Red Knicker Day

I declare today a Red Knicker Day.



It looks like someone's been having a Red Knicker Night!

The Whore of Nightingale Farm

I've now started work on my new novel.  The working title is Poppy.  She's a character from my book Virginia, a newly-wed girl who posed for Mick the painter a couple of times.  She also ended up in his bed.  In the new book, this infidelity causes trouble with her husband.

I've written the first chapter, where Poppy's husband Steve throws her out of the house and delivers her to Ginny, whom he calls The Whore of Nightingale Farm.  I have a lot of events and characters planned for Poppy's future.  These may include a night raid, and a visit by Ginny's old lover Charlie--it's about time he got out of jail.  I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in chapter 2!

On a mundane note, the shenanigans with Whiskey Creek Press and Start Publishing had demotivated me so that I've hardly written a word for months.  Well, it now looks like being sorted out--in a few more months.  And whatever happens, I'm back writing again!  Yippee!

Harmony in the Harem: a new departure.

Mae West said that faced with the choice between two evils, she'd always go for the one she hadn't tried yet.  My latest book, A Taste for Blood, is my first vampire story and the one I'm writing now is another first: the lovers are men.
I've made references to 'boy-on-boy' action in earlier books: In Rose Without Thorns there were the Gay Gardeners, but that's definitely a woman-man romance.
Now I've got the last two chapters of Harmony in the Harem in first-draft form.  Although it includes lots of heterosexual activity, this time the romance is homosexual.  I hope you all enjoy it.  I expect it will come out in late 2014.
To keep you going till then my full-length BDSM novel Garden of Thorns  is to be published in early 2014.
Busy, busy, busy!

Contract Signed!

I've just signed a contract with Torrid Books for publication of my twelfth title: Garden of Thorns.

Here's the blurb:

q  “It isn’t easy, being a dominatrix.”  Tormented by a love she cannot even declare, Jennie flees to the city, where she’s fired from her job, betrayed by her boyfriend, and can’t pay the rent.  Her landlord offers a solution: she can be nice to him—and to all his friends.  She meets black-clad Galatea and her sullen chauffeuse, who take her to their home. They offer her work, training, and a place to stay.   But she must work as a dominatrix, train as a slave, and there are fetters chained to her bed.  Has Jennie forsaken the frying-pan for the fire?  If she escapes the dungeon must she sell her body to pay the rent?  Can she win through her troubles and rediscover love?

I'll post when I hear the publication date.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Love, Yvonne

Garden of Thorns

I've just sent my novel off to Torrid Books.  I hope they like it.

The Background

My heroine Jennie fled from her Shropshire home to live in Manchester, in my short story Everyone Gets Frisky at Weddings (Torrid Teasers #56).  Now she's finding things don't always go well in the big city, despite help from her friends Rhoda and Terry, whom she met in Everyone Gets Frisky at Weddings.  

Choosing the Title

It began life as Jennie, and this has been the working title for over a year.  Lately, I decided something more informative was required, and toyed with the title, It Isn't Easy, Being a Dominatrix.  But this is a bit cumbersome, and perhaps a little too humourous, too, though it describes the book very well.  I finally hit on Garden of Thorns, which suggests what the novel's about, and fits well among my other Garden novels: In an English Country Dungeon, In a French Country Vineyard, The Japanese Knot Garden, In a Welsh Country Garden.

The Right Length

At 78,000 words, Garden of Thorns is a little long for Torrid Books, but I hope they'll approve it.  I wrote 91,000 but have cut 13,000 of a parallel story strand told from the point of view of Carol.  I'll probably develop this into a short novel.

It Isn't Easy, Being a Dominatrix

First draft complete.
I've discarded a separate story strand because it did not add to the central story, which is Jennie's struggle to establish a fulfilling life, so the wordcount is now 77,000.  I'm doing a continuity edit now, making sure that things happen consistently in time, and sorting out my colours(!)  Then the book will lie fallow for a week or two before I edit through again and submit it for publication.  So please be patient!
Love, Yvonne 

End in Sight for Jennie

I'm starting what I think will be the final chapter, though I've not finished the penultimate one.  I know where I'm going with both, so this is not a problem.  I started writing this novel in January 2012, so it's taking a long time - and this is only the first draft! Sorry this is only a short post - I want to get on with the novel!

It Isn't Easy, Being a Dominatrix

Tormented by a love she cannot even declare, Jennie flees to the city, where she’s fired from her job, betrayed by her boyfriend, and can’t pay the rent.  Her landlord offers a solution: she can be nice to him—and to all his friends.  She meets black-clad Galatea and her sullen chauffeuse, who take her to their home.  But Galatea has a set of manacles in the garage and a whip at her belt.  Has Jennie forsaken the frying-pan for the fire?  Must she sell her body to pay the rent?  Can she win through her troubles and rediscover love?

This is the blurb for my current novel, working title: It Isn't Easy, Being a Dominatrix, which is nearing completion.  Jennie was previously heard of in Everyone Gets Frisky at Weddings, a short story in Torrid Teasers #56. 

I had an email from my publisher, Torrid Books, saying they'd not heard from me for a while, and had I got anything for them?  I had to oblige!  I now have over 80,000 words and expect to complete the first draft in the next couple of weeks.  It's a romantic but strict BDSM novel, which I hope you will enjoy.

Love,
Yvonne.

Even Writers Take Vacations

I just spent a great week with a host of other writers at the Caerleon campus of the University of Newport, South Wales.  The statue above is at the entrance to the little town.

I attended lectures on writing romances - most of my books have a romantic element, even In the Japanese Knot Garden is ultimately about the fulfilment of love.  And I gave a talk on writing erotica - well, I would, wouldn't I?  With the astonishing success of that book  there's more interest in the subject than usual.

Here's the main building, flying the Welsh dragon flag.  Although we'd had two months of almost continual rain, it's always sunny at Caerleon.

They have an annual arts festival and there are sculptures throughout the town, including the biggest Welsh love-spoon in the world.  There's even one depicting fellatio, but here's my favourite:

"You carry on with that lad, while I comb my hair."

Photographs by Mike White © 2012



Inspiration

The gleam of sunlight on the muscles of a young woman's arm, and I knew what my two heroines were going to do once they were nicely tucked up in bed.  Someone's going to get a surprise, and both will find themselves somewhere they've never been before.  There are so many ways for people to please each other.  Mmm.

Cover for Hand in Glove

Here's the definitive cover for my sexy short, Hand in Glove, to be published in August by Torrid Books.  I think the artist, Gemini Judson, has made it sexy without it being too explicit for the advertising postcards I distribute.  I can almost feel the touch of that glove on bare skin.  Brrrr!
My life is bound up with another writing project that comes to fruition at the end of June and I've been neglecting my next book.  It's a BDSM novel called Garden of Thorns.  The title is doubly appropriate: my BDSM novels all have Garden titles, and one of the characters is Carol, whom we met first in Rose Without Thorns.  While I'm not writing it I've been tormented with ideas, so I promise I'll get right down to it in July!

Virginia Released!

Yippee!  My latest book, Virginia, is now available from Torrid Books.  Here's the blurb:

Virginia lives on a small farm with her horse Diamond.  She likes the company of men, but doesn't want a permanent, exclusive relationship. She has resolved to take no husband to her bed—without his wife’s permission.  She is mistress to successful businessman Peter, and model and mistress to artist Mick.  Then Diamond falls ill, and her men both want to marry her. How can she pay the vet's bills and retain her precious independence?

 
See my website for more details: http://yvonnesarahlewis.com/

Why BDSM?

Many of us have fantasies about being dominated by someone who forces on us things that secretly excite us. It’s up to me as a writer to give the reader what she'd never admit to wanting. The more secret a desire, the more arousing it can be to have it expressed. Yet what excites the reader is not necessarily something she'd actually like to do, or have done to her. She may simply like to read about it.

I write both BDSM and vanilla erotica because I enjoy reading both.  I don't believe in a clear distinction; the labels merely indicate directions on a continuum of sexual expression.  Heathcliff is violent and frightening and so is Dracula.  Darcy is not frightening, though he's stern and forbidding.  These three protagonists lie at different points on the line, but all are romantically and sexually attractive. Their dark aspects are a large part of their attraction.  Morticia (The Addams Family) says, "You frightened me...  Do it again."

My characters have different positions on the sexual spectrum. Despite her sexual enthusiasm, Rhoda stands towards the vanilla end. Helen is more adventurous, ranging along the line, enjoying severe BDSM and vanilla by turns.

The sadist and the masochist, despite the joke cliche, are not good bedfellows. The ideal partner for the masochist is probably another masochist, who'll understand what the 'victim' desires, and deliver it in the most satisfying way. Most satisfying for the 'victim', that is. It's a heavy burden, to be responsible for another's punishment - and delight.

Jennie: 7 from 7 from 7 from 7

In response to a challenge forwarded by Simon Whaley, here are seven lines from the seventh page of Jennie, starting at the seventh line:
“I’m sorry, there’s no milk.  Matthew—” and his whore “Must have finished it.”
“That’s all right, Miss Hughes—Jennie—I may call you Jennie?”
“If you like, Mr Williams.  Will you sit down?”
“No, thanks, Jennie.  I’ve called about, well, it’s the rent, you see.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not been paid.”
“But I gave Matthew the money to give you…”

Twenty-seven pages on, Jennie's in jeopardy again (still?). Everyone wants something from her; generally the same thing. And they're all so big, too. Well, taller, anyway. She's now travelling with a borrowed champion bodybuilder and has managed to rescue her copy of Ali Smith's Hotel World, which is one of her favourite books, so she'll have something to read, if she ever gets the opportunity. Maybe her next chapter'll be quieter...

My Process

Some writers plan their novels in detail while others claim to simply wind up their characters and let them go.  I'm in the middle.  I need to have the security of a planned destination, so I know the thing isn't just going to fizzle out.  Over a period of time, possibly months, I'll document a list of possible scenes. This is Plan B.  Plan A is what the characters decide to do, and is usually better.
I sketch characters but allow them to develop as I write.  My writing is in part a matter of learning about them, finding out what they'll do in the situations I put them in or create for themselves.  Sometimes they surprise me, and do what I don't expect.  I don't mind this.  It makes my life difficult, but I'm sure the story's better(and more credible) for it.
Day to day, I'll take the idea for a scene and allow my subconscious loose on it, then, usually when I wake up but before I get up, I think about it and about the reactions of my characters.  When I'm ready I get up and write.  I'm a morning person.  When I've written the scene, maybe I'll be inspired to continue to the next, or maybe I'll go and get breakfast.
My heroine was chained to a slave's cot for a few days while I worked out the scene.  It's now complete, and she's been released.  Some might say she's free, but wearing a chain has taught her (and me) a few things about freedom we didn't know before.  I love writing!

Megabook Published!

I've now got nine books published with Torrid Books*.  This latest is an anthology of my three BDSM** novels, In a French Country Vineyard, In an English Country Dungeon and In the Japanese Knot Garden.  It's an opportunity for readers to buy the lot at a saving over buying them separately.  They run in sequence: in Vineyard, Carol and Brian have fun in France, meeting more experienced practitioners Glenn and Deanna.  In Dungeon, young Helen experiences the delights of Carol and Brian's dungeon and meets cruel Deanna and Glenn.  In Knot Garden, Carol learns from a Japanese Rope Bondage expert and Helen demonstrates her skills and knowledge.

I write in both BDSM and Vanilla*** styles.

*Torrid Books is the new name for Whiskey Creek Press Torrid.
** BDSM is Bondage and Domination, SadoMasochism.
*** Vanilla is erotica without BDSM.

Jennie in Chains

Poor Jennie's now in chains, just when she thought she'd worked out what to do next.  Hope she's enjoying it because she'll have to stay chained up till at least tomorrow...
Here's a relevant quotation from Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies:
"Do you ever worry," said Leo sleepily, "About the situation you leave your characters in when you stop writing? I mean, they've got to stay put like that till one starts again."

Inspiration & Perspiration

On Saturday I felt inspired and wrote 2,500 words.  Peace and quiet helped.  It was the most I'd written for weeks.
On Sunday I was very reluctant, finding all sorts of things to do, including relax.  However, I decided to 'show willing' and sat down to type, expecting to get up again almost immediately.  I managed 1,500 words, finishing at 1:30 p.m.
Monday morning I woke about 4 a.m.and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was thinking about what I'd written on Sunday, and how it could be developed and improved; also the start of the next chapter.  I got up and between 4 and 7 added 400 words to Sunday's and 1,300 words of the next chapter.

And the moral of this tale?  Write, whether or not you're inspired.  Hammering words out on the machine and into the brain may result in inspiration after all.

Make em laugh; make em cry; make em wait.

The parallel story within Jennie  has grown.  I've called it Carol, and have written its first chapter, set it in Chester, where Carol & Brian are having a pleasant weekend, seeing the sights, dining out, and having fun in a converted stable...  They don't even mention Rhoda yet; I'm leaving that for chapter 2 or 3, which should tie well with Rhoda announcing to Jennie that Carol's invited her to stay, in chapter 4 or 5 of Jennie.  I don't propose to alternate the two strands exactly (yet!) but it allows me to leave cliff-hangers dangling while we catch up with what's happening to the other characters (see the title to this post).

I've started a chronology; necessary for any novel with a story, but vital where two stories are to weave together.  I used one extensively for Rhoda, so that I could know which Friday would precede the August Bank Holiday and work towards it.  Virginia used one as well; set on a farm, the seasons are important!

Jennie is only a working title: I have to call it something.  Perhaps I need an overall title, so I can refer to the strands within it as Jennie and Carol.  My latest two books are Rhoda and Virginia, but since Jennie contains BDSM perhaps a Garden title would be appropriate.  Suggestions invited...

The picture is of the Jubilee Clock on the Eastgate, Chester.  I wonder if  Elizabeth II's jubilee will merit a similar monument?  The title quotation is from Charles Reade (1814-1884).

Virginia Cover

Here's the cover for Virginia, to be published mid-June by Torrid Books.  The original version of this cover was more explicit, but since I distribute my publicity material widely, I asked the artist to change it for me, which I'm grateful she has.  She still looks pretty  & sexy, though.
I've just had the release information for Hand in Glove, which comes out in August 2012, so a lot's happening on the publishing side.  I just wish the writing was going a bit better...