A ‘Cosmic’ Review
Reviews|Or is it? Actually, overall I’m pleased with this short but succinct review by Joyfully Reviewed, which notes that “Cosmic is an incredible journey of passion and love played out in the stars” and offer my sincere thanks to the reviewer. Nonetheless, I tweaked a puzzled eye at the remarks regarding the slow build. Maybe I’m being too British but I’ve always warned my audience if they think they’re going to get a light background story as a support for several encounters of the erotic kind, then think again. They’ll get the erotic encounters all right, the passion and the love, but I don’t know how to write without ’story’.
Every story requires conflict, and the best stories contain internal and external conflict, something Angela Knight very much proclaims. It was through her work I discovered Loose-Id and decided that although this kind of work was entirely different to what I’d been doing, I wanted to try to write for them. I later thanked Angela for her indirectly leading me to them and being the lovely lady that she is, she was thrilled to hear it and pleased for me.
In some ways, maybe not all my work is typical of the market I’m currently writing for and maybe compared to some it will mean for lower sales. On the other hand, the reader responses I mostly receive privately tell me I must be doing something right. I’m joking when I talk about being British and our ’stiff upper lip’ and all the connotations that come with it, such as we’re not comfortable with matters concerning sex. I think the truth is far from the stereotype. However, we do want more than a quick tumble for our money. Most authors probably write the kind of books they’d like to read and for that no one can make an apology. I need plenty of story. I need a slow build before the…um…ultimate climax. After all, isn’t that what foreplay is all about? *g*
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
A lot of people just want the sex, and I don’t understand that. There are numerous free stories online that cater to that need. If I’m going to buy a book, I want the foreplay and the conflict. Hell I rather have all that and not one sex scene. The erotic nature of a story needs to mean something; especially if it is a romance story.
I can understand if the relationship aspects happens very late in the story. If I’m reading an erotic-romance or a paranormal-romance, and the heroes don’t get together until the last 50 pages (and not in a sexual aspect) then that bugs me.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 am
I totally agree with you. A romance without all the rest of the story, the conflict, the angst, etc isn’t romance to me. You may as well read porn and that’s the difference between erotic romance and porn. Erotic romance has to tie your emotions into knots as well as be sensual or sexy.
My relationship starts from page 1 although it may be a bit subtle for people to realise it. The way Axel looks at Snake and thinks about him…oh yes, there’s something going on there. A couple of pages in there’s a good reason for the three main characters to be wrestling around on the floor and not just because they’re fighting. LOL. The earlier parts of the book deal with their emotions and there is a sub plot of ‘danger’ but then without that it wouldn’t be science fiction and they wouldn’t have an external conflict to worry about. I think the best books of this type are those where characters have something to fight within themselves as well as some outside threat as well. I guess for me it also comes back to being a diverse reader and picking up that first book as a child and being transported into a magical ‘world’. I need the whole experience.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I was reading one of the books by Sean Michael (the Jarhead series) and I know a lot of people like this author; but he/she writes nothing BUT sex. The 400 pages – all sex. The author has to make me believe in the romance and their sexual aspect, otherwise I may as well watch porn.
Inner conflict is always interesting to read, however the denial aspect can get annoying if not done well.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Hmm…now the trouble is many readers don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. Some don’t want to and that’s fine — there’s no reason why they should. Let’s just say that some markets are placing more pressure on the writer to write sex and often this happens after the writer has signed a contract. I’m pleased to say that some publishers let you know beforehand if they want major changes but not all do and then the writer is stuck. It’s not fair on the writer or the reader because some publishers go so far that the final book is so far from the writer’s original version they’re completely disillusioned. There’s so much that goes on that the public just isn’t aware of it and it happens in all genres, all types of books and with all different publishers. I’m going to be adding a few pieces about the writing process to the site soon, which I hope will explain more.