Researching for Romance Writing: Sex, Sensuality, Or Both!

Welcome to Researching For Romance Writing, a weekly meme where I feature my latest finds.  Please feel free to share any links or tips you think will add to the discussion.  Happy Researching!

For those new to this feature, I've listed past topics below.

Celtic Legend And Lore
History In Style: Seventeenth Century Dresses
Action Sequences MMA Style
The Claymore Sword
A Peek Into Riding Habits
Whiskey Making
Sexy Is Not About Looks
Barley Farming
Biting The Bullet




Sex, Sensuality, And More...Or Less: A Romance Writer's Investigation.

Writer's Relief posted an interesting article, Writing Sex Scenes: How Much Is Too Much?  I'll hazard a guess that if you ask romance readers, you'll get a wide variety of responses.  Sex and sensuality are no strangers to romance novels, it's expected within the pages of a good romance.  The disparity comes when asking what constitutes 'enough' sex or sensuality.  Some readers prefer great romantic tension and build up, but fade to black intimate scenes.  Others prefer the same, but with the addition of a sexual scene or scenes - as the case may be.  Readers of erotica want plenty of both - and more graphically depicted.  Personally, I would categorize erotica as a separate sub-genre of romance, but the lines are blurred with the addition of the tag 'erotic romances', and therefore, I include erotica in my discussion, noting that I recognize the division.

Most readers I have spoken with conveyed similar sentiments.  While they hold a certain personal preference, they are not opposed to more - or less - sensuality or sex provided the scenes are well written - and of course, that the story is one they enjoy.  Nearly all expressed aversion to sex scenes slapped within a story simply to boast a sex scene.  Sterile and clinical descriptions of the act likewise affected readers negatively.  But, my research subjects are few - mostly consisting of romance reading friends.  Menopause Maniac linked back to Daily Mail, where poll results claim a staggering 91% of the 400 women quizzed reported to have read at least one erotic book.  More than two thirds, 68%, stated they would like to do so more often.  Despite the small pool of readers polled, results suggest that readers welcome sex and sensuality in romance novels.

Erotic content in romance novels is on the rise.  As a reader, I'm not opposed.  But after asking around, one theme popped up over and again.  Sensuality is the key.  Sex in and of itself isn't what grabs readers up and carries them away.  Rather, readers want to be caught up in romance, in sensuality and seduction.  If along the way they indulge in a sultry sex scene, well...I haven't heard any complaints about that!

How Do You Feel About Sex Scenes In Your Romances? 

 ~ Nadja

          

 

Re-Blogged ~ Brazen Broads Book Bash: Ahh, vacation...

Brazen Broads Book Bash: Ahh, vacation...:      Well, I did it.  I survived my first family vacation.  I'm pretty sure I have a little less hair and an eye tic, but dammit, I'm  aliv...

Best summer vacation account I've read!  Need a laugh today fellow ROW80 's?  Mina Naveen delivers....

 ~ Nadja

Mistress Of The Stone, Maria Zannini

Please welcome author Maria Zannini and her newest release!

Thank you Maria, for stopping by today with your new paranormal-historical novel.  Aren't the 'Pirate boys' just the cutest rotties ever?  Love it!





Avast yer dallying, me hearties, ye toothsome wenches and bilge rats, and read on ... Yaahaarrrr!    

 

 

 

Mistress Of The Stone 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mistress of the Stone

Paranormal-Historical

 

A young woman at the helm of a pirate ship braves ghouls, ghosts and werewolves to find her father--or avenge his death.

 

Luísa Tavares has a list of sins the length of the Antilles, but there’s no time to repent for them now. When a pockmarked Frenchman hands her Papa’s ring—still attached to his severed finger—she orders the Coral back to the Caribbean, despite her father’s earlier warning never to return.

It’s Luísa’s luckless fate that the only man who can help her is a blasted Inglés pirate hunter who’s more dead than alive and locked in a curse he doesn’t want lifted. Worse, his feral sensuality sparks a hunger she can’t ignore.

Xander Daltry hadn’t planned on kidnapping this wild woman—or succumbing to his uncontrollable desire for her. But he needs Luísa and the moonstone she wears around her neck to rescind a witch’s spell. His sister, long dead, and others like her have been cursed to remain in the mortal plane for eternity. Only the stone can set them free.

The only way to convince the reluctant pirate queen to help him is to withhold one small bit of the truth. For if she learns who really betrayed her father, the longing in her fiery eyes could easily turn to murderous wrath…

 

Buy it HERE.

Visit Maria Zannini HERE.

The Ugly Truth

What Is Truth? ~ Pontius Pilate

Memories happy, faces laughing
linger in the mind's eye
blissfully ignorant to

        Truth.

Moments tender, heartfelt words
whispered, uncoerced gifts
bitter upon the palate of
                Truth.

Times distant, abandoned
contemplative, untouched
vetted in the aftermath of
                        Truth.

Night descends, shadows
devour certainty, tomorrow
lays trampled beneath
Lies.  


Meh... More theraputic than I expected.  Go figure.

 ~ Nadja

Researching For Romance Writing: Biting The Bullet

Welcome back to Researching For Romance, a weekly series revealing my fabulous finds for use in writing. Please feel free to share any great sites that offer greater information on whatever topic is featured. :} 

The Origination Of A Phrase:  Bite The Bullet

We've all heard the above phrase.  There are different variations to the sentiment, and equally different meanings.  The term can apply to taking a chance, stepping up to the plate, or even to death.  Time has a way of 'turning a phrase', so to speak.

During my research into Native American culture, specifically the Plains Indians, I discovered where the phrase originated through reading.  Apparently, white buffalo hunters, after finding themselves on the wrong end of a Comanche spear (or perhaps more apt - after finding their friends and acquaintances on the wrong end of Comanche spears) decided it better to take their own lives rather than end up captive to a war party. 

Victims were tortured horribly when caught killing buffalo solely for their hides.  The Indians wanted to send a powerful warning to those slaughtering their very means of survival.  Tensions had escalated for years over thinning herds and shrinking hunting grounds.  As a result, Comanche (Not only Comanche, I'd like to add) warriors actively sought to destroy the men responsible.  Speared to the ground, men were discovered with their ears, tongues, and even genitals severed and stuffed into their mouths.  Some were skinned and left for dead, just as they had left the buffalo.  Others were used as a base for cooking fires, the cast off buffalo carcasses roasted on the captive's belly.  Brutal, no?  White buffalo hunters feared capture (and most importantly what would come after capture) more than death - and can you blame them?  Not without irony do I note that these adventurers, so intent on financial gain, 'Bit The Bullet' so to speak in chancing capture to hunt the buffalo in the first place.  But I digress... 

Nearly all hunters carried a .50 calibre cartridge that had been emptied and filled with cyanide.  Hence, when the day was lost, they would 'Bite The Bullet' rather than face the alternative - capture and certain torture at the hands of a war party.  I had never heard this before.  My introduction and understanding of the phrase had led me to believe its gist was 'taking a chance' or 'testing fate'.  While the phrase has taken on this meaning since those days, its origin reveals a much more sinister beginning.

 ~ Nadja

           

Cover Reveal: A Practical Arrangement

The last few days have been a mixture of image selection, option choosing, tag-line finding, and anxious/excited stomach-roiling waiting.  It was worth every blessed second. Many, many thanks to Elaina at  For The Muse Design !

Without further ado, I happily share my latest cover...
 

۩ A Practical Arrangement, Nadja Notariani ۩

Miss Evangeline Grey, intelligent and sensible, has no desire to marry, her reluctance born from the dire warnings of her overly emotional mother. Her father has other ideas, however, and decrees that unless she weds by the spring, he will choose a husband for her.

Prim and proper Evangeline accepts her father's issue with little more than mild alarm. Knowing herself plain of face and sharp of tongue, she believes herself capable of warding off any perspective suitor. Her plan goes awry when the scandalous seducer, Mr. Thomas Masterson, visits her family's home, for Thomas has learned that he must procure a wife to receive his full inheritance.

When he discovers Evangeline's predicament matches his own, Thomas determines to orchestrate a practical arrangement. A war of wit and word results, and Thomas finds himself ever more beguiled by the soft heart he discovers under Miss Grey's stern, inhibited exterior. Patiently, he endeavors to gain her respect and awaken her passions. As tenuous trust blooms between the rake and the reluctant, unfortunate events – and Thomas' past reputation – threaten to destroy the peace and happiness he has found within the bonds of his Practical Arrangement.

 ~ Nadja

Kindle News ~ Distribution In India

Good morning! (albeit a late morning) 

Amazon greeted me this morning with an email notifying eligible authors of new distribution channels in India.  This is wonderful!  India is one of the worlds emerging markets, second I believe only to China, ( please don't quote me on that...lol).  Amazon, IMHO, makes a wise financial move based on the available data. 

I don't know about you, but I adore 'Bollywood' movies!  Indian movie-makers delight this viewer with colorful sets, interesting characters, and musical extravaganzas!  I mention Bollywood because it suggests the Indian public ( at least enough 'public' to support a popular movie industry) enjoys the arts.  This author is quite pleased at the newly opened Indian distribution channel.  Here's to new readers!

Changing direction...I should have my new cover by the end of the business day, and hope to reveal tomorrow.  I. LOVE. IT.  I wanted feminine and fresh for this cover, and Elaina at For The Muse Design delivered.  I may look into having some book-swag designed as well, for I plan to release A Practical Arrangement in print also! 

A book tour, submitting to review sites, and final edits/formatting will consume my week.  Hope all my ROW80 friends are hitting their mid-week stride!

 ~ Nadja