Paranormal romance sex and violence

Vbeacher

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So here's my issue. I'm in the midst of a paranormal romance book. The relationship in question is between a pair of werewolves, so I'm getting into werewolf society/culture, etc. There is a lot of rivalry, dominance issues as well as a lot of sexuality amongst the pack, and fighting (not between the two of them). The plot that's developing really calls for some violence among the wolves and against some other weres, but I'm not sure how much of this can be gotten away with in this type of book. Laurel K Hamilton's books (kind of the general inspiration) contain massive amounts of gory violence and fighting, as well as some graphic sex, but they're not considered erotica or romance (though they contain lots of both). So do I need to keep the violence fairly brief and not too bloody or can I get away with more? Also, how much sex do you think is too much? I know when I read the guidelines for one of the Harlequin imprints a while back it specified how many sex scenes must be included. How much is too much before the book is considered more romance erotica as opposed to paranormal romance?
 

slicing_angel2003

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That's a really good question. I always wondered why Laurel K Hamilton's books weren't labeled erotica, especially later on. I don't know how many sex scenes pushes a book into erotica, but I do know that often it's the graphic nature of the scene that gets it labeled.
 

Sandbar

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I think Patricia Briggs handles that issue fairly well, fwiw. Granted Mercy Thompson is a coyote rather than a werewolf, but she has enough werewolves (either singly or in couples) to address the issue.