Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance
    How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance
    How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance
    Audiobook16 minutes

    How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance

    Written by Mary Gray

    Narrated by Mary Gray

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Bodice rippers are some of the most lucrative books in the industry. So what if you write romance that isn’t as steamy? 

    I don’t know about you, but I love reading and writing kissing scenes. And I don’t write explicit scenes with sex.

    If you’re the same way, then you’ve happened upon the right book. In this brief nonfiction work, I’ll cover how to write clean yet scintillating romance in ways you may not have considered. I’ll share:

    • The best piece of editorial advice I ever received (when my first publisher bought my first book from my first agent)

    • A method I like to call action versus reaction

    • How to escalate a kissing scene

    • How to use rhetorical devices and setting to heighten heat

    Are you ready? Grab your pens and pencils, jot down your notes in your favorite apps, or simply allow the juicy material to soak in.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMonster Ivy Publishing
    Release dateJan 19, 2018
    ISBN9781948095068
    How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance
    Author

    Mary Gray

    Mary Gray moved through small town newspaper editing, corporate public relations, and international travel planning before she retired to write poetry, essays, magazine articles, and Poetic Justice. The manuscript was a semi-finalist as a novel-in-progress in the 2017 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. She is the ghost writer for two memoirs, Gerald Fitzgerald’s Africa by Air and General John Henebry’s The Grim Reapers at Work in the Pacific Theater. She has delivered readings at the Chicago Public Library, The Printers Row Book Fair, the Chicago Humanities Festival, the Emily Dickinson Poetry Series, the University of Chicago, and DePaul University. She graduated from Northwestern University School of Journalism and has attended the Ragdale Writers’ Retreat and the Piper Writers Studio at Arizona State.

    More audiobooks from Mary Gray

    Related to How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance

    Related audiobooks

    Composition & Creative Writing For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Beat Sheet Or Cheat Sheet?

      May 5, 2022

      If you’ve not yet encountered the Save the Cat! books you will, because the original book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005) proved so successful it led to a franchise which now includes at least seven volumes, inclu

      8 min read

    • Article

      Set the Hook With Great Beginnings

      Oct 18, 2021

      As a novice fisher, I’ve only caught a few fish, but I’m already thinking about better ways to hook more. Likewise, as a writer, I think a lot about how to write beginnings that will hook readers. Just as fishing advice abounds, so too does writing a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word

      Oct 18, 2021

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word
      7 min read

    • Article

      So You’ve Decided to Write: Advice from a Great and Notorious Editor

      Jul 11, 2017

      There is nothing finer than deciding to write. Depending on how well you write and how often you publish or change jobs or assignments, other writers come in and out of your life. Some of them are already famous and others will be soon, but celebrit

      4 min read

    • Article

      The First Five Pages

      Jan 7, 2021

      The First Five Pages
      5 min read

    • Article

      Subplots Aren’t Secondary

      Jun 19, 2019

      Subplots Aren’t Secondary
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pantser Or Plotter?

      Jan 29, 2022

      When you write a story or a novel, you’re undoubtedly focused on turning out a good one. That’s the product. But what about the process? Are you a so-called plotter, one who creates summaries and outlines before clicking out your story or novel? Or a

      10 min read

    • Article

      How To Write A Bestseller

      Oct 5, 2018

      I have a friend—call him Tom—who, like me, is a writer. Tom has written many novels over a long and enviable publishing career, and his novel-writing philosophy, related to me over various drinks at various bars, can be summarized as follows: Write w

      6 min read

    • Article

      Finishing Our Books In 10 Days – Or Else

      Sep 11, 2021

      “I need to finish this book manuscript this summer, or else.” Or else what? Or else I’d hate myself. Or else I’d reach old age and die without ever completing my memoir. Or else I’d just go mad. It was a doleful, desperate litany I’d been moaning for

      8 min read

    • Article

      How Do I (Quickly) Write a Screenplay?

      Apr 12, 2021

      A majority of budding screenwriters toil away for years on a screenplay and wonder if there is an end in sight. They’re lost in plot and character and have written themselves into a corner. Their first 20 pages are a slog, the second act is vapid, an

      5 min read

    • Article

      What Agents Wish Writers Knew

      Dec 21, 2021

      What Agents Wish Writers Knew
      9 min read

    • Article

      Opening ACTS

      Jul 9, 2022

      Opening ACTS
      10 min read

    • Article

      Edit Like a Surgeon

      Dec 21, 2021

      Most writers know the importance of self-editing their work before submitting it to an editor or publisher. However, even established writers sometimes struggle to understand exactly what the editing process should entail, and how to know when they’r

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mastering Plot Twists

      Dec 12, 2022

      Mastering Plot Twists
      8 min read

    • Article

      Less Is More on the Page

      Aug 16, 2021

      Screenplays are meant to be transformed to a visual medium, such as into a movie, a television show, a web series, or a short film—at least that is the dream for us hopeful scribes. However, when it comes to writing a screenplay, less is more on the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Free Writing Contests

      Apr 14, 2021

      FOR those looking to dip a toe into the deep waters of writing contests, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Every year we list hundreds of opportunities in the Grants & Awards section of this magazine, ranging from small local contests offer

      19 min read

    • Article

      Royalties: The Long Tail

      Oct 18, 2021

      When I first signed with my agent, I joked that I wanted my advances to be paid in the form of solid gold toilets,1 and that’s been our code for good news ever since. When I get an email with the subject line “Gold Toilet Incoming,” I know we’ve sold

      4 min read

    • Article

      Nonfiction Book Proposals

      Oct 13, 2021

      FOR years journalist Chloé Cooper Jones, who was born with a rare congenital disorder called sacral agenesis that affected the development of her hips and legs, had been filling free moments between assignments by writing journal entries on how stran

      8 min read

    • Article

      Opportunities

      Jan 28, 2023

      Categories: Art, poetry, prose Description: Editors seek U.S. entries from emerging and established writers and artists for the 47th issue. Deadline: March 20 http://sandhillslitmag.com/submit/ Categories: Poetry, craft essays, fiction, hybrid, nonfi

      1 min read

    • Article

      Calls For Submissions

      Dec 18, 2021

      Screenplays, plays, novel excerpts, poems, and fiction and nonfiction stories are welcome for consideration in Volney Road Review’s issue 4.2. Submit by Feb. 1. volneyroadreview.com This literary journal seeks poems, essays, flash fiction, art, and h

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of PLOTTING

      Jul 9, 2022

      Writing a novel is a huge challenge. Not only must you create relatable, compelling characters who grab readers, but you also need to nail down a storyline that does the same thing. Readers want adept storytelling, with scenes that move, lives that c

      8 min read

    • Article

      Making Conversation

      Sep 11, 2021

      What’s a story or novel without scenes? Scenes involve us directly in characters’ lives and, when handled adeptly, provide dramatic intensity. If the prose writing is stellar, we will certainly be hooked by expository sections that dive deeply into a

      12 min read

    • Article

      Romance Writing Academy

      Dec 18, 2021

      Romance Writing Academy
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance

    3.5/5

    9 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Spam. Pure spam. Do not listen, the 'author' does not deserve your scribd money.

      I've listened to longer and more insightful wattsapp messages than this 'book'.

      Despite being only 15 minutes it is actually only 5 minutes of poor content, as the only content chapter is in included twice. The tip itself is trite and obvious. Every action needs a reaction. Then the author reads a kiss scene from her book and labels the clichéd phrases about her heart beating as reaction to the hero stroking her arm.

      Honestly. Avoid. You won't learn anything and will only feel cheated.

      I feel cheated.
    • 4/5
      It's interesting: minutes before listening to this, I was thinking about the concept of show-don't-tell. I was actually thinking pretty dismissively of it, after which I conceded that perhaps I had not given it the attention and focus it deserved.

      And then, on a lark, I decided to listen to this audio.

      While listening to the audio, I heard the author say, "Chapter 1..."

      I thought that was odd, because I was sure I was on Chapter 3.

      Indeed, I was; at least, according to the progression of the recording.

      That was the one small issue I had with this audiobook: it appears that the audio file for the first chapter is also the same one that plays on the third chapter.

      In any case, this short audio is still worth listening to, and I recommend it. Although I had read about show-don't-tell, listening to someone's example of it makes for deeper learning.

      Now, all I need to do is be mindful of it, and practice.
    • 5/5
      There was a chapter that repeated but the short actionable advice made me overlook it. A great book!
    • 1/5
      There's smthg wrong with the recording. A chapter is repeated making a very short book actually shorter. Does the publisher not check the files they upload?