How I Became an Erotic Romance Author
I was born to write erotic romance. All
my life, my imagination has been rife with made up stories of love and
passion. It just took me umpteen years to discover that I should write
the stories down.
I started out by falling in love with the TV cowboys
of the '50s and '60s - Nick Barkley, Little Joe Cartwright, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne
Bodie, Colt 45, Johnny Ringo, The Deputy (my beloved Henry Fonda). Come
on, I can't be the only one who remembers these names. My fantasies ran toward
getting the hunks in hay lofts or deserted cabins in hot, romantic, sexual
situations. I skipped right over young adult fiction, going from horse
stories in the children's section of the library, straight to the adult
stacks. My mother had no clue that I was reading about seraglios and
sheiks. I was getting quite an eduction that only inflamed my already
vivid, imaginative, secret self.
Through the years I didn't write, but I didn't
turn my imagination off either. A few years ago, I told a friend a
story about a young woman rancher in the Old West -- hmm -- wonder where that
came from? The woman had been kidnapped by her evil ranch foreman (named
after an evil ex-boyfriend) and tied to a tree so said foreman could get some
sleep. The tying part really got me. Where was this coming
from? I didn't want to be tied up -- at least not by the bad guy.
;-) The vivid story, with a plot, characters, and, yes, love scenes with
the handsome cowboy hero wasn't just a fantasy, it was bigger than that.
My friend casually suggested, "Why don't you write it?"
How simple. How right. Could I do
it? Should I? I don't like to start something if I don't think I
can finish it, and I had a history of, once in a while, taking a big risk and
having it work out. The idea had me by the throat. I bought a
spiral notebook and put pen to paper.
Whoo-ee! I knew with the first scene that I'd
"found myself." At first I was self-conscious about it,
especially the love scenes, with doubts and insecurities settling in. I
was always confident in my story making skills but the technical needed
help. I didn't know that until I joined RWA and some on-line loops.
I just wrote madly for the absolutely blooming joy of it.
I believe I am fairly adept in writing love
scenes. I see myself as a camera circling the couple; catching a brush of
lips; a nip on an inner thigh; the trail of fingers along a silken-skinned,
hard, hot shaft; the cupping of a lush, soft breast. All the little
details and those beautiful descriptive words - swollen, pink, moist, muscular
chest, delicate sac, glittering gazes, eyes glazed in pleasure are so thrilling
to write. Then the thrust, the wet, delicious, erotic slide, the fullness
as two lovers are finally joined. The massaging of inner muscles that the
hero feels as he's buried deeply within the heroine. I can feel all this
as a woman, but I try very hard to inhabit the man's perspective too.
I have
been complimented on my non-sexual, descriptive scenes, but I am most proud of
my love scenes. A lot of them come to me when I'm trying to get to sleep
at night. I reach up for the pad and pen that are always kept by my
bed. I am happiest when a scene passes the "Jane" test and
makes me hot. I suffer for my
art. ;-) The climax isn't even the best part for me.
The journey of lips and teeth and tongue, the tenderness and urgency of
fingers touching or gripping. It's love that brings them together with
sex the expression of that love.
This
type of writing isn't for everyone. That's fine. But for me, erotic
romance is my forte and my niche.
My Fifteenth Book
A few months ago, Ellora's Cave accepted Lost and Found. After editing and huge encouragement from my new editor, the book is being released today!
Searching about for a plot, I came up with a Marine home on
leave. Several of my books feature current or former military men as the hero. Marc
had been raised in Birchwood Falls but left after his parents were killed in an
accident. An only child, he had nothing left to hold him to the town. A decade
later, the belief that their deaths weren't an accident brings him back home.
So, who could attract Marc's attention? Someone completely
opposite from the usual military backdrop. How about Phoebe, orphaned at birth,
a young jazz singer with a fuchsia streak in her hair and one pierced nipple.
The story opens there. One tough, hurt, suspicious warrior
Marine home from Afghanistan and one free spirit entertainer with plans to make
it to the Grammys.
The Official Ellora's Cave Blurb
Hunky Marine Marc
Rahn enlisted after his high school graduation to escape the pain of his
parents’ fatal car wreck. Now on leave after eight years and multiple Middle
East deployments, he returns to his small hometown to put to rest his
suspicions that the “accident” might actually have been anything but.
What he doesn’t
expect is an intriguing flash of a pierced nipple from a new neighbor on
move-in day. The breast’s owner, Phoebe Barnes, is a beautiful young jazz
singer who plans to make it big in the music business. Her early years in
foster care made her hungry for attention and fame, and she’s out to achieve
both at almost any cost.
Despite their
differing paths, Marc and Phoebe quickly give in to the sizzling attraction
between them. But will their passion turn deadly when the person who killed
Marc’s family decides two murders might not have been enough?
A Romantica® suspense erotic romance from
Ellora’s Cave
My plans are to write a Birchwood Falls series. I've become obsessed with writing small town America stories. Now let me get back to work. ;-)
Jane Leopold Quinn
My Romance: Love With a
Scorching Sensuality
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