Hi guys, today we are joining Storm Moon Press for their 4th Anniversary, they have sent Azalea Moone to do a guest post and they have also sent two fantastic Giveaways!! The first is Azalea’s with a chance is win Angel’s Redemption and the second is Storm Moon Press’s where the grand prize is receiving an ebook a Month for 12 months…. that’s 12 ebooks! What a fantastic prize!
So guy’s check out the post and click the Rafflecopter links to enter these brilliant Giveaways, I know I will be 😉 ~Pixie~
All month long, we’re celebrating diversity with Storm Moon Press for their 4th anniversary. But what exactly is diversity? Well Merriam-Webster dictionary describes diversity as: “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements.” That would mean there are several kinds of… well, everything in the world. Like chocolate! White chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, etc. Excuse me while I devour all the chocolate!
Now that I have acquired a sugar high, we’ll continue. Okay, I won’t lie, I used to hate romance fiction when I was younger. Sure, I tried reading one of those popular romance stories, ya’ll know, from one of the biggest publishers of romance. Those sweet, and not so sweet, “I’m a perfect woman who’s going to fall in love with this big, bad Fabio looking dude over here” titles made me puke. So it surprised the hell out of me when I picked up, and loved, writing erotic romance two years ago.
But I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed that romance has changed dramatically from those older titles back in the 70s and 80s. Apologies to those who grew up with and loved those stories.
One major change is there are so many different character personalities, now. A variety of endings, a variety of genres, a diverse crop to keep readers entertained and gushing over a book for hours. I’ve found myself in the same pool, screaming “OMG, this book is so hot! I need moar.”
As a new author of M/M fiction, I knew I had a lot to consider before taking the plunge. One decision was which genre to write in. Should stick to one or the other? Yes, there are a wide variety of genres, aren’t there? I started with paranormal since that was the most familiar for me, but the more I read, the more I found that I developed a love for contemporary romances and fantasies and wanted to try writing them, too. Why should I stick with just one? As a diverse author, I try to write in a variety of different genres to broaden my experience and see what I truly love out of all of them. And I’ve had a lot of fun, and have found that I enjoy a wide variety of fiction genres.
I also must weave different character personalities into my fiction, different scenarios, different lifestyles, and more. Since everyone in real life is unique, why can’t fictional characters represent that? No one in real life is a Mary Sue. Not everyone is totally accepting of themselves, not just in the manner of sexual preference, but other aspects of their lives. Not everyone has the ideal job, or the perfect relationship, or the greatest family. Plus, weaving realistic scenarios into my stories allows me to explore all the possible endings to find the one that is just right for my characters, whether it’s a HEA, HFN, or bittersweet.
Another thing I’ve found myself gushing over is the heat level of books today. Back when “Fabio” type romances were popular, a writer couldn’t dare use a sort of language that would defile the book’s pages. A more suitable description used purple prose, or a fade to black. Today, it’s a necessity, and books are getting steamier. I never thought I’d be writing full fledged sex scenes, but here I am, finding it absolutely imperative that my characters have at least one (if not more) muscle-tensing, sweat-building, heart-racing good time. I can’t close the doors because I want to see it, too! And I try to change each scene up, meaning some scenes might be vanilla, while others might require something more taboo.
That’s the one thing that turned me on to Storm Moon Press, and put their press at the top of my list: their variety of fiction tales, especially those of the taboo flavor. Many of these topics other presses won’t touch with a ten foot pole, but Storm Moon Press recognizes the need for quality fiction in these topics such as bro-cest and dub-con fiction. Just as everyone is different, so are their reading tastes. While some may want sweet romance, which SMP also serves, some readers may want something more extreme that isn’t too easily found at a publisher website.
I don’t know… have things changed? Is there a bigger, broader variety of books on the market now? What do you think?
This post is part of Storm Moon Press’ 4th Anniversary Blog Tour! Thank you for joining us, and please take a moment to enter Azalea Moone’s giveaway for Angel’s Redemption as well as our blog-tour-wide giveaway! The prize is receiving an ebook each month from SMP for 12 months! We hope to see you around the Internet and at RainbowCon in 2014! Happy New Year!
SMP’s 4th Anniversary Rafflecopter Giveaway
Azalea Moone’s “Angel’s Redemption” Rafflecopter Giveaway
I remember Susie Bright saying that it was rare to see racier sex terms and and emphasis on female pleasure in mainstream romance for quite some time…I don’t read a lot of m/f romance, but I’d suppose that’s changing. (I still tend to find the whole alpha-male trope annoying and omnipresent, but that’s just me.) I think the scope is broadening, but pop culture doesn’t always act like it is…
I think the romance titles have grown more diverse or at the very least bolder and gaining more popularity. A lot of books have found their way to becoming movies as of late that may not have found their way to the movie screen a decade ago.