Have you all read books or novellas that were romantically sweet while at the same time explicit?
My wife and I just finished writing a novella, about 25,000 words, that seems to have turned out that way. I'll reread it in a week to see if it still strikes me as this romantic, but right now I really like it. (It's in a box. I might have to lock it up and have a friend hold the key for a week so I don't cheat and read it again too soon)
Anyway, it made me wonder if you've read anything explicit that gave you that warm fuzzy feeling about the relationship. Do books like this appeal to readers?
I've read a fair amount of erotica and erotic romance, but the heat level is usually too hot for the warm fuzzies. The relationship itself usually seems to come second to the sex. Yes, they are tied to one another, but the romance seems to take second place as far as focus. Just my reading experience so far, which is why I'm asking about this here. My wife reads erotica and this story we wrote is outside her reading experience as well.
Our story involved a married couple experiencing empty nest syndrome. She's sexually repressed, to a degree, due to the way she was raised. He's put most of his time and energy into building his business over the years, partly due to a growing emotional distance within the marriage. She has a submissive bent, though she hasn't acknowledged or explored it. When she learns he is talking with a lawyer about a possible divorce, she takes a hard look at herself and her marriage. He's out of town on a business trip, so she has time for some serious soul searching--and to find and read his journal. Issues from the way she was raised had crept into her relationship with her husband, leading to a distance between them in their marriage---not talking specifically about sex, here, though that has been effected as well. She ultimately suggests domestic discipline in order to go after the type of life she wants to live and to be who she really is on the inside. She did not suggest this out of fear of being left alone. The journey they take together is about personal discovery, rediscovering each other, facing the past, and accepting her desires and herself.
It's not a whips and chains type of story, nor is she a mindless slave by any means. There is spanking and light bondage and the scenes are graphic. The sex isn't outrageously kinky, in my opinion, though much of what they do is new to her. As graphic as the scenes are, the focus as we wrote was on how her character reacted and her thoughts and impressions as it happened. It culminates with her confronting her estranged mother one last time, something she wouldn't have had the strength or courage to do at the beginning of the story. HEA ending as they renew their vows.
This turned out more romantic than I had planned when we began it. The characters dictated how the story progressed. My wife influenced the explicit scenes more so than me while I influenced the husband's romantic gestures and actions more than her. That these two truly loved each other became evident to us almost immediately as we began, so we let them tell their story and did our best to stay out of their way. We wrote it in first person from the wife's POV.
Both my wife and I are surprised at how different this turned out as opposed to what we thought it would be when we began it. We were all set for a wild, erotic ride, full of fun and excitement. We both like it, but we're wondering what the Hell it is and if there is a market for it. I think self publishing it on Kindle may be the way to go if this doesn't fit a publisher's guidelines. The sex doesn't happen on page one and there are no chapters, just a straight run from beginning to end like traditional novellas of the past, so I'm leery about submitting it to a publisher.
We're not saying that we accomplished anything new or groundbreaking, just that this story is outside our experience and we are unsure about a possible readership for it or how to market it. At worst, it should do okay on a free site and serve as advertising for other works we will publish. Still, right now, I think it has value and would not want to give it away free.
Assume it is competently written. What would you do with it if you saw a solid story, good characterization, and enjoyed reading it after you finished? Does it sound like something you've read before? If so, what was it listed under and was it popular?
Thanks
My wife and I just finished writing a novella, about 25,000 words, that seems to have turned out that way. I'll reread it in a week to see if it still strikes me as this romantic, but right now I really like it. (It's in a box. I might have to lock it up and have a friend hold the key for a week so I don't cheat and read it again too soon)
Anyway, it made me wonder if you've read anything explicit that gave you that warm fuzzy feeling about the relationship. Do books like this appeal to readers?
I've read a fair amount of erotica and erotic romance, but the heat level is usually too hot for the warm fuzzies. The relationship itself usually seems to come second to the sex. Yes, they are tied to one another, but the romance seems to take second place as far as focus. Just my reading experience so far, which is why I'm asking about this here. My wife reads erotica and this story we wrote is outside her reading experience as well.
Our story involved a married couple experiencing empty nest syndrome. She's sexually repressed, to a degree, due to the way she was raised. He's put most of his time and energy into building his business over the years, partly due to a growing emotional distance within the marriage. She has a submissive bent, though she hasn't acknowledged or explored it. When she learns he is talking with a lawyer about a possible divorce, she takes a hard look at herself and her marriage. He's out of town on a business trip, so she has time for some serious soul searching--and to find and read his journal. Issues from the way she was raised had crept into her relationship with her husband, leading to a distance between them in their marriage---not talking specifically about sex, here, though that has been effected as well. She ultimately suggests domestic discipline in order to go after the type of life she wants to live and to be who she really is on the inside. She did not suggest this out of fear of being left alone. The journey they take together is about personal discovery, rediscovering each other, facing the past, and accepting her desires and herself.
It's not a whips and chains type of story, nor is she a mindless slave by any means. There is spanking and light bondage and the scenes are graphic. The sex isn't outrageously kinky, in my opinion, though much of what they do is new to her. As graphic as the scenes are, the focus as we wrote was on how her character reacted and her thoughts and impressions as it happened. It culminates with her confronting her estranged mother one last time, something she wouldn't have had the strength or courage to do at the beginning of the story. HEA ending as they renew their vows.
This turned out more romantic than I had planned when we began it. The characters dictated how the story progressed. My wife influenced the explicit scenes more so than me while I influenced the husband's romantic gestures and actions more than her. That these two truly loved each other became evident to us almost immediately as we began, so we let them tell their story and did our best to stay out of their way. We wrote it in first person from the wife's POV.
Both my wife and I are surprised at how different this turned out as opposed to what we thought it would be when we began it. We were all set for a wild, erotic ride, full of fun and excitement. We both like it, but we're wondering what the Hell it is and if there is a market for it. I think self publishing it on Kindle may be the way to go if this doesn't fit a publisher's guidelines. The sex doesn't happen on page one and there are no chapters, just a straight run from beginning to end like traditional novellas of the past, so I'm leery about submitting it to a publisher.
We're not saying that we accomplished anything new or groundbreaking, just that this story is outside our experience and we are unsure about a possible readership for it or how to market it. At worst, it should do okay on a free site and serve as advertising for other works we will publish. Still, right now, I think it has value and would not want to give it away free.
Assume it is competently written. What would you do with it if you saw a solid story, good characterization, and enjoyed reading it after you finished? Does it sound like something you've read before? If so, what was it listed under and was it popular?
Thanks
