So I'm sitting here with the ideas for two totally different books. The one is pretty much implausible but extremely sexy, with the protagonists in bed together in the opening pages. The other is the one I want to write, about a very proper governess and a blustery sailor and a passel of exotic children. I'm pretty certain I can sell the sexy one to New York. I'm pretty certain I'll have to publish the governess myself. I may have to prove my theory by writing both proposals.
And then it occurred to me that I wrote about a sailor and a prim lady and a couple of children once before, and it sold extremely well--All A Woman Wants.
So maybe I just need to come up with a good title and I can do it again.
How about you? Do you read for the love story or the sex? Or both?
10 comments:
In general, I find books that open with people in bed less enticing because I have nothing at stake in those stories, no emotional attachment yet.
Your idea about the "exotic children" grabbed me by the throat, though. I'm immediately thinking that in addition to a woman in every port, he had children, as well, and took them all on as his responsibility. And I'm already wanting to read it. How far off am I?
I'm not much of an erotica reader. Few are done well enough that the whole book isn't one sex scene after another. I want romance. I need romance. I need the pursuit, the flirtations, the mistakes and everything that goes with getting the H/Hn into bed together. If it starts out that way, there isn't much left to my imagination really.
That said, if YOU write sexy, I'll read it! I'd read your grocery list if you published it.
I'll admit that I enjoy the sex scenes, BUT only to the extent that they are a dimension of the romance. Sex should be culmination of a building relationship. I sometimes read erotica and I'm happy to say that an increasing number of them actually have a plot and a real relationship. In any romance book (erotic or not) it is all about the relationship. Sex is icing.
I fear replies to my little rant will favor my kind of book because you're all my readers. Not that this is a bad thing!
Pooks you're close on the exotic children. The sexy one would be about the romance after the sex. I've done this before, too, although this one would be a dicier situation. I may have to try just to see what happens.
I think erotica may be coming of age must as romance did in the 90s, which is a good thing. I've just reached the point where body parts get skipped and only the emotional bits get read. Thirty years of reading body parts is enough! Thanks for the input, and bless you nightsmusic!
Hi, Patricia!
Like pooks, I also find it a bit off-putting when a book starts off with a sex scene, especially one that isn't put into proper context.
Being a fan of your Malcolm/Ives series, I'm really happy to hear that you are in the process of writing another historical romance. ^_^
I love your books! Like you, I read and enjoy all kinds of romances, but I tend to get bored with sex scenes unless I'm emotionally invested in the main characters. Too much sex too early in the plot can get boring and I find myself skimming ahead. Build of sexual tension and a gradual unfolding of love are more interesting, but much harder to do. Both your book ideas sound wonderful. I'll buy either because I know they'll be well written.
I don't read erotica, either. I like "romance" novels because I like happy endings, but there has to be a bigger story going on to hold my interest. I'm working on a book now that opens with h/h in bed, but there's so much more to it. I think it's challenging to write unconventionally and make it work. Be interested to hear what happens with those proposals. :)
Argh, now I really do have to write both proposals!
Tin, I'm always writing. The next historical will be Notorious Atherton in July. I love the genre but I'll admit, the limitations of NYC marketing have jaded me. Which is why I've branched out in different directions ,trying to stay fresh.
I hate books that opens with a sex scene, since for me a sex scene is something you build up to. Oh, and showing their relationship before that scene in flashbacks later? Is almost guaranteed to make me stop reading. Mainly because in 8 cases out of 10 it feels more like lazy writing, than a way to move the plot forward. *g* I guess I prefer my romance novel plots to be chronological.
Can't say I disagree, Mikaela! If you happen to read Jo Beverley's wordwenches blog today, she shows why she prefers books about marriages first. Sex in historicals really does need to be after the vows in most cases! That's the whole fun of it.
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