Romantic novelist Jilly Cooper has admitted she struggles writing raunchy sex scenes because she’s ‘forgotten how to do it’ with age.
The 86-year-old, who’s known for her light-hearted take on erotic fiction, confessed penning her new book ‘Tackle!’ was much tougher than others because she’s not that interested in sex anymore.
The British author lost her husband Leo ten years ago and said writing hot scenes to satisfy readers is harder than people think.
Cooper told Good Housekeeping magazine: ‘I’m 86 now and have forgotten how to do it!
‘It’s quite difficult to write sex scenes – you can’t go on finding ways to do it differently.’
Novelist Jilly Cooper, 86, confessed penning her new book ‘Tackle!’ was difficult because she’s not that interested in sex anymore. Cooper told Good Housekeeping magazine: ‘I’m 86 now and have forgotten how to do it!’
Cooper pictured in 1973 on the Russell Harty Plus show
Cooper’s first novel Emily was released in 1975 and her most celebrated fiction Rutshire Chronicles has sold millions of copies.
She also revealed the secret to a long, happy marriage is ‘creaking bed springs’ – though not so much from sex, but from laughter.
‘Leo was lovely and made me scream with laughter. I think couples should try a bit harder, but obviously there are bad patches,’ she said.
‘I think it’s much better for people not to be married if they are really unhappy.’
The British author lost her husband Leo ten years ago and said writing hot scenes satisfy readers is harder than people think. ‘Leo was lovely and made me scream with laughter. I think couples should try a bit harder, but obviously there are bad patches,’ she said
Cooper has previously said she supported Leeds United when she lived in Yorkshire.
But after setting her new book in the world of football she admitted she’s switched allegiance and is now more a fan of league champions Manchester City as well as going to watch local side Forest Green Rovers.
Cooper, who now lives in Gloucestershire, said: ‘We have a local team called Forest Green and I’ve made friends with them and go to their matches.
‘Lord [Michael] Howard took me to see Liverpool. I’ve met all these people and it was exciting.
‘I love Manchester City – they’re so successful and I follow them like mad.’
Riders’ storyline centered around the handsome but dastardly Rupert Campbell-Black and his rival Jake Lovell. But one of the more risque scenes of Riders features jockey Billy Lloyd-Foxe’s passionate embrace with a journalist named Janey
Before the prodigious success of the first of the series – Riders – published in 1985, she was a journalist writing columns for a Sunday paper.
The mother-of-two acknowledges that times have changed since she was a subservient newlywed, racing round doing the washing, cleaning and cooking before readying herself for nights of unbridled sex.
She has admitted keeping diaries since the early 1970s which she hopes her children will burn because they are ‘pretty racy’.
‘I say to my children, “You know darlings, I don’t want to embarrass you, and I think they ought to be burnt”,’ she added.