I write hot. Steamy, burn the bed [or insert alternative J] down hot. They’re romances first and foremost though. For me, I really believe the love/sex scenes of a book are crucial to the developing relationship in a romance novel. Yeah, you guessed it. You won’t find any closed doors in my books LOL. It’s during these most intimate moments people are perhaps at their most vulnerable and it provides tremendous opportunity for a writer to further the story and develop the characters. What they say, how they touch, their reactions, how they’re effected…all provide rich insight into the characters, their histories and how they’re changing at that moment. A love/sex scene should be important to the story, perhaps a turning point, but at a minimum divulge something about one or both of the characters either to the reader or to each other. It shouldn’t be included ‘just because’ it’s about time they got down and dirty. No, it has to have a specific purpose. At least in my view. AND it also has to be completely consistent with the characters and who they are. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine as a reader. Whatever the characters do or say during these moments has to be an extension of their personalities. It has to feel like something they would say or do or try. It has to reflect where they are at the point of the story or support where they’re going. Of course, they’re also just plain fun to plan and to write. And read LOL.
Although I write hot, there are certain things that just don’t work for me during these scenes, both as a writer and as a reader. There are things that can pull me right out the story, out of the emotional connection I have to the characters. It could be a word (there are some that are just ‘ick’ for me) or it could be a phrase I don’t particularly care for. I also don’t want to read a sex manual about tab A and slot B and for it to feel ‘mechanical’. It’s important for me as an author to weigh what I include in these scenes very carefully and how I handle the intimate moments. I write in deep Point of View (POV) so it’s very critical I maintain reader engagement and don’t release the tension on the emotional threads of the overall story. I know of course that it’s all very subjective, not everyone likes the same things and everyone’s tastes are different, but as an author you can try and find a middle ground. I know I do.
So, how do you like YOUR love/sex scenes? Are there things that pull YOU out of a story? What qualifies as ‘ick’ for YOU?
PLAY ME by Kaily Hart
Lily Hamilton had her quiet, predictable life all mapped out, including a hot-shot attorney for a fiancé. That is until she catches him screwing around and takes off in his prized Mercedes, for once not giving a damn where she’s headed. How clichéd is that?
Gabriel Jackson is raw and disillusioned. Driving a tow truck is a far cry from the dangerous career he turned his back on, but when he finds the classy blonde in a dangerous part of LA, he’s immediately back in the role of protector.
Lily is hot and sweet and so out of his league it’s not funny, yet Gabe can’t deny the sizzling heat between them. He thinks he wants hard, fast and rough–until he gets his hands on her. He knows he should stay the hell away, but Lily makes him feel, really feel, for the first time in two years. Is she just slumming or can she see beyond the harsh, broken façade to the man beneath? A man who dreams of making her his?
PLAY ME is current available from Ellora’s Cave and other ebook sellers.
About the Author
Kaily Hart, a seemingly straight-laced mother of four left corporate America and a high-powered, lucrative career to be a stay at home mom. Ha! That lasted about four weeks, during which time she realized she had a deeply repressed dream – to write. And romance at that! By day, Kaily plays conservative wife and soccer mom, but at night crafts hot and steamy tales of romance and love with gorgeous heroes who wouldn’t dream of leaving the toilet set up. Ever. She’s smart and sassy, at least in her own mind, and is trying her best to bring the alpha male solidly back to contemporary romance, one hot story at a time. Two years ago she never would have thought she’d be doing this, but now that she is? Well, you couldn’t pay her enough to do anything else.
If anyone would want to contact me (which I would love by the way) or just keep up with what I’m doing, they can find me all over:
Web – www.kailyhart.com
Blog – http://kailyhart.blogspot.com/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/kaily.hart
Twitter – http://twitter.com/kailyhart
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