Stacy Gold's Blog, page 12
January 25, 2018
Random Musings: Romance in First Person
For pretty much ever, most fiction, romance in particular, was written in the third person point of view (POV) using “he” and “she”. Most readers like third person POV. God knows we’re used to it since it’s been the accepted standard. A lot of readers don’t like first person POV, or claim not to, especially when it comes to romance.
The main argument against first person POV in romance has long been that you only get to see inside one character’s head. Yet there is absolutely no reason why a writer can’t switch POV characters from chapter to chapter or scene to scene in first person—just like you’d do in third person. That’s what many authors do, including me. Problem solved.
In fact, every argument I’ve run across for not liking first person POV in romance would also apply to third person POV, if it’s not well written. Let me repeat that… It won’t matter what POV is used if the book is not well written.
It also won’t matter if it IS well written. Because a great book is a great book, and things like POV disappear from view once you’re sucked in by the characters and the author’s world.
Why I Love Reading—and Writing—Romance in First Person Dual POV
When I started reading contemporary romance, I fell in LOVE with the immediacy of first person POV. Of being right there, in the characters’ heads, having them tell me their story firsthand. It sounded fresh and modern to my ear, and it built all kinds of yummy tension and emotion.
Without really making a conscious decision, I sat down to write my first romance and it came out in first person, past tense. I’ve since written a novella in first person, present tense as well. I find it easier to build both empathy and momentum when the character is detailing their own thoughts and feelings and goals and plans.
These days, unless it’s incredibly well-written, a romance in third person feels too far removed from the characters, too formal and staid, for my taste. I crave the freshness and immediacy of first person.
Here’s an example of the difference, using a snippet from my upcoming contemporary ski novella, In Deep…
The excerpt, rewritten in third person:
…his fingers alternated between caressing and pinching while he nipped and sucked down her neck. That combination of hard and soft drove her fucking crazy, and he knew it.
Her skin was hot and desperate for his next touch. His next kiss. His next bite.
With his free hand, he ripped open the button of her jeans and fumbled at the zipper. “Stand up.”
She did as she was told.
The original, in first person:
…his fingers alternated between caressing and pinching while he nipped and sucked down my neck. That combination of hard and soft drove me fucking crazy, and he knew it.
My skin was hot and desperate for his next touch. His next kiss. His next bite.
With his free hand, he ripped open the button of my jeans and fumbled at the zipper. “Stand up.”
I did as I was told.
Can you feel a difference in the emotion and immediacy of these two examples?
I can. For me, in first person, the last line especially has more energy, more forward motion leading me to find out what happens next. In the second example, the last line feels flatter. More like an ending than a continuation. But maybe that’s just me.
What do you think about first person vs third? Do you have a preference, and why?
The post Random Musings: Romance in First Person appeared first on Stacy Gold.
Romance in First Person
For pretty much ever, most fiction, romance in particular, was written in the third person point of view (POV) using “he” and “she”. Most readers like third person POV. God knows we’re used to it since it’s been the accepted standard. A lot of readers don’t like first person POV, or claim not to, especially when it comes to romance.
The main argument against first person POV in romance has long been that you only get to see inside one character’s head. Yet there is absolutely no reason why a writer can’t switch POV characters from chapter to chapter or scene to scene in first person—just like you’d do in third person. That’s what many authors do, including me. Problem solved.
In fact, every argument I’ve run across for not liking first person POV in romance would also apply to third person POV, if it’s not well written. Let me repeat that… It won’t matter what POV is used if the book is not well written.
It also won’t matter if it IS well written. Because a great book is a great book, and things like POV disappear from view once you’re sucked in by the characters and the author’s world.
Why I Love Reading—and Writing—Romance in First Person Dual POV
When I started reading contemporary romance, I fell in LOVE with the immediacy of first person POV. Of being right there, in the characters’ heads, having them tell me their story firsthand. It sounded fresh and modern to my ear, and it built all kinds of yummy tension and emotion.
Without really making a conscious decision, I sat down to write my first romance and it came out in first person, past tense. I’ve since written a novella in first person, present tense as well. I find it easier to build both empathy and momentum when the character is detailing their own thoughts and feelings and goals and plans.
These days, unless it’s incredibly well-written, a romance in third person feels too far removed from the characters, too formal and staid, for my taste. I crave the freshness and immediacy of first person.
Here’s an example of the difference, using a snippet from my upcoming contemporary ski novella, In Deep…
The excerpt, rewritten in third person:
…his fingers alternated between caressing and pinching while he nipped and sucked down her neck. That combination of hard and soft drove her fucking crazy, and he knew it.
Her skin was hot and desperate for his next touch. His next kiss. His next bite.
With his free hand, he ripped open the button of her jeans and fumbled at the zipper. “Stand up.”
She did as she was told.
The original, in first person:
…his fingers alternated between caressing and pinching while he nipped and sucked down my neck. That combination of hard and soft drove me fucking crazy, and he knew it.
My skin was hot and desperate for his next touch. His next kiss. His next bite.
With his free hand, he ripped open the button of my jeans and fumbled at the zipper. “Stand up.”
I did as I was told.
Can you feel a difference in the emotion and immediacy of these two examples?
I can. For me, in first person, the last line especially has more energy, more forward motion leading me to find out what happens next. In the second example, the last line feels flatter. More like an ending than a continuation. But maybe that’s just me.
What do you think about first person vs third? Do you have a preference, and why?
The post Romance in First Person appeared first on Stacy Gold.
January 5, 2018
I’m Ready for Romance Kindle & Ebook Giveaway
It’s a new year, so I’m part of a fantastic new romance giveaway for ebook readers. Which means you get a new chance at winning fantastic romance prizes.
Ready to get 2018 off to an awesome, romance-filled start? Enter our giveaway and you could take home a Kindle, a romance Ebook Prize Pack—where you choose the books you want to win—or a sweet Betsy Johnson rosebud crossbody wallet. Plus, you could win a bonus giveaway by visiting our book fair (more on that below).
Giveaway ends January 21st. Enter to win here.
This fabulous romance kindle & ebook giveaway is sponsored by these 63 authors:
Allyson R. Abbott • Amanda Uhl • Amy Ruttan • Anna Durand • Ashlee Price • Beata Blitz • Christa Paige • Christine d’Abo • Cynthia A. Clement • Cynthia Cooke • Dani Haviland • Debbie White • Denise Devine • Donna Fasano • Donna R. Mercer • Elizabeth SaFleur • Ember Leigh • Holly Cortelyou • J.E. Parker • Jacquie Biggar • Jen Doyle • Jennifer St. Giles • Joanne Dannon • Josie Riviera • Karen Michelle Nutt • Kel Carpenter • Kris Michaels • Kristin Holt • Leanne Banks • Lia Davis • Lilith Darville • Lynda Rees • Marie Tuhart • Marilyn Peake • Melissa McClone • Michele Barrow-Belisle • Mimi Barbour • Mona Risk • Nancy Radke • Natalie Ann • Nikki Lynn Barrett • Patrice Wilton • Rachelle Ayala • Raine English • Renee Ann Miller • Robyn Neeley • Sahara Roberts • Selena Kitt • Siera London • Sorchia DuBois • Stacy Gold • Stephanie Julian • Stephanie Queen • Susan Jean Ricci • Sydney Aaliyah Michelle • Tamara Ferguson • Tawdra Kandle • Tawny Weber • Taylor Marsh • Tracey Alvarez • Traci Douglass • Traci Hall • Veronica Blake
Plus, shop our book fair for your next romance read. Many titles are 99 cents or FREE. You’ll even find a bonus giveaway for one lucky winner who visits the fair.
The post I’m Ready for Romance Kindle & Ebook Giveaway appeared first on Stacy Gold.
December 27, 2017
Random Musings: Core Values in Real Life and Fiction
A shot from the final stretch of our last ride on The Whole Enchilada in Moab, Utah. Working on my core values pretty hard here.
A few years ago, my then nineteen-year-old nephew moved in with me and my hubby. He lived with us a little over a year with the ambition of getting his head on straight and not hanging with the wrong people (who inevitably got him into trouble).
During that time I did my best to teach him all the basic life skills he hadn’t picked up at home: cooking, setting goals, studying, budgeting, communicating, lawn care, and most important—how to make good choices (yeah, I know, trying to teach a nineteen year old boy to make good decisions is a Sisyphean battle. But I did what I could.).
Turns out, I learned a ton by teaching him all these life skills, because I was forced to evaluate my own. One of the most important things I realized everyone can benefit from is a set of core values. I even make sure to give all the characters in my romance novels core values.
What are core values, and why are they so important?
Different from morals, or rules, core values are the actions and experiences most important to you (Notice I did not include things.). If you use your core values as a guide, making decisions—especially big, life-changing ones—becomes much easier.
To give you a better idea, here are my core values, and how they impact my life choices…
Get exercise every day, preferably outdoors—I always make sure to live where I can walk or bike to run my errands, and where I can access mountains and trails and rivers easily.
Have more adventures and less stuff—I don’t spend much on clothing (and nothing on makeup), or furniture or décor. Instead I spend money on outdoor gear and travel, so I can have more adventures. I also choose to live in places that let me have amazing adventures close to home.
Surround yourself with people who genuinely like and support you. Avoid people who are flaky, negative, manipulative or back stabbing–Once I realized I didn’t need to keep these people around, my life got much less stressful. I’ve quit jobs and “friends” because of this, and I was always happier as a result.
If you can help someone, do it –More often than not, helping someone else hasn’t been hard, and it’s made a huge difference to them. Even when you have very little, someone else always has less.
Because of my core values, I’ve lived in some of the most incredible outdoor recreation towns in the world in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington. I’ve climbed and skied mountains, run rivers, and ridden trails to spectacular places I wouldn’t have seen any other way. I’ve travelled to 15 countries and speak 2.25 languages. I’ve made incredible friends all over the country and the world—the kind of people you can count on to be there in the fun times and the hard times. And I’ve taken charge of my life choices, never settling for less just because it’s easy.
Not only have my core values made me a happier person, they’ve helped me have a really happy marriage because I found a partner with similar core values. So choosing places to live and things to do, and where to spend our money, is easy.
How do core values impact my fictional characters?
Telling a story is really about setting up a series of situations that require decisions that lead to new situations. If I know what my characters core values are, it’s much easier to know what decisions they’re likely to make. Or what’s likely to upset them or spur them to action. I can create loads of tension by putting them in situations that go against their core values, or force them to reevaluate their core values.
For example, if my main character values family over everything else, they’re less likely to want to take a job in another country. Whereas if one of their core values is to have adventures whenever possible, they might happily say yes to the same job.
If I know my character values solitude, meeting a man who loves city life is going to create different situations/decisions than if she meets a man with a cabin in the mountains.
In my upcoming novella, In Deep, my main characters start out with conflicting core values. My hero, Max, is determined to protect everyone he cares about—hard to do when you (and your friends, family, and ex) work on ski patrol. My heroine, Sophie, is determined to put her career as a ski patroller before everything else—especially any man—because when she didn’t before, she was deeply unhappy.
Max has to learn he can’t protect everyone, least of all Sophie. She has to learn that not every man wants her to give up her career for them. Their core values make it all the more interesting.
What do you think about core values? Do you have some? Can you see how they apply in writing fictional characters as much as in real life?
The post Random Musings: Core Values in Real Life and Fiction appeared first on Stacy Gold.
December 19, 2017
Read an Excerpt from In Deep
What’s Inside? Approximately 80 pages featuring ex-lovers reunited, a workplace romance, ski patrol doing avalanche control, and smokin’ hot sex.
Chapter One
The wooden door of the ski patrol shack slammed into the wall. A gust of cold air and snow, and a tiny, powerful tornado, swept into the room. The door slammed shut, but the tornado kept coming.
“What is your deal, Max?” Sophie’s ski boots thudded on the plywood floor as she crossed the sparsely furnished room. Voice hard. Eyes flashing. All the fury of a goddess scorned aimed straight at me.
Shit. I crossed my ankles like my family jewels needed protecting—not that anything could save me from Sophie’s well-justified wrath.
“What do you mean, Soph?” I kept my face and tone innocent. I hadn’t wanted this damn job. Knowing she would be working for me would’ve been the nail in that coffin. Too bad I didn’t find out until my first day.
“You know good and damn well what I mean.” She pushed her way into my personal space. So close I could see the darker lines in her light blue irises. So close it made it damn hard for me to think about anything other than the taste of her mouth. Except maybe how it felt to have her naked and in my personal space two years ago. Before we worked together. Before we lived two doors down from each other in employee housing.
Before I became her boss.
I really didn’t need the reminder of those eight, incredible weeks we’d spent together, or the stiffy responding to the images in my head. Not when I wanted to think clearly.
Anger radiated off her like the sun’s heat radiates off the snow—hot, and able to burn you in minutes. If I wasn’t leaning my hip against the battered wood table, I would’ve taken a step back. Instead, I worked not to cross my arms. Setting up physical defenses wouldn’t help me here.
“Sam said he hired me because he wanted someone who was Mountain Travel and Rescue certified.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “It’s been almost three months, and all I’m doing, every day, is sweeping easy groomers, working first aid, and repairing fences.”
“Standard procedure. You learn the mountain and the team before we send you out on serious rescues or avalanche mitigation work.” I picked up a clipboard of paperwork I didn’t need to look at and stared at the top page.
I never expected my strategy to work over the long haul. Not after she left a sweet job patrolling at Blue Sky to work for Emerald Mountain. I just didn’t know what else to do, and I had to do something.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Bullshit. Troy started when I did, and he’s been throwing bombs and ski cutting with Ryan for six weeks.” Her lips pursed. “No wonder you don’t have any other woman on Patrol.”
“Not true. Brit’s on maternity leave right now, but she’s slated to come back next season.”
“And do you let her do anything other than repair fences?” She raised her eyebrows and stared me down, shoulders back, arms crossed.
“Of course. Brit does every job on the mountain.” I put on my friendliest smile. “All ’trollers do, after a few months on the job.”
Memories of Anna in a full body brace made my chest tighten, but at least they also shrunk my growing hard-on.
“You know, Max, I never took you for a misogynist. Guess we all can be wrong sometimes.”
“Wow! Sophie Tremore admits to being wrong. Even if it’s at my expense, I’m impressed.” I wracked my brain for the best way to handle this. Deflecting with humor would only work for, oh, about half a minute.
At least if she thought I was a misogynist, she wouldn’t figure out I still had feelings for her. That I’d been keeping my distance because I was afraid those feelings would cloud my judgment. And that I’d been keeping her on easy jobs because an irrational, selfish voice deep inside me screamed, Protect her. Keep her safe.
So stupid. Our jobs were inherently dangerous—something we all knew and accepted. When you work with explosives and avalanches and heavy sleds in tough terrain… Well, eventually someone is going to get hurt. Nature of the business.
Sophie had more training and experience than half the patrollers on staff. I trusted her with my life. I just didn’t trust myself with hers. I knew I couldn’t protect her any more than I could protect Anna. Still, I needed to try, for the sake of my sanity.
At the same time, I needed to keep her happily employed here. With Brit out and Joey injured, if we lost one more ski patroller, keeping the mountain open wouldn’t be easy.
“Actually, I’m glad you brought it up. I planned to set you up with a training partner for avy control this week, I just hadn’t sorted out the details yet.”
Every inch of her froze except her face. A series of unreadable thoughts flickered across it.
“Okay. Great.” Her shoulders dropped a fraction. So did the steel hard glint in her big, blue eyes. “When, and with who?”
Shit. Great questions. All the senior staff was already paired off, and I needed to make this happen asap. I wracked my brain for an option that made sense. Only one came to mind, and I had a feeling I would regret it, but I had to do something. “Me. Tomorrow.”
Her eyes narrowed. When Sophie’s eyes went slitty, it did not bode well.
Stupid idea, Max, my inner voice sneered. I know, but I don’t have another one, I told it, and steeled myself for Sophie’s response.
“So now you’re going to have me chained to a desk doing paperwork?” Her hardened voice slammed into me. “No thanks. I’d rather stick to the groomers until I find another job.”
I stood up tall and pressed my hand over my heart. “I promise we’ll get out on the slopes every day. I just want to make sure you know this mountain and our protocols before I set you loose. I can’t have any of my ’trollers getting hurt.” That had to be the first true statement I’d made since she walked through the door.
“Fine.” Her tone softened, but her eyes stayed narrow. “When do we start?”
“Five thirty a.m.”
“See you then.” She crossed the room, opened the door, and turned to face me. Swirling snow and the gray glow of the storm framed her tiny body. Her expression remained unreadable. “Thanks, Max.”
“Sure thing.”
The door slammed behind her, and I wanted to heave a sigh of relief. Except now I was even more worried.
Preorder In Deep Now for only $2.99! Delivers Automatically Jan 31st.
The post Read an Excerpt from In Deep appeared first on Stacy Gold.
December 14, 2017
SECRET SANTA ROMANCE EBOOK GIVEAWAY
One of SEVEN Kindle + Ebook Prize Packages!
Plus, Get FREE eBook Gifts From Our Author Secret Santas just for entering.
Enter the Giveaway Here and claim your free ebooks now!
Have you been naughty or nice this year? Our Secret Santas good with both, and we have gifts for you either way. All you have to do is enter the Secret Santa Romance Giveaway and you’ll be able to download free gift books from our Santa Authors.
You could also be one of 7 lucky winners to take home Kindles and ebooks up for grabs! If you win, you get to choose the books YOU want.
Giveaway ends December 26th, 2017.
Plus, shop our Secret Santa Book Fair for your next favorite read and enter our Bonus Giveaway. (No purchase necessary)
This Giveaway is Sponsored by these Fine Romance Authors
Allyson Lindt • Alyson Reynolds • Amy Ruttan • Anne Renwick • Anne Stone • April Fire • Ashlee Price • Bea Paige • Beata Blitz • Casi McLean • Christa Maurice • Christine Ashworth • Donna R. Mercer • Elizabeth SaFleur • Helen Scott • J.E. Taylor • Jacquie Biggar • Jen Doyle • Jennifer Vester • Jo-Ann Carson • Joan Reeves • Karina Kantas • Kris Michaels • Laura Greenwood • Lindsey Hart • Lynda Haviland • Marie Booth • Megyn Ward • Melinda Dozier • Michele Barrow-Belisle • Natalie Rios • Phoebe Alexander • R.M. Gauthier • Rose Chapman • S Van Horne • Sahara Roberts • Skye MacKinnon • Stacy Gold • Stella Marie Alden • Traci Douglass • Victoria Saccenti • Aileen Harkwood
The post SECRET SANTA ROMANCE EBOOK GIVEAWAY appeared first on Stacy Gold.
In Deep is Coming Out Jan 31st!
In Deep is a sizzling hot, stand-alone novella about ex-lovers/ski patrollers who have to decide what’s most important, their careers or each other. Preorder your copy now
What’s Inside? Approximately 80 pages featuring ex-lovers reunited, a workplace romance, ski patrol doing avalanche control, and smokin’ hot sex.
A career or a lover…Is there a choice?
Sophie Tremore is trying to build a career in the male-dominated world of Ski Patrol. Hard to do when her new boss is her smokin’ hot ex-lover. She hasn’t forgotten how he made her body tingle and her heart pound, although he’s making it a lot easier by treating her like she’s incompetent—when he’s not ignoring her existence altogether.
Emerald Mountain Ski Patrol Director Max Demford has been doing his best to avoid working with his feisty former flame, given his judgment is clouded by those eight mind-blowing weeks two years ago. Ski patrol is dangerous enough, and no way could he handle another person he cares about getting hurt on the mountain.
Forced to work together, their simmering attraction becomes difficult to ignore. When Sophie gets caught in a slide, an adrenaline-filled day could turn into a spectacular night they will never forget—one that could risk both their careers.
Preorder now from these fine retailers!
Preorders will be automatically delivered to your reading device on January 31st, 2018.
The post In Deep is Coming Out Jan 31st! appeared first on Stacy Gold.
November 28, 2017
Random Musings: Alpha Males, Romance Novels & #MeToo
Recently, I read a fascinating article: “3 Cult-Classic Films That Reveal the Depth of Sexual Assault Culture in America”. One of the movies mentioned was Saturday Night Fever. I remember watching it as a kid, liking the music and dancing, and wondering what the big deal was with John Travolta (So not my type.).
What stuck out the most when I re-watched it a few years ago was the horrifying rape scene. How did this not make me, and millions of others, deeply uncomfortable before?
And why the hell was I watching this at eight years old? What weird ideas about how men should treat women was I internalizing at that young age?
Of course, in the late seventies, societies rules about the treatment of women were different.
Sexual harassment and assault on women have been considered normal in our culture since long before I was born. I worked in more than enough male-dominated fields over the years to accept that it came with the territory.
The romance genre is no different. Many of the popular “bodice-ripper” romance novels included rape scenes that led to true love between the rapist and the victim—who was usually far too pure to have engaged in sexual intercourse voluntarily. It was her excuse for having sex (the “He made me do it.” defense), and it worked at the time.
Over the years there’ve been plenty of workplace romances where the male boss seduces his female employee—even when she knows it’s probably a bad idea at best. Even when she doesn’t like him at the start. One way or another he uses his greater power to convince her to sleep with him.
Looking at all these scenes and scripts and scenarios through the lens of now, the ones that make me uncomfortable are more about power than partnership, sexual fulfillment, or finding true love. I try my best to write developing relationships in a way that’s believable, respectful, and hot. I’m not always successful.
What’s changed for me, as a romance author?
Before this whole sexual harassment/assault box got opened, I had a male lead character in an early draft of my third ski romance novella, Never You, that my critique partner HATED. I mean, absolutely could not stand him, and his overly-flirtatious dialogue, and his desire to get laid. Not even when his heart of gold was revealed.
I’m glad I rewrote him to be a little softer. He was never meant to be an Alpha asshole in the first place. Now that the whole landscape of sexual harassment has changed, I would be even more mortified to put the original version of my hero into the world (I swear he wasn’t an asshole in my head!).
A few weeks ago, I started rewriting a novel I hadn’t touched in almost a year. When I set it aside, I’d been adding in my hero’s point of view. Upon rereading, I realized every one of his scenes made him seem like a crazed stalker. ACK!
How did I not notice at the time? Would I have felt the same rereading it before #MeToo?
I’d like to think so, but I know I’m more sensitive to that sort of thing now than ever before. And hopefully other readers and writers are too.
That’s why I vow to:
Pay more attention to times when my heroes are too pushy, too demanding, too flirty for comfort.
Read, and write, strong female characters who aren’t afraid to take charge and instigate sex and relationships.
Flip the power equation in professional, personal, and sexual relationships whenever I can.
Read, and write, men who are sensitive and caring and multi-faceted, and who don’t need to use their power to prop up their egos or be in control.
What do you think…
Has #MeToo changed how you view certain books, movies, or characters? Is implicit consent important to you in a steamy romance? Are you over traditional Alpha males as heroes?
The post Random Musings: Alpha Males, Romance Novels & #MeToo appeared first on Stacy Gold.
November 19, 2017
Romance for the Holidays Giveaway
Enter our Kindle & Ebook giveaway where SEVEN lucky winners get to take home some holiday loot.Prizes include Kindles and Ebook Prize Packs where you choose the books you want to win.
This Giveaway is Sponsored by these fabulous romance authors:
Alicia Kobishop • Allison Gatta • Amanda Uhl • Anna Durand • Anne Stone • Anni Fife • Astrid Arditi • Bokerah Brumley • C.E. Wilson • Cailin Briste • Calinda B • Cherie Claire • Christine d’Abo • Connie Davé • Constance Phillips • Cynthia A Clement • Cynthia Cooke • Dakota Willink • Debbie White • Denise Devine • Donna R. Mercer • Elizabeth Rose • Emily Leigh • Gayle Parness • Gemma Snow • Holland Rae • Holly Cortelyou • Jacqueline Diamond • Jacquie Biggar • Jana Richards • Jeanne St. James • Jo-Ann Carson • Joan Reeves • Joanne Dannon • Josie Riviera • Judith Keim • Kris Michaels • Lana Campbell • Laurel Greer • Leanne Banks • Liz Durano • Maria K. Alexander • Mary Morgan • Melissa Belle • N.D. Jones • Natalie Ann • R.M. Gauthier • Robyn Neeley • Sahara Roberts • Siera London • Soraya Naomi • Stacy Gold • Stephanie Julian • Susan Jean Ricci • Suzanne Jenkins • Tamara Ferguson • Taylor Lee • Tena Stetler • Victoria Pinder • Whitley Cox
Giveaway ends November 30th, 2017. Enter the Giveaway Here
Shop Our Romance Book Fair
And while you’re stopping by, pull up a cozy chair next to our virtual fireplace to shop for your next read at our Holiday Book Fair. Many titles 99 cents or FREE. Find your next read here.
The post Romance for the Holidays Giveaway appeared first on Stacy Gold.
November 14, 2017
Random Musings: Sex Scenes in Romance Novels
When I tell someone I write steamy romance, I get one of two immediate, knee-jerk responses: a broad grin and conspiratorial gleam in the eye, or the I-just-smelled-something-nasty face. Either is generally followed by The Question…
“So, like Fifty Shades of Gray?”.
No. Not at all like Fifty Shades of Gray.
The only similarity is that my stories also include graphic sex (though not of the BDSM variety. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Whatever creams your Twinkie.) and a HEA or HFN ending.
I strive to write stories about real people, living real lives, and going through real life struggles on their way to creating healthy relationships. And sex is a real part of the development of most modern relationships.
Having sex can change people (and characters are people too), and their relationships. Sometimes deeply and profoundly (there’s that comparison to real life again). It can move people to express love, or decide to spend the rest of their lives together, or freak out and bail.
The ways we behave when we’re naked (or not) and intimate with someone expresses so much about how we feel about ourselves and others. When I’m writing, sexual encounters offer a framework for expressing these deeper layers. I can show if a character is giving, controlling, ego driven, oblivious, inexperienced, uninhibited, uncomfortable in their own skin, putting up walls, and so much more.
Sex scenes let me manipulate my characters by pushing boundaries, or working through trust issues, or having them do something wildly, thrillingly out of, well, character. Like any other important scene in a story, it won’t have the same oomph if it’s not written out in all its glorious detail.
Just as importantly, all women deserve to enjoy great sex with loads of delicious foreplay (in books AND real life). That means, we need more examples of strong, independent women having mind-altering sex on their own terms.
Sex where the woman has one (or more) orgasms. Sex where the woman takes charge, or willingly gives up control because she trusts her partner to have her best interests—her pleasure—in mind. Sex where it’s not over until the woman is boneless and blissed-out.
For me, writing—and reading—those kinds of sex scenes is a whole hell of a lot of fun.
Do you like graphic sex scenes in your romance novels? Or, do you prefer a sweeter read, or a story where the door closes on the bedroom? Why?
The post Random Musings: Sex Scenes in Romance Novels appeared first on Stacy Gold.
