Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by short story, humour author, multi-genre novelist and interviewee Melodie Campbell.
Why I Write Hot – And Why Women Read It
I write comedies – screwball, caper, fantasy, you name it. The laugh gene is part of me and always will be. But lately, I find my fiction has gotten hotter.
Why? Why now, after more than 20 years of writing fiction, would I be changing my style to incorporate breathless scenes of sexual passion along with the fast action I am known for?
The shocking answer came to me, when I posted this recently on my Facebook Author page:
Readers often ask if any parts of my novels are based on real life. Not really. But occasionally I will draw from the past. This dialogue, from my current work in progress ROWENA AND THE VIKING WARLORD, was once spoken to me by a man. Lars says it to Rowena:
“It is odd,” he said. The look in his eyes was something almost religious. “Most times when I look at you, my body throbs to lust. But other times, you are so beautiful, it takes my breath away. I see you as a thing of splendour, too precious for any man to touch. It calms me just to feast my eyes on you.”
My voice caught in my throat. This was the most stunning thing a man had ever said to me.
My shock: In writing that, I was reliving the past.
Youth is gorgeous. I was lucky in youth. I can still remember times when I would walk into a room and all male eyes would turn to me. Times when the air around me was electric with attraction.
And even more excruciating – those few times when a man would do anything, say anything, lie, beg…to (how do I say this gracefully) satisfy his overwhelming want of me.
That doesn’t happen anymore, at least not with that intensity. But I remember it still. Wistfully.
There is an old adage: Writers live twice. When I write hot scenes, I am reliving the way a man wanted me. The power of it. The utter joy from it. The feeling of life teetering to the point of no return, and nothing else being more important than that moment.
So I’ve come to this conclusion: Common thought is that women read hot romance / suspense books to experience an ideal fantasy. Maybe so, but that isn’t all. I think many women read them to relive the giddy sexual power they themselves once had over men. That power is fleeting, as we all know.
Certainly, my books reflect this. Rowena experiences many of the things I once did. I write in first person, so I invite you to slip into her skin, and experience what she does.
Relive that sexual passion.
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That was grrreat! Thank you, Melodie.
Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best this year when Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.
She has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories, and 4 novels. She has won 6 awards for fiction.
Follow Melodie’s comic blog on www.melodiecampbell.com and Melodie can be found on…
Rowena And The Dark Lord is available from: http://www.amazon.com/Rowena-Dark-Lord-Lands-ebook/dp/B00CIZZS70
And the one that started it all: Rowena Through The Wall, book 1 in the Land’s End series: http://www.amazon.com/Rowena-Through-Wall-Expanded-ebook/dp/B007B4Q868
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What lovely memories you have, and can use, Melodie. Of course, it’s not just romance that writers can re-create.
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Thank you, Rosalind. I’ve passed on your comment to Melodie.
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Rosalind, of course you are dead on. I think the thing that sparked this post was the fact that I recognized suddenly that my writing has changed as I have aged. Perhaps it is also a sign of the freedom that comes with age?
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Great piece. Alas, my publisher made me take out the steamier sex scenes in my latest novel. He’s worried about the new Zon algos that ferret out “erotica” and put it in a separate category away from the regular bestseller lists. Still, I had the fun of writing them….
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I’m going to have to watch for that, Anne. It is a dilemma. I don’t write hot enough to satisfy the erotica market. I hope they come up with guidelines so we all know what lines not to cross.
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