Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My understanding of the romance genre is so old that I had no idea that the romance genre had even sprouted an erotic subgenre that allowed for explicit sexual content. I still thought of romance books as teases--something that got you all hot and bothered and then shut you out of the "good stuff". While there's still plenty of romance to be found that follows that set of expectations, now you can find erotic romance as well.

However, lest you think it's about gratuitous sex, it's part of the definition of the genre that the sex has to further the plot and the character arc. It can't be tacked on. Sex is part of how the characters change, fall in love, explore themselves, and so on. But because it's an erotic romance rather than erotica, it's still about falling in love.

Warning: This should be obvious, but I'm going to make it very clear just in case. This book is about writing in a genre that includes explicit sex scenes. That means that this book contains material about writing explicit sex scenes. It isn't meant to be titillating in its own right, but it is frank and blunt and doesn't shy away from necessary detail and discussion.

Alison Kent has a knack for writing; that much is obvious (in fact, I think I'm going to have to get my hands on some of her fiction!). She's thorough, informative, blunt, frank, and above all, entertaining; I never felt that she sacrificed one aspect for another. She's utterly comfortable with her subject matter, which makes her the perfect author to write about such a potentially sensitive topic.

She discusses all sorts of writing topics, applying them to the erotic romance genre quite handily. She also provides thorough coverage of the unique needs of erotic romances with respect to the role of sex in the plot and writing erotic sex scenes.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in writing romance, erotic romance, or erotica--although the focus of the book is definitely erotic romance, writers of the other two types of story will find much of value here as well. It would also make a fascinating read for fans of the genre who want to know more about how it works and what their favorite authors do. The tips and hints are highly useful; the range of topics covered is extensive; and the author makes the book fun to read (not to mention extremely informative). I have a newfound respect for the genre now.

Alison Kent (the pseudonym of an experience author in the genre of erotic romance) draws upon her considerable expertise in "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Erotic Romance" to help aspiring authors master the specialized genre of the erotic romance. All too often writers veer into crude pornography while trying to avoid prudish conventions in storytelling. "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Erotic Romance" will take the novice writer through a series of practical and effective techniques for creating compelling characters, interesting plots, and engaging dialogue laced with sexually provocative eroticism. Enhanced with advice and examples drawn from successful romance writers and editors, "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Erotic Romance" will also prove an invaluable resource that includes lists of available publishers in this select genre. If you want your writing to be hallmarked with chemistry, spice, plot twists, complete characters, and "page turning romance", then add "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Erotic Romance" to your instructional reference bookshelf.

This book goes beyond erotic romance and is, I think, a gem for anyone who wants to write romance of any sort. The exercises are great. Most of the topics worth thinking about even if your stories never gets beyond the bedroom door. It's all about the TENSION.

I got a lot out of it, but I wish this book had been around a few years ago when I was a newbie writer.

Well, okay, so it's the only one on Erotic Romance. That changes nothing, however, for this book delivers. I bought it as soon as it released and am a little more than halfway through the book, but I can tell you from what I've read so far that it is a VERY good reference book. It has the most information I've come across for writing romance AND erotic romance. I've read books before on writing erotica and they just didn't help me one iota in learning what I needed to know. If you write erotic romance or just plain romance, this is an invaluable tool to the published and unpublished alike. I am very exited about this book and believe me, I've read enough to know when one is good and not simply repeating what other books say. Buy this one, you won't regret spending the money. Very good info for those needing to know how to combine romance and erotica, as well as how to write those steamy scenes!!

Alison Kent, author of this book, is a good writer. Her style is very personable, light, and easy to read.

The book itself lacks structure and is all over the place. There is no order to it.

I read the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published" which I would give 6 stars if I could. That book is structured beginning from choosing what you want to write (sub genre of romance), plotting your story, developing characters, writing dialogue, and even how much certain category lines pay.

Being from the same "Complete Idiot's" series, I guess I expected the same organized structure with this book but it wasn't there. There was no order to the book other than random writing about various topics.

And it's more about romance writing and the "sexuality" of romance writing than erotica. There are hardly any writing examples and no paying market list. So what? You learn how to write erotica. Who do you sell your manuscripts to? No information in this book concerning paying markets.

Then the author has interviews in the back of the book of successful erotica writers. One says that romance writers are jealous of erotica writers because they make more money. And what money would that be? No ballpark figures of what erotica writers make is ever discussed. No specific markets to sell your manuscripts to is ever discussed. It leaves a lot to ones imagination. Are these "erotica" writers writing porn scripts? Are they writing stories for True Confessions? None of that is ever clear.

This is a good resource for romance writers who want more information about delving into writing sex scenes. The author knows how to write sex, I think. Strangely, there are no examples. I found that to be necessary in a book like this. You can only talk about writing sex for so long before you actually have to provide examples in order to allow the reader to get an idea of how to do it. No examples exist in this book.

Finally, the book was dragged out much longer than it had to be. If she would have provided examples with each topic she was talking about (i.e. point of view, kissing scenes, love-making scenes, passive vs. active writing, etc.) then it wouldn't have been necessary to describe writing sex as long as she had in this book. It was like her describing what a red Mustang is in 100,000 words when a picture would have done the trick much more effectively.

Advice: If you want to become a romance writer read "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published" and pass on this book. Read a lot of the category or genre you really want to write and learn character development, dialogue, plotting, etc. from the books you read.

If you want to become an erotica writer, this book is NOT what you need. It's too "soft" for true erotica writing. I'm not sure why "Erotic" is in the title of this book when it just talks about writing no hotter than your average Silhouette romance.

Get a book that is true to the genre of erotica like "How to Write Erotica" by Valerie Kelly. She actually gives you writing examples of things that she actually published and paying markets where you can sell your erotic writing.

Solid, clear discussion of what it takes to get readers involved in your story, chopped up in easy-to-digest bites of writing wisdom. Dozens of clear ideas on how to make your story characters jump off the page and into the mind along with a plot that keeps you tagging along way past your bedtime.. A good deal more than merely "Hot tips for writing in this sexy new subgenre!" But on-the-money with that, too.

This book is an excellent resource for writers interested in erotic romance. Ms. Kent has authored a seminal work on the subject. I teach romance writing classes and I'm refering this book to my students who write erotic stories. I wish this text had been available when I started writing.

I tend to take notes when I'm reading a book like this, on the craft of writing. I can refer back to my notes quickly when I need reminding or have a question. Because of this I tend to read these "How To" books a little differently than a casual reader. During this process (the reading and note taking) I have fought the urge to hit my head on a wall repeatedly. The author repeats the same assertions again and again in six different ways without shining any new light on the subjects. What's worse, the subjects are repeated in six different chapters, and again, nothing new is said. There's a section on the basics of how to write fiction. Which should have been left to a book on beginners fiction writing and not something I feel is beyond the basics. This is a book on how to think about having your characters think of safe sex. I was disappointed that there are no discussions on the stages of romance, or how a couple can get from first sight to intimacy. Nothing along those lines, except a referral to another book. Grrr. I realize its an entry level book to the topic. All "Complete Idiot..." books are. But this entry level is to the level of banality. I would not buy this book again. I'd rent it from a library, borrow it from a friend, or more realistically I'd skip it all together. There's nothing here that you couldn't find online or figure out yourself using common sense. Unfortunate really.

This manual is great and likely different from some of the other how-to manuals on the subject of romance fiction that you might have already read.

Kent spends a great deal of time dissecting what makes erotic romance fiction different from romance fiction. Detailing the distinction between genres/subgenres is what makes this guide different. I also really appreciate the insightful guidance about how to write in Deep Third Person Point of View. Also, Kent solicits and includes relevant and helpful feedback and advice from many prominent authors in the erotic romance genre.

This is a great book for beginning writers but I have read a great many published books whose authors should pick up a copy too.

If you are truly an idiot about writing in general and romance in particular, this book is for you. In it, you will find lots and lots of generalized statements about writing, all of which are true, but none of which are specific, detail-driven, or anything you can't find for free on the internet. More than half of the book is about either basic fiction writing skills or basic romance writing skills. Very little is specific to erotic romance, and what little there is, is frustratingly vague.

You can get everything you need to know about what Kent is saying from the headings, because though she blathers on in prose for a paragraph or two beneath each, she always concludes with, "Well, you could do this or you could do that, whatever works for you!" In a guide to writing, I expect specific examples and steps to complete a task. I have the option, as a reader, not to follow the writer's advice, but I paid to get advice, and I'd like some, please.

Overall, Kent is really just writing "about" erotic romance, not telling one "how to write" erotic romance. She makes generalizations and goes into various descriptions, but doesn't break down anything step by step. If you'd like good, solid, specific advice on that, I'd recommend Morgan Hawke's website or Emma Holly's. (That was galling too. She kept pointing you to other books and resources to check out, but never telling you ANYTHING specific about what to do.)

In the end, not worth the $14, but I can't say it was money wasted if it helps to support Kent's writing career. I hope she's getting some good royalty payments for this. Anything an author can do to keep herself making a living is something I'm all for! (But, Ms. Kent, may I recommend you stick to writing fiction, as teaching is not your forte.)