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Monthly Archives: June 2012

Shutting the bedroom door. A euphemism in itself, it means that Nasty Sex Stuff is about to take place offstage in a book and the reader is shut out of the fun.

But not necessarily. As someone who has received the dubious honor of being accused of having both not enough sex in her books or too much (sometimes in reference to the same book) I consider myself something of an expert on when and how to shut the door. But I’m not convinced the door is ever truly shut.

So why end a chapter or section on a hook where it’s obvious what’s going to happen and then not follow through? It’s all to do with rhythm and pacing. I’m not a subscriber to the bang-bang-bang (literally?) school of writing—the theory that you have to establish and maintain a fast pace throughout the book. In very simplistic terms, it’s the difference between listening to disco and classical. You need a variety of shading and tempos; you need fast-paced excitement, slow reflection, and all points between.

It’s also about the relationship you’ve established with the reader. Have you hooked them? Is the reader willing to follow along, to be led where you want them to go; that your style and story have established trust with the reader. If you decide to leave something implied but not stated, the reader should trust you enough at that point to keep going, to imagine for herself what happens at that point. Even though it’s a romance and the love scenes are crucial to the genre, trust your reader enough to vary the amount of detail you apply to each one.

And trust your reader enough to let her enter the bedroom without you, if she wishes. That door never really closes, does it?

Here’s an excerpt from Improper Relations, which a reader told me was one of the sexiest things she’d ever read. She said it was the oyster that sealed the deal.

“Is this usual in marriage? Is everyone like this?”

He kisses me as if to stop my mouth. I am learning his kisses, their variety and hidden messages.

“I hope so,” he says as we come to the top of the stairs and he kicks the bedchamber door open.

Briefly, before I forget everything but Shad, I remember that soon Ann and I shall have the opportunity to compare husbands.

****

The next morning I am none too pleased to find that Shad has left early to breakfast with Beresford, for he and his lady came back to town late the night before. It’s raining—it has rained most of the night. During one of Shad’s half-hour regenerations (and that one was indeed half an hour for we had indulged ourselves mightily) we lay quietly and listened to the hiss of falling rain from the warm nest of the curtained bed. Beneath my cheek, my face pillowed on his chest, I heard the beat of his heart.

“Milady, the Countess of Beresford is downstairs,” the unpleasant Withers announces just as I’m wrapping myself up in the bedclothes to sleep some more.

“At this hour?”

She sniffs in reply and picks an oyster shell from the coverlet.

A reminder–The Malorie Phoenix is 99 cents for Nook and Kindle!

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This week I am doing a giveaway to celebrate passing the mark of 100,000 ebooks sold. 🙂  Being a writer, I ought to be able to find the words to express how it makes me feel to see my stories getting a new life and reaching new readers.  But all I can say is I’m doing the happy dance, thought perhaps not quite as gracefully as this lady!
As I look at my backlist, I remember how much fun I had writing each book. The traditional Regency genre may have been a niche that didn’t pay well, but my editors allowed me a lot of creative freedom. I could let the sex happen naturally and go as far (or not) as it made sense for the couple and the story. I could experiment with everything from a romp to a Gothic. I took my characters everywhere from the villages of the Cotswolds to the Cornish coast. My heroes were not all rakes; I could give the nice guys a chance, too.
I indulged in a lot of different fantasies with these books. It’s one of the great things about being a romance writer and reader. Even if you’re happily married, a little fantasy never hurts!
Since I’m in a good creative place, my current favorite fantasy is my work-in-progress. At other times it may more closely resemble a demon-infested swamp, but right now it’s wonderful. Much of the story takes place in the South Downs of Sussex, a spot I chose because it’s a plausible balloon-ride from London and also because I lived there for three years on international assignment. This picture shows the South Downs Way, parts of which I have hiked. My hero looks a bit like John Corbett, not the way he was in Sex and the City but the way he was in Northern Exposure.
What would your favorite romantic fantasy be? Is it based on a book or film? Where is it set?  Who does the hero look like?
Comment for the chance to receive the ebook of your choice from my titles (complete list at  www.elenagreene.com/books.html). Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comments by midnight EST on Thursday, June 14th.  Please include your email address or check back next Friday, June 15th, for the announcement post.
Elena

In between work, home, and the constant urge to nap lies the writing. And, of course, the reading.

I seldom reread, but now that I have an ereader, I find myself rereading way more often than before–previously, if I reread that meant there was another book I wasn’t reading for the first time. With an ereader, all of those books are still right there, which means that if I so choose, I can switch out to another book with a literal press of a button.

So this week I reread one of my favorites, Amanda Quick’s Deception. When I returned to reading romance, it was Quick whom I first glommed (before I even knew what glomming was!). Deception was my favorite of her single-title books, telling the story of Jared, the very organized, slightly dull businessman who looked like a pirate (one eye, velvet eye patch, long hair, refusal to wear cravats), and Olympia, the self-proclaimed “woman of the world” who’d nonetheless never left her small village.

The prose veers on the purple–“womanly portal” is used more than once, and there are some parts I, admittedly, skipped. But the passion between them is delightful, and the book–and the others I’ve been reading–help inspire me to write my own romance when inspiration flags. Because, you know, it can be difficult to get inspired for all kinds of romantic frolics when the dishes have to get done.

Many authors can’t read within their own genre when they’re writing; I find the opposite, that I crave reading historicals when writing them, and definitely want to read as much romance as possible in general. There is only one author whom I cannot read while writing myself, and that is Carla Kelly, whose voice is so strong it infects mine, and I find myself writing a lot like her, which is not me.

If you’re an author, can you read within your genre when writing? What old favorites do you like to go back and dive into again? Are there authors that just haven’t stood up to the test of time?

Megan

 

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Is it Tuesday already???  Wow.  I have been working on two projects lately, plus planning a new one, plus trying to have some summer fun, so the week has really crept up on me.  So…what else have I been thinking about lately?

1) Winners!  The winner from my post last week launching One Naughty Night is…Lisa Wolff!  Email me at amccabe7551 AT yahoo.com with your mailing info and I will get a signed copy mailed out to you ASAP

2) Blogs and reviews.  Both good (yay!) and not-so-good (sad!).  It seems like the first week or so when a book is out brings several of them to my inbox every day.  Yesterday I was at the Grand Central Forever blog talking about how being a theater geek led me to the St. Claire family…

3) Watching “Call Me Maybe” takeoffs on YouTube

4) Which led me to “irrational celebrity hate lists” (not sure how).  We all have at least one, right?  Mine happens to be Kristin Stewart.  Ugh.  She just seems to stomp around looking profoundly angry that designers have thrown free clothes at her…

5) Maybe that means we also have irrational hate lists for character types?  The dotty old dowager?  The ditzy best friend?  Hmm.

6) Reading, of course.  I just finished Amor Towles’s amazing Rules of Civility, and now I can’t decide what to read next.  Any suggestions??

Who is on your irrational celebrity hate list??

 

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