- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 17,872
- Reaction score
- 4,664
- Location
- dunking doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts
I once had somebody complain there wasn't any sex in my first novel, so it couldn't be classified as "M/M romance".
I once had somebody complain there wasn't any sex in my first novel, so it couldn't be classified as "M/M romance".
I once had somebody complain there wasn't any sex in my first novel, so it couldn't be classified as "M/M romance".
I once had somebody complain there wasn't any sex in my first novel, so it couldn't be classified as "M/M romance".
Well what the hell did they think it was, then?
See, the thing is, with m/m romance, how do you find the sweeter stories among the many popular steamy ones? With m/m, I don't know if the story is one of those that have lots of explicit sex or if it will just have one sex scene, etc. The steamy ones tend to be lumped in together with the less steamy ones.
At least with m/f romances, there are imprints (or genres: some historical and inspirational fiction) dedicated to various heat levels, and I have no trouble finding less explicit ones.
With m/m, I have no clue. I know some fantasy ones are more focused on the non-sexual plot, and YA LGBT stuff tends to be less explicit.
I tried looking at blurbs and covers... but they don't always help.
It also doesn't help when many Amazon and Goodreads reviews talk about how HOT HOT HOT and SEXY the leads are in bed (or various other sex places). Sex is not bad, but some comments like that makes me feel that some m/m stories feel like they are just sexdolls for the female audience.
I'm one of those who's more for internal emotions than the sex, so it's tough to find less sexual stories. (I'm not interested in sex at all in real life, but I'm still romantic.) And some m/m don't feel...romantic, either. Other stories go the other extreme and focus on the non-romantic plots (ex: epic fantasy or mystery) to the point where I am missing the romantic elements.
At least with m/f (and YA LGBT and slash fanfiction), I can easily find stories with less explicit sex, but still contain the gooey (or gentler) romance, ya know?
The last asexual romance I read was MCA Hogarth's Mindtouch. One characters is asexual, the other is very long-lived and deferring seeking sexual relationship, and it is certainly a romance.
Sweet M/M can also of course go to publishers of the overall genre which may or may not be romance, fantasy, literary etc.
I was reading the submission guidelines for one publisher today and noticed something weird:
A level four heat level was described as stories with a high amount of erotic content, a strong focus on sexual tension, and/or "homoerotic" themes. I re-read it and, yep, apparently a story with same-sex sex scenes is automatically a level four heat level. Bizarre. What about m/m and f/f stories without sex?
Now I'm curious, because I think I've seen similar language from other romance publishers.