The viability of virginity…

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed but virgins are everywhere at the moment…at the least in romance land they are. You have the too stupid to live virgin who doesn’t get the hero is after her arse until she is flat on her back under him and then you have the oh-my-god-I-need-to-lose-it virgin. Oh, and let’s not forget the virgin who stumbles across the shape shifting wolf pack of five who need a virgin for whatever half arsed reason to make their lives complete. Why so many virgins? Is it a fad? Do we want to see innocence corrupted? Do we want to go ‘aww, how sweet’ and ‘bloody hell, he’s going to put all that into her?’ Yes, yes and yes. Frankly, romance writing world has become cruder than I’ve ever seen it. Why is that? I pondered this question with a male friend. What is it women want? Why are we reading virgin books? Do we want to remember when? Do we want to see the virgin literally shafted by a wolf pack of five men? Do we see virginity as an expendable commodity to be made money out of? Do we not value innocence anymore? I don’t know. He was very quiet on the subject. Smart man.

I have to admit that this - http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thevirginsale-668537-144.html Scarlet Harlot story that was subbed to me by an old Pommy (English) friend made me think about where I stood on the issue. Do I publish what I believe is romance or do I not be a prissy prude and say to hell with it? It may seem old fashioned but we – and I include myself - seem to be manipulating everything that has an ounce of purity in it into some dirty erotica story and branding it as romance to sell to women. As I said to my male friend, you have to wonder what women want. Tenderness? Passion? Or in the Aussie vernacular a good root and onto the next man? Is that romance or are we beyond that now if there is the promise of an orgasm?

Things of interest from the email…

…sent by All Romance ebooks, which from what I can work out is overtaking any other non publisher site.

All Romance eBooks, LLC 2011 Trend Analysis
# Total publishers in 2010 = Approx 4700
# Total publishers in 2011 = Approx 7600

I find this not at all surprising because publishing is no longer an area that a tradition bricks and mortar, we-tell-you-what-to-do-or-else owns. New, more progressive publishers who are staffed by authors or ex-authors or the Indie publishers, like myself, who do it on their own terms are growing in number.

Heat Rating = over 97% of sales are on books rated 3 or higher, of significance is that the 5 and 4 flame sales have see a combined drop of 4% over last year with most of the difference shifting to the 3 flame rating.

Interesting considering daddy-incest-force-the-virgin-ménage sex is considered a big seller. Also indicates to me that most writers are heading back to the traditional romance of the romance novel - sure, they may still have sex in them but instead of every second page it’s gone to every 5th page. Maybe plots will come back?

Romance remains, by far, our biggest seller. Although still popular, the overall market shares for gay fiction, multiple partners, BDSM, and interracial were all down 33 - 67% from 2010.

No surprise on any of that. Gay erotica has been dying slowing in the arse...pardon the pun...for a while.

The overall market share for erotica increased another 22% in 2011 and sales increased significantly for all of speculative fiction sub-genres. In rank order we saw growth in sales of Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Vampire/Werewolves/Shapeshifter books. In addition…the Contemporary seems to be making a comeback with a 17% increase following last year’s 55% decline.

In terms of which romance sub-genres owned the biggest piece of the pie in 2011, the top 10 are = Erotica, Vampires/Werewolves/Shapeshifters, Gay Fiction, Paranormal, Contemporary, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Multiple Partners, Interracial, Historical, Time-travel, Drama, and BDSM.

Are the over abundance of multiple partnered books wearing people down? How many ways can three, four, five people have sex without it all seeming the same?

All in all, an interesting report and a good indicator of trends. Food for thought. Thanks All Romance ebooks.

**Yellow is from the ARE email.

Got an email…

…from…er…let’s call her Lucy Lou. She wanted to know how I could write stories where the heroine doesn’t make the hero wear a condom. Very easily. I sit on my arse and write them. But seriously…I need to stop sitting so much…but really, the thing is Lucy Lou I’m not and never will be or allow myself to be the moral conscience of any other bugger on the planet. If you read my stories – fantastic – thank you. If you choose to act like the characters in those stories than it’s exactly that – your choice. Stories are fiction. Oh sure, writers use their own life experience but nowhere in a story will I or any other author I know write ‘and you should all go out and have sex with multiple men and use no condom.’ The thing is it’s fantasy. Do I personally think you should use a condom if you are fucking like a bunny with every man you meet? Yeah. But that’s not my call.

Romance writing is fiction. It’s a what if he did that to her thrill and what if she said yes to him?

Suck, blow, on, off, in, out…do what your conscience dictates.

Jewel Adams...

WORDS OF LOVE

How to Write Your Romance Novel

By

JEWEL ADAMS

WHERE DO I START?

The largest step in writing is deciding to write; whether your work becomes an epic novel, a short story or novella, the biggest decision you face is—where do I start?

If you were to walk into any bookstore or visit one online, their shelves are filled with any number of books telling you the whats, whys and wherefores of writing. You can read them all and once you finish, you will shake your head and drop your forehead on the table, groaning.

Out of all that material, most of it was a lot of help on how to set up a manuscript with all the proper margins and spacing. None or some of that information may benefit you as a writer, but you still didn’t find any help with the writing part. Every writer and how they create their work, will do it in a different manner.

Always remember, there is no set way to write, one method is as good as the next. Let’s find the most comfortable way for you to write.

You made the decision to write, now you need a place to write, a cubby or space that is the most comfortable for you. It can be the back porch, the kitchen or at the computer desk. Find that certain place in your house that is you. When I say you it is because we are all different and we aren’t in high school any longer, so we aren’t chained to the old rules. Mom may feel the most comfortable in the family room where she can keep an eye on the kids. Another may need complete privacy. Each of us has our own comfort zone, find yours.

Set up your space, make it a work area, but also make it a place that you want to be. You are going to spend many hours in your space, so arrange it the way you want it. If you have certain music, candles or plants that you might like having around you, include them in your space. Whatever feels right. Moms, don’t be afraid to set up some rules about your space, tell the children they have their play area and this is your area. They will listen, tell them what you are creating. You can give them the appropriate writing tools because they will probably start writing/drawing stories like their mom.

Next, you need to write for you. That’s right, you can write on paper with pen or pencils and don’t forget the erasers, or you can compose right on the computer screen. Find the most comfortable medium for you to write. Think of your writing the same way an artist looks at the canvas, they use acrylics and oils, you use pen, pencil or the keyboard. Try them all if you want, just find the one that allows you to envision the words.

Words, now there is an image. Words are the artist strokes on the canvas. Every word you write creates a picture. They are the art on your canvas. How you pull them all together will give you a beautiful work of art. In one story or novel, there are many different pictures to be created. Like an artist, the more you paint with your words, the more proficient you become. You can think of each chapter or scene as the picture you captured. The art of writing is an ongoing experience that allows you to continually, learn and evolve.

Try out your space. Write anything, write a letter, a recipe, a note to your love, a thought or experience you went through at the grocery store. Your world, the whole day is filled with stories, write one of them. They can be small or an adventure, don’t worry about how it sounds or even if it makes sense, just write. As you write get the feel of your canvas, the page forming before you should feel comfortable.

On the computer you can set the page so your fonts on the screen are larger, you should never strain your eyes to see the page, just go to the zoom and set it up to the size that works, say 125%. Make sure it feels right and is the most comfortable.

If you are using paper and pencil, make sure your have the right paper. College rule is smaller than regular rule, make sure the one you pick fits you. You can use notebooks or sheets of paper, try both and pick the best one. This also goes for the pens or pencils, the #2 pencil is usually good, mechanical pencils are great just make sure you get the right lead. Pens need to flow as you write, not cut into the paper. The gel pens are very nice to write with as they slide across the paper.

If at all possible I would recommend that you try writing directly into your computer or laptop. The computer is such a magnificent tool that will spoil you as you become familiar with all it offers. You can write notes to yourself as you craft your story; research is at your finger-tips. The computer can automatically fix misspellings. Grammar settings usually don’t work that well with Romance writing, but it will alert you to some basic writing mistakes. Writing directly onto the computer will save you a lot of time when it comes to putting your book on the computer.

Personally, pen and paper holds a soft spot in my heart. I still have many book pages to type into the computer. Practicality rules that the computer is more efficient. If you haven’t typed directly into the computer, give it a try, it takes time to get the feel for the keypad, but once you do you’ll be excited over how fast the words appear.

Here we are—we have our special space to write within, our medium or canvas is ready, now you begin…oh, but wait, what do I write?
___________

I hope you enjoyed this look into Words of Love. Particapants in the series have asked for them to be in book form. It took a while but it is finally available.

Remember to always follow your dream.

You can read more about Words of Love at my publisher’s website:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89283

Words of Love will be at the retail outlets within a week. Check Words of Love’s progress at: http://www.hippiechicks68.com/

Hippie Chicks 68 is still under construction, please excuse the dust. lol

Random thoughts # 34098….

Do happy endings really exist or are they a greeting card company plot to make us feel bad if we’re not in a relationship?

And what the hell is a relationship? You either love – hate – lust – loathe – or are bored shitless by someone so why just plonk all those emotions under one pathetic banner? Call it what it is I say.

Do we read erotic romance for the sex or the romance? Hmmm?

I know that if one of the pumped up–bouffanted heroes off a romance novel appeared shirtless or in a kilt or pretending to be a werewolf at my door I would laugh my arse off and give him $50 to get a taxi to the airport.

Real men – flaws and all – can’t beat ‘em…some times you wish you could but beating’s against the law.

Hoping you are the same…..

I don’t write BDSM sex….

I don’t even try to. I have no real understanding of it. It’s like a woman writer trying to write male-male sex how does she really know? Yes, by all means email me to dispute that if you want. Anyway, why I mention this is due to the fact I got a really good review for Cintra – click here -and the reviewer mentioned how good the BDSM scenes were etc. Thank you. I appreciate it. But – and there always is one that you have to cover or think about - while I understand people have an obsessive need to tag things with labels, why do we have to tag something as primal and raw and human as sex? It just is and it’s based on preference.

Yes, by all means warn the sex in a book is graphic and could offend but labeling a story BDSM when really it’s graphic generally gets me a bunch of emails from BDSM writers telling me things like “in true BDSM she would never have put her foot there” and “only the neo-fosby-flop-flugelheimer method of tying a woman’s hands to the bed is considered true BDSM and how dare you just tie them?”

Well, the thing is I do dare. I dare a lot. Sex is about daring. It’s about doing it because you want to how you want to with who you want to. And to label it? Well, no ones ever going to agree on labels so why bother?

Sex – do it because you want to. Read it because you accept the graphic rating and just enjoy the story. Labels? Stick 'em on parcels and send them in the mail.

Email – amarinda_jones@yahoo.com.au

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Raping a story…

So, I’ve been writing some deep, dark books that are not pretty. Yes, there is sex and romance but the plot is ugly. I sent it off to one publisher. Yes, they liked the book and they wanted to give me a contract – but – I had to take out the rape of a secondary character. Could I have done this? Yes, but the book would lose its edge. The villain is ugly, evil, psychotic bad – not Cruella De Ville Disney bad. Taking out the rape would make him less a villain and more someone that’s just ‘not nice’ in that Disney TV dinner way. I declined the offer. While I respect their opinion and stance, unlike some I’m not about to completely sell my soul for a contract.

So – is it that we can only, as readers, accept ‘pretty’ romances? How bad is the villain allowed to be? Or do we have to homogenize him to be politically correct? Me? I think fiction is just that and we’ll politically correct ourselves to death one day.

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Crossing lines…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about writing – what I want to write and what I believe in. The thing is with writers, esp. romance writers – gosh no, none I know of –write to whatever’s popular in the market. That’s smart right? Go to where the money is and follow a trend. Male/Male romance appears to have died in the arse – pardon the pun – and now ménage is hot. I know more than one writer who has deliberately set their cap to write it. Yes, I too have written ménage - Male Me – and it continues to do well. I wrote it to see if I could write ménage but you know what? I don’t personally believe in ménage. While I’d defend anyone’s right to enjoy ménage in whatever form, I’m not about to write another one. Werewolves? Yeah, I wrote one of those to see if I could. I could, I did, but not again. Vampires? I’ve always loved vamps - I could write more of those. So yeah, I’ve pointed my quill at some of the trends. But I do wonder about writers deciding they will cash in on the next hot thing that comes along. As much as I adore money, what if you don’t believe in what you’re writing? Can you write it convincingly so a reader will believe it? Does your ménages sound exactly the same each book?

I’ll continue to write sex. I like sex. But following a trend? Nope. Go with the flow? Sure, but in the end you have to be true to yourself doncha’?

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Push it...

So, I’ve almost finished writing the next book and the one thing that strikes me the most is that every single character has an agenda – more so than any other book I have written. I never planned it that way but there it is. Every one of them has a plan to get what they want. Thankfully, those plans all manage to interlock. Go figure. Occasionally I can do this writer gig correctly. Sometimes you can be in the writer zone and it all comes together. Sometimes you don’t have a bloody clue. It’s a hit and miss business. Words and ideas tumble out and you can’t write them fast enough. Other times you stare at the screen and think ‘why am I doing this again?’ But there’s an agenda there that keeps me motivated.

Like characters in a book, everyone I know has an agenda. Yes, yes, I’m sure there are the pure-hearted among us who will say “oh no not me. I’m too nice.” The less pure-hearted like myself would respond with ‘bullshite – you have an agenda and niceness is a front for hiding your real emotions. You have an agenda - you just won’t name it publicly.’ What is it about announcing what you want and being ruthless and persistent to get it? If you’re not hurting anyone else then why is determination to succeed a bad thing? It often amuses when people say ‘X has an agenda.’ They say it like it’s a bad thing. To me, an agenda equates to a goal and we’re always told to have goals and try to attain them. Are goals more acceptable than agendas?

‘Got an agenda? Excellent? Do you ruthlessly plan to pursue it? Better still. Push it to the max. Life is short. Make sure you get what you can with what talents you have. The one person you can rely on the most is yourself. Only you know how far you will go and what measures you will take to succeed. And those who worry about your agenda? That’s their problem.

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Cheese with that whine?

My Grandfather Bill used to quote this line from a poem - "Christmas in the Poorhouse"…actually probably misquoted it and I'm not even sure the poem existed but it went something like…"And you can take your plum pudding and shove it up your jumper." My point? Well, it's about the current, never ending hoo-ha over RWA and what they have or haven’t done now. Where does Grandfather Bill's quote fit in? Well, in the sense that if you don't like how someone operates then either tell 'em to shove it up their jumper and walk away or shut up and accept it. Just don't whine about it. Whining gets you nowhere and it makes people’s ears bleed.

What is RWA? Well, it seems to depend on which group you fit into. Either it's an association that helps romance writers with their craft. Or it's a fascist organization that is run by cranky old women with tight knicker elastic who enforce rules from the Ark. Me? I fit into neither group. I couldn't give a rat’s arse about RWA. I do what I do because it suits me. I am my own group. I write e-books because I want to and if some organization thinks less of me for that then my care factor is negative 12.

The thing that I am sick to death of hearing is card carrying RWA writers bleating that RWA is a terrible, archaic organization that should change its rules regarding e-books, genre and the colour of member’s underwear...or whatever. I'm not up on the rules….the underwear thing could be wrong so don’t quote that as fact. While I agree people should try and change things they do not agree with, banding together and continuously saying how 'unfair' RWA is and yet doing nothing about it is going to do stuff all in the scheme of things. Nothing is fair in life. We all know that. Work for change – don’t work yourself into a tizz expecting fairness…it ain’t gonna happen.

Like any group RWA is a clique. I get cliques. You fit in or you don't. What I don't get is why it’s so important to care what these people think or say. Aren’t writers writing because they want to write for love or for money? And if they aren’t happy with RWA shouldn't they just leave? Or is it a case of people like to belong to something? Are they maybe scared that if they are not a member of an association like this then they'll miss out on secret romance book writing business?

I’m fascinated why people are so upset by RWA yet will not leave it. That in itself gives RWA more power. How? Because people stay within the ranks, paying their money, because I believe they’re scared that somehow they won’t get published at ‘Whiz-bang’ press in New York or wherever. They don’t want to rock the boat of a powerful being they feel could determine their future. And yeah maybe you might miss out on something – or maybe you won’t. Maybe it will have stuff all to do with what membership cards you have or secret handshakes you know. Maybe you’ll get published because writing is a business and a good book will always beat a membership card. Maybe breaking from the herd is a good thing when you’re not happy with the direction taken.

So, surely if you’re unhappy then you have the right to leave. It seems pretty damn simple to me. And, if you do choose to stay and remain unhappy, stop whining. It's annoying. Book writing and publishing is a business. It’s not a fluffy, pretty place where everyone holds hands and agrees. Stuff happens. Go with it or effect change or move on.

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Babble on....

“The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish.”
Terry Southern

I got a comment from a friend who read a couple of my books – “Why do you have to complicate everything?” Huh? Well, apparently all my books are complicated. Hmmm…how so? “Why can’t they just fall in love and get married without all the hoop-la?” Well, yes of course they could but what would be the fun in that? And the sex is apparently an issue too. “You don’t do what you wrote about on page 32 do you?” Hmm…I cannot say as I prefer to remain a mystery.

This is how I see it - romance is complicated. Just in normal, everyday life, you have two people from two different worlds who meet and fall in love. They already have their own inbuilt ideas and feelings. Suddenly they are sharing thoughts with another person who may have similar or wildly different ideas to them but they soldier on despite differences as they want to be together. Okay – so that’s no big revelation to anyone. So – cut to romance novels – the love is there, the different ideas are there but then maybe add one of them as being a vampire, a demon, a blue person from Mystic Valley, a shapeshifter or maybe a heart surgeon-come-millionaire-rancher-come-jet airline pilot-in his spare time - that shagged his temp nurse-come-princess in disguise who has run away from an obscure kingdom to find herself - after too much sangria one night – and is now preggers. I tend to think things are going to get a tad complicated. While I am have yet to meet a vamp or a blue person or the millionaire/princess combo I have to think that could all be kind of difficult to sort out. The whole mortal meeting an immortal thing needs some time to adjust to and yes stuff could happen that normally does not happen. So yes, I like to complicate my books by throwing in weird things people have to deal with because we all deal with weird stuff every day and very few people have had perfectly easy romances. If you have and want to make a liar of out me, then tell us how easy your romance was.

As for the sex…people have sex in many different ways and they don’t have to be married…that’s all I’m saying…. and I can’t remember what was on page 32…

I read a blog today that was discussing ‘cougars’. No, not the animal. It was a good blog. I have no negatives about it so please do not think I do. What I do not like is the term ‘cougar’. I find it derogatory. How so you ask? I will tell you. As you all know a ‘cougar’ refers to an older woman dating a younger man. No big deal there. It happens all the time. And yeah, I know there are predatory women out there just as there are predator men who scope out a target and go for it. Good luck to them. As long as they hurt no one – who cares. What I don’t like is the term ‘cougar’ being used for any woman who dates a younger man. I don’t see this is an unusual. Most of the time it’s just people who meet, go out and maybe fall in love. The age difference is something they deal with or not. It’s up to them. What’s cougarish about that? I have mentioned this many times before and you’re no doubt sick of hearing it but why do we have to keep labelling people with dumb terms? We can’t we use the tried and tested ones of man, woman, child etc? I’m not into being ‘cool’ or with it or on the ‘in’ list by the way I speak. Cougars? They’re an animal. People are people. Labels are for jars, files and school books. It’s pretty simple.

There will be much screaming in the neighbourhood this evening. No, it’s not the bi -yearly drunken hell raise the lady down the road throws where she gets plastered and swears her arse off and sings at the top of her drunken lungs – I think we have another month to wait for that to happen again. No, it’s actually the last game of State of Origin. Yes, people will be screaming for Queensland to win a football game. Sometimes life is as simple as one bunch of men tackling another bunch of men in the pursuit of an oval ball.

So today…pretty boring…end of month accounting stuff to be done at work, sat through a 2 hour meeting contemplating my striped socks and running dialogue through my mind, ate two scones for dinner and got an obscure note from my doctor – who can read their handwriting for god sake – either asking me to up my thyroid meds or show my thighs to Roy…not sure but I will have to await her return from holidays. If you spend a gazillion years getting qualified as a doctor wouldn’t you think they would learn how to write properly?

I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about -- Oscar Wilde

www.amarindajones.com
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?