Sex is a big big seller. We know that, don’t we? I look at this photo below and imagine myself as Grace Kelly in a fifties scenario, glamorous, confident and oozing sex-appeal (when really I look more like Worzel Gummidge on a good day, often interrogate my newfound self-esteem as if it went awol while on parade, and usually stink of horse wee (that’s the downside of running my business – an equine rug laundry service).
However … a girl can dream. I was researching the submission guidelines for Harlequin Mills & Boon last Friday and found, within their bossom as it were, a sister publisher who is on the lookout for erotic novellas.
Rather than haughtily scroll on past, I decided to read more about what they were looking for to satisfy their readers (my self esteem crawled onto my shoulder and also took a good look and together we worried about my father-in-law walking in at any moment and the list of requirements would somehow jump out and slap itself against his face:
- Frank and explicit sex scenes.
- Graphic detail.
- Stories which push characters’ boundaries
- A romantic arc and a HEA.
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If my followers on WordPress are still with me, all 3 of you, may I ask you a question? You may not search out erotic titles over your classics but I bet there’s a teeny tiny part of you that begrudgingly, occasionally wafts your eyes across a so-called piece of cheeky prose? No?
Oh, well do you watch gritty dramas and maintain a blank face while secretly loving every minute of it?
I’m thinking along the lines of BODYGUARD running on BBC1 starring Keeley Hawes as The Home Secretary (when is the final part? I daren’t miss it π).
That was written by an author, screenwriter, call them what you will, long before it hit our screens and are we saying we would not read it in print form, even if we have our tongues hanging out at the screen action? (Oh, maybe that’s just me then π)
What gave me the feeling that I might be able to create some fiction which this publisher might consider? I have absolutely no idea, but the idea grew and grew. I could see the characters and where they were when they met. They were doing ordinary things at the time.
My USP?
A ‘normal’ size, ‘average’ size girl … has a role as a dancer in a gentleman’s club (not every man prefers a size 8-10).
There’s a lot more to this character besides her dancing π btw.
So… I started writing it Saturday.
.. and just kept going …
Today I typed the words THE END, which one day I’d like to type when I finish draft 1 of THE KEY TO VERONA but we all know I get stuck on that.
This thing just flowed … my fingers couldn’t get words typed fast enough. What does this say about me? π¬ (take more water with it?).
It says that in just a few hours, I can produce nearly 15,000 words on a project I’m enjoying π«
Okay, the publisher might spit their coffee across the table when they receive my submission soon (I wish to sit on it for a few days and caress it into the perfect shape for them), throw it out with the trash and say ‘garbage! Go away and write about the red arrows and the angles their smoke trails make in the sky for Maths Monthly.’
It was fun though (Man of the Woods is avoiding me today … he’s rather tired ππ)
Chocolate or sex, what an unfair choice.
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ππ
Iβd take some chocolate before (for energy) and then some after (as reward) π
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Yes I can think of thousand of words…
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I do write erotica – so words that imply or suggest sex are required.
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Iβve seen some, and itβs great π
Your pictures are also highly charged π₯
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Thank you – words like βCrave, Hunger, Thirst, Lick, Suck, Pound, Thrust…you get it lol
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Well, that would be telling π π¦
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Just a tad
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I would add … swollen, tantalising, shockwaves, shuddering..
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Mmmm yes! Words that can work people up in a frenzy
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… of untapped possibilities …
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Do you have any favorite?
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I just Read a homoerotic short story between a human and a sentient fidget spinner ill read anything, now if you excuse me I’m going to go listen to Post Malone -Beter Now . until my mind has been cleared of this memory
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πππππ₯π₯
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Last month I wrote a post titled βBetter Than Sex.β It was my second most popular post in August and my fourth most popular this year. And it wasnβt about sex.
Maybe you should post a short excerpt from your erotic novella on your blog. A teaser, so to speak.
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I read that post of yours and enjoyed it πππΌ
I considered that but Iβm unsure if that breaks the submission guideline βpreviously unpublishedβ .., itβs a grey area π¬π
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I used to dabble in writing hard core erotica short stories back in the day, but itβs been so long that Iβm not sure I could get up for it again, so to speak. π±
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ππ
Well, Carina Press are looking …. dust of your book of naughty words and see what happens π
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I just might do that.
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But also, you did indeed use the word “sex.”
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Yes. It snuck in there, at the end. I hate it when it does that …
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You have some male readers, and to answer the question in the title of this post–the pictures caught my attention. π
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Goodie π₯π
Thanks for looking, then reading … Iβll keep you posted if the novella gets any interest π₯
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Oh,we all like naughty and bold at times………..donβt trust who says otherwise as they are liars or incredible boring πππ»
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Bless you Ortensia π
βA little bit of what you fancy does you goodβ … some bright spark said that somewhere and I quote it each time I buy a bounty bar and donβt need it π€£π
I hope you are well now the children have presumably gone back to school? I must pop round for a read soon x
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You are gonna laugh if I tell you that yesterday I used a bag I wore last before my hols and I found inside half bounty barπππ
Yep,kids are back to schoolππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»my burden are the afternoon activities now…..would they not for once do the same things and at the same time?π€·π»ββοΈ
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OMG! A bounty bar π€£ (was it still edible?!) ahhhh .. the taste of paradise π
After school clubs and activities are the best use of time for the children and the worst waste of time for parents and carers!!!!! I recall my life sat in cars waiting …
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Yep that exactly it: sitting in the car reading and eating bounty barsπ
And yes it was still edible ππ
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Love that!! Mwah π
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Anybody who claims to have never perused a naughty book or story from time to time is a big fat liar π Hell – I remember my brother showing me the passages in books on the book shelf at home that had “naughty bits” when my parents went out for the evening and he was supposed to be looking after me π
Awesome work on the short story – I used to be a member of a short story writing group on Compuserve years ago – I haven’t written anything creative for a long time now though. Maybe your post might help nudge me back into it.
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I can picture you and your brother … π€£
You have a wonderful way with words … you should definitely try your hand at fiction ππΌ
Thank you for reading and popping back over
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Mayne you’ve found your thing that you didn’t realise would be your thing!
Go with it!
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Maybe I have?!!
Iβll agree with you, IF they like it π€£π₯
Iβll keep you posted π₯
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Thanks for a frank and really bold post. I think the only thing that really matters here is that you had a story inside just begging to be written – and it was. That, in and of itself, is a very good thing. π
Cheers, Brian
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Thanks Brian.. I appreciate your words πΈ
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