Writing the erotic scene is both easy and difficult. It is easy because the reader wants the erotic scene, more than any other to succeed. The reader invests his cooperation, his personal energy, and his furthest extremes of credulity. Not to put too fine a point on it, the reader is likely to have an urgent, palpable stake in the matter at hand and to hope feverishly for a satisfactory outcome.
The erotic scene is difficult because the writer wants, or ought to want, to make the scene as good as possible for the reader.
— Lars Eighner
Life is very full of sex, or should be. As much as I admire Tolkien — and I do, he was a giant of fantasy and a giant of literature, and I think he wrote a great book that will be read for many years — you do have to wonder where all those Hobbits came from, since you can’t imagine Hobbits having sex, can you? Well, sex is an important part of who we are. It drives us, it motivates us, it makes us do sometimes very noble things and it makes us do sometimes incredibly stupid things. Leave it out, and you’ve got an incomplete world.
— George R.R. Martin
Let’s talk sex . . . in writing, that is. As I’m sure you already know, there are several different levels of heat (AKA sexual content) in romance.
1. Clean
This is as vanilla as it gets, completely devoid of eroticism. If you’re lucky the couple might hold hands, or maybe even have a single kiss at the end, but that’s as far as it goes. The emphasis is on the love story, not the physical manifestation of that love.
Most Inspirational or Christian romance novels are clean and so are many historical or Regency romances. Goodreads has a list, if you’re interested. I remember reading a time-travel romance set in Scotland and it wasn’t until I reached the end that I realized it was also a clean romance.
2. Sweet
Sweet romance is just what it sounds like, sweet. The butterflies in the stomach or sweaty palms are because of feelings of love, not lust. There may be a little hand-holding and kissing, but anything else is strictly behind closed doors, and only after a declaration of love.
You can find sweet romances in just about any category, but mostly in Young Adult, Historical, Contemporary, Suspense, and Inspirational. Barbara Cartland was prolific in her sweet, Historical novels. And I should know, I read hundreds of them. :-D
3. Warm
This is a step up from sweet, with more kissing and more hints about sex but it still doesn’t show it. There might even be a few tingles, but only hints about their urges. The emphasis is more on the emotions than the act.
Look for a warm romance in the Harlequin Presents line, as well as Young Adult and Historical romance.
4. Steamy
We’re finally getting to the good stuff. You’ll see sex on the page, but never anything wild or crazy. The kissing is more sexual, an expression of lust, leading to arousal. The language can be more explicit, though not vulgar.
Steamy romance can be found in pretty much any category – Historical, Contemporary, Suspense, Paranormal – and many old school romances are usually in this heat level.
5. Hot
Open door sex scenes are a must in the hot romance. They should be emotionally charged and explicit in their descriptions, but vulgar language is still kept to a minimum. The sex should both help the story evolve and thrill the reader.
You’ll find your hot romance in a wide variety of categories. Check out Silhouette Desire, Harlequin Temptation, and Dell Ecstasy Supreme.
6. Erotic
This romance has intense sexual scenes that could include kinks and fetishes. The sex is more explicit, as are the descriptions. Emphasis is placed on sexual activities, and not just the main characters but side characters as well. This is the level where many of the darker romances and menage books fall.
You’ll find erotic romance most often in contemporary or paranormal romance. You can also check out Harlequin’s Desire and Blaze lines.
When I first started out writing, several of my stories were vaguely romantic, but they were very clean romances. I can still remember struggling with a scene in which I had two characters hug. It took years before I became comfortable writing about sex.
But since then I’ve left the clean and sweet behind, and written comfortably in all the other heat levels. Yes, including erotic. And no, I haven’t tried publishing anything erotic yet. :-D
So, what’s your heat level when it comes to writing about sex? Inquiring minds want to know.
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WORDAGE REPORT
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Life is a yo-yo, always up and down, up and down. Or maybe that should be a roller coaster because you never know when there’ll be an unexpected, sharp turn among all those ups and downs.
The weather turned hot and humid last week, but rather than energizing me, it seemed to suck all the energy out of me. Fortunately, before that happened, I got my planting done. The vegetable gardens are in (all except the tomatoes – I’m waiting to see if my neighbor is going to give me the plants his wife started for me after catching me lopping off the remaining asparagus), including the five flats of impatiens I planted in the front garden.
But the rise in temperature had another unintended side effect. I have a very large, south facing window in my office. And not only does it heat up in here pretty quickly, if I have the window open, that hot air leaches into the hallway where the thermostat is and triggers the central air. It doesn’t cool my office down, mind you, just the rest of the house. I’m going to have to get a fan or something for in here because even with the window closed it gets really hot in here.
So I guess I’m going to have to train myself to work in my office right after breakfast instead of
Aside from the fact I didn’t get much in the way of extra writing done last week, it wasn’t a bad week writing-wise. My blog posts are becoming less of a struggle and I even got the new serial started. I believe I mentioned the struggle I had with it in my introduction on Friday.
I think the reason I had so much trouble with it when I first came up with the idea is that it was always meant to be a longer story. I think the longest version of it I have is around 4500 words, which really isn’t long enough for the amount of story to be shared. But let’s not forget, I came up with the idea when I was young and new to writing, and I thought writers could only write one thing so I decided I’d write short stories.
We’ll see how it goes now that I’m older and wiser.
NEW WORDS:
2417+728+352+1202=4,669
UP – 335 words from last week
Up a bit from last week, mostly due to me rambling on for last week’s wordage report, and the long introduction to Winter’s Child. I kinda feel that unless I come up with some extra words this week, the word count will be down again.
Starting earlier in my office might help with that though. On the other hand, for me it’s easiest to get into the habit of doing something if I just do it without giving it much thought, like getting up early to exercise. If I don’t exercise right after doing my morning pages, I’m probably not going to.
I don’t know how well this is going to work for writing. I can’t just do it without thinking about it, writing requires a certain amount of thinking. So you see my problem here. Ironically, mornings are usually my most creative time. Well, early mornings and late evenings.
Goals For Next Week:
Find a workable routine to generate more words.
EDITING:
0 hours
I am still stubbornly clinging to the hope that one of these days I’ll actually start editing something. Maybe after I get a morning writing routine established.
Goal For Next Week:
Figure out the prophecy; get editing Elemental Spirit.
POETRY:
Picking out the form for last week was pretty easy, as was researching the form and writing about it. But what took forever was trying to figure out the first line of the poem to go with the post. I spent two hours on it, but once I found the first line the poem went embarrassingly quickly.
I wasn’t sure of it at first, but I kind of liked the Catena Rono verse. And I definitely liked the flow of the poem I came up with.
Goal For Next Week:
Find another new poetry form to share. Expand on the other poems I started.
CRAFTING:
Not much to report here. There was a stitch-in at the library and I started the next square in my zentangle sampler. After much internal debate, I decided that having nine zentangle squares was going to make my head explode (trying to figure out what stitch to use next), so I decided that every other square was going to be a picture square. The one I’m working on right now is a spray of sweet peas.
Still no word on when I’ll be taking possession of my baker’s rack. I don’t know what the hold up is, but I have to say I’m pretty disappointed. After the rush to get that room cleared out and the father-in-law getting it all trussed up and ready to go, I thought he stay on top of the delivery. But I guess for him it was more about getting it cleared off, and with it folded up it doesn’t take nearly as much space in that room.
Goal For Next Week:
Continue with my sampler; start thinking about the granddaugher’s dress for this year’s father/daughter ball.
WHAT I’M READING:
Again, reading was not a real priority with me last week. I finished The Little Flower Shop, by Lori Foster and have just barely started One Dark Window, by Rachel Gillig.
And once again I was a little slack when it came to riding the bike, but I did manage to finish Rule of Three, by Kelly Jamieson.
Goal For Next Week:
Maybe spend a little more time reading.
THE WEEK AHEAD:
I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday, and there’s another stitch-in at the library on Tuesday. On Wednesday I have an early morning walk scheduled, and Thursday there may (or may not) be a business meeting with the poetry group. It was supposed to last week but had to be postponed.
I really need to do something to shake myself out of this writing funk I’m in. Hopefully I’ll be able to take advantage of my office in the mornings while it’s cooler and get some actual work done.
I was doing so well with my daily lists for a while, but somehow they kind of went sideways. So I’d like to get back using them. Maybe I can just put “work in office” on my main list and then do a separate list for the things I want to accomplish in my office.
My bullet lists of daily happenings (to make it easier to update my journal) also petered out, so I’d really like to start that up again. Seeing all that white in my day planner is a little disconcerting, but I guess “napping” or “fooling around on the computer” don’t make for interesting entries.
There’s no reason I can’t do a little more stitchery at night when I’m watching TV. If I don’t feel like working on my sampler there’s always a blouse or two to embellish or I could start working on the granny square afghan I’m intending for a birthday present.
I know that the track is there, but I think I’ve got to get the weed whacker out to clear the path to it.
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