Answer: I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence when it came to writing, and my fears sabotaged my goals. My motto eventually became “big dreams, small steps”. Start with developing a writing schedule and then give yourself a pat on the back when it becomes habit. Write the book, but break down the goals. Focus on the first chapter, and think about how many pages you can write that week. Recognize each accomplishment and don’t dwell on the negative stuff, like missing your word count quota or thinking the story isn’t good enough. Don’t worry about that now. Each chapter is an achievement and it will help build up your self-confidence.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

1. Allowing the sexual tension to disappear between love scenes: Thread the tension throughout the book. It doesn’t have to vibrate on every page, but if you let it sag, then it’s going to create more work for you to gear the characters – and the reader – up for the next love scene.
2. All build-up and no follow-through: Make that culmination scene worth the wait. Whatever you do, do not pull back. You don’t have to be shocking or come up with the ultimate sensual setting, but you do have to fulfill the promise you established early on in the book.
3. Bringing out the Barbies: This is a term my twin sister uses when she reads a romance and can’t figure out who’s doing what to whom or where in a love scene. Never give the reader a reason to put down the book so she can get a visual. She might not come back.
4. Telling instead of showing: Love scenes are not in the point of view of a reporter or sports announcer.
5. Forgetting the emotions: Why does the heroine want to make love with hero? Why can’t she? And what makes her do it anyway? Ask the same questions about the hero, and then you have figured out your goal, motivation and conflict for the sexual arc of their relationship. Address these struggles within the scenes and you have created a situation for high-octane sensuality.
6. Ignoring the five senses: When the hero and heroine are together, their awareness to the surroundings are heightened. If you want your reader to really savor these scenes, aim to describe three of the senses, and show how it affects the character.
7. Being a tease: If your first published book is hot and sexy, then it’s in your best interest that your next book is hot and sexy. Not simmering, not scorching, but hot and sexy. Why? With that first book, you are making a promise that you will keep delivering the same level of sensuality.
8. Overstepping the line between fantasy and reality: There’s always an element of fantasy in love scenes, but don’t ask the reader to suspend all disbelief.
9. Believing that secondary characters have needs, too: Showing the love scene between secondary characters adds sexual content to your book, but always ask yourself how the secondary character’s scenes are affecting the main storyline. 
10.  Writing the love scenes to market: Don’t push or rush the sensual journey for your characters, even if the guidelines request at least two consummation scenes in your story. Trust your characters. If a scenario goes against your hero’s or heroine’s goals and motivations, or if has nothing to do with their journey, don’t add it.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Imagine waking up with partial memory loss and having to depend on the gorgeous billionaire who everyone says you belong to. Okay, you’ll go along with it. Who are you to argue? You enter his luxurious lifestyle and you feel right at home. However, your instincts tell you this guy broke your heart. So why is he pampering you like a princess? He must have done something really, really bad.

In a romance novel, amnesia is even more interesting because the couple has a second chance at love. The hero and heroine rediscover what made them fall for each other, and they get to experience the magic again. Of course, we know the second honeymoon is going to come crashing down the minute someone gets their memory back. And then you hope that the couple’s love is stronger than ever to overcome the obstacles they face.

If you are looking for passion and drama in your romantic fiction, try a few amnesia love stories. Here are three recent releases I recommend:

Bought: The Greek’s Baby by Jennie Lucas

Betrayed by his former mistress, Talos wants to destroy Eve. When he finally finds her, she is not only an amnesia patient, but she is pregnant with his child. Talos wants to punish her, but his priority is the child. Eve is horrified to discover what kind of person she used to be. It doesn’t make sense to her. She longs for security and love, which Talos seems to be offering, but she doesn’t trust his urgency to marry. She’s drawn to him, but her instincts warn her to keep her distance. I love the twists that are in Jennie Lucas’s stories, and Bought: The Greek’s Baby doesn’t disappoint!

The Marchese’s Forgotten Bride by Michelle Reid

Six years ago, Cassie fell in love with Sandro. They spent one night together and then he disappeared. Now he’s walked back into her life – as her boss.  Cassie can’t believe that while their affair had changed the course of her life, he acts like he doesn’t know her. But it turns out that Sandro had a car accident six years ago and suffers partial memory loss around the time of the accident. Yet why is Cassie the only part of his life Sandro can’t remember? She’s not sure if she wants to know the answer. The Marchese’s Forgotten Bride is an emotional rollercoaster ride!

Forgotten Mistress, Secret Love-Child by Annie West

Alessandro doesn’t trust anyone, and now that he suffers from partial amnesia, he’s feeling extremely vulnerable. After seeing a photo of a woman, Alessandro senses that he knows her and flies across the world to find her. It turns out that he does know Carys—not only did they have an affair, but she is the mother of his son. He quickly gets her to agree to a marriage even though it turns out their affair ended because of claims of infidelity on both sides. Forgotten Mistress, Secret Love-Child is an exceptional love story about two people who work through their fears to find true happiness.

Do you have a favorite amnesia story?

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Answer: From my understanding, erotic romance and erotica can have the same level of sexual content, but erotic romance focuses on the love story and erotica focuses on the sexual fantasy.

It can be difficult to find erotic romance because some bookstores—and some publishers!—group erotic romance in the erotica category. Some booksellers will automatically put a book in the erotica section if the term ‘erotic’ is on the cover of the book. Because of this, a few publishers have stopped using the word ‘erotic romance’ on the spine of their books so booksellers will shelve it in the romance section.

One day I hope readers can find erotic romance without having to check both sections!

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

• Decide the key scenes in the manuscript. Make sure that every previous scene is working towards the key scenes. If they aren’t find a way to remove or shorten the scene.
• Look at what happens at every chapter. Track the characters’ journeys and the story arc. Are there any scenes that can be taken out, or referred to off-stage? If it takes the heroine three events to come to a conclusion, can she do it believably in two?
• Pull back on the secondary character’s motivations.
• Tighten the dialogue. Cut out dialogue tags (he said, she said) when possible.
• Make every word count. If you are still over the page count, go through every sentence and cut unnecessary words. Revise sentences to make them shorter.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Do you ever go on a reading binge, reading one book after another?

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Think of the big picture. Consider the whole book as a smaller scaled trilogy. While each novella must have an intriguing plot and memorable characters, you are selling the high concept of the anthology.

Let’s say you want to write medical romances. I suggest having all the novellas about search-and-rescues instead of one search and rescue, one ER, and one maternity unit. I would go one further and say have each story about the members of the search-and-rescue team. Then give the idea a twist.

Use your subgenre as a guide. A romantic erotica single-author anthology can be linked by a sex act that is found in all three novellas, but this is not the case in erotic romance.

Maintain the tone. If one novella is light and funny, all of the novellas need to be light and funny. But be inventive with the structure of the story. Many readers will read the stories back-to-back, so you don’t want to be repetitive. In other words, if your stories are about a Regency matchmaker and her clients, there are only so many ballroom scenes and elopements to Gretna Green that a reader can take.

Do not connect the novellas by plot. The publishers are not looking for serials, but complete, stand alone stories. I don’t know why this is, but I have noticed that these novellas are commonly published separately in foreign markets and reprints.

Highlight your strengths. In my first novella collection,  “Wicked” Women 101, my heroines were all going through a sensual awakening, but that wasn’t enough to connect the stories. So after a lot of brainstorming and guidance with my editor, we decided to make the heroines sorority sisters.

In Pink Ice, the heroines are sisters, but that isn’t what connects the stories. This time I have them share pink diamond earrings and the stories are about their sensual awakening while they wear the jewelry.

Notice that both titles deal with sensual awakenings (the theme that is found in almost all of my stories) and sisters (I write heroine-focused stories), but I tailored the ideas with the publisher in mind. If you compare the single author anthologies, you will notice that each publishing house has their own approach. Do your research before you pitch the single-author anthology.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Alexandria, VA; Miami, FL; Cambridge, MA; Ann Arbor, MI; Berkeley, CA; Gainesville, FL; Arlington, VA; Salt Lake City, UT; Pittsburgh, PA; Orlando, FL; Washington, DC; Bellevue, WA; Seattle, WA; Richmond, VA; Cincinnati, OH; Knoxville, TN; Columbia, MO; Tallahassee, FL; Columbia, SC; Atlanta, GA.

I think the data is skewed. (I say that and I live next to two cities listed, so no sour grapes here.) And what is up with Barry White sales? Seriously? Nothing against the man, but I’m sure there are more singers or bands who define sexy music for all age groups.

Amazon.com says that Florida is the most romantic state since it has 4 cities—Miami, Gainesville, Orlando and Tallahassee—ranked in the Top 20.

Miami is named the Sexiest City in America, winning the top spot in the sexual wellness category.

And the Least Romantic Cities? Based on the fewest number of overall purchases in the determining categories, on a per capita basis in cities over 100,000 residents, the least romantic cities are El Monte, CA; Paterson, NJ, and Miami Gardens, FL.

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Now on with my expectations of a romantic comedy:

Was it funny? It made me smile and laugh, but there weren’t any places where I was laughing hard.

Was it romantic? Yes, some of the couples had sweeter storylines than others. There were a few storylines where I wished they would just move on to the next couple.

Did it say anything new or different about relationships? Yes, it did. It showed what Valentine’s Day meant to people who are at different points of their lives or relationships.

Valentine’s Day is between a 2.25 to a 2.5 out of 3 in my Romantic Comedy Meter. I recommend seeing it!

©2010 Susanna Carr Blog. All Rights Reserved.