My New Release!!!

Giselle’s Elf
By
Lynn Crain

Available NOW!
Book 4.5 in the Santa’s Elves Series

http://tinyurl.com/GisellesElf

Ronan swung her up into his arms, then strode through the penthouse toward her bedroom. “Only I get to see you as you are now.” He sat her on the edge of her king bed, pushed her down gently. His mouth took in her other nipple, tweaking the first before going even lower to continue its assault down her stomach while his hands sustained their exquisite torture of her breasts. He hovered over her crotch, breath hot as his rough bearded chin rubbed the soft skin right above her underwear. “I want this gone as well.” His thumbs hooked under the edge of lace.

She was surprised by his actions as his husky voice made her shiver. “Ronan, it’s been a long time. I’ve never…” her voice came in short gasps.

“You’ll like it.”

She placed her hands on his larger ones, stopped him and closed her eyes. “I’m—I’m sure I will. Give me a moment to take it all in.”

He stopped moving his hands on her body and looked up at her from his position on the floor. “You don’t want this?”

Giselle lifted the corners of her mouth. “No, that’s not it. I want to make sure you want this.”

He was still for a few moments, his breathing raspy. “I want this.”

His statement was solid, brooked no argument. He wanted her. And finally, she could yield to a searing desire that had been growing since he rescued her from harm on a night long ago. He was all she wanted, had ever wanted. Why was she just now seeing it?

Maybe because I’d never seen him before my rescue.

“Relax. This will be wonderful.”

She gave a low, hallow chuckle, trying to break the tension, thinking she would return the favor the first moment she got. For now, she was lost in sensation. She closed her eyes. He touched her most intimate places. His tongue circled her belly button, followed by tiny nip-kisses, going down further still to caress her hip. Then he pulled the lace away, exposing the tip of her shaved crotch.

“Smooth. Interesting. Do all human women do this?”

She was brought out of her sensual thoughts. “What?”

He looked up at her face, a wry smile on his. “Shave.”

She shook her head to get her bearings. “Sometimes. They did it in the hospital when they were afraid my hip bones were cracked and I’ve kept it up.” She shuddered then, trying hard not to think of that night.

“I’ll make you forget what happened to you.”

Ronan pulled her underwear down her legs and tossed them in the corner. Spreading her legs, his hot breath rained down on her crotch for a moment before he replaced it with his tongue. His tongue licked her first top to bottom, then his mouth suckled her labia, opening those lips with that same fiery tongue. His fingers ran smoothly over her clit, downward, then back up again, causing her to quiver in pleasure.

Hi Everyone!

Help me celebrate my new novel, Giselle’s Elf and get me on the best seller list for August. From now until August 31, purchase Giselle’s Elf and receive your choice of another book in Santa’s Elves series. Just present me with a proof of purchase to oddlynn3@gmail.com and I will personally send you the book of your choice with a personal thank you!

I know you’ll love this series as much as I love writing it! Enjoy Christmas in August!

And don’t forget my summer giveaway at the end of August. Just comment on this blog and be entered in the drawing which includes an iPod. Hope to see you here!

See you next week!

Lynn

Home Sweet Canada

This week I’m hailing you from the lovely British Columbia Vancouver area. This must be one of the greatest places on earth. It is green, it is cool and the beauty is spectacular. My DH told me it was a whopping 111 at my house today and it’s been at least 110 every day this week. I swear we’re absolutely certifiable for living in a place like that! LOL! Which is the biggest reason I’m here.

I’m visiting a girlfriend whose mother recently died. I had talked about it for years and always wanted to come up as I’d heard it was fantastic. When her mother passed this spring, I just knew I had to visit her then because it would probably be a while before I had another chance as next time I'll have to bring the DH. And it was the best gamble ever. We’ve been able to catch up on things and talk about many new ones as well.

One of our outings was to where the 2010 Olympics are being held, Whistler, which is north of Vancouver and the Squamish area where she lives. It has some astounding places and sites and this darn gondola I just couldn’t bring myself to get on. Yeah, I’m that afraid of being in a box suspended by wires high above the ground. Planes don’t bother me but this thing would have been devastating and taken a minimum of four rides to even be comfortable. A waste of a good $80 if you asked me. LOL!

After that, we went to lunch and sat at the pub having wonderful food and great company as we watched everything around us. As we sat there we talked about how we both liked to people watch. I told her that I would sit there and wonder how a couple ever got together, especially if they didn’t look like they belonged as well as sometimes taking it a little further and projecting them onto characters in my books. Or I’d see if I could make them characters in a book. LOL!

I was surprised to see she did much the same as I did when she watched people and the world go by. Now my final observation was people were basically the same the world over. She’s a little bit older than me and has traveled the world a lot more. She told me it used to be people were different but now they just all seem to blend together. While it’s great that everyone can blend so well together, I am a little dismayed there aren’t a lot of cultural differences any more. I mean what would we do without a sexy Scotsman? Or an endearing Indian? Sigh. I would not have any fun, that’s what would happen in my world.

Now, that brings me to this week’s question and thoughts. How do you as a reader like to see those cultural differences? Do you see the main characters as people who come together in spite of or because of those differences?

And authors, just how do you deal with those differences? Do they even matter to you as a writer?

I know I’ll never live without a Scotsman in my life! I can’t wait to see all your answers!

Keep cool until next week…

Lynn

My Own Private Idaho

Greetings from Idaho! Yeah, I know you’re all wondering just what I am doing here in this normally god-forsaken place but the truth of the matter is that my elderly father lives here. And believe it or not, I kinda like it here because the pace is less hectic than it seems to be at my own home. The picture is of the Snake River that runs through the middle of town...I love it because there's water...and it's green. LOL!

Here I can be lazy if I want. Write all day if I want. Read all day if I want. The best part being my Dad does pester me at all for any reason. At home, it could be anyone who jerks me out of my writing but more than likely it’s the seventeen year old who needs my attention. And while it really doesn’t bother me, being here does tell me exactly what a life of quiet would bring.

Now, that quiet is too much for my father who has aged tremendously in the past six months. But at 75 I guess I would have some new aches and pains. At least the man knows his limitations and lives within those as much as he can. Still, it won’t be long until he’ll need someone with him full time because he’s fallen a couple of times this past six months. Which is why I am determined to help as much as I can.

On to more fun things and away from the mundane things of life.

One of the things I mentioned above is I’ve been reading a lot. And I mean devouring books to the tune of about one a day. That is in between my writing spurts where I’m putting out about 8K a day as well. It all goes back to the quite factor. But yes, I’m a fast writer and reader. Sometimes that can be the bane of my existence because it means I also get bored quicker than most and want to move on to whatever is next on the agenda.

Now this also can be good and bad. For me, it means my writing is always fresh because I have multiple projects going. But it also means that when I’m reading a book, I don’t want the story to end. Sometimes the story doesn’t end but seems to just stop with more questions than it answered.

Such was the case with the books I just recently completed. I love Linnea Sinclair but had never, I know bad me, picked up all of her books. I had Games of Command in my TBR pile forever and finally picked it up last month and devoured it in a day. Wow. I needed more. So I went to pick up her RITA winner, Gabriel’s Ghost, and her current book, Hope’s Folly, to add to my shelves. Good god, the woman had me hot and bothered in no time at all.

So this week, since I’m on vacation, I decided to get the rest of her books, Shades of Dark, An Accidental Goddess and Down Home Zombie Blues. And when Shades of Dark was over I promptly wanted to throw it against the wall and have a tantrum.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the book was excellent BUT it left me hanging. What happens to Chaz and Sully? I mean really happens to them…not just where the book decided to end…but there is no way that it was all over just like that. No, she didn’t rush the climax and if I tell you, I’m sure to be shot, but it brings me to the real point of this week’s blog. Everything was the perfect ending to the story except one thing…I just felt it wasn’t the end of their story…I just knew there had to be more.

How many times have you said to yourself as a reader that the story didn’t or shouldn’t end when it did? How many times have you wanted more of those characters because you just knew there had to be more? How many times have you wanted to know what happened after the final page was crafted?

I know that for me, the answers to those questions can fill pages upon pages of rhetoric for certain stories. So, what I’d like to hear from you all this week is to tell me about a story you thought didn’t end on the last page. It will be interesting to see how many of you feel the same as I do about certain stories.

Hope to hear from you all…see you next week!

Lynn

Being in the Story

Oops! It’s blog day and I just almost forgot. And I never forget since I have a calendar that reminds me of everything. But this week, I’ve been so much into my story, More Than Robotics, I’ve actually been on a computer which has no internet access.

Why you may ask? Well, because I am like every person on the planet who can read right now. The internet is fun and distracting. I can start reading the news and read more and more and more until I realize that I’ve been reading for well over three hours.

So just recently, I decided to get an Aspire. You know…one of those little tiny machines…which has a hard drive, internet access and very little else. I decided the moment I opened the box that I loved this thing. It is small and can fit in my purse. But the most amazing aspect it that other than the software activation of my Word and Excel, it’s never been online. And I plan for it to remain that way as all it will ever be used for is writing and getting things to my editor.

Now, I already have two other computers…a huge graphics oriented desktop…and this graphics oriented laptop that I’m working on right now. Why in the heck did I need another computer? I didn’t in reality. But I do need convenience and the ability to stay away from the internet when necessary. This same machine I can just pick up and walk to another room or go outside in the early morning, have coffee and start typing away.

Which leads me to the crux of this blog today. This week I have checked my email less than ever, I’ve looked at the news only once and that was yesterday. Most of my time has been spent with my head stuck in a story. And for a writer, that’s exactly where it should be most of the time.

Now, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t come up for air. Every writer should but what it does mean that for the first time in a very long time I have been exclusively focused on my chosen profession. I have been so focused that I’ve been writing an average of 5000 words a day. And while that may not seem much to some people, that’s a book a week if the book is small. Basically, it means that I am almost writing to my potential which in itself is a miracle.

Not many writers live up to their potential because life or the internet can get in their way. Some spend years plotting or editing a story because they just want to get it perfect. So perfect in fact that they never get around to finishing it or ever having it ready to submit to an editor.

So this week, I’ve been a good little author and had my head where it should be in my own books. Which is wonderful when you think about it but I have allowed myself some lead way and actually read some books this week as well. My TBR pile had grown enormous over the years and I decided to start at the top. I was amazed at how many books I’ve discarded after the first chapter. It made me wonder why I picked them up at all because I found myself not liking the writing, the story or just generally going yuck and moving on.

But my real passion came back to me as I’m ready more and more sci-fiction based books than ever. I can highly recommend Close Encounters by Katherine Allred. It’s an amazing story about a women sent to another planet to save the people living there. Another one I just recently finished was Linnea Sinclair’s Games of Command. Yeah, it had been on the shelf that long. All I’ve got to say is OMG and wonder why I never picked it up before. Now those are the type of books I want to write. Sigh. I’m working on it.

And in that vein, here’s a bit of my next story in the Orchid Series. The series started with Fluke which was about a woman who couldn’t quite remember her past. It’s a story where she finds the strength to do the near impossible while planning for the future. In it I introduce two new concepts, and yeah, they are copyrighted, clonedroids and mindswiped both of which I use in this new story. Here’s a little bit of this new story, More Than Robotics, set for release October 1 from eXtasy books.

Remember, these are the unedited versions. And thanks for giving this story a look!

More Than Robotics

BLURB: (This is unedited.)

There were only three things in life that Commander BekkaTaylor wanted in life: 1) Command of a Warrior Class Star Marauder, 2) To grow old gracefully and 3) A lover who understood her fiery nature. She was accomplishing two out of her three objectives very nicely when an internal IUA conflict begins to encompasses the whole world as she knows it. Then Lieutenant Javed Malik comes aboard, clearly younger than she, with dreamy eyes and a secret meant only for her. But letting him in means getting rid of years of frustration, anguish and maybe her career as old secrets come to the surface. Can she survive another war or the smoldering looks from her junior officer sent to protect her 24/7?

TEASER EXCERPT: (This is unedited.)

“That’s all for now and it’s most of what I know. But we all share the same concerns as I’m sure you have. Javed has the specifics on our next contact. And please don’t get mad at me for the unconventional way I have instructed him to give those orders to you. It was necessary.”

I turned from the vidscreen to look at him suspiciously. “What is she talking about?”

In less than the blink of an eye, he was again by my side, pulling me up from my chair, his hands taking my face to gaze in my eyes. “Don’t struggle,” he whispered close to my ear. “I think we have prying eyes.” His lips came down fiercely on mine, his tongue snaking in to dominate me and I wanted to do the very thing he asked that I not do. Instead I tried to let myself enjoy the moment as it had been quite some time since I had had this type of human contact.

My hands gripped his waist and pulled him even closer to me. I could feel his legs press harder into me as his arms went completely around me. Within moments, I could feel the hard bulge of his body and mine responded in kind. There was nothing more I wanted to do except rip his clothes off that luscious male form.

He pulled away from me and shuddered, resting his forehead against mine. “We should really stop right now.” His brown eyes looked deep into mine and I nearly passed out as his next words flashed across my consciousness. You are an amazing woman and rest assured, we will finish this.

The last bit had exploded across my brain and I raised a shaky hand to rub my forehead. It was as if he were right inside me, whispering his thoughts.

Don’t fight it. Let it happen. The clonedroids helped us to perfect one of their technologies for our use. This is the major way they communicate between each other. You are now the proud owner of some audiobotic nanotechnology. They attach to your nerves for hearing and other pertainent areas of your brain associated with the function. From now on, we’ll be able to communication this way as we are attuned only to each other. No one else is on this frequency.

I glanced quickly toward the camera I knew Trevor had poised on us. You realize that Trevor was the only one spying on us, don’t you?

A slow lazy smile crossed his face and he gently caressed my cheek. That’s what you think. The other ability that we’ve been given is you will actually sense when someone is a clonedroid. It’s an ability they have as well as they can immediately tell who is clonedroid or who is human. Fallon 2 has been so helpful in our development of these abilities.

I swallowed hard. It would be hard but I knew what I had to do. “Just what do you think you were doing?”

A brief look of surprise crossed his face. Bravo! Well done. Fallon said that you’d be quick to adapt. And because you adapted so quickly, I know you haven’t been brainwashed. Those who have been have some difficulty when trying to access certain aspects of their brain which are necessary when using this technology.

Thanks again…and see you next week!

Lynn

A New Day

This week I had really wanted to continue with my sizzle workshop but time crept up on me and suddenly it was Wednesday. Most of the time I am aware of the days but this week I am still recovering from being ill and my mind is like a sieve in all areas but one.

I have one bit of exciting news to impart on everyone. A science fiction erotic romance series, which I had mislabeled as an urban fantasy for Nocturne Bites, has found a home with Loose Id. I signed the five book contract this week and sent all the paperwork back to them. One of the items I had promised was lots of promotion so I might as well start here.

This series called the Protectors of the Earth is about a group of people who were brought to this planet specifically to protect us from coming events. These people are elementals but the reason they are elemental is new and different. When I pitched the idea I said it was like X-men meets Stargate Atlantis. Actually, I said Underworld meets Stargate Atlantis but that’s when I thought it was Urban Fantasy. In reality, I think it is more like Battlestar Galactica meets X-men meets Stargate Atlantis as there are similar elements throughout. This series is dark and edgy with lots of action and elements that are out of this world.

Regardless of what I think it is, at the time when I was trying to define its nature, C.R. and I started a search on Urban Fantasy versus Science Fiction and everything in between. My characters are elemental, which is Urban Fantasy or even paranormal, but not because they have any special powers but because they were engineered that way to protect Earth. Just how they were engineered is revealed in the first part of book 1, Of Earth and Fire. And as we all know, anything engineered is strictly sci-fi, hence no Urban Fantasy. Sigh. I really thought I had something there. LOL!

Originally this was a series of seven books which were repackaged into just five. The first two books, Avenging Aingeal and Playing With Fyre, were combined into one book called Of Earth and Fire as were six out of the seven. I’m still working on the transitions because my original idea was to have a parallel story which takes place in the universe from where they come as the transition story. A much wiser person than me told me no as it needed to be in the final book as that one would be filled with stories about how they actually got here and why.

If you think this sounds confusing to you, imagine how it was to first put together. This, like all my big series, had a lot of time and effort put into it just for the planning. So far, I’ve spent 2 months planning and another 5 months writing off and on the stories in order. This is another first for me. I usually do what the characters dictate but this time, the plot is dictating a lot of what I’m doing. Everything has to be smooth and keep you as the reader on the edge of your seat. Which means I have to write them in order as they come no matter what.

I hope you all will be interested in reading these stores. Sci-fi and fantasy are my first loves and most of my writer friends will say this is where I excel. The moment I have the contracts in my hands, I will be start to follow my progress on the blog, http://www.lc-protectorsoftheearth.blogspot.com/ and you should all go to check it out now. It has some cool graphics on it by Vexiphne who I found accidentally on Renderosity. Grab the button if you want and put it where others can see. The blog design is by Vanessa from Paperback Designs and she incorporated everything I needed and wanted.

For now, I hope that you will read the character sketches and interviews as well as excerpts from the coming series.

Until next week…

Lynn

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #5

This week we’re talking about the details that every love scene needs to have to be great. All the senses need to be put into play as well as having a good setting. This is where we start putting it all together. Enjoy!

Details are everything.

If a character is fantasying about a certain body part, can you imagine what happens when they actually get that body part? Let your imagination run wild! If your heroine is fantasizing about touch the hero on the penis, make sure that you record every detail: the texture of his skin, the temperature of the room, is his hot or cold, or is he warm and inviting. There is nothing more exciting than when the characters are exploring each other for the first time. Here’s an example from my short story, Shopping Spree, and this is when she first touches him:

He didn’t have to wait long for ‘this’ as she crossed the short distance between them, the silk fluttering from the movement as she pushed them out of the dressing room.

“I saw you when I came in and decided that I just had to have you. But a girl has certain criteria, you know?” Running her hands up his chest, she reached his neck and pulled him forward.

“Really? Hey,” Jonas started to protest but was drowned out by her lips. She ran her tongue along his mouth and nipped at his lips before covering them with her own. Her tongue snaked out and began to war with his in a dance as ancient as time.

“You taste good,” she murmured, looking up at him. Pulling him to her yet again, her limber tongue caressed the inside of his mouth making him wonder what it would feel like on his cock. Reaching down, she ran her fingers along his bulge, grabbing him and pressing into him, making him yearn for so much more.

“You feel good down there too,” she said and pushed against him even more, making an already strained situation even more painful.

If he weren’t careful, he would lose his load before he even began.

“Ah, you might want to slow it down a little…I don’t even…” He groaned as she pulled his shirt from his pants and snaked her hands up his bare chest to tweak his nipples. God, this feels so good! he thought as he arched into her hands, allowing them to continue their play.

Leisurely, as if it were an erotic dance, she began to unbutton his shirt, placing light kisses along the way. At his nipples, she stopped and sucked until they were hot, tight peaks before continuing on down his body. Laving his belly button, she got on her knees and looked up at him, going even further, gently biting the front of his crotch.

And now, he first touches her:

Lying on his side next to her, he gasped as she continued to deep throat as much of him as she could. Realizing he wasn’t yet fulfilling his end of the bargain, Jonas urged her knee up and ran his fingers over her slick slit, looking at her very pink and pretty cunt. Gently, he spread her lower lips and gazed at the small nub he found there. Holding her apart, he leaned over and laved her top to bottom, careful to avoid her clit.

“Dammit…I want to be touched…there,” she whispered, and wiggled her crotch in his face. “I know you know where there is.”

“All’s fair in love and …teasing,” he answered, smiling against her, certain she could feel the movement.

“Arghhhh…not fair.”

Once again, he licked her and avoided the area of her hottest desire, making her moan loudly. Sliding two fingers in her, he took his thumb and firmly pressed against her clit in order to make her pleasure even more profound. Slowly, he began flicking his tongue over her pussy, paying special attention to her hard nub. Soon, she was bucking against his probing tongue as he moved it in and out of her.

“Deeper. Harder.”

“I’ve got just the thing.” He rose in one fluid motion and pulled her with him not even noticing he still had his clothes half on and half off.

“Hey…” she began. “I didn’t say to stop.”

“Don’t worry. It will be worth it.” He moved her to the bench next to the wall. “Sit down and scoot your ass to the edge.”

“Well…what about you?” she asked, confusion plainly written on her face.

“Right now, baby, it’s all about you. It’ll be about me soon enough.”

He could see her swallow hard as if contemplating whether this was exactly what she wanted or not. Suddenly, the control was in his hands and not hers.

“Sure…but if I don’t like it…I’ll tell you.”

“You’ll like it alright.” He smiled at her and forced her backside down on the bench. “Let’s turn up the heat a few notches.”

Notice that I give you a lot of detail. I give you every lick, nip and breath taken while these two are on their sexual journey. I use all the senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and tasting when doing a love scene. No detail is to be left untouched. If you want to see the whole story, just email me privately at lynncrain@cox.net and I will send you a free copy of this story because you’re attending this workshop.

Here are just some of the details that you shouldn’t forget.
1. Know the temperature of their skin – hot, cold, clammy or warm and inviting.
2. Know how the characters should look when making love – pink cheeks, rosy lips, closed eyes, opened eyes.
3. Know the texture of their skin – rough, smooth, slick
4. Know if their eyes darken when sexually aroused
5. Know how their breathing is effected when making love – do they seem as if they’ve run a marathon
6. Know the details of where they are making love – is it inside or outside, in the shower or in the bed

One big thing to avoid in any love scene is what is known as wandering body parts. Now these are easy to spot: her eyes fell out of their head, her legs jumped for joy, his mouth fell to the floor. If her eyes fell out of her head, how could they see that his eyes were blue? If her legs jumped for joy, what was happening to the rest of her body? If his mouth fell to the floor, how could he kiss her? Body parts need to stay in the correct positions at all times.

Exercise

1. Take three of the five senses and write a sentence using that sense.
2. Show me the room where your characters will make love for the first time.
3. Write me a love scene from her point of view. Now reverse it and make it from his.

Remember, you can post your exercise here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. Please leave me a comment so I know you’ve been here to visit. And have fun!

Until next week…

Lynn

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #4

One cannot write a good story without some good research or some first hand knowledge. This week we go over some books that a writer needs in their bookshelf for writing great love scenes.

Get some good research material.

It is always important for a writer to know where to get good research material. And the best place to start doing your research today would be the internet. It is an invaluable resource that you can use from the privacy of your own home. I can tell you that I would have been mortified at first when I started doing research for erotic romance. But being able to look for books on line was a different matter.

The first thing to do is to know what you are trying to research. Once you have honed in on a subject the next thing would be to compile a list of websites and from those websites a list of books.

Good research books are invaluable.

There are certain books that a writer must always keep on hand. Find yourself a good English rule book. I personally use Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference. She also has an electronic version. She continually updates the book and makes it better each time it comes out. I have a very old version.

Another book to have is The Chicago Manual of Style. While this many be more geared toward the college student, one can always find something of interest in this books. What the first book doesn’t have, this one will.

If you are writing for a specific genre, there will be a ton of genre related books on the subject. Writer’s Digest books have some of the best known genre books out there and their Writer’s Basic Bookshelf is a must for any beginner.

Another two books I have on my shelves are The Romance Writer’s Phrase Book and The Millennium Phase Book. These books are great when you are stuck and can’t think of a term you need. They also help when you need a little push in the right direction but just can’t put the words together.

Now for writing love scenes, there are some very special books to look for which will help add steam to your scenes. One would such book is the Sexicon. It is the end all book on sexual terms. It has everything you’ve ever thought of and many of those things you haven’t.

For writing tamer scenes, The Idiot’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Published and Writing Romance are the best two I’ve read in recent years. I don’t know if any of you have ever purchased the Idiot books and I have to admit at first I was reluctant, after all who wants to be viewed as an idiot? BUT I found some new information in there and was really surprised when I got this book.

Now one thing I think important on any sensuality level are picture books. The three books I have on my desk, and yes they are in plain sight, are the Kama Sutra, Ultimate Sex and The Better Sex Guide. These will help you visualize if a position is even possible and they will help overcome any fear you have about writing physical contact scenes. First, I didn’t know that there is a name for every sexual position and I’ll bet you didn’t either. The rest of the world does not view sex the same way we do in America. Part of what we have to do is to get over any of our inhibitions regarding the sexual act. These books will help you do that because these are not porn books but are books where the sex act is brought to life in a positive, loving way. If an author feels that sex is dirty, it will show in their writing. Sex always, no matter at what level, needs to be portrayed in a positive manner.

All these books are easily found on Amazon by just typing the name in their search engine.

Exercise

1. Pick a research topic and give five website references concerning that topic.
2. Give me a list of ten research books. Pick five and tell me why they would be good research books in your opinion.

You can post your exercise here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. Please leave me a comment so I know you’ve been here to visit. And have fun!

Until next week…

Lynn

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #3

Hi everyone! I sure do hope you’re enjoying this free workshop on adding steam to your love scenes. Last week we talked about using your own experiences and how you can weave what you’ve done into your stories.

This week, we’re adding another layer on what we’ve already gone over. And yes, I'm adding another sexy picture to get us started.

Remember, this workshop is not only about writing technique but what you as a writer can do to make the experience as pleasant for you as you are making it for your characters.

Add love scenes when the characters want to make love, not when you want them to make love.

This is one of the hardest things that an author has to do and that’s called pacing. Again, I relate it back to your own experiences. What happened when you rushed something? Did it work out well? Chances are it didn’t. It’s like rushing a cake; if you take it out too soon, it’s not done, too late and it can be burnt to a crisp.

Everything has a pace, be it fast or slow. When you truly listen to your characters, they will tell you when they need to make love and when they need to argue. Part of adding steam is to know when things are right for the characters, not when a ‘formula’ tells you a love or sex scene needs to be added.

I’m a pantser and all of my stories are character driven.

Some of you may have heard of this term and some of you may not. When I started my writing career, I was anal about planning. I had charts on characters, charts on plots, I played the ‘what if’ game and twenty questions for each of my chapters. I would plan every detail to the nth degree because I wanted things as perfect as I could make them.

Now days, I write by the seat of my pants most of the time because I work things out in my head and follow that plan but not so stringently because I’ve learned to listen to my characters. I know more about them sometimes than I do my own kids. I write what the characters want me to write, which is their story. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is true, however, that there are some stories I still plan to the nth degree and those would be my heavy fantasy or futuristic stories. Those are just as much about the world building as they are about the characters or the plot for that matter. If you don’t plan those, you can get caught in your own plot pitfalls because you haven’t done your planning.

What is right for the characters needs to be right for you as the writer.

There are times when your characters might ask you to write something controversial or not right for you to write. I know it sounds strange but if your characters need to do something that you find objectionable, then maybe their story needs to be written by some one else.

Now this isn’t the same as you being embarrassed over a love scene or something of that nature. When first learning to write love scenes, they can be very disconcerting if you’ve never done that before. I know that the very first time I wrote a BDSM scene, I would get up, walk away from the computer and mutter, ‘I can’t believe I just wrote that’ and mean it. It wasn’t until I had been writing the story for a month that I felt comfortable with it.

Part of the reason that I could continue to write their story was that I didn’t feel bad about writing something done in an adult consensual situation. Adults can and do make their own decisions. My characters were adults. They had adult minds and adult thoughts. They could handle what was going to happen to them. True, you say they were just characters but to me they weren’t and it’s all about perspective.

Listen to your characters as they will tell you what they need.

This is just as important as any other issue talked about here. Characters will tell you what is important to them. In the story I mentioned above, the heroine needed to have a deep, dark fantasy fulfilled to fall in love with the one man she could. I gave her that situation and what happened in it was fulfilling for her.

Your characters need to be as satisfied with the outcome of your story as you are. Sometimes it won’t be a happily ever after but it will always be satisfying.

Exercise

1. Give me a scenario where a love scene would be appropriate for your characters.
2. Give me a scenario where a love scene would be inappropriate for your characters.
3. What type of writer do you want to be and why? (Pantser or planner)
4. Why do you think it’s appropriate to listen to your characters?
5. When wouldn’t it be appropriate to listen to your characters?

You can post the exercise here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. Please leave me a comment so I know you’ve been to visit. And have fun!

Until next week…

Lynn

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #1

Last week I told you all that I would be presenting the free online workshop, Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes. Here is the first lesson. There is an exercise at the end of the lesson which I would love you all to do. You can post it here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. At the very least, please leave a comment so I know you’ve been here!

Set the mood for both you and your characters

So what do I really mean by setting the mood, you might ask. Most of you do this without even thinking about it. Remember when you took that long bath putting bath salts in the water and lit the candles around the tub to create that ultimate experience? Yeah, I know you do. You wanted something relaxing and at the same time exhilarating. Remember that first date with your loved one? How about that first dinner? Or first night?

No matter what you’re doing you need to set the stage in order to get ‘into the mood’ for writing, especially writing love scenes. There is nothing worse than trying to write a witty, sexy tryst when you can’t get out of the doldrums.

Here are some sure fire ways to get yourself in the mood for writing great love scenes.

1. Read books the day before in the genre for which you’re writing.

Now I realize that this may sound hokey BUT there is nothing more stimulating than reading something that gets the creative juices flowing. Pick up that latest book by your favorite author. Or even get something new and different by some one you haven’t read before. Make sure that whatever you pick up, it is in the genre you are writing at the moment. There is nothing more frustrating than to be writing a romance when that erotic love scene is rolling around in your head.

Some of my favorite authors are Morgan Hawke, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Debbie Macomber, Emilie Richards, Nora Roberts, Melissa Schroeder, Joy Nash, Jennifer Ashley and Nikki Rivers to name a few. All of those people write very different things so it would depend on what I am writing the next day just what I’d be reading.

One other thing, do your best to turn off your internal editor. You know that one where you pick apart the book you are reading. This is for enjoyment and if you find yourself editing or being critical of the book you’re reading, find another book.

2. Watch a romantic movie.

For me, I just love watching a romantic movie. And it doesn’t matter when it is as the day before you write, the day you write or even the day after you write will work. It can be an old classic like An Affair to Remember or a new classic like While You Were Sleeping or Notting Hill and it can even be a brand new movie like Sweet Home Alabama. It can even be an autobiography like I Walk The Line. There’s just something wicked about Johnny Cash when you see him as a young man. But the point is, to lose your self in the romance and the story. It’s easy to write about something when you’re feeling the same emotions.

Oh…almost forgot one for those erotic romance writers…there’s nothing so sexy as the stair scene in The Thomas Crowne Affair. It burned up the screen.

3. Listen to music while you write that all important scene.

It has been said by many, many people, and proven too, that music can set the mood. Every wonder why the Scottish took their bagpipes into battle with them? It’s because just the sound of the pipes could work the men up into a frenzy and I mean frenzy. My husband is Scottish and when we went to Scotland, we stopped to hear the pipes any time we could. When we saw the lone piper at Castle Eileen Donan, we felt lonely, when we saw the bagpipe brigade practice for the Edinburgh Tattoo, we felt invigorated. There is nothing like a good song to put someone in the mood for anything. Think about how music is used to set the scene in a movie. You know exactly what is happening just from the music. Think Jaws, think Somewhere in Time and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

I always listen to music when I’m writing and I am definitely more productive. If you go to my MySpace, you will find a band called the All American Rejects belting out their latest hit. I saw this music in a Battlestar Galactica announcement and traced it down because I loved the sound so much not to mention the really sexy scenes depicted in the commercial. My daughter in law was so surprised that I like this band she called my son right away and told him. I love music. Any music.

My kids gave me an IPOD for Christmas last year and to be honest, I listen to it a lot but while I’m at my computer, I just turn on Itunes. I frequently spend an hour or so downloading music because I never know just what I’ll find interesting some days.

For me, a day without music is like a day without sunshine.

4. Look at phrase books.

Again, this may seem a little strange but when you are stuck in a scene and nothing seems to work, pick up a phrase book and see if it can jolt you into thinking up something on your own. The two that I use are ‘The Romance Writer’s Phrase Book’ compiled by Jean Kent I believe. This is a really, really old book. It’s from 1984 and I have two copies which are both falling apart. The ISBN 10 is 0399510028 and the ISBN 13 is 978-0399510021. It’s available from Amazon.

A new but similar book, The Millennium Phrase Book by Rebecca Andrews, is done very well.
The author has updated many things and has taken into account the change in the market. This book is published by Highland Press and the ISBN 13 is 978-0-9787139-5-9.

Sometimes, I will just look at either of these books and get lost in the phrases as I roll them around in my mind to see if they will fit the story I’m working on at the moment. And since they are phrase books, you can copy things word for word if you’d like. Me, I just get the general idea and put it into my own words.

5. Look at sexy pictures.

I’m sure that many of you are thinking by this time that I have truly lost my mind. But humans are sense oriented creatures. We have to be able to touch, taste, hear, smell and see something for it to mean anything to us. Most of us tend to be very visual creatures in this day and age with everything being in our face. Why do you think that kids are so zoned into the computer games? A lot of times our visual perceptions supersede any of our other senses. Think of the car accidents because someone is not paying attention to what they are doing. Most of those people are looking the other way because had they really been looking at what they should have been looking at, the accident or incident probably wouldn’t have happened.

Last week when I was uploading something to offsite storage, I couldn’t figure out why the link would not work correctly. I worked with it over an hour before I sent it off to a colleague who immediately fired back, ‘Why is there a CW at the end of the filename?’ I had looked at that name for over an hour and had never noticed the extra letters. Talk about a ‘Duh’ moment. Our eyes tend to see what they want to see and sometimes what they see really isn’t what is there.

So just what do I mean by looking at sexy pictures, you might ask. Well, you can get some reference books like I have, The Better Sex Guide, The Kama Sutra, and Ultimate Sex to see the really erotic sexual positions as well as some great description. These books visually show us just how sexy and erotic sex can be. Now for the tamer side, I look on photo sites like www.istockphoto.com or www.canstockphoto.com. These places have some of the sexiest pictures you will ever see. Some people are fully clothed and others aren’t but you don’t see a thing because most things are rated PG on these sites. Matter of fact, one whole lesson will be on less is more because you don’t have to see everything to know it’s sexy.

Exercise

1. Give me a list of your five favorite authors and tell me why you like to read their books.
2. Give me your five top picks for most romantic movie. Again, give me a little insight as to why you think this movie is great.
3. What is your favorite music and why. Do you listen to any of the current bands? Why or why not?
4. Do you think phrase books would be useful? Why or why not?
5. Do you think as a writer you would find looking at pictures useful to writing a novel?

Hope you all enjoyed this first lesson in the workshop.

Until next week...

Lynn

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Free Workshop

I have been asked recently by more and more people just how I add steam to my many love scenes. In the course of a few years, I have put together what works for me. I’m hoping to share those ideas with you all over the next few weeks in this free workshop. So please, pass the word around to all your friends. We’ll have fun!

Here’s what we’ll be covering with each week building on the previous one:

Set the mood for both you and your characters.
- Read books the day before in the genre for which your writing.
- Listen to music while you write that all important scene.
- Look at phrase books.
- Look at sexy pictures.

Use your own experiences
- I don’t mean literally…you all remember that blush first being in love…use it.
- Most women remember their ‘first time,’ so use it.
- Most women remember the first ‘real’ date they were on, so use it.

Add love scenes when the characters want to make love, not when you want them to make love.
- I’m a pantser and all of my stories are character driven.
- What is right for the characters needs to be right for you as the writer.
- Listen to your characters as they will tell you what they need.

Get some good research material.
- Good research books are invaluable.
- For erotic, books like the Kama Sutra are a must.

Details are everything.
- If a character is fantasying about a certain body part, can you imagine what happens when they actually get that body part?
- Know the temperature of their skin – hot, cold, clammy or warm and inviting.
- Know how the characters should look when making love – pink cheeks, rosy lips, closed eyes, opened eyes.
- No wandering body parts.

Don’t ever write sex to fill up pages.
- Sex needs to happen when it needs to happen and not before.
- Readers can tell when a writer has had to ‘force’ a love scene.

Remember that as a an erotic romance writer you are writing hot, sizzling love scenes and not just sex. Same goes for sensual romance.

Sometimes less is more.

Make each love scene emotional.
- At least one of the two characters has to have some sort of emotional attachment to the reason they are having sex.
- It’s not always who you think it should be and it doesn’t need to be revealed right away.

Take note of the anatomical details.
- Characters have to be anatomically compatible.
- Huge men will never fit into a small, child-like woman. Not happening.
- Know what is and isn’t humanly possible.

I hope to see you all next week when we begin setting the mood!

Until then…

Lynn

Happy Valentines Day

I was a very bad girl. Yesterday was Valentines Day and I didn’t get my husband a card. I know, how shocking since I’m a romance author. I just got so caught up in everyday life I forgot. So I hope you will all indulge me as I make it up here.

Ken,

When we first got married over sixteen years ago, I had no idea that I would only grow to love you more and more with each passing day. I know you have no idea how important you are to me because I too often neglect to tell you. The last thing I want is for you to think that I don’t notice all the things you do not just for me, but for our family.

I see when you take time out of you busy schedule to take our daughter to the play park because she got 100% on her spelling test. I notice all those long talks you have with our teen son as he struggles to find himself and become a man. I cherish all the little things you do for me, such as making a fresh pot of coffee when I’m working under a deadline and am in desperate need of caffeine.

You do all these things and you never expect a thanks. That’s because you are such a giver you don’t even think twice about your generosity. You just do it because that’s who you are. A co-worker once told me I was spoiled by you and he was right. You do spoil me and the kids.

In order to make sure we could keep up with dance lessons and ski expenses, you work two sometimes three jobs and you never utter a word of complaint. You have gone without new shoes just so the kids could get the latest video games, without new clothes so they could have toys and without takeout so they could have a new DVD. You are not only my hero, but the kid’s too.

I could never live without you. You are my strength when I am weak. My joy when I am sad. My anchor when I’m adrift.

Even though I sometimes complain when you leave the toilet seat up or don’t do the dishes, don’t think for a second I would ever trade you in. You are better than any hero I can write in one my romance books and I will always love you.

-Stephani