Michele Lenard's Blog - Posts Tagged "purelynovelintent"
First Drafts
Purely Novel Intent is the second book in the Mile High Romance series, but it's actually the first book I wrote, and in many ways it's the first draft of my career. It's somewhat autobiographical in that I struggled to embrace what I was writing. Specifically, the steam/smut/sex or whatever term you prefer.
I love reading steamy stories, but that doesn't make writing them any easier. Not in the beginning anyway. My first attempt had me looking over my shoulder to see if anyone could see what I was typing, even though I was the only person in the room. I don't think it was the steam so much as the fact it was coming from my imagination that had me on edge. Of all the scenes in the book those are the ones that took me the longest to write, because it felt so awkward to do.
The original version of the book documents this, although it didn't make the final cut. Neither did my character's rant about how romances could be good even when the heroine's life isn't in danger or the hero isn't a vampire or werewolf. (Did anyone else notice how those stories spiked after Twilight?) My attempt at humor was interpreted as an insult to the genre so I took that part out, although I maintain that since a romance technically has to have a happily ever after there's no reason you can't poke fun at the predictability of the various tropes.
You'll probably never miss those scenes that were part of the first draft and not the last, but since they helped the story evolve I wanted to give them a little shout out. Purely Novel Intent - A Steamy Workplace Novel
I love reading steamy stories, but that doesn't make writing them any easier. Not in the beginning anyway. My first attempt had me looking over my shoulder to see if anyone could see what I was typing, even though I was the only person in the room. I don't think it was the steam so much as the fact it was coming from my imagination that had me on edge. Of all the scenes in the book those are the ones that took me the longest to write, because it felt so awkward to do.
The original version of the book documents this, although it didn't make the final cut. Neither did my character's rant about how romances could be good even when the heroine's life isn't in danger or the hero isn't a vampire or werewolf. (Did anyone else notice how those stories spiked after Twilight?) My attempt at humor was interpreted as an insult to the genre so I took that part out, although I maintain that since a romance technically has to have a happily ever after there's no reason you can't poke fun at the predictability of the various tropes.
You'll probably never miss those scenes that were part of the first draft and not the last, but since they helped the story evolve I wanted to give them a little shout out. Purely Novel Intent - A Steamy Workplace Novel
