Beyond Romance: Don't Be a Sheep (#bdsm #creativity #conformity)

Fitting in. Being popular. Looking hip. When you’re a teenager, that’s what you want more than anything. I was no different from any other teen, back then or today. I’d have long arguments with my mother about why she wouldn’t buy me nylons until I was thirteen, or why I had to wear ugly snow boots to school, or why I couldn’t shave my legs yet.

“But Mom,” I’d whine. “All the girls wear stockings.”

“So what?” she’d respond. “Why do you need to be like everyone else? Do you want to be a sheep?”

The disdain in her voice made it clear that conformity for its own sake was something she held in very low regard. Arguments based on following the prevailing views or actions of the majority almost never succeeded.

At the time, I found her insistence on individualism annoying and frustrating. As I grew older, though, I realized that this was some of the best advice she ever gave me. I’ve made some unconventional choices in my life. I’ve done things “most people” wouldn’t even consider. And all things considered, I think I’m happier and more fulfilled because I haven’t followed a standard, mass-approved path.

“Don’t be a sheep” applies to my writing as well. I don’t choose what I am going to write based on what’s currently hot in the market. In fact, I take perverse delight in challenging the current literary fashions, taking stereotypes or genre tropes and turning them on their heads.

That was the genesis of my new erotic romance The Gazillionaire and the Virgin. Some time after the release of FSOG, I was chatting with my blog mates. One of my friends said, “If I read about another romance about a brooding, dominant gazillionaire hunk and a shy, inexperienced virgin, I think I’ll upchuck.”

Great title, I thought. But what if the obscenely rich gazillionaire was the heroine? And the hero was virgin?

That was all it took to send me off on a genre-busting quest to create a sexy and romantic tale about a woman who has it all and the inexperienced but naturally dominant nerd she falls for.

I can almost hear you thinking. A virgin hero in erotic romance? How could that possibly work? I don’t want to read something so weird. Everyone likes alpha heroes— like the guys in thousands of other BDSM erotic romance novels.

My answer? Be a bit adventurous. Give The Gazillionaire and the Virgin a try. If you like BDSM-themed erotic romance with both heat and heart, I think you’ll enjoy it.

Don’t be a sheep.