The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance

Why this book, and why now? Could it be because the market for erotic romance is nearly as hot as the steam level of ultra-sexy titles?

No doubt, erotic Romance is the print publisher's darling of the moment. Stories that leave nothing to imagination once the bedroom door is closed have been selling well with e-publishers for some time. Book buyers have spoken out with their purchasing power, sending a strong message to traditional publishers..."give us more heat." With such publishers are Harlequin and Kensington dipping their toes into e-publishing arena, it appears that print publishers are listening. Certainly, erotic romance is a market that shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Many writers believe that writing erotic romance is tantamount to consuming the proverbial "piece of cake". At least, until they try it for themselves. Many novice writers end up veering into raw descriptions of gratuitous sex instead of telling a compelling, albeit steamy, story.

Erotic romance and sensual romance moves far beyond what most readers and writers think of as "erotica". By defining first what is and is not erotic romance, Alison Kent then guides the reader through a series of practical techniques for creating complex characters, driving plots, and engaging dialogue that crackles with sexual tension.

Each exercise is illuminated with sage advice and sizzling examples drawn from successful romance writers and editors. The volume is capped off by a series of markets actively purchasing erotic romance stories, novellas, and novels.

Good erotic romance is hallmarked by crackling tensions, complex plots, and fully drawn character motivations. All of this is then finished off with compelling prose. If your goal is to write a sizzling page turner, then The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Erotic Romance belongs on your reference bookshelf.

Highly Recommended.

I Object

Main Entry: ob·jec·ti·fy
Function: transitive verb
Pronunciation: ob-'jek-tuh-fī
Inflected Form(s): -fied ; -fy·ing
1 : to treat as an object or cause to have objective reality

A recent glitch in the Inked-In photo roll brought my "Writer's Gone Wild" group's pictures up on the front page of the site. No matter how many times I clicked those lovely "for my friends only" boxes, those images of, ahem...scantily clad men...kept popping up on the home page.

Nobody seemed to mind much, so I forgot about it.

Oops. Pardon me while I wipe the egg off my face!

Now granted, I agree that some images aren't for all sets of eyes. While I don't condone censorship of any kind, we are first a society of personal choice. I won't deny anyone their choice *not* to read my work, or to choose *not to view* the images that inspire myself, and my colleagues, to create steamy romance novels.

For this reason alone, I agree that my group's images belonged under "genre specific" wraps. I believe that the site's offending glitch is now repaired, so it's back to business as usual at Writer's Gone Wild.

If you are a member of Inked In, and you're on my friend's list, and you don't want to see my personal photos, you can choose to unfriend me. I'll miss you, and I'll hate to see you go, but I'm not going to change who I am because the work I do might offend.

I have to admit, I bristled inwardly at the suggestion that the images we celebrated on our group might sexually objectify men, or women, for that matter.

Now, a few days have passed, and I am calm. Kinda. :)

With my Irish temper under control, I'm going to bristle outwardly, but with the dignity that my colleagues deserve. :) This is just too delicious an argument to pass up!

If my publisher chooses to put a half-naked, male cover model on my book's jacket, and I, in turn, use that cover in my promotions--am I then guilty of sexual objectification?

What if the cover celebrates a half-naked woman? Am I still guilty?

What if it portrays both a man and a woman? Would such a vivid portrayal of heaving bosoms and washboard abs then make me...a double perpetrator?

I don't think so.

I have a problem with the presumption that romance novelists--and the cover models employed by their publishers--manage to objectify anyone. Even within our genre, publishers have certain published taboos, and work that condones sexual victimization of any kind is one of the more universal ones.

"Objectify" is a verb. To objectify another person requires an action, performed by a perpetrator. Objectification also requires a victim. In order to be sexually objectified, a victim must have been denied their right to say "no".

A minor who is forced to perform in a peep show in exchange for food and shelter is a *victim* of objectification. The young men who were coerced into sexual acts under the mantle of presumed power within the Catholic Church were both victimized, and objectified. A young boy I know, autistic and at the time nonverbal, was molested at the age of ten by a documented, same sex, sexual predator.

Nobody cared much when it happened, save the people who loved him.

This child was victimized. He was also traumatized. He was, indeed, objectified, both by his perpetrator, and by the caregivers who chose to diminish his plight in order to remove themselves from the finger of accusation. They knew this child couldn't effectively testify. Their actions told him that it's ok to suffer molestation if you're not intellectually perfect.

None of these scenarios allowed their victims the luxury of choice.

Romance novel cover models are not victims. Nor have they been objectified. They have trained for, auditioned for, and prepared for their careers empowered by personal choice. In return, they have been well compensated for the delightful work that they do.

To presume that they are victims of objectification demeans the very real horrors faced by real victims of sexual objectification.

End of rant.

Fire away! :D

Author Blogging

Reprinted from Bookpros[e]

The Benefits of Author Blogging By Jayel Gibson, author of The Ancient Mirrors Tale series, including The Wrekening, Dragon Queen and Damselflies


What’s a blog?The word “blog” was derived (by lazy folks) from the term “web log.” It is a web page or site that’s part online journal and part forum. In most cases blog entries are short and may include photos or links. Sometimes blog authors allow readers to post their reactions to the author’s entries. Other readers then add their comments, creating an ongoing dialogue, like an online forum.A true blog features permalinks, a date and time for each entry, and has several entries displayed per page in reverse chronological order. Permalinks are individual post URLs (Uniform Resource Locators or web addresses). These URLs let other bloggers link to a specific entry in your blog. Ideally, a blog will offer an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed that allows readers to subscribe to the blog and receive notification whenever the author posts a new entry.
Some blogs are an integrated part of the author’s web site but most are hosted on public social-networking sites, such as Blogger, MySpace and LiveJournal.
Why have an author blog?

Today’s authors must be excellent promoters of their own work. Regrettably, many authors are inherently shy and reclusive, which makes self-promotion difficult. The art of blogging is a great way to “get out there,” even if you hate public speaking. After all, blogging allows time for formulating thought and editing what you say before going public, unlike those personal appearances.

Aside from the obvious possibility of generating book sales, blogging offers the author a way to engage readers in a direct, informal, no-pressure way. A blog can make an author appear more “alive” and approachable to readers. While a web site promoting your books is an essential marketing tool, a blog gives you a personal voice, an interactive stage that can help build author name recognition and reader interest.

What works best?
• Keep your entries professional, but personal. This is done by speaking to readers directly. Tell them a story; after all that’s what authors do. Use an authoritative yet conversational and informal tone.
• Try to update often. Shorter, more frequent entries are preferable to longer, infrequent ones.
• Share a bit of yourself. Readers love to see glimpses of the “real, everyday you,” whether it is your research for a new book, your nervous anticipation of those first book reviews, or a rant about an article you saw in the morning newspaper.
• Post photos. Readers enjoy being a virtual part of your book signing tour, convention panel, or workshop. You just may discover those readers in your “live” audience the next time you have a book event in a town near them.
• Make it useful. Offer helpful tips and links for other writers/readers. If you’ve read a good book, or seen a good film, share a review. If your blog becomes an information resource, other bloggers and web site owners will want to link to it.
• Use significant keywords in your blog entries. This is a good way to boost your blog’s chances of showing up near the top of search engine results.
• Stick to it. Once you start a blog, make a commitment to keep it going. An abandoned blog won’t give your readers a favorable impression.
• Consider sharing blog duty with another author in your genre. Since blogging does require a time commitment, inviting guest bloggers or conducting blog interviews can take the pressure off. Plus, multiple voices can make your blog more interesting.

• Use a soft sell. Don’t fill your blog with content originally created for marketing, PR or advertising. If your sole purpose is selling your book, use your web site, not a blog. Readers can smell a blatant sales pitch a mile away, and they won’t appreciate it.
What about comments?

The spirit of a blog is not interactivity: it is the sharing of the author’s thoughts and opinions. The decision to enable commenting is yours. If you are concerned about weeding out SPAM and continually policing negative comments, leave commenting disabled.

What else can an author do as a blogger?

Blog tours, also known as virtual book tours. A blog tour happens when an author arranges to be a guest blogger on other blogs over a period of several weeks. The author moves from one site to the next in a schedule of appearances. The author usually agrees to accept questions from the blog’s readers or answer a few interview questions from the host blogger.

Go ahead. Give it a try.

Ultimately, a blog can be a highly effective and low-cost, soft-sell marketing tool for sharing your books and encouraging a loyal readership through interaction. All that’s required to be a successful author blogger is a bit of planning, commitment and something to say.

There’s no guarantee that your author blog will sell more books. But even if it doesn’t, your writing skills will improve from the constant exercise.

Jayel Gibson earned a bachelor of arts and a masters of multicultural studies from National University in San Diego. She became an elementary school teacher in 1989 in Escondido, Calif., where she taught the fourth and fifth grades. However, her passion for storytelling and research into Celtic and Anglo-Saxon cultures proved more enticing than grade school instruction, and she retired from teaching in 2003 to pursue writing full-time. The seedlings of her grandmother’s Celtic tales combined with the alternate worlds she had harbored in her own mind to form the Ancient Mirrors Tale series. Click here to visit her blog.

Part 2, Tambra Kendall, Uncut!

LGS: Tambra, every writer had a muse of some kind. Describe yours...how do you keep him/her cooperative?

TK:I feed it chocolate. I'm not sure if my muse is male or female. I just know chocolate appeases the beast.

LGS: You recently attended the 2007 Romantic Times Booklover's Conference. Tell us a little about your experience and how that experience played into your writing goals this year.

TK: I made some nice New York City contacts for me to submit my work to. The male eye candy was nice as well. :)

LGS: Confession time ::insert wicked grin::. What was it REALLY like dancing with one of those hunkalicious cover models? :cD

TK: OMG! Fred was so good I forgot about being so nervous. He was such a gentleman.

LGS: (fanning herself at the very thought of just *what else* Fred is good at! So....what about e-publishing? Here today, gone tomorrow, or do you see a viable outlet for writers who create outside of the bounds of current trends?

TK:
I think epublishing is a viable venue since the younger generation is tech savvy.
I am finding though, not all the ebook buyers are the young ones. Women like the portabilty of the e-readers and they can have some many books to choose. They can adjust the font size etc., too.

LGS: What new turns do you see epublishing taking, especially in consideration of some recent changes in RWA's language concerning the same? (you can choose not to answer the second half LOL).

TK: As for trends, paranormal is still a strong seller as well as erotic romance and multicultural romances.
I plan on writing for New York City and epublishing having the best of both worlds. I do hope RWA, Romance Writers of America, will have a board voted in that will consider epublishing as professional and a viable outlet for romance writers.

LGS: Agreed. Many of our current NYC favorites have blazed the trails in epubbing! Tambra, thanks so much for sitting down with me today. It's always a pleasure, and I'm looking forward to seeing much more of your work in the coming year! With that said, got an excerpts to share? :D

TK: Now that you ask.....its unedited, but this is from Wicked Pleasures. :D

Excerpt from Wicked Pleasures:

Blurb:
Blurb: Honey Jordan is in trouble. Her Pa is giving her one week to find another place to live. Her fiancé has not finished their house. She discovered in telling her best friend about Granny Cordella’s sexual legacy, a box of wicked pleasure, she now might be a criminal. Can she escape the clutches of the law and marry Brock? Can she find the topaz treasure,‘The Jewel of the Nile?’

Brock Ryan is in trouble. He’s about to lose his house and land because the will his Pawpaw left him is missing. His fiancée Honey Jordan is in possession of certain sexual illegal items. His brother-in-law congratulates him and the Sheriff is threatening to haul Honey in for breaking the law.
Can Brock keep his fiancée out of jail and save his land?

~

Dallas, Texas 1880
Wicked Pleasure
By
Tambra Kendall


Honey Jordan stomped down the porch steps waving a big wooden spoon. “You son-of-a-cow chip!” She’d thrown all her cooking pots at the object of her displeasure—Brock Ryan. Blue enamel speckle ware littered the yard. She picked up a cast iron skillet and tossed it. Dang, just missed his ass. Mighty fine it was too. She wished it were her hands on those tight butt cheeks.
Brock ran for cover behind a large oak. “What’s got you so riled?”
“Our house is still unfinished. We can’t get married until it’s done. Have you changed your mind?” With smug delight, she lifted her chin. Hands on her hips she slowly advanced until she stopped a foot from him then pointed the wooden mixing spoon at his chest. “My sweet darlin,’ you can be replaced.”
He jerked the utensil from her hands. “What do you mean I can be replaced?”
“You have one week to finish Brock, or else.” Honey snatched the wooden weapon back, reached around and smacked his ass with the heel of the spoon. In a twirl of red calico, she marched up the stairs into the kitchen.
Honey slammed the screen door. “Oh, that brother of yours…” Even though she was mad, her heart pounded at the sight of him. Sun-kissed blonde hair that brushed the collar of his shirt, blue eyes with a mischievous glint and a mouth made for kissing. She wanted him despite her ire.

(copyright TambraKendall 2007)

Rising Star Interview with Tambra Kendall!

Erotic romance author, Tambra Kendall, knew from the time she was 12 years old she wanted to write romance. All those summers spent at the public library reading historical romance provided her love of the genre. In 1994, she joined Romance Writers of America and began the long journey to publication.

Ms. Kendall teaches online creative writing classes for Earthly Charms and various RWA chapters. She is a CTM, a competent Toastmaster, and speaks to local writing organizations on the craft of writing.

Besides writing Tambra is a watercolorist. She has sold a number of pieces and has had her work has been shown in various places locally.

Most recently, Ms. Kendall writes erotic paranormal romance for Whiskey Creek Press and Red Rose Publishing.

I had the opportunity to spend several days with Tambra at Romantic Times 2007, and I found Tambra's enthusiasm for erotic romance so contagious that I...well...caught it! Join us today and tomorrow for a brief interview with Tambra.

LGS: Tambra, I'm so tickled that you could join me today. Tell us a little about you and your road to writing romance?

TK: I've read romance from the time I was 12 years old and knew back then I wanted to write it. I want my happily-ever-after endings.

LGS: I love my HOA's, too. I also love me an alpha hearo, and I've noticed that your heroes tend to be rascals, and sexy ones at that. Where do you get your inspiration?

TK: A photo, watching a movie, lyrics from songs

LGS: I know this has been a busy year for you. Tell us a little about your latest contracts and what we can look for from Red Rose Publishing?

TK: Wicked Pleasure is a historical erotic romance. It has lots of humor, hot sex and hero that I absolutely fell in love with.

LGS: I think we have to fall in love with our heroes to stay with them, and I've found your heroes to be quite memorable. So tell me, what do you read to refuel your muse when you're not writing?

TK: Paranormal romance - historical, contemporary and SFF/F romance.
Scottish historicals and Medieval romance.


LGS: Ah, those men in kilts. . So tell me, how do you get around writer's block?

TK: Write on another project, do more research, more plotting. Paint or take my puppy for a walk.


LGS: What's up next for you as a writer?

TK: I've contracted another story for Red Rose under the name Keelia Greer and I'm trying for a NYC contract and agent.

7. What makes a great book for you?

Great characterization, plot and world building. For me that's Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nina Bangs, Angela Knight, Deidre Knight and Kerrelyn Sparks.


Join us tomorrow for the last half of my chat with Tambra, and some great news on her latest reviews!