Author Lana Ferguson On Sex Positivity In Her Debut Novel "The Nanny"
We talk OnlyFans, writing from the perspective of a man, and getting those extra spicy scenes just right.
You’d think Fran Drescher would be the first thing to come to mind when a manuscript titled The Nanny was delivered to my doorstep, but, miraculously, the flashy girl from Flushing never crossed my mind.
She still hadn’t up until Ferguson herself told me that it was, indeed, Miss Fine who got her creative juices flowing.
Well, sort of.
“A few friends and I were ah, imbibing, so I honestly couldn’t tell you what it was that led me to making a horrible Fran Drescher impression, but that was what got the gears turning,” Ferguson tells me over email. “From there, my lizard brain started daydreaming about the possibilities for these characters and the dynamics that might come into play if they were real adults with love (and sex) lives instead of characters on a Nick At Nite show.”
My failure to make the connection didn’t deter me from connecting to Ferguson’s contemporary rom-com, though. The story is all her own, flawlessly of the times, and incredibly charming. It follows a grad student named Cassie Evans who, strapped for cash, has one of two options: sign back into her OnlyFans account or sign on as a nanny to the 9-year-old daughter of sexy chef and single father, Aiden Reed.
When I tell you that I loved this book, I mean I adored it. Ferguson had me from the first page. I found her characters endearing and her storytelling all-consuming. If it weren’t for the physical book in my hands serving as a reminder, I would have forgotten that I was reading fiction. It read like two friends telling me the story of how they fell in love.
But no spoilers!
If you love rom-coms, this is a book you have to pick up for yourself. It has comedy, characters with depth, a sassy 72-year-old bachelorette, a second-chance romance, swoon-worthy dialogue, tear-jerking dialogue, and a whole lot of toe-curling heat.
The only downside to the novel: It’s not out yet. The Nanny will be available in stores and online on April 11, 2023. However, it is available for pre-order now via Amazon, Penguin, Target, Barnes and Noble, etc.
Until you get your hands on a copy, though, you can enjoy my conversation with debut author, Lana Ferguson, in which we chat about how romance and sex are portrayed in literature, writing from the perspective of another gender, her favorite rom-coms, and (of course) her writing process.
On The Nanny
First, for those who haven’t read The Nanny just yet, can you give us a summary of the book?
LF: The Nanny is a story about a twenty-five-year-old grad student who suddenly finds herself without a job. With bills looming over her head, she finds herself with two choices—boot up her OnlyFans account she hasn’t touched in a year, or take a nanny gig that sounds too good to be true. Since her OnlyFans endeavors ended in heartbreak, the choice seems like an easy one to make. Until she meets Aiden Reed.
Aiden is young, hot, sweet, single—basically a walking DILF, and now she’s expected to live under his roof and ignore the simmering attraction between them. Sounds easy enough, but when she realizes much too late that Aiden was not only a top subscriber on her OnlyFans but the same man that disappeared after they got too close, things become a lot more complicated.
OnlyFans is a controversial platform. What compelled you to write a character who’d been involved in that world? What sort of research, if any, went into Cassie’s storyline?
LF: I love the concept of OnlyFans because it puts the power back into the creator’s hands. A lot of sites that have become synonymous with sex work have been exposed as platforms that exploit their creators in numerous ways. Sites like OnlyFans give these content creators the means to better control their experience. I subscribe to numerous accounts on OnlyFans, preferring to give my money straight to the creator, as it were. Being a subscriber gave me better insight into how the site functions, and how interactions between a creator and a subscriber went and therefore made it easier to write those interactions for Cassie and Aiden.
I liked the idea of writing Cassie as an ex-creator because it was a way to show how multifaceted people in the industry can be. I was grateful to have an opportunity to portray a past sex worker as someone who is a person not unlike someone we might know in our day-to-day lives. I can only hope it resonates with someone in a positive way.
Cassie’s best friend is a woman in her 70s named Wanda. What was the inspiration for Wanda’s character, and why did you decide to write this type of relationship, rather than give Cassie a best friend her age?
LF: I think oftentimes we (myself included) might be quick to write off the advice of those older than us—because we think we know better, maybe because they’re from a different generation, etc—but in my life, the advice that has always held the most weight for me has been that of my grandmother. It’s not always advice that I was ready to hear, but I realized as I grew into an adult that it always came from a place of experience and love for me. It’s what I held onto as I wrote Wanda. (My grandmother also has a wicked sense of humor, which helps.)
For a character like Cassie, who from an early age went without a stable adult presence to guide her, I think someone like Wanda would offer a learned view of the world that Cassie didn’t have in her life prior to their meeting. I think Wanda’s “I’m old so I know everything” personality would be a comfort for someone like Cassie, who is (and has been for a long time) struggling with her place in the world. In her mind, Wanda’s confidence and unwavering certainty of who she is would give Cassie something to aspire to.
It can be tricky writing from the perspective of the opposite sex. How did you prepare for/approach Aiden’s chapters?
LF: What was that book called…Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man? Yeah, I’m not sure I know how to do either of those things. However, I do know how I wish a man would think. Men written by women are often my favorite men, and I think that’s in large part because women can use the opportunity to craft a man who is all of the things we love about men with none of the things we don’t love so much. I tried to use my own experience with men (while also polling the men in my life when needed like my own version of Family Feud) to have Aiden think and react like a man might, while also adding a dash of a woman’s perspective.
There seems to be a fine line when writing sex scenes. They can come across as either too corny or too vulgar. I think you did an especially fantastic job with these parts of the story. Can you tell me how you went about writing these scenes?
LF: For me, writing an explicit scene that toes that line between corny and overly vulgar means making it fit your characters. I don’t think there’s a set standard of “normal sex”; sex is normal for any consensual relationship as long as it works for and satisfies those individuals. With that in mind, I try to write a sex scene with my character’s individual personality in mind rather than what would read as the sexiest.
For example, Cassie is confident and comfortable in her own skin, so it made sense to me for her to be flirty in bed. Aiden is, for lack of a better word, absolutely gaga for Cassie, so it made sense to me for him to be eager and vocal in his desire for her. I think even corny can work in sex if your character has corny tendencies. It can be endearing! It’s all about feeling natural for the character in question. If it feels organic, I think a reader would be less likely to second-guess it.
On your website, you call yourself “sex-positive.” Explain what that means to you, and what you feel literature often gets wrong about sex. What would you like to see more/less of on the subject?
LF: For me, it means that I’ve gotten to a place in life where I am completely comfortable and open to all things sex. I don’t consider anything to be off limits when it comes to having conversations on the topic, as long as all parties are consenting, and in that same regard, I don’t feel that there is anything pertaining to sex that should be considered shameful. (Again, as long as all parties are consenting.)
While not everyone is having sex, for a myriad of valid reasons, for a sexually active adult, it’s as basic a function as any other bodily need. In the case of those interested in/open to having sex, desire is as natural as breathing. I grew up in an environment where the body and sexual desire were viewed as something shameful outside of very specific parameters, and upon becoming an adult and breaking down those stigmas, I was able to have a happier mindset and a much healthier outlook on sexuality. As they say, you have to be the change you want to see in the world.
I think there is a tendency in romance to automatically shove books with multiple or overly explicit (or in my case, both) sex scenes into an “erotica” box, and while I have nothing against erotica (on the contrary, sometimes it’s just what I need), I think it’s inaccurate to insinuate that high-spice books can’t be just as romantic and swoony as one that might be more closed-door. And while it’s perfectly fine to have a preference for one over the other, to write off the former as something lesser than the latter feels exclusionary.
On the matter of sex and romance, I feel there is often a proclivity for treating them like separate entities when they often go hand in hand. I’ve read outstanding romances of both kinds—both closed-door and open, clean and explicit—and it’s my opinion that just like there is no set standard of what is “normal” sex, so shouldn’t there be a set standard for “normal” romance.
Rom-coms are making a comeback on screen, and we’re seeing a lot of rom-com titles being published. In your opinion, what elements make up a perfect rom-com? What are some films/books you would recommend?
LF: I’m sure the perfect rom-com looks different for each person, but for me, the perfect rom-com makes me snicker, swoon, and sweat, in no particular order.
I enjoy the fluttering in my stomach from a well-delivered line just as much as the one that ensues from the hero shoving the heroine against the wall because he can’t go another minute without kissing her. I don’t believe that a rom-com has to follow a set formula to be considered as such; if I laughed and I swooned I think it qualifies, even if I felt more or less of what I expected along the way.
A few of my favorite rom-coms from the ages are (again, in no particular order): When Harry Met Sally, Why Did I Get Married?, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Love, Simon, Never Been Kissed, 10 Things I Hate About You, Maid in Manhattan, The Holiday, Save The Last Dance…Honestly, I could go on and on. I am a sucker for rom-coms.
On Writing
Paint us a picture of what a day in the writing life of Lana Ferguson looks like.
LF: I often write in bed or in a little Lana-shaped indentation in the corner of my sectional couch—somewhere where I can recline, basically. I like writing with my laptop propped against my legs while I lie down. I almost always shut all the lights off like I’m Nosferatu, and in that same vein, I have a playlist of (mostly) sad piano music that is plugged into my earbuds. My mind tends to wander whenever I leave it off the leash for too long, so the music gives it something to stay grounded to so that I can focus on getting words on the page without accidentally going down a brainhole wondering where my birth certificate is or rehashing that awkward interaction I had at the grocery store for the dozenth time.
Do you consider yourself a pantser or a plotter?
LF: I would call myself a constantly-in-relapse pantser. Every time I start a draft, I tell myself: this will be the one I outline down to the last sentence. It never works out. A story usually takes shape in my mind with two characters and a meet-cute, and from there I just let the rest of the story find its way to the end. I often tell people my stories are like “choose your own adventure” games, except I’m the only one playing. I usually do have some sort of loose (and I mean loose) outline, one that I deviate from constantly as I get to know my characters better throughout the story. It’s pure chaos, but I’ve come to accept that I am simply not organized enough to do it any other way.
How do you go about starting a project?
LF: I always write the first chapter before doing anything else (more specifically, the meet-cute). The first chapter usually comes to me fully formed even if I have no other details about the story, and I use the beginning to plan the end, so to speak. For me, the way the characters meet sets the tone of the entire story, so having it on the page helps me decide where they’re going next.
What is your editing process like?
LF: Much to the delight of the poor copy editors at Berkley (I owe them a fruit basket or nine at this point), I don’t really do much editing in the first draft. That “choose your own adventure” I mentioned is very episodic, so once I decide I’m happy with a chapter, I consider it closed. I’m very “trust my gut” about my writing when it all boils down to it. I do a full readthrough when I reach the end of the story before turning it in, but it’s very rare that I change anything drastically once it’s on the page. I like to
wait and see what my editor thinks about it before I do any second-guessing.
What are 3 of your must-haves to set the tone for a writing session?
LF: Depressing piano music (think: Mozart’s Lacrimosa level of depressing, like I’m some sort of Victorian debutante watching the window for her lover to return from the sea), comfy clothes (pants optional, and frankly, nonpreferred), and my ancient Macbook that barely has any letters left on the keys thanks to my apparently aggressive typing methods.
What is the best advice you can give writers battling a bout of writer's block?
LF: Put it away. Not just physically, but from your mind as well. If the story isn’t coming to me naturally, I know that I need to give myself a break. I think of it like soup. I have the ingredients, I’ve put them in the pot, and now they have to simmer until it’s time to come back and stir them again.
Lastly, if you could pull an Alice in Wonderland, but instead of stepping through a looking glass, you can step into a book, which would it be, and what role would you play in the plot?
LF: People are going to catch on very quickly in my career that I am an absolute LOTR nerd, but still, I have to say that I would very much enjoy being a hobbit in the original story. Before all the business with Sauron and orcs and what have you; I would enjoy living in a hole with my second breakfast and my afternoon tea all while hoping beyond hope that no one comes to visit so that I can finish that book I started the day before.
I would definitely end up being one of the oblivious little hobbits left behind when Bilbo goes on his adventure, content to mind my garden and gossip about where the Baggins fellow ran off to when the opportunity arises. I am perfectly content with being an extra in the grand scheme of things—just so long as there’s tea.
Sounds like a good book!