[Betsy the Quilter]

Even though my main character falls in love in my current novel. That was because he claimed that he did though. I find it a bit embarrassing.

LOL, JRT!

 

[Atunah]

In fiction, anything goes. I don't expect real life facts when I am reading fiction, even historical romances. As long as the logical stuff is in place, you know, no zippers back when, unless its a time travel.  .
I don't mind made up titles and I am well aware, like most of us readers of such that there were only a few dukes and I am pretty sure they weren't all tall dark and handsome either.  

In my reading bar I have the following heroes right now.

A Lawyer of the old West, a emo alien, an Earl, a weird scientist, a construction worker/fighter, a kilted Laird, a nincompoop gentleman with nice buns, a gentleman whore, a billionaire and a medieval Sir.

I like em all.  

Which reminds me, I have a lack of pirates going on at the moment.....

 

[RaeC]

Which reminds me, I have a lack of pirates going on at the moment.....

The Dark Corsair: Tamed by the Heiress' Booty

Seriously, if I knew a darn thing about writing historicals I'd do this, and put Fabio on the cover just to annoy my wife.

 

[JRTomlin]

LOL, JRT!

Honestly? He got a bit soppy about her. Sheesh. What kind of king does that? I am trying to show that it wasn't just because he thought she was beautiful. The "I saw her through my prison window and immediately thought she was the best thing since oat bannocks" just doesn't quite work for me. Nope, don't believe in love at first sight.

I do (major confession here) read a few romances, but they have to be "gay" (male or female either), have relatively little sex (which is boring), and have NO KILTS or earls or dukes!!!

 

[Christa Wick]

He sounds a little like Bruno Mars

 

[Vaalingrade]

The first third of the book was about how huge, gorgeous, and well-built his castle was...

It was actually a piece of corrugated tin leaned up against the underside of a bridge. The 'notic is a serious power.

My biggest problem is current trends is that it's hard to write character development for a male character who is an objectively awful person while fielding emails from crossover fans who are totally into him because he's objectively awful.

I keep wanting to reply with 'Come on! I implied he burned an entire city to the ground out of spite and remembers it warmly. He absolutely adores killing people. His iconic catchphrase is literally laughing at the misfortune of others (particularly the people he's about to kill), He shattered a man's mind until he died for his shirt! THIS IS NOT BOYTOY MATERIAL!'

 

[RaeC]

It was actually a piece of corrugated tin leaned up against the underside of a bridge. The 'notic is a serious power.

My biggest problem is current trends is that it's hard to write character development for a male character who is an objectively awful person while fielding emails from crossover fans who are totally into him because he's objectively awful.

I keep wanting to reply with 'Come on! I implied he burned an entire city to the ground out of spite and remembers it warmly. He absolutely adores killing people. His iconic catchphrase is literally laughing at the misfortune of others (particularly the people he's about to kill), He shattered a man's mind until he died for his shirt! THIS IS NOT BOYTOY MATERIAL!'

But did he only do those things...because he lacked a good woman's love? If so, he's boytoy.

 

[AngryGames]

When it is a couple of crackheads or criminals, it doesn't seem to be as 'erotic' or 'romantic' as when rich/wealthy persons engage in deviant (or just passionate) acts.

 

[Vaalingrade]

But did he only do those things...because he lacked a good woman's love? If so, he's boytoy.

Nope, totally in a stable, loving relationship when he converted that city to obsidian and the faint aroma of ozone and roast pork. She even helped him. I mean she's been dead so long in the present of the series that her dust has turned to dust, but still...

 

[EC Sheedy]

... only a duke will do.

This just screams BOOK TITLE! Go JR

 

[Christa Wick]

Clearly you don't read paranormal romance. I can think of books where the most "messed up" men are the most favored among fans. Or the biker books. Or the fighter books. Or a lot of NA... lol

Hah - I got one-starred because my male MC in a book smoked ONE cigarette. So I think angry is right on at least crackheads being unattractive MCs and unsexy.

 

[Atunah]

It was actually a piece of corrugated tin leaned up against the underside of a bridge. The 'notic is a serious power.

My biggest problem is current trends is that it's hard to write character development for a male character who is an objectively awful person while fielding emails from crossover fans who are totally into him because he's objectively awful.

I keep wanting to reply with 'Come on! I implied he burned an entire city to the ground out of spite and remembers it warmly. He absolutely adores killing people. His iconic catchphrase is literally laughing at the misfortune of others (particularly the people he's about to kill), He shattered a man's mind until he died for his shirt! THIS IS NOT BOYTOY MATERIAL!'

I am guessing you haven't met Anne Stuart's heroes yet. Some of those are a real piece of work. One I read knew his future lady love was being tortured painfully to death. He looked, he saw, he went eh and walked away. And yet, somehow Anne Stuart manages to make it all work. She is quite a master at it actually. And they are still all romance novels.

There is some dark dark stuff out there in romancelandia. And I love it. If its done well that is. And at the same time I flove me a beta hero.

 

[Ty Johnston]

Wait! Don't let publishers find out the world "Billionaire" is popular! They'll want to change the name of some classics.

Moby Billionaire
The Lord of the Billionaires
Uncle Billionaire's Cabin
Gone With the Billionaire
For Whom the Billionaire Tolls
Nineteen Eighty-Billionaires
Pride and Billionaires
Love in the Time of Billionaires
The Billionaire in the Rye

... I'll stop being annoying now.

 

[Deena Ward]

But I ALSO wonder if the resurgence has something to do with the economic times we live in? Where, maybe, class has jumped to the forefront of our collective consciousness again?

I believe it does. These books are about fantasy, after all, escaping from the worries and problems of the real world. Economic rescue is the same as any other form of rescue. These knights in designer suits simply wield unlimited funds rather than swords to save the heroine from doom. One more shade in the hero as savior trope.

Now, my rich hero is never named as a millionaire or a billionaire. He's so incredibly wealthy that his net worth is unknown, can only be guessed at by the incredible power he wields to maintain a private life filled with lots of kinky BDSM delights. Had to do it that way so he could compete -- he's over 40 and his pecs, while still impressive, could hardly compete with those of a standard 20-something billionaire.

 

[JRTomlin]

This just screams BOOK TITLE! Go JR

LOL The title is yours. Have at it.

 

[RaeC]

Wait! Don't let publishers find out the world "Billionaire" is popular! They'll want to change the name of some classics.

Moby Billionaire
The Lord of the Billionaires
Uncle Billionaire's Cabin
Gone With the Billionaire
For Whom the Billionaire Tolls
Nineteen Eighty-Billionaires
Pride and Billionaires
Love in the Time of Billionaires
The Billionaire in the Rye

... I'll stop being annoying now.

If I were a rapper, I'd totally be Moby Billionaire, and my first single would be Uncle Billionaire's Cabin.

 

[AngryGames]

lol, it's true, I don't read romance or erotica. I suppose it just feels to me that watching people on the bottom rungs of humanity have sex (or reading about it I suppose) doesn't feel as...naughty? as watching the wealthier deviants.

Then again, I spent most of my career in tech removing pornography from residential and commercial/enterprise computers. So I've maybe seen it all (trust me, I've seen it all) and don't really know what the line between normal and deviant is anymore. I suppose also that I would treat erotica like pornographic videos...stop acting and just get to the sex. I'm not interested in the backstory of how the pizza delivery man ended up lucking out and getting Mrs. Jones' delivery, nor any backstory about how lonely poor old Mrs. Jones is because her husband is always at work, probably shagging his secretary as well.

Blah blah blah just get to the sex.

Which is why I'm not a good candidate for romance/erotica.

Plus I'm a dude. Not that dudes can't be into romance/erotica. But dudes tend to have different views of those subjects than women. All you have to do is watch pornography to see that men see things MUCH differently. A man's fantasy typically involves very little romance and a lot of headboard knocking (in about 32 different positions, some that will pull a hamstring or cause an anterior ligament hyper-extension or such if not done correctly). All that 'anticipation' and 'passion' and 'romance' are just words that mean 'you have to wait a little longer to get sexed' to us. (again, not all of us, but I'm a pretty good observer of men...especially since I've had to subject myself to their pornographic viewing habits for more than a decade).

Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't write a roMANce book of my own. It might only be three pages long though. Fortunately, I know better than to attempt this. My novella, since it is tagged LGBT-friendly, shared a position at Smashwords for about three weeks with an erotica book called "In My Daughter's [rear]" (don't want to break forum rules even though the title is a real title lol). Written by a man. The description alone made me a little queasy. And $3.99 for about 30 pages? I think it was something like 12k words or 14k words.

I'm not knocking it. Everyone should write what they want (within reason...I'm not down with kiddie porn or kiddie erotica at all, nor rape or torture).

Maybe if I was a billionaire...

 

[Gennita Low]

Nope. Read "Black Dagger Brotherhood". These men smoke weed, drink, and kill for fun. Most rabid fan base Ever.

That's because they are all seven feet seven inches tall, can't spell their names, and their dark daggers are shaven and bigger than my mother's fresh pepper grinder.

 

[Nicole Castro]

Wait! Don't let publishers find out the world "Billionaire" is popular! They'll want to change the name of some classics.

Moby Billionaire
The Lord of the Billionaires
Uncle Billionaire's Cabin
Gone With the Billionaire
For Whom the Billionaire Tolls
Nineteen Eighty-Billionaires
Pride and Billionaires
Love in the Time of Billionaires
The Billionaire in the Rye

... I'll stop being annoying now.

You forgot The Billionaire of Monte Cristo

 

[Vaalingrade]

I am guessing you haven't met Anne Stuart's heroes yet. Some of those are a real piece of work. One I read knew his future lady love was being tortured painfully to death. He looked, he saw, he went eh and walked away. And yet, somehow Anne Stuart manages to make it all work. She is quite a master at it actually. And they are still all romance novels.

There is some dark dark stuff out there in romancelandia. And I love it. If its done well that is. And at the same time I flove me a beta hero.

I get that there's a market for squalmous monsters that walk like men in romances and such... but I'm not writing romance. There's some romantic subplots (which don't involve Ru yet because, as I mentioned, he is awful and undeserving of love [and I say that as he creator]) in it because, well I'm me, but I find the amount of crossover strange and sort of distracting while I'm trying to develop him into an actual human being who doesn't deserve the things I do to him.