By Laura
Baumbach (Guest Blogger)
There have been a
whole slew of good articles about how to write characterizations
strong enough to produce three dimensional, intriguing heroes, where
to get story ideas, how to or whether to include social issues in a
story, and how to develop solid plots, just to name a few of the
insightful posts from some of the best authors in the genre.
Now let's talk
frankly about the entire subject of writing m/m erotic romance.
We'll take it a descriptive segment at a time.
M/M means
male/male, gay, same gender, whatever label you need to slap on it to
make your writing meaningful to you. Ultimately it means two men.
Romance means
an emotional development of a relationship between (traditionally)
two people where love and happiness is achieved.
And slipped between
those two revealing words is another one some writers downplay –
erotic. Webster dictionary defines erotic as:
devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire.
It can't be any
plainer than that. Devoted to arousing sexual desire. That's
what your work should reflect. If it doesn't you aren't writing in
this genre.
If you are
intending to write and market your work as m/m erotic romance you
must include sexual scenes that depict sexual desire, scenes that
arouse the reader on some level. The lovemaking component must
develop the characters or move the story along. It can't be just
throw in for the sake of adding sex or padding your word count. It
must mesh with the storyline, be true to the characters and be an
integral part of your overall plan. If your work doesn't include this
critical element it isn't m/m erotic romance so don't expect an
erotic romance publisher to be interested in your manuscript. Submit
to publishers that looking for gay fiction or traditional romance.
Writing sex scenes,
whether they are sweet or scorching, can be difficult for some
authors, and not just new authors. I know a couple of seasoned
writers who balk when it comes time to flesh out a physical scene.
Whether it is a few paragraphs long or a chapter (like I tend to
write), a gentle glossing over or a detailed, explicit, highly
emotional, marathon lovemaking event (again the way I like to
write them) authors have to develop a comfort zone with writing sex.
If you don't know how something feels or how a man's body reacts
during sexual arousal and lovemaking, it will show in your writing.
There are times when nothing trumps life experiences, in my opinion.
If you are female writing for the m/m erotic romance genre you should
never feel that you aren't equipped, as in skilled, to do the job.
I hear the
naysayers in the background asking what does a woman know about
writing sex between two men? Where is her 'life experience' in that
respect? I'll tell you. Straight women spend their whole lives dating
men, developing friendships and intimacy with them, flirting,
fighting, wedding, loving, bedding and caring for men. We discover
how to please them in bed and outside of it. If we're lucky, we spend
a lifetime partnered with a man, facing life and challenges along the
way. There are prejudices and problems to cover come, maybe even
discrimination and family rejection because of our choices. We are
as qualified to write about being in love with a man as we are to
write about a female slave in love with a plantation owner of a
century past or a mythical Goddess in love with a human champion. We
are actually none of those people but we, as skilled authors, can
bring our experience and talent to the page, making it believable and
breathtaking just the same.
As for the sex –
oral sex, anal intercourse, hand jobs, kissing, touching and
pleasuring a man is something we can, and frequently many women do,
do. When writing from that point of view we can tap into all of our
personal knowledge and experience and translate it into a story about
being in love with a man.
It's the skill of
the author, not their gender, that makes or breaks a story. So get
out there and set those pages on fire, or at least let the sparks
fly.
And never let
anyone convince you that if your erotic romance actually is erotic
that it is somehow less of a story because you had the talent and
skill to bring the sensual, sizzling intimacy of two characters in
love to life for your readers. I've made it my trademark to write
scorching love stories AND I have a table of writing awards to go
along with them. Quality and erotic are not mutually exclusive words.
Be comfortable with expressing your characters' intimacy. Your
readers will thank you for it.
If you are looking
to see how I write my erotic romance, check out my books here:
http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowAuthorBooks.php?list=_ABKLIST001&author=Laura!Baumbach
My latest release
is JACKSON & NICK. Here is the blurb for the short
story.
Recuperating from a
work-related injury, NY City fireman Jackson Kain convinces new
boyfriend Dr. Nicolas Kirby to spend a few days at a secluded
California cabin in the woods far away from the hustle and bustle of
their stressful worlds.
Nick is a cautious
man with protective walls around him that persistent, persuasive
Jackson is determined to breakdown, scale or tunnel under. These few
days are Jackson's best chance to convince Nick he is sincere and
reliable in all things, including matters of the heart.
Unfortunately, both men are going to get more opportunities to prove
themselves than either bargained for.
What was supposed
to be a relaxing break from the world to get to know one another
better turns into a struggle for survival, that pits both men against
nature and time.
***
I’d
love to give away some copies of Jackson & Nick.
Leave me a comment with your email, and I just might pick you!
And
if you’d like to read some of my sex in public (!), check out the
sizzling full chapter from A Bit of Rough, here!
About
Laura
Recognized
in
2010
by
ROLLING
STONE
MAGAZINE
as
'a
pioneer
of
the
M/M
romance
genre',
Laura
Baumbach
is
the
best-selling,
multi-award
winning,
acclaimed
author
of
short
stories,
novellas,
novels
and
screenplays.
Author
of
one
of
the
first
recognized
published
resource
articles
on
the
category
of
m/m
erotic
romance,
For
the
Love
Of
Man,
for
ERWA
Writer'
Resource
article
published
in
September
2008.
She
is
the
founder
of
the
only
RWA
Chapter
for
GLBT
romance
author,
RAINBOW
ROMANCE.
Laura
is
the
author
of
over
14
books
and
numerous
shorts,
almost
all
of
which
have
been
recognized
by
awards
from
array
of
sources.
The
most
awarded
title
is
Mexican
Heat,
a
FINALIST
for
Best
Gay
Romance
in
the
2009
Lambda
Literary
Awards,
WINNER
in
the
2010
EPPIE
Awards,
received
an
Honorable
Mention
at
the
2009
San
Francisco
Book
Festival,
and
several
RWA
chapter
awards,
was
written
in
collaboration
with
Josh
Lanyon.
Mexican
Heat
won
the
coveted
CataNetwork
Reviewers'
Choice
Award
for
2009.
Laura
was
nominated
for
Best
GBLT
Author
2008
in
the
LRC'
Best
Of
Awards
for
2008.
Her
adventure
story
The
Lost
Temple
of
Karttikeya
won
the
2008
EPPIE
Award
for
Best
GLBT
novel
and
was
featured
as
a
hugely
successful
free
read
on
Kindle
Select
Program
with
over
10,000
downloads.
Her
sequel
to
the
best-selling
novel
A
Bit
of
Rough,
Roughhousing,
was
2007
Reviewers'
Choice
Award
Winner.
Her
sci-fi m/m adventure Details of
the Hunt, a
2006 EPPIE Finalist,(in its
mainstream 'buddy' version), was selected as a Semi-finalist
in the 2007 Shriekfest
Screenplay competition as well as
becoming the winner of Best Telefilm in the
aTalentScout, Winter 2004 TV
writing contest, and the Fort
Bend Writers Guild
Screenplay writing Contest for
Spring of 2005.
Laura
devotes
herself
full
time
to
publishing
and
writing.
A
wife,
mother
and
retired
RN,
she
is
the
owner
of
ManLoveRomance
Press,
a
small
publishing
house
that
specializes
in
gay
erotic
romance,
mystery
and
fiction.
(http://www.mlrpress.com)
MLR
Press
was
founded
in
January
of
2007.
16 comments:
Hello, Laura!
I'm so pleased to have you as my guest. Thanks for your giveaway. I'm sure my readers will appreciate it.
I have y our new story already so don't enter me, but I wanted to post how much I have enjoyed your work and look forward to more. Loved the post. It is the talent of the writer that counts.
Love the post and the words of advice. It looks like I'll be adding some more books to my TBR list!
Very interesting point about woman doing many of the things with our men and so can write from the male point of view.
Thank you for the great excerpt.
Thank you for allowing me to be a guest, Lisabet. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to be here.
Thank you, Debby. I'm thrilled you enjoy my writing. After being out of the game so to speak, I was nervous about this new story meeting reader expectations. I have to admit, it is so reassuring to hear my stories still are enjoyed that I have 8k written in a new story already. A little positive encouragement goes a long way, even with us old writers.
Harper, send me you email at laura.baumbach@gmail.com and I'll send you your copy of the story! Thank you for reading! I hope something from my backlist will tickle your interest as well.
Thanks, orelukjp0. I've always thought is so contradictory that traditional erotic romance authors can write from their hero's male POV in their m/f stories but, if a m/m author does it, it's unnatural.
Plus, I think it's crazy no one gives straight female authors credit for knowing how to love a man when that's what we do in every relationship we have ever had. I think that gives us some sold ground to base our writing on.
Send me you email at laura.baumbach@gmail.com and I'll send you your copy of the story!
interesting post
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
I enjoyed your post and I've thought this sounded like a great story from the first time I saw it.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
This sounds so interesting. Thank you for the giveaway chance!
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
I'm always thrilled to find good new m/m!
Trix, vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com
I've sent off all the copies to four readers/commenters. Anyone else? Just leave me a comment.
Amen. I've had a few folks ask me how I write sex seeing how I'm not gay. Well, I might not be gay, but I've been having sex with a man all my life :)
Great post Laura, and a good reminder to be as committed to writing the essential elements of our genre while fleshing out our storylines. Glad to see you have a new one out!
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