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Naked People Everywhere!

15 May

Serendipity-Nudist-Pool-AreaA new book I’m outlining has me considering whether it might work in the plot if I plopped my characters in the heart of a nudist colony. Now, believe me, I understand that such places specifically emphasize the fact that they have nothing to do with sex or lewd, provocative behavior. But, you know, I’m an erotic romance writer so methinks I can bend those rules a bit.  Except I started wondering: do people even go to nudist colonies anymore? Do they even still exist? I decided to do a little research, and what I found was rather revealing. :-)

For starters, people who practice this type of living no longer refer to their residences as “colonies.” The word “colony” has a negative overtone, such as “leper colony,” and it also sounds like it might be a cult. Folks who dig 24/7 naked live in “nudist communities” or “naturist villages” and frequently refer to themselves as “naturists.” There’s an organization that represents these clothes-free fans, the International Naturist Federation. According to their website, naturism is defined as “. . . a way of life in harmony with nature, expressed through social nudity, linked to self-respect, tolerance of differeing views together with respect for the environment.” Now you know.

There are also naturist resorts, where families can go for a vacation to get their naked on and enjoy activities such as swimming or tennis. OK, side note here . . . swimming in the buff is fun and I can totally picture that as a vacation kinda thing to do. But naked tennis? I’m pulling up some images in my mind about that one and they’re not good. Certain . . . appendages . . . would be swinging and shaking during naked tennis. And, sheesh, ow. It just seems painful and, you know, not pretty.

Alrighty then, moving on. So let’s say I do put my characters in a naturist village. What are the rules for living there? Aside from the obvious, sans clothes. From what I could find, there don’t seem to be a lot. Photography is discouraged unless you’re taking a quick shot of the family or your friends. But snapshots of others? Not so much. Put towels down wherever you sit. (good). Men who may show obvious arousal should discreetly cover up until said arousal calms down. Also, naturist resorts also claim not to tolerate “lewd and lascivious behavior.” Oh, but there’s where things get interesting.

One of the most famous naturist resorts is Cap-d’Agde in France. There you can live, work, shop, dine, whatever you want, in the buff. Singles live there, families live there. A large part of the place is a resort for vacationers. It’s touted  as a good place to have fun in the sun in the nude. But when the sun goes down, the parties heat up. Several reviews on travel website Trip Adviser mentioned the “swinger like” atmosphere that comes out once darkness hits. People spend the daytime part of their vacation in the nude, and the nighttime part dressed in party clothes (it can get cool at night, apparently) slumming for a good time. The Cap D’Agde website even has a section “for swingers” that provides information on a club called “Le Glamour.” Here we learn that “Downstairs is the sex area. There are some facilities with mattresses, but also a lot of people are just standing around having sex.” Well. That’s interesting. My plotting mind is churning with ideas.

Whether or not I decide to go the naturist route, I’ve certainly learned a thing or two about what I thought was a a leftover relic from the ’70s. For me, when I’m out in public my clothes are staying on. But for my intrepid hero and heroine, perhaps not so much . . . :-)

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Sexy Saturday Round-Up

11 May

By Liz Everly, with the Lady Smut Bloggers

Photo by Dollen

Photo by Dollen

Hello, sexy! What a week. I’m done with my travels for now and back at work. Once again, we’ve gotten some fascinating blogs and even a video for you to check out this week. Sit back, relax, and happy reading.

I sat in on the RITA-nominees Shindig event on Thursday night and this post was brought up several times: Should we allow the historical genre to die?

Nathan Bransford on how publisher should empower their authors.

Writers breaking the “rules” of good writing.

This from the strange, but true. An man dies in Nigeria after being raped by his wives.

Charlaine Harris on killing off a series.

Another from the strange but true. A question about changing the sheets between lovers.

From Madeline:

Always looking for how to manage your time more productively? Me too! Here are 9 tips on managing your time from Colleen Trombley-VanHoogstraat posted on the Washington Romance Writers blog.

“It’s hard to explain or describe how a woman feels about her body—it’s either her friend or her enemy.” If you’re moved by this statement, maybe it’s time to call a truce.  Meanwhile, this fascinating account of post-baby plastic surgery is as soul searching as it is provocative.

How to write fast from the master of writing fast.

Kate Worth shared these links to the latest Harlequin fail– Part 1) Joe Conrath explains the backstory on the lawsuit. Part 2) The Judge Dismisses the Case. Part 3) Snarky commentary on The Harlequin Survey that followed. (You might read this if only for Bob Mayer’s response in the comments section.)

Alma Katzu’s edgy social media blog ENDPAPER NOTES is not for the faint of heart.  But her think tank expert’s take on cutting edge social media is where you’ll find the good stuff.

From Elizabeth:

Sure, Sunday’s Mother’s Day, but it’s also National Limerick Day! Celebrate by reading a brief history of the limerick.

At last, a definitive guide to buying and wearing a properly sized bra.

Beach time! Publishers’ Weekly is out with their list of best summer books for 2013. Stock up!

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Hoarding: The Secret Life Of A Book Addict

8 May

By Elizabeth Shore

In addition to reading romance – lots and lots of romance – I’m also a big fan of the horror genre. Not only Stephen King, whoseBuried in books work I’ve been reading since I was fourteen, but other horror writers as well including Clive Barker, Dan Simmons, and Dean Koontz to name just a few. In recent years I’ve also become a fan of Stephen King’s son, who writes under the name Joe Hill. His work is really good, and I await his new releases with nearly as much gusto as I do his father’s. So when Mr. Hills’ newest book, NOS4A2, came out recently, I dashed to the bookstore the very day it was released in order to scoop it up.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. It’s not like I’m robbing banks. But here’s the thing: my to-be-read pile is at least 75 books long. And I’m not talking electronic books (because that would push the total even higher), but honest-to-goodness printed books. Hardcovers. Softcovers. Bound books, ink on paper, taking up space on my limited bookshelf. To top it off, I  live in a small apartment where space is a premium. Yet what did I do in the face of a space crisis? I went out and bought yet another book. Even more: while I was at the bookstore, I inquired whether or not Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth was out in paperback yet. ‘Cause if it was, I was buying that, too. (thankfully, it’s not until July 2. I’ve got it marked on my calendar). So here I am, friendly readers, baring my soul. My name is Elizabeth Shore, and I’m a book addict.

My book addiction sprouted roots when I was a Tween, probably eleven or twelve. Back then, I used to get as birthday and/or Christmas presents a gift certificate to Waldenbooks. Oh, those were heady days! Having that gift certificate in my hand, walking into the bookstore and seeing all those new, fresh books just sitting there, on the shelves, awaiting my potential acquisition. I could barely contain myself. I was like Imelda Marcos in a Jimmy Choo store!

Books take me away, sweep me into a world of fantasy, romance, adventure, excitement. Naturally I love the stories in the books. What reader doesn’t? It’s the whole point, after all. But I also love the books themselves. I love how they feel when I’m holding them. I love running my palm across the cover of paperbacks and feeling the raised lettering. I admire the antiquated look of ragged edged hardcovers and note how handsome they look sitting atop my shelves. It’s an addiction, I tell you, and one that I’m thinking needs to stop.

Once I’ve read a book, I rarely read it again. There are a few treasures, of course. But for the most part, it’s one and done. I read it, enjoy it, and move on to the next, devouring each and every one of them like a starving cookie monster. I’m beginning to fret about the fact that I have no room for more books, as well as the amount of money I’m spending on them. Really, I need to be directing my hard-earned cash toward more practical things. Like food. I don’t actually need to own a single book. There are libraries, after all. I can read books for free and then return them and never have to worry about squeeeeezing yet another book upon my groaning shelves. But seriously, how boring is that? I don’t actually need nice handbags, either. A sack cloth would do the same trick. But how pale life would be stowing my stuff in a sack, just as it would be having shelves with no books.

Whenever I lament to my husband about being struck with buyer’s remose over buying books, his go-to response is always, “hey, at least you’re not snorting the money up your nose.” Well, no. I’m certainly not doing that. I am, however, supporting writers, and that’s assurance enough for me that if I’m going to have a vice, there are plenty worse ones than buying books. If only I lived in an airplane hangar.

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Friday Fun: Sexy Movies

3 May

by C. Margery Kempe

What are your favourite sexy films? What does it take to get you in the mood on movie night?

Okay , it’s noir, so you know not everyone’s going to come out of it well but oh my are the scenes between Turner and Hurt hot hot hot.

 

There’s not actually any sex in this film, but there’s such a sensuality built into the story, yum.

 

This romance isn’t to everyone’s taste, but those who love it, adore it.

 

And of course, my inspiration! Anaïs provides plenty of oohs here.

 

No sexy list would be complete without Joanne Harris’ lovely Chocolat. Mmmm!

What would you add to the list?

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Bad Reviews, Bad manners, and Netiquette

30 Apr

So we all get bad reviews from time to time. Sometimes it’s a good thing, we can learn from them, and it shows that people are actually reading our books. Not everybody is going to love our books. We know that, right? In fact, with my mystery writing, I sometimes like the rougher reviews because it shows that I’m pushing buttons. I like that.

What I’ve learned, though, is to consider the source when it comes to reviews. ANYBODY with a computer can write one, whether they know what they are talking about or not. So many of my reviews show that the reviewer has skipped over parts or wasn’t really reading the book—and ya gotta wonder about some of the reviewers who read like 20 books a week. Seriously. How careful of a reading can they be giving your work? It kind of pisses me off, even though I try not to spend to much energy on it. On the one hand, everybody is entitled to an opinion. On the other hand, if you are going to voice it, you should at least be thoughtful and respectful enough to give it a real reading.

Reviews aside, it seems that the digital world has provided a voice to some very ill-mannered sorts. But what ever happened to manners? Do we disregard manners because we can easily hide behind a pen name or user name? I wonder. Are manners really that difficult, even in the digital world? To me, it’s second nature to say thank you for sending me flowers or a gift as it is to say thanks for “retweeting” my tweet.

Maybe good manners don’t count anymore for some folks. But in my world, they do. Maybe folks are a bit confused about the world of digital manners. Here’s a list I came up with, not meant as an exhaustive list, but as a way to get the conversation rolling. Do you have anything to add?

  1. As mentioned previously, thank people on Twitter for retweets and any public interest they take in you or your books.
  2. Same thing for Facebook. (Even as I write this, I’m thinking “Do I really need to?”)
  3. When you are invited to post on a blog or to be an interview, if you decide it’s a good match and move forward with the post or interview, always help to publicize it and keep checking back through the day to see if there are comments you should reply to.
  4. Never respond to bad reviews. This is just not a “manner” thing it’s a professional thing. It never leads to a good place.
  5. If you belong to a group blog, always help publicize the other writers’ posts and book releases. The Lady Smut bloggers do this and we provide a united digital front for one another.
  6. Concerning emails. Even if you can’t respond to a lengthy email right away, it’s a good thing to dash off an email back saying. “Got your email and will get back with you as soon as I can.” (This is a pet peeve of mine with editors and agents, as well. Not only is it polite, but it’s safe and effective communication. We need to know they’ve gotten our emails and our submissions and so on and it’s not been caught in Spam.)

I found a few websites that off tips on netiquette. http://www.netmanners.com/

Here’s one specifically for Twitter use: http://heidicohen.com/twitter-etiquette/

And one for Facebook:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/169120/facebook_etiquette.html

How about you? Anything to add?

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Pros & Cons of a Pseudonym

26 Apr

PainTreasureby C. Margery Kempe

Did you know my name isn’t real? Okay, it’s real but not my given name. I write — at present — under three different names. The original Margery Kempe was a medieval mystic; she was a real rebel and forged an entirely new way of showing her faith, which annoyed a lot of people. The one sin she struggled with was sex. If she lived now, she wouldn’t have that struggle I suspect, but embrace her lust without shame.

I figure I’m channeling that alternative history of Marge.

I know a lot of folks take noms de plume for writing erotica and erotic romance because they’re afraid of the scrutiny of others, but I mostly took it on as branding. Under my given name I’ve struggled with finding an audience because every thing I publish seems to be different than what came before it. People who like one of my books don’t know if they’ll be interested in the next one.

I advise not doing that (>_<) but I can’t seem to help it — except with the pen names.

With C. Margery Kempe you know you’re getting the sexy. Sometimes with love, sometimes without, but always with the hot and steamy. With Kit Marlowe, on the other hand, you might be getting love and sometimes a little suggestive heat, but no sex. I’m considering a fourth name for my crime writing, largely to distinguish it from main identity and its elusive, eclectic nature, but also because the crime writing I do tends to be very dark noir. You may not be surprised to find that it’s a genre still largely perceived as ‘masculine’ despite the many female readers and writers.

But it’s harder to get reviews and word of mouth buzz because most men don’t like to be seen praising women; praising someone is seen as putting oneself in a subordinate position. Even interviews go badly for women writers in a different way than they do for male writers, who are more likely to be challenged on their expertise than asked about their shoes, weight or children. I’m really grateful to the crime-writing guys like Paul D. Brazill and Richard Godwin, who have always generously supported my writing. But I’m also frustrated that so much of the field seems so matey. I’m often made to feel as if I am intruding on conversations if I offer an opinion.

There are many aspects to consider. Sometimes it’s fun to have an argument between my selves on Facebook; it amuses me. Sometimes fellow writers are nonplussed because they don’t remember that I’m these different names (“It’s me, logged into my other account!”). And maybe I am splitting my audiences when I should be trying to join them together. I just don’t know. They’re not secret identities — I always make sure to be as transparent as possible — and they’re not sockpuppets, so I like to think of it as “my team” (does that sounds weird?). I will use saltier language as CMK than I generally will as Kate, mostly because my dad is on Facebook and I don’t want to give him a heart attack.

What do you think? Are pseuds useful? Do you want to keep a distance between your personas?

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Mature Lust

12 Apr

old-acquaintance-2by C. Margery Kempe

I had an unexpected moment of connection in teaching this week. In the medieval course, we were talking about the Wife of Bath and watching the BBC modernised version of the tale and prologue with Julie Walters. In the writers-on-film course, we were watching the Better Davis film, Old Acquaintance. Both deal with older women lusting after younger men. Walters’ embodiment of the bawdy wife is markedly different than the genteel lit’ry author Davis plays, but the tension around their desires is palpable.

Chaucer’s medieval icon has had five husbands, the last two considerably younger than she; in the adaptation, Walters plays her as a much married-soap star who falls for her decades younger co-star. Her fame only increases as the program’s audience seems to think she’s pulling off quite a feat, but her young lover’s star falls precipitously because people can’t imagine him falling for a much older woman.

Huh.

Davis’ film follows the friendship of two women, Davis’ Kit Marlowe (though my first inspiration for my other romance nom de plume was largely the Elizabethan playwright, it’s also for this film) and Miriam Hopkins’ Millie Drake. When Kit first makes a splash as a controversial literary author, the envious Millie decides to pen a novel, too. Of course she writes a romance — and then another and another and before you know it she’s rich and successful while Kit struggles with her follow up.

The wrinkle is that Millie’s neglected husband falls in love with Kit who spends more time with him and Millie’s daughter. Being a good friend, Kit won’t let anything happen, but she suffers. Millie makes her suffer more when her husband leaves, though she’s as oblivious to his love for her friend as she is to pretty much everything that is shiny stuff for herself. She’s so incredibly callous that she deserves the famous shake when Kit’s armour of self-sacrifice finally cracks a little.

 

This happens in the last half of the film where it’s clear Kit is “old” — she has s stripe of white hair to prove it! Her 10 year younger beau pines after her, trying to persuade her to marry him, but she find it too absurd to consider, although she wants to very much. Everyone agrees it’s absurd. When she decided to say yes anyway — well, you can guess things don’t go well.

I suppose I’m sensitive to the issue because I’ve mostly always been with younger men. I did have one boyfriend who was a week older. It didn’t work out. ;-) So am I being ridiculous?

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Hark! I Hear An Audiobook

10 Apr

Girl listeningA writer friend of mind recently had one of her print books made into an audiobook, and I went to the website for a sample listen. It was an . . . interesting experience, to say the least. Now, let me preface by saying that in general I’m not an audiobook listener. I like my books in text form, whether on the paper page or in an electronic reader, and I’ve listened to only a handful of audiobooks. Furthermore, the ones I’ve listened to have been mainstream fiction. For example, Ian McEwan’s Saturday, or Frederik Forsyth’s Icon, so I’m by no means a seasoned expert in this format. But I went to have a listen to my friend’s contemporary romance audiobook and came away from the experience somewhat turned off.

There was something, I don’t know, kinda icky about a non-emotional reading of a romance novel when the genre inherently contains so much strong emotion. The reader was just, you know, reading. She wasn’t acting or performing, she was reading aloud the words on a page. Perhaps the thinking is that the listener will want to put her own spin on the emotions of the text so if the reader does so it inhibits the listener. But I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t care for it at all. And on top of that, the reading of the sex scenes was just downright weird. Imagine in your head a robotic-like voice saying, “Come on, Mitch. Just f**k me. Yeah, baby. Just like that. Rub my pussy. Mmmm, it feel so good.” Did you put a robot voice in your head? Creepy, right? And it doesn’t exactly arouse desire which, after all, is a huge part of the fun from the sex scenes.

I decided to pursue the matter further by discussing it with others who regularly enjoy listening to audio books. What’s fun about them? I asked. What distinguishes a good audiobook from a bad one? Is it the story itself? A good story is a good story, after all, so ergo, a good audiobook? Not so, say those in the know. There were two main characteristics of a good audiobook – and this is with the assumption that the story is strong. So OK, you’ve got a good yarn on your hands. It doesn’t necessarily translate to a good audiobook. The two primary distinctions told to me are that the audiobook reader must be a good performer, and the production value needs to be high.

Taking the first point, about the performance, leads me to think that the romance audiobook clip I listened to made me feel squishy because the performance was as enthralling as watching paint dry. Or perhaps, in this case, listening to paint dry, meaning there was no performance whatsoever. The reader made the decision to be dry and unemotional. It may work for some, but for me it was a complete snooze with a dash of discomfort. If the hero is baring his soul and revealing his issues and declaring his love well, damn it, I want emotion.

About the production value . . . clarity is key, with perhaps a little music thrown in here and there for mood setting and to signify scene or POV changes.

In the end, I’m going to stick with the printed text, where I can be screaming in my head when the heroine’s screaming on the page, but I’d love to hear from others. What’s your take on audiobooks, specifically romance audiobooks. Are they a fun alternative from print, or do they just make you want to hit the off button?

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Anticipation

8 Apr

I’m in a state of anticipation.

Normally I would say I like anticipation –I adore anticipation.   When starting to read a novel, I am full of anticipation.  Will I like GONE GIRL as much as my friend did? Will the inside of the latest romance novel be as good as its provocative cover? Will it be full of hot, hot, sex–but sex that is deeply charged with strong emotional feeling? Or will it be full of other excellent surprises (I’m thinking Kristan Higgins here or Jennifer Cruisie) and have me sniffling or smiling when I least expect it?

Someone said “Anticipation is the electricity of childhood.” Yup. Like that idea. Especially since I made the decision the other day never to grow old and die. Anticipation is fab-u-lous, but I’m not thinking so much of childish anticipation.  No, I prefer the electric clack of amazing sexual chemistry kind of anticipation.

I AM dating myself, but when I think of anticipation—what I’m thinking of is Tim Curry’s 5 syllable 7 seconds worth of in The Rocky Horror Picture Show:

If you watch the whole song, or sing it to yourself in the shower on a daily basis like I do, you’ll see that there’s a world of potential in that one word.  An indescribable, soon-to-be frothy sexual something-something just around the corner.  Love it!

When I open up a romance novel I am also full of anticipation about how long it’s going to take us to get to that hot bedroom sex scene.  Do I get it right away (a la JR Ward’s first book DARK LOVER) or do I gotta wait, wait, wait, for a big sex scene about three-quarters of the way through?  And yes, a lot of romance writers plan exactly when in the novel knocking boots is gonna happen.  Make them laugh, make them cry, but make them wait is the mantra of all successful romance writers.  What I love about a great hawt sex scene right away is it tells me that I can anticipate an even better/hotter sex scene coming later. Right, all you erotic romance authors out there? ;>

There’s some famous singer from a ba-jillion years ago**** wondering about anticipation in her song and if she’s ”…just chasing after some finer day…” After deciding that James Taylor ISN’T going to put a ring on it (whoops! spoiler alert) she decides that even if Mr. You’re-So-Vain only gives her a booty call that “these are the good old days.”

Hmmm, grumble, grumble.  It’s very zen, living in the those good old days as they’re happening.  I must say I prefer living a tiny bit in the future.  Especially if today is a tad dull or full of stress. But it’s important to note her concern.  Anticipation can become a form of anxiety.  A form of anxiety that I’m probably suffering from now.  (Feeling shut down? Unable to work? You’re probably not depressed–you just have a book out with an editor.)

But this reminds me–in my early *cough* youth, I absolutely refused to be anticipation’s bitch.  During that rather brief interlude between puberty and meeting the Love Of My Life, I never put myself into a situation where I would be waiting for someone to call me.  No, I’d learned something from Ms. Dorothy Parker in tenth grade English.  Even the Love of My Life was told “I’ll give you a ring,”–the ‘if you’re lucky‘ part being implied.  It’s important to let excitement have it’s way with you, but not to stretch out uncertainty until it forms a gigantic monstrous shape that gobbles up all your happy sauce.

So here’s what I’m going to do to divert that electricity of happiness my way once again. Through stringent mind control and…a lot of office cleaning….I will distract myself from letting anticipation shut me down. I will start a new writing project and throw myself into it heart and soul.  With some attitude tweaks backed up by sheer force of personality I will trade my anticipation over what’s not in my control (the editor’s decision) into what is under my control (that first hot sex scene of my new novel.)   So ‘show me the way,’ Dr. F.

XO,

Madeline

****I refuse to date myself by referencing Carly Simon & ketchup.

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Romance with Discipline

5 Apr
Mask by Leonor Fini

Mask by Leonor Fini

by C. Margery Kempe

I gave a paper at the Popular Culture Association Conference last week called, “Knocking from Inside: Forging Strength through Pain in V for Vendetta and The Story of O” and it seemed to go over well in the BDSM/Kink area panel, despite the fact that I was the only panelist who turned up. (O_o) The title comes from a Rumi poem about struggling with your own constrictions:

I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I have been knocking from the inside!

But at a romance panel the next day I was disturbed to hear a lot of negative attitudes toward the erotic. One speaker described the arc of Fifty Shades‘ narrative as starting out as ‘BDSM’ and then ‘becoming romantic’ — as if it were not possible to have romance in anything but a vanilla relationship. I don’t know if the ignorance or the arrogance annoyed me more.

O’s voyage is one of self-discovery, but it’s also one that allows her to finally love without being dependent on her lover, as she is at the start of the book. When he sends her to the chateau in Roissy to undergo ‘training’ her only concern is pleasing him. She needs repeated assurances that he loves her, that he is pleased with her. But with all the floggings and bondage, she begins to transform and find a peace within herself:

And yet nothing has been such a comfort to her as the silence, unless it was the chains. The chains and the silence, which should have bound her deep within herself, which should have smothered her, strangled her, on the contrary freed her from herself. (38-9)

Pauline Réage [the pen name for Dominique Aury] herself seemed to find a powerful release from writing the book and discovering the truths which lay inside her heart, truths she had not heretofore acknowledged. Her essay “A Girl in Love” which is usually packaged with the otherwise lamentable follow up Return to the Chateau (which may have been penned by her lover and not Réage herself) demonstrates this power:

“The girl was writing the way you speak in the dark to the person you love when you’ve held back the words of love too long and they flow at last. For the first time in her life she was writing without hesitation, without stopping, rewriting or discarding, she was writing the way one breathes, the way one dreams.” (Return 7)

I have found this happening more and more in my writing as I stopped fearing what I could write or whether I could write and just wrote without censoring the thoughts that arose. Anything can exist on the page. It can also be edited or simply tucked away if it doesn’t fit into a coherent narrative. But the more we refuse to hold ourselves back, the more truthful our living. What exciting things can happen.

Even love. Are you still knocking from the inside?

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