Happy Thursday, darlings! Today I have the pleasure of hosting the lovely
JC Wallace and his novel
Curiosity Killed Shaney. This is a blog tour so there are a bunch of prizes being given away!
Hi, everyone! I
want to thank Elyzabethfor inviting me to the blog. Curiosity Killed Shaney
is my first published novel and I am thrilled to share this story with all of
you.
This blog tour
got huge fast! There are awesome prizes to that will be given away at the end
of the tour. At the end of this post, you will find a link to enter! Check in at www.jcwallacebooks.com for links to all of the
blogsin the tour and you can enter as much as you like!
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Sex Scene Writing...Yeah or Nay?
I love to read sex scenes in my M/M novels. In fact,
if there aren’t sex scenes, then I’m less likely to read it. It’s just
something I like in my stories. I don’t read het romance so don’t ask me about
M/F sex scenes.
Unfortunately, writing sex scenes when compared the
rest of the story isn’t much fun for me. I had one reader tell me how much this
revelation disappointed her, which was odd to me because whether or not I
enjoyed writing a scene shouldn’t matter. There have been hundreds of other
scenes without sex that I’ve wanted to shun as well. So, what is it with sex
scenes that makes me want to skip them all together when I enjoy reading them?
Well, here’s a short list...
They are
tedious and detailed.
When writing sex scenes, you really have to stop and
really think of mechanics. It’s more than two bodies writhing and joining in
sexual bliss. Body placement - arms, legs, lying down, facing one another, sitting,
standing, where the two people are in relation to one another - are all of
major importance. It’s technical and, I feel after writing numerous sex scenes,
I have an inkling of what porn directors or actors go through when filming. It
gets pretty exact. I recently read some hilarious sex scenes from published
stories reprinted on a blog. Some of the things the authors had body parts
doing were physically impossible. While you’re shouldn’t be narrating a sex
scene move by move, you always have to know where body parts are and what
they’re doing. That takes some real concentration on my part when the
participants are supposedly out of their minds with passion.
Needing more
than the same old, same old.
Some sex scenes can get pretty wild, when, in an attempt
to add something fresh and new to the romance genre (gay and het), authors may go
to extremes...On the backs of moving horses (really?). Or with werewolves (one
step from bestiality). Or using descriptors that are more ridiculous than they
sound such as “man sword” and “fluttering hole.” But without venturing out and
striving to create something different, then you just get the same old sex
scenes reproduced over and over. Finding new ways to describe what each person
is feeling physically and emotionally usually requires several hundred trips to
the Thesaurus. In many M/M books I’ve read, I’ve seen the following progression
over and over (may vary slightly):
Man sees/meets hot man.
Man jerks off to visions of hot man in the shower. Man and hot man give each
other blowjobs or rub one off on one another. Man and hot man have sexual
intercourse in the shower (because their dirty, of course). Man and hot man
have sexual intercourse in the bed. Man and hot man are
separated or have a falling out. Man and hot man have make-up sex. The end.
I raise my hand in guilt with following some of this
pattern and I am trying to better my sex scene writing in the future.
Not in the
mood.
You’re MCs are hot and panting and ready and you’re
not. You really have to get into something remotely resembling the current mood
of your MCs. You can write sex scenes when you’re exhausted and have about as
much sex drive as a dead person, but this makes the writing even more aversive.
You really don't want to write a sex scene if you're pissed off at someone,
unless maybe it's angry sex. I rarely ever skip a sex scene and come back to it
because sex scenes must do the same as every other scene—drive the plot
forward. MCs should never have sex just to have a sex scene. Something must
happen during that scene that adds information to the story, even if it’s as
simple as one of the MCs realizing they actually love the other person, or that
the sex they just had with the other person wasn’t enjoyable (not necessarily
the kiss of death you might think it is in a romance). Yeah, being in the mood,
really important.
In conclusion, I love to read sex scenes. Writing them
not so much, however...once I’ve
written them and hashed them out in my story, I think, “Hey, this turned out
pretty good” and “Okay, that wasn’t so
bad” —until I have to write the next one.
What do I think goes into a good sex scene? I’ll save
that for a future post.Thanks for stopping by!Tomorrow, the blog tour will visit the blog of Jon Keys.
Hope to see you there!
Available at
Shaney's curiosity is always getting
him into trouble, including stumbling into a ritualistic circle and being
imbued with an energy that will eventually tear him apart. He soon finds out
that Hudson, a man he cares for deeply, might be responsible for his
misfortune. Add in the betrayal by his best friend Todd and the desire of a
demented occultist named Silas to control the energy inside of him and there
seems to be no way out. Can Shaney find a way to rid his body of the nefarious
energy before he dies a horrible death?
~ ~ Excerpt ~ ~
“How old are you?” Shaney asked.
The silence was driving him batty.
The side of Hudson’s jaw twitched.
“Twenty-six.”
“And Hudson. Is that like Rock
Hudson or the Hudson River?
Another flinch of that muscle but that movement wasn’t an
angry twitch. The man couldn’t be nervous, could he?
“Hudson River.”
“Cool. Named after a river. I think I was named after a
three-year-old. Is your middle name River?”
“No.”
“Does anyone call you Huds for short?”
“No.”
“Uh-huh.”
And those were the last words they spoke to each other until
they reached the cabin.
As the trees thinned, the one-story fishing cabin came into
view. Not as eerie as Shaney had pictured in his head. The green paint was
weathered and a few shingles were missing, but overall the building was
well-maintained. The windows were the old metal frame kind with single panes of
glass. Definitely a summer cabin. Winters in the Adirondacks got down right
bitter, often dipping into the double-digit negative numbers. Shaney hated the
cold as much as his balls did. Hibernation was his winter activity of choice.
This, of course, made the other natives scoff since the area was all about
winter sports. They were less than thirty minutes from the Olympic Village of
Lake Placid. Maybe if they had something exciting, like Extreme Ice Fishing,
Shaney could be drawn out of his warm apartment, if only for the entertainment
value. He envisioned ice fisherman sitting on their buckets while skiers pulled
behind snowmobiles zigged and zagged around them. One missed zag and fishermen,
poles, and fish would all go flying.
“Shaney!”
Shaney looked up to see Hudson scowling; jaw clenched tight,
dark eyes glaring. Man, had anyone ever looked that annoyed with Shaney?
“What?”
“Care to join me?” He growled.
“Sure,” Shaney said and followed until the man stopped
short. Shaney’s sneaker slid in the mud and he tried to stop, but his body
plastered itself to Hudson’s backside. Shaney’s arms automatically wrapped
tight around Hudson’s waist to steady his legs.
Oh, hells
bells, this feels so good. The heat from
Hudson went straight to Shaney’s groin and for just a second Shaney breathed in
leather and earth and sweat. When his brain caught up, Shaney jumped back as if
his body had come into contact with a hot surface.
Hot is right, he thought as his sneakers slipped again, and he ended up
sprawled on his back in the mud. Without hesitation, Hudson reached down and
grabbed Shaney’s wrist, yanking him upright.
Hudson surveyed Shaney from head to toe and Shaney felt
every inch as a caress. Why did Hudson make Shaney squirm in his skin, make him
desire the feel of the strong man over him, under him, behind him…anyway he
could get him? After only two hours with the plaid-covered hunk, Shaney’s
sexual tension had risen to levels that were about to blow his heads off—all
three of them.
Suddenly, Hudson’s jaw unclenched and his eyes lightened.
Even his shoulders relaxed. Shaney’s breath caught at the soft openness gazing
down at him. Butterflies beat furiously in the pit of Shaney’s stomach. He ran
his tongue across his bottom lip. Hudson’s eyes intently followed the movement.
Slowly, he lifted his hand toward Shaney’s face. Was he going to touch Shaney? Yes, touch me. Shaney wanted to step
closer and nuzzle his cheek into that palm. A slight hesitation of his hand, a
flicker of something in Hudson’s eyes, and Shaney froze. Hudson’s hand
continued up and a light brush of fingertips across the bump on his scalp sent
shivers zinging down Shaney’s spine. There wasn’t enough air.
“Does it hurt?” Hudson asked in a low, rough voice as he
watched his own fingers stroking Shaney’s head.
Please,
don’t ever stop.
“Not too much anymore. I guess if I knocked it again,
probably.” Shaney’s gaze never left Hudson’s face. How rare was that open
honesty?
Hudson’s eyes flicked down to meet Shaney’s and for one
perfect moment, Shaney stopped thinking. But as quick as a rabbit fleeing a
fox, Hudson’s hand snapped back and the tension that had been momentarily
absent, now filled Hudson’s face.
Curiosity Killed Shaney
Blog Tour Giveaway!!
Shaney
is so excited about his story being told that he is giving away some great
prizes!
P.S.
He’s really excited to give them away!
Prizes:
1- $25 Amazon Gift Card
2 Curiosity Killed Shaney Ebooks
2 of Maximus’ “Duct Tape” T-shirts
3 “Freeze Warlock” Coffee Mugs
2 $5 Amazon Gift Cards
You
can enter daily along the blog tour, as often as you like!
About JC Wallace
I have been writing all of my life, however it was just
this year that I ventured out to be published. In my day job, I am a behavior
analyst. At night and on the weekends, I write about all things men. I believe
there is nothing hotter than two men finding and loving one another, whether
for a night or forever. An avid reader of M/M romance, I love a good twist of a
plot, HEA, HFN, or tragic ending.
I am owned by three kids, one grandchild and one on the way, two dogs and one
cat. I live in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in Northern NY
