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

If you are a new writer; never published and find that you are somewhat lacking in the area of Erotic Romance, I do not recommend this book as a guide that will enable you to write your erotic love scenes effectively, thus pulling your readers in; as well as heighten the excitement and anticipation of your lovers in print; in other words "brain sex," whether explicit or done in a way so as not to be crude as your story unfolds.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance is full of opinions that lack depth, as well as workable simple formulas by both the author and other published authors whose comments appear in the back of the book (some who are best selling authors). I found the publication to be of no help at all. Good examples and a guide for structure and/or tension building is what I expected to get from reading the reviews that sold me on the book. In regard to drafting your erotic love scenes, acquiring a method of tension building among the lovers that is required to gain and maintain your readers interest how-to was severely lacking.

In closing....if you need serious help in this area....please look elsewhere for information that will help you to enhance your characters in the bedroom, as well as outside of it as they travel along the lovers erotic adventure you have chosen to write.

NH
New Author

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.

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.

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.

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.