Turn up the novel's sensual "heat."

I have a publication contract offer to reprint Ghost Orchid - I just need to add more sensual "heat."  My one less than stellar review complained that it was already too hot!

There are a few sensual scenes that are relevant to the story - very relevant - but they leave something to the imagination.

I have a choice so far - a manuscript without a publisher or a contract requiring more sexual content in the existing love scenes.

If you have read my other posts, you will know that Ghost Orchid is an orphan because of the untimely death of a  major partner at L & L Dreamspell, the original publisher, that closed down the company.  All rights were returned to the authors.

Your comments are appreciated.  Ghost Orchid is currently a Kindle at $3.99 and was offered free a while back.

9/25/2013

                        DK..

                                I would add just a little more heat , sensual, provacative but not
                    ponographic...Seems that's what the piblic likes these days..

                                                                         Cheers...Joe...

I prefer the imagination.  I guess people aren't as imaginative overall as they used to be.  They need it spelled out for them.

You are probably right.  I'm being encouraged to do so.  Actually, as far as I went was uncomfortable enough.

9/25/2013

                 
              I remember a few years ago I ried writing a novel with sex, we'll all I had to do
              was use strong imagination, very provocative, sensual, need I go on ? Anyway
              after four pages I destroyed it....Probably could have been a best seller?

                                                 Cheers......Joe...  

DK, you're going to have to go with what feels right to you on this one. I couldn't advise because I put very little sexual content into anything I write. I tend to believe that the imagination is better that graphic descriptions, however, and if I were to write toward that market, I'm afraid that's as far as I'd want to go. You have a very good sense of what works for you and what doesn't, and I'm sure whatever you decide to do you will do with a great amount of grace and good taste.

I read a really charming novel a while back for a self-published writer.  It had a little mystery, a little romance and someone must have told her to stuff in some sex.  There they were in the 19th century on a train saying things to each other as they undressed each other that definitely came in the 21st century.  It felt contrived and ruined the escape into the past for me though I know the movies include some pretty graphic sex scenes from those times. 

For me to change the sensuous parts of Ghost Orchid feels contrived.  The descriptions are appropriate for the context.  However, I want a publisher!  And this is a respected small press.

DK, One of the things I have liked best about Ghost Orchid ws its ethereal quality - so much of the story taking place inside Neev's head.

It is my thinking that intimacy can be conveyed in many ways, and that sensuality is a quality that can permeate a work without being explicit. I try to accomplish that in my stories. I believe you did that in your book.

To me, explicit sex in a story is just that. There is a difference between having sex and making love.

Probably the most explicit - OK, graphic - scenes I ever wrote was in my first novel, one which I eventually decided not to publish. The scene was my way of introducing two people who came together in order to increase their individual positions of power - the motivating force for both of them. The purpose of that scene was to impress the act of sex, in that instance, as being a power and control thing - could their be such a thing as mutual rape? The few people I showed the scene two felt it was very effective.

I get that publishers today think their readers want sex - not so much love - just sex. The only relationship in Ghost Orchid where that seems to be the case is in Neev's encounter with [Gunnar, Gunhard?] - it has been a while. That might be a place where you could "show rather than tell."

What you do is up to you and how you feel about your story. My impulse is to tell you to go with your gut.

However, my own stories are not selling all that well at the moment.

Annie

What Don and Ann said.  Go with your gut.

When Lady Chatterley's Lover was banned and only sold abroad, it was the best thing that the censors could have possibly done. As soon as the book was available in the UK, everyone wanted to read it! The sex scenes were mild by today's standards. If you can introduce a bit of "rough sex" that is not graphic but provocative, then you might reach the audience your publisher is seeking.

I think Ann gave me an idea of where in the book - Neev has a purely "raw sex" experience in Africa  that was told rather than illustrated...I can expand on that because I have room for words.  My more modest readers can skip that bit if they wish (I used to do that if a section of a book was not to my liking I'd move on).

Then I can leave the rest pretty much alone to represent the more spiritual quality that is part of all the relationships under the auspices of the Ghost Orchid.  Neev's tryst in Africa was not.

Your idea of "rough sex" Shelagh would also fit that African sexual experience and still not damage the rest of the book.

I want the sexual context to be sensual but not pornographic, excite the imagination so the reader fills in the details from their own desires.

Wouldn't it be great if that scene of Neev's in Africa would be enough to meet the requirement of the publisher for more "heat."

I am still open to even more ideas because each of you opened my mind to other possibilities and possibilities in combination where I was having a difficult time seeing the way .....

Gee, Ann, your sex scene that you didn't use sounds about right for the African scene - a display of power - sex without emotion

Quote :

Wouldn't it be great if that scene of Neev's in Africa would be enough to meet the requirement of the publisher for more "heat."

This is not about "meeting the requirements of the publisher." It's about what the publisher's readers want. The publisher requires what it thinks its readers will buy. Have you bought books by this publisher -books that sell well- to study? Reading those should inform what you do.

This publisher was recommended by my former publisher.  It is a romance book publisher only from "sweet" to "erotic" lines of stories.

The sexual content plays a big role in most of them as romances.  Ghost Orchid is not and has never been primarily a "romance" per se though it includes romance (as does all of life).  The content is mostly about the beauty and importance of natural habitats to the soul and relationships in general - family, friends, lovers - and their complexity brought together under the auspices of the ghost orchid, a sort of spiritual guide that sorts things out.

However, there are two romance themes running parallel so many people see it as a "romance" and to get a new publisher, so will I.

You are correct, the readers of "romances" enjoy explicit sexual content.  The line that they are considering for publishing Ghost Orchid (it's been through two editors) has the following :

The reader here will find stories filled with sexual tension and passionate chemistry. Couples explore their relationship both emotionally and physically; in each full-length novel, there must be one fully consummated love scene. In the case of short stories, if this isn't realistic for the plot, then the physical encounters must be extremely hot and let the reader know how hard it is for that couple to keep their hands off each other.  

The setting can take place anywhere in the US or another country; small town, big cities or anything in between fits in here. The hero and heroine could be of the same race, or from different ethnic backgrounds. They might be single parents, they might be corporate executives or small town librarians. The list is endless, but the characters should leave us remembering them long after we turn the last page. We should feel their feelings, share their joys and their heartaches. Without exception we should close the book completely satisfied by the happy-ever-after ending.


As of January 2013, we will accept manuscripts that are women's fiction in addition to romance.  The heat level of the manuscript should still fall into the above criteria to fit our guidelines.  

There are at least three fully-consummated love scenes - just not fully detailed and much left to the imagination.  There is the hotel scene, the jungle scene with Neev and Roger, the Africa scene with Neev told briefly and undetailed, and a general description of Neev w/Roger and another of Neev and Ray.  So, there are plenty of bedroom scenes but none are detailed.  The most sensuous is Mel and Jack leading up to and including a hotel.  Neev is not a particularly emotional lover, actually a bit detached.  To increase the heat level, Neev needs to be more emotionally engaged.  Since her character is flawed by the anger she carries, emotion is out of character.

9/25/2013

                      DK..

                            Go for it !

                            Cheers..Joe..

I agree about steamy, but I don't like writing in that sort of detail or reading it either.  Thanks for the help though; and perhaps you might want to delete it since we are a youth friendly forum?

9/25/2013

                     I guess that was a little too steamy ! I deleted it before we become X Rated !

                                                          Cheers.....Joe..

Sheesh, I miss all the fun!

:-) You're swell, Joe.  Shelagh, you have to be quick around here.  It was steamy.  Joe is missing the boat with his paintings.  He needs to write steamy romances and get a pen name like J.D.Sells or something like that :-)

But I'm still looking for more comments....

9/25/2013

                      DK...

                               I may have started a new career ! Should I get steamy again,
                      Shelagh's upset she missed it ! She make go into shock !

                                                      Cheers......Joe..

9/25/2013

                      DK...

                               I just gave you free publicity for " Ghost Orchid," on my Art Site,
                       they have more than 100,000 members world wide , good luck and check
                       it out...


                          http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1457706
                                             
                                                                  Cheers..Joe..

9/26/2013

                          DK...

                                    Where are you ?

                                     Cheers...Joe..

Thanks, Joe for the publicity!  I'm writing "steamy" in Africa - and it's not my best writing yet.

9/26/2013

                        Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sounds very sexy !


                                    Cheers...Joe..........

The outrage to supermarket chains selling a Halloween costume online made me wonder about what is and is not acceptable in the 21st Century.

"Supermarket chains Tesco and Asda have withdrawn two Halloween outfits after they were criticised for stigmatising people with mental health issues.

Asda dropped its 'mental patient fancy dress costume', and Tesco later withdrew its 'psycho ward' outfit."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24278768

The manufacturers of the product obviously thought it was a good idea and would sell. The buying public thought otherwise. The description of the product caused more outrage than the product itself.

The product details read: "Everyone will be running away from you in fear in this mental patient fancy dress costume... it's a terrifying Halloween option."

Halloween costumes are supposed to be terrifying; it's the use of the term "mental patient" that is causing such offence because it reinforces the image of mental patients being dangerous and likely to hurt others.

What has this got to do with sexual content in novels? It's the violence against women in these novels that is being portrayed as acceptable and reinforces the commonly held view that it's okay to hurt women physically.

Mental jokes have been around for a very long time. Attitudes are changing as more and more people who suffer from depression are willing to be open and honest about their health problems. What was acceptable half a century ago is now being questioned and deemed unacceptable.

Maybe we will see a change in attitude towards BDSM in literature and it will become unacceptable to portray women as willing victims who like to be knocked around a bit.

Shelagh, thanks for your insight.  I've been having trouble "turning up the heat" as it's against my own reading preferences.

I hope I have another publishing offer.  This company has a less heat line - that is also less popular.