How do you like your love fix?

by

Jan Ruth

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

Mills and Boon or hard-core erotica? Realistic and gritty, or pure fantasy and escapism? Maybe with a blend of humour, or a touch of the paranormal?

Contemporary romance is all about modern love, sex and relationships; but the diversity is as vast as the open sea. It’s just about the biggest umbrella term in fiction and probably the most subjective; although the sub-genre list is growing so the chances of not finding something to your taste, is pretty slim!

I love the scope of writing in this genre and the reading of it has led me to pastures new in terms of variety. To be honest, there are few books outside this genre that don’t benefit from a romantic interest running alongside the main theme. And yet . . . I struggle with the word, ‘romantic’. It still invites those old images of perfect young couples silhouetted against a sunset, gazing into each other’s eyes. The woman was always rescued by the man, usually a doctor, the ‘happy ever after’ was always guaranteed, and usually well in sight by the beginning of the last chapter.

For a good while, romantic fiction has been all about the beautiful, thirty-something-year-old woman being let down by a man; but what about the forty-something-year-old man, being let down by a woman?

Romance in novels has evolved and changed along with the role of women in society. What used to be deemed almost as porn, is now acceptable in fiction . . . or is it? What does get me slightly hot under the collar is the idea that erotica is romantic; it tends not to be in my opinion. We know the basic facts, don’t we? That, as women, we need more emotional connection for a piece to feel sexy, or romantic.

Can I get away with not mentioning 50 Shades? No? Okay, I guess not. Well, I didn’t feel the love with this book and I’m taking a gamble that the current fascination with being tied up will fade, along with the vampires and the gargoyles. So, is erotica another name for soft porn? Probably.

On the other side of the coin, romance with no love scene or hint of sex in any shape or form, is slightly unrealistic for these times. If an author has built sexual tension into a novel then I tend to feel a bit cheated when the characters, poised at the scene of the act, skip forwards to the following day or the chapter suddenly ends. I feel like the door has firmly closed, with me, the reader, on the wrong side of it.

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

Personally, I feel sex in fiction works best when the sexual passages fit within the tone of the book. It’s a very fine line to write good sexual scenes and, for me, it always works best when it just triggers the imagination, but without taking its place entirely. I find romance much more enjoyable to read (and write about) when it is blended within real relationships. After all, the actual chemistry of love is still something of an enigma and one of the most powerful feelings we can experience. Although research can fill in a lot of gaps, there is no substitute for drawing on real life experiences and most readers can easily tell the difference, especially if you are aiming at ‘realistic and contemporary’.

And lastly, what about the men? We have some terrific male romance writers, which just prove that the old images of this genre are becoming less and less contrived. So, in answer to the original question, I like my love fix with some feeling; sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, but above all it has to be real.

Author Jan Ruth

Jan Ruth has written three, full length, novels: Wild Water, Midnight Sky and White Horizon. Find Jan Ruth here:

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Jan Ruth on Amazon

July's discussions will be...

social media

June over already? You sure? Crikey, I blinked and missed it, I reckon!

OK folks, the theme for July is social media.

Social media is important for writers, but what’s your favourite?  Is it Twitter that floats your boat? If it is, how on earth do you reach out to people when you need followers? What about LinkedIn, has anyone fallen in love with that seemingly lost tool? Is it lost?

Google Plus+ is new and seems a mix of Twitter and FB, and what of Facebook itself? It’s full of people’s photos of their kids, isn’t it? Have you tried Triberr? My Space? DevianArt? Live Journal, Tagged, Orkut, Badoo, Ning… just how many are there? 

What about Pinterest? Pinning pictures to virtual boards? What's the point of that? 

Just how do you juggle your time connecting and building the author platform?

These are just some of the questions we will be talking about. I have a few spare slots because of authors dropping out so if anyone wants to get in on the discussion...? Well, email me and let's talk!

Among the social media chats I'd like to introduce you to a new paranormal author Fiona Mayne who will be spotlighting her new book - The Curse of Fin Milton - - A Spooky Ghost Story and Supernatural Romance. Sounds good, right? And I'll be interviewing Serena Fairfax about her novel Where the Bulbul Sings and finding out about her writing routine.

See you then! 

How one writer discovered a writer’s group and never looked back.

by

 Christine Powell Gomez

I started my writing journey about a year ago.  I just woke up one morning and said “I’m going to write a book.”  No—really, I did.  Of course my husband just laughed and responded, “Yeah...right.”  I can’t say that I blame him for his lack of support.  Honestly, it is something you get used to after a while.  You eventually learn that your family and friends could care less about your next chapter or what your characters are doing.  

I didn’t give much thought about how to write.  I just opened a new word document and started typing...Not exactly the best way for a novice writer to begin their journey.   But, no one has ever accused me of doing anything with caution; I prefer to jump in feet first before testing the waters.  After a few weeks it dawned on me, I really have no idea what I’m doing.  Not that I was going to let that stop me!  It was time to do a little research.  I needed to know how other authors take their ideas and make real.  That is when I found the most important tool for success—A great supportive writing group.  I had no idea that other writers could be such a big source of knowledge, and that they were willing to share that with you.  Anytime I had a question, someone was always there with an answer.  I wish I would have started my journey here; it would have made things a lot easier.

It took 3 months for me to complete my book.  It was like a weight lifting from my shoulder...That is until I realized it was just the beginning.  I thought writing it would be the hardest part, but I was wrong.  I now entered the realm of need-to-find-an-editor, formatting-is-not-my-friend, I-hate-my-cover-but-can’t-afford-anything-else, and my favorite if-you-don’t-market-your-book-nobody-will-buy-it.

It wasn’t until latter that I learn about building a brand and networking—two things that are essential to becoming a successful writer.  But, every step of the way was made easier by those in my writing group that had been there before and was willing to share their journey.

The moral to this story—even if you don’t know where to start or what to do next, you can still accomplish your dream if you put your mind to it.  Everyone has a different journey...So, embrace your journey, join a writing group, write your little heart out and most important—never be afraid to ask.  There will always be other writers willing to lend an ear and give advice.

  

The Importance of Developing Your Author Platform

guest post 

by

Sandra Bunino 

Before my first book, Marooned In Miami, came out this past January, I began researching what it meant to have an author platform.

I’d heard the term. I followed many terrific authors. But what did “platform” mean exactly? Was it some kind of pie-in-the-sky marketing concept or something I should take seriously as an indie author? I have an MBA yet this whole concept was entirely new to me.

Here’s what I discovered:

• Authors (no matter if you’re self-published or traditional) need to have an established presence prior to publishing their first book.

Okay, great. But wait, what? Prior to? Wouldn’t I be promoting my book? Isn’t that the whole point? Yes. And no. I learned that the most successful authors actually started their platform long before they released their book!

How do you go about developing this presence? That’s where I did more research, reading books, going online, learning what other successful authors I admired had done.

• For the most part, there’s a basic formula: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads to an extent, and blogging. All new to me, but surely not that difficult. I had an advanced degree and I deal in the cutthroat world of corporate finance every day. Surely, I could do this, right? Well…. 

Not so fast. If you’ve dabbled in the world of social media, you’ll understand when I say that it’s a bit of a different culture. I didn’t quite get it at first. Many don’t. Twitter seemed kinda…weird (haha). I even called my younger brother and asked him what these hashtags meant (he was absolutely no help!). Many people think Twitter is about what teenagers ate for lunch or a way to keep tabs on your favorite celebrity. But I found out that as an author, it’s far more than that if used as a marketing tool. What a powerful resource and best of all - it’s free!

I took a webinar, found a mentor and even hired a consultant to give me some pointers (she’s also a bestselling author so she knows what she’s talking about!). I was soon tweeting like a pro and gained over 2,000 followers in just five months. I’ve met an amazing network of authors and connected with many readers in a very short period of time – all thanks to Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.

• Here’s where I think some authors make their mistake: as adults we don’t want to admit what we won’t know or understand -- so many times we give up, walk away. I’ve learned that in publishing, that’s just not an option. If you ever hope to be signed by a traditional publisher (even an indie publisher), they expect you to have an established fan base. And not just with a blog. People need to know how to find your blog! And this is where Twitter and Facebook, even LinkedIn come in. 

• SEO: this is a big topic I won’t even try to cover here but it goes to what I mentioned in the last paragraph. If you want to be found, anywhere, you need to know your branding. This is where marketing yourself comes in. I figured out quickly that I needed to have a theme: to my blog posts, my tweets, Facebook messages – everything needed to go along with my genre, erotic romance. 

Just how *do* you begin to write a book?

How do you do it?

guest post 

by

Greg Kiser

Getting Started

Think of a high concept.  For me, that’s the ability to tap into the internet with your mind. So you can surf the internet the way you peruse your own memory today. 

Try to remember the lyrics to a song.  Might take a few seconds, then you remember.  You find that information in your brain, obviously.  Sort of a local hard drive, to use computer terms.

Now imagine you’re transparently tapped into the Global internet 24x7. Try to remember the lyrics to a song.  They’re there instantly.  Feels like you found them in your brain, just like before. But you didn’t.  You found the words on a server in Germany.  Doesn’t matter, all transparent to you.

Characters make a great story. 

For me, anyway, it’s all about the characters.  I’ll give a book 50 to 100 pages.  By then if I haven’t connected with at least some of the characters then I generally won’t finish the book.  Unless, maybe, the plot is just a killer, like The Da Vinci Code, or something like that.  Preferably, I’m looking for the protagonist to blow me away because most of the time you are reading from his/her point of view.

But occasionally it’s enough if the antagonist is blowing me away, such as the Hannibal series by Thomas Harris.

Now, you put together a novel that has two or three characters that I can identify with?  Or more?  That’s a novel I’m not going to put down.