Archive for June, 2011

Keeping the Spice in Sex Scenes

I love being Naughty! In fact, it’s my job! So thank you so much for inviting me today. One of the things I get asked most often as an erotic romance writer is “how do you write all those sex scenes and still make them fresh?” First, let me say I have only written seven books (two published, one about to be published, two contracted and two in progress). Ask me again after 17 (I hope to be so lucky) or 70 (I hope to live so long) and I will give you a more authoritative answer. But I will try to reply based on my limited experience.

Some basic principles. A sex scene has to have a reason for being and that reason is (almost) never “to have sex.” Like all scenes, a sex scene needs to advance the plot and/or reveal character both to the character himself and the reader. In my new release, The Scientist and the Supermodel, for example, my hero Jake has an early sexual encounter with the supermodel, Roan Black. Jake has had homosexual experiences in his past, but he discounts them and thinks of himself as straight. This encounter is designed to set up the conflict of Jake with himself and, of course, to bring my heroes together. Later in the book, Jake and Roan have sex with a woman, Alex. This scene shows Jake how jealous he can be and, most important, it establishes Roan as at least moderately bisexual which is important for the transition to the next book, Genetic Attraction (the next book chronologically, but actually the first book in the series.)

So, when I consider adding a sex scene to a book I ask “why does this scene exist”? What is it designed to accomplish? What will it show? Answering those questions helps determine the action of the scene, it helps shape the dialogue, the internal thoughts and feelings of the POV character. And, if I stay true to the characters’ voices and back-stories, that automatically makes each sex scene different from others that I’ve written. At the end of the scene I ask myself “have we learned what we need to know from this scene”? Has it moved the reader in a certain way? If so, it’s probably a sex scene unique from others in at least significant ways.

Obviously, sex scenes are designed to make the reader feel, well … sexy! So first they have to make me feel that way. If I write a scene mechanically, I go back and start to add the touch, taste, smell, visual interest, and above all, the feelings of the characters. Because I write in deep point of view (or try to) I lock myself into the experience of the point-of-view character and I know when he feels deeply so will I.

I will add that I also write a lot of ménage – of my seven books, six are centered on or involve ménage in some way. Having three characters to play with does make for a certain level of variety not available from two-person sex scenes.

But then again, ask me again after ten more books. : )

AND NOW I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE CONTEST!!! 6 More BOOKS THIS MONTH! 4 Books Next Month.

Here’s the first simple step:

Comment on this blog and leave your email address. I will copy it and enter it in the drawing for the 2 books being given away during this week. One copy of The Scientist and the Supermodel and One copy of Genetic Attraction. You’ll be notified by email if you win. Comment and email, simple.

Here’s MORE CHANCES TO WIN! (more complicated so read closely LOL)

Go to my Book blog http://beautifulboysbooks.blogspot.com. Leave a comment and follow the blog (if you already do follow, it counts). You will be entered in EVERY drawing until the end of the month. Two books will be given away every week and you’ll be entered in all those drawings.

Go to every blog on my blog tour and leave a comment on the day of the post (or at least in the same week) and you will be entered again during the week in which the post is made.

The entire blog tour is listed on my website http://www.taralain.com/blog_tour_schedule.html and updates will be posted regularly so check it out. There will also be Yahoo Group chats where I will be giving away other books so watch for those!

Whew!! Remember, you can take each one of these steps and have a bunch of chances to WIN! (You just have to enter, the logistics are my nightmare! LOL) Got it? Go enter!

 

ABOUT TARA LAIN

Tara Lain never met a beautiful boy she didn’t love – at least on paper. A writer of erotic romance, mostly ménage and male/male, Tara loves all her characters, but especially her handsome heroes. A lifelong writer of serious non-fiction, Tara only fell in love with EROM in 2009 and, through perseverance and lots of workshops, had the first novel she ever wrote accepted for publication in 2010. She’s now on book six. After an exotic life of travel all over the world and work in television, education and advertising, Tara settled in Southern California with her soul-mate husband and opened her own small marketing business. She paints, collages, and started practicing yoga “way before it was fashionable”. Passionate about diversity, justice, inclusion and new ideas she says on her tombstone it will read, “Yes”.

 

The Scientist and the Supermodel

Tara Lain

Genre: Contemporary Menage
Length: Short Novel
Price: $5.99
http://www.loose-id.com/The-Scientist-and-the-Supermodel.aspx

Geneticist Jake Martin has brilliant scientific vision, but he’s blind to his own nature. Despite his flagging interest in women and his past experience with a man, he’s convinced himself he’d be happy if he could just have his older boss, Emmaline Silvay, as his lover. Living in his closeted dream world, he’s unprepared for the powerful attraction he experiences to supermodel Roan Black, “the most beautiful man in the world.”

Jake can’t resist the gorgeous, androgynous creature. Who could? he thinks. But Roan refuses to accept him until Jake admits that it’s a man he wants and this man in particular. Jake tells himself it’s just sex, but his refusal to understand what he really needs threatens the best chance at happiness he’s ever had. Is there a future for a PhD scientist who refuses to see and a high school dropout supermodel who understands all too clearly?

Excerpt R: Tara Lain The Scientist and the Supermodel M/M Erotic Romance

Buy Link:  www.loose-id.com

The following excerpt occurs after Jake has had an unexpected encounter with a man in LA. He is at his parent’s home in Brooklyn, has just asked out a girl who was invited to dinner and is now talking to his brother in the guest room.

The daybed was a little too small, and Jake shifted, trying to get his feet in a comfortable position. The room was dark except for reflections from a streetlight shining through the one window. Yeah, he was tired after the flying and the socializing. He sighed.

“You liked her, huh? You’re going to take her out?” his brother’s voice murmured across the room.

“Yeah, I asked her out.”

“She really turned you on. That date should be hot.”

Realizing hormones pretty much ran his brother’s twenty-year-old life, Jake asked with a grin, “Now why do you think that?”

“Hey, man, I saw you trying to hide that boner when you ran out.”

Jake flushed, glad that the room was dark. “Did everyone see?”

“Nah, just me. I was beside you, remember?”

“Yeah, well, I was thinking of someone else.”

“Ohhh. Your boss, I’ll bet. You’ve got it bad for her.”

Should he go with that suggestion? “Yeah, I do.” Then he decided to be at least a little more honest to encourage Caleb to be the same. “But actually it was someone else.”

He heard his brother sit up in bed. “No shit? You got another woman?”

Why did he have to phrase it quite like that? “Just someone I met in LA.”

“Wow. No wonder you’re so tired, big brother.” He laughed. “What’s her name?”

“I’d rather just forget about it.”

“No fucking way. Is she one of those LA chicks? Is she an actress? Wow. Is she famous?”

“Famous? Yes, that’s right. Now give it a rest.”

Suddenly the daybed was a lot more crowded, and Caleb was sitting on his legs. “Ya gotta tell me, Jake.”

“I don’t gotta tell you.” Shit, why didn’t he keep his mouth shut?

“Why don’t you want to tell me?”

“It’s personal.”

“I’m your brother,” he wailed.

“I know, but I can’t tell you about this.”

Cal was quiet for a moment. “Why not, Jake? Will it shock me? Will it despoil my lily-white ears?”

Jake sighed. “Yeah, it would shock you.”

“Really? Awesome! Let me guess. Threesome?”

“No.”

“S and M?”

“No!”

Cal flopped backward. “Orgy?”

“God, no. Hey, baby brother, what the hell are they teaching you in that college? Are you speaking from experience?”

“Shit, no.” He gave an evil grin. “Wish I was, though.”

“Come on, you like to be tied up?”

“I might consider it.”

“You want to be with a bunch of women?”

“Well, no, not really. But don’t change the subject, bro; we were talking about your indiscretions, not mine.”

“No need. I’m not talking. Get off me. Let’s go to sleep.”

The big body didn’t move, and all Jake’s pushing didn’t budge him. Okay, he’d just go to sleep. Jake turned his head on the pillow and sighed. Ignore the runt.

Cal was quiet, then a voice came out of the darkness. “Jake, did you have sex with a man?”

Jake swallowed hard. “Why the hell would you think that?”

“’Cause I remember that guy. Tom. So did you?”

“Yeah, sort of, but don’t think it was something major. I mean, it just happened…”

“Awesome.”

“What?”

Caleb shifted and brought his face down so he was looking straight at Jake in the dim light. “I said, awesome.” He was quiet for a minute, then seemed to have made a decision. “Jake, my roommate is my lover. His name is Charlie.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

They both just rested in the moment. Then Caleb practically pounced on him. “Tell me, Jake. Who was it? What did he do?” Suddenly Jake was being lifted by the shoulders and hugged by his giant of a brother. “Oh crap, Jake, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have someone to talk to.”

Jake extricated himself gently from the bear hug and scooted back so he could sit up against the pillows. The light coming through the windows illuminated his brother’s handsome face. “Cal, why haven’t you told Mom and Dad?”

He looked a little sulky. “I didn’t hear you sharing your adventures at the dinner table.”

“Yeah, well this was a one-time thing. How long have you known you were…uh, liked guys?”

“It’s okay, Jake, you can say gay. That’s what I am, and I’ve known it since I went into puberty and all my raging hormones were pointing me in the wrong direction. Then I realized it was the right direction for me.”

“But you never told the folks.”

“For a long time I just kind of denied it. Then when I met Charlie and really got committed to the lifestyle, I just got tongue-tied. You know, Dad and Sean are such alphas.”

“I notice you didn’t include me in that description.”

“Well, you’re the pretty one. And you were always so comfortable with Tom. Man, I thought he was cute. Of course, I was just a kid, and he couldn’t see anyone but you. Fuck, that guy loved you.”

“You knew that?”

“Fuck, yeah. Didn’t you?”

“Not for a long time.”

“Wow. Poor guy.”

“Yeah.”

“So is that who you were with? Did he move to LA or something?”

“No, it wasn’t Tom.”

“Yeah, and I guess he wouldn’t be famous, or I’d probably have seen him. So who was it?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“If it doesn’t matter, why won’t you tell me?”

“Don’t want to.” Shit, what was he, five?

“So what did this unknown guy do?” Cal grabbed him again. “I’ll bet he sucked you off, didn’t he? That’s a pretty heteroflexible activity. Who doesn’t like getting their cock sucked? Right?”

“Yeah, right.”

“So who was it? Tell me, Jake. You know I’m not gonna tell anyone. C’mon, tell me.”

Jake sighed. “Okay. Have you ever heard of a model named Roan Black?”

Dead silence was followed by a soft whisper. “You are shitting me.”

“No.”

His voice rose. “Roan Black sucked your cock? The most beautiful man in the world sucked your fucking cock?”

“Shhh!”

Caleb fell back on the very crowded bed. “Baby, that doesn’t make you gay, it just means you’re smart.”

Jake burst out laughing.

Find Tara Lain at:

http://www.taralain.com http://taralain.blogspot.com http://beautifulboysbooks.blogspot.com Goodreads

Twitter Facebook

 

 

First Timer Friday

with Tia Fielding

Join us in meeting some of the newauthors on the scene every Friday.  Hear what the newbies have to say and discover your new favorite author.

1.  Funniest Show on TV?

This is easy: The Big Bang Theory. As much as I love Modern Family, I still think TBBT is so amazing. It might be my own geeky nerdiness that makes it so, but I’ve rarely stumbled upon so brilliant, intelligent and funny dialogue than there is in TBBT.

2. What makes your First book Naughty?

I suppose it’s the ultimate dream for a lot of girls out there, getting to be in the sandwich with two hot men. I realize I’m taking that a step further, my heroine isn’t someone who would just go with things, have things happen to her. No, she’s an active participant, and you have to read the story to see how active she is exactly…

3.  If you could talk to animals would you want to?

Not really. I mean first of all there are those kinds of animals that would be annoyingly chatty all the time and I don’t like that in people, so in animals too, no thank you. But mainly I wouldn’t want that, because I can already have “discussions” with my own pets, so I don’t really need to be able to speak their language to understand them. Most of the time I do just fine without.

4.  If you could switch places with one of your characters would you?

Possibly… I had to think about this for a while, actually. It would be so different from my real life to be one of the trio for just a day, that I might want to try it out. Then again I’m quite happy without all the emotional turmoil Mac is going through. Maybe I’d be one of the boys instead?

5.  Are you a jungle cat or house cat?

I’m a mixture. An alien hybrid. No, really, I suppose that pre-caffeine I’m a jungle cat, after that I’m a house cat. Maybe I should describe myself as a jungle cat living in a house?

Check out Tia’s book:  The Double Ds!

The Double Ds

by Tia Fielding

Publisher:  Summerhouse Publishing

Take a hidden toy box, a dash of secrets and add few confessions…

Love was supposed to last forever.  For Mackenna, it lasted seven years.  Now, replaced by a plastic doll, she’s moving out of the apartment she’d shared with her ex and settling into a home of her own.

It’s the last night in her old apartment, a place filled with memories, and Dean (with his boyfriend Danny) are there to make sure the last few she has are the best she’ll ever have.  The thing is, maybe Dean and Danny don’t want to simply be memories…

Buy “The Double Ds” by Tia Fielding:  Summerhouse Publishing / Smashwords / Amazon

About Tia Fielding:

Tia Fielding lives in a peaceful little town in a small country in Northern Europe. She loves nature, her horses, cats, and even the yappy little thing that occasionally gets called a dog. Tia learned to read before she went to school at the age of six, and began writing as soon as she figured she had stories to tell, around the mature age of seven. Stories about horses, adventures and ghosts might have turned into hot GLBTQ-romance, but she still has a wicked imagination and, hopefully, more stories to tell.

Website / Facebook / Twitter