On the Edge of My Seat

Congrats Lacy, on the gorgeous cover for your book. That is going to fly off the shelves—he’s irresistible.

As for me, I’ve been struggling to think of a post for today. I’m knee deep in plotting a paranormal romantic suspense. I’m in the storyboarding phase—my term for writing bits and pieces of scenes and then rearranging them until I have a story. While doing this I realize what I’m missing and fill the page with notes in caps such as "WHY IS HE DOING THIS?" "MAKE HIM A THREAT" and "NO! NO! NO!" Ah, the smooth, orderly process of writing is such a treat.

My current struggle is that I wanted to build a very hot, intense, erotic relationship between my hero and heroine. However, there is now a child in jeopardy in my story and the hero’s younger brother is a suspect. And I just can’t picture bringing the couple together for hot sex while they are under so much pain and stress. So I may have to do some replotting. I always admire writers who can elegantly combine suspense and sex, because it is such an art of defining character motivation. I do see how a writer can make it believable that a character can feel passion when he or she is surrounded by danger. In some ways, it might be a survival instinct along the lines of "mate while you still can", or maybe even "bond with an ally." But making characters feel desire when someone else is in danger? I can’t do it.

My first book SIN (Aphrodisia, Sept 06) blended my love of erotic romance with Agatha Christie "who-dunnit" mysteries. My elegant houseparty is actually an orgy. In SIN, I felt I got just the balance I wanted between suspense, fear, and hot sex.

So I’m back to the "storyboarding board" (my computer) to see if I can figure this one out. For those of you reading and writing out there, have you read many erotic romantic suspense stories? Any favorites?