PINTEREST
BLOGLOVIN
GOODREADS
Published by Mills and Boon Dare
25 January 2018
164 pages
A revamp for Mills & Boon!
25th January 2018 is a significant time for the UK’s number 1 romantic fiction publisher. It will undergo a major rebrand – for the first time in over a decade – and will be launching its sexiest series yet, Mills & Boon DARE.
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This is not a genre that is normally on my review list and this new series, is far from the Mills and Boon romances that I remember from my grandmother’s bookshelves (which as I recall seemed to mainly consist of doctor/nurse romances). However, I was intrigued by the new look and its always good to go outside your comfort zone – isn’t it? I have a copy of Week to Be Wild to read and review but in the meantime I have something rather different by way of guest post today. Enjoy!
Writing good sex
by J C Harroway
DARE, Sexy, Passionate, Bold, promises explicit and graphic heat levels and high levels of sexual tension. So what are some key elements to writing this level of heat?
1. Keep it real. Avoid corny euphemisms but don’t get too anatomical either (nothing sexy about medical terminology). So what to use as a replacement? My advice is to go all out, embrace the graphic, call a spade a spade and a nipple a nipple. If you need to, have a glass of wine first and write the sex scene as if no one else will EVER read it….
2. Remember the emotion. So as our horny fictional couples steam up the pages with awesome sex, the tension plummets. They’ve already done the dance with no pants. So what now…? Crank up the tension throughout the sex scene by using the character’s thoughts and feelings. All those reasons they can’t possibly be together/are not right for each other are still running through their heads, even as they succumb to the overwhelming physical desires to get down and dirty.
3. Sprinkle in a dash of humour or a reality check moment. So the sweat is evaporating, the high dissipating… Now is a perfect time to throw in a funny or open a fresh can of worms. In romance, the biggest conflict IS the relationship. Weave this conflict through the sex scene so the reader can’t skip the naughty bits (although surely no one ever does that, right? I mean, they’re the best bits.)
4. Don’t forget the foreplay. Just like real life, the lead up to the sex scene is just as important, if not more so. Build all that delicious tension by using the characters’ five senses during the flirtatious banter, the lingering looks, the whisper of touch. Then have them notice the little things—an intriguing scar, a sexy little grunt, or a fascinating ticklish spot…
5. Use the characters vulnerability. Physical intimacy exposes us emotionally. Use the characters’ lust for each other to show those deep-set vulnerabilities. After all, this man/woman, unlike any other, has awoken something in our protagonist. They’ve poked and prodded at those vulnerabilities, so use the sex scenes to show this tension at play.
6. Show them falling. Fore DARE, the main goal behind the hero and heroine’s journey of sexploration is that they fall in love. Show this in the evolution of their intimate encounters. Yes the first time they bang might be up against a wall in a dark corner of a nightclub, but as the story progresses, the intimate moments should evolve as they get to know each other in non-physical ways. Of course, they’ll be doing this outside of the bedroom, too, on their journey towards their HEA.
7. Safety first—always! This last tip is a personal bugbear of mine. Nothing draws me out of a story faster than unsafe sexual practices. I can’t help it—I’m the mother of teenagers and I have a medical background. And I believe that as romance writers, we too have a responsibility to promote safe sex as the norm. Nothing is more romantic/heroic than a responsible man looking out for the heroine, in my opinion, so my heroes are ALWAYS prepared. No glove, no love.
Writing sex scenes isn’t for everyone. Fortunately, the romance genre caters to all tastes and heat levels. But if you want to write the explicit heat level of DARE, just hang your inhibitions next to your internal critic and go for it.
A Week to Be Wild can be downloaded from Amazon UK for 99p
| About the Book |
A daring game of temptation
She’ll play his game—but only by her rules!
Alex Lancaster is an adrenaline junkie. He’s also a sexy British billionaire who should come with his own warning signs. When Libby insists she is done with men who live on the edge, Alex coaxes her out of her comfort zone—professionally and very, very personally. Libby’s taking a high-stakes gamble, but the pay-off could win her everything…
| About the Author |
Lifelong romance addict J.C. Harroway lives in New Zealand. Writing feeds her very real obsession with happy endings and the endorphin rush they create.
Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon UK | Goodreads
Thanks for hosting me 🙂 JC
My pleasure, thank you for the post