Mystery buffs enjoy the puzzle—the who done it, how it was done
and maybe why it was done and the tension as the suspense escalates. The plot
seems to be more important overall. With romance, it’s more about the interior
life (even with the more erotic romances—to be effective it must be about the
story more than just be titillating)—which is why mostly women read romance. We
are always trying to understand feelings, relationships and men. That
insatiable part of us that drives men crazy. Reading romance is an outlet for
women to feel that romance that is not always possible in real life and gives
insight. (Men read and write romance as well, so this is just a general
statement, but many more women buy romance novels)
With men, it is simply—go out, hit the animal over the head,
bring back the meat, done. But women’s minds are constantly searching for
meaning and how things work and how can we improve things—sometimes ad nauseam.
So, the next two new books I’m working on are romance. One is
the Japanese Heian era love story of the past life of Tessa and Jack from Dance
the Dream Awake (who did not get together in that book) and is tentatively
entitled, Haiku Dance (or My Miyoshi). After that, Tessa and Jack will finally
get together in a present day explosive erotic romance that hits the ground
running, presently untitled.
As a result of getting into romance, I immersed myself into learning
about the push—pull of female/male energy at work in love relationships and how
to best relay that in words. In a previous post, I had posted a picture of a
tango I love to watch (repeatedly), and one of my internet friends and fellow blogger, Sherry Isaac,
commented, “Is there any dance more passionate, embodying the love/hate
intricacies of a love affair? I think not.”
Right on.
As you watch the tango, the dance of seduction, think about
the elements that go into it. The tease begins as the woman touches him. His
reaction builds in intensity—the way he looks at her, runs his hand along her arm, leads her
body in the dance. The fire in their blood is exhibited in the many ways they react
to each other. Love can be tame and sweet or firey and out of control—or any of
the stages in between, as exhibited:
-by the feelings of desire on her face
-the looking away, to go inside to feel the passion increase,
at times fighting it
-the footwork; the push and pull, twists and turns of
male/female energy playing out the desire, lust, jealousy, hate and anger.
All very erotic stuff and easier to watch than to write about
effectively. In the romance genre, you are writing about the passion of life and
must build the tension through all the different ways that love can play itself
out. So now watch the tango with new music than the link on my Pinterest page (because my critique partners don't like that music as well) and enjoy
while I go back to work on Haiku Dance.
*
By the way, how do you like my new blog look? It was overdue for an overhaul.
6 comments:
First of all, I absolutely LOVE the look of your blog. I didn't see it before, but was impressed with it the very minute it opened, thinking, "What a great look!" I agree that there is no more passionate dance than the tango. I am presently rewriting a book that has both romance and mystery in it and men and women are absolutely wired differently when it comes to romance...or anything else, for that matter. Good job!
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, men are certainly wired differently and we keep trying to figure them out.
Ah, Cora. I always say it's easier to kill people than to love them on paper and keep things interesting. A tangled tango indeed.
JoAnne Lucas
And you kill people so well, but love scenes - well miniscule.
The love scenes may be small, non-graphic, but the whole story is a love scene.
J.
Point taken.
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