K writes:
I’ve been querying for 14 months now … I think I should add more sex so it [manuscript] sells.
Short answer: Oy.
Long answer: Randomly sticking sex scenes into your manuscript is not a good idea. Sex of itself is a pleasurable physical act, but we are emotion junkies. We need the build up of sexual tension to get the payoff of seeing people fall for each other. If you show the readers two people who might make an interesting couple but keep them apart, the readers will feel emotional tension. When the couple comes together, this tension is released, and the reader is happy. If you just throw them in bed right away, then the act loses its meaning and the reader is left with a lukewarm feeling.
Timing and set-up are everything.
In essence, good writers create pressure on the reader, making him impatient and uncomfortable, so when the tension disappears, the reader is relieved. It’s that same feeling you get when Excedrin finally starts working on your migraine or when you slow down after finishing a run. To make someone happy, you first have to make them unhappy.
There is a very old symbol that demonstrates this principle: yin and yang. Two opposite forces which grapple and give rise to each other. This principle works in more than just love scenes. For example, most of the jokes in Kate books are really not that funny taken by themselves, but they are well timed. Just when the reader is stressed or scared, Kate drops a quip, and the reader laughs. I read a book not so long ago that was just a constant series of one liners. Every sentence was a quote. After about 20 pages I put it down. The jokes blended into a monotone narrative and I lost interest.
So my advice is, if the author wants sex to have impact, it might help to work on tension first.
This brings me to the second part of my rambling post: the ingredients of a bestseller. I read and hear this a lot, usually from disillusioned authors, professional and aspiring: if only I did X, my book would be a bestseller/would sell.
If only I added more sex…
If only I didn’t write about gay characters…
If only I could dumb myself down enough…
If only I could tone down the violence…
Doing this occasionally is normal. I do it too. Just the other day I was talking with a friend about a popular author whose latest book pretty much left me cold. I see fans go nuts about it, and I’m puzzled because the book is badly written and they completely don’t see it. It’s like it doesn’t matter, because the book is delivering something to them that lets them completely bypass all of its flaws. It makes me doubt my perception as a writer – there is something in that manuscript that I fail to see. It makes me wonder if I am doing something wrong.
But doing this too much is dangerous in a professional sense. It makes you bitter and it keeps you from objectively evaluating your work. Nobody really knows what makes a bestseller. There is no formula for it. If people knew what made a bestseller, everyone would be one.
There is an ingredient common to most bestsellers: accessibility. The readers have an almost infinite capacity to learn, and you can write the most complicated book as long as you explain it well. Tom Clancy made a career of writing extremely complex books and it worked wonders, because he took time to explain things.
But beyond accessibility, I don’t really know what makes a bestseller. I’ve spent a good part of my writing apprenticeship learning the rules of active writing: how to structure a sentence so it uses the right words to deliver the maximum impact, how to use active sentence construction, how to keep pace within the narrative and so on. I see people ignore these concepts everyday and sell a bazillion copies, because they’ve mastered fulfilling the needs of their readers.
The important thing to remember is that bestsellers sell well for a reason. They may be doing a slew of things “wrong” but it doesn’t matter because they are getting this one thing right. The trick is to figure out what that one thing is and to learn from it.
I can tell you that I write primarily to please myself. I write the story I want to read. Beyond it, I’m in the dark. If I ever figure it out what makes a bestseller, you’ll be the first to know.
Thank you for take the time to explains this, it’s very interesting!
Thanks for taking the time to post this Ilona – love these insights but you must be so busy this month!
Thanks for this post! I read a wide variety of authors and genres. Some are pretty explicit, some with little or no sex/violence. One of my favorite romance authors (Lynn Kurland) commented on the fact that she has had to really fight to keep the sex scenes toned down in her books. It is a conscious choice to have a great emotional buildup and more emphasis on the sweetness of the moment. Like you, she takes the stance that she writes the story she dreams of just to please herself….and it obviously works based on her success!
I really respect your work, because you create a wonderful story and you don’t take the shortcuts to get there!
LOL from Savannah! Can’t wait for Kate 4!
Very interesting post with real and relevant ideas. I also have started reading “bestsellers” and other books only to find I do not like the main character(s), find the writing poor and/or hard to follow (and I do not mean in an erudite manner) find gaps in explanations and see the lack of a forceful and compelling plot.
You can always “Break the Rules” in creative endeavors, but you have to know how, why, when, and then feel the rush of “EUREKA” behind your work, while having broken rules.
Thank you for the post. Now I can come back to this and read your thoughts again and not feel somewhat alienated for having some of the same thoughts.
Some of the harshest reviews I get come from aspiring authors. I think the rejection of what is already out there is a natural driving force behind the creative process. We are dissatisfied and so we create to fill the gap.
But, the important thing to remember is that bestsellers sell well for a reason. They may be doing a slew of things “wrong” but it doesn’t matter because they are getting this one thing right. The trick is to figure out what that one thing is and to learn from it.
It seems they have found that great hidden “key” to the minds and hearts of their readers, whether through emotion, intellect, and/or the readers “true or aspirations wishes”.
Find the KEY and you have the treasure!
P.S. : When someone has said to me, “You can’t do that…” or “That’s the best you’ll ever do..”, that is when I have gone into HIGH GEAR to prove them wrong. And you know what? I have amazed them not every time, but almost everytime!
Not just in writing. Any art form, really. People don’t see what they want, so they make it. Of course, how strong the compulsion is matters most.
Red Hot Chili Peppers mentions that as their main driving force behind their music. Heh.
Coming from a romance writer and erotic romance writer, sex ONLY works in the story if it works FOR the story.
Throwing it in there just in the hopes to spice up the story to make it sell…eh, all that’s going to do is take a potentially good story and make it a ‘meh’ story.
Nothing should be added to the story that doesn’t belong-everything should work for the story.
The same is going to work for violence and pretty much everything else. Having token sex, token violence…why cheapen your story that way?
I have seen too many trees wasted, taken from this earth for books with what you are saying Shiloh — token or gratuitous sex, violence or you name it. What a shame!
But, I guess all the “gratuitous ___” meets the “needs” of some readers!
That’s true about it having to fit. I’m a fan of all sorts of genres including romance and erotic romance.
That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading a great, pure mystery book series and all of a sudden a hardcore scene is dumped in the middle and it feels out of place. It doesn’t offend me….little does, but it feels awkward, forced.
You see this in movies sometimes, too. I heard the love scene in Top Gun was added later to “spice up” the movie. In truth, it wasn’t necessary.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that puzzles how an atrociously written book can sell so well. When I started reading the Magic books I was suffering from a serious case of reader ennui.
I love that your books are so fantastically written and I think they’ve made me a more discerning reader (and maybe a bit of a snob). If a book is badly written now I simply put it down and look for something else. Why suffer when I know there are excellent writers like you guys?
Unfortunately, more often than I’d like I put down a book because I can’t get past the dull or bad writing, no matter how interesting the book seemed in theory. I can’t tell you how tired I am of reading how so-and-so “felt a wave of [gratitude/relief/fear/etc.etc.].” I also hate, hate, hate it when people miraculously (and conveniently) fall into each others arms even though the story line absolutely does not call for it and/or even though 20 pages earlier they pretty much hated each other.
In short, thanks Ilona and Gordon for your wonderful writing!
I think it is why I enjoy your books and writings so much. In my opinion you and Gordon use just the right amount of everything. The perfect amount of witty banter, the right amount of funny quips, a real, raw sense of violence, but all with an underlying sense of honor, duty, friendship, love and loyalty. I find myself irritated with a few ‘large’ name authors who write poorly, change their over all former style into something, almost degrading and demeaning to their respective genre and to themselves. Sometimes I think readers buy the latest books because they feel they must, out of some sense of obligation. “I’ve read the first XX books, so I should probably just read this one too” (silently, in hopes that said book will be better than the previous… ) which usually leaves the reader with a letdown. I hate this. I too, find myself in this trap I haven’t purchased a few new releases in the last few weeks for this very reason. I just don’t want to be letdown… again
I find your style, your writing, and your books to be a breath of fresh air on an otherwise gloomy and dreary genre. But of course, that’s just my opinion
I’m actually just writing in to say congrats on the awesome Romantic Times review!!
Being allowed a glimpse into your writing process via the blog has given me a new appreciation for it- you fret over every line, destroy and rebuild every scene until it is exactly the way you need it. These books are your babies, and it shows in the final product.
Often becoming a bestseller is just sheer luck, that “X” factor as I call it. A certain unknown is added to the mix and the story goes ballistic, no matter the quality of the writing. You can try to time your book to hit a trend and most of the time you’ll miss it by a mile. But when that “X” factor kicks, oh baby, hold on for the ride of your life.
Indeed, many congrats on your second 4-1/2 Star Top Pick GOLD at RT. One is rare. Having two books rate GOLD is just incredible.
Since I got my Kindle, I’ve been reading at least one book a day. I can’t tell you how
many poorly written books I’ve stumbled across recently. I figure since I bought it; I
have to finish it. Ugh! I can’t figure out how these books that were so badly put together ever got published. But my pet peeve is the book that has no plot to speak off but only one explicit sex scene after another. I’m no prude; but I don’t really need to know exactly where he put his hand, and each time she groaned. I’d prefer to have an actual plot.
My favorite thing about the Magic books is that we are inside Kate’s head. We know what she is thinking every step of the way. Her smart mouth makes me laugh out loud; and we know her motivations. And that’s on top of a neat world with all sorts of things that go bump in the night; and a great story. I only wish you could turn out a book every week or so.
I started reading UF with LKH. I fell in love with her first 8 Anita Blake novels. They had detective, and fantasy and were fun reads. Then she began to ‘concentrate’ on the relationships…meaning she began to include sex as a plot advancing device…until the erotica portions of her novels overwhelmed the actual plot. I am not a prude, but that was not why I bought the books. I agree relationships are important, but every thrust and bump is not needed. I enjoy a good erotic story, but that is not how I escape. I find my prefered authors sometimes do the ‘better left to the imagination’ rather than the blow by blow. Perhaps this is a coincidence, but really, when you are dealing with relationships, and even sensuality, isn’t what happens in the brain, the emotions, more important than doing position 248 in the karma sutra? Ma ybe readers need to see sex in a less pruilent way? It’s natural, it happens, You don’t have to know when a character brushes their teeth, I don’t need to know about every kiss..unless it advances plot/story/character arc.
***(Ms Hamilton is a very nice lady, I have met her and the above does not detract from her as a person at all.)
I would have to agree to Lyssa. Anita Blake was one of the first series I got into set in an urban fantasy universe. However, after a certain point the series turned into erotica and the anita blake in the later books bore no resemblance to the Anita in the beginning (who did not even have a sex scene in her first couple of books).
Some authors use sex as an emotional device. I look forward to the flirting between Kate and Curran because it means something to me, I’ve watched their relationship evolve through three books and I am invested in it. When I crack open a new series and find the main character having hard core sex three pages in I feel less than I would if Kate and Curran just kissed.
I don’t object to sex in books, it’s an important part of life we cannot ignore. And plenty of books have heavy sexual themes while still being well written. What I don’t like is books that use sex to compensate for a lack of good writing, dialogue, or character development. Books that, I feel, would not have been published were it not for the fact that 50% of the writing is an extended sex scene.
I’m not a writer but i am a reader. I completely agree with Lissa and Kyle J. (Kyle actually wrote exactly what i would have written). But i would like to comment on something that you wrote.
‘If I ever figure it out what makes a bestseller, you’ll be the first to know.’
Best sellers do not always have good books and Authors who should be best sellers arent (not yet anyway!) . I just wanted to you to know that you are my favourate author!
There is nothing worse than your favorite best selling author suddenly selling books based on their name and not on how good their books are. There’s nothing sadder than getting to number 7 in a series and putting the book down halfway thorugh because you have no interest in finding out what happens next.
I absolutely enjoy your books. I don’t know why you can’t be best selling writers, you have good stories. Maybe it’s the exposure aspect. Did you watch the olympics this year? Lindsey Vohn got so much more press time than the other athletes who were doing better than her and she explained that she had a very good agent/publicist that made sure she had press time. Yes some people do have bestsellers on their first book, but others work up to it with time. Good Luck.
Very interesting post. I have opened some books and sex is in the first couple of pages and it didn’t work…then in others it did…I think that a book has to be judged overall. Sometimes I have to make myself finish a book but I do it because I want to make sure that I’ve been fair to myself, the book and the author. I wouldn’t have picked it up if I wasn’t interested. As far as some of the “bestsellers” today, there are many people who buy a book based on reviews, recommendations and the like and because “it takes all kinds of people to make the world” , we end up with books that aren’t well written as bestsellers.
On a personal note, I find that the books written by you and Gordon, are fantastic and if they are not bestsellers…they should be
Interesting post.
Personally, I’m not a fan of sex scenes, and I sure as heck can’t write them – though I do a mean flickering log fire and waves on the beach description
Your style of writing is my favorite because I can’t write like that; simple, straight to the point…..shit can’t describe it. -facepalm-
I wish there were more writers of this style in some of the current *fav* genre’s, Urban fantasy etc. I find myself enjoying stories regardless of genre, if the writing is similar to these books. Too many writers use tropes to the point of gratuity.
-shudder-
A favorite vampire novel uses none of these, that is, from an amateur view point. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, will probably always be a favorite book and author merely because she’s not giving the readers everything they think they need. It may give us moments of hair-ripping agony, but we’ll survive.
Like Curran not showing up for the naked dinner. -rips hair out-
:::sniffs::: he’s bisexual. :::grins:::
I wrote a very long response, then decided it was too long to post here. So then I posted it as my review of your books. lol
It’s an admittedly odd review, but I’m odd and I’m terrible at reviews, and it says what I wanted to say.
It’s on my Facebook or on my Goodreads, if you’re interested.
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Very good advice, thank you!