Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

There are no two words that are prettier to an author than The End. We like it, we love it, we want some more of it.

Unfortunately for most of us, getting to The End is an eternal pain in the backside. Some of us write a million drafts, some of us sculpt and hone one draft. Any way you look at it, the process is one of pain, misery, and tears. You lose sleep at night and your blood has a higher caffeine concentration than a latte from Starbucks with fifteen espresso shots. And that’s when things are going well. That agony is balanced by this scary, overwhelming drive to finish. If the characters are talking to you and the world building is working, it’s a rush that’s right next door to orgasm. (Nothing ever actually beats an “O” face. Not even chocolate. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

When we get to The End, it’s a time of joyous celebration and end zone dances that put the NFL to shame.

Why am I blogging about this? You guessed it. I just put a full-length novel manuscript to bed last night at 1AM. I’m a bit loopy, but grinning from ear to ear. Is it wrong or weird to pet a manuscript while it sits on your desk awaiting the UPS delivery guy?

Hope y’all are having as awesome a day as I am!

-Crystal Jordan
http://www.crystaljordan.com

Could you write it on a train?
In a Starbucks? On a plane?
Would you, could you, in a car?
On a napkin, in a bar?

I always envied Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw for her ability to write her column wherever she happened to be at a given moment. J.K. Rowling wrote much of the first Harry Potter in the local coffee shop. In Cassie’s blog, she mentioned writing in Starbucks.

No way I could do that. At least that’s what I used to think before my husband and I sold our house, drove across the country visiting three sets of relatives for six weeks at a time, went to Europe, and then moved to a new state. All in the space of one year.

During that year, I set up my computer in more places than I care to count. I learned I could write in a London hotel room sitting in a chair that had a broken leg, while I had a horrible cold, and while my husband was out sightseeing without me. I learned I could write in my sister’s crowded spare bedroom on a makeshift plastic table from Office Max while sitting in a chair that doubled as her cats’ scratchpost. And though I’d rather write in an office, it was nice to learn that I didn’t need one in order to write.

Elizabeth, I am.

Elizabeth Amber
Nicholas, The Lords of Satyr
erotic historical paranormal romance
(Kensington Aphrodisia, August 2007)
www.elizabethamber.com

I was sitting in Starbucks writing away and minding my own business when a girl who looked to be thirty-ish asked me what I was writing. Now, I have no problem with this question. And usually, the person walks away from our discussion with my book mark, and zap! another person has heard my name and heard about my book. Win/win, right?

Well, yesterday didn’t follow the usual script. The woman, let’s call her Joan, asked what I was writing and I answered, “I’m writing a book,” then we went into the inevitable, “Are you published?” and finally into “What kind of novels do you write?”

My answer? “This one is an erotic paranormal romance. It’s the second in a trilogy in working on. The first book came out earlier this month.”

This is the point at which I usually offer a bookmark and they take it. So, she threw me when she said in a flustered voice, “Is that all you think about is sex?”

One of my major defense mechanisms is sarcasm and it chose that moment to kick in. I’m not at all ashamed of what I do, but her response really blindsided me, for some reason. She had already mentioned that she was a computer programmer, so I said, “Do you think about anything but code?” Now I did say it lightly, those comebacks are best said with a big smile and a joking manner. And Joan actually stopped and cocked her head to one side looking thoughtful.

“But you WRITE this stuff. You have to immerse yourself in these worlds you create. So, in effect, inside your imagination you are having tons of sex in all kinds of kinky ways. You have to think about it all the time to come up with stuff like that.”

At this point, I really wanted to point out that she must’ve read a lot of erotic romances to know what was in them, but I refrained. Instead, I stayed with what I had. “I’ve worked in technologies. In order to code, you have to steep yourself in the code. It’s very similar to writing, you put on some headphones for some mood music and lose yourself in how to build this site or program, much the way a writer builds characters, a world or a scene. But I’m sure you think about other things than code now and then, right?”

Joan laughed at that point and gave a slight nod. “True. But don’t you feel like you’re…” Joan looks around to make sure no one else is listening and lowers her voice, “becoming more perverted with each book?”

That made ME laugh. “I’m just as perverted as I ever was, but now I get paid for it. It’s a perfect win/win scenario. And not only do I get to have sex with lots of people and in lots of ways inside my imagination, but I’ve also planned and carried out murders, fought zombies and succubuses and shifters, flown, fought battles and even died a few times. I get to play “What If” all day long, just like I did when I was a kid, and that’s my job. I absolutely love it.”

Side note here - here’s the lesson for today, which I should’ve remembered earlier in this conversation with Joan, but didn’t. Usually, when people ask you questions, the question and even the answer you give – is about them. It’s not about you. They are trying to find out how whatever they are asking pertains to THEM.

Anyway, back to our story, after this, Joan let it spill that she had always wanted to write, and especially write HOT. But she was afraid of immersing herself in all that sex, that it would change her and turn her into a sudden nymphomaniac or something. She was also afraid of how people would react, not just her family and friends, but the general public. So, I assured her that my perversion level hadn’t really changed—and that I knew other authors who wrote even hotter than I do, who are still perfectly normal, monogamous and happily married people. However, if she truly was a closet nymphomaniac, or maybe even more sensual than she allowed herself to be currently, that this profession might let that woman out to play. I ended up giving Joan the information for both of my local writers groups, and I do hope she comes.

Now I did hand out four bookmarks right after Joan left to four people who were trying not to look like they were listening into our conversation. And all four of them (sassy ladies in their mid nineties was what they called themselves) had absolutely no problems reading about sex and one actually made a request—apparently it’s her deep dark fantasy to have sex surrounded by a bunch of hunky men who are watching and “enjoying” watching, if you get my meaning.

I told her my first book is already available at all the major book stores…and they happily left to run to the Barnes and Noble down the street, in search of Ceremony of Seduction as well as any other books with that cursive Aphrodisia ‘A’ on them.

Don’t you just love happy endings?

Cassie

I write several different sub-genres of erotic romance, but my favorite and the one I now write for Aphrodisia, is definitely historicals, particularly erotic Regency historicals. I’m lucky because I grew up in and around London, England, with the history all around me. I even majored in history at college and wrote my thesis on “The Welsh and the Founding of Quaker Pennsylvania” (my first ‘published’ work-all 2 copies of it!)

So you’ll understand if I try to be as historically accurate as I can. One of the things that fascinates me as a writer is the whole topic of fertility, (possibly due to my Roman Catholic upbringing, who knows?)When I was writing my last book, I realized that I needed more information about condoms and whether they were actually in use during the Regency period. I found out that they were used, and I even found a picture of one (see above) and, even better, a recipe from 1824 about how to make them! (just in case you have a few spare moments this weekend)

How to make a sheep-gut condom.
Soak a sheep’s intestine caeca in water for a number of hours, then turn inside out, and macerate them again in weak alkaline, changed every 12 hours. Scrape them carefully to remove the mucous membrane, leaving the peritoneal and muscular coats, and expose them to the vapour of burning brimstone. Then wash them in soap and water, inflate them, dry them and cut to a length of seven to eight inches. Finally, border the open end with a ribbon to tie round the base of the penis, and before use soak the condom in water to make it supple.

I was delighted to find out about this and used this ‘product’ in my story to great effect. Of course, after the book was published, I found out that these condoms had to be soaked in water for about half an hour before they were soft enough to use. I’m not sure that even the best author in the world could write an erotic love scene around the hero popping a condom in a glass of water and waiting for it to soften-I should imagine other things might soften as well. And I can’t quite see how even the most ingenious of heroes would arrive ‘pre-soaked’-(any ideas gratefully received.)

I think I’ll just have to pretend that the pre-soaking has happened and move on…as I said, sometimes historical accuracy just interrupts the flow of my writerly imagination!

I’m still anticipating the cover for my first Aphrodisia Regency historical “Simply Sexual” Feb 08, hopefully I’ll have it by the time I get to blog next month! I’m sure it will be much nicer to look at than that sheep gut condom complete with ribbon…

My novella in Sexy Beast IV is set in the distant future far from Earth… and is currently titled “Abundance”.

Kayla Michaels, daughter of General Augusta Michaels, is bound for an arranged marriage on Fourth Colony when the ship carrying her is attacked and her stasis pod is ejected during the melee.

She awakens on a small jungle moon aptly called Abundance. It is uncolonized and had been deemed uninhabitable by New Earth long before she was ever born. With her pod damaged beyond repair and the locator beacon offline, she realizes that she is on her own. The relief of escaping the arranged union is dampened only by her somewhat dire circumstances.

Jude Aroca is the son of a human scientist and the leader of the native population of the Yaw on Abundance. The arrival of a human female on his world is a violation of the peace treaty New Earth signed nearly thirty-five years before. The humans promised to leave the small jungle moon alone in exchange for technology.

Now there is a woman in his jungle… and she’s wrecking havoc with all of his senses. No woman—none among his own kind—had ever smelled so perfect, so right. The beast he carries inside of him, a gift from his cat-shifter father, agrees.

__________________

I’m really excited to be apart of this anthology with Kate and Dawn. I snagged the cover from the model’s Myspace page. Thanks to Crystal Jordan for spotting it!

All the best,
Deanna Lee
deanna@deannalebooks.com
www.deannaleebooks.com

Sorry about the title. I truly suck at them; just ask my editors over the years. While waiting to fall asleep last night, I convinced myself that I’d come up with a great topic for my blog, but after reading several that came before, my idea lacks a certain heat or energy. It’s not specific to erotica which is what Aphrodisia is about.
Just the same, I’m going to stick with what I came up with because I’ve convinced myself that people (at least a few) care what goes on behind the scenes in a writer’s life–not the actual writing (especially erotica) but the whole balance thing.
So here’s the deal. I’ve been writing since shortly after the first ice age which means I have a lot of experience or something under my belt. When the writing bug first hit, my sons were babies. I’m not crazy about admitting this, but I sometimes resented the time and emotional energy motherhood took away from the creative process. I WANTED TO WRITE, WANTED TO WRITE, DAMN IT! But as all parents know, children need a certain amount of love and attention and have their ways of getting it. Then they hit school age and suddenly I was handed what felt like vast amounts of time to myself, and I made the best of it. I became a writing machine, and my production reflected that.
Maybe I’ve mellowed, maybe I’m just getting old and lazy. Whatever the reason, I’ve learned to embrace whichever hat I’m wearing at the time. Case in point. Last night I had 12 people at the house for a family get-together and enjoyed every moment of it. My nephew’s wife asked, as she always does, about my writing. I responded only briefly because last night was about her, her husband, and their growing children.
Writing is what I did earlier that day when I had my office to myself, (and no, I didn’t tell her about the foreplay I’d written) but I’d switched off that part of my brain and wanted to focus on where those beautiful children were in their development, how much they’d grown and changed in the year since I’d seen them. I also wanted to observe the interaction between my sons who’d recently had to resolve a conflict. My mind was filled with processing a multitude of family dynamics, observing and recording. This was real life, developing personalities, husband/wife communication, three generations each with their own place in the march of time.
And at the end of it when my brain was shutting down, I acknowledged that the evening had enriched me as a writer in vital ways. I might not be aware of what specific observations I’m drawing on when I’m writing, but in subtle or maybe not so subtle ways, my characters will be full-bodied because I lived in the moment last night. Even if I’m writing hot and heavy sex, my hero and heroine will or should be complex human beings because I was privy to the human animal from ages 5 through 70.
This morning I’m refreshed and renewed. The creative well is fuller than it was 48 hours ago. Thank you life.
Vonna Harper

Now that I’ve come up with a title for my post today, Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” is in my head. No, I’m not that old, but I grew up listening to it, thanks to my dad.

Sometimes it seems that characters in erotic romance get “switched on” pretty instantly. They just have to smell a guy and they’re ready to go. I know I’ve written scenes that go that way, but isn’t that part of the fantasy of erotic romance? That we buy into this dream where a drop-dead (and occasionally undead) gorgeous guy gives the heroine (i.e., us) a smouldering look and we get all hot and bothered?

It’s a broad generalization that isn’t always true though, in writing. I know my characters don’t always get aroused straight away, but I lead into it by having them banter in a (hopefully) witty way; or by arousing partners by playing a kind of “Truth or Dare” game.

In MADE FOR SIN and SHOW ME watching others having sex becomes a turn on for various characters.

Then there’s anticipation. I use it when my hero and heroine have already become intimate. I write historical, so there are long dinner parties where they’re forced to sit apart and make polite conversation with other people while casting surreptitious glances down the table at the other. Or they have to dance together, hands touching, hands touching the upper back, joining arms, close enough to have a whispered, teasing conversation, but not close enough for anything else. Not in public anyway.

Alas, there was no dirty dancing during the Regency period (unless you want to include the waltz), so everything has to wait for a private time.

What gets you in the mood quickly?

Now tell me, who does not love lots of spanking? Spanking brand new books and websites, that is!

I was trolling around BarnesandNoble.com and what did my wandering eyes see, but that the September books are already shipping! Guess I won’t have to wait to dive in with The Lord Of The Deep, or drop by The Pleasure Palace for some sinful fun that I can only hope involves plenty of Sexy Beasts fighting over who gets to Touch Me first. Ah, the fantasies….

But of course when I am waiting for them to arrive I will be having a rolicking good time with the August books–Nicholas (AKA, holy hot bod!), Blood Rose, Built, and Ceremony of Seduction.

I haven’t had the chance to read the August books yet, but if you have and need something else to pass the time while you wait for those smoking hot September releases to arrive, drop on by my spanking new Body Moves site and check out the happenings.