No, I’m not talking food here. I’m asking how hot (or sexy) do you like your romance novels to be. (Also – here’s a pic to wish you a Happy Humpday, er, I meant Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week. Yay us!)
Some people have asked me why I chose the heat level I use for my books. For those who don’t know, heat level can refer to how much sex is in the book. If it’s a sweet romance, everything pretty much happens behind closed doors and you won’t read about it on the page. On the other end of the spectrum, for example, would be erotica where everything is out in the open, so to speak. My books tend to fall in the middle: there’s sex, it’s descriptive (and sometimes graphically descriptive). The heat level might go up (as it did for Sarah & Vittorio’s story, Royals #9), but overall I tend to stay consistent. Why did I choose this heat level?
Because I liked reading books with that heat level or higher.
Just like I started writing royal romances because I loved them, I also write books with a higher heat level because I love to read them. There are a lot of great sweet and lower heat romance authors out there – just to be clear, I’m not saying there’s anything at all wrong with sweet or low heat romances. It’s just not what I prefer, and that’s the great thing about the romance genre.
There’s something here for everyone.
Whether you want it sweet or scorching, whether you want to read about monogamous relationships, threesomes, open relationships, polygamous relationships, royal relationships, amish relationships, and all of the wonderful things that encompass paranormal romance (were-animals, vampires, and more) – there’s something for you. Whether you want to read about the man next door, a childhood friend, a motorcycle club president, the movie star, the rock star, the sports star, the prince (or princess), and just about every trope you can think of – there’s something here for you, too.
As to writing these sexy scenes, I’ll say it wasn’t easy at first. Now, over a dozen novels in, it does get easier. Sometimes, as with any creative medium, you’ll find yourself in a zone where the story overtakes you. When I was writing Sarah & Vittorio’s story, for example, they just landed on the page as highly sexual characters, and their scenes are some of the hottest I’ve ever written. Just as a painter might find themselves lost in their latest painting, sometimes writers get lost in the page, too. (And who wouldn’t want to get lost with my Prince Vittorio? Or any prince for that matter?)
What kind of heat level do you like in your books? Comment below and let me know!
~xoxo Marianne
This is Post 9 of 100 as part of the #100DaysofMKAuthorLife.