The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance (Complete Idiot's Guides

by Alison Kent

The basic rules for turning basic instincts into blockbuster success.

Erotic romance reigns supreme as a big category of women’s fiction—a billion dollar business serviced by a new breed of uninhibited writer. This book is the necessary how-to for first timers and a terrific guide for seasoned professionals as well, who are putting their racy—and lucrative—fantasies to paper. Now, for the first time, a veteran erotic romance author shows exactly what to do—and how.

* The first book to guide writers to succeed in this multi-million dollar genre
* Explores how to set up a plot and write good, steamy sex scenes
* From a best-selling experienced author
* Includes resource section for research tools and further reading
* Interviews with top editors in the field
* Foreword by Kate Duffy, editorial director at Kensington Publishing and founding editor of the genre

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Romance, Reference, Research

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

I often read of or hear about authors who knew they were meant to tell stories from the time they left the crib. Me? I didn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up until I was thirty years old - and then sold my first book at thirty-four. Still, it was obvious that I always knew I was going places.

Like so many other authors, I was a voracious reader from day one, devouring everything from Nancy Drew to My Friend Flicka, which I remember sitting hovered over the heater vent in the kitchen floor to read while my father made his coffee.

I moved on to my mother's Phyllis Whitney, Dorothy Eden, and Mary Stewart gothics before discovering my first true romances written by Lucy Walker and set in the Australian Outback. And then, at last, when I was 18 I found 'The Flame and the Flower'. (My son almost spent his life as Brandon because of that, but I spared him and named him Casey instead!)

Why write romance? Because love stories have always been a major part of the books I've loved. Father Ralph and Meggie Cleary. (I did name my daughter Megan after reading The Thorn Birds! Do you see a trend here?) The aforementioned Brandon Birmingham and Heather Simmons. Wolf Mackenzie and Mary Potter.

Even more so, it's because I love writing romance heroes. The men who sweep both heroines and readers off their feet - not to mention their authors, too!

I've spent several years happily writing action adventure romance for Kensington Brava along with hot and sexy series romances for Harlequin Blaze. Now I'm thrilled to be a launch author for Vows.

Reviews

[Georg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I began to read this book because the title promised fun. And it was funny, but the more I read the more I grew suspicious she could mean what she writes until in the end I recognized she really did. That was still funny and maybe even funnier than a deliberately written persiflage. But the best collection of jokes gets boring when all the jokes have the same punch-line. And even if you are a hard-boiled cynic you will worry that some of her readers (and wannbe-writers!) will take her seriously and try to write stories she recommends her readers to write. The most pathetic part is her "good example" of "a conversation with double entendre and subtext" (from her own opus magnus "Harlequin Blaze").
Quote from her novel: "And I am very good at what I do."
Explanation in the Guide: "Leo's comment about being very good at what he does serves as a double entendre, as it could refer to his profession or to his skills in bed." (p. 169/170)
So subtle. So double. So entendu.
But there are some practical advices too. On p. 193 she tells her readers they should reconsider before they call a penis "the purple-helmeted warrior of love". Instead you always should refer to these parts as "Billy and the Boys".

[J. Rosemary Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's good stuff in here. I took the time to read it from cover to cover, and found plenty of advice to put into practice (even if some of it was repetitive). However, I wish Alison Kent hadn't focused exclusively on M/F relationships. Gay and lesbian romances scored an off-hand mention in her book, but little else. Ditto for poly. These may be niche markets, but I thought they deserved more than a passing nod.

[Addicted to Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Winter Bayne]

What I did not like about the book:
It does mostly telling. It has few examples. It lists off what is expected of novel writing in general and romantic novels specifically.

I would have preferred in text examples were used to show me what the author was discussing. Instead if any examples were mentioned they are in the author's other books. Don't assume readers know exactly what is being referenced.

What I liked about the book:
It delves into the addition of sex and romance in the story structure. A few more examples here than in the rest of the book, but only one comparison is usually given.

It does point you in the direction of other books that could help with plot and other writing issues. It contains a few other outside the book resources. I plan on checking them out.

My Thoughts:
If you aren't sure writing erotica or romance is for you, this may help you decide. If you are a brand new never written fiction or wish to understand more about romance and erotica mechanics then this may benefit you.

[Cornelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the craft of writing a romance, erotica or not, in detail in an easy to understand style. I recommend this for anyone aspiring to write romance novels or write in the romance genre. You'll learn about plots, conflict, love scenes, characters and much more. Anyone who wants to write romances needs to learn all they can about the above aspects of the craft of writing and much more.

[Caleigh Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het-centric and a bit dated. Some usful info about publishing.

[Mary Pagones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tips, like the necessity of using sex scenes to move the story forward, versus just being there for sex’s sake. I’m not sure I would recommend it, other than as a free library book. Like most craft books via my library, a bit out-of-date, and almost exclusively m/f-centric.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay but I needed something more specific.

[Zoey DuBois · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this guide, and definitely found it useful.

I picked it up just as I was starting to go through my final 'spit & polish' draft, and it helped me catch a few little niggles that I might otherwise have overlooked.

I've seen a fair few reviews where people complain that a lot of the info here is common sense, or obvious; and if you read around the genre a lot that's probably true - but presumably that's why it's 'The Complete Idiot's Guide' and not 'The Lifelong Expert's Guide' :) And even if a lot of it might seem obvious, it's always good to have a handy reminder nearby. I don't know about you, but I found when writing a novel that there were so many things to remember all at once, that a quick and straightforward reference guide on my desk definitely wasn't something I was going to complain about.

I found it well-written, easy-to-read, and definitely of value.

[Shannon Mayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could never get past the first 30 pages or so, I think mostly because the author was working through the basics of writing as much as anything and I've read a lot of books on that. I will keep the book and use it for a reference though for those times that I write a love scene. There are good tidbits, it's just not a book for those who have already done some research and have already gone beyond step 1 of honing their craft.

[Michelle Tempted By Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book. It really helped me to understand the definitions and standards expected by various publishers. The end of the book has a great list of publishers and other helpful tools for the newest authors. I think the most important lessons I learned from this book were, research and just write already. I recommend this book to anyone who is a little fearful but has a story that they just need to get out.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were one or two good tidbits here and there, and I'm sure the list of resources at the back in the Appendices will be useful, but overall this book was simply a VERY basic overview of everything in the genre- it didn't go in depth about any one thing, and really didn't give any useful tips that anyone other than people who haven't written anything before could use. Three stars because obviously a lot of work went into it, and it did have a couple good points, but it just wasn't enough.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book served its purpose for me however, I am looking for something that is a little more helpful.

I don't want to follow the same format of writing erotica as everyone else and this book provides(what I consider to be the typical format for writing Erotica(I don't want that). I want to write something different so I took what helpful information they did provide and applied it to my brainstorming.

[Kathrynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Not at all what I thought it would be, either. This book is full of writing tips and advice that have nothing to do with writing erotic romance. I was pleasantly surprised at the broad scope of material tucked between the covers. :-)

Also, excellent tips on writing a steamy love scene. :-)

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was gold-dust to me. A wonderfully informative book on the how-tos in writing sexy romance. It covers everything from euphenisms to characterization. Highly recommended!

[Jennifer Grosse]

Interesting, but I know most of this stuff

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

70th - 2012

Menarik, dan membuatku jadi membuka-buka koleksi novel roman lagi, hanya untuk membanding-bandingkan dengan teorinya.