Refresh: Friday Frolics - Done and overdone

Hello Friday!

My weak lead in this week? How overdone are my openings...hey, howdy, hello...so what's overdone in our HOT genre?

SS HAMPTON, Sr., Hot author

I haven't read much erotica or erotic romance, but I'd guess what's overdone is the number of people jumping on the "50 Shades of Grey" bandwagon. Yes, "50 Shades" revealed that there is a sizable readership for such a subject, but that doesn't mean people should jump on the bandwagon. Try to be creative. And, oh yes, not every character should be a rich CEO or young college graduate. There's other people of more humble means in the world.

THEADORA MITCHELL, Hot author:

The wham bam thank you whomever. Tossing a story together just to toss a story out there, I'm tired of slapped together reads.

Thank you for dropping over, we appreciate it. Have a fun weekend and hope to you see next week.

 

Remember, if you have a question or anything you want us to muse about just drop me a line at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com

 

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Refresh: Friday Frolics - Plot or Pants

YES, it's Friday and we're back on track!

Little too excited there? Maybe. I'm just starting to feel stronger...life has been a challenge lately, but that's another blog...and all my planning is back on track. Which, you guessed it, another lame lead in:

HOT authors, what do you think works best for our genre - plotting or being a pantser?

SS HAMPTON, Sr., Hot author

Generally speaking, plotting. It happens that sometimes I deviate from the plot, but usually plotting works best for me. I have a general idea of who the characters are, personalities, likes and dislikes. This pretty much gives some idea of what the characters will do or how they will react to situations, especially sexual situations in erotica or erotic romance. But of course, there is the flexibility that if I think of something else that will fit a character's development or interest, then I can go with it if the change feels good.

THEADORA MITCHELL, Hot author:

I'm writing short stories for bedtime, but because I'm working through the months/seasons I do plot them out a little. I try for the celebrations happening in each month, the weather, what may just be part of my characters' history.

With that said, the stories sometimes have taken off on their own. Moving ahead based on one word. The ending for box set 2 took me for surprise as I hadn't planned part of that story until set 3.

Thank you for dropping over, we appreciate it. Have a fun weekend and hope to you see next week.

 

Remember, if you have a question or anything you want us to muse about just drop me a line at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com

 

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Refresh: Friday Frolics - Perfect Length

Yes, my opening lines are corny...help?

Every story dictates its own length, meaning the story will write as it is required to, we control the story length based on our idea. However, what do you think is the “perfect” story length for our genre? What’s your preference?

NOELLE ALLADANIA MEADE, Mainstream author

Aka

LILLIAN RAVENWOOD, HOT author

My erotic books vary in length depending on how much ground I want to cover. For me, it is what it is. I think generally I lean towards about 100 pages. The Naughty Royals series seems to work at about that length and I’m finding natural breaking points between the interrelated stories.

MAXINE DOUGLAS, Hot author:

Personally, I let the characters dictate the length in the end, although I will set a minimum word count so they know from the get go what the goal is. Also, I split my chapters into three sections, each section should be as close to 1,000 words as possible, with the chapter being at least 3,000. Now a few of my sections may be more than 1K and a few may be smaller, as long as the chapter is 3K I’m happy.

Thank you for dropping over, we appreciate it. Have a fun weekend and hope to you see next week.

 

Remember, if you have a question or anything you want us to muse about just drop me a line at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com

 

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Refresh: Friday Frolics - The erotic story arc

Finally Friday.

My writing has taken a toll...the mind struggled to maintain and is now struggling to get back into the flow. Which is a bad lead to today's question:

Every story genre has its own story flow, arc, is there/what is the one for erotic writing?

Let me first state...I love our HOT authors' input, they know their genre and teach me so that hopefully I'll have better questions this year...thanks Musers!

KURT DYSAN, Hot author

The question oversimplifies the genre. There is no one story arc or even flow as erotica can come in many forms... fantasy, contemporary romantic stories, paranormal, adventure, and plain smut. Each is unique and it the intent is to write a good story, the writer has to pay attention to the tropes that are appropriate for that subgenre. Conversely, in general, all storytelling uses the basic Joseph Campbell heroic myth arc (which is the elegant version of the Lester Dent formula for popular fiction)... the characters have a situation that gets complicated by internal needs or external desires and are forced out of their comfort zone. Their attempts to rectify things seem to work, but actually creates new problems that continue to get worse. Then comes the final straw, where all is doomed to failure... unless. The main characters take actions and either succeed or fail, but the situation is finally resolved.

(adding when asked again...I don't want to miss any of Kurt's insights)

In general, in erotica the arc simply follows changes in circumstance and characters resulting from sexual experiences. That's too simple, but reasonably accurate. Having said that, I think that the absolute best stories in any genre are those that defy all clichés. Authors often react to market forces, which suggest readers expect certain tropes. The truth is that defying the clichés and ignoring tropes is the genesis of great stories. But it’s dangerous, and they have to be done well. The writer has to be willing to fail.

SS HAMPTON, Sr., Hot author

Well, I haven't read enough erotica or erotic romance to decide if there is a separate story flow or arc compared to other genres. But, I suppose that it can't be that much different from non-erotic writing. There's fully developed characters and a plot with a beginning, middle, and end, and of course, one or more crisis to propel the story forward to a conclusion. I'm thinking that the sexual journey of one or two, or more people, is central to such writing. And of course, whether this sexual journey ends with Happy For Now or Happily Ever After. So, I guess, the one thing that separates this writing from other genres, is the importance and impact of the sexual journey.

Thank you for dropping over, we appreciate it. Have a fun weekend and hope to you see next week.

 

Remember, if you have a question or anything you want us to muse about just drop me a line at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com

 

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Refresh: Friday Frolics - What is Friday Frolics

Hey, how’s it been going?

Today, thought I would dive a little bit into how that developed into Friday Frolics.

As a publishing house of multiple genres we need to adjust our marketing, promoting based on the target audiences. Some people are uncomfortable with the erotic. Being honest, it’s a tad difficult, uneasy, awkward, and a tad inappropriate for some of our HOTTNESS to show up over where our MG/Tween/Teens/YAs hang out. Which explains our three blogs:

MuseItUp Publishing – our main blog open to every author in our house. Basically, we keep it PG…as much as possible.

MuseItYoung & MuseitYA – our younger audience and all their topics and life experiences for their age. Yes, our HOT authors have occasionally shared their musings on Saturday Morning Musings, but we keep the link closed.

And then there is us: MuseItHOT where our topics and open topic and not quite PG. Truth be told, I’m still a little embarrassed when I ask some questions. Which also makes for great reading and learning for me…helps me learn this genre…and, well, write it. Yes, under a different name, no you don’t know it…I don’t think you do?

Whatever the reason you drop over, we love having you here. Oh, why Friday Frolics for a name?

Friday…end of the “normal” work week. The night for letting loose after a…do I dare…hard week. Sorry, that was a bit much wasn’t it? Which brings us to the word – Frolics…play, romp, frisk, and cavort. You get the picture:

Friday Frolics…a bit of heated fun.

And, please do send me any questions you would like asked of our Musers…onward to our familiar closing:

Thank you for dropping over, we appreciate it. Have a fun weekend and hope to you see next week.

 

Remember, if you have a question or anything you want us to muse about just drop me a line at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com

 

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Friday Frolics...

She Wants/He Wants