Romance and Erotica books have a huge number of fans all over the world. As an author, do you think your stories have positive influence on your readers? We have asked this question to all 7 authors as their stories are capable of shaping the mind of young readers. It’s time to know what all SEVEN Romance & Erotica authors think about this. A couple of days earlier, we revealed the answers for Question #5 “Violence in Your story, YAY or NAY?”For those of you reading this post and not knowing what’s going on, we interviewed Romance and Erotica authors last month. You can click on the authors’ names below to learn about them more.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all seven authors who took part in this author interview!

This month, we are interviewing Young Adult authors and if you have any questions for them, please send in your question via this link. It will take less than 5 minutes. I promise! 🙂 

Here is the answer to the 6th question: “Do you believe that Romance can shape the thoughts of the younger generation through their stories? Can they successfully convey their message to readers?”

1) Author #1 Anne Conley

Absolutely!  Romance is about life and love, overcoming hardships, dealing with conflicts and communicating with others.  Those are all ways authors can help shape thoughts of readers, by showing ways to do all those things, and the consequences.  Stories have been used to shape thoughts for EVER.  Beowulf was an oral tale that spoke of taking care of responsibilities, and later when it was written down, included aspects of Christianity.  Julius Caesar was a thinly disguised political protest.   

2) Author #2: Marie Lavender

I do believe that romance can be influential.  It had an enormous impact on me growing up.  I always loved romance stories.  I think what we see shapes how we view the world.  For example, I grew up in a close-knit family and I saw the romance between my mother and father every day.  I knew that was real love.  Obviously, there are children that don’t have the same thing in their lives so turning to books that show that isn’t a bad idea.  Seeing that ideal of romantic love can help a young woman or man believe that that kind of love is possible, maybe even look for it in their own lives.  Real life isn’t simple.  It is challenging.  But, I did find true love and I believe anyone can.  Everyone deserves to find happiness.

3) Author #3: Emily Eck

I’ve heard talk of Amazon not wanting to sell erotica because young readers may be able to access it. I work with youth and sadly, few read. If a young person takes the time to either buy an Amazon gift card, score a credit card, log onto Amazon (or any other e-book retailer), then find a means to download the material, either onto their computer, phone, e-reader,etc–hell, at that point I say let them read it. Honestly, most kids won’t go to all that trouble. I’d rather have them reading books about sex than watching it on TV. In the United States, there are many adults with low literacy levels. I think we need to encourage our youth to read. Read anything! Comic books, manga, the cereal box, and if they really take the time to get it, let them read 50 Shades. At least they would be reading. 

4) Author #4: AJ Summer

Love is the best feeling you’ll ever experience, be it in real life or with your favorite fictional character. Write the right book and people will fall in love with your words. If you can strengthen their belief in love and romance I’d say that’s a job well done. So yes, books can definitely convey that message. 

5) Author #5: Lucien Bane

My books are not appropriate for anyone under 18, but I believe romance books in general do shape the thoughts of readers, which is why as a writer, I take great care about what thoughts I give. I want to make sure the shaping is realistic and free enough for the reader to not feel what they are reading is a required formula, but just a possible pattern. I want to teach them that their lives are their lives, and my pattern will never match theirs. But what I can do is show them how to find their formula and attain it.  

6) Author #6: Annie Edmonds

I think the younger generation that’s reading erotic romance already has an idea of what sex is about. The next generation by the age of 25 has already had more sex than I ever did by the time I got to that age. And I’m not sayin it’s wrong either. I’m saying most of the next generation can teach me and people my age a few things about letting their inhibitions go. 

As for relationships that’s where they need help. I know a few younger men and women in their twenties.  These kids as I call them are always breaking up with their boyfriends and girlfriends. For some reason they just can’t keep it together. The jealousy they have if someone looks at another person is nuts.

I think not talking to each other and using text messages and e-mails has a lot to do with how these young people communicate and don’t.  

7) author #7: Larae Parry

I believe just about anything can shape the thoughts of the younger generation. That’s why romances have subcategories, like chic-flic, comedy, erotica, etc.,

Good writers are always able to convey their message to readers—that’s a lot of power—it’s scary when you think about it.

Question #7 is “What do you hope to achieve through your writing journey? What’s your message to your readers? Why must they give your book a try?”

What do you think these authors’s will be? Watch out for the next post !

Signing out,

Jasveena

Founder of IBP

http://www.internationalbookpromotion.yolasite.com

Have you ever read a Romance or an Erotica book with violence being a part of the story? What do you personally feel? YAY or NAY? We have asked this question to all 7 authors as their stories are capable of shaping the mind of young readers. It’s time to know what all SEVEN Romance & Erotica authors think about this. Yesterday, we revealed the answers for Question #4 “If you write sex scenes, do you write it because you feel it is important to the story, or because you think you need one to sell the book?“ For those of you reading this post and not knowing what’s going on, we interviewed Romance and Erotica authors last month. You can click on the authors’ names below to learn about them more.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all seven authors who took part in this author interview!

This month, we are interviewing Young Adult authors and if you have any questions for them, please send in your question via this link. It will take less than 5 minutes. I promise! 🙂 

Here is the answer to the 5th question: “Have you ever incorporate violence in your story? What do you think of stories exhibiting male dominance? How detrimental is the effect of it to readers?”

1) Author #1 Anne Conley

Sometimes violence is a great plot device to add conflict and suspense to a story, however it can be overdone, and I try to be careful about that.  I enjoy reading books with strong, dominant males, but have a hard time writing them.  To read a book with that sort of character, they need to be damaged somehow, have some sort of weakness to redeem by the end of the story. I don’t know the effect it would have on readers, generally, but I don’t enjoy reading about assholes who get the girl by being an asshole.

2) Author #2: Marie Lavender

That is a good question.  Truthfully, I abhor violence at all, but I know life is full of it.  I think that a violent hero might be necessary in certain situations, like in war or in the midst of protecting someone.  But, violence toward women or children is simply inexcusable.  It makes me really think back to the bodice rippers of the 60s or 70s because a lot of those tended to have male dominance.  I personally dealt with this issue in one of my own past relationships so it really hits home for me.  I think that it’s not necessary to have that kind of male dominance.  A real romance is a relationship between two people that have mutual respect for each other.  Having an arrogant character is one thing.  But, violence?  No, that’s not acceptable.  I can’t even stomach BDSM scenarios in erotica. Have I written about sensitive topics before?  Of course.  Because it’s out there, and it happens.  But, it doesn’t mean I want to show that it’s okay either.  The violence that happens in my books is done by other characters, by villains.  A hero should have some redeeming qualities even if he is a little dark, and he should certainly know how to treat a woman.

3) Author #3: Emily Eck

 There is violence in my books. As per questions three, my heroine is rather dominant. I know there are many alpha male books out there, and women eat them up. I think as a woman, it’s wired into our brains from prehistoric days to want a man to take care of us. In this day and age, women no longer need to be physically taken care of. What we are often looking for is a man to take care of us emotionally.  Sure, you have stories where women get kidnapped, are victims of violence, or other heinous acts to which the hero saves her from, essentially being her physical caretaker. To many women, I think this speaks to those prehistoric desires to have a man ready to lay his life on the line for his woman’s protection. Either way, in the romance genre, a weak hero is not going to sell. So a dominant male is commonplace. I personally do not care for weak heroines, though there are women out their who do. I have nothing against them, the books, they read, or their preference. To each their own. I know there are people who disliked my heroine’s aggressive nature. That’s fine. We are all different.

The sexual slavery theme seems to be all the rage. I personally cannot read it. I find it gives me nightmares. There may be a happy ending in the story for those fictional women, but I can’t read it long enough to get there. It makes my stomach roll. That being said, I don’t have issue with others who read this material. In the United States, we are more or less free to read what we please. I would never want to take the right away from someone. Unfortunately, in real life, sexual slavery is real, and there is no happily ever after for those women. 

4) Author #4: AJ Summer

Yes, I have violence in my stories. But just like with everything else that comes their way, my characters survive. They grow through it and come out stronger. 
How the reader experience this all depends on their own situation.
As for male dominance, if you aren’t into that type of read, then don’t read the book. I do believe the author should warn potential readers about it beforehand. 

5) Author #5: Lucien Bane

I like to demonstrate the right and wrong dominance in the Dom Wars Series. It’s important to strike that distinction in the mind of readers, it’s what they’re all wondering about. They’ve seen the wrong way glorified when in reality, there is nothing glorious about it. Show them the good dominance and the good pain, and they are able to choose what they want and not get fooled into the other.  

6) Author #6: Annie Edmonds

Yes I incorporate violence in my stories. And male dominance is prevalent in a book with BDSM. But there are men who will step over the line of Dominance and those are the men that are evil. 

They take advantage and use women for their own sick sexual pleasure. I write this kind of story because women should be aware of who they are submitting to before they decide to be submissive to any male. 

Trust is important in any relationship. But when that relationship involves kink or BDSM it’s even more important. And trust doesn’t happen over night. It takes time. 

This is something that I’ve learned a great deal about from the FetLife.com  community. Don’t go and meet a so called Dom who you’ve only spoken to over the phone or internet. 

To think he is going to be Christian Grey from Fifty shades or a Jake Monroe, or Mike Sloan from my books would be a huge mistake in real life.  

7) author #7: Larae Parry

Wow . . . this is deep. Yes. I incorporated violence in my story (The Danish Pastry). But, I swear Troy, the antagonist, wanted to do it.

I don’t think much about stories exhibiting male dominance—domination comes in all forms. For good fiction, the story must have conflict and tension—it doesn’t matter where or who it comes from.

I don’t know how detrimental the effect of male domination has on readers. I hope my readers realize they are reading fiction. Gulp.

 

Question #6 is “Do you believe that Romance can shape the thoughts of the younger generation through their stories? Can they successfully convey their message to readers?”

What do you think these authors’s will be? Watch out for the next post !

Signing out,

Jasveena

Founder of IBP

http://www.internationalbookpromotion.yolasite.com

So, what do you think? Can sex sell a book? Is Fifty Shades of Gray a good example to look at? It’s time to know what all SEVEN Romance & Erotica authors think about this. Yesterday, we revealed the answers for Question #3 “Who is more powerful in your story? The hero or heroine?“ For those of you reading this post and not knowing what’s going on, we interviewed Romance and Erotica authors last month. You can click on the authors’ names below to learn about them more.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all seven authors who took part in this author interview!

This month, we are interviewing Young Adult authors and if you have any questions for them, please send in your question via this link. It will take less than 5 minutes. I promise! 🙂 

Here is the answer to the 4th question: “If you write sex scenes, do you write it because you feel it is important to the story, or because you think you need one to sell the book?”

1) Author #1 Anne Conley

Haha!  A lot of my sex scenes I write into the story because it’s the natural progression of the arc of the type of romances I write.  Other times, I’m writing about a topic that’s close to my heart, and I write the sex to cheer myself up.  Falling for Him was about a marriage that needed help, and that one was incredibly close to me, and ended up being pretty erotic…

2) Author #2: Marie Lavender

No, I never write to “sell” it.  I write a love scene if I feel it is necessary for the story or characters.  I have also written books with little or no details regarding sex.  I think it completely depends on what the book is about and who the characters are.

3) Author #3: Emily Eck

A little of both. I like to read sex, so I like to write sex. In the romance genre, depending on your target audience, you may need the sex to sell the book. I feel like I keep coming back to this idea that each person likes different things. My mother read my books and said in regards to the sex scenes, “Maybe you could have left more to the imagination.” That was her opinion. I told her to go back to her biographies of Holocaust survivors. (She loves those!) For my story, the first book is laden with sex as that is when the hero and heroine fall in love. In book two, there is very little sex, as that was not the focus of the story line. I think it all depends on the story, the author, and the reader. 

4) Author #4: AJ Summer

I struggle incorporating sex into my books. I always think of my Mom reading it. I don’t plan sex scenes but if it happens, I just go with it. 

5) Author #5: Lucien Bane

For me, sex is the deepest language of love. My book would be an empty shell without it, because when I have sex with the woman I love, my entire universe is speaking and expressing itself. It’s very three dimensional for me and no erotic story of mine could ever exist without that language.  

6) Author #6: Annie Edmonds

I chose to write erotic romance and that involves sex scenes. To sell books the story has to be good. Or It doesn’t matter how much sex you put into your books.

 And the sex has to be real.  Sure I go a little overboard with how much sex Sammy and Jake had in Second Chances. But it’s fiction. And the way I look at it is it sure would be fun to try and have all that sex. 

When I read an erotic romance I can’t wait for the sex scenes. So what I tried to do is put a sex scene in every chapter. And may I add that it wasn’t easy. 

7) author #7: Larae Parry

I don’t write sex scenes. I have some wonderful author friends who take care of that department extremely well. I’m just happy when my characters kiss.

Question #5 is “Have you ever incorporated violence in your story? What do you think of stories exhibiting male dominance? How detrimental is the effect of it to readers?”

What do you think these authors’s will be? Watch out for the next post !

Signing out,

Jasveena

Founder of IBP

http://www.internationalbookpromotion.yolasite.com

It’s time to reveal the answers for the next question from all SEVEN Romance & Erotica authors. Yesterday, we revealed the answers for Question #2 “Do you have a specific goal to achieve through your stories or is your story just for pure fun?“ For those of you reading this post and not knowing what’s going on, we interviewed Romance and Erotica authors last month. You can click on the authors’ names below to learn about them more.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all seven authors who took part in this author interview!

This month, we are interviewing Young Adult authors and if you have any questions for them, please send in your question via this link. It will take less than 5 minutes. I promise! 🙂 

Here is the answer to the THIRD question: “Who is more powerful in your story? The hero or heroine?”

1) Author #1 Anne Conley

It depends on which story you read, honestly.  It could be either one, or both. 

2) Author #2: Marie Lavender

A lot of the time, the hero is powerful. But, I don’t want my female characters to be powerless either.  I always try to make them strong and capable in a lot of different ways.

3) Author #3: Emily Eck

I see power as being something that is easily corrupted. Neither character in my series has power, per se. Their love for one another is powerful, and their actions are often driven by this love. The heroine is quite strong willed. There are lines I’ve read in books that stick in my head. I’ll save you and not quote Twilight, but there are a handful of lines from those books that were so powerful they are burned into my brain. There is one line I wrote about my heroine that stands out to me, and makes me pat my own back. Chaos is happening and the heroine takes charge. The man who is supposed to be in charge says to the hero of our story, “You need to handle your woman.” He isn’t happy that a woman is taking charge of the situation. The hero’s response to him is “You don’t handle Elle. Elle handles you.” Elle is our heroine, of course. Her strength is what draws J, our hero, to her.

J is a strong man, who can be aggressive when the situation calls for it. His love for Elle is more powerful than any single person in the book, though. It brings him to his knees various times throughout the story. 

4) Author #4: AJ Summer

Both. You have to have a strong hero, but I don’t believe in helpless heroines either. They have to compliment each other.

5) Author #5: Lucien Bane

 I would definitely say Tara. She had me by the balls the moment I met her.

6) Author #6: Annie Edmonds

This is tricky. Because my stories seem to start out with the Hero as the strong and powerful. Then somewhere they lose a little footing as they try and figure out how to make things right again. Ultimately in the end good always wins over evil. And the love shines through.

Now the heroine’s in my books are evil and especially in the book I’m writing now. Master Mike’s story has a guy named Tyler Bishop. He’s a spoiled rotten evil man. Tyler can’t handle women with strong personalities. He gets off on breaking them down. 

7) author #7: Larae Parry

Will I get in trouble if I say “both?” The Danish princess is powerful, but so is the Dax, the playboy.

Question #4 is “If you write sex scenes, do you write it because you feel it is important to the story, or because you think you need one to sell the book?”

What do you think these authors’s will be? Watch out for the next post !

Signing out,

Jasveena

Founder of IBP

http://www.internationalbookpromotion.yolasite.com