you by for a while but for a primarily-hetero woman, there is no substitute for a man.

BTW: it's OK to view the main character as somewhat bisexual. She clearly doesn't have the "ick" response that some streight women have when considering the idea of sex with a woman.

She may close her eyes and think of a man but she's comfortable with a woman's hands/mouth etc between her legs.

 

[gauchecritic]

Dissent

No. Not believable.

The main protag's fears, insecurities etc I can live with, but insisting that they are both straight as arrows throughout a five year relationship? That sounds like "all a dyke needs is a long prick to straighten her out".

 

[Aurora Black]

... but insisting that they are both straight as arrows throughout a five year relationship?

I have to agree. It automatically reminds me of, "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

 

[Guest]

 

[MagicaPractica]

The women clearly have bi-tendencies - in fact, I indicate that they would have experimented with same-sex encounters even without the rape-situation. They both are sexual adventurous and have been involved in threesomes on occasion. (Just no male contact for the lead).

My characters are straight in that they seek romantic involvement from the opposite sex only.

IMHO, I see people as existing on a scale, they can fall anywhere from purely straight to purely homosexual and everywhere in between. I think for me to find this story believeable, you would have to forego insisting that they are really straight. I totally believe that a woman would be terrified of a sexual encounter with a man after being raped. I can also buy into them turning to one another for sexual gratification. But in order for them to find that gratification and maintain that sexual contact over a period of years would mean they are bisexual. Which would fully justify the rape victim wanting to get over her fear of men so that she could have a male partner some day, perhaps a husband and children. We never really let go of that picture we had for ourselves when we were children of the future. If she always pictured being happily married with three kids, she's still going to feel a strong desire to attain that "happily ever after."

 

[Guest]

 

[cloudy]

The women clearly have bi-tendencies - in fact, I indicate that they would have experimented with same-sex encounters even without the rape-situation. They both are sexual adventurous and have been involved in threesomes on occasion. (Just no male contact for the lead).

My characters are straight in that they seek romantic involvement from the opposite sex only.

This strikes me as a contradiction: She's "sexually adventurous" BUT she's afraid of sex with a man.

I don't think the two work well together....not for me. As someone who's been raped (albeit 27 years ago), I didn't want sex with ANYONE, didn't matter whether they had dangly bits or not.

 

[Guest]

 

[Weird Harold]

She has a lot of me in her, and once I make up my mind about something I move forward. Therefore, she moves from panic to "ok" somewhat easily.

This is the point that would be difficult for me to accept. Overcoming anxiety attacks is NOT simply a matter of Will, or Desire -- especially anxiety attacks associated with post-traumatic stress.

I would expect your main character to have a relapse or two in the process of learning to trust and accept intimacy with a man. A "magical" transformation that just simply erases her fears and anxiety attacks just isn't believeable for me.

She could believeably deal with situations where things go according to plan, but there are going to be little things that catch her by surprise -- waking up when her lover comes back from a late-night bathroom break into a dark room, getting a hug kiss on the back of the neck in the kitchen that she wasn't expecting, and that type of situation is going to tap deep-seated fears she's going to have a great deal of difficulty controlling.

 

[angela146]

I would expect your main character to have a relapse or two in the process of learning to trust and accept intimacy with a man. A "magical" transformation that just simply erases her fears and anxiety attacks just isn't believeable for me.

She could believeably deal with situations where things go according to plan, but there are going to be little things that catch her by surprise -- waking up when her lover comes back from a late-night bathroom break into a dark room, getting a hug kiss on the back of the neck in the kitchen that she wasn't expecting, and that type of situation is going to tap deep-seated fears she's going to have a great deal of difficulty controlling.

Yes. It has to be a process and there have to be backsteps along the way.

 

[angela146]

I don't view homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality as a purely sexual choice in partners.

I make the distinction between "bisexual" and "biamorous". If she were bisexual but not biamorous, she could enjoy and be comforted by the relationship but still be missing the romantic love that, for her, can only come from a man.

 

[kiwiwolf]

I think it's very believable. I'd like to read the finished product. Best of luck with the project ForeverNAlways.

 

[Guest]

 

[MagicaPractica]

It sounds like you are putting a lot of creative work and thought into this. I think it will be a very well developed and interesting story.

Cheers

 

[kiwiwolf]

Thanks for the encouragement Kiwiwolf!

In the meantime, you can read the first three novels in the series if you want. The first two have completely posted and the first chapter of the third novel just posted today. The characters overlap in all four.

Hopefully, I'll have the fourth done by the time the last chapters of Lay Down, Sally post!...

I love continuity. I'm in the process of trying to meld characters from two of my novels for a short period of time then return them back to their own settings and storylines. It's going to be the hardest thing I've done as a writer but should be fun.

I'm going to nip over and read your work this afternoon.

 

[Guest]